June 10, 2026 Regular Board Meeting

001Call to order the June 10th, 2026 meeting of the San Rosa City School Board. We are currently on item A1, public comment on closed session agenda. Is there any public comment? >> President Cassen, there is no public comment. All right, then we are going to recess to close session to consider items B1 public employee discipline dismissal release public B2 conference with labor negotiator name of designated repending Dr. Vicki Zans with San Rosa Teachers Association, CSCA San Rosa 75 and Teamsters Union 665. B conference with legal council existing litigation cases as listed. B4 conference with legal council anticipated litigation one potential case. And B5 public employee performance evaluation title of employees as listed. We're now recessed to close session. We'll reconvene to our study session discussion on special services department restructure and sulpa progress update. Our

002first item C1 is public comment on the study session. Is there any? And this is just public comment on the items for the study session. Is there any public comment? >> President Casten, I do Oh, I have one card. One moment. I want to recognize all members in attendance. >> Our first speaker is Margaret Boone. One minute, President Casten. >> Yes, please. >> Go ahead, Margaret. Sorry. Go ahead. Good afternoon. Ed join shows job postings for secondary job for 17 elementary and seven secondary rise program assistant positions, 40 elementary and 29 secondary ESN assistants, seven secondary SEP program assistants, three health aid positions, six transition program assistant positions, as well as multiple special ed assistant positions in the mild to moderate programs. How will we staff the push in model that requires special ed assistance

003when we're already short 109 SSM positions? The new special ed model being touted by the district office requires the use of instructional assistance to support students moving from SDC to gen ed and from cot to push in. Where will we get these assistance? Will we have to pay outside agencies at exorbitant rates? One of the major special ed costs that has consistently pushed our budget past what we can afford. Thank you. President Cassin, I do not have any other cards. >> All right, we're going to move to item C2, which is our uh stud session discussion on the special services restructure and selfformation progress update. I believe director Fiser is presenting. >> Thank you. Um trustees um I have some updates both on the the SEPA formation piece which I'll talk to later I wanted

004to talk about uh discuss the potential restructure for special services. Um I want to emphasize uh before starting um that uh this is a work in progress um and that um additional work will need to be done to ensure that it appropriately aligns with other district uh initiatives uh such as MTSS and and and so forth. And we think there will be good alignment uh as we move forward. Um, so I'm going to go through the slide deck, but please feel free to ask questions and make comments as we as we go along and then towards the uh after doing the presentation then I'll talk a little bit about where we're at with respect to self formation for the 2027 2028 uh school year. Next slide please. Okay. So, what's what's really prompted the special

005services uh restructure was a need to change how we do business uh in special services and and beyond special services. I would say um yes the the need for budget solutions has had an impact on special services but the way the reason we want to restructure special services is to be able to move our district forward both in the quality of how we deliver special services, how we address uh students um at all levels of support potentially before they qualify for special education services. and uh generally speaking developing coherence and alignment with with the district and the board priorities. So I'm going to go through these bullet points and these were some some of the uh conclusions drawn from the special education study which I believe came to the board in January of 2025 by

006Dr. Dr. Gillespie. Uh first and foremost was the need for coherence and coherence within the department. That is all individuals in the department being on the same page having very quality and solid procedures. um that all practitioners from case managers, pair educators, parents, students, district staff, SLPs, school psychologists, again that we have uniform procedures um and that they are uniformly applied. Um in my department, full confession, we do not generally have consistent procedures across the district. And I'll talk about the task force uh in a bit. And there is I I will say there is no way to make progress and move forward in any sense without having consistent solid procedures that are followed by district staff. Um one system approach the one system approach is looking at special education as not something that is

007separate from the rest of the educational program and uh the rest of the district. Specialed students are students. We look at students as not IEP students, but as students, they are students with IEPs who may require some specialized supports, accommodations, and services. To uh preface some things I'm going to talk about a little bit later, does that limit those kinds of supports to students with IEPs? No. They're all part of the same system where a student whether a student has a 504 plan um MTSS supports before uh qualifying for special education etc. But we need to stop looking at the system where our special education students are isolated and separate. Um overidentification I want to be careful talking about this. So, our uh identification rate and what that means is the percentage of students who

008are eligible currently for and receiving special education services in Santa Rosa City Schools is depending what denominator you use about 18 to 19%. Um it's a little bit higher than the rate across Sonoma County and the statewide rate is about 13 to 14%. Does this simply mean we want to cut off five six% of students from supports? No, that's not the point. Our goal is not to reduce the identification rate. Our goal is to provide the appropriate supports and services for all students potentially at lower levels and early before those students necessarily qualify for special education. How will we know that we're being successful? When that identification rate goes down because we're providing appropriate supports for students. Rest assured, any student that qualifies for an IEP and any student prior to that that requires services

009will receive those appropriate services. Um, disproportionality. So, we were recently received our annual determination letters. We received one for the secondary district and for the elementary school district. And one positive uh piece of that in the high school district uh we had uh previously been in the compliance improvement monitoring process which is based on various state indicators um in the intensive support level for the high school district and this time we're in the targeted level three. So that's a a little bit lower a little bit less intense of of a process. So that's that's excellent. Our numbers have improved. That said, we still have work to do. The the new area that was identified was disproportionality in the form of uh Hispanic students who are suspended for more than 10 days. Now, when this the

010annual determination uh is given to us, we it's a three-year process where we in with consultation with the state in consultation with SULPA and various stakeholders within our system develop a plan to address that disproportionality. And so, we're at the very beginning of a three-year cycle. So, that's that's just an example of what disproportionality is. other areas of potential disproportionality. If we have high rates of students um that are identified as specific learning disability, for example, based on um race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, the one area we were not identified by the state, and I've I've mentioned this before, we have a very high rate in the secondary district of um white students who are placed in non-public schools. And so that's again as we move into the justification for the restructure that high rate

011of students in non-public schools is one of the areas of focus that we feel that the restructure can help address. Contracted staff as was mentioned just a minute ago. We have a heavy reliance on contracted staff. We have made uh some improvement in hiring district staff in those positions. The set program, for example, is close to being completely staffed by district staff. Our transition 18 to 22 and preschool again are close to being staffed completely by district staff. So, we've made incremental improvement, but that is a significant cost to the district. Aside from that, we want our employees, not contracted employees, serving our Santa Rosa city students. It provides quality jobs for these employees and it provides a long-term commitment to our students in our district. Um, out of district placements, I mentioned this before.

012By out of district placements, I mean placements in non-public schools. And then the other area uh would be that are placements with SCO. Uh we don't have a lot of students placed with SCO. I'm estimating uh in the neighborhood of 13 or 14 next year. We've had some age out uh this year. Um but still those are very expensive placements. The rate uh this year for Sonoma County Office of Education placements was $110,000 per student. Um and in addition to that, we typically provide transportation. So that is a significant cost to the district. Non-public schools. Um we have approximately 140 students in non-public schools. Our rate in the high school district is 7.8%. 8% of students with IEPs are in separate schools. That would mean non-public schools. That means students with an IEP, um, that's

013about one out of every 12 students who's in a non-public school. That is a huge, huge number. Two points. It's a fiscal drain, but that's not the most important point. We want to serve our students on general education campuses where there's appropriate opportunities to be in the least restrictive environment in and being served when possible as near to their school of residence as possible on in Santa Rosa City Schools. In comparison to other districts, we are significantly higher. Um, as an example, there was another district we had looked at uh during suppleation, Modesto, which is about twice as large as we are, and they have about a third the number of non-public school placements as we do. So, it's a problem. Um, and then fiscal, I'm not going to be able to give the exact

014number, but and this is an issue for likely every district in California, is general fund contribution. that is the special education funds we receive from the state and the federal government don't even come close to covering our special education costs. And when we don't have enough funds that are special special education funds, that's when we have general fund contribution and it's paid for out of general fund. We don't deny student services because we don't have the special education funds. We uh pay for those out of general fund contribution. So again, these are areas that were identified by the special education study and also areas that have been highlighted by uh by FICMET. Uh next slide, please. Thank you. Uh additional challenges. These are areas that we've um identified within our system. I think the first

015one's fairly obvious is we are reactive. We lack proactive systems. that is um with respect to litigation. We don't have a lot of litigation and disputes um but we don't have preventative systems whether that be tier one alternative dispute resolution whether that be having um all case managers appropriately trained how to run I IEP meetings and write write IEPs etc. um least restrictive environment indicators. I mentioned the number of students who are in non-public school placements and what both the state and federal government what they u prioritize is students being in less restrictive placements. What that means in placements that have as much time in general education with general education students as possible. So the areas that we are problematic in at the secondary level um the problematic area is we don't have enough students

016that are in general education 80% of the time. These are students with IEPs. So sorry we don't have enough I'm not I'm going to try to say it without messing my head up, but um we don't have enough students with IEPs who are in general education 80% or more of their day. In other words, there's more than to say the inverse, they're in a separate setting more than 20% of the day. The compliance indicator for the state, which is what we're trying to meet, and I'm not going to say just because it's state compliant indicator, but because it's good for students, um says that we should be at 80%. And we have, and here I'm going to throw more numbers that it's it can get confusing. that is we have around 30 36% of students

017with IEPs who are in general education more than 80% of the time we should have by the state indicator over 60%. That's a huge huge deficit. Now there are some structural issues in a sixth period day for example in high school and I'll be careful not to rabbit hole so tell me if I'm going too far. um in a sixth period day if a student is in a special education setting more than one period in other words two out of six they're 33% and they're not going to meet that number. So what we need to do as a district is find more structures and ways to serve students in general education more of the time um and less in separate settings. Uh the second indicator is we're supposed to have a relatively low number of

018students who are in general education less than 40% of the time. What that means is we want relatively few students in a special day class placement in general. Whether that be an ESN placement, whether it be the mild mod SDC's we're talking about SEP, um RISE, etc. There are absolutely students who need those kinds of supports in the specialized setting. But even such students, we want to increase the opportunities for those students in in in general education, whether it's in electives, whether it's in social science. I my brain is very secondary, so I apologize for tending to have that high school lens. um and find opportunities for a those students to be received served in less restrictive environments and b for those students to have as much time as possible in general education and finding

019opportunities as much as we can to have those students served in general education. And I I want to emphasize here we want students who are meaningfully in general education that are getting some value that are able to access whatever curriculum is there. Yes, we could uh simply do a scheduling trick and have some students placed in general education without appropriate supports. That's not what we're looking for. We're looking for students with IEPs placed in general education who can make appropriate progress. Staff turnover. Um in terms of teaching staff, we have pretty high staff turnover. In special services, we tend to have a lot of students on um um who are precredential I'm would tend to have I'm sorry new teachers who are precredential that's on tips and sips and so forth who are just absolutely

020brand new have met some minimum criteria and may develop eventually into quality teachers but supporting those teachers early on. Many teachers do get support, but we don't have an intentional system for providing that support. For example, um if a new teacher comes in at Coreo with eight or nine staff, as just as an example, other schools are like this in secondary too, they're likely to get support from their peers and colleagues, but that we don't have an intentional system to provide those supports. A teacher comes in at an elementary school that has one special ed or two specialed teachers, they're isolated. Um and I so in terms of again this is resulting in too much staff turnover in special education particularly in our higher needs classes fiscal um and I'm loosely quoting L cazarus on

021this are with respect to special education our focus is managing increases in special education there are going to be increases in special education costs for a lot of different reasons whether it be non-public schools vendors lots of things it's being able to manage increase the a significant fiscal issue in 2425 was I'll say unanticipated significant increase in special education costs that was focused in the area of non-public agencies and non-public schools and it's this was in the several million dollars range um and this is an area that and I'm going to talk a bit about what we've done. We've um made significant efforts both with collaboration with fiscal services and special education services. There are going to be increases. We're not going to cut off services for special education students. Um our goal is to

022be able to predict what our special education costs are and it's that's easier said than done. um and expend our uh uh our special education expenditure should be expended as efficiently and appropriately as possible. And then uh again this is the point about budget alignment and that that is alignment of the special services budget with the overall budget uh for uh the district and this has comes up with close collaboration before first interim, second interim etc. And the key point is I think is quality appropriate communication between set special services in in both directions and fiscal services so that we accurately budget project and make adjustments as we move along. And then lastly, this ties into it too just collaboration with other departments. Special services has been relatively isolated within the district from other departments.

023Uh next slide please. So, continuing initiatives, I want to talk about some things that we're doing and then I promise I'm going to get to the restructuring point. Uh, special education task force has been uh moving along since August of 2025. Uh, and the main focus for special education task force has been on um developing materials and procedures including procedural procedural manuals. Uh we're developing um for example one pagers for how to appropriately manage and work with AIDS aids in the classroom um for manifestation determination special education discipline um etc. Selpa formation. Yes, we we're not doing it for 26 27, but uh we are gearing and preparing for SULPA formation for the for a Santa Rosa City School SULPA composed of two districts, the high school district and the elementary school district um for

024to commence uh in the 2728 uh school year and I'll talk a little bit about that later as well. Continuing close collaboration between fiscal and special services. We've we're having weekly meetings with fiscal services with it's been um our account techs and um fiscal uh budget techs that are assigned to special services and Joel and and myself and we've it's been a very very fruitful fruitful relationship at least from my point of view um developing data and budget processes that is again internally uh when we have a new student who requires certain kinds of services or non-public agency services, how do we document those, report those to to fiscal and monitor as our costs go up and down depending on what uh students are in our district. In addition to that, we've had very close

025collaboration with uh information and evaluation um in appropriately reporting special education data, which is a less well-known but increasingly important and critical part of what special services has to do that is report special education data to the state. Um in addition, collaboration with human resources. The I think the biggest project that has been taken on is developing position control meaning that special services has hired in the past a large number of contract aids that are not tied that hadn't been tied to a specific position in the district. What that means is every position, every hired position, contracted, etc. has to be an approved position within the district. And if we can't fill the position through hiring a district person, then we are allowed to contract with an agency. But that agency aid needs to be

026attached to a Santa Rosa City Schools. I know this is getting sort of fiscal nerdy, but it's incredibly important um for keeping fiscal control of our budget. Um okay and as I mentioned collaboration with information in evaluation in terms of of data reporting and a little bit later we're talking about with respect to self formation that piece um and then recruiting district uh employee aids we have not gotten as many as we'd like but we've had good steady progress and continuing progress over the course of the year. Next slide please. So restructure and then we have a a couple of org chart slides the before and after uh in a second but in the restructure administrators are assigned by function that is they have different task areas within special services. Second, it's addressing areas identified

027by the special education study which I me mentioned before and other areas of concern. Coherence, developing procedures, developing expertise in certain areas rather than having potentially six administrators who are may all on be on different pages with respect to how to write an IEP, for example. Uh oops I have a typo but uh out of district placements uh and dedicating staff to work on that. Thank you. Uh and uh MTSS one big focus of the special education study was development of MTSS and the district is uh launching a major uh initiative uh in that area working with Dr. McCarti and through the the CAPS process. Um, and we feel like the restructure we need to have conversations but will align extremely well with that with the MTSS uh initiative for the district system. Our main

028goal is to de develop systems. Again, seems simple, but it's not. and that we develop uh among administrators, we develop very specific expertise in various areas as opposed to having several program managers who are sort of jack of all trades. Lastly, uh a team-based approach um special special education in our district in many districts is different service providers are very isolated from each other. that is a student might have speech on an IEP, an OT and um uh a behavior service etc on an IEP. And a I'll say a more modern approach is that we approach every student with various uh staff with various expertise in a team-based approach. A student may have a particular challenge or particular issue. Is it necessarily the speech person going to be involved? Maybe, maybe not. But when we

029have a team approach where we have for example speech language pathologists, OT's, behaviorists, ed specialists all working together, they can come up with a more efficient plan to to serve that student. Um anecdotally, my perception is sometimes students have a sort of uh typical um battery of services on their IEP and those different services may not be working in concert or or collaboratively towards um supporting the student and that's both inefficient and occasionally can work across cross purposes. So that's that's one approach that we are are we really want to move our system towards. Um, next slide please. Okay, here's the before. I'm barely going to be able to read that, but this is the org chart. Um, at least the color reflects my baseball team, so that's that's a win. You can guess. Uh

030I'm not going to win a lot of fans up here. Um okay. So the or the org chart uh for this year has been exe Thank you. Um executive director coordinator and then there's been program manager for the rise program and then program managers would support their rise classes and a uh different sites. And you can see rise program manager is also supporting non-public schools. ANOVA uh because ANOVA aligns with our RISE program for example uh and somewhat disproportionate because we have around 42 students 43 students placed at ANOVA which is a lot. Trent we've had a program manager for the transition the 18 to 22 program. Um we've had a program manager for the secondary extensive support needs program and uh elementary extensive support needs program. middle school extensive support needs program manager and

031again various other duties assigned to different sites um and uh early childhood education which is uh Santa Santa Santa Rosa Early Learning Academy uh which is momentarily moving to um BLA program manager principal in charge of that. We've had a 0.2 um DHH program up at Hidden Valley uh managing that program and a SEAP counseling and rich program manager and managing sites. In essence, the model in the past has been these individuals are principles for their programs. And so essentially we had an ESN principle and a set principle and so forth. Okay. And if we could move to the to the new potential proposed model, executive director uh we're proposing 504 coordinator um coordinator of mental health which we've uh has has has been hired to mental health services have all been brought under special

032services instead of being split between wellness and engagement for general ed mental health services and special ed. We feel that being completely under special services, this uh breaks down the distinction between services to students with IEPs and without. It's mental health services. It may be a different level of mental health services, but they're still students in mental health services. Um and then program managers broken down program managers, program specialists divided in different ways. So one program manager focused on compliance IEP quality uh data reporting data systems. We will develop one person who has extreme expertise in this very technical area. What I found being the executive director and I I'll say that that's has been my wheelhouse in the past is we don't have consistent uniform IEP knowledge among administrators. So it's such an it's

033such an area of specific expertise. Secondly, one program manager for now uh dedicated to out of district placements. So non-public schools, we we have IEPs for those these 140 students uh every year and to have our students I'm not going to say bring the students back, but identify when students can be served in Santa Rosa City Schools on a public school campus. Um and we've been inconsistent because we've had six different program managers who are assigned to that. We have school sites covering those meetings um etc. So the goal in this case is to pardon first um ensure that um that the nonpublic schools have accountability. They'reing providing appropriate services for the students. They're not over billing us and so forth. Secondly, to have somebody who can make a concerted effort to identify students who

034may be able to be successful in Santa Rosa City Schools on public school campuses. At every IEP meeting a for every student, we should and whether they're served on a public school campus or not, we should always be asking the question, can we move this student into any more general education, less restrictive placements? always ask that question. Non-public school placements should be temporary and a non-public school this is a separate environment very strict supports very controlled environment in in some ways it's in some ways it's it's wonderful for the the students and families at the same time I will argue it is not preparing the students for the real world because the environment is is so protected I know it's difficult to be on the public school campus there's a lot more commotion etc but

035in the long run for most students, not all, most students, it will ultimately be what's best for students with the appropriate programs and supports to have that experience in general education. Yes, with some of the commotion of our high school or middle school sites because that's what you have to deal with in the real world as you move on towards towards adulthood and into adulthood. And our goal with every student, IEP student or not, is to prepare those students to be successful in whatever endeavors they may choose to do beyond age 18, beyond diploma, beyond 22, whatever. And part of that is is enabling those students to develop those skills to be successful in the real world. Um, behavior, MTSS, intensive student support. So, this is an area in special services. Um we have a

036sign significant number of referrals for assessment and uh qualifications for special education that there are behavioral components involved. Whether the student qualifies on with respect to a quote unquote behavioral disability or whether they are um referred for for some other we some other reason. um developing structures and it also seems to be a significant demand across all our sites for more supports to work with and support our students with behavior challenges. And this is an effort for the most part to work with uh students pre-referral that is before getting into special education services. what supports can be developed for the students at school sites before that um for qualification for special education. If the student needs special education, they need special education, it's fine. But what we need to do is provide appropriate supports before

037that. Uh the next area ESN that's the one extensive support needs the one area since it is in so far as it is it is a very very complicated area. We typically have multiple service providers including but not limited to nursing services, occupational therapy services, uh speech services, um uh physical therapy services, uh sometimes counseling services, etc. A lot of moving pieces and we have a a significant number of students who have health needs. uh and that's one area where it's thought to have a program manager who is able to understand and coordinate all those moving pieces for that. And then last but not least, um early childhood education uh program manager and principal similar to uh how it uh how the program manager is is currently functioning. Um so and how do these individuals

038support the schools? So compliance IEP quality data systems a big piece of that is working with teachers to directly support um IEP writing um how to facilitate and run IEP meetings etc. And one more piece I want to talk about that is what we're proposing also is some for lack of a better term uh teacher coaches uh to support new teachers. Um and one of the areas is in IEP writing uh and uh IEP meeting facilitation etc. Again, I I mentioned the uh pardon me, the high turnover among teachers. Um, and so I think a critical area to to provide support is with new teachers, both to develop good skills, and that's the most important part, to be able to serve our students well, uh, and to retain those teachers in Santa Rosa City Schools,

039developing them into outstanding teachers. And so the coaches we've identified in a couple of different areas and a pair at the elementary and a pair at the secondary level. Uh one is again IEP compliance. IEP writing is not easy and particularly for individuals who haven't taken an IEP writing class. And it's legally important, but just as important is writing an IEP document that a parent can understand and can make an informed decision about whether they want to consent to the IEP services for their student, understand the program for their student. In addition to that, develop a document that if that student transfers to another district, they have that IEP with them and can carry on. Uh in addition to that with respect to um dispute and potential litigation, it's an area uh if we have

040um procedural errors uh or I I'll say loosely IEP areas that puts us in a more difficult position if we get into litigation or or or disputes. So that's a piece of it too. But I would say mostly the purpose of this is to support our students. The second area for coaches is instructional coaches and in particularly in the world of uh special education. Um we tend not to have consistent curriculum and consistent teaching practice teachers are doing the best they can and usually they learn from their peers and so forth. um but providing this intentional support and these are brand new teachers in many cases before they even have an intern credential and our are our our our students deserve to deserve and our teachers uh deserve to be appropriately trained to support their

041students. Uh one more piece I wanted to mention just backtracking just a second um about the uh IEP compliance coaches. Those uh individuals uh can potentially serve as administrative designs during IEP meetings. There is a concern among site administrators and it is a wellfounded concern about how am I going to with cuts in special services how am I going to be at all these IEP meetings. There are ways to do it within the law. um individuals can be designated as administrative design that can represent the district that does not have to have an administrative credential. So this is a potential piece here. In addition to that, with respect to the IEP coaches, the way we're envisioning it is that they would run the first several IEP meetings with the new teacher. And um um sort

042of that sort of that classic model, I do, we do, you do, and release it. So the IP uh I'm sorry so that the pardon me the teacher develops those skills um and uh other concerns in general we had uh we've floated the idea um out there and I I want to say these are not written in stone and as we move forward um and align with MTSS initiatives and the needs of the district whether these structures are implemented within within in a year or two years. I this is this is flexible. Uh we've um considered the a full-time uh special ed substitute. There's a significant issue with unfilled positions in special education substitutes. I see the list and as my many of my colleagues do we see the list every morning about the unfelt

043positions and sometimes 40 50% of the unfilled positions and what I mean by unfilled is teachers out we don't have a sub for the class and sometimes 40 50% of the positions are special education positions and they tend to be in our higher needs classes. just want to let that that that point rest where unfilled positions in our higher needs classes. So, >> uh what ends up happening program managers, site site administrators, other teachers move in period by period. So, it's it's something in the long run uh we we really need to address. Um in the data world, uh we currently have three it says safe technician, but that's my mistake. Special education technicians. Um, SACE is the special ed software with which we work uh for writing IEPs and reporting to the state. Um,

044and in addition to that, we've identified a data specialist position. So, moving into SULPA formation, there are a couple of additional pieces that a SULPA has to do. There's some fiscal reporting pieces, some fiscal pieces, um, and there's some data reporting pieces. I will I will say it's with a SULPA that is composed of two districts. It's a little bit easier than say Sonoma County SULPA that has 44 districts uh etc. But because the SULPA itself we report to the SULPA and the SULPA has to certify the data to go to the state. In addition to that, uh, one of the one of the most helpful functions I see from the the current on a daily basis from the SULPA is that um providing uh advice on how to handle data reporting uh issues and

045so we need to develop that expertise inhouse and that's why recommendation of a uh data specialist under under the um information and evalu valuation is is something that we're recommending at least at some point uh going forward as we uh move into developing over our SELPA. In other words, we're not going to have the helping hand from the SULPA in terms of data reporting. We have to do it on on our own. So, we have to develop that capacity. Okay. Um >> go ahead. >> Just for time purposes, it's okay. I think if we don't go further into the SULPA part of the conversation because we'll have opportunity for that going forward. I think sticking with the restructure and the things relevant to the budget. >> Sure. >> Fair and that. Fair enough. Okay. So,

046I want to boy I talked for a long time. I want to sort of open the floor for for questions, comments. >> Let me I'll move us through here. Actually, just want to I want to quickly start if you could for like 45 years now there's been a move to move services for folks with different abilities out of institutions. And this is I'm talking broadly um you know so out of institutions and more and more into the community and you know I think we saw it start in the 80s and you know and then within the last 10 years we saw big changes in adult services uh eliminating day programs that were not based in the community. And so a lot of what you're talking about is our version of that transition and that movement.

