SPUSD Board Meeting 01/28/26

001Huh? Fall away. Hey. Hello. Fall away. Fall away. I am calling this meeting to order. at 5:31. Uh, is there any public comment for close session? All right. Hearing none, I'm going to adjourn to close session at 5:31. Heat. Hey, Heat. Heat. Hi, my name is Sophie and I'm a wellness peer mentor here at Isabelle. Kindness means like helping someone out when they need it and or smiling everyone because you never know what someone's going through behind the scenes. One way to be kind is to pick up trash to make the world a cleaner place. >> One way to be kind to someone is to say hi when you're walking by. >> Be kind. >> Two ways to be kind is by checking up on someone and giving them compliments cuz it's free. >> A

002way to be kind is to respect others. >> One way uh you could be kind to someone and make your day is by getting a flower from their side. My name is Ryan Gara. I'm a senior at Santa Paula High School and I'm excited to share that I've gotten a full ride scholarship at UC Riverside to play soccer. I grew up in Santa Paula and I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old. I got into the sport because I would go to my older brother's practices and I would kick the ball around with my mom. My biggest inspiration has always been my mom. She's taken me to my games, always taking me to my practices, and always been my biggest supporter no matter what. When I had difficult decisions about what I should

003do with soccer, she's always been there for me and always supported my decisions. During my time here in Santa Paul High School, I've been in Abbott since I was a sophomore. And it helped me get lots of community service opportunities, helped me join lots of clubs and helped me stay organized and guided me throughout the college process like applications, FASA. My avid teacher, Mr. Dr. Banduchi has always helped me so much by staying organized, giving me all the support I need and always printing out my transcripts when I ask him to. When I go to UC Riverside, I will study business. And I would like to help people with the home buying process and just guide them with whatever they need. I'm very excited to start this new chapter at UC Riverside and I am

004very grateful for all the friends and family who supported me throughout this long journey. Heat. Heat. Hi, my name is Sophie and I'm a wellness peer mentor here at Isbel. Kindness means like helping someone out when they need it and or smiling everyone because you never know what someone's going through behind the scenes. >> One way to be kind is to pick up trash to make the world a cleaner place. One way to be kind to someone is to say hi while you're walking by. >> Be kind. >> Two ways to be kind is by checking up on someone and giving them compliments cuz it's free. A way to be kind is to respect others. >> One way uh you could be kind to someone and make your day is by getting a flower when

005they're sad. My name is Ryan Gara. I'm a senior at Santa Paula High School and I'm excited to share that I've gotten a full ride scholarship at UC Riverside to play soccer. I grew up in Santa Paula and I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old. I got into the sport because I would go to my older brother's practices and I would kick the ball around with my mom. My biggest inspiration has always been my mom. She's taken me to my games, always taking me to my practices, and always been my biggest supporter no matter what. When I had difficult decisions about what I should do with soccer, she's always been there for me and always supported my decisions. During my time here in Santa Paul High School, I've been in Abbott since

006I was a sophomore. And it helped me get lots of community service opportunities, helped me join lots of clubs, and helped me stay organized and guided me throughout the college process like applications, FASA. My avid teacher, Mr. Banduchi has always helped me so much by staying organized, giving me all the support I need and always printing out my transcripts when I ask him to. When I go to UC Riverside, I will study business. And I would like to help people with the home buying process and just guide them with whatever they need. I'm very excited to start this new chapter at UC Riverside and I'm very grateful for all the friends and family who supported me throughout this long journey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hi, my name is Sophie and I'm a wellness peer

007mentor here at Isbel. Kindness means like helping someone out when they need it and or smiling everyone because you never know what someone's going through behind the scenes. One way to be kind is to pick up trash to make the world a cleaner place. >> One way to be kind to someone is to say hi while you're walking by. >> Be kind. >> Two ways to be kind is by checking up on someone and giving them compliments cuz it's free. >> A way to be kind is to respect others. One way uh you could be kind to someone and make your day is by getting a flower for their side. My name is Ryan Gara. I'm a senior at Santa Paula High School and I'm excited to share that I've gotten a full ride scholarship

008at UC Riverside to play soccer. I grew up in Santa Paula and I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old. I got into the sport because I would go to my older brother's practices and I would kick the ball around with my mom. My biggest inspiration has always been my mom. She's taken me to my games, always taking me to my practices and always been my biggest supporter no matter what. When I had difficult decisions about what I should do with soccer, she's always been there for me and always supported my decisions. During my time here in Santa Paul High School, I've been in Abbott since I was a sophomore. And it helped me get lots of community service opportunities, helped me join lots of clubs, and helped me stay organized and guided

009me throughout the college process like applications, FASA. My aid teacher, Mr. Banduchi has always helped me so much by staying organized, giving me all the support I need and always printing out my transcripts when I ask him to. When I go to UC Riverside, I will study business. And I would like to help people with the home buying process and just guide them with whatever they need. I'm very excited to start this new chapter at UC Riverside and I am very grateful for all the friends and family who supported me throughout this long journey. Heat. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hi, my name is Sophie and I'm a wellness peer mentor here at Isabelle. Kindness means like helping someone out when they need it and or smiling everyone because you never know what someone's

010going through behind the scenes. >> One way to be kind is to pick up trash to make the world a cleaner place. One way to be kind to someone is to say hi while you're walking by. >> Be kind. >> Two ways to be kind is by checking up on someone and giving them compliments cuz it's free. A way to be kind is to respect others. >> One way uh you can be kind to someone and make your day is by getting a flower. My name is Ryan Gara. I'm a senior at Santa Paula High School and I'm excited to share that I've gotten a full ride scholarship at UC Riverside to play soccer. I grew up in Santa Paula and I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old. I got into the

011sport because I would go to my older brother's practices and I would kick the ball around with my mom. My biggest inspiration has always been my mom. She's taken me to my games, always taking me to my practices, and always been my biggest supporter no matter what. When I had difficult decisions about what I should do with soccer, she's always been there for me and always supported my decisions. During my time here in St. Paul High School, I've been in AVID since I was a sophomore. And they helped me get lots of community service opportunities, helped me join lots of clubs, and helped me stay organized and guided me throughout the college process like applications, FASA. My aid teacher, Mr. Banduchi has always helped me so much by staying organized, giving me all the support

012I need and always printing out my transcripts when I ask him to. When I go to UC Riverside, I will study business. And I would like to help people with the home buying process and just guide them with whatever they need. I'm very excited to start this new chapter at UC Riverside and I am very grateful for all the friends and family who supported me throughout this long journey. Heat. Hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Hi, my name is Sophie and I'm a wellness peer mentor here at Isabelle. Kindness means like helping someone out when they need it and or smiling everyone because you never know what someone's going through behind the scenes. >> One way to be kind is to pick up trash to make the world a cleaner place. One way

013to be kind to someone is to say hi while you're walking by. >> Be kind. >> Two ways to be kind is by checking up on someone and giving them compliments cuz it's free. >> A way to be kind is to respect others. >> One way uh you could be kind to someone and make your day is by getting a flower when they're shy. My name is Ryan Gara. I'm a senior at Santa Paula High School and I'm excited to share that I've gotten a full ride scholarship at UC Riverside to play soccer. I grew up in Santa Paula and I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old. I got into the sport because I would go to my older brother's practices and I would kick the ball around with my mom. My

014biggest inspiration has always been my mom. She's taken me in my games, always taking me to my practices, and always been my biggest supporter no matter what. When I had difficult decisions about what I should do with soccer, she's always been there for me and always supported my decisions. During my time here in Santa Paul High School, I've been in AVID since I was a sophomore. And it helped me get lots of community service opportunities, helped me join lots of clubs, and helped me stay organized and guided me throughout the college process like applications, FASA. My avid teacher, Mr. Dr. Banduchi has always helped me so much by staying organized, giving me all the support I need and always printing out my transcripts when I ask him to. When I go to UC Riverside, I

015will study business. And I would like to help people with the home buying process and just guide them with whatever they need. I'm very excited to start this new chapter at UC Riverside and I am very grateful for all the friends and family who supported me throughout this long journey. Heat. Heat. Hi, my name is Sophie and I'm a wellness peer mentor here at Isbel. Kindness means like helping someone out when they need it and or smiling everyone because you never know what someone's going through behind the scenes. >> One way to be kind is to pick up trash to make the world a cleaner place. One way to be kind to someone is to say hi while you're walking by. >> Be kind. >> Two ways to be kind is by checking up on

016someone and giving them compliments cuz it's free. A way to be kind is to respect others. >> One way uh you could be kind to someone and make your day is by getting a flower when they're sad. My name is Ryan Gara. I'm a senior at Santa Paula High School and I'm excited to share that I've gotten a full ride scholarship at UC Riverside to play soccer. I grew up in Santa Paula and I started playing soccer when I was 5 years old. I got into the sport because I would go to my older brother's practices and I would kick the ball around with my mom. My biggest inspiration has always been my mom. She's taken me to my games, always taking me to my practices, and always been my biggest supporter no matter what.

017When I had difficult decisions about what I should do with soccer, she's always been there for me and always supported my decisions. During my time here in SA High School, I've been in Abbeby since I was a sophomore. I would like to call us back into open session. Right. Um we will reconvene at 603. So uh first roll call. Um trustee Gonzalez >> present. >> Trustee Trustee Magna >> here. >> Trustee Torres seems absent today. Um huh. Excuse sick today. Okay. All right. Uh, Trusty Ftos >> here. >> Trustee Kazama >> here. >> Trustee Ooyo >> present. >> Trusty Ramos >> here. >> Trusty Sandals present. All right. Can we uh Oh, uh, report of close session. During close session, the board Oh, actually RE public employee discipline dismissal release government code uh 54957. During

018close session, the board voted unanimously to terminate employee uh employment of employee number 6212. The motion was made by uh Trusty Frutos and it was seconded by Trusty Ramos with a vote of 5-0. And that was all that the action taken under close session. So we now stand for the pledge of allegiance. All right. Uh, approval of the agenda, Mr. Weinstein. >> Yes. We we'd like to make the following changes to the agenda. We'd like to move to an information presentation rather than an action item and then bring it back for action next month. >> Okay. So, we'll move that to uh >> 7B or information >> information. >> And did you have another one to >> Yes, we're going to pull the first reading of revision board policy 5141 which is 7A and that's

019we have to make more adjustments to it. >> Okay. Okay. So, do I hear a motion to approve the agenda with the um changes of removing 7A and putting 8A3 in its place? >> I'll move. >> I'll second. >> All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Preferential vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Um and board vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? >> All right. Motion passes. All right. Student board member reports. Trustee Gen Gonzalez. >> Thank you. Uh tonight, excuse me, tonight I will begin my report with the Isbel Academy of Colleges and Careers. Um what they'd like to report on is that they'd like to congratulate their 2026 spelling be champion, eighth grader Millie Figodoroa. She was declared champion after 24 rounds of spelling. Their

020alternate, their runner up and alternate is a fellow eighth grader, Ariano de Latinad. All of our spellers did a fantastic job. And for those of you who would like to know, the winning word was fiberglass. How do you spell that? F I b L Ss. Fiberglass. For Santa Paul High School athletics, the regular season ends February 3rd, 2026 for winter sports and playoffs will begin the following week starting February 11th. The winter sports awards night will be held February 25th from 5:30 to 700 p.m. starting at the auditorium. Moving on to Glenn City, um they held their grade level data collabor collaboration faculty meetings with the fifth grade teachers in the morning and sixth grade meetings in the afternoon this past week. They're continuing to work with other grade levels. This week, um, the Santa

021Paul Art Museum launched phase two of their art lessons for second and third graders for lessons through January and February. There is a schoolwide spelling bee. Congratulations to all of the participants and Glen City champion Oliver Rosales, fifth grade, advancing to the county championship uh, competition. uh SST meetings were held with families and teachers to support students needing intervention and action plans were developed by SSC SST coordinator Miss Sophia Gangle. And finally for Blanchard, last week they celebrated 28 students who received academic and character recognitions from their teachers. Parents were invited to celebrate their students accomplishments. That is all I have for this week. All right, Trustee Lagun. >> Starting off with Bedell. Bedell is having their first CAST parent information night on Thursday evening. The goal of this event is to help enable parents