047One of the things that I think was often left out of those of this transition has been um creating the understanding especially around behavioral disabilities uh within within the communities that are um are used to it all being hidden behind you know an institution or or hidden behind another another wall. Can you just address how some of this restructure is going to enable is going to help with that part of this transition? >> Sure. And so so a a big piece of it and from the we have a program manager dedicated to the behavioral end one piece I want to talk about is so-called hidden disabilities and that students um how would I put it student behavior may not may not be understood and may not be understood in a general education or a general

048education campus. And so a piece of this is um understanding the disability, how it manifests, understanding that sometimes I'm going to say loosely quirky behaviors are just quirky behaviors. And that in addition to that, if if there's a student who has behavioral challenges, there are appropriate ways to respond to that. and um typically at at I'll say at very quick and low levels where the students can function perfectly well. That said though that requires education for all folks on the campus to be able to recognize that you made the analogy to moving into the community and the community I don't want to say just get used to it but come to an understanding of um these individuals who are now in their community and sometimes the behavior may be a little bit quote unquote different

049from used to. So there's a big education piece and working with school staff, general education staff, all staff, uh, administrators, parents, etc. to have a good understanding of how students function, how students with disabilities function, and how to respond to them at very low levels appropriately to keep them in the mainstream to keep them included. >> So I anticipate that we'll go to 6:15 on this study session. Just for folks that are here, I'm going go to Trusty Dator next and then Trusty Jenkins. >> Thank you, President Casten. John, thank you very much for your presentation. Um, I got a few things I just want to go through and try and get through them quickly because I know time is of the essence, but they're things that are important. >> Y >> um the coherence

050piece is um really concerning for me because it's something that I've continued to ask for. is something I've heard previous boards continue to ask for and staff asked for and it was recommended in January 2005 and admittedly we're just not quite where we'd like to be. >> Yep. >> Um coherent and >> how can we possibly consider a self formation if we are not further along in our coherence of ourselves within our district um as a department let alone a separate self formation. So, it's going to be really key and crucial and none of that happens without policies and practices that are followed across the board. Sure. district-wide opposed to isolated situations on each campus. Um, things do work differently, but we need to be able to give our teachers and staff a playbook and

051our administrators a playbook on how things should go. Yes. >> Um, including, you know, the this >> IEP meetings and how they're structured. Um, as a parent of two students with APS and 504s, there are several meetings that administrator was not present. So, how do we to say that we can have an administrative liaison? That's fine, but has to be put into play and implemented appropriately so that it's the parents and families understand what that means and who to expect. And that a big piece of this is educating our students and families as advocates for our students so that they understand who their resources and who their advocates are in those meetings so they're getting the best for their students. Um, a lot of this is going to come back cuz I know other people

052have questions so it's not just hear me out please. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, when it came to disproportionality, I know that it had come up that the high rate of Hispanic students being suspended for more than 10 days. And I want to ensure that we're looking that districtwide through the appropriate lens that we may have a higher rate of Hispanic students, but we have that's our highest rate of enrolled students. So, ensuring that we're looking at and at it appropriately so that we can fix what needs to be fixed. In no way, shape, or form should any of our students be disproportionately treated. But if we have a higher number of a certain ethnically represented students, they're going to show up throughout our data. So, ensuring that we're going through that data appropriately so we

053can find what's broken and fix it. Um, and really focus on the issues the right way. Um, fiscal collaboration. Something I wrote down because it really spoke to me and I heard a lot from the teachers is work done with each other, not to each other. So, I ask that we continue to um collaborate departmentwide within the district office that everybody's talking to each other because it's it's been such a struggle and fis fiscal responsibility is across the board for all of our departments. So ensuring that those collaborative efforts remain true and strong and to fidelity and that we're all talking to each other um in those meetings and we're not having a meeting we're saying you need to do this because I said so it's what can we do to make things better and

054how do we do this to be um fiscally solvent. Um it's come up about you know teachers and an investment into the teachers and the aids and retaining them but there's no way to invest and retain if we cannot um maintain fiscal solveny. I mean that bottom line that's where it really hurts that we can have all the great intent we can create all the best positions needed and if we're not fiscally solvent then those new positions that we've invested in and we've trained and we hired they're the first to let go when we don't have the revenue to keep them. Um so it's really important that we keep our eyes on all of this very vital information um as we're moving forward. Um thank you for the presentation. Thanks for hearing my pieces of

055it and I know others have questions so I don't expect much answers right now. >> Yeah, I I just want to mention one piece and that that resonated with me in terms of that I neglected to mention and that's the parent education and information piece. We've had parents who have been part of the special education task force. Um, and that's a piece of it. In addition to that, we've been continuing to meet with the the uh developing a group good group in our in our community advisory committee. And then again, there there's there's this we will not be successful without those parent education efforts. So, how would I put it? Parents know what their rights are and they know what to expect at IEP meetings and who to expect there. Thank you, >> Trusty Jenkins,

056then Dufasi, and then P. Thanks and thank you so much for all of your work. This will be my last meeting with you. Um, thank you for the presentation. A couple questions. Um, as was identified, policies and procedures. I had practices for some reason. Policies and procedures are something that we need to improve on as well as um identifying. Um, so I'm wondering as far as since work shifts over summer, is there anyone who is identified within the district who is working on both of these things over summer? So someone who is starting the charge maybe in the middle of the charge of developing those um policy and procedure kind of manuals to get something out sooner rather than later. And then um the identification piece, I'm wondering if if maybe this is something that's

057already been done or is being thought of being done in the near future. Um what what we're doing to especially with the feeder districts. um what conversations meetings are happening over summer to ensure that you know redoing not redoing but collaboration on what the next step is for each student so that we're not just carrying something over. I I want to just make a comment again a piece I neglected to mention that's a super important point. A student's coming from a feeder district and we need to make sure to have those com conversations and looks at the student and with the family and their needs. Hey, are we just going to continue what's happened before? Do we have a great program within Santa Rosa City Schools that's different that can appropriately meet the needs of

058those students because we offer different things than than the feeder districts do. to thank you for bringing up in incredibly important piece and we have every year we have limited time to do that. We basically have spring spring through through summer to be able to do that. Once the year starts they're likely staying in the same placement. >> Do we have um like pretty solid established relationships with those feeder district people as far as like their their district staff? >> Uh yes, they they they do have some turnover, but we have generally good relations. We get information typically very quickly from from our our feeder districts and generally have established procedures. I think there's a perception in the community just in general and even in our district that if a student has a placement from

059a feeder district, it just carries on. It's just sort of automatic whether it be a SCO or whatever. This has been one of my goals is to sort of break that perception and then if a student needs to continue in the same place, fine. But that should be part of our our decision-making process and our offer to the student. We should look at every student and see does that student have an opportunity to be in a different placement particularly on one of our comprehensive campuses that may serve that student better. >> Thank you. And then lastly, um, as far as like resources for parents, uh, like professionally, I know that like TripleP is a a is a wonderful program for just parenting >> support. I'm wondering if if we are offering our parents anything like

060that to support them in their parenting with a variety of abilities of students. Um we've in in our both in task force and CSA we've had some initial discussions about that but um and ways to work with families to be able to support their students. So in initial discussions but not beyond that at this point but it's a goal. >> Uh we're going to go to Trusty Dufasi P and Kirby. And I do want to actually state that we also have uh Brittany Aphrante on to answer questions. She was a part of our last study session. She's online. >> Uh yes, she is from speaking from Spain. >> Yep. So let me go to Trusty Dufasi. Thank you, President Casten. Thank you, Mr. Fischer, for your presentation. Uh I echo a lot of what my

061colleagues have already said and um being the parent of two soon to be seventh graders uh on the spectrum with IEPs, um this is obviously a topic pretty near and dear. Um my son will be uh attending the ESN class at Montgomery >> uh this coming August. Um, I will say that I still don't feel entirely um confident in everything we're doing for lack of information. Maybe that's more on me than anybody else, >> but I will personally follow up. Um, but I you have a lot of goals. We have a lot of goals. Um, I'd like to see more concrete action on how we're going to make them happen. Um, one question, and I'd like your recommendation. I know you're leaving us soon, uh, but you noted the high vacancy with teachers in the

062higher needs class, which I can completely understand because that's tough work and that's where my son's going. So, that's hard hard work. Yeah. >> For those folks. Um, and you said we need to work on it. Yes. What I'd like to get from you to us at some point is what is your recommendations on how we can get more teachers in that space. Um, and to keep them because I'm a big proponent of stability. Um, consistency goes with that. Uh you mentioned it about you know new teachers coming and getting them support so they'll stay and we need to do that and uh I have a couple of my own ideas but you know you live it we have teachers um hopefully they can give us some of their suggestions as well but um we

063need to make that happen. Um so I'd like to get more meat on the bones. I uh concur with Trusty Jenkins when she talked about uh parent support. Uh that's huge. Uh we're fortunate. My kids were diagnosed through Kaiser at the age of three. So we've been able to access services through Kaiser for the last 9 10 years or 9 years or 12. So um they're paid from Kaiser outside of the district. Uh but if we can identify more of that or uh these other areas uh that's hugely hugely hugely important. Um and if we're going to be successful. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Fish, if you don't mind, I'd give Britney a moment to actually talk about the teacher uh supports. >> Yep. >> Hello. Um all right. So, a lot of

064things and it is 3:00 in the morning for me, so I forgive me. Um, one thing I really want to mention that uh just hearing everyone talk uh that I've heard and it's my new favorite phrase. Um, a teacher's working conditions are a student's learning environment. And so when we are thinking about how we want to ensure that what we are doing is student centered, we also have to make sure that we are putting equal importance on what's happening for the teachers because there's your domino effect right there. Um the restructure, the whole idea of the restructuring, how that impacts teachers. Um we have had a really difficult time as um John has said um you can have six different program managers with six different answers um to to the same question and that's because

065we don't have a single system in place. um you have program managers who are in charge of um high schools uh who taught have only taught elementary and it is a different skill set. There are different things that are needed in elementary versus in in high school. And so having um switching to a model where we're not requiring uh our program managers to know everything because it is a lot um and having them have just their specific area is going to be such a huge and positive shift for for us on the ground because it means that the information that we get is going to be the right information. um having a system where we have procedures in place where we've got one place to look um is going to be huge. We in task

066force have been working on uh creating a procedure hub and so it's a lot of it is creating these actual like what does it mean how what is the MD process um what is as as John was saying um getting aid so what are all of those processes so to have a place where as a teacher as an ed specialist I can go there and that's going to give me all my answers and then same for a gened teacher to have their own specific you know I've got my question where do I The other piece of that that we have been um trying to work on is also creating a parent resource hub and so that would also give that would also give us the support um for our families and as well as admins.

067So um I think we need desperately to to have um to have systems like just the most basic systems and have them written down not just stickies on a computer. Um, and then the other piece, um, oh, I wrote it down cuz there was a lot. Um, so, uh, Trusty Jenkins, you mentioned, um, was there any, uh, summer work? There are absolutely people who would totally be down to work over the summer, but teachers are not going to work for free. So, we need the district to come up with a plan um to allow us to be able to do that work because we do want to get it done because we want to start the year off right, but we're not going to give away our labor for free anymore than we already are.

068Um and that includes also for the the feeder districts that you were discussing. There have been a lot of we have transition meetings. Um but I know a lot of them were delayed because of negotiations and so um that would be another area where um providing allowing teachers to uh to hold transition meetings over the summer if needed for our for our feeders would be really good. Um and that's money. And then um just for the coaches, we really need that because our teachers are working for free to support their peers. Um so we need the the coach positions to become a priority and to actually be worked on um at the negotiations table to come up with job descriptions so we can fly those. >> Excellent. Thank you, Britney. And stay on just in

069case there's other questions. Uh we're going to go to Trusty P and then Trustee Kirby. Hi, thanks for the presentation. Uh several questions so you guys can decide who wants to answer. Um what would you say the benefits are with the reorg teachers and uh students? >> Um the benefits to the reorg teachers and students. Okay. Um, first off, I'm going to sort of reiterate the the the developing coherence. And the um the way I want to sort of express this is it's very common for a teacher to ask, uh, who do I call to find this out? Um, and we want to have uh very clear procedures typically that you don't have to call somebody to to to find out something that it's very efficient. Information is at one's fingertips or you're trained. In

070addition to that, with respect to support for teachers, I'm going to I'm going to go back to the new teacher point with support from um with uh potential support from the teacher IP coaches and the teacher instruction supports. That's that is direct support for new teachers who are again going to stay uh with the district and and typically develop into outstanding teachers with the uh restructure proposal with respect to a program manager specialist um who is focused on compliance and IEP writing. We have one voice. We have one voice who uh knows how to write IEPs, has worked with our legal and done trainings and so forth. So we don't have different answers from three or four different people and we know we have one person to contact. We don't it's not dependent on the

071site. Uh we don't have to figure this out. With respect to um non-public school, I'm the person managing out of district placements. We will have a clear and I hadn't mentioned this before referral process. there will be an individual who will manage when there is a student who is being referred for say a non-public school or something like that. We'll have a clear process um before that happens. Uh which again that's going to benefit at least our special education teachers and knowing how clearly to move a student forward for referral. With respect to families, I mean, first and foremost, well-trained teachers um will be directly supporting students more effectively. In the other area, I want to focus more specifically on the uh program manager uh specialist position who would be doing the behavioral supports um

072um most in intensively at sort of a pre-special education higher level that is directly benefiting students before they qualify for special education services. In addition to that um this would be developing supports for pre-referral supports um both tier one tier two again aligning with the initiatives uh the caps caps initiative to support students more directly. Um finally I want to emphasize one more point which I I don't think I was clear enough about the one system answer. Every student whether they're in a program or not at Montgomery High School is a Montgomery High School student. The the site administrator is the site administrator for all students. We will not have that separation that is we have structural separation I'll say between general education and special education. And I I don't think there's any intent to

073this whatsoever. But the more we develop structures that all students on a campus are students at that campus and not managed by a separate program, I think is is for the benefit of all students, both general education and special education. >> Thank you. And um uh so I know with the students or parents that place their students in the non-public schools, how do we bring them back with the reorg privilege to go where they feel like their child will get best served? >> Yeah. So it's so there there a couple pieces here and yes if a if a if a student is placed in a non-public school and it's that's on consented to IEP um we will have to get parents consent to bring to bring that student back. But that said, with a program

074manager who is focused on working with these families >> um and uh arranging for uh families to visit our own programs, talking at the IEPs about the benefits of bringing the students back to school um and really selling the quality of our programs and being concerned with the parent um worries and concerns about being on a comprehensive school site. we think it will be able to move the needle. Um, in addition to that, uh, there's a number of cases where we have I don't think the families would necessarily be opposed to coming back from to Santa Rosa City Schools, but we haven't done a really good job of identifying the cases where we can do that. Um, and so if we have in the reorg, if we have a program manager helping to deliver a

075consistent message and ensure that at all IEP meetings for non-public school students that the non-public schools are working on strategies to bring the student back, what does the new student particularly need to work on to be able to move back into San Rosa City Schools and building those structures through the IEP meetings with students in these more restrictive placements. uh we believe will will move the needle and we'll be able to bring at least a percentage of the students back. Are we going to have uh cases where parents are they're just not comfortable bringing the student back even though we think they they would be appropriate? Yes, we're going to have some of those cases. >> Okay. And then um >> can I just add on to that really quick? Sorry. >> Yes, please. >>

076Can I add on really fast? Okay. Um, one one piece of that I think that's really going to be key is if you've got one person in charge of that, they're going to know all of those kids. Uh, and that is going to be huge. Um, knowing the kids, knowing the families, building those relationships and bringing them back. Um, I've seen students who have started coming onto campus for, let's say, an elective, something that was really important to them, and that was the thing that like was the spark that was like, okay, I can do the elective. Why don't I, you know, next semester add on an English class or a math class? And so being able to do more of that um through the relationships and knowing the kids, I think that that's also

077going to be one way that we're going to be able to successfully bring people back and bring them back in a way that they are excited to do so. >> Thank you. Um I have uh two more questions. So with the public comment that was earlier about all the positions that we need that are vacant for the special ed I guess department >> that are needed in the schools. How can we provide the co-taught like push-in model if we can't fill those positions? >> Okay. If if there's any I mean the the the sort of easy answer if there's are positions that we can't be filled by hiring district staff then we we will contract for those positions to be filled >> from outside agencies like like inspire and um >> Inspire is an example

078of one uh emergencies but there's there's many out there right >> but those positions pay um more for their staff right um with respect to so are we talking about comparing to what you would pay within San Rosa City Schools versus a what the pay rate is? >> Yes. For like uh instru um assistance. >> Uh I I'm going to say it depends with our negotiations and agreement with CSCA last year. Our salaries are pretty commenurate with respect to our behavioral aids when we're moving up into some of our higher need positions. In addition to that, the I think the big selling point with respect to district positions is is benefits and the ability to grow and move move up within the system. Um, I think the the recruiting piece is um convincing potential applicants

079that yes, it is worth it to move into the system and um get get significant benefits and be able to move up into higher paid positions, whether it be to special services or not. But that said, when we did move our um salary scales up with special education, uh many of the positions are basically competitive with the non-public agency non-public agency positions. >> Okay. Because um Okay, thank you. And then last question uh with the multi- the MTSS >> and I might be confused. Um, so with the support, so with the MTSS model, with that support in our schools, and I want to say it's with the pushin model that we're implementing next year, my concern with that is how does that support the gened, especially if there's behavioral problems with kids that um might

080need more assistance like uh with distractions in the classroom or, you know, furniture being thrown. own. You know, I've had kids come home and tell my kids when they were younger tell me that, you know, a kid threw a chair because they were having a hard time regulating their system. Right. So, uh, thank you. So, a couple of points on that. One is whether that the students with behavior have IEPs or not at this point is putting support structures in place so we can teach or work with the students to develop skills. In addition to that uh with respect to um aids pushing in or uh supporting students with IEPs in classroom I think the expectation is that they are supporting those students but that does not preclude them from potentially supporting the whole classroom

081of of students as needed. I want to go back to a a particular point that is um uh in with respect to hiring district aids. If uh those individuals are 75% employed, they do receive full benefits. Many of our special education aids are um uh 75s or 875s depending on uh whether they're in the elementary or secondary. and they do get full benefits even at that point 75 of a FTE position. Sorry, a bit of a side point, but that's an attractive that's an attractive thing for being able to hire district aids. >> Can I pop in? uh 60 seconds and then I'm gonna go >> um just part part of this is is in terms of the MTSS and how it's going to support is looking at not just waiting until a kid has

082failed or completely blown up to get support to say let's get you let's see if you qualify for an IEP but providing those supports that traditionally have been only for special education in general ed and looking student support more holistically from that lens. >> Just one more quick comment. I just wanted to give a big thanks to our CSEA partners for working with us to to hire more district aids both with our with our work with them last summer in negotiating the increasing the salary scale for those individuals and all along they've been supportive. we are completely on the same page with with CSEA in terms of hiring more more of our contract aids into into district positions. So, I wanted to again recognize that work that we've been doing collaboratively in that area. >>

083Yeah, we have about five minutes left on this. I'm going to wrap this at 6:25 and Trusty Kirby's questions will be our last ones. >> All right, I'll make it quick. Um again, thank you for the presentation and you're obviously going to be sorely missed in our department. Thanks for all your hard work uh you provided for us. Um in the presentation, I just want to make sure it wasn't attached to the original agenda. Are we going to get that attached? Uh sorry, everyone. Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. >> Um the I know Dr. Dr. Gillespie's report as well as what we've talked about some of the fiscal uh items uh in the past the contracted staff using outside agencies. Yeah, >> one of the big costs as you brought up as well as >>

084just my quick public math said that it's about 15.4 million that we paid for the out of district 140 students uh at 110 each. >> That's that seems ballpark. Uh that that seems about right. Um, if we include our non-public agency, our contract aids, we're we're getting >> And that's without the transportation piece, right? >> Yeah. And the and the transport. Yes. And thank you for mentioning that. Every one of those non-public school students, we are paying for transportation and pretty significant transportation there. >> Yes. Um, I look forward to the again the establishing the procedures, the manuals that you were talking about, getting that done so that when we know you're leaving and when other people if they happen to leave, we want to make sure those procedures are in place for the people

085that easily take that position. >> It has to be independent of the individuals in any particular I think what you're getting at it's independent. We get a new teacher in, we have the same procedures. I'm gone. We still have the same procedures. Yeah, exactly. >> Correct. Um, I really appreciate the organizational charts. Uh, especially I know we've been asking and pushing for that for a long time. Hope that that carries over into the other departments and we can kind of get that from the district in general. Um, so when I look at the restructure, I kind of count everything about 15 uh full-time equivalents for the restructure. um right where when we're including um admin administrative positions and other positions something of that nature. Yeah. >> Okay. And and where are we right now? I

086just want to know from a perspective of >> Okay. Right now we we are staffed with um nine administrators. Uh we have uh five behavior specialists or five behavior u managers. So that's we're staffed at um approximately 14. There's a 0.5 of a 504 coordinator, not technically under special services, but that's we're potentially counting that in that. Um and uh we don't have teacher coaches or anything of that that's that's associated with with special services. um as with respect to speech language pathologist and OT we have OT's to begin with they've just been in in a different role um and what we're suggesting in pardon me in the restructure to be able to use SLPs or an SLP uh FTE and an OTFT to provide that pre-referral or pre-sp specialcial education support >> and we're

087hoping also that some of the savings that we hoping to realize from forming our own Dela will be able to cover some of those. >> I I think so. And one one thing, sorry Nick, but it's one thing I haven't gotten to and the return on investment and we have pretty significant litigation costs for a district our size, not bad, but we expect when we have procedures in place, better written IEPs and so forth, that's going to cut down on dispute and more better information for parents. That's going to cut down on on disputes and that's going to cut down on litigation and or pre pre-litigation the settlement agreements I bring to y'all. Um and is that return on investment going to show immediately? No. But there is going to be a cost savings we

088believe down the road by uh by by implementing this restructure and then as has been mentioned by many folks including Jeremy and having procedures that are consistent procedures distributed well um among the district and uh appropriate parent information. So >> right I'll leave it there. >> All right we are at 624 so I'll take that one minute. Director Fischer, thank you very much for the presentation and also thank you very much for your service. I know that your honor is special presentation for retirement tonight as well and I just appreciate everything that you've put into the school district. So on behalf of the board, thank you. >> It's been my pleasure and honor to be here. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, we are going to reconvene to general open session. If everyone

089can please stand for the pledge of allegiance and stay standing for the territorial land acknowledgement which will be presented by Director Fischer. testing, testing, testing. Okay. Uh the land acknowledgement for Santa Rosa City Schools. I acknowledge that Santa Rosa City Schools is on the traditional territory and homelands of the Pomo people, traditional territory and homelands of the Coast Miwok people, and honor with gratitude the land itself and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. This land acknowledgement calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit. By offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold Santa Rosa City Schools more accountable to the needs of American Indian and indigenous peoples. All right, we're now going to move to our special

090presentation for our outgoing student board members. We have uh Trustee Curio and Trustee Fitz Simmons. Hi Well, Trusty Creo, having you on the other side of the DAS is it's different. I'm used to having to look this way. Uh, so I just want to start by thank you for your service, your engagement as a board member. Um, having the student voice when you look at the ed code and the purpose of having a student voice on the board is to have that voice engaged in our discussions, our deliberations. I think you embodied that quite significantly. Um, so I want to thank you for your time and your service. I'm going to give an opportunity for each of my colleagues to, uh, join me in applying you with accolades. So, um, I'll first go to Trusty

091Medina, um, who is online. >> Thank you. Um, Johnny, thank you for all of your service. Um, I remember when you first uh joined the board and you walked up to me quietly and shily and just introduced yourself and from there you've blossomed to like doing such a good job as a student representative in so many ways. Um, I I all I can say is that I'm proud of you and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to actually interact with you on several levels and to see all that you're involved with and um I look forward to all that's ahead. But um thank you again for all you've done and all you will continue to do. Um yeah, you you've held a special place in my heart. Trusty Dufasi. Thank you. We only got

092to serve one meeting together, I think, since I'm new. Uh, but what I will say is I think it's fantastic that you stepped up to do it. I think that's it shows a lot for you and your character and I hope you continue on. Trusty P. >> It was nice to we started on the same day and you were an excellent uh neighbor for me. Um, I just want to say from one Lobo to another, I hope you do good in the world and that we each have special gifts and I hope you share your gift with others and I wish you the best in college and oh, congratulations on your graduation as well. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> Um, I'm really trying not to cry tonight, but we will see how this goes. Uh, thank

093you so much. I just want you to know that your presence up here has been astounding. You have brought different things to the board that I haven't seen before from a well I haven't been paying as much attention to the student trustees. Don't tell anyone. But um what you brought up here was amazing. I loved how you brought so much empathy and compassion to such a trying time for our community. Not working. The tears are happening. Um, so I just thank you very much. Thank you for showing me around, Elsie. Thank you for showing up, speaking up, being brave, and I really look forward to hearing about your future in the newspaper, all over the news, about all the wonderful things that you do with your life. Thank you so much, >> Trusty Kirby. Um,

094also thanks. Uh, again, I know it can be intimidating to to sit up here and have everyone staring at you and, uh, as you know, I saw your confidence build as the more time you got up here and and I want you to take that forward and do great things. Thanks again, >> Tori. >> Johnny, uh, you spoke from your heart, young man, and I cherish that and appreciate that so much. and you showed up for your fellow students. You showed up for your community and you showed up for the entire school district community to ensure that your voice was shared and heard and that others who didn't have an opportunity to speak um heard the word word those words were spoken. Um I also want to tell you how grateful I was for your

095poise and artistry and strength performing for our reclassification ceremony. Um, it was so beautiful to see you up there and you you got out before I can get down and tell you how proud I was of you. Um, but just hearing the strength in your voice, seeing the strength in your character, seeing how you show up and present yourself. And, um, you should be very proud of yourself, young man. I'm very proud of you. And I want your family to hear how amazing you are. And I with everyone else looks forward to seeing uh, the path that you blaze. And congratulations on your promotion. Best of luck on all your future endeavors and don't be a stranger. You can get up to that podium and still use those strong words whenever you want to. >>

096And Superintendent August >> Trusty Curo, I just have to say it has been such a pleasure and a privilege to serve with you. Um I really appreciate your great engagement, your involvement not only up here on the dis but also on the superintendent's leadership council um with I think you um brought great value to every space that you were in and I just really appreciate you and wish you the absolute best of luck. Congratulations on graduation and I expect that we will see you up here or in a similar space at some point um in your adult future. Thank you >> again. Trusty Creo on behalf of the board and the district. Thank you for your service. There was a small token of our appreciation um there for you and if you'd like to give

097us any parting words um we'd love to hear them right now. From the first time that I was interviewed for this position, I was a I was in a very nervous wreck during that time, especially getting the announcement letter. I completely remember it sitting in my living room kitchen, eating my food, seeing a notification pop up on my phone saying, "Congratulations, you got the position to be student board." I screamed from the top of my lungs. My mom up there was heard me and was very shocked, very scared because I just screamed out of nowhere. So that was a fun surprise. But from the very first moment that I got up to be a part of the board, I knew where my end goal was going to be to at least leave some sort of

098mark towards not myself but on the board and for my fellow students all around. And I really hope and believe that I got to do something like that. To all of you who stood up there with me during those hard times, I thank you all for your service, for everything that you guys are doing. I know it's definitely something that has a huge weight on your shoulders and probably keeps you guys up at night a lot during those trying times. But genuinely, I think you guys have a very beautiful and amazing heart in each and every one of you for even taking the time out of your days, years, and weeks just being up here and gathering all that information. From from my standpoint, getting all that information one night completely flew out of my

099mind the next day. So, I don't know about you, but that was for me. But genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for all the time you have given me on this position. I'm 100% grateful for the learning that I got from here. And I hope to take that onto my future with whatever I do. And like how Miss August said, maybe in the near future, I'll be up there with you guys once again. Thank you very much. >> All righty. And with the board's consent, uh I'm going to maintain the ability to come back to this uh agenda item when trustee Fitz Simmons arrives. So, uh we we will advance the agenda while we wait for her to come and we'll come back when she is here. Uh we're going

100to move to reports of actions taken in close session. We have one action that was taken. Uh the board authorized on a 42 vote with trustees Dufasi and Jenkins voting no a separation and general release agreement for employee ID number 1215 shall be placed on administrative leave for two months. We'll now go to items considered in close session for action and open session. There were none. Uh statements of abstension. Are there any statements of abstension? Okay, seeing none, we'll move to adjustments to the agenda. Seeing no adjustments to the agenda, we're going to move to our special presentation for the 2526 San Rosa City School retirees. Uh Dr. Zans Okay, thank you um interim superintendent August, members of the board um and those that are here with us in the audience today. Thank you for

101being here. I have the pleasure tonight to recognize um this year's retirees and this year we have actually 53 retirees and they represent 1,192 years of service to Santa Rosa City Schools And because I feel it's really important to recognize each one of them, although I know all of them could not be here tonight, I am going to read the names um alphabetically, all 53. And for those of you that are here with us tonight, when you hear your name, if you could please come forward and we have a certificate for you. Um I wish we had more, but you all have been watching the board meetings. you all know what's going on. Um, so for now we have a certificate and so I will start with and I'm going to preface by saying I

102apologize if I mess up your name. There's a couple names on here that I may struggle with. Uh, Hermas Abraa Gabbre, Tammy Aonso, Tifflam Atus, Daniel Bartholomew, Kathy Bassini, Rosalinda Brady, Cheryl Brooks, Mary Kaine, Steven Carpenter, Terry Crowder Smith, Joseph Davis, Lisa Darbo, Susan Ducet, Paul Drew, John Fiser, Carlo Forchini, Carol Forest, Michelle Fatoule, Gail Gangliano, Erasmo Gonzalez, Christina Grall. >> Hold on one second. Gotta go back. Come on. >> Wait, I did. I didn't say Lagotti yet. I haven't gotten to L's yet. >> I know her name. I didn't get to L yet. I'm gonna get there. I I'm not going to skip you. I promise. Okay. Um, Arasmo Gonzalez, Christina Grall, Martha Gutierrez, Amaro Hargreaves, Kyle Hart, Jenny Hawk, who is here with us, but we are not going to make her walk

103all the way down here. Arnaldo Hernandez, Maria Heron Monsanades, Diane Holly, William Huninger, Valerie Johnson, Richard Johnstone, Linda Castanis, Casey Kubak, Tammy Legins, Gail Legatti, Laura McBade, Linda McCoy Hernandez, Cynthia McDaniel, Michelle Mason, Melanie Miller, Karen Naro, Michael Persinger, Janet Pinto, Janice Rodc, Luis Rosales, Raphael Sanabria, that one was under duress. Okay. Joy Shurmer, Anthony Sllayton, Lana Stolty, Abby Walls, Laura White, Paige Wilson, and FAI Wassie. So, I'd like to say congratulations to all of the retirees and I can't wait to be one of you. >> Thank you to each of the retirees that were able to come so we could celebrate a small part of your retirement. I know that celebration is probably going to begin a bit more in earnest in a few minutes here. Um, and Terry, I I want to call

104you out specifically and especially um the impact that every staff member can make on a student's life, whether they're a teacher or not, is embodied in you at the at the front desk at CCLA. Your impact for my son on a daily basis of helping facilitate his many phone calls home and many many other things. um I think for me had such an amazing impact and speaks to the impact that each of our retirees had on the families within our district. So, thank you for embodying that and thank you for each of the retirees that we were able to recognize today and your impact on families like mine. So, thank you all. Going to give a few minutes for my colleagues to make a couple additional comments. Trusty Deator. >> Vai, don't take off. So,

105congratulations to all of our retirees. Um, and I just need to say something to you personally, Vai. Um, I have been part of Marie Crew High School with you from the onset as an uncle who's or a brother-in-law whose sister-in-law was the first graduating class to three nephews that have graduated to my three children that have graduated to my nephew that is a current sophomore. We've seen a lot of administrators. We've seen a lot of teachers, a lot of staff, and we got to have the pleasure of having one head custodian for the life of that school so far. That's pretty amazing. My grandfather's finished his career as a night custodian with the Ron Park Katy School District. and to know what it is to caretake for a facility and for a campus and to

106truly put your heart into it. You've embodied that and you have thousands of people's whose hearts you've touched by making a connection with them and showing them that you care and you share that with your family and your daughter that works with us now. and I just couldn't be more proud of you and I'm very surprised as you've been threading this for the last 15 years that it actually happened. Um, but enjoy your retirement. Thank you for all your years of service and we appreciate all the retirees. >> All righty. I am going to move us back to the special special presentation for outgoing student board members item D3 and invite trustee Simmons up. So by so you get the joy of sitting there while we talk about how great you are. So, um I

107expect lots of awkward smiles. Uh but I just actually want to thank you first and foremost for stepping up into this position midyear. Um you came in and replaced another trustee who had to step out of it and it's never easy to step into a position um not when it's intended to happen, right? And so I want to thank you for that leadership and then the opportunity to have seen you on your campus and at this at the um superintendent student advisory council. uh you helped take me on a tour of Piner, which isn't actually your campus, but it's a great tour. Um you know, I just your leadership, your willingness to step up, engage with us as board members is going to serve you really well. Congratulations and thank you. I'm going to give

108an opportunity for each of my colleagues here to uh also provide you with compliments. And then we'll give you a chance to tell us just how good of a job we might or might not be doing. Um I'm going to start with your seatmate, Trusty Deator. Good evening and welcome. Thank you for making a trip down here so that we can tell you how awesome you are. Um the courage and the strength to even step in this position has b been above and beyond especially doing it um when you did. um you didn't start with us for the year, but you stepped in and you gave us the time that you could give us and that was really special and really appreciative and we want I want you to be proud of what you've accomplished,

109proud of what you've learned and really excited for you to take this experience and grow through it and can't wait to hear about what other things you grow into and accomplish as you take further steps into your future. So, thank you so much for your time here. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Trusty Kirby. >> Yeah. >> Also, thanks for stepping in and having the courage to do that. Uh like I said to uh Trusty Curio, you know, it's it's a lot to sit down here and have everyone stare at you and uh but uh you know, you did it with confidence and again, just take that into into the future with you and build on that confidence. Thanks. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Jenkins. >> Hello. Um, thank you so much for

110being here tonight and you know just as uh Trusty Kirby and Deator mentioned, thank you for stepping up halfway through. Um, it's kind of hard to say more than what they do together. They encompass everything. Um, but I do hope that that you take the experiences that you learned here and I mean some of it is just being on blast at all times, right? >> Yeah. Um, but take those experiences and the poise that you had up here um with you into your future. It was great to have you up here. Um, I didn't make it to Ridgeway, but uh I appreciate you being here and um and your contributions. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Trusty P. >> Hi. I also want to echo what my fellow trustee said that you were super brave for

111joining the board when you did. Um I hope it inspires you to continue to serve in our communities because it's wonderful to give back and to help others and I also wish you the best in your future and in your continuing your education. >> Thank you. >> Just good evening. Hey, we only served a minute together. Um much like you, I came in mid-stream, right? So, great job stepping up and taking on the role, right? It uh can be thankless most of the time, but uh people do appreciate it. People pay attention, so you take it and do great things. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> And uh Trusty Medina is virtual. >> Thank you. Uh student trustee Fitz Simmons. Um, I appreciate you stepping in uh to serve in in the middle of a term.

112Um, unfortunately, I did not have the privilege of getting to know you very well. Um, but I think just the fact that you stepped up speaks volumes of you. Um, I think part of this service is, you know, what you learn from it. So, I hope you had the opportunity to learn a lot. um you know get to know folks and and and part of that learning is also who you meet and and so I'd say feel free to reach out to us in the future or at least me if you ever have any questions on anything or serving in a future way. Um but thank you for stepping up um and and I wish you nothing but success. >> Thank you so much. Um I appreciate a lot. It was so much fun and

113a very unique experience coming up here. And I really hope next year also goes well and hopefully more smooth than it was this year. And I do know one of the next school board members, she goes to Montgomery. I've seen her around campus and I know she's great. So I'm sure it'll be a great year next year and I'm just excited to see what the future holds and I appreciate for having you guys have me up there and getting to get that experience. So thank you. >> Thank you. And I do want to give Superintendent August a moment to also thank you, >> Student Trustee Fitz Simmons. I just I want to echo um the appreciation for you stepping up mid year, especially when it was a rough year to to be sitting up here

114and and your um leadership and participation in the student uh the superintendent student leadership council. Um you stepping into that midstream as well. I'm just really appreciate your involvement and your u the perspective that you brought to conversations and so thank you so much for your service and I look forward to seeing what you do in the future. Congratulations on graduation too. >> Yeah. Thank you so much guys. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> All right, we're going to move to section E, which is our reports. Um, we're going to start with our California School Employee Association CSCA Santa Rosa 75 report. Is it working? Good evening, President Casten, Trustees, Interim Superintendent August, everyone here, and everyone listening. Congratulations to all of our graduates last week. May they enjoy the life and experiences ahead.

115Tonight, we honor our res retirees and resignes. Thank you for all of your hard work with our students, their families, and our schools. Enjoy your welldeserved retirement and resignes your future endeavors. May we all be reminded of the joy and the tears that graduations, retirements, and resignations bring. We thank the district for negotiations on Monday. We recommend approval of the dis discussion items, action items 4B and 4 C. We ratified our calendar last night. We support the formation of an ad hoc committee for district use permits with the promise of an equitable solution for our workers and our community. Saturday morning after graduation, someone was mowing the fields at Slater. Did they cut the locked gates? Did they have liability insurance? How would you feel if you came to work and found out someone else,

116a volunteer, did your work and you did not get paid? The board members are up for an increase tonight, salary increase or whatever it is. One more time, CSEA members are left behind. We can only hope this is the beginning of a trickle down effect. Let's all take a breath. School's out. Summer school is starting up. We've started the move again. Classrooms are being boxed. Libraries emptied. Staff moving to new sites. This is the list. Steel Lane is going to um Lincoln, James Monroe, and Helen Layman. Comtock is going to Piner and Elsie Allen. Leela is going to the old um ABES, Albert Bella, and now we call it CLA, Children's Language Academy. And French American is going to Santa Rosa Middle School. The list this year is longer and more complicated timewise than last

117year. Even Dodto Hall is moving out for renovation this summer. Elsie Allen 2 for roofing reasons. Last year we had timelines. This year it is a facilities puzzle happening without a paper timeline with real people under real strain. classified employees were laid off. These are staff who kept our schools safe, fed, open, and maintained and are now being told, "We appreciate your service, but you know, are no longer needed. The budget was cut and we survived the state takeover." The classified staffs remaining are taking on more without recognition, stretched thin without relief. Our teachers have been laid off, too. Will they be rehired in August so the students will not be in crowded classes of 40? Everyone is being asked to do additional work without additional compensation. It's painful. It's real. Everyone is exhausted. The

118work didn't disappear. The people did. The district is moving more than boxes. We are moving histories, identities, and school cultures. Is it easier this year? Still we show up. Still we care. And still we work. We welcome our new superintendent. Include us not as an afterthought, not as an obligation, but because we are essential. We always have been. We are the workers. We keep the district running quietly, daily, supporting the students and the teachers. And if we're going to rebuild and restructure, then let's do it together with courage and compassion. Thank you. >> Thank you for your report. Now invite up the team's local 665. I'll now invite up our San Teachers Association for the SRTA report. Good afternoon. I usually try to get an aisle seat, but not today. So, good evening, President Casten,

119Interim Superintendent Lisa August, members of the board, members of the community. First, I know they've pretty much all left the building, but a huge congratulations to our retirees. There's so much knowledge and dedication that we're saying goodbye to as we say goodbye to these educators and their support professionals and we wish them all the very best of luck in their ne next adventures and same also to our student board members um who I know have bright futures ahead of them. We're happy to report today that we have a signed tenative agreement addressing the impacts of the program cuts that will be implemented in August as well as the closure of our compensation article. I trust that the TA has been shared with each of you. Um we're working on ratification even though it is summer.

120We're hoping to get a forum together and get some people voting and we want to do this in time to get the TA on the next board me meeting agenda. So, we'll see how that goes. Um, I'll be doing it well I won't be doing it during baseball, but I'll be doing it on the road on my road trip. So, we'll get it together. Um, we're very pleased that the proposed cal salary cuts, the furlow days, and the step freeze will not happen. But I do want to point out that we, the members of SRTA, did not receive a salary increase this school year and have agreed that we will not receive a salary increase next year. So, I think you can imagine the reception among teachers of the agenda item tonight proposing to perhaps

121quadruple the pay for board members. And yes, I understand and agree with the argument. It is a very hard job. It's difficult to get people to agree to do this job of board member. Um, but the same is true for our teachers and our support staff. Um you just heard the names of dozens of retirements. Um there were more resignations than that. In fact, um the resignations the retirements have reversed nearly every single layoff that you approved a month ago. Um with the exception of the counselors that we are sadly losing. And we still have vacancies at most of our school sites. Tired of year after year of job insecurity, talented and dedicated teachers have taken their expertise and experience to other districts rather than continue to work for Santa Rosa City Schools. This was

122just communicated to you in reference to special education where there are vacancies for education specialists all over the place as well as the instructional aids who are vital and indeed a required part of the implementation of the new special services structures. Thank you, Trusty Pra, for raising those questions and bringing these issues forward. The new plans won't work without instructional aids. They're part of the TA. They're part of what teachers need to make this function. And if we can't find them and we have to pay for them through agencies, the question that rings in my mind is, are we actually going to be saving any money by eliminating our special day classes at the elementary level by eliminating our co-eing at the secondary level? As we hopefully find ourselves in better financial shape next year,

123it's imperative that the restoration of our programs is approached collaboratively, listening to the needs and the voices of the educators and the support professionals in CSEA who keep our schools running daytoday. If Santa Rosa City Schools is ready to increase spending, where's a transparent process to collaborate on those those decisions to ensure that we are centering our students experiences? Tonight, Santa Rosa Teachers Association supports the approval of the charter renewals for both Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School and CCLA SRLA as presented. Our students deserve to continue to benefit from the exemplary exemplary learning models that these schools provide. So, I'm going to thank you in advance for approving their charters. Uh, finally, uh, a warm thank you to Dr. Tim McCarti for agreeing to stick with us for, uh, 69.5 days. U,, maybe we can

124talk him into a little bit more. Um, and then also, um, uh, thank you to Dr. Dr. Monica Thomas, who I just met a few hours ago. We're very much looking forward to collaborating with Dr. Thomas and have a productive working relationship um as we navigate the many challenges that we're facing next year that I'm sure you'll hear all about very soon. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for your report. I'll go to the superintendent report. Thank you, Trusty C. President Casten, excuse me. Well, I'm going to continue the tradition this evening or the example and congratulate our graduating class of 2026. I love um the opportunity and it makes me very proud to have um to be able to shake the hands of our graduating class. I was able to attend

125both Ridgeway and Santa Rosa High this year. The only one I haven't made it to yet is Montgomery, so next year. Um, so just congratulations and to our staff and our students for making it through another year. And thank you to our um board and cabinet for helping to celebrate across our schools. I also want to congratulate our retirees um,92 years. That is pretty amazing. and they're we wish them all a very um very wonderful, relaxing, fun adventure in their retirement and they will be missed. Um we very much appreciate the contribution um to our community, to our schools, um to each other as our colleagues. I also want to share that SRCS had great representation at the pride event on Saturday Saturday, including a parade contingent with students from all of our secondary schools,

126as well as the arts charter narwhals. And a special thanks to Sarah Williams for securing our booth and parade spot. Thank you also to also to Vanessa Loken Ruiz for ensuring we were set up and taken down off site on time. for so many staff, students, parents, and trustee de laator who showed off who we are as SRCS, and we are already looking forward to planning for next year. I also want to welcome our new superintendent, Dr. Monica Thomas. Very excited to continue uh the work together as we move into next year. Uh thank you to our labor partners. Um we had some very productive days. um Monday afternoon with CSEA and Monday and Tuesday with uh our SRTA partners. Um we appreciate the collaboration um in figuring out the details of how we move

127forward um to be able to implement um the actions uh from from the board this this year. And thank you to our board for supporting that. Sorry. I also want to give a special thanks to Dr. Xans and the negotiating team. Um the process was absolutely critical for us to be able to move forward to support students next year. Uh later on this evening we will talk about the budget and LCAP have our um hearings. You will see revisions and differences. They are both drafts this time because we have we have a lot of updates to make um that normally you would be seeing the final version um tonight for the public hearing. There will still be some updates on both of those documents going forward. While this has been a difficult year, we have

128worked together to find solutions that do allow us to stabilize our budget and continue serving our students and community. We have significant challenges ahead in implementing these solutions that will require us to continue to work together together and we are here to support our colleagues and serve our students. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for your report. >> We'll move to the board president report. Um, I'll be brief tonight, but I do want to acknowledge I was able to attend the French American sixth grade promotion ceremony on Thursday night and then the graduation at Ridgeway and the graduation at San Rosa High. Um, I'm not quite sure how many hundreds of PE kids I shook hands with, but the smiles are the part that I remember the most. Uh, and um, I promise that

129there was hand sanitizer up on the stage for the parents that are counting the number of people that shook hands with us. The per the Santa Rosa High graduation event was just really exciting. It was a really well done production by Dr. Cliffold and the entire team there and I want to thank them for the attention to detail. I know we had that similarly across the district. Um but seeing the class graduate here and hearing many of their stories as lots of them have gone through a lot of the uncertainty that we've gone through as a board in their educational journey. Um, I had many conversations with students that talked to me about that and I want to appreciate that they shared their experience with me both both positive and constructive. Um, the other part

130of my report is that based on our last meeting and with the consent of the board, I'm establishing a ad hoc committee on facility fee uh rental fees. There's a description uh attached to my board report item on this. Um, the core objectives of the ad hoc committee, and there's more description in there, but will be to look at recommendations to bring back to the board to enhance community access, establish a clear fee nexus for what we're charging to the value of the services and facilities provided, potentially look at aligning with the city structure, and upholding the fiduciary duty that we have to preserving funds for K12 education. Another part of it is that the committee as they move through this work um may uh come back to us with an additional work plan for

131us to consider as they dig into the scope and that they'll be coming back in August. Um so with the consent of the board I'm establishing that committee and I'm appointing uh vice president Brack as the chair and trustee uh trustes Medina and Da Tori as the committee members. That is concludes my report and I will move to other trustee reports if anyone has trustee pra. >> Thank you sir. I want to begin to show my appreciation and gratitude for our to our retirees. Thank you for your dedication, your service, and the commitment that you've given our district. I also had the privilege of attending Ridgeway and Piner High School's graduations. And I want to congratulate the entire class of 2026 on this incredible milestone. Um it was wonderful to be a part of it

132and it was inspiring to see our students recognized for their hard work, resilience and accomplishments. And also my son did the uh did me a solid and walk the stage which didn't didn't decide on that until Monday. So that was a huge huge milestone win for me. Um well cuz someone told him he didn't have to. So he's like why would I go where there's people? Um, also listening to the students speeches, especially the students at Ridgeway who shared and were vulnerable and um spoke about how hard school was for them and having didn't have the motivation or the desire to go to school until they found their home at Ridgeway was so special to hear. And I'm just oh so proud of those kids. I mean, I I almost cried. Um, oh, let's see.