022and guardians to support their student cast outcomes. Moving on to Webster. On February 4th from 5:30 to 7:00, Barbara Webster will host their third annual family success seminar. At this meeting, Webster staff will teach and collaborate with fourth, fifth, and sixth grade parents around the following ideas. How to read and understand their child's 2025 CAS Smarter Balanced four-page report as well as how to prepare their child for the upcoming 2026 exams and how to use reflection forums at home to support their child's social emotional growth. They hope to have a great turnout and school board members are invited to attend. Now moving on to Santa Paula High School ASB is preparing many fun and excite exciting Valentine's activities for our students to participate in and promote our cardinal spirit. We'll be hosting activities such as

023fake marriages, build a bouquet stand, Valentine's grams, Valentine spirit week, and a Valentine's Day rally. We will also be having a food day on February 12th with many clubs selling delicious treats for students to buy. That is all I have. >> All right, Mr. Weinstein, superintendent report. The superintendent's report tonight will will be talking about the action items of 81 and 82. These are existing bonds that our taxpayers, property taxpayers are paying in on to help support the school facilities. So for those of you in the audience and for those of you at home who are not familiar, the way we build facilities, repair facilities or add on to facilities is we do what's called a general obligation bond. Those bonds are then sold once the uh the community has approved it, we then sell

024them and then interest is paid on those bonds. So um the taxpayer has to take that's a tax burden for the taxpayer. So, when a bond is sold and created, um there are what's called calls. Calls can be seven, 10, 15 years. When the call date hits, we can refinance those bonds. If we if the interest rates are better, so if interest rates are down and these were higher type of bonds, then the taxpayer would sell would uh save some money. Go to the next slide, please. So here's a quick example of what we're talking about. So just like refinancing a mortgage, we look to move to lower interest rates so the taxpayer does not have to pay as much. But unlike mortgage refinancing, we do not extend the maturity of these bonds. So if

025there's 10 years left on a bond, then when we we refund them, we will actually only keep a 10-year maturity. so that we're not extending the cost to the taxpayer. So right now at current market rates we have about 12.9 million of bonds that we had sold. Interest rates are estimated at $3.95%. Um and you can see the total taxpayer savings is $784,000. If interest rates move higher by 30 points, then we that's going against the market, then we would be down to 462,000. And if interest rates lower by 30 basis points, we would be saving the um public $1.1 million in taxpayer money. So, every chance we get, we try to be fiduciary responsibility of making sure that we're managing these bonds correctly. our bond um council when things like this happen and they

026see a call coming up, they check interest rates. And so we're recommending in the to adopt the resolutions in 8A to refinance these bonds so that we can lower the burden to the taxpayer. Any questions? >> What's the maturity of the bonds? >> Right now they're 12 years. So again, just want to make sure I'm hearing this correctly. So refinancing will save dollars in in our taxpayers uh wallets. It it's not going to increase the amount of the the maturity or the years. It it's a savings. Uh >> correct. >> Okay. >> So these bonds they're already paying on right now through their property tax bill. And part of what they pay is principal and interest just kind of like a mortgage. If I can lower the interest rate, then their payment will actually go

027down. >> Thank you. >> All right. Okay. Committee updates. Trusty Frutto. >> All right. So, just a couple of uh meetings. So, I did attend uh the ELD task force meeting yesterday uh under the leadership of Dr. Ramirez. Um, and one of the highlights, and again I I want to just kind of focus on that is is that we are reclassifying uh students. That's that's huge. I'm really excited um that we're we're going to be reclassifying 183 students. Um there's there's a celebration on February the 13th. I'm sure you'll hear more about it, but uh but trustees uh would be awesome if you were in attendance. I know trustee Aoyo and I usually attend would love to see uh everyone else there. Uh I did attend the strategic planning meeting on this past Monday. There

028is a presentation tonight, so I'll kind of leave it as is. Um the Santa Paul Education Foundation, the next meeting will be on February the 2nd, which is Monday. Uh unfortunately, I won't be there because I'll be at another committee meeting, which is Ventura County School Board Association. We have uh our um second uh event of of the year also on February the 2nd and that one is on uh superintendent evaluations and schoolboard evaluations. The idea is to learn tools on how we can better ourselves as a school board and how we can support our superintendent in in working and meeting our goals. And that's all I have. >> All right. Trustee Kuzama, >> I gotta ask, are you are you calling me Kumazama? >> Kumazama. Did I say it wrong? >> Am I? >>

029It's okay. Uh, yes. Um, >> all right. >> Correct. >> No, that's okay. I already made him feel uncomfortable. Um, >> Oh, no. It's hard to make me embarrassed. >> That's I I >> Kuma and Zawa. >> No, I believe you. >> Kuma. Uh, >> I got to get ready for this because I'm going to Japan in a couple months. So, you know, >> I'm only half Japanese. I'm only half offended. So, >> all right. I'm half sorry. >> Uh, uh, I got to participate um along with Trustee Ramos at in the uh, student advisory committee last week and um, it was really cool to see that interaction and engagement between the students and the superintendent. um see their input on on issues and and programs and things happening, you know, within all the schools.

030Um and yeah, it was just it was it was very cool to to participate. Um we also had a budget committee on Monday, um you know, and just continue to talk about the challenges facing the district and facing just higher ed or just education in general, um at the state and the federal level. Um it was nice to relatively nice to see you know maybe some of the stuff in the governor's draft budget although we don't necessarily put too much into that um because it is a draft that you know there's a term fiscal cliff I think that maybe we were all thinking that we were going to face and while it might not necessarily be a cliff it's still a very very very steep hill I think is the way I would describe it.

031Um but yeah, and and just I know there's going to be a lot of tough conversations that we have to have between now and April in developing next year's budget. Um and especially as we work through our current year and and just looking forward to to those conversations um when when they happen. So that's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. Trustee Kuma Zawa. >> Trusty Ora >> who? All right. Thank you. >> So I was able to attend two committee meetings. one being the LCAP. Um, and it was nice to get a presentation on the midyear update and where we're at. Um, also just discussion of ways to also spend LCAP money and where the needs are. So, I'm looking forward to our next meeting to discuss, you know, what some of the

032needs are to bring up. I always conf that I confuse but I'm always mixing LCAP and our ELD because ELD is funded by LCAP funds so it's all integrated and so luckily our meetings were backtoback one day after the other. So the following day you know went to our English learners tax task force meeting and um Trustee Frutos already shared you know some of the great information and also where our students are. So that was it for this week. All right, Trustee Ramos. >> Yeah. Um, last week I attended our student advisory committee meeting. It was nice to see the experiences students were having regarding our wellness centers and their differing opinions. You know, we always say that one site is not the same as the other site. You know, and it was great to

033see that in action. I got to also see Mr. Weinstein's classroom management skills over Zoom too as well, which was a very exciting treat for me. Um but it was it was a very fruitful discussion and I'm very happy that we have a wellness center presentation um set for today as well. I also attended the LCAP meeting with Trustee Royo. Um it's a ve it was a very great meeting. Um I see a lot of parents in the crowd. I love to give this plug. Parents, please attend our LCAP meetings. It's always nice to see some fresh new faces and not the same ones. Um so please feel free to drop by at our next LCAP meeting. Um, as Trusty Oaro said, we'll be discussing how to spend how to spend our LCAP money in

034different disadvantaged communities that rep that are represented in the LCAP budget. >> Okay. And uh I attended the budget uh committee meeting. Um so I won't delve into that any more than uh than our trustee did. Uh I also attended the strategic planning meeting. Um and we're going to have a presentation on that. So I won't go into any depth on that as well. Uh the one I will mention is the AI task force which I stopped by for for a couple hours which again was uh really just there's really good work going on there. They're they're talking about you know the impact of AI on education and how we're going to deal with it. So it's a it's it's a huge topic. It's it's an important topic. Um it's something that I live in

035my classroom at uh Cal State Channel Islands. So, um, I'm glad to see that that's as robust of a process as possible. So, um, and glad to be able to to participate at least in a small way on that as well. So, all right, we will move on uh to public comments. Are there any public comments for us today? All right, none. So, let's move on to the wellness center presentation, which I'm sure we are all looking forward to. All right. Good evening, governing board members, um, superintendent, members of the audience. I would like to invite all of our wellness center counselors and peers up to the podium with me tonight. I'm extremely excited to um have a very well-represented group for you tonight um representing wellness centers across the district um from elementary to

036middle school to high school. And um obviously a lot of people would like um to say a few things for you tonight and provide updates on how their wellness centers are going at their sites. So, I'm just going to pass it off to our first presentation, uh, which I believe is Barbara Webster. Yes. So, right here. So, Miss Hernandez from Barbara Webster. Take it away. >> Okay. So, hello everyone. My name is Eva Hernandez and I am the school counselor at Barbara Webster Elementary. Um, so we play dual roles. Uh, we're a counselor and we do wellness as well. Um, so it's been almost three years since we opened the web wellness center. Um, so the wellness center is a safe space for students and parents to access supports for their mental health. Um, students

037are welcome to come check in with me. Um, they obviously I'm the counselor there, so I try to be there as much as I can. And we open it up for um, morning recess and for um, dropins during lunchtime. Um, so they come check in. um they do like a five to 10 minute check-in, they reset, and then they get back to learning. Um so this year I would like to highlight that we started hosting um sound baths there and yoga uh sessions for all grade levels. So a sound bath is a practice that we use silent vibrations. So some of us have been trained to do that um to promote relaxation, reduce stress, and obviously to enhance overall well-being for students and for staff. Um we also um started our first year with the

038anti- vape social club. So you will get to hear um from two representatives um in a few minutes. And our wellness peers uh throughout the year participate in activities as you can see um to reduce the stigma of mental health. Um they also participate in classroom presentations. Um sometimes they they join also in sound bass and yoga. Um and most of all they engage um with staff and students and parents. um so they feel supported and heard. Okay. So, addressing students needs. So, as of January 14th, we have documented approximately 1100 visits to the wellness center. Um this ranges from TK all the way to sixth grade. Um and like I previously mentioned, we've been doing sound bass and yoga. Currently, we have 11 full classrooms that have participated um in these sessions, and I'm

039excited to keep posting them. We host them on Friday. any of you are invited if you ever want to join. Um and our staff leadership also this year has been engaged in mental health activities uh through a partnership with childhood matters. Um so they have educated our staff on how to support um students on the impact of immigration, how to help each other thrive through anxiety and in April they will be participating um in an activity targeted towards um anxiety and coping with fatigue and educator burnout. Um, as you can see, the wellness peers also engage with our uh, VCOE, so our office of education, and they've been panelists there. I know some of them are looking forward to participating as well um, this year. Um, now for the really fun part, I would like

040to introduce some of our wellness peers um, and our antiape club representatives. So, um, they're either going to answer one or two uh, questions. So, first I'll have our wellness peers and we'll start with Emma um and she will be answering um what is your favorite part about being a wellness peer and why should schools have a wellness center. Hello, my name is Emma Zamora. The reason why I became a wellness pair is because I like to spread kindness. My favorite part of being a bonus peer is doing activity for the kids, making new friends, and having an awesome counselor, Miss named Miss Eva. If I ever need a break, I know I have a safe place to go to and that I have no and I and that I can talk to someone. Being

041at Wosphere has really helped my confidence. I still remember when I first got to Barbara Webster this school year. The wellness peers were very welcoming and invited me to become a wellness peer as well. Hi, my name is Jose Ano Zamora. I am a sixth grader uh at Barber Webster. My favorite part of being a wellness peer is being able to lend a helping hand to someone who is in need or just someone who needs someone to talk to. I also like being able to spread awareness about mental health during lunch activities. Another part I like is all the longl lasting memories that are created with my fellow wellness peers and counselor. I believe all schools should have a wellness center because everyone deserves a safe space to be able to talk to someone. Wellness

042centers are also inclusive and welcoming. If someone doesn't have someone to talk to, they can visit the wellness center. There might be someone there who shares similar interest and they could make a new friend or meet someone new. Thank you for listening and have a wonderful rest of your day. Hello, my name is Kevin Garcia there. My favorite part is being a wellness peer. My favorite part of being a wellness peer is help giving a hand to my fellow students that needs help or like needs comfort and stuff. Also, I like to do the activities because they help me like we calm down and relax. And thank you for listening. Hi, my name Hi, my name is Melissa Sto and I'm a sixth grader at Barbara Webster. And I my favorite part of being a