133Lost my thought. Uh, yeah. So, uh, being there at both graduations just really made me feel proud of being a school board member because I really got to be a part of it and not, you know, not just as a fan, but as um, someone who wants to make a difference in our community and seeing our kids do well. So, I really enjoyed that. I also want to recognize the strong leadership from principal Andrea Korea and the Piner and Comtock staff for creating such a meaningful event last Friday. Um maybe you read about it in the paper, but Andrea and her team found a way to honor Commtock's legacy as well as um building excitement for the future and the partnership of us becoming or Piner becoming a 7 through 12 junior senior high next

134year or in a couple months. Um, you know, the Piner community welcomed Comtock Middle School with an escort from Santa Rosa uh police department and fire department and the middle school were greeted by uh Piner seniors and staff and they received some Piner swag, the Otter Pops, and they watched the final the students watched the final graduation rehearsal. So, it was a wonderful way to get our incoming students excited about their future joining the Piner community. as well as I want to recognize principal Craig again for securing a $12,000 John Brisbis uhhuh special grant to purchase new uniforms for Piner Junior High student athletes $12,000 and we're getting new uniforms for our incoming students. So that's phenomenal. Thank you yes. So, um, you know, it's I I'm surprised like, you know, you look good, you

135feel good, and you're going to do good. And so that our newest students are going to be able to feel more included and more uh proud to represent our school. So, thank you. I didn't have to do it, so that's even better. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> So, I don't have anything prepared this evening. However, I did want to take a moment to um also congratulate all of our graduates of the 2026 class as well as our retirees. Um I was able to participate in the Montgomery graduation as well as the uh promotion from um the French American Charter School for their eighth graders. It was fun to be a participant in that as well. I am hopeful that there I know staff are kind of out of there right after graduation. But I'm hopeful that

136there is some kind of like a collaboration following graduations to um figure out like best practices, what schools can learn from each other. I know from just hearing different things like Montgomery sound system was great this year. I saw on some pictures that Santa Rosa had the big screen that I thought was such a great idea. Um, so just like tips and tricks for the future. Uh, the other thing that I think would be really, and maybe some schools do this already, but that I think would be amazing is to get those teachers up there. Like I'm a board member and shaking hands and doing the things, but I mean, do they really know us? Do all those students know us? I don't think so. But they love their teachers and their teachers are the

137ones that are making are doing the work day in and day out. Um, so just something to consider for the future. Additionally, this is um my last meeting of this school year with this configuration because I won't be at the next meeting. Um, so thank you so much for all you've done. Uh, the configuration up here will be a little bit different. The people who are presenting going forward will be will be different. Our sites will be staffed differently. Um, I'm looking forward to, you know, what the future holds, but I'm very aware that there's a very solid grieving process that comes with any change. So, I thank everyone who has put in the work this year, whether you will be with us next year or not, um, it does not go unnoticed. Thank you

138so much, >> Trusty Deator. Thank you very much. Um, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to all of the endings. Um, the campuses that were close, the communities that have lost their homefield advantage. Um, and make sure we pay respect to the situations that we're in and why we are in them and being better stewards moving forward so that we do not have to continue that process and say goodbye to more of our communities. really grateful for the communities that have accepted our students and have found ways to connect and grow and encourage them for the next opportunities that await for them. um had the pleasure of participating at Ridgeway's graduation and Maria Creo's graduation this year and very appreciative of both of those administrative staffs and communities for stepping up for the

139students and showing their appreciation for their accomplishment and what they look forward to for their futures. Um, as President Kassen said, there's nothing better than the smiles on those students faces as they cross the stage and show pride for the accomplishments that they've achieved thus far and the joy and potential in their hearts for what's further. Um, also want to show appreciation to Sarah Williams and Vanessa Loenz and all of the staff and administrators and teachers and interim superintendent August Hume um who showed up for Pride this year. Um, also found out that we apparently won an award for Pride for best use of theme and the 2026 Sonoma County Pride Parade theme this year was pride and true. Advance, advocate, and act up. And it's a very vulnerable community that is under attack right

140now. And it is so important that as educators, as public educators, as a communitydriven public entity, that we show up, we're seen, we're heard, that our communities feel the love and support needed to be who they are, how they are, and that we continue to lead through empathy and support and find ways to connect. looking forward to opportunities for even more students to show up. Um, we had families, we had administrators, we had other people walk in that prayed with us. The most the stars of the show were the students. Their hearts and their faces were full of pride and joy and love and to be there and to be seen and to be heard and to participate was a really wonderful, beautiful thing. And I'm appreciative of having the opportunity to participate in some

141small way and show appreciation for them. Um there is a lot of hard work ahead. Seems we say that every meeting and it's still true and I remain committed to that hard work. Welcome Dr. Thomas. Look forward to working with you and look forward to working with and collaborating with all of our staff. Um we're not going to get through this alone. We didn't get here alone and working together is the only way we can make this work and start growing the opportunities for forward that we're all hoping to have. Thank you, >> Jesse Kirby. I also want to um just um thank our yes thank our retirees and uh our graduates uh congratulate them from this year. I was able to attend the Ridgeway graduation and uh shake their hands. It was a very

142great um celebration there. Also the want to acknowledge like uh trustee Delator mentioned the the just acknowledge that the the difficult decisions that had to be made this year and the school closures that that did occur and uh I just hope that we don't have to do that anymore going forward. It's it's a painful situation and uh I hope that we can put that behind us. Um, lastly, I just wanted to I know I mentioned this last meeting, but uh the the governor's office, the budget is uh due to be ratified by um June 15th. So, we've got a few more days. Again, I urge you to reach out to your state representatives, ask them to stop the almost $4 billion manipulation that the governor is withholding our Prop 98 funds uh to our schools.

143So, uh you've got a few chances. You can go online, submit a form. It's very easy to do. So, that's all I got. >> Trusty Duosy in the Medina. >> Thank you, President Casten. Actually, real quick, I was uh privileged to attend the graduation ceremony at Pinter High School. Thank you, Principal Korea, for having me. Uh it was uh it was an amazing event. I think we had 322 grad 320 320 graduates. Um and the energy really is infectious and it uh it's very energizing uh for me anyway. and I appreciate their enthusiasm and it makes me want to redouble my efforts to support uh them through you, the staff, uh so they can become their best selves and carry on with our community. Thank you. >> And Trusty Medina, >> thank you. Um first

144off again thank you to our retirees um for all your service and that was a lot of years I think 1192 hours or years. Um I think uh one that stood out during graduation at Elsie last week uh Lisa Daro did the teacher speech. She did an amazing speech after over 30 years of service. Um so thank thank you for all that service there. Uh thank you to um Alan Angiano who did the valictorian speech, Taniah Williams who did a great speech on overcoming obstacles. Um it was a great and efficient um graduation and and I think there was one classified member um and particularly um Maria Lopez who put a lot of effort into organizing the parents to to create a nice little celebration right there after um her along with all the other

145staff that helped out. Um it was a beautiful event and I was uh privileged and honored to be present for it. Um Dr. Mccardi was there um representing admin staff. Um and and that kind of leads me to to my hopefulness in terms of the work ahead after our special uh meeting last week um on the CAPS network work and the MTSS work. Um, I, you know, I feel that there's positive energy that's happening there, that I hope that we build off of that and that it really hopes, I really hope that there's consistency as we move forward and that it really, um, benefits all of our schools, all of our sites, and everybody's able to embrace that work. Um, obviously, I'm not there today cuz, um, I'm out here in in in the happiest

146place on earth, uh, Disneyland. I had the fortune of watching the the SRLA and and LC Lobos uh march today. Tomorrow I get to watch the Mariachi Lobos, the California Adventure. Um I can't express the amount of gratitude that exists from the hundreds of people that donated to make this possible to represent Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, but people that have donated from all over the Bay Area. Um it was kind of a lastm minute effort. Um and and it was made possible. Um over $70,000 that needed to be raised to get them here. I know they're very grateful. Um and today they they look very tired, but um they did a great job. Um I think also as we transition um I think I have heard from staff uh concerns about all the moving around

147um a lot of construction um hopes that construction's done in time as we move forward. Um I don't know what support it would be able to be providing um to help people move back and forth, but I hope that um we're able to do that and so people could do their jobs. I did want to um do a special shout out today. Um yesterday um students started um classes at SRJC doing dual enrollment over the summer. Um some of them reached out um having trouble with the dual enrollment and staffing and there's been a big change at SRJC. I want to just especially um thank Debbie Cardardo, Erica Rafo, Principal Cunningham, um Aelia Renoso for all the hours that they've put in outside of school hours trying to help these students meet this need. Um

148there's been a lot of changes at SRGC with the new system. Um, and I hope that as we move towards hiring on the new college career counselors, we have good training for all these folks because there's a lot of hiccups that are happening and there's a lot of stuff happening soon. So, I hope all that can get addressed. Um, with that said, um, I'm appreciative of the collaboration between CSEA and SRTA and and I feel like we're transitioning to a good place to get off to a good start next year. There's a lot of work that still needs to happen. there's still a lot of issues to be resolved. I hope that as time goes on. Um we're able to find a resolution and and everything could be um accomplished with with the students at

149the center. So, thank you everybody for coming together and working together for our students. I truly appreciate it. Um and uh Superintendent August, thank you for constantly keeping us informed and keeping me in the loop. Um, with that said, I'll I'll send it back to you, President Casty. >> Thank you, Trusty Medina. Uh, we're now going to move to item F, public comment on non-aggenda and cons. >> Cast, can I ask a question real quick first? So, the ad hoc committee, thank you for the appointment and performing that, but it's the only place on this agenda. And I'm curious, do we currently have a plan until recommendations come back for what we're doing for these organizations that are requesting facility use and continue to incur the fees that are currently adopt approved. So for the

150board to take action to change the policy, we need the committee to meet RERS back recommendations. Staff is working through the use agreement process right now with the organizations that would qualify for those. Um and we can request a report back in the board weekly on the status of that. My understand is the staff meeting on that was today. So there was no way to have an update for this meeting. >> So if I can request that we do get that update as soon as possible because we have a lot of organizations that have some hefty past two notices um due to these requests and we would love the time to collaborate and find recommendations to move forward but I don't want to hurt those organizations in the meantime. >> You and I share the

151urgency. Um so the committee is the right work for the policy part of it and we'll get an update on what is happening within the current policy um with this board weekly. Right. We're going to move to the public comment on our agenda items. >> Thank you President Cassen. We have three blue cards. I'm going to go ahead and call your name. If you can make your way to the podium. It's one minute. First speaker is Margaret Boone followed by Adena Flores followed by Shaina Kirk. Good evening. Building on what I spoke about earlier, my concerns about filling assistant positions, I wanted to share what I've heard from the people heard are the issues people have keeping them from applying to our district instead of working for outside agencies. The first complaint is that we're

152paid once a month, which I tell them, you get used to that. The next issue is pay. We had a greatou last year that raised assistant pay significantly, but still falls a couple dollars short of what outside agencies pay. It also provides full benefits for all assistant positions except the new health aid position. That was an oversight because the position was new. Theou was a great step in the right direction. We hired at least 30 new assistants because of it. But if it had gone just a tiny bit further, we would hire way more assistants in district, saving us quite literally millions. We pay outside agencies a fee plus wages, so we pay about double what we pay hourly for district aids. We also pay $110 an hour for their supervisor. Even taking into account

153the cost of benefits, retirement, etc., we would save money. We should consider raising that wage another $2 an hour. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Next. Next is Adena Flores, followed by Shaina Kirk. >> On November 1st of 2024, you cut me a $50,000 settlement check because I was forced out as a whistleblower, the former executive assistant to your board and superintendent. I don't understand why immediately after that same day, all of a sudden, Casten joins the board and I'm in court with his ex-wife who is defending child rape. Over 40 undocumented boys were raped and trafficked at Sonoma Valley Boys and Girls Club. I'm their victim advocate. And so your employment defense firm, Whitar Group, uh your ex-wife, Aaron Carlstrom, that's you know, Whit Star's personal attorney. And also the gentleman who offered

154me work doing PI work unlicensed and try to essentially ex extort and bribe me. So then you guys uh brought on Esquire Seth Xeen to file illegal restraining orders against my codefendant Laura Ainsworth. And then now you're hiring the superintendent uh who also came from Oakland Unified where Seth Esquire Seth Xing came from. So why are you covering up child rape? Please please tell me. God bless you. >> Next is Shaina Kirk. >> My name is Shaya Kirk, parent advocate, therapist and caring community member. I hadn't planned to speak but I noticed a consent item. the district voting uh representatives to CIF, the California Interscolastic Federation. And I just wanted to make sure everyone involved is aware of this discriminatory and illegal under California law pilot policy that CIF has been implementing in other parts

155of the state to exclude certain athletes and restrict their participation in high school sports since last May. I hope our district will stay committed to protecting safety, privacy, and rights of all the students who have a legal and protected right to participate in sports regardless of their gender identity. I know this seems simple to me, but it needs to be said and recommitted constantly. So, thank you so much and I appreciate your commitments. >> Thank you very much for your comments. >> Those are all the cards. >> Uh with that, we're going to move to item G, the consent items. I'm looking for approval motion on items 1 through 10. >> So moved. >> Moved by Trustee Medina, seconded by Trusty Dufasi. Roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Medina. >> I. >> Trusty DeFasy. >>

156I. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> I. >> Trusty Kirby. >> Hi. >> Trusty Deator. >> Hi. >> Vice President Pra. >> President Casten. >> Hi. All right. That passes unanimously. We're now going to move to H. Second read on board bylaw updates. We'll start with public comment. >> We have one blue card. President Casten. Um Veronica Jordan. Make your way to the podium. You have one minute. >> Good evening. Veronica Jordan, a parent in the district. I just wanted to say that one of the key components of diversity and inclusion work involves having our leaders be representative of the community that they're leading and part of that is fair compensation for those leaders. Um historically leaders like you were very poorly compensated which meant that only in independently wealthy people retirees stay-at-home wives and or husbands

157of stay-at-home wives were able to do the work we do. So, I wanted to just say a word of support for the hard vote that you're going to be talking about in the next few minutes around increasing your compensation. I want women and moms on the board. I want people of color on the board and the only way to do that is to pay you for the hard work you're doing. So, thanks for your hard work. >> Thank you for your comment. >> All right, with that, we're going to move into the second read of our board bylaw updates. I believe both of these have been through both our board policy and our board finance subcommittee. Um, and we're going to take up first board bylaw 9150, which is the student board members. Um, there

158are many of us that could present on this. So, uh, Trusty Kirby, would you like to present on the committee recommendation? >> Sure. Um we discussed this at the uh board finance uh subcommittee meeting. Um we did discuss the possibility of whether or not to um have this as a as a monthly compensation or perhaps a scholarship type situation at the end of a of the students u term. And uh we felt just among our discussion that it probably would be better for the students to have the money as the school year went along as if they you know cuz like if they were out getting a job they would have that money throughout the year to uh to do what they want um to compensate them for their time on on our board. So

159anyway, um that was the only really um I guess discussion on and then as far as the dollar amount um you know there there was no that that's what we came up with for I mean we were willing to discuss that if need to u but otherwise that that's what we were presenting was $50 per meeting. So, if two meetings a month, that would be $100 a month for student board members. >> And just a clarifying question, uh, for the superintendent, a student board member could decline the funds if they had a reason to. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Okay. Because I know we had a couple questions about it possibly messing up other things that they may be getting. >> Yes. And if it's not written in there, we could bring back. >> Okay. Perfect.

160Any other questions on the recommendation? I have one question >> trusty deatory and then trust Steve Pre. >> So I do appreciate the attention to um ideologies of compensation for the student board members. I don't think we should be offering both elective course credits and $50 per meeting. Um that causes an equity issue for student community. Um, and I would be much more supportive of a scholarship opposed to um, monthly meeting compensations. Um, we've tried to bring this up and talk about this before um, and it's, you know, it's a a difficult discussion um, especially when we're talking about compensation for people that we share the DS with. And um, definitely something I support just not sure if I support it in this form. >> Trusty P. And then Medina, >> thank you. Thank you.

161I just had a question. So, I mean, this is my first time being on the board and discussing uh the school board trustees, but is there a big um is there a large interest for student board members to submit applications to apply or I I mean, all I saw was the one that we was selected. So I mean is there a strong interest from our kids to join the board? >> We have had a really strong interest this year. It kind of depends on the school site but I would say for um this year it was Montgomery and Piner and we had close to 10 applications which um was a lot um considering the past years. >> Okay. And then before do they only receive like volunteer hours to be on the board or or

162just nothing? nothing. Okay, >> Trusty Medina, >> thank you. Um, just a couple things. Just add a little background. Um, we've been working on this for way over a year. Um, kind of came out and seen that other student trustees and other districts locally were getting paid um per per ed. Um my my question because this is one of the things that I think when I went back um was to to try to understand how it would impact um potentially undocumented students that might not have an ITN or might not have a social security number in terms of how this compensation was made. One of the the questions that had arisen was would it be a stipen? Would it be a scholarship? Um what would be the um the format of pay? So, I don't

163know if those are options that exist or something that might um need to come back at some point. I'm supportive of of this. Um but, you know, because it's something instead of nothing. Um but I think as as we move forward, if if a situation arises at that point, we we need to re consider that policy and what impact it'll have or what adjustments we may need to do. >> Any other discussion? Okay, this is a recommendation from the committee. So, we don't need a motion in a second. We'll go straight to the vote. Roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Duoy >> I. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> Hi, >> Trusty Kirby. >> Hi, >> Trusty Deator. >> Hi, >> Trusty Medina. >> Hi, >> Vice President Pre. I, President Casten. >> I That motion passes

164unanimously. We're now going to move to board bylaw 9250 and uh Chair Kirby presenting. So similarly um as we discussed this per the ED code um we are they changed the rules and we are um eligible for up to $2,000 um uh compensation per uh yes less amounts per month uh for your u for being on the And so that's why we we didn't specify a dollar amount so that we could discuss amongst the board uh as to where we want to go. That's why that's why it says up to $2,000 just for clarification. And as with the student um funds, just to be clear, this is just coming out of general fund money. So >> trusty Jenkins. >> Um this is actually just a clarification point for Melanie. Uh, and for the public with

165the wording of this, just a heads up. So, the where it says deletions of board BP language, it's backwards. So, when we're looking at the draft and the um the comparison one, the red highlighted is it's just a formatting thing with our new process. But red is the new language. Um, blue is the old and not highlighted is carries. Just to clarify that for everybody. >> Trusty Medina. >> Thank you. Yeah. Um I just wanted to highlight so the the change in the state law basically changed the old figure of $400 to $2,000 within the ED code. Um which is the 400's where we had started at before. Um I just wanted to also point out that that figure is based on our district uh um enrollment, the number of students in our district. So

166if our district um drops down below a certain number of students, those figures change as well um or if they were to go up as well. So I think it's just important to recognize that. So that 2000 figure comes from that within the the ED code and and this is based on law that was passed by the state that went into effect January 1st of this year. Um but again, I'm I'm supportive of updating it to to that um 2,000 amount as as kind of was the intent of the state legislature. Okay. Uh Trusty Kirby and then >> sorry, one one other comment was uh just as with the student board uh stipen uh you are not required to take this. You can turn this this money down if it's so desired. >> Right. So,

167a trustee who is able would not need to take the statement, right? All right. Um, I'll add my comments on this one. Um, this is not the same as employment. Uh, whether we're at the $530 a month or we're at the $2,000 a month, uh, we are not protected by minimum wage laws. And it is my strong belief that if we're doing this job right, we're not making minimum wage because we are putting far more time and energy into these decisions on behalf of the community. Um, and that's okay. But having this be at an amount that makes it so the impact on families, on working folks who may want to serve in these positions and are now able to take the time off of work or not work with clients or make the sacrifices

168necessary to do this job, right? Uh I I think is incredibly important. Um, I think we've seen what happens when a board falls asleep and is not engaged. Um, and I don't think our community can afford that. I I also believe that we have moved to a place where as a board we've in significantly increased what our expectation is to be sitting up here. Um, we have instituted a committee structure that didn't exist before. um which requires additional hours but also provides additional insight and ability to make more reasoned decisions. Um similarly we've implemented a new training program on ourselves which has a requirement of 10 days of training through the masters and government's program for onboarding as well as continuing training requirements each year in addition to our statemandated trainings for this position. Um,

169it's hard to talk about increasing our own compensation and I personally and strongly believe the state should include us in similar to LA and other areas in um some type of a commission or an external committee that actually sets the compensation um instead of asking us to sit up here and make this decision. But that's what they've done. And they passed this legislation in recognition of the majority of school board seats going uncontested in the state of California. And the majority, in fact, every single schoolboard seat in this district going uncontested. And I hope that this leads to more action at the ballot box with more people being able to consider these positions and come and challenge those of us that are up here today because we need people that are interested and engaged and

170want it. They want to be here and I think this is one small part of that. So, I similar trusty Medina and others support this being at the $2,000 um limit set by the state. Other comments, Trusty Jenkins and Deleator Tator. >> Um I appreciate the comment from this Veronica, right? Yeah, there you are. Uh I very much appreciate that comment. I fall in that category. Uh and I too am uh in favor of the the 2000 >> trusty dator. So an elected position um carries a very heavy burden with it. Um to be in a position viewed by the public and felt that we are to be approached at all times by the public and solve all the problems um that the districts that we are steward of um need to be solved. Um,

171I personally have added 30 to 45 minutes to every grocery store run the last three years because that's what it's turned into. Um, you're known in the community. You're doing the best you can to make decisions and govern policies to put the best district forward. Um, it is extremely uncomfortable to have a conversation about personal compensation. We do have access to benefits if we chose to take them. And above all else, this does even the $2,000 would not compensate the time that is put into the work that we choose to do because we want to be here. But what it could provide is the opportunity for those that may not have access to put the time into this work because ultimately it is time is the greatest resource and you need to put time into

172your community, into your campuses, into your staff, into your students, into their lives so that we have the opportunity to make the best choices possible. Um, so as uncomfortable that it is, I would like to see us come to agreement on this discussion. So there are opportunities for future board members that not only want to have this position, but a larger stipen than what's being received now would make it more accessible for them to make that decision and participate if they chose to do so. Steve Bra, if you want make comments you >> um so I want to start by saying like I understand the optics like after a year of school closures, layoffs, program cuts, and concessions. I know many people will look at this item and feel like the board is giving itself

173a raise. You know, let's let's acknowledge that. Um, I also want to make it clear that I all I've done is once this agenda or the agenda was posted, I've been so anxious and um worried and uh stressed out because I don't know how I feel because as a parent watching from the other side, I would be so pissed off. I can't tell you how many times I've yelled at Omar just as a parent, right? Not saying nice things and used not very nice language and I will acknowledge that. Um, so I haven't taken this decision lightly because I'm on this side now and I'm recognizing the work that goes into it because I wanted I don't want to be a dirt bag board member. And I do believe that public service should be open

174to everyone, not just people who already have the financial security or flexibility to volunteer their time. Because I have a full-time job and this is my fake job. And every time I walk away from my full-time job that provides me my retirement and my benefits, I still have to make up my hours because I don't want to use my vacation to leave work early on Wednesdays. And when I visit schools on Fridays, because those are my work from home days, I'm still working on weekends. But I also want to know that I want a board that truly reflects our community and that we need to remove the barriers to serving. And I understand that importance, especially being a parent with children in our district because I want those voices up here because we're the ones

175our our children are the most impacted. And of course, we want our kids, not just our kids, but all the kids in our district to be successful. And we want our teachers to feel supported and our classified our certificated staff and classified staff to to feel supported. And originally I wanted to wait until my children graduated from high school before I applied for this position. But when Trustee Maneri stepped down or resigned, this position went unfilled and it had to be extended for me to feel obligated to to join. Um because I knew how much work this would be. And then I underestimated that level of commitment and responsibility that comes with this position. I'm not complaining about it because I truly want to do good for our teachers and for our staff and our

176families and students. So, at the end of the day, this isn't about giving people raises. This policy recognizes that commitment and it will help make our qualified community members um who can who can afford to serve. And I want the board service to be accessible to working families. And I want people to run for these seats because they care deeply about students in public education. And my position along with trustee DeFasy and I believe trustee Medina. I mean, we're in terms, so we have to apply next month if we want to run. And I still haven't decided because it's a lot of work. And I want to do my job well, both both my fake job and my real job. So, I hope if I do decide to run, I hope that there's more people

177that are more qualified than myself because there's two things you never want me to be in charge of. directions and um planning uh planning six months out because I really can't think that far out. You don't want me in charge of that, >> Trusty Jenkins. >> So, I'll move to approve bylaw 9250 with the full amount of $2,000. >> Is there a second? >> Trusty Medina is seconded. Further discussion? Seeing none, roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Jenkins, >> I. >> Trusty D. Uh, Medina. >> Hi. >> Trusty DeFasy. >> Hi. >> Trusty Kirby. >> Hi. >> Trusty Deator. >> No. >> Vice President Pre. >> I. >> President Casten. I a motion passes with six eyes and one no trusty voting no. Um and we will now move to our discussion action count items.

178Our first one is item I1 charter school calendar. And we're going to start with our public hearing on the CCLA renewal petition and material revision request and consideration for action on resolution 202526-88 to approve renewal petition and material revision requests. And I will ask uh director Mendoza Torres and uh Dr. Rodrik Castro to present. Thank you, President Castens, Superintendent August Hume, members of the board, students, staff, and community of Santa Rosa City Schools. We come to you with the continuation of the public hearing for this petition renewal for CCLA. Um, I will take direction from the board with respect to what document we'd like to go with or we can just continue with conversation. Um also if um need be Melanie if you can promote me I don't know if necessary if we are going

179to be discussing any particular document or we can just continue with conversation. Um if if you want to just do any presentation obviously we've had this is our third item on this. So if there's any highlights any changes but otherwise we can move to the public hearing get comment and then we can ask questions. >> Understood. Um, I would say hello, my name is Gabriela Mendoza Torres, the interim principal here at CCLA. Um, I have read the staff findings and agree with like adding more details to especially or specifically our seventh and eighth grade programming um to be able to add some of those details. So, I read it, I saw it, and I appreciate the feedback. Okay. Well, then case we've been posted for the legally required timeline. We've received our initial hearing. So,

180we're going to go ahead and open up this public hearing. >> Thank you, President Casten. I will call three names at a time. If you can make your way to the podium, you have one minute for public comment. Our first speaker is Kim Laaides, followed by Abby Medina Gutierrez, followed by Alan Aldana. Hello, my name is Kim Leitus and I am speaking on behalf of Sarah Sanchez. So Sarah says, "My name is Sarah Sanchez and I'm a CCLA parent. As a former student of a Maria Creo high school, I personally benefited from an independent study program during my senior year. At that time, I was a young mother, and independent study gave me the flexibility I needed to continue my education while working to financially support myself and my son. Because of that experience, I

181know firsthand that alternative educational pathways can change lives. I'm excited that CCLA is considering offering a similar option for our community. Many families may not realize this opportunity exists, and having an independent study program connected to a strong bilingual high school pathway would provide students with flexibility, support, and a real chance to succeed while meeting their family and personal responsibilities. Thank you for considering this important opportunity for our students and families. >> Thank you. Next speaker is Abby Medina Gutierrez, followed by Alan Aldana, followed by Leonardo Herrera. Go ahead, Abby. I started in CCLA when I was 5 years old. At that time, I only knew a few words in English. That made me feel nervous and very scared. But then I realized that not only teachers but students speak my home language to espanol.