043wellness peer is helping people calm down when they are emotional or when they need help. And I think all schools should have a wellness center because I think school should have a because it could help students that are going through a hard time or that just need some quiet space. Thank you. And then for for our last speakers are these are our antiape social club representatives. um Alise and Delila and we asked them why did you join the anti vape social club. >> Hi, my name is Alise and I joined the anti- vape social club to encourage people not to vape and hopefully make a difference in their lives. Currently, we're working on a project to present on the dangers of vaping to classrooms. I love when speakers come and teach us about the dangers

044of drugs. Thank you for listening. Hi, my name is Delilah and I'm a part of the anti-apee social club. Um, I hope I want to hopefully motivate students to never use drugs, tobacco, or vapes. I like learning about the dangers of drugs so that so that way I can educate others to make good choices. Drugs affect our brains and body, so kids should know this, too. Thank you for listening. >> So that was for our school. So okay. So unfortunately my colleague Mr. Pettis, counselor at Blanchard Elementary, um could not be with us today, but I am here to present on his behalf. Um so their wellness center is called uh Bernie's Den. Um here we have some highlights of the great things that are happening there. Um, and like I said, like other sites,

045he's also invited um Anna Lugo, who will we will hear from um later on in this presentation. She's a SoundBath facilitator and she has uh runs sound baths for our parents. Um later on, like I said, you'll hear from her work with our school district. If you're interested in staying up to date, they have a monthly wellness calendar. Um you can see that he also has wellness peers um that help with many mental health activities. They had a really good turnout at the trunk or treat. Um, so I believe they're a part of that too. And they've been hosting a wellness parent workshops as well. Um, they also partnered with Bright Youth Programs. So they run a lot of uh lunch wellness activities for all grade levels. Um, this year I believe they started to

046introduce creative labs where they engage um in wellness activities through art and digital media. um as of uh January 20th, I believe these are um the numbers of their wellness center visits. Um and we would like to highlight that the outdoor visits, they've had about 1,200 and they work uh directly with Bright Youth Program to help um obviously run those activities. Um and currently Mr. Pettis has targeted uh kindergarten through 2 grade with tier one social emotional um learning lessons. And not last but not least, Mr. Reddis would like for you to hear from two of his peers. Um so I believe we have um two videos and these are just some examples of the activities that they've been uh able to do. Trusty Sandon, do you mind if we ask a few questions maybe

047just to break the >> Yeah, sure. Let's do it. >> Um, first of all, I just want to say can that's awesome that you guys, it takes a lot of courage to do what you're doing. Um, you know, so, so thank you for being here. Uh, how do you see your yourself maybe as a career? Do do you see yourself as a as in a in a wellness career, health and wellness career going forward? Maybe a thumbs up. Uh, yes. Thumbs middle, maybe. Thumbs down. Not really thinking about it. Awesome. So, you're getting some good foundational skills, right? And that's something that we learned um and as as one of our task forces is how do you apply what you're learning today for for the future. So that's awesome. Keep up the good work. >>

048Thank you, Mrs. N. >> Have the parents seen the wellness center? Have any has anyone like asked for a tour or taken some pictures? So during back to school night, we had a wellness center tour for all the parents and staff members. Um so yes, we've invited uh parents and then whenever we have any type of events, they're really good about giving the tour. They usually um we also invited uh VCOE since our school is a community school now. Um so they've been able to come and we have other schools that also come and so they're always willing and ready to um talk about the wellness center and you know they talk about their favorite activities because everybody has a favorite activity. I know they all love the tent which is like a privacy area

049where they just get to decompress um for those minutes that they need on break. And I think there's just a glitch because it was on Canva. So that's why the videos don't play. >> I think the the highlight anyways is hearing you guys. The videos I think those are always important, but seeing your impact is a >> Yeah. Why don't we we move on and if we can get them to fix, you know, we'll we can come back to it. >> Yeah. So, >> thank you. >> Hello. My name is Annette Campbell. >> My name is Sonia Perez. >> And we are the school counselors and wellness center coordinators for the Glen City Global Steam Squared Academy Wellness Center, the Grizzlies Den. This evening, we're excited to share highlights from our wellness center, including past

050activities, and those planned for the school year ahead. All wellness activities, meetings, parent workshops, and events are shared in our monthly wellness calendar, which also include a partnership with Bright Youth, a nonprofit organization promoting youth well-being through the arts. Next month, our den will host a parent wellness and sound bath and student drum circles offering benefits such as reduced stress and anxiety, improved mood, increased mindfulness, and a stronger sense of connection. This week, we are proudly participating in the Great Kindness Challenge where we are hosting kindness activities for students at lunch recess. Students will soon be engaging in social emotional classroom lessons f focused on empathy and kindness. These efforts support our a school culture rooted in empathy, acceptance, unity, and respect while improving school climate and encouraging positive behavior. Our wellness peers have played

051an instrumental role in our wellness center this year. They have supported activities and contributed valuable ideas to help our center grow. Their voices, efforts, and contributions continue to strengthen and enrich our program. We invite you to follow us on Instagram at Glen City Wellness Center for important information, updates, and highlights from our den. So, um, I'd like to take a moment to share how we are meeting student needs through Glen City's wellness center and our social emotional learning supports. So, as of January 16, 2026, the wellness center has had 1,741 student visits. These visits reflect students seeking support with emotional regulation, peer conflict, and overall well-being. In addition, we've implemented 16 wellness activities including bright wellness peers yoga red ribbon week. These activities focus on prevention, coping skills, and building healthy habit schoolwide habits schoolwide.

052To date, there have been six referrals to mental health and 10 to outside services helping connect students and families to additional resources. Um, we've also delivered 24 classroom social emotional lessons focused on skills such as making good choices, problem solving, and reinforcing strategies students can use daily in their lives. So, the next slide. See if I can do this. I don't know what I did. Oh my goodness. Oh, okay. Okay, they're switching. Okay. So, Fore city. consequenc of So I would like to share what she said in English. So Clara Angulo indicated that uh her experience at Glen City's wellness center and that she has a student in second grade here at Glen City. Um her personal experience with the wellness center has been positive. She feels comfortable, welcomed and well informed throughout her interactions.

053Uh her favorite parent workshop was the vaping workshop as it focused on prevention and providing an opportunity to ask questions and gain a better understanding to the topic. So also I would like to mention that we our principal here at Gillan City also completed a parent um coffee with um this week and he uh it was really impressive how he took the parents all over the school and shared what each um section has to offer to students and parents like he welcomed the parents to the wellness center. So, I thought that was great that many parents were able to witness what we do for the students, how we provide support as well. Okay. Next, we excuse me, we proudly introduce two wellness peers that will be sharing their experiences with the den. Um, Emily Magna

054and Aaliyah Magna. >> Hello, my name is Emily Magna. I am in sixth grade and the reason why I decided to become a wellness peer is because I love spreading kindness. I especially love helping the little kids like TK through kinder because they are learning the rules such as only take one and share. I give them reminders and help guide the students in the activities. One of my favorite things about the wellness center are the fidgets and helping kids sign in with the iPad we have in our wellness center. Another thing I enjoy doing is helping with activities that they offer to every grade every Thursday. I really just want to thank Miss Campbell and Miss Perez who recommended us to be wellness peers. I really want to thank those these two amazing counselors for

055everything they have done for us. Thank you to everyone who decided to come and listen to us speak this evening. I really appreciate it. I think we all do. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Aaliyah Rose Maga. I am a sixth grader at Glen City. The reason why I became a wellness pier is to help with wellness activities and helping the younger grades with activities. What I just really love about the wellness center is all the stress relievers they offer. Also, if you need someone to talk to and need to trust, the counselors are ready to help you with anything. What I really love about being a wellness peer is helping with activities every Thursday. We also are able to participate in the wellness activities. My favorite activity is the winter theme ones that

056the six that the wellness center offers. Thank you board members, district staff for coming this evening. All right, so we can rewind the tape a little bit to go back to Bernie's den to hear from our two wellness peers. >> Hi, my name is My name is Max. I am a sixth grade at Blanchard Elementary School. I became a wellness peer because I want to help people feel better. Being a wellness peer has taught me a lot about the struggles of mental health and ways of coping with them. The wellness center has brought great activities to our school and all students have taken advantage of advantage of them. As a wellness peer, we have had the opportunity to paint pumpkins, decorate gingerbread houses, but most importantly, we learned how to help others and be there

057for them. Overall, I really enjoyed being part of this group and will continue to support anyone in need. >> Hi, my name is Max Siggoia and I'm a sixth grade wellness peer at Blanchard Elementary School. I became a wellness peer because I like to help people and because I know that mental health is a serious thing. Some things we are doing as a wellness group are working on a creative lab with Bright where we can write, draw, and make a video about mental health. Another thing we're going to be working on is hosting a wellness activity for our peers that deal with grounding techniques. Overall, I am really happy to be part of the wellness peers and I hope I'm making a difference in my community. The wellness center is a great place at our

058school and it is very useful to my peers and I. Thank you. >> All right, if we can now uh skip ahead to Bedell. Oh, no. Grace still. >> Okay. So, Mr. Aguilera uh couldn't join us um this evening. Um but we are very excited um as you may have heard to um announce the opening of two new wellness centers um at two of our elementary schools um in the district. Um the first um Graceville Elementary. Um they have a planned uh wellness center opening along with their school library um on February 5th at 8:00 a.m. Uh we hope to see as many of you there as possible. Um, some of the activities that Mr. Aguilta has planned for the year once they do or are able to open their wellness center are drum circles,

059yoga, sound baths, um, therapy as well timing therapy as well as um, facilitating mini zen gardens. So very excited about our new newest space opening up in the district. And our second space uh, we'll hear from Mr. Zabidel. Thank you board members for this opportunity to share what's occurring with our wellness centers. As you can see on the slide, Bedell is welcoming you to the grand opening ceremony on March 25th. Hope you can be there. Also, quick plug. Please consider dropping by Bedell's College and Career Fair tomorrow from 1 to 2:30 as four college representatives in various professions will be fielding student questions. If you will now focus on our pause center logo at the top right of Bedell's lonely slide, you will see in the center of the paw a lotus flower design. Do

060you see that? Lotus leaves have a superhydrophobic surface known as the lotus effect which repels water and dirt so that it is considered self-cleansing. A goal of ours is to help students learn how to cleanse or calm themselves in our comfortable and stylish nature theme pause center which you will see on March 25th. This concept was inspired by Singapore's KTP hospital which created forestlike ground to lower one's blood pressure. I should be there now. My goal is to equip students who are unable to focus in class to visit pause and 7 to 15 minutes later be ready to return to class able to focus because that's where we want our kids in class. The pause center will be a welcome addition to the Bedell community and will quickly be a place to learn. will foster

061intellectual activities and help students identify and utilize various methods to calm and center themselves. Lessons, for instance, will teach and interact with students regarding goal setting, kindness activities, and managing emotions. And as Mr. Kumizo would know, eos, which means I must leave. half of him would know that. >> All right. And as well, in addition to announcing both Grace Thills and Bedell Elementary's wellness centers for the school year, we're also excited tonight to announce um our plans to open um the last of our wellness centers um at Mckvitt Elementary for the 2026 27 school year. Go Mustangs. All right, moving now on to middle school. Um, I'll have Miss Himenez come up to present. >> So, hello. So, yes, we are the Perch Wellness Center at ISBO Middle School and I am Erica Himenez, the

062wellness counselor/coordinator. So, so far we've had 2,823 visits at the wellness center as of when this PowerPoint was created about a month ago. Um, we've had 756 students during early start. So, at the middle school, we are open from 7:00 to 8 in the morning to welcome any student that needs to be dropped off early so they come into the wellness center. We've had a total of 21 lunch wellness activities which include vision boards, bracelet making, rock painting. So, that equals to 609 participants. We also have had 15 whole classroom sound baths where classrooms sign up their entire class to do a sound bath. So, that's a total of 285 students that have done sound baths. Um we also hold schoolwide monthly presentations done by our mental um our wellness peers. We do one once

063a month and they cover different mental health topics such as coping skills, what is depression, how can I help a friend in need. So they do these presentations during our advisory live. So every single student on campus receives this information. We also this year started doing the BFI bright future initiative prevention program. So it's an anti- vape program. So, we've done four so far and it's once a month. So, we've had a total of 290 participants. Um, again, we are still doing our parent wellness Wednesdays which are extremely popular. We do them once or twice a month in the morning where parents come into our wellness center and they get to participate in the same activities that the students do. Whether it's sound baths, drum circles, uh, rock painting, everything and anything that the students

064do, the parents do, too. Um, again, we post everything on our Instagram page, our calendar of events. Um, follow us, the Purge Wellness Center. And then, um, again, we're also collaborating with Bry who come in and help us do a lot of the wellness activities and the, um, prevention program. And then the Pent action. So, these are just some of the pictures of the different activities we hold. Again, all of our activities happen during lunchtime. Um, when we do the soundbads, we do go into into the classroom. So, the whole classroom comes into the wellness center for a whole class um program or activity. That's it. So, now I'm gonna introduce two of my wellness peers. >> Hello everyone. My name is Anam. >> Sorry. >> Hello everyone. So, I have two wellness peers. They're

065going to introduce themselves first. >> Good afternoon everyone. I'm Denise Salas. I'm an eighth grader and I have been involved with wellness centers since I was in fifth grade. >> Hello everyone. My name is Sophia Lair and this is my first year being a wellness peer mentor at Isbel. >> So then why did you become a wellness peer? I became a wellness peer because I really think that mental health is important and as a young student I feel like most other kids can relate better to us in a sense. So they feel more free and open to speak with us and share what they're feeling. I became a wellness peer because I had been offered a mentoring position at FedEl by Mr. and I really enjoyed it and I wanted to continue doing it in

066middle school. >> And why are wellness centers important to have in schools? >> Me personally, I feel and know that wellness centers are important in like all schools because every student obviously they stress out. Schools give tons of work and I know everyone can relate to that. Um, and it's definitely a place where kids can go relax and let out all unused energy. >> All schools should have wellness centers because sometimes you just need a break from class and need to be able to relax and reset and then continue to go back to class and do your work. >> And what is your favorite part of the wellness center? >> Oh, I could tell you this one. My favorite part is definitely going in there, spending time with Miss Humane. And I could tell you

067this, no one's ever going to bond the same way as you will with her. My favorite part of the wellness center is probably doing all the activities such as sound baths, drum circles, and um mindful coloring. >> Thank you very much. Um, how do I Oh, thank you. Okay. My name is Miranda Pexok and I'm the wellness center counselorcoordinator at Santa Paula High School and I brought four of my wellness peers here today. And um I'm gonna have Hugo pass out a little care package that we made for you guys as I'm talking. So, as of the 15th of January, when these slides were created, the Nest has had 1,198 students walk through the door. Um, that's either individual check-ins with me, uh, it could be a staff referral, a lunch activity, or a presentation.

068Um, we've also had 28 referrals as of the 15th of January um to mental health services either through our partnership with Ventur County Behavioral Health or our Santa Paul Unified School District mental health counselors. The next slide, please. Um, this is just some of the pictures of some of the activities and events that we've had so far um this school year at the NEST. We've had Ventur County Behavioral Health come and do a four-part series presentation on mental health uh for our parents. And our parents got to come and sit in our wellness center and experience all there is there. Um they got a tour, they got to check out our Zen booth that gets used by our clinicians. Um we've also gone to two wellness beer trainings at BCOE with all 10 of our

069wellness peers. Um we've had sound baths. We also have a wellness center garden that is out in the 200s and upper courts that is going to be expanding this year. We're really excited about that. We've also had BCBH come and do student lunch presentations on mental health as well. And one thing that was really exciting that we did before winter break, we had a Bright holiday giveaway partnershipped with Brightite. they do our civic engagement and we were able to give away 100 care packages to um families of Santa Paula uh with a $30 grocery gift card donated from Bright. So that was fun. And our next slide shows just some feedback from some students and parents of our wellness center and a few more pictures of some of our of our sound bath and also

070our our giveaway with Brightite. Um some other activities that we've also participated in this year is um all of our wellness peers create weekly wellness Wednesday presentations that are shared schoolwide and they go with whatever our monthly theme is for that for that time. So make sure you follow us on our Instagram page um with all of our updates of activities that we have. We update the calendar every month. And now I'm gonna have our uh wellness peers just come up and let everybody know how they feel about being wellness peers and what their favorite part is. >> Hi everyone. Thank you for having us. My name is Marlene Hernandez and I am a senior. Why why I became a a peer was because to spread awareness about mental health and I know it's very

071important for everyone to understand about their mental health and I very much have enjoyed this experience. I made a lot of new friends and I I'm so happy and I want to thank Mrs. Pexog because she's a very understanding person and a very easy person to speak to and I enjoy the wellness center because it's a safe um spot for everyone and you don't feel judged. You can express yourself freely and I very much enjoy there's drawing you could do there um slime a lot of fidget toys and it's very amazing that we um held um Wednesday activities. I very much doing uh doing that and I I can say I gained a lot of confidence because I was more shy and doing wellness presentations on home rooms. It's very fun doing it with my

072friends because we spread um mental health awareness. We do like mini activities and it's it's silly too because we we make it fun and I very much enjoyed going to VCOE and doing training. We learned more about mental health and we made a lot of new friends and it's amazing friends with like Oxnard and Hanini. It's a very amazing experience. I think everyone should experience a sound bath. It's very soothing and it's like it takes all your stress away and it's like a calming spot. And I really enjoyed that we had our own sound bath that Mrs. Pexog did and she did an amazing job and um I think everyone should experience it and I really wish I joined my junior year as a wellness peer because it's honestly a lot of fun making new

073friends and all the amazing memories we've made. Thank you. Hello, my name is Karina Marmo. Um this is my first year as a wellness peer at Santa Paula High School. I became a wellness peer because I've always like found mental health very interesting and I want to help not just myself but the people around me. I think it's very important to have uh wellness centers at schools because we don't know how their home life is or like at school also like we don't know what they're going through and I think it's very important to make sure that they have a safe place to go to to where they can relax and like talk to someone. I just I just think it's very extremely important for all of the schools to have wellness centers. Thank you

074for your time. >> Hi, my name is Natalie Hernandez. This is my first year as a wellness peer. I am a senior as well. My favorite thing about being a wellness pier is making new friends. And yes, I'm friends with everyone here. And I really love the bond I created with Mrs. Peexhog. She's very kind, really silly, too, and has amazing stories. Um, I really like going to the VCOE trainings because we all be we all became friends with people from different schools and um I also learned more about what mental health is and to also help myself and my peers and to also take those resources back to home. And I really think it's important to have wellness centers at schools because not many people have resources and don't know where to look for

075them. And um Mrs. P has given us many amazing resources. And I believe being a wellness peer will benefit me in my future as I will be in college next year sadly. Well, only because it will be scary. But I hope it'll be fun and not scary. So, um, I want to major in education. So, I strongly believe the resources that Mrs. P is giving us will benefit me as an education major will be working with students and little kids. So, I strongly believe I will benefit from it. Thank you so much. Hello, hola salv. I hope I didn't half offend anyone. Um, my name is Hugo Cruz and the reason why I joined Wellness Peers was because honestly I've been going through stuff myself and I realized, hey, wellness centers really helped a lot.

076So why not just pass it forward instead of passing it back or like paying back? Um I feel like wellness centers are very important and they should stay because on average our wellness center receives like 25 students and that's seven days a week so that's 100 175 uh I feel like wellness centers are good for the students as in relieving them from stress with homework or other stuff And sometimes it's good to have someone to be there and be like, "Hey, I got your back." All right. Well, you've heard a lot about Sam sound baths tonight, so we thought it would be helpful to hear from one of the soundbath facilitators who we contract out with. So if you go to the next slide, we can hear from >> Hello everyone, my name is Anna

077Maria Lugo with Raising Mommy Alchemy and we have partnered with Santa Paula Unified School District now for two school years. We have been at Blanchard Elementary, Barbara Webster, uh we have been at Santa Paul High School and at uh Isabelle Middle School. We do trainings as well. And so we have uh trained wellness um center coordinators and uh school counselors across the board um some of which are part of the Santa Paula Unified School District. And uh we look forward to making sure that all of the wellness centers have somebody that's trained on site to facilitate sound baths as we speak. Um, we are preparing for a training that's coming up in March and I believe there are a couple people already signed up from the Santa Paula Unified School District. It is my pleasure

078to introduce something that I have been working on in collaboration with Isabelle Middle School and that is with Erica Himenez. Sound bath is something um that helped my daughter when she was in eighth grade overcome debilitating anxiety. And so it is my goal um that for the last four years that we have been doing this in schools and throughout the community that we continue to show uh in the schools ways that we can introduce sound bath meditation as a form of wellness, a holistic form of wellness and a holistic approach. And so in partnering with Isabelle Middle School, we decided to uh open it up and have uh teachers um sign up their entire classroom. And so I am on campus for two periods twice a month. So four total sound baths, up to four

079total sound bites per month. Um, and one, the teacher gets to bring their students in to participate in the sound breath. And two, um, this is also an invitation, an invitation to make the wellness center a more inviting place, a place that students know that they can find these activities uh, available to them there. And so I just want to go over some numbers with you which you will have on this slide that you are watching me on right now. But um just in terms of uh what we got as far as data pre soundbath um when we asked over 220 participants their calmness um about 45% said that they were okay. Uh we had 10% that were stressed and then about 6% that said they were very stressed. Um 29% that said they were

080calm. And then 10% that were very calm. This is pre so post sound bath. 44.8% so 45% of the students that participated in the sound bath after felt very calm. And uh 29% continued at that calm state. And then 19% so everybody going from okay um kind of shifted into this either they shifted into the calm or they stayed at the okay which was 19%. We had 16.7% that were very happy. So there was an increase in the mood and an increase in focus as well. um everything from less than 10% pre um focus of feeling very clear to up to 23% feeling very clear um and focused and then going from a 24% clear and focused all the way to a 38% clear and focus. using these holistic approaches and working together with teachers

081um one can help them you know integrate the sound bath meditation into the curriculum so that they're not losing that instruction time but also it increases the chances of a student wanting to visit the wellness center and so I look forward to continuing to work in other ways as um these wellness centers will become self- sustained in facilitating their own sound baths. I know that we already do them for parents in schools either in the morning or the evenings and then for staff and faculty. And so I just think that the more that we bring in these holistic practices as a form of introduction and as a form of integration within our communities and our schools that we will continue to have a happier and healthier school environment. Thank you so much. >> So, just

082to cap it off tonight, um next week is uh National School Week of the Counselor. And so, um the timing of this presentation tonight couldn't have been better. I'd like to recognize and honor all of our providers throughout the district and those we contract contract out with who um provide not only wellness but also social emotional and mental health support to our students and to our families. Again, thank you um governing board superintendent audience for um being here with us tonight to hear our update on our wellness centers. As you can tell, um it's great to see how we are bridging from the elementary to middle to the high school. Um so students can start as early as elementary, um becoming a wellness peer and taking that experience on to the middle school and to

083the high school and beyond. Um so it's really wonderful to hear their voices and their experiences and how um the wellness centers impact them directly in their lives. Thank you again. Um, I think the next slide is just um an opportunity for you if you had questions or comments. >> All right. Any comments or questions? >> Uh, I just have comments. So, I just want to um first acknowledge staff for all their work for doing this. This is very cool. And um I also just want to um acknowledge and thank the students, the student peers for doing this. Um, and as Trusty Futo said, having the courage to do this, um, in my opinion, I think these things only succeed because of the students and the student peers. Um, you know, your your fellow students

084are going to see you there. They're going to see the value in what you're doing to them. And that is not only going to pro allow these wellness centers to succeed while you're there, but I don't know if you think about it this way, but you're laying a foundation for these to succeed and continue after you're gone because other students that are going to be at the school after you leave uh will see all of the work that you did and the groundwork that that you did. So I really want to, you know, commend the peers for um, you know, doing something beyond yourself and bigger than yourself and thinking about, you know, the other students that that you go to school with. >> I just want to echo just to say thank you guys

085for being here and for doing such a wonderful job. You guys are fantastic. I wish we could clap after every one of you spoke, but for sake of time, we wait till the end. Um, and um, some water. Just you guys are great and, you know, pat yourselves on the back, continue doing the great work that you do, and know that you guys are role models. So, just a little bit more heat on you to always be good. And again, thank you. I have a question for um some of the ele from our one of our elementary school peers. Um I'm curious um have any of you guys noticed a change in the culture um from your school? Especially if your wellness center is newer. Have you changed? Have you noticed a change in the