182Since that moment I started feeling welcome. Nowadays I feel so lucky to belong to CCLA because I have made new friends and I am able to understand what they and my teachers say when they are talking to me in English. At the same time, being part of a bilingual school helps me preserve and improve my home language in a more academic way. I have a little sister and I would love her to have the same beautiful experience I've been having so far. Thank you. Our next speaker is Alan Aldana Albana followed by Lonardo Herrera followed by Alana Kelly. Allan is not here. Next speaker is Lonardo Herrera. Francisco Espanol English. accessibility. Thank you very much for your comments. Good evening to all of you present. My name is Leonardo Francisco Aerrera student from CCLA. In

183this last months of grade 7 have been very nice because I had the privilege to be in the mariachi of this the school. It's been a great support for me that I am learning a little a little bit of English at the same time with uh bilingual teachers at the same time with students who speak my uh language and also speak the language of this country and this meant by this ways I have been able to to learn the both of them and to speak clearly in both uh things. He was also mentioning that it was just nice to be around both at the same time. So he went a little off script there but in any case that's the message. Thank you. Next is Alana Kelly, followed by Maria Bernardet Peterson, followed by Jenna

184Johnson. >> Hi, my name is Alana Kelly. I am the vice president of the Santa Rosa High Foundation. And I've been coming to these meetings now for well, let's see, since the school closure meetings began. So, as a reminder to the district and the board, a year ago, we were all talking about what high school to close. So, adding 9 to 12 to CCLA seems wrong. So, I'm just saying there's other options. Comtock's going to be empty. Slater's already empty. So, please don't add 9 to 12. Thank you. Next is Maria Bernardet Peterson followed by Jenna Johnson followed by Veronica Jordan Language Academy, the Santa Rosa Language Academy. San Rosa Language Academy. >> Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for this opportunity. I wanted to support our school, SRLA. Our school is a

185community, special community. I have the honor and privilege of teaching there. Although there's a bilingual school in my neighborhood in Windsor, I decided to bring my two children to SRLA because I feel that SRL offers more opportunities and and support to students. Thank you for your support for our students and the aspect of our charter and our efforts to update it. I ask you please accept our updates from our charter for SRLA as well as having that which has been presented to you directly uh without suspense. I I cannot enjoy my summer vacations without knowing that SR S SRLA continues and is the best. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Jenna Johnson, followed by Veronica Jordan, followed by Deborah Virgin. Good evening. My name is Jenna Johnson. I'm a Santa Rosa Language Academy parent

186and I'm here today because I'm excited about the future of SRLA. I asked the board today to approve the charter as it's written, keeping the school in its current form with the addition of the 9 through2 hybrid study program. In the last few months, I've been surprised by the number of adults I've met who completed high school via independent study and how it enabled them to accomplish their goals while taking on other positions of responsibility in their families or their communities. There's a very real need for diverse high school options and I'm looking forward to SRLA continuing to build its community centered dual immersion experience through our extended K through TK through 12 program. Thank you. >> Next is Veronica Jordan followed by Deborah Virgin followed by Brenda Dvalos. >> Good evening board. My name

187is Veronica Jordan. I'm a longtime CCLA parent. I first want to thank you in advance for approving our charter renewal tonight as it's written. It has been a challenging and existentially threatening procedure for us, process for us. Second, I would like to request that you direct our incoming superintendent and the staff to form a working group to begin strategic planning for us for the next five years. So the next time we go through this, it doesn't have to feel like we're fighting for our right to survive. It's kind of been a fight we've been fighting since day one. Um, and then third, I just want to call in the white parents of privilege who are in this room and listening online and to think about how the choices that we're making as parents of privilege

188are really impacting our entire community. Um, decades of white flight and segregation within our our school district. Um, they're it's disturbing and if we all made different choices, we could actually help to contribute to fixing this problem. So think about how we can do that. C. >> Next is Deborah Virgin followed by Brenda Dvalos followed by Lily Roman. in our quest. High school espanol. Thank you very much for your comments. >> Good evening. My name is Deborah Berhan, mother of a student who's in education special ed in CCLA. I chose CCLA about 10 years ago when my son was in uh in kinder and he's now in art quest because I saw saw I see the benefit of having bilingual children for their future and their present and their lives at that moment. My options

189were among bilingual schools and for Spanish and English was just CCLA and Cali Kalak. CCLA was close to my home. Uh but besides that, I like CCLA goes I like that it goes from uh prek kinder TK through 8th grade which guarantees that students learn and and solid firm up their Spanish and form community. Another beneficial benefit another benefit is that my my kids are of kids when kids are in CCLA is that when they get to high school they already have the basis for Spanish and that class will be easier for them where they must take language classes. Also my son was in seventh and eighth in in CCLA in the in the area of theater and that's when she ran out of time. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Brenda Dvalos, followed

190by Lily Roman, followed by Pat Bailey. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! France. Thank you for your comments. to members of the school board. I'm writing as a parent and a member of the CCLA community to share what I think this truly school truly means to my children and our family. We chose CCLA. We're not simply choosing a school. We're choosing a place where our children could grow up connected to their language, their culture, and their roots. We were choosing a community where they could feel seen, valued, and proud of who they are. The dual immersion program is one of the greatest gifts our children have received. Watching them confidently speak two languages, embrace different cultures, and develop a steep sense of pride in their heritage has been incredibly meaningful for my family, our family. As parents, we

191hope to give all our children every possible opportunity to succeed. CCLA has helped make that dream reality. She skipped a bit. We understand that the district faces difficult decisions and we appreciate the challenges involved. However, we respectfully ask that you look beyond the numbers. Remember the children and families whose li whose lives are directly affected. Behind every statistic is a child who loves coming to school, a parent who's placed their trust in this community, and a family has found a place and where they truly belong. >> Next is Lily Roman, followed by Pat Bailey, followed by Katrina Silva Atkinson. >> Good evening, board. Lily Roman, as you consider the renewal of our charter, I'd like to highlight our student demographics. Over 90% of our students identify as Hispanic or Latina. Nearly a third are English

192learners. More than 76% come from socioeconomically disadvantaged households. And we serve students with disabilities, foster youth, and students experiencing homelessness. These are populations that are often faced the greatest barriers to educational success, but they bring incredible strengths and determination to the classroom. When we talk about equitable access to education and opportunity, these are the students at the center of those conversations. These demographics are not something to overlook, but there's something to consider. Our school opens its doors to every child regardless of background or circumstances and be we believe every student deserves the opportunity to succeed and these demographics are a reflection of that commitment to our community. So again, just consider this in your deliberations about our charter. Thank you. Next is Pat Bailey, followed by Karina Silva Atinson. >> Uh, good evening everyone. My

193name is Pat Bailey. I'm a parent at CCLA as well as a substitute teacher. Um, board, thank you for your efforts. Uh, my understanding, if I understand Ed code right, is that you will approve our charter. So, thank you in advance. My ask is that there be more long-term planning. I was on a committee at the school around facilities planning. I know it's fraught with potential for errors, uncertainty, and things can change midstream, but this has felt like an emergency, a kind of one emergency after another. Um, I want to applaud you for a and and all the people who were involved for the 7 to 12 transition at the high schools. It seems like it's gone pretty well. We would have heard about it if it didn't. Uh, finally, I would say that people

194are concerned about the 9 through 12 aspect at CCL. I think their concerns are over wrought and I I just don't think they need to be that concerned. Thank you very much. >> Our last speaker is Karina Silva Atkinson. >> Thank you to the board. um particularly Donna Pra um is actually through her at the time a parent at CCLA that um I was introduced to CCLA. Uh my son at the time was finishing Proctor Terrace. It was during the pandemic and u CCLA was going to be open to the community for middle school. So I attended this seminar or this conference or whatever you want to call it and she really sold CCLA to me. I wanted my son um who was dean elementary at a a regular school to be in a dual

195immersion program. I wanted him to have the culture, the bicultural that I have, the biiteracy that I have and I wanted him to have that choice and allow my then baby uh to have that opportunity uh when she was able to attend kindergarten. So thanks to my son approving the transition to middle school. My daughter is now a CCLA and I ask you to please approve the charter as is written. So other Thank you very much for your comments. >> Thank you >> President Cassen. Those are all the cards. >> All right. Thank you. Um I'm just going to remind the board where we're at in this process. We've sat first uh our first meeting on this. We sat as the board for CCLA. our second meeting when we received our last public hearing was

196sitting as the authorizing board and we are convened again as the authorizing board to take action. Um we've received and reviewed the staff uh report on the charter application and it's been posted on our website for the required amount of time under ED code. Uh so I'm going to go ahead and move to discussion. I'm going to start with Trusty Pack first. I'm going to start with Trusty Pra and then I'll go to Trusty Media. I just want to thank all the parents who came out to speak tonight and to um I'm sorry I don't remember your name to the little girl. Abby, you spoke so beautifully. Were you scared >> a little bit? Well, you couldn't tell. Um I I I don't have any concerns about renewing the charter. And you know, I did

197receive a couple emails with concerns from staff, but it's hard for me to um find a reason to um to not support because I know with charter schools, it's a commitment especially with dual immersion. So like Spanish and the French school. Hi Evelyn. Um, it's a commitment that parents make to drive across town or out of the city to put their kids in dual immersion schools and with the cons it's it's a commitment and with the concerns from some of um some of the concerns I received from emails regarding the numbers and the fiscal responsibilities and moving the middle school program to Elsie's campus. this I just don't feel in my heart that I can force the families to go to a school if they don't want to go there regardless of how um what

198restrictions because parents will cheat li still to put their kids in a school that they feel is going to provide their kids with the best education whether they're lying about their address or they're um driving to another city and so I don't um I don't see a I can't find an argument to say I wouldn't renew your charter, but I do need some questions answered from the district with uh concerns that I had about or that I read about um the section allocations and with the current enrollment which I I guess we can have the comments first and then I'll ask questions. >> Go ahead and ask your questions. >> Okay. Well, I didn't want to hog the mic. Um, so some of the questions that I got were from uh with the Can I

199actually just read the question or is that not allowed? >> It's best if it is stated in your own words because we've already closed the public hearing and the public comment. So, if it wasn't a part of the public record previously. So, >> Okay. Okay. Okay, I'll try to paraphrase. Um, okay. So, each section there should be between 20 to 33 kids of um in a classroom. Correct? And then if there's less students, that means that their section should be collapsed and the students should uh be distributed to other sections, but more students means that another section needs to be added. I'm just reading now. I'm just I'm not I'm not pretending. Uh added to the schedule to avoid having to pay overages to teachers. So, how do we or I guess you can't predetermine

200how many kids you're going to have enrolled because kids and parents will enroll like on the day of school. So, then with the overages and I know currently there's 100 or at least according to this email there's 156 students registered in the junior high program at LC Allen. Does that sound right roughly? Okay. So, then they have to be allocated approximately one teacher per content area, right? So, >> so on the CCLA >> um were not posted for the LC Allen program. So, >> if you can word the question in regards to the charter for CCLA. Well, no. I guess my concern is is with the middle school numbers that are at CCLA right now and then with the middle school students that are enrolled at LC Allen now, how do we are we moving

201is there discussions of moving the teachers that want to be voluntarily transferred from that site to go to support the LC Allen Junior High site? Voluntary transfers have not opened yet. Okay. So that they just completed the involuntary transfer and I'm looking to Vicki because it's not really actually my area of expertise. So involuntary transfers just ended and now we're starting voluntary transfer. So depending on on sections that may be open, that's then voluntary transfer >> because I guess how many teachers do you need for CCLA's middle school program and LC Allen's junior high program and is there enough teachers because I don't want anybody to be let go. >> So we we're really constrained in not being able to talk about the LC Allen program because it's not agendaized. Um, also the CCLA boundaries

202for students is countywide. So there's not a direct correlation between the neighborhood students that would be attending LC Allen and the countywide uh boundaries of the CCLA. But Dr. Zans, if you could address how the teacher selection and that process goes in the context of our charter middle programs and the rest of them. >> Okay. So I will try and address it. Um so the involuntary transfer window took place. There were positions available at CCLA that were selected through that involuntarily involuntary transfer window. The sections that were allocated to CCLA were based on the number of students that were pre-enrolled at CCLA. And so the number of students enrolled at any other school site does not affect the number of sections that are allocated to CCLA. So their allocation is independent of the allocation anywhere

203else. >> Thank you. And then one question about the middle school program, I mean the high school program. Are we hiring an additional independent study teacher? Has this position already been filled or is there a need to hire? So the independent study position, we've allocated 0.5 FTE or half of a teacher to the CCLA independent study. And so we opened a 1.0 independent study position five of which will serve our whole district and the other.5 will serve CCLA. That position was selected during the involuntary transfer process. >> Okay. So they'll and that person will be placed on the IND in the independent study. um building at at Ridgeway. >> That person will be placed with the rest of the independent study teachers. >> Okay, my questions. Thank you. >> Okay, you go to Trusty Medina

204and then I'm going to give comments and then I got Trusty Kirby and Daily Tory. Uh, President Casten, all I want to do is move adoption of resolution 202526-88 to approve the renewal petition and material revision request for CCLA. >> It's been moved by Trusty Medina. I'm going to second it as uh Trusty Casten. We'll continue discussion. Uh, Trusty Kirby or Da Tori, do either of you have Trusty Kirby? >> Yeah. Um, couple of questions, comments. So, uh, within our charter renewal, it says, um, I'm just going to read the quote here. SRCS expects CCLA to implement SRCS's feedback as detailed in the staff report, including the need for detailed, measurable outcomes aligned to the state priorities with appropriate metrics both schoolwide for identified student groups. So, my question is, who in ED services? Do

205we have someone that's going to be responsible for tracking and monitoring this implementation and what's the expected timeline? >> So, I prepared um an analysis a response to the staff report recommendations with respect to um the individual that's identified for that. I will um that will have to be determined by the team that's going to be taking over next year. But um if you see the um response that I prepared, it's pretty detailed with respect to what I'm asking to be um analyzed and broken down with respect to the staff report. But I will leave that to the team that's taking over. >> I didn't I thought I read that I didn't see the timeline in there though. Was there is it just >> It should be yearly. >> So yes. >> Okay. >> Sorry,

206I should have included that. >> Okay. Um, couple of questions that came up from the public, I guess, so to speak. Um, the there was a question as to whether or not uh we SRCS had uh submitted an independent study annual program evaluation. I know I think that's required by August 1st. Do we we do that every year? Correct. >> Yeah, I actually have it here. It's been prepared. Um and I shared it with cabinet and um it will it can be something that's shared actually on Friday at the board weekly. >> Perfect. Um lastly, oh within and and this may not be necessary I guess during the actual charter renewal, but are there how many classes or sorry which subjects are going to be taught in Spanish versus English at specific grade levels? dessert

207and give an idea about that >> for which grain >> it says it at all grade levels but specifically in high school I guess since we're adding that I'd like to know that I guess >> so right now in high school we would be adding so if we look at the percentage breakdown in one of our pages that I'm trying to get to page 25 um 9 through 12 would be a 10 to 90 model which means that right now they would be taking a Spanish course. Part of our challenges has been um finding or retaining um bilingual staff and I know that we have a pipeline pipeline with uh Cinema State. So as of right now it would be one Spanish class that they would be taking 9 through 12. >> Okay. Thank you.

208Um, that's all the questions I had really. >> Trusty de la Tori Jenkins and I'll provide some comments. >> So, I look forward to the continuence of the San Learning Academy, but I do have concerns of how this was written and an implementation of a 9 through2 independent study online and still supporting comprehensive 78 while we're attempting to populate a 78 program at LC Allen. So I need to amplify and echo the concerns u made earlier that um this is taken seriously and the district helps support and guide the implementation of this learning academy moving forward so that um this can be done to fidelity and this can be done to grow and continue to grow into something beautiful and amazing that our community needs. But I just don't see those additions of supporting comprehensive

20978 and 9 through 12 as being an appropriate fit. Um that being said, I don't see those as things of withholding a vote for continuation of the charter. >> Trusty Jenkins and then I'll go to Trusty Dufasy and then myself. >> Thank you. Um so I had two small questions. One, has there been outreach to right district to repair or discuss? >> Maybe you >> typically that happens um with at the superintendent level and not um superintendent uh Reed and I have not connected. Is there a plan to >> There has not been. Um we do see each other at other events. Um but we can certainly reach out and I think it would be a great opportunity for our um to make some introductions um with our new superintendent um with our neighbors. >>

210Thank you. And then the other question Oh, where'd my other question go? Hold on. Oh, duh. The name change. I know we mentioned this last time. Is that something that comes in the future? It doesn't go with the charter. CCLA today, something else tomorrow. Same school. Perfect. And then so then I had two pieces of feedback. Um one the point about having a workg group to support charters through this process. Be great if we could do that for our charters in general. They just need support getting these things off the ground. And then the other piece of um feedback, just throwing it out there as this is a new program, um it would be fantastic if we had like a newcomer program that would be able to support those grade levels that are kind of

211outside of the um the typical bilingual bicultural K8. >> Trusty Dufasi. Thank you, President Casten. Um, I support the renewal. Uh, but I do share uh Trustee Delator's concern about the seventh and eighth grade um population of students uh both at CCLA and the new program we're installing uh at LC Allen. So, um I also agree that the district office needs to make sure they're on their game to uh support this and obviously to let us know uh as trustees going forward if there's any issues so we can get on the front end of this thing and make sure that we have a successful program at both sites. >> All right. And my comments are I mean simply I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that this should pass as presented. Um CCLA has

212done an amazing job in meeting the academic needs of our community. It has a weight list. It has weight list every year. It has a weight list in the triple digits. Um I mean providing more language education is a place that San Jose City Schools has done incredibly well and CCLA is one of the campuses that we've done that at. It's one of our strengths, shining stars. expanding into a realm of independent learning makes sense for those students that are proactive and um able to thrive in in an independent study environment. I think it's the first step of this expansion and as with many first steps when you think back to when CCLA started and we just had kinders didn't even have TK. I don't think back then um you know and that we didn't

213even know what a sixth grade or an eighth grade graduation would look like and now we do. Now, we've had students actually graduate from our high schools that have been through this. I saw more seals of biiteracy on the stage this last year than existed years before. And so, yeah, we need to be doing this. Um, we need to be supporting this work. And I'm sorry, but if we're going to be talking about competition in Southwest San Rosa for middle schools, let's talk about Rosland University Prep. Let's talk about other places where there's the competition out there. This school is a school where people are going to go that want to have two languages and two cultures. And we're not competing with the schools that are offering traditional or arts or other types of special

214offerings. This is about the academics being provided on the campus here. That's the competition. And that's why it has a countywide boundary. A student from anywhere in this county can go there with an equal right to those that are in the neighborhood. Um, and we need more options. we need more options so that we can meet each and every student where they're at and engage them. Uh so 100% support on this moving forward. Um is there any other trustee pure chewing your apple? I can say more glowing things about them. >> Quick quick question because since you brought up the newcomer um point, Trusty Jenkins, are any of our independent study teachers, are any of them bilingual? Currently, I do not believe that any of our independent study teachers are B-clad. >> Okay. Um, how

215one, how do we fix that? too. Uh, how do we do the track the >> I would like to say chewing though that in response to both of your comments that one of the reasons why this was considered as an option is that in terms of the students that respond to and that are interested in this community school and this um is our we do have a newcomer population that was interested in an ISB track at that particular site. That's what I was trying to ask. >> Yeah. And so that is something that I think everybody's thinking about. And so we continue to look for um teachers that fit that particular profile. Um the state as a whole is looking to relaunch more BIA. They're called BIA now authorization tracks. But this is something that

216the entire state is wrestling with as well. And I would say that as we meant as we gain students in this program in demand, we'll be able to solve the problems because there will be revenue attached to it as the students join the program. Everything is ultimately comes down to the students wanting to be in the program. So any other last comments? Roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Medina, >> I. >> President Casten, >> I. >> Trusty Dufasi, >> I. >> Trusty Jenkins, >> I. Trusty Kirby >> I. >> Trusty Deator >> I. >> Vice President Pre >> I. >> That motion passes unanimously. Thank you everyone. With that, we're going to move to item 1B, which is our public hearing on the San Rosa Accelerated Charter School Renewal Petition and consideration action on resolution

217number 202526-87 to approve the renewal petition. Thank you, President Cassen, Superintendent August Hume, members of the board, student, staff, and community of Santa Rosa City Schools. Uh we recently notified that pres um principal corel um has fallen ill and so in hisstead we have um director Dr. Rhymer filling in on the petition. So we'll continue with the public hearing on uh Santa Rosa accelerated charter. Again, um I'll follow your lead with respect to um any document that you would like elevated for discussion. If not, we'll continue um with your whatever you'd like. Please just highlight if there were any changes between the last presentation and today. >> None at all. >> Okay. With no changes, I'm going to move it straight to the public hearing and then we can get into the discussion after this

218is a public hearing. Uh public hearing is now open. >> Thank you, President Casten. I have a few blue cards. Um, for those of you still here, if you can make your way to the podium, one minute. First is Kylie Wilson. Are we good? >> Go ahead. >> Thank you. Good evening, board members. My name is Kylie Wilson. As a parent, I'm asking you to support an amendment to the Shra sibling preference language that provides preference to siblings of students enrolled at Shrax and siblings of Shrax alumni students who are enrolled in the host middle school, which is RVMS, at the time of lottery. This is not a major policy change. It would be a small adjustment that would help keep siblings together on the same c campus, reducing hardships for families and preserving the

219continuity within school community. I know consistency across charter programs is important to the district. I would respectfully request that this amendment actually better achieves that goal. Like the other charter schools, it helps keep siblings in the same community despite differences in the grade configuration. I hope you will consider uh consider supporting this recommendation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next is Eastston Wilson. >> Yay. >> Good. >> Hi, my name is East and I'm 9 years old and going into the fourth grade. I have been looking forward to going to Shrek since I was in second grade. Not only do I need the challenge, but I want to be back on the same campus as my sister. She just finished Shreks is and is entering RVMS in seventh grade. Please consider updating the sibling preference so

220we can be on the same campus again. It makes it easier for my family and allows me to be challenged. Thank you for your time. Our last speaker is Laura Montinar Montenegro. >> Uh good evening and thank you for your time and welcome Dr. Thomas. Go Wildcats. Uh my name is Laura Montenegro and I am a Shrex parent. A big win during this process of the Shreks charter renewal has been the recognition of how essential the Shreks model is for twice exceptional students and our community. This recognition, however, is undermined by the proposed change to the sibling pre preference clause in the charter. There's overwhelming scientific evidence that ADHD and a ASD are genetic. And so, the chances of families having multiple children that have these conditions is extremely high. For families where this is

221the case, having the ability to build strong multi-year relationships with staff and school family community is invaluable. As Shrax is only a two-year school at this time, eliminating these opportunities would be devastating. Please reconsider and amend the charter back to it either original language or agree to the revised language given to you by the charter committee. Thank you. >> Our last speaker is actually Taylor Joy. Uh, I've read the new charter amendment and the guarantee for civilian enrollment. Um, used to be seven years and it now the wording is two years. That's a pretty big change. So, I'm asking for compromise. Um, to include the word um, siblings from alumni students who are also enrolled at RVMS at the time of the lottery. Um Shrax has changed uh my son's life and his education journey

222for the better and my younger son would be heartbroken to know that he might not be a part of that um due to some wording change on this renewal. Um we're at tracks where a family of families um most families have multiple kids that aren't Irish twins. So, they're spread out and only allowing two years is a pretty small window and would really disrupt uh the community and a higher family turnover rate will undoubtedly disrupt the school community. Thank you for your time. >> Those are all the cards. >> Thank you. We'll bring it back to the board. Uh Dusty Jenkins and Dea Tory. Thank you. Um I'm, you know, obviously we're going to be approving this um tonight and I'm for a five-year. Uh I do have and this is totally my bad because