086culture around your school around the wellness center? >> Anty takers hitting them on the spot. Asher Would an elementary wellness peer like to volunteer? >> There you go. >> Oh, we got two. Yay. >> Um, I think for my school, the wellness center has changed for a lot of people with confidence and um socializing with other people. Uh I think on behalf of my school, I think I've seen a great change in like the visitors because it used to be like just a few people, but now a lot of people are attending. Uh, I think it's because of the promotion that now we're like doing because we do schoolwide announcements and now we're having more lunch activities than before because before we used to do like less but now we do more. So, I think

087that's really benefited us. So, yeah. Thank you. >> Any other comments or questions? Um, >> oh, one more question for Dr. Santaia. Um, I'm curious. Do we have a wellness center at RHS? >> So, we have an unofficial wellness center at RHS. Um, Angela um Baldisa, the counselor at um Renaissance High School, um helps to operated along with um one of our wellness center, I'm sorry, mental health counselors. So we have um it's a small office space that we share um with it's like half of a health office, half of a wellness center corner or calming corner. So there are some activities and materials there um available to students um not it's not a large space, it's very small space, but it's something that they utilize there at Renaissance. >> Thank you. Um I did

088have just a couple quick uh questions. Um the the first one kind of revolves around uh the reach of the wellness centers, right? So I was curious if you actually see a difference between like say genders in terms of who's coming to the who's utilizing the wellness centers? Like do more girls do than boys? Um cuz I know that boys have this, you know, kind of the stigma about, you know, using any mental health um resources out there. Um but I also wanted to know too like, you know, are our EL students taking advantage of as as much as we would see or are how are our sped students, you know, utilizing these types of resources? So, >> so as part of the funding that we receive from VCOE, um, all of our wellness center

089counselors are required to collect data on who comes into the wellness center. Um, that data I don't have in front of me, I apologize, but that data is broken down by um, gender, um, English language proficiency, whether or not they're an English learner or not, as well as some other demographic data. Um that's something I could provide to the board in an Friday update. >> Yeah, that'd be great. Um the other thing is, you know, it was it was good to see the mental health referrals, right? It is a little bit hard for me to to know um like to judge that number because I don't know how many people really need mental health referrals. Um I think one thing that would be interesting is to know like what's the gap in services like when

090a referral is made to when they're actually getting appointments. Um, I just like to to kind of know like how nimble our system is, right? I mean, whether it's our internal mental health counselors and or uh VCBH cuz, you know, that speaks to the the impact that they're having, you know, to deal with. And I know a few years ago or a couple years ago, getting into VCBH was, you know, horribly hard to get. And so, I would just want to get a sense of of where we're at with that. >> Yeah. Actually, our wellness center counselors um serve a critical role in the social, emotional, mental health support of all of our students. Um oftent times they're that tier one level entry point. Um when a student goes into a one well wellness center

091um oftentimes a wellness center coordinator will be able to keep track of you know who are like the students who are you know repeaters who come into the wellness center often that often for us sends a red flag in terms of following up with a student individually identifying what their needs are. um you know perhaps there's other things going on outside of school um that the student is presenting with. So identifying how best to provide those supports to that student. So if it's beyond um tier one level service, we have referral systems in place to refer students to individual or small group counseling. Um if the symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress are more significant, um then oftent times our wellness center counselors, wellness center coordinators and counselors um will refer to our mental health

092counselors for tier three level support. Um, all tier three level referrals are also done concurrently with a referral to BCBH because those students often require that long-term continuum of care. Um, obviously we're limited by the school year and so sometimes a student with more significant needs is going to need support during breaks, um, summer breaks and whatnot or or even, you know, years of of of service and support. So, um it's an intricate web of referral systems and communication, um relationship building, but um we've I think through the MTSS um social emotional framework that we've been building upon um over the last two years, we've been really able to narrow um some of those gaps we identified early on. >> Okay. And then finally, more of a comment than anything, but you know, to me,

093you know, one of the keys is sustainability, right? And and we had talked before earlier this week at the budget meeting, I think, is that one, maybe another one. Um, but it does seem like the elementary schools, we have a good model, right? Um, and and that those those centers will be, you know, in good shape. You know, I I am a little concerned, more than a little concerned about the middle school and the high school because those are grant-f funded, >> right? Um, and so, you know, hopefully all those grants keep on coming in, right? And they just keep on rolling over. Um, but it is certainly something that we should be at at least having contingency on. Um, because, you know, budget is going to be tight. So, and I think I can

094speak for the rest of the board. We're all in support of what of the work that you all are doing here. So, >> thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. Um let's move on to uh the 6B the strategic planning process. >> Half and half are here. >> Got any videos? >> Great job students. You're a tough act to follow. All right. Good evening everyone. Uh, board of trustees, superintendent Weinstein. Are we taking a break? >> No, but I mean, >> we don't need a break. No, we're keeping on going. >> Yeah, we're going. >> Yep. >> Um, student board members, everyone left in the audience. Hello, directors. >> All right. Uh so tonight uh director Bergman and I will be presenting on the Santa Paula Unified School District strategic plan uh which

095is set to span 2025 to 2030. 2025 is really our planning year or our pilot year. We did start this work in September and I'll get into that in a later slide. And uh what we're going to do today is outline the strategies that have been identified to really bring the learner profile to life. And um I don't want to steal anything from Director Bergman's slide that's coming up, but really the point of a strategic plan is uh to move us away from reacting uh to being proactive in how we want to shape our future and to ensure that we're keeping our students at the forefront of the work. brought my binder. I brought my binder today. I don't know. >> Can we advance the slide or I guess I could do it. >> There

096we go. So, what was Thank you. What was the purpose or what is the purpose of a strategic plan? So the purpose of our strategic plan is to provide and coordinate and focus our efforts to help guide the district and the sites to make better decisions that will lead to sustainable long-term success instead of like director Garris said being reactive to events that happen. Next slide please. Our process is the next slide. There you go. All right. So, as I mentioned earlier, we began this process back in September, and we recognize that that's a little bit late in the game to create a strategic plan for the current school year. So, this plan is really a draft or a living document uh that we will continue to update um as needs present themselves over the

097course of the next few years. Uh there were uh numerous people who participated in the creation of this document. We had uh members of the board of trustees. We had our directors and our uh district leadership. And we also had representation from site administration. We met bi-weekly to help conceptualize this plan. Uh over the course of four months, initially the meetings were a little little bit painful. We were all over the place. We had lots of ideas. We felt like every idea was very important and uh everyone had their niche and finally I have to give credit to director Bergman because she provided a template for the group and then that is when we started to see our ideas uh come to fruition in the form of an actual plan and not just talking and

098talking and talking uh like we do sometimes. So, um, great job on doing that. And, uh, go ahead and advance this slide. >> See, we're both doing it now. >> Okay. >> We can't. >> We're good. It's been a long day. We We're very busy. Um, so our plan is broken into three structural components. There's area focus, priority targets under those folky, and then the actions that will be taken. So the areas of focus represent the broad overarching domains that advance and support the mission and vision of the district. The priorities under those areas of focus define the major initiatives that we'll pursue over the next five years. And then thirdly, the actions translate these priorities into specific measurable efforts implemented annually. So, as we're halfway through this school year, it's time for us to

099now start gathering data on our metrics and feedback to ascertain if we're meeting these these actions, if they are something sustainable in our culture that'll come off the plan, if we need to adjust them for next year. So, really the next meeting we'll start talking about 2627. All right. And we do have a typo on the title of this slide. It really should read areas of focus. So you'll notice that there are five areas of focus. First instruction, connectedness, engagement, opportunity, opportunity, business services, and certificated human resources. When we first began the work and for the majority of the time we were together, the first four were all we had down on the page. And then at the very end, we felt like something was missing. And that's when the business services and certificated human

100resources piece uh was added. So for each of these areas of focus, we have a slide in the coming in the rest of the presentation that drills down a bit on the priorities and the actions that we will engage in in order to meet these areas of focus. So first we'll look at first instruction. Um and we're we're not going to read the slides to you. you've got the presentation in front of you. So, we'll just kind of talk about a little bit that is encompassed by that area of focus. So, first instruction, our identified five-year priorities are literacy, math, and science and equity and excess. So, these actions, the the actions for this year, they're very comprehensive. Um, so as one example, if you look under literacy, you can see investigate a TK8 writing

101program. Our data showed us that writing is an area of opportunity for our district and our current curriculum doesn't support our students in the rigorous fashion that we need. So, we have a literacy task force that has met and taken on this action and we're currently analyzing writing programs K8. So, we've got that vertical articulation in an effort to run a pilot for next year. Our next area of focus is connectedness. Creating inclusive, equitable, and engaging learning environments where every student feels they can belong and thrive. So our priorities for this area are supporting our special populations. Really uh working to implement professional learning communities with fidelity and our MTSS framework. And I want to take a moment to highlight the PLC work that we're doing K12 with Ventura County Office of Education alongside Trusty

102Frutos's wife Cynthia. We have teams from elementary, middle, and high school who've attended a series of workshops already. We just completed the third of five this school year. And we're really excited to roll out our learning the rest of this year as well as into next year. And we have a plan for our leadership retreat that will really highlight our PLC work so that we can continue that in the 2627 school year. So we've made concertive concerted efforts to increase not only student but family and community engagement as well. So it's only natural that engagement is one of our areas of focus. Um the defined priorities are schoolmies, continued growth in parent and community engagement, our community schools, and our alternative education options. Now, all of these actions are well defined, and if you're visiting

103any of our school sites, you will see these actions in action. Um, one of the actions under our school academy focus was the aligned activities, after school aligned activities. So you can see those in art clubs that are happening at Blanchard and Mckvitt, steam clubs here at Glen City and the Boys and Girls Club presentation that we had last week as well. Our uh next area of focus, our fourth one is opportunity, which includes expanding pathways and experiences that prepare students for college, career, and lifelong success. And we have four priorities within this particular area of focus. And you'll notice that these priorities span K12. So it's not just about what we're doing at middle and high school to prepare students for college and careers, but that is going to begin um as early as

104TK one. Oh, preschool too. Yes. And um there is a focus both both on college and career readiness. So those post-secary opportunities So, like director Gar mentioned, this wasn't one of our original identified areas of focus, but as we were working through everything, the team realized something was missing. And it was very apparent that fiscal responsibility and high quality workforce is key to all of these focus areas, priorities, and actions. So many of these actions are something that you will see continually showing up in next year's strategic plan and the year after because they're central to strong implementation of everything in the strategic plan. >> Tada. Thank you. Questions? >> All right, members questions, comments, >> complaints. >> Just a question. Um so I see business services I see I see certificated human resources I

105don't see classified um will that be brought back in future strategic strategic plans for next year um what I guess what is the thought process behind that >> so that's definitely an area that can be considered in the next strategic plan is the entire workforce >> any other. >> No, I just want to say thank thank you directors for uh for the presentation and um just wanted to also make sure that the board understands that this is a a plan. It's a living document that that definitely means that we have some areas uh to grow from. But when you stop and think about it, it's also connecting directly from our learner profile. Um and that's kind of was our motiv motivating um talking points and you pointed that out but that's just something that you

106know we've invested uh a lot of time and energy into our learner profile and then this document right here really just gives it and breaks it down. So thank you. I think it's the learner profile, the LCAP, the individual SIP says, it's really bringing everything together so it kind of can guide the efforts >> and and I think look at this is been on the board for five years and we finally have the be and what I'll call is the beginnings of a strategic plan, right? I mean, we went to into it like you said, the first several meetings were a bit painful, right? Because, you know, we didn't have a facilitator. We're trying to do this on our own. Um, and you know, this is a really good first start and I think that

107we're going to live into it. Um, because I think we're going to understand, well, what does it really do? Like we've we're going to reference this and then we're going to change things. You know, some things we might have not put on that should be and vice versa, right? Some things that are on maybe aren't going to be as, you know, strategic. It's not about putting everything on here, right? is putting those key things that we have to focus on. And so within five years, like I mean the idea is to to to have a vision of where we're going, right? You know, where does we want this district to be in three to five years, right? And then you create a plan that helps you get to that place. And so I'm not 100%

108sure if we're we're right there with that what that vision looks like. What do we want our school to look like? But I think we're getting there. I think that this is part of that work. um you know and and you two are are pretty darn new into your positions, right? And their key positions and I think that as we go through this for the next round, like you'll have different feedback on it. Um I think one of the things that I hope to see going forward is more engagement with the the sites and the staff. Um we kept it small purposefully, right? Not because we think that we have all the answers, but because when you grow this, right, and especially if you're doing it in the first time, when you grow that group,