223the last time we had our public hearing, I didn't realize there were changes and that was my bad as a trustee. I apologize. Um couple little points with this program because it is an exceptional program. It is a wonderful program. It does so much for our students. It is also limited to 128 students. And when we have a an exceptional program that has academic rigor and the academics that all of our students need and deserve. Um, one, it needs to be offered to more than 128 students. And then also maybe we need to look into uh some form of this as a placement instead of a lottery. Um because there are certain students that really benefit so strongly sometimes more than others with this kind of a setting and having a lottery. I mean, that's

224so hard to have like your students future based on a lottery when it's something that they really need due to them due to a variety of things. Um, so I just wanted to put that out there. Uh, and I but I do think like personally I'm more for a five than a seven, especially with the configurations that are happening in the in the coming years. Um, I'm excited about the expansion of this program, but I think we need to do some work as far as what it looks like in the future. >> If we can get a response on our options and the criteria around the 57year issue, >> the board does have um, excuse me, the board does have authority within those timelines. So it can be a fivey year, sevenyear >> and the

225findings I would be be looking at to determine between those two differences. >> Typically it's around the performance which they do qualify for a seven. That's not um common. They are um one of the highest performing. >> Director Jenkins um Los Angeles Unified School District has a model that's just like this. It's called the schools for advanced studies. They have over a dozen of these um that you might be interested in looking into. Yeah. schools for advanced studies. >> Yeah, I opened two of them when I was there. Yeah. >> Just so can I just get some clarification from the team on why the amendment was made that the community has been so vocal about tonight and we've received many messages prior to um the approval of the charter. So that was based on the

226two two things. One um around the out of the conversation that came the first public hearing when the board was acting as the board of the charter around how do we change demographics? How do we expand and actually be more active in opening that? And if we do have that long period of sibling um succession or preference, then you're you're not going to have that change in demographics. That that's just that is part of the way that that works. and the other piece around the rest of that's one item but there were several changes in the lottery process and that was based on legal counsel related to um making sure that we are being more compliant making sure we aren't inadvertently discriminating things like that. based on legal counsel's advice. >> So, I do have

227concerns on access to this program. Um, and I have concerns on restrictive language being amended into the writing of this charter to change demographics for a program that's been successful. Um, I agree the success of this program's been amazing and the program needs to be grown. not restricted to fit what's currently allowed in my perspective. Um, we need to find opportunities to serve all the students, not continue to serve a handful of them. Um, so it's frustrating to hear this came out of a need to attempt to expand without expanding your opportunities, without expanding our opportunities for families. Um, so there needs to be opportunities for all students to go, not just a handful. And I just feel it could have been written better or could have been designed better. Um, and we should have

228could we look into other opportunities and expanding STRAs as a whole. So there are opportunities for those students. >> Trusty Medina or response. Yes, I actually want to um so that is actually part of the plan is that we are looking at the where to add a location um in the future. So, we've had those conversations specifically because of the model and needing to be connected to the to a seventh grade environment. Um, when we're looking at the what's central and what would provide the best diversity as far as opportunities for our community potentially at Santa Rosa junior um the attached to the junior program at Santa Rosa. So my experience with Shrax 20 years ago was it was an application process that was reviewed and students were accepted into the fifth sixth grade in

229Los Angeles. >> So I'm curious where we went astray and now have a lottery and everybody gets in because they want to go to that school. Um, you know, it should have been my experience as a parent with students that have had friends and family and I've had nieces and nephews that have gone through tracks. It was an application process to get into that campus um based on a commitment from the family and the student um and a buy into the program and what it offered for what those students needs were. Um, so feels like we got a little bit off track and we rewrit some things to again attempt to expand what may not be equitable and diverse enough, but what we really need to be doing is finding ways to expand the opportunities,

230not restrict what's allowed. >> Trusty Medina Kirby, and then I'll give comments and questions. I just would like to move adoption of resolution 2025/26-87 to approve the renewal petition for central accelerator charters. All right. Do I have a second? I'll second it just to get us done with the conversation. Any other comments? No. All right. Trusty Kirby. So, just to be clear with the changing of the wording, um there is the POS there is since it's a lottery, there is no guarantee that you're going to fill that spot with a potential person that may the child that may meet a specific demographic that you're trying to to get. Also, one of the if you're limiting the siblings, what if that sibling is already attending does meet those demographics that you want? Now, you've also just

231taken that sibling out of that convention that may be replaced with not that person from the lottery. So, I mean, my friendly amendment to the to this would be to put it back the way it was um and uh and continue from there. >> So, I don't think we're going to be in a place as the authorizers on the charter to do that amendment right now. We'd have to bring it back as a material revision, which we can do as the board, right? Or >> So, I have gotten some busy with legal counsel >> feedback that has come in since the last time I checked in. >> Yes. Well, two different things. Um, so on the the seven years that is advised against from legal counsel. Um if the board would want to make it

232match a little bit more as far as the adding two years, you know, if their sibling is colllocate is attending a colllocated campus, that would require that it happened during a public hearing um and that we be um directed um to make an amendment to the charter approved by the board to make that change as far as the that portion of it. Um, it could also come back as part of anou um to amend the charter and that would have to come back at a later time. >> So, we could do that as at another publicly noticed. Can >> I just ask process? Hold up. So, um, >> am I hearing you that we can provide the direction as we're approving it now and then it would come back to do that or you're suggesting

233we would write the revision from the dis >> if it were to be as part of the motion if it were to be to approve >> amendment. >> Okay. Okay. To approve the charter with the uh the preference um >> year for the >> colllocated >> sibling at a colllocated campus. >> I'm okay with that. >> Okay. Well, first I need to go to trusty medina since he's the maker of the motion. So, let me go to trusty medina. Just clarity when you said the the not recommended on the seven years. Was that not recommended on the seven-year um charter renewal versus the five? >> Sorry, the seven years was related to the sibling preference. >> Okay. So, the old language was that there was a sibling preference even if the student had been out

234of the school for seven years, which you know that's a long time. Um and then the current proposal is just while they're in this school. And then the friendly amendment that I believe is being requested of of you trust me trusty medina is that the um sibling preference would be offered for while the sibling is at tracks or a colllocated school. So is that a friendly amendment that you are open to? I will defer to you, President Caston, since you also have to accept it. Um, if you say yes, then I'll go with it. >> Okay. Then I'll go ahead and accept it as well. So, the motion before us now includes an amendment to include the sibling preference direction to write it better than we're going to write it up here. um for a

235sibling preference while at a colloccated school and I'd like to make sure that that language is done so that it would apply >> at any colloccated school um where this charter may be >> fair. >> All right. Any other conversations? >> Is it written as seven years and is >> Yes. So the current recommendation is for the seven-year renewal and I I actually have comments on that. So, um, the motion currently includes that >> currently includes >> the seven-year renewal, not for sorry, we have two sevens. So, >> there are two sevens. >> Yeah. So, >> there's not three >> the resolutions for the seven-year renewal based on the performance of the school and the sibling preference would then be based on the sibling being at the colloccated school. >> Are either of you open

236to the five-year instead of seven? >> So, for the renewal? >> Yeah, for the renewal. So my my sentiment on on the renewal is the seven-year renewal recognizing that this is a dependent charter where we can actually come back and make material revisions and one of our significantly intended material revisions is around location and access. Um this academic I'm saying this a lot tonight. This academic model is incredibly successful. And even if we were to attribute half of the differential success to the concentration and selection of the students there based on geography or other demographics, we'd still have a school that's over doubling in the every standard that the state has, let alone our other schools do. So I I they've earned the seven-year renewal. And the challenge is is that it's behind a lottery

237in a charter with a 60 something students per year and it is a model that serves students with disabilities. The very students with disabilities that the state of California is completely abandoned uh since twice exceptional students were basically no longer served with the reduction in funding for gifted and other types of programs out there. Um, and you you look at the prison population and the percentage with neur with neuro divergent disabilities and the primary demographic that this education model serves. Um, and it's a complete travesty that this isn't more accessible and we're not able to move to a place where we can move twice exceptional students in here as a placement. So, I think we have a lot of work to do to expand this school. We're restricted. Rinken Valley has let us let it

238continue to exist there under the condition of absolutely no expansion. We can't expand expand grade levels. We can't expand the number of seats. So we have a lot of work to do in the future as the board for this school which is going to necessitate material revisions to move it to other areas of the city where the students who need this are able to actually um access it. So the for me the seven-year renewal honors the work they've done and we're going to be having this before us again in fewer than seven years because we have the discretion to do that as their board. >> That makes sense. >> Thank you. Any other um questions on this renewal comments? Right. Trusty Jenkins and Deatory. >> It was just a hopefully a basic one. Uh when

239is the application window for this? >> Sorry, the um the application windows open I think December 15th like that. December of every year. >> So okay. So for the charter this goes in place for the lottery stuff for next school year for the Okay. Thank you very much. >> Just again so it's on record again. Find a way to grow this program. find a somewhere somehow to expand this. Like, let's collaborate and work together. And the fact that we are only offering this amazing program to 128 students is embarrassing. Like, that should be celebrated and lifted up. So, let's keep working on finding a way to um help these communities grow and thrive. >> It could be a track at every school. >> I do love seeing that. Thank you for pointing out the schools

240um in LA because they are 5 to 12s and so it's right on track with our 712 um >> whatever we're doing with our >> I love it. Trusty Delator's carrying the banner for that. Uh with that a roll call vote please before we go any further. >> Trusty Medina >> I. >> President Casten >> I. >> Trusty DeFasy >> I. Trusty Jenkins. >> Hi. >> Trusty Kirby. >> Hi. >> Trusty Deator. >> Hi. >> Vice President Park. >> Hi. >> Thank you all very much. >> All right. We're going to move to item 1 C public hearing for the CCLA LCAP. And this is a public hearing. I'm going to open the I can open the public hearing. Yes. Because this vote on next. So I'm going to open the public hearing um for

241the CCLA LCAP. Is there presentation first? All right, let's go. >> Good. >> While they're bringing that up, I'm just going to say these public hearings or receive the public hearing next meeting. We'll be voting on these. Um so for timeliness um you know we have a lot of time in between the meetings to ask questions. >> Uh good evening everyone. My name is Gabriella Mendosa Torres. I'm the current interim uh principal at CCLA and I am here to present the LCAP public hearing. Um so in our LCAP we have three goals uh academic well-being and staff. And so this is our academic goal is centered around increasing our ELA and math specifically our ESPback scores or CAST scores and also our English learner progress. Um our target is a 5% annual improvement and that's

242what we've been working on. So below you can see year one and year two and those are the cast scores um increases increase increasing so it's standard met or exceeding the standard um and so we're making some growth lots of growth but we need to be making more growth as we know well-being. Um so this one specifically we're targeting our suspension decreases decreasing suspension and also reducing chronic absenteeism. Um, so once again, we're measuring this through the California dashboard. And in year one, we've been making some great strands to year two as well. So decreasing all of those numbers and making sure that we're decreasing suspensions and students are showing up to school. Uh, the next one is our staff. So making sure that our staff is uh prepared and able to teach our dual

243language program and also ensuring our D our PLC's. Um so making sure that our teachers are getting trained and getting exactly what they need in order to do a fantastic job inside their classrooms. Uh some of the actions that went around with these goals. Um, one of the actions that is new is the independent study teacher on the progression of our 9-2 program. Uh, expansion of that. So, that has been implemented into our LCAP. Uh, also testing support. So making sure that we have the resources and the support and the staffing needed to um conduct alpac testing at the beginning of the year and also in February along with our aspect testing that happens once a year in the springtime along with our other um actions that have been there. These are just some of

244them that we have about in this goal item we have 16 actions. So these are just some of them. I didn't put them all there, but these are some of them. Uh, goal two. So, outdoor education. So, these are some of the actions and the money that we're going to be using or the money is going to be used on this. Um, outdoor education, our elementary counselor, our school-based therapy, which is done through um that therapy, our athletics programs, field trips, and then also lunchtime enrichment. And our goal three is specifically looking at the work that I know that we're going to be doing as a district. although we started a little ahead but now we're going to be all together um through the PLC caps and also attending conferences for further uh capacity building

245with staff >> and that is the end of my report or the end of the LCAP. >> Thank you for the report. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. >> I do not have any blue cards. >> We'll go ahead and close the public hearing. This is just the public hearing. Um, so I'll give an opportunity for trustees to ask for information that they wish to see come back in two weeks. Um, if there is any. Trusty Kirby. >> Um, I just wanted to I think I brought this up previously, but I just wanted to make sure that um, on page 10 of the U report of the plan, sorry, 1.2, the action with the teachers on special assignment that that is corrected. Perfect. Thank you. >> Yes, I just stated that

246is not correct and needs to be corrected. Thank you. >> Seeing no further questions, uh we're going to move to item 1D, public hearing for San Rosa Accelerated Charter School LCAP. >> Thank you. Good evening. So again, good evening. My name is Michael Rhyr. I'm a director in educational services and I'm pinch hitting tonight for principal Corel who's absent. U he's out sick today. Next slide. So as we know summarizing u some of the previous presentations that we've seen, the school enjoys um several strengths. Um I think highlighting here in this slide of course student achievement very strong test scores um from English language arts and mathematics and uh a history of uh the students meeting or exceeding expectations on standardized tests. Connected to that of course is goal number one from their LCAP focusing

247on academic excellence. And here I think that uh of note is the strategies and techniques that they're employing at the school site focusing on a rigorous curriculum de depth and complexity uh work across the board in their classes and a focus on critical thinking. Multiple metrics are used. So they try to triangulate the data to make sure that um I think that um you know that they're getting the maximum out of their efforts together with the students. And so here what we see them doing is focusing on uh CASP scores in English and mathematics of course the science test score as scores as well. And then uh rounding that out with some other uh formative assessments, let's go learn and uh a renaissance reading assessment as well. Goal number two focuses on SEAL or climate.

248And here the school um has focused in the last couple of years I think at um reaching out um in a more significant way to staff uh students and uh parents in the community, bolstering supports around safety, making sure that they've got a welcoming and inclusive environment and helping to round out um I think focus on focusing on some additional counseling support as well. And this uh is clear to me in their work uh particularly in the family engagement that we see very strong culture and community uh from their students and parents. Again here uh gold two multiple metrics are used and so what we see is a focus on attendance uh student discipline suspensions and then panoramic and youth truth data to make sure that we're triangulating you know the responses again. and um

249and looking to make sure that we're thinking about continuous improvement and working to strengthen the experience for the students. Um and again, I think the noteworthy on this slide is the the fact that the community has very strong family engagement participation. Goal three is connected to the staffing and facilities. Of course, um the school the school boasts highly qualified staff. um mentioned in some of the prior trainings that they focus on additional training and support for their staff members. The team works to build in instructional technology. As many of you know, a few years ago, the site had a nice upgrade as well. So, the facilities are bright uh clean and and safe for all the kids. And definitely what we see is a a collaborative professional culture uh with the teachers and team there.

250The metrics connected to goal three of course are connected uh to the staffing profile. Uh the fit report is a facilities report that's done annually and reports out on conditions and then integration of technology as well. stakeholder engagement. Finally, at the end, uh we mentioned several times u I think it's evident the commitment of the staff and the community. That's evident in staff meetings, advisory council, uh strong PTSA or PTSO um activity as well. And uh I've enjoyed uh being part of that community myself throughout the LCAP development and the reauthorization process. Uh I've attended a number of those meetings and and seen that group in action. Next steps um the team plans to continue to monitor the data. They focus they they intend to focus on maintaining a high achievement uh you know high

251high standards and high achievement for all the students strengthening the fel supports uh to make sure that it's a comprehensive program that they're offering and finally working to make sure that they're engaging um their school community around continuous improvement. >> And that concludes the presentation. >> Thank you. We're going to open the public hearing. >> There are no blue cards. >> All right, we'll close the public hearing. Questions, comments from the board uh specifically pertaining to this item coming back in two weeks. Seeing none, uh we'll move to item E, public hearing for the San Rosa Charter School for the Arts, LCAP, Principal Emperado, since we haven't seen you yet tonight. like that. Okay. Good evening, interim superintendent, board members, um President Casten, uh principal and parado. It is my pleasure to be here tonight

252and thank you for the opportunity to present our 2627 um local accountability plan. So, I'm just going to share a little bit about who we are, what our data shows, how we're serving our students, and where we're headed next year. Next. Um, so Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts, we're dependent charter Santa Rosa City Schools. We serve approximately 400 students, grades TK through 8. What makes us unique is our arts integrated approach and the visual and performing arts. They're not just an add-on here. They are woven into every core subject every day. And this is our second year actually as a designated title one school and our Seiko parent organization continues to be just an incredible partner in everything we do with our families. Our um 2627 LCAP is organized into two goals. We

253have goal one which is our academic excellence through arts integration. And so this means again that there's integrated and we call it AI but it's not. It's arts integrated. And this is for TK through 8 with specialty teachers in music, drama, visual arts, and then EL support for English learners, our daily intervention blocks. And then um this year was actually a pilot for I Ready in ELA and math. Goal two is a safe inclusive school climate and community. And we support this through um we will be having a part-time counselor, our safety, our school safety adviser who will also be using restorative practices. And then we'll continue of course with our monthly normal assemblies, buddy classes across grade levels and again our strong family engagement through Seikko and then just monthly coffee with Seikko and

254the principal. Um so let's look at what our data shows. So in math we used I Ready Diagnostics in the fall and the spring. At the start of the year, only 16% of students were at or approaching grade level. And then by spring, that number did jump to 45%. Which it did triple over the course of one school year. So students who were two or more grades behind dropped from 29% down to 13%, which it is meaningful growth and it does reflect hard work. However, ideally we want all of our students to be at grade level. The work is not done. Oh, and when we look at our reading and ELA data, uh, we see similar momentum, right? We started the year with 35% of students at or approaching grade level and then by spring

255that did grow to 56% and then students at or above grade level did nearly double, but you know, we still have more work to do. We need to get all of our students up to grade level. So when we serve our students, um these outcomes, they happen because we try to put the right people in the right place. So our LCAP and our title one funds work together and these support those key positions for our unduplicated students and that serves all our students as well. So our music teacher and then our EL specialist who also teaches drama, an art coordinator and um an instructional aid for small groupoup instruction. uh our part-time school counselor who will be providing tier one and seal and then a school safety adviser to help support our school with restorative

256practices. Um this is why a drama EL position works. These are not the only wise. These are some of them. And just highlighting that drama ELD position, it is something unique to who we are. So drama is that language in action. And when students perform, they read scripts, they write reflections, they listen actively, and they speak out loud in front of an audience. So for our English learners, that creates an authentic and low stake space. They build fluency and their academic voice. And then for all of our students, it strengthens literacy skills. It it feels meaningful and it's motivating. So this position serves our ELLL reclassification goals and it strengthens our ELA outcomes schoolwide. Um, we do struggle with chronic absenteeism at our school and we're collectively addressing this chronic absenteeism through our continuous improvement

257collaborative with the Sonoma County Office of Education. So, we did identify a 24% chronic absenteeism rate and this is concentrated among our special education and our Hispanic Latinx students. When we looked at those root causes through empathy interviews and we realized that a lot of the root causes were uh difficult morning transitions, mental health days, separation, anxiety, emotional dysregulation and then so our response we're focusing on those protective factors. We have to make school a place that students want to be at. And part of this is done through the arts, through performances, through making sure they know they belong, our counseling, our buddy classrooms, and then that strong family connection. And then just stakeholder engagement. None of this happens in isolation. Our Seiko parent organization is heavily involved. We have families continuously at our site.

258All of their board positions are filled. We're running thriving events. And then our parent advisory board that's expanded now. That's also our school site council. Um and then we partner with SCO for that continuous improvement collaboration I mentioned. Youth truth panoroma surveys. All of these help inform our LCAP priorities. And then finally, just um our priorities are clear. We want to maintain arts integrated project-based learning as our academic core. We want to deepen ELA and math intervention for high need students. And we want to tackle chronic absenteeism. We're proud of this school and thank you for letting us present our LCAP to you. >> Thank you very much. I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. >> President Cassen, I do not have any public comment cards. >> We'll close the public hearing.

259Any questions or comments? We have not had as much conversation about the arts charter as we have the others. So, Trusty Jenkins, Du Fasy, and then Tori, >> I just wanted to thank you. Um, I meant to say this the last time you were up here, but I it didn't happen. But I have there was a training that you mentioned the last time you were here at the Focus 5 ones out of the Kennedy Center. And I when I was working in the arts and doing arts integration stuff, I took that training after working in behavioral health with um in non-public schools and residentially after that life. I took that training and it was one of the best behavioral trainings for classroom management. I was just blown away. So I was thrilled to hear that

260you were using that. It does set safety in a class very differently than other things and it's shocking to me that it's art arts integrated. I know that's off topic, but I just wanted to plug that. Thank you, >> Trusty Dufasi. So, I'm wondering what uh the continuous improvement collaborative with the Sonoma County Office of Education, what exactly is the county office doing with you and for our students? How does that work? So this is a collaborative and when we go it's actually with some of our our other charter partners and our district partners to do our ELCAP together and to make sure we address with data with empathy interviews with our like um when I go sometimes I go with either my counselor, my art coordinator. In the past I've gone with my uh

261restorative specialist or my school safety adviser. So, it's the team at your site that can help lead the work. And then it's time provided to us, that precious time to review the data, to look at um peer-reviewed strategies, and to ensure that we have the information we need to try and bring it back to our sites and oops, work with our people. And I'm I'm guessing then we're also working with the parents, right? As a parent with a student that's going into an extensive needs class, there are days when he does not want to get out of bed. >> Yes. >> And now that he's 12 going to teenage years, I expect that to be a little more challenging. So, um, yeah, if we can we're doing that, that's great. Thank you, Mr. Dator. >>

262Quick and sweet. just it's always such a welcoming, heartfelt experience to be on your campus. So, thank you. Thank you for what you've done. Um and thank you for highlighting some challenges in the LCAP that the site has had and not only highlighting the challenges, but by offering um the work that you're willing to put in and continue to do uh to alleviate those challenges. Um we are here to serve you and your students. So, please continue to bring these things to our attention. Um, ask for help when help's needed and let's please continue to collaborate and support and love on the arts so that all students have those opportunities. >> Well, I'll add my thoughts on complimenting you on the presentation and the work that you do on the campus. Um, I've seen it

263quite intimately this year and you know I think one of the things I get asked regularly is why don't we do this everywhere? Um, and I get that asked about a lot of the programs that we have and I think first and foremost one of those assumptions is that every single student needs the exact same thing and will thrive in the same same conditions. And fundamentally I think we all know that's not true. Um, but how do we make sure that all students have access to it that do need and want it is I think a core question for this board to be tackling in the coming year. And every school that we're receiving these presentations on right now has waiting lists, including yours. And that speaks to the staff, the teachers, the parent community,

264and all the work you've done to create an environment where we are not currently able to serve all the students that do need this education. And I hope that we can tackle that. I think this LCAP will help improve access for the students that the LCAP isn't designed to target. Um, but I also think that we need to tackle the structural challenges that have not enabled us to admit all of the students that your campus can receive. So, thank you. With that, we will move on to >> Thank you. F uh public hearing for the San Rosa French American Charter School LCAP. Principal Anderson, I just do we intentionally have French and F as the same item? Just just checking. Okay, I'll I'll provide filler. Don't worry. So, hello interns at Superintendent August Hume, President

265Casten, board members. I'm Evelyn Anderson, principal of the Santa Rosa French American Charter School, and it's coming soon and it's really short. So, I'm pleased to um be here to just give you some highlights of our LCAP. And I I what I did that you'll see shortly was I took all of our LCAP goals and created one long run-on sentence. Next slide. There we go. Okay. So, our LCAP goals guide us in removing barriers and providing opportunities to further personal and academic success through reducing chronic absenteeism, improving academic and social emotional supports, providing rigorous and engaging learning experiences, and meeting multilingual learner needs. One of the sources we need to look at when we're working on our LCAP is this California state dashboard. And you can see that our 2025 dashboard was really pretty with

266lots of blues and greens except one indicator. Do you see it? Um, we were red in the English learner progress. And but hopefully we'll be able to uh turn that around and move the needle just as we did previously when we were in the red for chronic absenteeism. There is hope, Sarah. So we are required to address any red indicators in our LCAP. So for the LCAP, we added a new goal. Goal number five, address English learner progress. And the actions we're going to take to meet this goal include um adding an family engagement facilitator to our LCAP budget. Um obviously that helps with engaging families and also is required for um administrating our LCAP LPAC uh tests. And then we're also going to really focus in and do some intentional intervention and really carefully