109right, then it's hard to manage. Um, but I think with the experience that we've had, you know, we can do we can do better at at engage in the science because they got to live it too, right? Um, so anyways, >> I I just had one comment. So, first off, also, you know, great work. I think this looks, you know, fantastic. I I did happen to be in one of those I think early meetings about six months ago. Um and yeah, I mean this it could be very nebulous stuff and it's hard to wrap your head around like you know what does this even mean? Um and so I haven't been a part of some of the other you know strategic planning committees just because of you know our board has representation on there. You

110know the actions are great you know especially if they're specific and achievable and and we can point to this is something that we're going to do this year. I don't know if this has been talked about in the committee, but I think one other area that may be something it would be worth, you know, looking into if if it hasn't is how do these actions and these priorities, how are they reflected in our board's policies? Because if we have something that we're going to say we're going to do this, then I think the next step, the next granular level is having that actually official in our district's policies, you know, because then we're saying we're going to do it. It's in our policy and we're going to hold, you know, staff, hold our board, hold

111everybody accountable. Um, it's great to have this vision document. Um, and it's great to call out those actions, but I think again that one next step, and I apologize if I'm saying something we've already talked about, is, you know, I would love to see some of these things that we're talking about in the actions. How do how are those in our policies? And if they're not, we better put them in there, right? >> No. And and that's a great point because we haven't talked about that. >> Yeah. And further, I mean, just to expand on that, I'm looking at the document and I know it's referring to, you know, the LCAP, learner profile, mission, vision statement. Um, this document could live in Google Docs where anybody can access and within those words, a link to

112that document in addition to the policies and um any programs or pilot things that we're doing, a link to those documents where it just takes you to everything that we're doing, whether it's minutes from other committee meetings or um where we're at in LCAP or what we've done. But does that make sense? >> You know, just to piggyback on that because I think that a lot of times you'll go on social media, you know, on certain sites, you'll go this the district isn't doing anything, right? And and I think that that that this document, you know, is contrary to that n uh to that narrative. And so when you do have those links to all the other things that we are like doing that are a part of this, that's that's just transparency, right? That's

113just good for the community to know. Um so good point. >> Other city plans where and you click on a link and it takes you to that exhibit or whether whether it's a graph, whether it's photographs, whether another link to another um section of our website, but I don't know if it's there for it to be on like just on our main page or internal. >> I think this is meant for some some links that exist now that can be added and it is just an internal document at this time. Well, well, kudos for keeping it tight and compact. I've seen strategic plans that are like >> reference books and it's like, okay, that's that's not a plan. >> That that's what I was advocating for. I lost Thankfully, you know, >> that's what the

114links for that context or text that you need. So, I appreciate it just like this. Very simple. And then if I want more, I can click on that topic. We did take a look at numerous strategic plans from other districts and we selected elements from those plans that we felt were appropriate for our document, but I would imagine it will evolve over time, especially with Dr. Sandaval's input. >> I was thinking about when I can get off this committee, but anyways. Well, and you know, and the other thing too, I mean, it starts to become overkill, but I think it also provides value like when we're having district events or when we're implementing new programs, whether at the site level or we're having to do these new initiatives, you know, when maybe even there's public

115speaking or we're doing presentations even in this, you know, environment at a board meeting referencing, you know, in those staff reports like, hey, we're doing this because this in our strategic plan. um you know those kind of connections you know kind of make it tangible and real too. um you know and that's just going to be a learned behavior as as this becomes formalized and it becomes you know just generally accepted and we all know this is there um and it's something that we can refer to you know that's that's kind of the endgame right is that we're kind of walking what we're we're talking so >> and I I think you're right with it being a new process the strategic plan isn't something that we've had before and I think educating everybody as to

116what a strategic plan really is because when we were talking to different sites, I mean, they're like, "But we're doing this and we're doing this." And it's like, "You're doing so much, but not everything because then it does become the dissertation document." >> Well, and and it's not too that they have to not do those things, but we have to have priorities, right? And a strategic plan is a great document to sort of, you know, remind folks, hey, yeah, we it's not that we're not going to do those other things, but when push comes to shove, we have to prioritize the things that most strongly align to our visions in the strategic plan first. And then if we are able to do other things after, then we'll do those. But this has to be the

117guiding light for everything that we do. All right, thank you. Okay, let us move on to uh one more or excuse me, seven information skipping to 8A3 that was pushed to here. >> Similar to when I uh um present board policies, this is a first reading. It is a draft. Um, this basically is a resolution that says our intent is to go out for bond money in November of 2026 to the voters and ask them to endorse these bonds and we need to have 55% of the registered voters to um approve it in order for it to go through. So when we started this document, we were looking at two things. One is what is the need as far as the high school goes as far as the the pool, the band room, the athletic

118center, the locker rooms, and what do we currently have? Um, and one of the other areas we looked at was, okay, we kind of know what we need, but we don't want to overburden the taxpayer. So, we came up with the starting numbers of $39,875,000 in bonds to be asked for. And with that, um, we're estimating that the per $100,000 assessed value will be $2811 for the taxpayer. Now, this may change, but we try to giveelves enough cushion so that it keeps it below $30. and $30 is half the 50% of what we're allowed to go up to. We're allowed to go up to 60. Um, and so this is actually a little less than half. The idea really is that with our refinancing our bonds and this we have a little bit of an

119offset. It will not offset it completely. Um, the savings is is going to be minimal compared to this. But what we do need is we do need to move forward with our school facilities. So the process is that we do a first reading, then we bring it back to you with some updated numbers, and then we ask the bond the the board to approve a resolution that is our intent to go to the election with the bonds, but that doesn't mean it's finalized. So, in other words, at any time um you if we figure out in May, you know what, this isn't going to work. We can't do it. We just resend the resolution. So, this is just kind of the first step in the process of going out for general obligation bonds. General obligation

120bonds again are just from the assets of our community. And so, we these were done on a very conservative number on our asset growth. And so we're going to go back and we're going to explore other opportunities that with the growth that any questions >> Jeff do you know if there are if any other local entities are going to be asking for bonds looking for bonds >> maybe Santa Paul County and then state. >> Um right now we're we're first. So, I mean the uh you never know what other districts going to go. Uh we took a poll in our last superintendent meeting and a couple of other entities will you know school districts will be going out for bonds but they're not um one would be Oxnard L is going out I believe for

121a bond and the other one would be KJO Valley. So the um for us the idea is to get on the ballot first so that our community here you know um will endorse our bonds and because when I'm I mean as a taxpayer myself sometimes you start going down the list of bonds that they want us to do whether it's utility bonds or school bonds and it all goes to our property taxes it could be a little overwhelming. So being first is important. >> And then the second question is >> and just to to add to that, right, you know, as far as I've heard, right, I mean that the city there's nothing no activity in the city, right, on that. Uh I think the one I would be most concerned about is the community

122college district. Um because they had contemplated a bond. I don't know where they fall in that. Um but there's a potential there. I know at some point um the Ventur County Transportation Committee has proposed uh uh like a half percent or a quarter% sales tax, but I don't know if they're discussing that at all or anything. So, um it's pretty clear. I don't think there's any state bonds on there. They had just run the school bond last year. So, there's really I don't know of anything that's going to compete with it. My my comment was um or more of a question is so when's the second reading? When would we have a second reading or when do we go for approval? >> The it would be the second meeting in February. So we'll come back

123with revisions again for a second reading in uh February 11th. And then once everybody has their questions answered and we feel we're real close to exactly what we're going to do, we'll come back on the 25th and we will ask the board for approval. >> Okay. because in that process, excuse me, sir, just um I want to make sure that when we do ask the board for approval and maybe it needs to be more discussion, I want to make sure we have a plan um a campaign plan because I felt like the last two times we didn't have a plan, >> right? And uh I want to make sure that if we are going to put our ourselves out there uh that we maybe develop a committee uh and and then and then start working

124on what is who are our partners out there that that can support us. Basically a plan. >> So that's kind of what I'm looking at. >> And I think one of the things we didn't take advantage of last two times was our union partners, our labor unions within the community. they are always willing to walk, knock on doors, do door hangers and stuff like that and we didn't take advantage of that. So I think our plans now will be more of a grassroots but we will have an actual campaign plan to bring back to the board. So to to piggyback the some of the questions from Trusty Futos, does has the district in the past, you know, with the the measures that went last year or with this, have we done any type of polling

125of the community to just to see if kind of what the heat map is? >> When we went out in March of 2024, we did some polling, not a lot, a little bit of polling. Um, we did not do polling for November of 2024. >> And and I'm presuming too that this plan because November's or or last year's there was there were two. There was one for the high school and then one for some of the the other uh facilities in the district. This is obviously coming up because this is the priority. If we're going to correct choose one or the other and we're going to do only do one, this is the one that we we >> Yeah, this is the one we need to do. I mean, it'll piggy back and remember the

126bride and gym. We've got insurance money that's going to pay for the rebuilding the bride and gym, but a lot of these facilities are connected in a way to the bride and gym. We also have purchased a number of properties on Palm and some of those properties will be demolished to give us parking and things like that. So this is definitely a priority for the high school and our district questions. >> Any other comments, questions? All right. Um, yeah, just to echo, you know, some of the things that have been said, you know, we definitely got to campaign differently. I think we need to, you know, really make sure there that we're hearing from people in the community. you know, there's I've had other people come up to me and say, "Hey, how come you

127didn't ask us?" Right. Right. >> Um, so we have to be much more proactive about it. I think we also on the facility the school facility project list. I think we do need to talk about that too. I mean, it wouldn't really be a bad idea to, you know, in the first meeting in se February um to to to really kind of go through this a little bit more detail, >> review the project list. >> Yeah. Because funds. >> Yeah. I mean because we need to have like if we put down everything people are going to go you're just doing that because right but you know what is really the priority we know what those are and we need to be as absolutely transparent about those things as we possibly can. Um I mean we

128were close on each one of those and so you know we want to be more than just close. We want people to to to really come out and support this. And I think if we do that in a very measured and you know um thoughtful way that we can get there. Um but only if we put the work in. Right. Only if we put the work in. >> Absolutely. >> So >> thank you. >> All right. Moving on. Uh you're still up. >> Yeah. The action item superintendent approval of resolution. Um action items um 8A1 and two are the refunding or refinancing of the existing bonds. The resolution is to is again an intent to go out into the marketplace and see if we can save the taxpayer some money. So we'd like an approval

129on both 8 A1 and 8 A2. And Jeff, just to clarify, this these two items were presented and discussed a little bit under the superintendent report, the bond. >> Yes. Okay. >> And there is two some of the confusion is that that you might have is that there is two resolutions because one has to cover the elementary school district bonds that we're refunding and one has to cover the high school district bonds that we're refunding. So, we had to do two separate resolutions. So, I'll make a motion that we approve resolution 2025 2026 uh-12 for refinance in the amount of $10 million. >> Do I hear a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. Any further discussion? If not, we'll move to a preferential vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >>

130All right. Board vote. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> All right. Eyes have it. Motion passes. So, moving on to the approval of resolution 20 25613. Do I hear a motion to approve? >> Move. >> I'll second. >> All right. Hearing uh first and a second. Do we have any discussion? Again, all I'll say is that anytime we can save our community money, we got to do it, right? It's just a no-brainer. So, um, glad to see these that we're being proactive about these things. Um, okay. So, let's move to a preferential vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. And a board vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. All right. Motion passes. 5-0. >> All right. Let us move to educational services

131approval of new courses for secondary school. >> Good evening again. Last meeting I brought to your attention a number of courses for approval. So tonight uh we're just seeking the stamp of approval for those courses that were brought to your attention last time. Do we have any comments or discussion or questions? >> All right. Um, do I hear a motion? >> I'll make the motion for approval. >> And I'll second. >> Oh, you are on. You're very quiet. >> A little bit louder. >> All right. That was a a first by Trusty Aoyo >> and a second. >> Second. >> Trusty Fru. Okay. So, we will move to a preferential vote. Uh if there's no further discussion. All right. So preferential vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Board vote. All

132those in favor say I. >> I. >> Yes. >> Uh opposed. Motion passes. 5 Z. All right. Uh new course request for Santa Paula High School. >> So we have a little straggler course here tonight. So, uh we're bringing to your attention the building and construction two course which will be the concentrator in the three course uh pathway for our newest uh pathway of courses at Santa Paula High School. >> This doesn't need to be approved right now. It will come back. Right. So, correct. >> It is under action items. I know last meeting the courses were under the information section and then they are under action and this one is under action. So I think you can take action on it >> but I think because it says the request will return to a

133future meeting for the board's consideration of approval and we have to hear we have to have to do it here >> bring it back next. >> Yeah. So this was just misplaced. We didn't catch that. >> Are there any questions about the building and construction 2 course? >> I don't think there's a a question but I mean definitely a comment. Um the the buildings and construction pathway is uh a great thing for our students. So glad to see that we're moving on to number two. >> Isn't there a three, two, and a four? So can't they just all be approved and then just take course they need to? >> So they have to take the sequence of courses. >> Correct. But can't we approve them two years in advance or does it have to be

134done the year >> before? They have to be designed, right? >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. They're not quite >> fully designed. Oh, >> okay. Okay. So, we just approved in concept originally. Okay. Got it. >> All right. Any other comments or questions or All right. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh, school accountability report cards. Good evening, board president, board members, everyone in the public. So, tonight I we are requesting your approval for our school accountability report cards. This provi um report card provides our parents and the community with important information about each public school. Um they do need to be posted on our website by February 1st. Um and the principles have been working on their accountability uh report card since October 6. Are there any comments or questions for Dr. Ramirez? All right. So, uh,

135do I hear a motion to approve the SARS for the schools in Santa Paul Unified School District? >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> All right. Well, we will move to a preferential vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Board vote. All those in favor say I. >> Opposed. All right. Eyes have a motion passes. All right. Business services approval of purchase of hardware/chromebooks. >> Good evening, board, superintendent, and member of the public. Tonight, we're requesting more approval to purchase 850 Chromebooks in support of the district's onetoone device program. These devices will replace aging Chromebooks that are nearing end of life and will soon no longer be supported. Uh while we usually uh bring this item later on the spring, we're recommending approval at this time due to global RAM shortage

136that is driving Chromebook prices up. This is due largely to a global demand for AI infrastructure. By acting now and securing pricing from a vendor with available US inventory, the district can avoid anticipated price increases and it's projected to save 30 to $40,000. Uh this purchase will improve device performance security, reduce maintenance issues to our fleet, and ensure equitable access to reliable technology for all of our students. The total cost of this purchase is $264,25455 and all uh to be founded through the LCAP B4B. Any questions? >> So, a couple questions I have and and I recognize the importance of of having the onetoone and the Chromebooks and in our classrooms. Um, is this coming out? I understand it's LCAP, but is this coming out of a general fund or is this each school site

137will be charged a specific amount based on the the the request or need that's coming from each of the school sites? >> This one's specifically coming from the LCAP P4B uh fund that we have for technology. Uh specifically um this one is for technology devices and and uh classroom technology. Uh so basically on the LLC cap we put that aside to purchase devices for for the classroom. >> And then how do you determine which which school side which classroom uh gets them? I mean obviously you you have data on which Chromebooks are outdated. Are you ordering enough or are you is I just curious how you came to this number here. >> So we have a recruitment process. So we basically define the need. Uh we have an inventory of all of our Chromebooks that

138are going to be nearing end of live and what happens when they're basically near end of live they're they're not getting any updates. So uh a lot of the states that uh or or the testing that the students are taking some of these Chromebooks need to be on certain update if not they're not able to you know to either take the test. So currently we have about 800 Chromebooks uh that need to be replaced by next year. Um I'm just adding that 50 uh to have some extra ones just in case we need for um uh for any additional students or any other Chromebooks that uh we might need throughout the year. >> And did you say the life of the Chromebooks? Is it five, six? >> It's five years. I think the only thing

139I'll comment on is it was just interesting at the AI task force where some teachers are starting to kind of question the use of Chromebooks um because of AI, right? Um I I think it's just something that, you know, it just caught my attention. It'll be interesting to see, you know, how Chrome boot books continue to be part of our educational process. Um certainly happy to approve these now because that's you know that's what our essentially our policy is. Um but it'll be interesting to to hear what the educators say. You know really what this the smart thing is going forward for our kids. So >> just clarification here. We were going to make this we were anticipated to make this purchase at the end of the year. We're just wanting to push it up

140just to save us a couple bucks. Right. >> It would essentially save us about 30 to 40,000 if not more. Uh because right now just on the quotes that we we got, we're saving 30 to $40,000 compared to other vendors. Um and from the information I'm getting from the vendors is that they're going to even go more um more up due to the shortage of of of of RAM and um yeah. So so that's basically it. >> All right. So, do I hear a motion to uh approve the uh Chromebook purchase? >> Go for it. >> I'll motion. >> I'll second it. >> You guys down there, don't be shy. Feel free. All right. So, I heard uh first and a second. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, we'll move to a preferential vote.

141All those in favor favor say I. >> I. >> Uh opposed. All right. Board vote. All those in favor say I. >> Opposed. All right. Motion passes. >> Honor approval for fiscal year 2425. The the most fun presentation of the year. >> Hi there. On the Yep, he's there. I want to introduce Jeff Nigro from Niagra and Nigro and he's going to provide us with the audit update. >> Oh, thank you. Such a big uh standard to live up to there, huh? most exciting. Um, well, uh, thank you for, uh, listening me tonight. I'm gonna keep the presentation fairly brief. Um, I made a mistake earlier. Your IT department asked if I was going to need to share my screen and I realized I have a PowerPoint. I told them I was not, but I'm

142going to try it anyway and see if this works. So, um, let's see. >> There it is. It's coming. >> All right. Great. So, I was able to do it without it's help. So, here we go. Um, we're going to um talk about the 2425 fiscal year audit report. Uh, obviously it's, you know, we're 7 months past the end of that fiscal year, but the audit, as you know, takes time. Um, and so here we are. Let's see if I can advance this now. Excuse me while I figure out the technology here. So um I always like to talk about what the purpose of an audit is. I think sometimes just the word audit has a lot of negative connotations. People hear the word audit and they think about you know IRS or you know

143they hear these stories of companies with people coming in and people getting escorted out in handcuffs and things like that. And there certainly are audits like that but the annual audit that we do is nothing like that. is this is the standard annual audit that's required by the education code and the objective is really for us to give an independent opinion on your financial statements. So as you know that you adopt those unodudited actual financial statements back in September and we come in as an independent uh party and review those and make sure that they're in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles and so the auditor gives an independent opinion. We also have to look at things like compliance with laws and regulations because if there's certain areas where the district's out of compliance, they

144could have a material impact on those financial statements as well. Audits not designed to look for fraud, waste, and abuse. There are tight audits that do that, but not the annual audit. And you know, the main one of the side benefits of the audit is that it can alert administration to possible internal control weaknesses. So as we're doing our work, you know, we look at the checks and balances in place and see if there's recommendations for improvement on the way uh the controls are handled. So again, in the audit, the district has responsibilities, the auditors have responsibilities. The district's responsibility is to maintain effective internal controls. So the audit is not an internal control itself. You know, it's not appropriate to say, well, the auditor is going to check that so we don't have to

145worry about it. So the district maintains internal controls. They report the financial statements. And so like I said back in September, you get the unodudited actuals and the district's also obviously responsible for preparing and managing the budget. The auditor's responsibility is to provide an opinion on whether those financial statements are materially correct. So the auditor can give three different types of opinions. Unmodified, which is what you've got in your financial statements. um that's a clean opinion. An uh other types of opinions that an auditor can give are qualified which is basically saying it's a clean opinion except for a particular area of the financial statements that we don't really think is reported correctly. Or we can give an adverse or disclaimer of opinion which is basically that the financial statements are not prepared appropriately. or

146disclaimer is really bad because that's where we say the financial statements are so bad we don't know if they're right or wrong. So, it's no opinion at all. Um, in my 30 plus 30 35 year history of doing audits, I've never seen one of those, but it's a possibility. But it's important to understand the auditor's opinion on the financial statements does not address the district's financial condition. That's outside the scope of the audit. We don't look into the future. We just look at the past. the audit and it it runs over the course of the year. Um so we don't wait until the fall after the financial statements prepared to do audit work. In fact, we start our audit work early. In fact, we're already planning the 2526 audit. Um in the spring, we go

147to the school sites. Um we look at the attendance accounting procedures and ASB at the high school and middle schools. Um we go out to the district office in the summer uh before the books are closed to look at internal controls and start looking at some of the compliance areas. So we get about half of the audit done by the time before the books are even closed. And then in the fall once you've done the unodudit actuals we'll come back and look at the final financial statement information and audit the rest of the compliance areas. So, like I said on the opinion of the our our opinion on the district's financial statements was unmodified. We also have to look at federal programs because you're a recipient of federal funds and you're subject to what's called

148the single audit act which means we have to sample uh federal programs and we have to look at the uh compliance related to those programs. So we looked at the child nutrition program and the mental health services grant this year last year I should say and uh we also gave an unmodified opinion on compliance on those programs. And then finally we also have to look at state programs and let me tell you the number of state programs that we have to audit every year has grown substantially. Every year they add new programs. uh you keep getting more dollars for these programs and there are strings attached and so the state has us looking at more and more. In fact, in the recent couple of years, it's there's been an explosion with the ELOP program and

149the TK program and all those. And then in this current fiscal year, we're going to be adding the attendance recovery to that as well. So every year more and more programs to look at and a lot of these areas that we have to look at have financial consequences for non-compliance. So if we find areas where the district's out of compliance um particularly in ELOP um instructional time ADA things like that there are pretty severe financial penalties for non-compliance in those areas. But I'm pleased to report in the 2425 audit, no findings in state compliance area. And then finally, just this little chart. Um I just put this in here because it's been in the presentation the last few years. It just shows the districts um as you can see it's sort of declining ADA and

150enrollment for the district as you know many states or many districts in the state are experiencing declining enrollment. This just shows over the last 5 years what the district's uh ADA and enrollment has been. Um and those numbers are down to 2425 you got 4,257 ADA. So, um, not much you can do about that, but, uh, you know, you you work with what you have, right? So, um, as long as you keep trying to improve the percentage of ADA enrollment, you're on the right course. I >> I just had one quick question on that. Is that funded at ADA or is that actual? >> That's actual P2. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And then, uh, that's my presentation. and I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Board, any questions, comments? No findings is is good.

151Usually there's a a little bit, right? Uh ASB didn't even hit the list on this or this time. I think this is the first time I think this is the first time we haven't had anything at all. nothing at all. All right. So, >> well, I >> that's correct or not, but >> well, let let me clarify the the last page of the report does have a couple of management recommendations on ASB. >> Okay. Can we go over any uh recommendations you might have because I think that would be very helpful. >> Yeah. So, um, and and let me clarify, these are not findings because to us they're not significant enough when you look at the district as a whole and the dollars and everything. These were not serious issues, but we felt that they

152were important enough to report to management and to the board. So um last page in our review of dispersements at Santa Paula High um we found five instances where expenditures were approved before the expense were not approved before the expense was incurred. So in other words an expense was incurred and then the approval was obtained after the fact in five situations. And these are things that we found last spring and reported to management. So, I'm sure they already addressed, but um again, you know, it's our recommendation that they ensure that the district or that the school is only approving expenses before they're actually made. You know, it's it just sort of common sense. And then finally, when we're reviewing cash receipts, we found four instances where the deposits that were made into the ASB account

153didn't have sufficient documentation to verify where the funds came from to verify that all the money was there and so forth. And so depending on the type of activities there's a lot of different types of documentation that can be kept to to show the source of income, the source of the revenue, the uh you know the whether it's you know um sales from a type of event that would require you know issuing tickets or whether it's um you know um cash receipt. So it's it there's different types of activities that have different types of documentation, but just for these four that we sampled, we didn't really see what was any sufficient documentation that could verify that all the money was present and accounted for. And so those are sort of I I I don't want

154to downplay it, but I will tell you in my experience, these are the most common comments that we have in ASBs. Um particularly in the high schools because, you know, they they're the new the number of transactions, you know, you're often dealing with people handling the books that aren't necessarily have financial background or accounting backgrounds. And so these are very common. But again, just warrant bringing to management's attention. >> All right. >> I do have a question. It's petty and I could probably ask Lori about it, but since we have the expert here, um >> I know >> myself being in ASV when I was in high school and when you're trying to get ready for an event and oh, we forgot to buy this, we forgot to buy that. So you run to here