267pro progress monitor those students. Uh we continue to be your French uh immersion program where students develop multilingual skills and grow as global citizens. And the LCAP goals and actions guide us in supporting unduplicated students and monitoring their outcomes as we strive to minimize achievement gaps. That's it. That concludes my presentation. Go >> ahead and open the public hearing. >> There are no blue cards. >> I will close the public hearing. Trusty Jenkins, >> I had a question on the red English learners because it's a dual immersion charter school. Ideally, wouldn't you want 50% of your students to be English learners? They're all multilingual learners, right? They're all learning another language. >> The piece that I think plays into what you're asking is that for a lot of students, they are only having 10% of

268their day with interacting with English until third grade. So, we really see a huge difference between the third grade test scores and the sixth grade test scores. And so I and then eighth grade is off the charts but um but so yes they don't have a lot of English so and you know the test is in English and we can assume that they are not going to do so well until they get more English >> but it's not for like that that score is not necessarily for a specific language other than English right it's just how it's testing an English language so It's kind like I would assume that it would not that you wouldn't score great in that. >> True. >> Okay. Just wanted to clarify that. But thank you for the present. >>

269But it is a state measure so we have to >> meet it >> for acknowledge it. >> Yes. >> Thank you for the presentation. >> Just a hey paint job's coming along pretty nicely. >> Yes. B as we discussed the one red zone now that point to bilingual >> are you looking for a point to English Spanish? >> Yes. >> Okay. So that's a good point to understand better on what challenges the academy is currently having um with our English learners >> um with a Spanish background. So, what is plan B or C if you're unable to fulfill or find a point 2 bilingual? >> Good question. Um, I don't know. >> Thank you. >> Uh, I appreciate that we have to respond to the state dashboard. the state dashboard is an imperfect and blunt

270instrument that doesn't actually help us in a dual immersion environment. Um, is there an additional indicator that you can bring to us in the future that would actually give us a better context of the actual progress our students are making as they go through the school through through your program? because I know the actual end result is actually stronger English language proficiency and I think we should probably be setting an indicator for us to see on the slide after this one in the future. >> Good point. Okay. Yes, I will do something about that. And you know, for example, I think it was the 2024 um CASP testing, 94% of our English language learners tested proficient, you know, met or exceeded standards. So, uh, in sixth grade, right? Not in third grade, but in sixth

271grade. >> And as a parent who had a child go through dual immersion, not your program, but we're all prepared for that, right? you go to the TK orientation, they're like, just to be clear, the third grade tests are going to freak you out. >> And that's okay because when you get to six or later, you're going to have, you know, stronger stronger results. And so, I think I I think it's just a place where we shouldn't I mean, we should have the dashboard up there and then we should have the next slide that explains why that dashboard is not useful for this. >> Okay, got it. >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you. Anything else? >> All right, with that, thank you very much. >> Thank you. President Casten, I'd like to make a motion

272to extend the meeting to 11 o'clock. >> A second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any object? >> I'd love you all to be done in 34 minutes. But we're not any objections. >> No objection. >> All right. No objections. We'll go ahead and extend the meeting to 11:00 or earlier. Uh with that, we're going to move to item two, our student services calendar. This has one public hearing on it which is the uh San Rosa City Schools LCAP. Dr. Castro, >> thank you very much President Cast and Superintendent August Hume, members of the board, student, staff, and community of Santa Rosa City Schools. Um to open this just a reminder to the board that we are going to be moving into the third and final year of this LCAP. Um and by

273doing so we have made some final revisions and as part of this we've been contemplating as you all know some very um stringent fiscal stabilization um um opportunities if you will or some decisions very difficult decisions and as a part of that we've had um some conversations with our community and as a part of that some very tough uh decisions to make with respect to how we uh spend our resources. And um to do that, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Superintendent August Hume to uh tell us about how those conversations went. >> Thank you, Dr. Castro. And sorry, I'm pinch hitting and we're doing a little revision here. Um Director uh Haley had to leave for an emergency, so we're going to um tag team this presentation. Um I do want to

274share that and we've talked about this the last couple of years and that is determining our base and one of the things that is at play is that when you look at our declining enrollment and in combination with that our increase substantial increase in unduplicated pupils what's happened is that where we see our base has stayed fairly flat we've had and we have increasing expenditures. We have a substantial increase in supplemental and concentration. We have all become used to what has been base according to what we believe things should be in or in other words what we think all kids should have an amazing set of services. The reality is is that we can't afford that. And so what we had to do was take a really serious look at everything that we do and

275determine if we had tens of millions of dollars less, which is the reality when we are looking at supplemental in concentration now, what then would our base be set at? And so those were some of the conversations that we had with our public um our community members and with our labor partners. Um we had to take a look at what is it that we do in our normal operations that's considered base versus what percentage of some of those things are supplemental in concentration. And I want to start by saying that I apologize for the lateness of the LCAP document itself. It has been incredibly challenging to go through and and do that. And you know, one with with uh not as many uh staff available to do so. But the bigger thing is really having

276to rethink, reimagine what all of that means. Um, I don't know that it actually makes sense for us to spend a lot of time going through a lot of the slides. I think it's about the what the process was and some highlights, low lightss also of what we had to address. One of those things was, you know, director uh Cardardoza and I had a conversation around CTE. What would that mean if we were really to think about what is a base CTE program? If all if we had to say okay what's the minimum that we can do for a student to meet graduation requirements that redefinition of base becomes one pathway at every high school that's two CTE opportunities two CTE courses because you have to have a minimum of two in order to meet

277that then means that as we look at How do we create a broad or or maintain provide a broad course of study, a lot of opportunities? How do we remove barriers? It's by all of those additional sections and classes and opportunities um that we're able to provide. So, those are things that you're going to see in our LCAP. We also normally between the public hearing and our adoption, normally what you receive in the public hearing is essentially our final LCAP document. You have a draft this evening that will be updated further as we continue our work in refining how that fits in with the input that we've received with the goals established by the board with um our conversations that we've had with our labor partners. We had a couple of meetings with our labor

278partners which was fantastic. Felt like um we had some really good conversations. We also set up some conversations around how we do this differently for next year um to be more collaborative from the get-go. So, sorry, we've made some adjustments right here as we were talking about that. It's that's the mindset as we were going through this. So, it is very different than what we've done in the past. Um I did make an update to our presentation. So, there is a link in here to the presentations that we made during our input sessions. Um, and I think it's really important that as we look at how we are better partners with our all of our stakeholders, um, one of those is how we have those conversations going forward in the collaboration. So, just wanted to

279share with that. I'm going to turn it over to to Dr. Castro for a few minutes to talk about a couple of slides and then I can pop in with some more information. >> Sure. So, as um Superintendent Agassum was just um reviewing through this process and through all of the process every year um we try to increase the amount of transparency that we have with the community strengthen the alignment that we have with respect to the resources and student needs. This process is always um part of the continuous improvement process that we try to um mirror with the the site plans, the SIPs, identifying using data to identify what um are the priority actions, and then tying those to um um actions, then tying those to resources, and then hopefully identifying a feedback loop

280that then you can determine whether or not in a short amount of time whether or not you're making an impact, right? And then um um being able to share that out with your community to determine whether or not you're making an impact and increasing student outcomes. The key revisions that we're going to be reviewing here are going to be a reflection of the conversations that we had both with the community and then a reflection of the needs that we had basically going through this fiscal stabilization process. So they do reflect the consolidations, the closures, the reductions, obviously the con our constraints and like I said um our continued attempt to improve clarity and transparency in this process. Some of the actual um actions that you're going to see here are we're getting down to the

281nitty-gritty here with respect to what you saw happen over the year. So these are basically um a list of the things that you um are the decisions that we basically that you made over the last several months with respect to the um changes to the central office and to the school sites um to staff um this is the reality that our district is going through right now. So you'll see um that these were um the individuals and these are the staff that were actually identified in the LCAP. So this is um these are the actual individual ind individuals that were represented in the LCAP. You'll see um everything from the um multilingual coordinator to all the way down at the bottom there the actual elimination of the co-eing model. I'll let that sit for a

282second if you have any particular questions on these, but I'm not going to go over every single one of them. And I will add that in the document uploaded, there are some additional additions in there and some revisions in language on several of the of the items, too. >> Just a reminder, if you're looking at the how a district is funded, you're not going to see everything in the LCAP, right? Because this is supplemental and concentration. So, not all of the cuts that we made as a district are going to be reflected in the LCAP, but this calls out exactly what was eliminated that was part of the LCAP. Let's move through the full presentation. We'll do the public hearing and then we'll ask question. >> Okay. >> This particular slide shows um increases that

283um we are um going to be reflected in the LCAP because we do need to continue to um provide um support to this um to this um the students that did generate these funds under supplemental and concentration. So um these were prioritized based on the conversations that we did have with our stakeholders and community. Another thing that I'd like to add in here is that this does the areas for focus are around how we are more preventative, more forward thinking planning. How do we provide true strong MTSS um going forward? You know, you heard a little bit that in our study session earlier. Some of those changes are included in our planning in the LCAP for next year as well as the focus on um first best instruction continuing and those strengthening those tier one,

284two and three supports in a more cohesive system. Some of the items that are not that will be finalized um and revised between now and the next hearing are or the next act the action between the hearing and the action are around actual funding sources. So we have some things that are identified as the actions and we're looking to identify obviously our most restricted funds first and marry and braid things. So we're still continuing that work over the next two weeks as well. Then you see a continuation on goal two. We have three main goals in the LCAP. This is goal three. So you'll see um in goal three the reductions and then on the second half of this slide the increases and you'll see the shift toward um the CAPS work that is going

285to subsume the MTSS work that we're doing this year which is a continuation of the arc of the tier one quality first instruction work that we've been doing over the last few years. We exited uh differentiated assistance a couple of years ago, but this year because our numbers um the population of African-American American student, African Indian students increased enough for us to actually get identified for them. Now, we actually um they're a focal or student group that we are um have been identified for additional assistance for. And so as we look ahead, we're going to expand our MTSS framework to include these two populations so that we can actually focus on supporting them. So we are um um under differentiated assistance again um for English language arts and mathematics chronic absenteeism and suspensions um for

286the two sub subgroups African-American and American Indian. It's important to call this out in our LCAP um because under federal law, it's um something that we are obliged to identify as an action that we need to intentionally um look into work that we're going to be doing. And this is going to be included in our CAPS work that we're um be moving forward. It's going to be a focus. This um page just basically calls out and um it's something that you could probably look at when you have some time some of the metrics that we focus on very intentionally and some of the numbers that um that we call out that we've been tracking with respect to how um we've been following different subgroups and or student groups and metrics in particular. um some of

287them we discuss during our board meetings, others um we don't discuss on a regular basis, but in ed services and in different spaces it's something that we're always looking at whether it be um CTE or other work um you'll see this comes up in conversation um in different spaces whether it's A throughG completion um ethnic studies completion reclassification rates seal of biiteracy these are all things that we're looking Um and all things that the different work that we do and um different departments all affect um the the work that we do and all affect um student outcomes. And you see at the bottom that um that we um have a focus on participation and staff development. Oh, and another thing I want to call out on this is that they're broken down by goal. This

288is something it's important for us to be focused on as well. Um something new for this year is that we our um continuation school did qualify for the equity multiplier and with that it um it did qualify for quite a large sum of money and we expect them to qualify for this moving forward. um this multiplier um this this particular um resource is something that schools um qualify under non-stability rates and we expect Ridgeway to basically qualify for this resource um moving forward and with that uh their community met and had stakeholder meetings and they identified how they're going to be using this resource over the next few years to identify additional 5 of a family engagement facilitator. They're going to have an additional advisory in the morning, an additional counselor they've identified to help

289um improve student outcomes. >> Dr. Castro, can you um just give us a little bit of information on what a non-stability rate is? Um so it's uh so not it's allocated to school sites with a prior year non-stability rate of greater than 25% for um it it's it has to do with like a transiency of uh students in the community like whether or not they're how long they're able to stay at the school site. Yeah, it says it at the bottom there too. them. Good question and it's important because we just qualified for it and we want to be able to hold on to that and it's one of those like um data points that you don't like it when people have it but it's good that they're receiving the resource. So based on that,

290based on the fact that we have a school that qualifies for that resource and they're receiving a good half a million dollars um that is going to be spent over several years, we are adding a goal to our LCAP. Um and you can see that um we had Dr. has meet with their community in March for several meetings and they um h developed a plan and their plan has several actions and um um so they built a a pretty comprehensive plan that has these actions and they're looking forward to really supporting their their their students over the next few years. >> Thank you for the presentation. We're going to open the public hearing. President Casten, there are no public comments. >> Thank you. We'll close the public hearing. Uh again, with the recognition, this is

291coming back and we have lots of draft things in front of us. Questions, comments. Trusty Deator and then Trusty Medina. Um first and foremost, just seeing the decreases and eliminations is heartbreaking. Um thank you for putting that into perspective and scope. um none of us wanted to be a part of those decisions to have to let any of those things go. Um they were all very impactful positions, programs, and opportunities that our students needed. Um, I'd like to know what are the legal mandates, if there are any, for the community meetings, >> the LCFF meetings, like the community presentations >> or us to um stakeholder community stakeholder meetings for the the LCAP. Um, >> is it a district policy or do we have EDC code requirements to engage with our stakeholders? >> In the LCAP,

292do we have to be able to show and in the LCAP that we have held um community stakeholder meetings? >> So, when I consider that perspective, what I've seen is we have to have meetings. We put it out there. We communicate it. um what can we do to collaborate and understand our wins and our challenges and what's happened before so these can actually be impactful engaging opportunities for the stakeholders to understand what we're talking about and why it's so important and where this funding comes from and where it's going to go. um will we have opportunities to decipher what's happened a little bit better so we can be better prepared and head forward. I just I don't want to have a meeting to have a meeting and 15 people show up. I want this to

293for the stakeholders understand how important these are and why we're doing them and we're not just doing them to do them but we we need valued input in those >> tip. So there are some groups that we that we have to specifically schedule time with which I realized I didn't reflect on the slide like DAC we also had um you have to receive input um meet with your um SULPA your unions which we we you know did reflect that those are all things that we are always working to do better at. One of the things that we know is that people show up when their kids have events. And so, yay, we could do something attached to something with students. I know that's come up quite a bit um in the past when we've talked

294about ways to try to marry a not so exciting topic with something that people do get excited about to come out for. So, I think we'll continue to work on on that on those opportunities for community engagement. And obviously thing that that I have a hard time with is that this year we didn't get to do our information sessions at all, which last year there were difficult conversations, but it did get people out. Um I I would say that we had better participation last year than any other year. um because there were there were things that we were talking about that people were very passionate about. Um so again, it's just finding those ways to connect with our community to draw them in or to find spaces where they're at >> and our community saw

295those as an opportunity to ask questions that were very cumbersome on their hearts and minds and they felt that was the opportunity to ask those questions regardless whether we had answers or not. My my main point and my main ask is that we're not just checking a box that we're being more mindful and purposeful on how to ensure um these are engaging so that we can get the proper input and have the data we need to help make these decisions and and put policy in the right direction. Right. Uh Trusty Kirby or no sorry Trusty Medina and then Trusty Kirby. >> Thank you. >> Um I'll make a couple things transition. Um first in the metrics um I don't I don't think that I saw anything around the state seal of civic engagement. I know

296there's been talks and movement towards that. Is that included anywhere? we the discussion around this um state um seal of civic engagement um was still being had and so it hasn't been implemented um to be able to have any data on yet >> and so on that end um kind of going to Trista's comments um to me this process is still kind of new I think it started in 2014 when we moved towards the LCAP and in the beginning of that a lot of it simply revolved around educating people as to why or how what's the importance of it. Um, I think that to your point, Tori Toé, um, we as a district with the decreased staff and capacity, I don't think we're as able to do that as effectively. But I think what we

297can do is in in the context of civic engagement and partnerships, look at some of our community organizations that could help um to educate people about what this process is from that civic engagement perspective and then partner with the district to hold community forums or meetings um or or or help invite them to to these sessions to better inform. um because there's a lot of community partners that do share that interest in making sure people are making educated decisions and providing input into the decisions that we make that impact their kids that impact our communities. Um but but I agree with you. I think it's very important that we get more engagement. Um, the other part that I wanted to um ask about is um I I I don't know if it necessarily falls within

298the ELCAP, but I think one thing that I think is really important is is student engagement. And I think about um how im involved our students are and what we do as a district or or if this could be part of this where we ensure that we're providing um both training to to our ASB or leadership teachers that help them work together and also expand the knowledge that they bring to our campuses. um as well as like other folks like I think from our classified perspective, our business office managers that have received a lot of like new programs that um potentially have a lot of power to help, especially as we have less resources and we need our students, our communities to work better together to help them know how to use these tools on

299our campus, but they need um training or networking with other folks. Do we provide professional development or opportunities for them that could be included as part of this in the context of that student engagement and getting kids to come to school and on that also um I don't know where it falls um but the idea of of teachers um that serve as advisors for clubs and like how are they compensated um for that is that something that's included somewhere whether it be the LCAP or somewhere else that is is part of the budget that again engages our students and helps give them reasons to come to school and show up and be a part of something. >> What you're referring to do director Medina would be under goal two social emotional learning. Um so it

300that we do with Panorama and um uh the youth truth survey that would be now with respect to what you sounds like what you're talking about might be a little bit of an extension to that we something that um would be more of a discussion with respect to whether or not the board um would want to or with further discussion delve into a little bit more. But yes, that what you're discuss you're referring to there is an action that is actually dedicated to that in goal two and it was it's on um slide um the metrics slide there under goal two social emotional and learning survey and climate wellness and safety. And so it would just be a matter of digging deeper into that and seeing how you might want to expand what that means

301um to fit more of what you're discussing. And on goal four, action five, which I don't remember exactly how was stated. Um, this idea of like uh college tours and field trips and things like that, is that something new that's being added or did that already exist? And and um if so, like what kinds of supports or what coordinated efforts are would be being done by the district with the sites? Yeah, apologies if I I didn't explain that um well or loud enough. That entire goal four is brand new because of Ridgeway's equity multiplier. So all of those actions were developed as a result of Ridgeway qualifying this year for the um equity multiplier. >> So action >> I'm sorry >> was just Ridgeway. >> Okay. But so go for action five was only for

302Ridgeway. >> Yes, that's for them. >> Thank you. Trusty Kirby, >> this I know this was mentioned as a draft. Uh cap any timeline on when we'll perhaps get the final. >> We hope to get the revisions done within the next week. Um and then well actually it will have to be done within the next week for posting. So I'm trying to think of what day it is. So, yes, by hopefully midweek next week to give it a couple extra days before the agenda posting. >> Okay, thanks. Yeah, you are definitely challenging my speed reading ability by trying. It's a big document with a lot of information. Um um so with that, just be sure to have a look at page 52 1.13. So, it says that we're going to fund 5.0 you know, FD

303behavior specialist, but there's no dollar amount associated with that. And I don't know if that got left out on purpose or >> I think that's one that's um being updated. >> Okay. >> Based on what we had and what things are looking like under a potential restructure, >> right? Okay. Um that's all I had. Yeah. >> Right. I will say that while it's a lot of reading, a lot of it is representative actions that we've taken previously around budget decisions and things are moving around. So we'll see numbers in there that are very similar to things that we've actually already voted on or for instance in our study session earlier on um the restructure. So uh with that, thank you. We've received the public hearing. Um we are going to move the agenda because we

304have a short amount of time to complete a significant amount of work. Um, with that, we're going to move to the finance calendar. Uh, this is going to be public comment on the finance calendar, which is going to be item 3B, public hearing on the 2627 budget. And then, uh, 3C, which will be approval of a newly established fund 20 special revenue funds. We'll open public comment. >> President Casten, there are no public comment cards. >> Okay. I'm going to open public hearing on item B. Is there anyone here for the public hearing? Yeah. We'll do that. I'm just seeing if there's any cards for the public hearing. >> I do not have any cards. >> All right, I'll close the public hearing, but we will receive the presentation. Good evening everyone. excited to be

305here. Is that not loud enough? There we go. All right. So, while my friend Joel here gets us set up, I'm gonna find my glasses and share my screen. >> I'm gonna transfer you Joel. Sorry. So, we are at the exciting time of the proposed budget um where you'll get to see all of the effects of the hard decisions that were made this year, right? Some of that certainly helped us in the current year, but the bulk of it is going to help us in the next year specifically and then it continues as as ongoing improvements that we can see in the in the overall budget. So, um, I'll note we we are hearing some really good things about the potential for what's going to come out in the budget act. Um, and I want

306to highlight one of the the bits of that just sounds like it's going to be pretty solid is the improvement to special education. That sounds like it's going to be real and we can count on it. We're not counting on it so far, but we are expecting to be able to see that improvement improvement eventually down the line. So if you can hit the next two slides for me Joel. So here I just want to briefly go over some of the some of the changes from from third interim to estimated actuals. Right? It wasn't that long ago we did third interrum but we have continued to tighten the budget. Um and I want to just note a couple of highlights with some of those places that we've been able to tighten. So, we did see

307a slight improvement in some of the revenues. Um, >> is it a way to we can't Yeah. Okay. So, we can't do that. Okay. So, improvements on the revenue side is about um just short shy of $1.9 million. >> Um most of that is just going to drop down to the bottom line for us. So, it increases our ending fund balance. So, we don't lose the money. We just didn't spend it this year. We'll spend it next year. Um, a way that you can see that notable improvement is if you compare the first column to the second column, our restricted ending balance that we were projecting as of third interim was $8.9 million. You just do a little circle there so you can see it. 8.9 million. And it's going to grow by over $5

308million now. So that was work that was done intentionally to go in and just tighten those revenue budgets, tighten specifically the expenditure budgets, right? If a requisition hadn't been established and a PO created by middle of April, we're assuming you're not going to spend those dollars. And so we went ahead and tightened up those budgets. They dropped down to the bottom line. We'll get to carry them over into next year. But it allows us also to get additional reassurance on where we're going to end with cash at the end of June. Right where we started off the fiscal year, we were projected to to have insufficient cash in June, we have continue to improve our cash position since we met last. And I'm excited to be able to show you those slides as well. So

309this is all really good news for us. Really minimal difference though on the total impact to the bottom line. It's less than $200,000. Um most of it is really on that restricted you can go to the next slide for me my friend. Oh actually you stay there if you notice those differences in the book supplies and the services right minus 2.5 million minus 400,000 that's prop 28 dollars that we were able that were that went unspent that will carry over into the next year. Um as well as some CTE dollars um some community school dollars as well. Those are all dollars that will just drop down the to the bottom line and be available for spending in the next year. But it is notable, right? Those were some significant dollars budgeted for spending that didn't

310get spent in the 4,000s and 5,000s, which is always in it gets a bit of a additional love and attention from folks. Go to the next slide for me. >> Sorry. >> Can I ask a quick question on that? >> Yes. I'm just um I don't know if they're allotted like based by site, but if so, can we get like a report back on maybe which sites spent, which sites didn't, and how much was left over per site if that's how this >> Absolutely. We can do that. >> Thank you. >> Okay, perfect. You can go to the next slide for me, Joel. So, here just high level is what our our proposed budget for next year looks like. It does include all of the items that were approved as part of the fiscal solveny

311plan. Um it does reflect the major assumptions that we studied at our last fiscal study session. Um so the decline in enrollment, the decline in our our underestimated pupil count, uh the decline in our ADA, those are all um you know realistic assumptions that we've made based on our recent history and we've continued to assume them and they are they are all reflected here in the budget for us. Um the other item that I'll just note here for us is as we know there were a lot of changes to the programs and services that we're offering from this year to next. Um a lot of that impacted positions and so we are continuing that process of reviewing and tightening position control. Um this week we've got wonderful work happening between human resources and business services

312to ensure that every opportunity that we have to ensure that what we're expecting to be in the budget is what's in the budget and nothing extra. Um and so we will be running another snapshot of the budget, creating another budget model. I'm saying we it's this gentleman right here who creates another budget model for us to review. Um but that that's another piece we can look for some adjustments between today's presentation and the final one that you'll actually be asked to adopt um on June 24th. 24th 28th I'm I'm off it >> 24th. >> Okay. Okay. Um next slide for me Joel please. All right. Um here the one of the asks was to be able to separate our our assumptions particularly for our students between our elementary and our high school because they are

313a little different. And so you now where you previously had one slide, you now have three that show the student data assumptions. So you can see the enrollment, the ADA and our underestimated pupil counts for the elementary. Um if you go to the next slide, the high school and then the next slide um combined which is how we would typically present it. And so that that data is now available to you that way. Um in case additional questions or thoughts come come to you on those pieces. If you go to the next slide, we've got here our assumptions on all of the revenues. Um this is obviously we have both of our districts. Um we have to run two LCF calculators for them, two LCAPS for them. All of those things are true, but the

314we do use primarily the same assumptions for for both of those for both our elementary and our secondary school district. And if you go to just actually sorry, go back real quick. Just reminder, we we didn't use the super cola as part of our assumption. We're just using the base. We will take the time to estimate what the cost of the um pregnancy disability leave cost might be for us if it does come through as part of the budget act and then we would include the the augmented cola in there. >> Next prefer the term barely adequate cola. >> Yeah, >> since it just gets us above inflation but >> barely mentioning right. Yeah. Here we go. Um, and here are our major expenditure assumptions that we like to just keep our eye keep our