155in Santa Paula would be Vans or the Dollar Tree and you buy the things that were missing. So now the students who paid for these items or the parents can no longer get reimbursed because it wasn't requested ahead of time. What would be your opinion on how to address these? Would it be on a credit card so that it's just charged to an ASB credit card or principal? I I don't know. How do you resolve these matters? >> Yeah. um generally. Okay, so one thing just back up a minute. I I do um ASB workshops for school districts all the time and and that's a very common question that comes up and you know what do we do in little emergency cases? So what I normally recommend and it's I I get that it's a

156lot easier said than done in a perfect world. You're never going to have these kind of situations, right? But in the real world obviously those things come up and if it's you know if it's a rare thing we probably wouldn't even have commented if it was you know only one instance or a couple instances and especially if it's an emergency but when it becomes sort of a more common practice. It's something that we just feel like we need to make the people at the site aware that this shouldn't be occurring frequently in the scenario you mentioned. Again, we probably if it's if it's just a once in a year type of thing, I don't think it's really warrants a separate procedure. But one of the things I recommend to districts is at the end of

157the year, at the end of the school year, try to anticipate the types of things that you see occurring regularly. Like there often are times over the summer when there's no kids available that there's certain expenses that we have to pay. And try to get a a purchase order approval ahead of time for those types of things. if there are certain types of repairs or certain types of supplies that you know you're going to need to try to get those approvals done in advance so that you don't run into those types of last minute quote emergencies you know um but again in the real world we know that there's going to be times when that happens and and you know the idea here is obviously just not to let it be a common practice that

158hey let's go buy this stuff and then we'll ask for permission later when it's too late you know Thank you. And then the other part you were mentioning about that the information on the forms isn't correct. Do they have a standard form that they're supposed to follow and they just don't complete it? Is that what you noticed or or the documentation submitted was just all over the board? >> If are you talking about the second comment about the cash receipts? >> Yes. >> Yeah. It wasn't it wasn't anything. it was just the the documentation wasn't really um adequate basically for for instance you know I'm I don't have the do the specifics in front of me but if we were for example looking at a deposit into the ASB fund of a certain dollar amount

159we'd want to see all the support that shows where that deposit came from what type of a fundraiser was it or what type of a an event was it that the money was collected from uh whether it was re and receipts issued. Was there some sort of a ticket sales? Was there some sort of a cash register used for the event or something like that? So, we we just didn't see enough to show us what it was. >> Thank you. >> All right. If there's no further questions, I'll uh ask for a motion. Do we have a motion to uh accept the uh the to approve the audit for fiscal year 202425? >> I'll motion. >> I'll second. >> All right. So, we will uh any further discussion. All right. Hearing none, we'll move to

160a preferential vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. And board vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. >> Yes. >> Opposed. All right. eyes have it. Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much. We like those uh non-controversial ones. >> All right. We'll move on to human resources approval of the 2627 instructional calendars. >> Good evening. Um tonight before you we have the uh 2025 um in I'm sorry, 2026 2027 instructional calendars. And I would like to note that the start date for next school year would be uh would resume to starting on a Wednesday because it was noted by everyone that um starting on a Monday was a very rough start. I think we can all say from TK to 12th grade, everybody found

161it to be very rough. >> Are we going to try and not schedule the board meeting for that same Wednesday? I do not have control over that. >> No, but sometimes sometimes it's good to have one right before >> so the last minute approval of uh personnel isn't done after the fact. >> Yeah, that's always that's always the best way to go. >> Yeah. All right. So, do I hear a motion to approve the um 2627 instructional calendars? >> Some moved. Well, it dies for lack a second, I guess. >> I'll second it. >> All right, good. In the nick of time. Uh, any further discussion? >> Are there any major changes other than the one you just mentioned? It looks pretty similar to what we've been doing over the >> Right. It's pretty consistent.

162Um we just looked at the um the dates where they fell and made sure that you know um that they all lined up with our normal breaks and um winter break and spring break and everything, but everything else is pretty consistent. >> Is there a reason why we don't put the graduation dates on our June calendar? >> Um the we don't put the graduation dates. Usually the school sites um determine that. They work on that. I knew I do know that um the high school graduation date and time are already set. Um but that's something we can look to do in the future >> because it's not a negotiated item, right? The instructional calendar as it stands is a negotiated item though. So I think that's the main >> some of the um not necessarily

163the instructional calendar but some of the professional development can fall within it. It's a negotiated item >> because like I was told that like for example the high school typically graduation is always on Thursday that this year it's going to be on a Friday. >> So that is a decision I think that um something that they worked out that Mr. Guzman uh calendared due to some scheduling conflicts I believe. So, I'm not sure who makes the who I mean I know Mr. Weinstein approves the final determination. I don't know if we could look at in the future setting those dates um when we're making the calendar. >> Yeah, because there's so many instructional days that are required and then seniors are the week before. So, it's just it's different from all the years that I've

164been in the district. >> Thank you. All right. So, we have a a motion on the floor. So, we will move to a vote. Um, preferential vote. >> No preferential vote. >> This doesn't have um this isn't about human p personnel. You're actually okay. >> Okay. Yay. >> So, even though it's under human resources, right? So, you guys are good. Uh, preferential vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> All right. Opposed. And board vote. All those in favor? I >> I >> and opposed. All right. Motion passes. Now, this one you won't be able to. So, early educ uh certificated retirement resignation notification incentive. >> Um so, tonight we're asking for approval for the early resa uh certificated retirement resignation um notification incentive. This incentive is um would only apply for tenyear certificated teachers

165who are not taking the um who are not in a pro on a probationary or temporary status and are not taking the PARS retirement plan. So, it occasionally will come up with teachers who are moving out of state or moving to a different district perhaps for some reason and um they don't quite fit any of they don't they don't meet the criteria or not participating in PARS um and they're not a probationary teacher but uh getting told this information ahead of time helps with planning for planning and staffing purposes and the deadline would be uh February 17th and they would receive a $5,000 incentive to let us know by this deadline. And last year, we had one teacher um that did let us know, so they received the incentive. And we're hoping, you know, any

166notification that we can get ahead of time will help with the staffing um with the staffing for next year. And the February 17th is actually the same deadline that our our PARS um employees have for their PARS um plan. >> Just out of curiosity, I mean, is this something that the districts offered like pretty routinely in the past? >> Yes. >> And do we usually see a pretty high, you know, I mean, I'm I'm assuming we're doing this because we see a benefit to it. It's we do get some early notifications. We do get some um we get about one two we don't get a lot but just um knowing ahead of time one or two uh teachers can help us determine whether we can you know eliminate a classroom or not um or if

167if especially if it's a teacher in a uh who teaches a high need area. It will help us be proactive about getting the position posted and and trying to hire someone um and still have good candidates. Thank you. >> All right. Do I hear a motion to uh accept the early certificate of retirement resignation notification incentive? >> So moved. >> I'll second it. >> All right. So if there's no further discussion, uh we'll move to a board vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> Yes. >> And opposed. All right. Motion passes. >> Thank you. All right. Consent calendar. Consent items are considered routine and will be enacted by a single motion. None of the items will be discussed unless a board member requests discussion prior to the vote of the motion to adopt

168the consent calendar. So, do I hear a motion to accept the consent calendar or do you pull any item that anybody might have? I'll motion to uh approve the consent agenda. >> I'll second it. >> All right. First and a second. So, if there's no further discussion, um we will move to a board vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Yes. >> Opposed. All right. Motion carries. All right. Board member comments or requests for future agenda items. Trustee Gonzalez. >> Thank you. Um sorry I forgot to mention um as the other board members echoed. We last week we did have a student advisory council meeting um for members of the public. Student advisory council is a body of students that are chosen um by each school site. They we meet once a

169once a month on a Wednesday or Tuesday Wednesday um with the superintendent. He um throws out questions for us. We answer them to the best of our ability. Uh it's a really neat experience that I've had the pleasure of being on for the past four years now. Um it is a it is very much a um it's a good committee. You get to hear a lot of good insight from all the way from the elementary level to the high school level. Um so yes, we did um have that meeting last week. Uh also last week I attended the um services for Parker Bradley. He was the high school student who unfortunately passed away over break. Um, I wanted to take the time to talk a little bit about Parker. Um, I'm really happy to have

170been able to call him my friend. If you have, if you would have met him, I know you would have said the same as well. He was a bright, happy, energetic kid. Um, always with a smile on his face, always with a joke, always with a roast right next to you. Um, he he was a really bright kid. Um, what I'm happy about was that his all of his family was there, all of his friends were there, and it was a very much a great celebration of life, and I'm very honored that I would have been that I'm was able to attend and partake in the celebration. >> Trusty Mana, >> um, I have no comments. I would just like to send my condolences to Parker Bradley's family, >> Trusty Futtos. >> Awesome. Um, first

171I I just want to acknowledge the hard work that goes into working with our amazing students. Um, starting with with Jeff, Mr. W, Superintendent Weinstein, all the way down to our directors, our assistant superintendent, Dr. Ramirez, uh, business services, um, our classified staff, the custodians. You have no idea how what an impact our office staff and and just our our our you know classified staff has an impact on on the lives of our students. Um some schools are celebrating kindness week, yellow ribbon week. I'm not even sure what what it's called anymore. But but you know, I love it when when we do have students, you know, talking about kindness and wellness and and again, just the presentation today with the wellness center. Um it makes me feel amazingly happy to see the good work

172of our staff and the good work of our students and our and our community, especially in a time where we're struggling with kindness in our world. Um, it's easy to get frustrated and and pick a side and and get uh belligerent and and it's awesome that that we don't that we surround ourselves with we surround ourselves with people who choose to make good decisions and keep fighting for, you know, for what's right. Um because it's not always easy to do it right. It's easy just sometimes to give up. But we're choosing to fight for our kids and uh and I appreciate every one of you guys, my colleagues on on the dis here, our student trustees, uh just everyone in Santa Paul unified school district and the community of Santa Paul. So just thank you

173all. >> Trustee Kumazawa. >> Uh no comments. Thank you. >> All right, Trustee Aoyo. >> I'll just echo same sentiments from Trustee uh Frutos. uh just thank you for for all the work you do and all all the love that you give to our students and you know that just everybody's just doing the best they can. Thank you. >> Trusty Ramos. >> No comments. >> Uh I'll just have a couple or um I'm headed to the CSBA boards of director retreat. One of our this weekend, one of our big topics is going to be closing the achievement gap. Um and CSBA is making a big push. Not sure how structured it is yet, but um we'll be happy to learn more about that this weekend. Uh I did attend the capital advisor budget meet workshop

174uh that was held at BCOE to get a little bit deeper dive into what the governor is thinking um or not. Right. So, uh we will be actually organizing another budget workshop online through uh the uh region 11, the one I represent for CSBA in February after the educational trailer bill comes out so that we can start going into those details as well. And then finally, I did have the um privilege of going to our CTE showcase at um Santa Paul High. That was at the building and trades center. And um one, it was great to see the progress on the in the building, right? Still got some work to go. Uh but but good to see that. And really, I only had time to stay for the um patient care pathway. Um but what

175I saw was was truly amazing. They have this like virtual table where they can call up Kavat davers and go into systems and it was really kind of gross but like that's patient care right you know huh and it was paid by a grant right and so it was just it was good to to see our teachers in action um and uh thanks for director uh Garrett for um the invite. So with that um before sorry um before moving on I just wanted I just just came to my mind um >> also I am hearing um a lot of reports of a walkout that may be occurring this Friday the 30th. Um just as a heads up to the board um I understand a lot of people are frustrated about the situation with ICE in

176our community. So, just as a heads up, there is there are a from what I'm hearing around the high school, there are if not a lot of people, then there are small groups of students who are planning on walking out on Friday the 30th, just as a heads up to the board. >> Okay. And so, I remember the last time that happened. You know, we fully support, you know, our students, you know, freedom of speech. Uh and we, you know, certainly support our um relationship with Santa Paula Police Department to to help make sure that our students do stay safe, right? Not to make them feel threatened, right? So, um thank you for that that information. Um and we will, I'm sure, discuss it amongst administration. Uh again, not to dissuade anybody, but just to

177make sure that you know, everybody stays safe. So, so thank you for that. Okay. Our next board meeting is will be on February the 11th. And with that, I will adjourn this meeting at 8:30. Heat. Heat.