315eyes on. These are the major ones that impact our bottom line. And so just want to make sure we keep those front and center for for folks. All right, next slide over for me, Joel, please. Here's what happens when we put it all together. Want to note a couple of things that I think are worth highlighting. So, one, we see a nice growth in our LCFF revenues, right? That is um that is the result of the of the COLA. And then u we do have the the additional dollars that are coming in from the healthy growth of the charter schools that are projected. And so that gets reflected in there. Um the remaining revenues you see go down um quite a bit. um that's the result of those one-time dollars that we've received in the

316current year that we know we're not going to receive in the next year and so we do count those out. Um there are also some interesting things that happened and so for example you may have noticed that there is an object code 8677 called inter agency services. We received about 8 I want to say 676,000 there in the current year and then it's zeroed out next year. So that is the wonderful work of this gentleman again right here who doesn't let a dollar go by. Um the SULPA was a little delinquent in in sharing some of our dollars with us. And so after some work and some reconciling, uh we received payments this year for some dollars that were owed to us from 2324 and 2425. And so it's reflected in the current year. Thank

317goodness we got our dollars. Um but we know we're not going to get it next year because it was a correction. So it's onetime dollars we received. It was a nice bump up. We appreciate it, but we know that's not going to continue for next year. So, you don't see it in the in the next year out. Um, some other things you might have noticed, um, our lottery dollars actually go down a bit. Lottery dollars in the state of California are based on average daily attendance. Um, and our ADA is going down. So, our ADA goes down and any dollars that are contingent on average daily attendance will also decrease. And so that's why our lottery dollars go down a little bit. Um it does reflect the changes in the SULPA funding model. So those

318that drop of dollars from for what we call our AB 602 or special education funding that is reflected also in the budget. Um and then I want to just note a couple of things that I thought the the 5000s get a lot of love and attention. You'll notice there is a decrease of about I think it's like $1.1 million. And so for some of us, we might feel like, oh, it's only $1.1 million. So one, it's $1.1 million, and I love that. Um, two, it it does its net of other increases, right? So, for example, property and liability insurance is estimated to go up about half a million. utilities are going up about 300,000, right? So, it's net of the increases. So, it only goes down 1.1 million, but it does absorb all of those

319other increases that are those natural increases that the rest of us experience in our home budgets as well. >> Um, next slide over that on the SUPA when we're looking at the multi-year. So this reflects what would happen if we didn't go through with the formation of our own SULPA. So when we're seeing the red and the losses in year three when we actually finish completing the actions of forming our own SULPA the we'll we'll see the revenue reversal and those changes at that point in time. >> Yes. And we would see them effective 2728. Right. It's July uh 1, 2027 when we're expected to make that change. Um, one of the asks the last time round was to come up with a SULPA my working on that to figure out what is that going

320to look like for us and um, as we get closer, so maybe maybe the 45day revised our budget. >> Yeah. Do you want to go to the next slide over? Here we have what the bottom line looks like al together. Right. So we can see we are in the next year plus the next two we will meet our 3% reserve and then some. Right? So we're going to have that opportunity to rebuild. Um and so long as we're holding tight to what we said we were going to do, we're going to get there. And I I want to note this is again not reflective of some of that good news that we're anticipating. I think with every passing day it feels like it's going to be the likelihood of it the likelihood of getting really

321good news with the budget act seems to move from possible to probable. And so it just really gets it's going to give us an opportunity over the summer to just get excited about what we might be able to recreate with some of those dollars. Um in particular those special education ones we think about how do we want to ensure that we're we're ensuring that the kids are getting the they're they're teaching and learning happening in the least restrictive environments. Want to go to the next slide. Here are those dollars, right? like this is this is notable. Um I look at that potential of $10 million in the student support and professional development discretionary block grant, right? In the way that the way that one reads is we can use it for student support services, we

322can use it for professional development or we can use it for anything else. It is really truly unrestricted. This is one of those ways that the state ensures that they don't give us dollars on an ongoing basis that we can plan on. So, we get it on a one-time instead, which makes it a little harder to plan for, but we know we have enough one-time needs. We know we need a technology refresh. We know we need to start contributing toward OPED, our other post-employment benefits. And so, these are the sorts of dollars we can start thinking about. How do we fund those? How do we fund our aspiration of having a 10% reserve? Right? These are the sorts of dollars we want to use for those purposes and we have time to think about how

323do we do that. Uh next slide over my friend. Gosh. Um so here this is an improvement over where we were at third interrum. At third interim, we were expecting to end the year at about 5.7 and now we're at 8.7, right? And that's that tightening of those budgets where they're not going to spend. And if you go over to the next slide at at uh third interim, we were expecting to end next year at about three and a half million. So here we see another pretty dramatic improvement. This is this is the direct result of making those ongoing budget reductions. Those ongoing budget reductions, they're slow for us in terms of being able to see the impact because we have to get through the July payroll first and then the August payroll next. But

324where we end in June, May and June are the months that matter. In May and June, we can only rely on ourselves. We can't rely on anyone else. The county is not going to lend us any money. the state is willing to but they call that an emergency loan and then they come in and take over right so May and June remember those months those are the months we have to be able to live on it by within our own means next slide over my friend so one of the asks was to be able to see what our charter schools look like specifically and wanting to get a sense of what their what that what their financial health is and so Joel I'll hand over this part to you >> thank you Liz Um so

325yeah the charters this is we we oversee four dependent charter schools. Uh we're here looking at Santa Rosa French American charter schools. So French charter schools multi-year projection. We show the some of the assumptions used in those and they use the similar assumptions that our district uses as far as those um may revised governor's budget proposal items are not included in here as well. They'll see benefits for that. But you can see uh Santa Rosa French American Charter continues to show fiscal stability as a result of their current budget multi-year projection. Uh they do project a growth a pretty significant growth in uh student population. We work with the charters. Uh they gave us their student uh projections for next year and you'll see a trend in that growth in all our charter schools. You

326can see their enrollment increasing and uh as a result their ADA charter schools are funded on current year only. So they don't get that uh hold harmless but they also have no attendance boundaries so they're able to track students from greater distances and um some years mostly they have waiting list. So again fiscal stability and a pretty healthy reserve but without that hold harmless it's and for other purposes they're having a healthy reserve is um crucial for charter schools again. Then we move on to CCLA. Um, similar growth in projected enrollment. Uh, fiscal stability. Their f physical stability is improving with that growth. Um, we'll really dial in their uh budgets with uh their growth as well. Um, as far as what they'll see in their expenditures, but their current year uh multi-year projection fiscal

327stability. Moving on to Santa Rosa Charter Charter School for the Arts. So they've had uh less fiscal stability over the years. So you're going to see current year they are living on their revenues within their means. So they can't afford to see any real uh uh hiccups but their budget is projected to end this year. Then they as well have projected growth which is going to help them financially. One thing they are not fully affording their district oversight fees. So you can see they're ending with a zero balance but if we charge them the full fees they would not have uh the means to to to fund those. Then we're in 2627 with the projected growth in enrollment they are rebounding fiscally building a reserve but then in 2728 we start to charge them those

328full fees and you can see they come back down. So there is some work to do with arts charter. Um the the the school works closely with our business department on maintaining those um on working out their uh finances and building programs that they can fiscally sustain. And they are a unique school in that they do not have a large um unduplicated underserved pupil account. So they live on mostly on their base on their base grant. And then moving on to central accelerator charter fiscal stability. Uh they show a a flatline um enrollment but you know they they they have a very um efficient operation. They have a low they have a lower unduplicated ser uh underserved population. lower so that but Arch Charter has not a low they've got right in enough to where

329they've got to afford some um they've got to provide services but not a lot to do a schoolwide program. So again, accelerate charter very fiscally stable and here you can just see the activity that's result in for all of the other funds that we have. Um I'll just note our fund where's our fund 40, right? You can see the the reserve for that one drops down dramatically. Um, but remember, we're we're planning on only taking that $920,000 for a couple of years and then we're going to stop um pulling transferring those dollars out of fund 40 so that we can rebuild and we can fund those needs as well. Um, one of the wonderings in the back of my head that I've started to just think about is does the do the one-time dollars maybe

330allow us an opportunity to end it one year earlier than we otherwise would have. Right? So instead of doing we did current year plus two, maybe it's current year plus one instead. So that's one of the options we might consider as we think about those onetime dollars. Next slide over all of the areas we're continuing to monitor and think about including the the implementation of the fiscal stabilization work that was done. Um, I think one other outstanding question that I had was about the the 55% on the classroom expenditures activities. We don't have it for today, but we will prepare it in time for our next board meeting where you'll actually be taking action on the board on the budget and happy to take any questions. So, I want to heavily limit our questions because

331we have several must pass items. So, anything that you're willing to have answered between now and the next meeting would be preferred, but there's something absolutely burning tonight. Uh, Trusty Dufasi. Well, I had more than two, so I'll do some of those in writing. But two questions real quick. Um, if I understood the charts right, the arts charter, if they're not covering their district responsibility, in my mind, that means we're subsidizing that charter. Is that a fair u characterization? I think that's fair. Thank you. And how is the California CPI number calculated? Cuz I see it drops into two something which that's not going to happen. So how do you do that? >> So we don't do that. The the CPI actually if you go to the some of those major assumptions there >> um

332they're a combination of the department of finance um in AR working arm and handinhand not arm-in- arm handinand with the LAO legislative analyst office. Um and where we ultimately pull the data from is from the school services of California. They create a document called the dart board and that has all of the major assumptions for us to use. Um we get the go-ahead from the county office of ed who puts together what is called the common message and they they essentially um suggest to us what are the primary assumptions we should be using. So we don't create the CPI the CPA CPI is calculated. >> Okay we probably have room for one or two more questions. I'm go trusty deatory and then Medina then Kirby. So, since this is proposed and we're not taking action

333on anything tonight, I'm curious on where the expenses or decisions made tonight or decisions going to be made tonight where they're going to fall into play. Will those be calculated before we take action since it's stuff moving forward or no? >> Which decisions are we >> mean? Are you referring to the um the employment contracts or >> the stipens? >> Oh, sorry. I see what you're saying. Sorry. Thank you. I was >> We approved some money coming out go going forward and I'm curious where that's going to be in the proposed budget because it it is significant. So earlier in the action, the board approved stipens for student board members and for the board for the trustees. So those are unrestricted general fund dollars. >> Yes. And our budget already includes what what existed before

334today. Um if the board has taken action, we we could certainly make an attempt to revise it to be reflected next time round. Um, if we're unable to, it would be the 45day revise, but if it's important, we can certainly try to get it in for this next round before. >> I think it's as important as getting the rest of the document done as well, because the 45day revise will come with a lot of changes. So, I I'd say do your best, but you have a lot of required things legally that need to go in here first. Uh, Trusty Medina and then Kirby. >> Thank you. Um my question just revolves around um I saw the funds um and recently we were notified Maiden Santa Rosa Foundation was dissolving and we had contributed a lot

335of money to that. I don't know if uh we're asking for them to maybe look at recontributing to us and if so would we need to establish a foundation fund um or or because I don't think our scholarship fund is similar to that. >> So we'll ask for a status update on the funds from the maiden San Rosa Foundation's closure to come back with the budget approval. Thank you Trusty Medina. Trusty Kirby. >> Um, quickly since, uh, Trusty Fy brought it up, um, the arts charter that we they're not paying their full thing. Are they going to owe that to us or we is that some debt that is forgiven? >> The, uh, I would create a liability for it. >> Yeah. So that we know once when they're able to repay, we come up

336with a collection plan, a payment plan. And I know based on your last presentation from last time with the required 55% spending, you know, between the two districts uh combined um or is this budget going to fall in that category, you know, with the u salaries >> of meeting the CA? We expect it will. Yes, we expect it will. >> Okay, great. Thanks. All right. So, and as a reminder, we are also the arts charter board. So, uh when we say they, it actually means us. >> And I think a part of this is that we need to take a deliberate responsibility for having not intentionally and transparently governed the charter schools um the way we should have been up until now. So, I I think a part of building that is things like setting

337intentional reserve policies for each of the charters, perhaps reflecting best practices for small school districts. um you know that are different than when you consider a whole district. Accelerated charter has a very large percentage number for their reserves, but we wouldn't want them to necessarily fall below that because they're so small. That's why small school districts are there. So, I'm hoping that this leads to intentional policy work at the uh finance committee around that. Thank you both for your presentation. We're going to move agenda. Uh let's move to item C. Uh, don't go don't go far. Um, which is approval of newly established fund 20 special revenue funds. Loose, that's you. Fund 20, you're both on this one. Just stay right where you are. And this, I believe, is a recommendation coming in from the

338finance committee. Um, so we already have a motion and a second on it. We we remove the presentation from the zoom. >> We're working on >> uh so we have a recommendation before us in order to up to fund 20 and loose if you could explain what that means. >> Yes. So fund 20 is an opportunity to fund our oped liability, our other post-employment benefit liability, um, without putting it into an irrevocable trust. So, a plus of it, and it's the primary plus for me, is that it allows us to retain control of our cash while being responsible and starting to preund that liability. Right? So, we're doing right two gold stars there. So, one, we're going to be able to we're funding a liability that is real that exists that we haven't been funding

339yet. And two, it allows us to contain control of the cash, which I would just submit for us for the next 3 to 5 years, we probably want to do. We still want to retain that control. And then eventually down that line, the next 5 to 10 years, we start looking at how do we transfer some of those dollars into an irrevocable trust bit by bit. I would not go 100% at it. You just adjust a little bit year-over-year. >> And one of the main reasons that this is, I believe, really important to me is it currently the way that we practice this is we are taking funds from future students in order to have these benefits be present today. And this gives us an ability to make sure that we're spending current year dollars

340on the current year students um instead of taking from the students that are going to come in the future and pay for these liabilities. So uh it's a good step in the direction for strategic priority three of fiduciary responsibility and appreciate the work that's brought this here. Other questions and comments? Trusty Deator. So, I'm curious, what would we use to fund this? And if we weren't funding this, what opportunities would we have for that funding elsewhere? >> So, when I think about some of those one-time dollars that the districts receive, right, this year, this current year, next budget year, those one-time dollars are they're they're primed for these sorts of purposes. Um, I think overall it is an ongoing contribution we want to aim to make. We're just not there yet. Uh, but we do

341we do have this set up within our system right now to charge it to charge our payroll for OPB. We just don't do anything with the balance that sits there. We use it back. We credit ourselves back for what we're charging. Um I would love to tell you that come unodudited actuals this year right when we start closing the books I would love to see can we not do that this year can we start that process of contributing it given the minus4 million that we're still at probably not not this year but for next year I do think we want to make that shift so that we don't take credit back for what we're charging and instead we actually move those dollars directly into fund 20 is the is the move I would recommend >>

342just trying to get clarity on record because um it's a pretty optically it's a really hard position to be in that we've had to make so many reductions and cuts and decreases yet we may have some funds to start building a reserve and just want to make sure people are hearing that it's could potentially be the onetime funds to help start this account to better position ourselves in the future when you know a lot of people look at this of you're getting funding to fund this opportunity but that could have been funding to save positions or save programs or say something else. So if we can try and be clear as to where this funding's what we're hoping this money is going to come from to appropriately fund this and not hurt us somewhere else.

343So yes to that and I would also add to it that this the funding of fund 20 or eventually an irrevocable trust. It is to pay for the health and welfare benefits of our retirees. Right? So you give so many years to the system. We promise you in a collectively collectively bargained agreement that we're going to pay for your health and welfare benefits upon retirement. What we've done currently is we've just sort of looked people in the eye and say, "I promise. I promise I will. I promise when the bill comes due and you retire, I promise I will." And essentially what what the Gazsby statement said that allowed that required us to show this liability, they told us, and this was what 15 15 years ago. It was it wasn't yesterday. It was been

344a minute since we that Gatsby statement was released. They said, "Your promise is insufficient. you have to fund it. So, we are not in a lot of good company for districts who don't fund it already. Most school districts have an irrevocable trust. Most school districts have moved beyond the fund 20, right? So, we're we're playing catch-up on this one and it is again to pay for the health and welfare of the retirees of this organization, right? For when they were give to us, they retire. We've said I promise I promise isn't good enough. We have to put the dollars aside. >> Trusty Medina, then Du Fosty, and then I have comment and Trusty Kirby, I'm sure, is in there as well. >> Um, I'm totally supportive of this. Um, I think it's, as L mentioned,

345it's kind of essential um, for the health of the district and just seeing what's happening other places like the county. Um I'm curious in terms of monitoring or accountability or you know collaboration with our labor partners. Um is there some additional like process that needs to be set in place like some review thing annually or something where folks are just looking at the health of it or what we should be doing better or not that provides input is that >> that's it. I love the question. Um two thoughts come to mind. So one it can become a standard part of our regular reporting right so where we highlight fund 20 as one of the just we spend most of our time on the general fund generally speaking if one of our funds starts to get

346in trouble we'll then start talking about that fund we could do that with fund 20 just highlight is that as one of the funds during the budget adoption during first interim during second interrum um another option is is one I've I've enjoyed doing at school districts which is just having an annual presentation on the long-term liabilities that a district has. Right? It's that opportunity to really look at what are the things that we owe. Not just what the activity happening in the current year, but those things that we have to think about for the next 20 to 30 that we know we owe and we should be thinking about how am I going to pay this? How am I going to cover this? How do I ensure I have sufficient dollars? So we don't get

347stuck in a position where suddenly we have a bill to pay. >> Trusty. Oh, I I was just going to add um if if >> I think in addition to to that if if we could have something that is also developed that's part of either a board manual or something that has some context cuz board members we come and go constantly and like you said this is long-term um some sort of like educational material that's developed around this fund that serves as a resource and and part of like that required education that we should have I think would be important. >> Thank you. Yes, >> trusty. >> Yeah, I just u want to throw in how important this is. I mean, Lou hit it right. These are benefits that we promised our employees when they

348retire that they're going to get. And it should be a cautionary tale. as a former County of Sonoma employee when I was hired in ' 84, the county promised me family lifetime medical in retirement. And then in uh 2008, they showed up and said, "Yeah, we're not doing that anymore." So, I went from paying uh $200 a month to my current $1,950 a month in retirement. Every month, I'm writing a check to Kaiser for almost 2,000. Uh that's what happens when you don't fund OPB. Uh when you don't fund OPED and I don't think our retirees want to face that because it wasn't only those of us that were still working that lost it. It was every single retiree for the county of Soma that had been retired. Some have been retired 30 years and

349they lost their benefit. So, uh, this is a big deal and I appreciate you putting this front and center and us talking about it. Thank you. And I'll just add that this is a part of the finance committee's original work plan and identifying structural challenges for the district in order to get ahead of the next crisis during the current one. Um, and I believe that we'll actually see some additional fund and other considerations like this in order to make sure that we're accounting for the liabilities that we are creating in the current year. Um, and actually funding them for the future so that we don't have them take away from students in the future. Um, we we need to stop mortgaging against future students. And so I appreciate the work that's gone into this. I

350look forward to actually putting dollars in it once we create it. Um, there's no need for a motion, a second. It's a recommendation from the committee. Roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Dufasi. >> I. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> Hi. >> Trusty Kirby. >> Hi. >> Trusty Deator. >> Hi. >> Trusty Medina. >> Hi. >> Vice President P. >> I. President Casten. >> I That motion passes unanimously. Uh, thank you very much. Um, with everyone's consent, I'm going to do a quick adjustment to the calendar cuz I'm anticipating a lack of discussion and we have some must pass things in the next 26 minutes. So, we're going to move to item five, the governance calendar. Um, unless there's any objection, seeing none, uh, open up public comment on the governance calendar. Do we have any public

351comment? >> There is no public comment. >> All right. See no public comment. We'll move to approval of a resolution of the governing board elections for November of 2026. Moved by trustee Dufasi. >> Seconded by trustee Medina. Roll call vote please. >> Trusty Dufasi. >> I. >> Trusty Medina. >> I. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> I. >> Trusty Kirby. >> I. >> Trusty Deator. >> I. >> Vice President Pre. >> President Casten. All right. >> That motion passes unanimously. No, I'm okay if they don't pass. Uh we're now going to move to item four, human resources calendar. Uh public comment on the human resources calendar. >> There's no public comment. >> All right, beautiful. Uh we'll now move into the uh human resources calendar. Um items B, C, and D do not require oral readings. Is

352there any discussion on items B, C, and D? Can I receive to approve BC, CC, and D? Moved uh by Trusty Deator. >> Seconded by Trusty Dufasi. Roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Deator. >> I. >> Trusty Duoy. >> I. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> I. >> Trusty Kirby. >> I. >> Trusty Medina. >> I. >> Vice President P. >> President Casten. >> I. That motion passes unanimously. We'll now move to item E, oral recommendation regarding assistant superintendent of student support. Sally infringe benefits. Um, Dr. Zans is providing the oral recommendation. >> Yes, thank you. Um, now that you skipped over all of those, I need to find it. So, let me find >> considered quickly, not skipped. this considered quickly. Um, okay. So, I am bringing forward the um contract for assistant superintendent of student

353services and um I am finding my agreement and I am finding the superintendent's agreement and so apparently Dr. McCarti does not get an agreement. >> That's okay. While you find that one, I'm going to go to item F and I'll ask Superintendent August Hume to provide the oral recommendation on item F. >> Thank you, President Casten. Um, I would like to recommend approval of the uh employment contract for the 2627 school year for assistant superintendent of human resources uh Dr. Vicky Zans. The a couple of things I want to call out is that this does include the compensation concessions approved by the board on October 22nd, 2025, including uh a reduction of one workday, a 50% reduction in the automobile stipend, and a reduction of 10 vacation days and suspension of vacation payout provisions. uh

354the revised contract um agreements based on that. Um no change from last year's revision at $191,591.31 for $224 work days. It does provide the assistant superintendent with the same access to health, dental, and vision benefits as other management employees. and the $1,800 um revised reimburse um annual stipend for automobile related expenses. It also does um provide that Dr. Zans receives a $1,200 stipend for uh recognition of a master's and also one for doctorate. >> I received the oral recommendation. Is there a motion? Motion to approve the uh contract for Dr. Zans. >> Second. >> This was moved by Trusty Kirby, seconded by Trusty Jenkins. Roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Kirby. >> I. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> Hi. >> Trusty Dasy. >> I. >> Trusty Deator. >> Hi. >> Trusty Medina. >> Hi. >> Vice

355President Pre. >> Hi. President Casten. >> I That motion passes unanimously. Are we ready to go back to item E? >> Yes, I am ready. Um okay. So I am bringing forward to you the um employment agreement between Santa Rosa City Schools and Dr. Tim McCarti for the position of assistant superintendent, interim assistant superintendent of student support effective July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027. The contract is for 59,565 for 69 and a half work days um to be worked during that span of time. The assistant superintendent will acrew um 12 days of sick leave per year. however, will not re will not be receiving an automobile stipend or um vacation payout. Um neither will it include the um stipen for the master's degree and the doctorate. >> I would move it for acceptance. Second

356move by trusty Dufasi, seconded by trusty deatory. Roll call vote, please. >> Trusty Dufasi >> I. Trusty Deator. >> Hi. >> Trusty Jenkins. Thanks for helping us out. Hi. >> Yes. >> Trusty Kirby. >> Hi. >> Trusty Medina. >> Hi. >> Vice President P. >> I. >> President Casten. >> A very grateful I. Uh so that motion passes unanimously. Um um at this point I am going to ask to suspend the calendar because I intend to run the rest of the timeout on um item G. So if I could get a motion on J1 and two for approval of the minutes. >> Motion. >> Moved by Trusty Delatory, seconded by Trusty Du Fasy. Any objections to approving the minutes? Seeing none, they both approved unanimously. We'll now return up to item 4 G uh which

357is the action oral recommendation regarding superintendent Sally Fringe Prenovitz and I get the honor of introducing this one. So uh governmentment code section 54953 requires that all executive employment agreements be orally summarized for the public with salary and benefit information. While we've attached the actual agreement as part of the board meeting document package, um we're going to comply with the law. The board is offering Dr. Thomas a three-year contract for a 222 day per year work calendar. The contract will begin on July 1, 2026 through June 30th, 2029. The proposed salary is $275,000 annually. The contract also provides that the superintendent shall receive the same raise as provided to the certificated unit in years two and three of the contract. The salary increases are based upon the superintendent earning an overall satisfactory evaluation and shall

358be voted on each year in a public session of regularly scheduled meeting before becoming effective. The superintendent shall receive the same health and welfare benefits under this contract that are offered to the other certificated management uh employees in the district. The contract provides for a district contribution of 5,000 annually to a 403b or a 457 plan as designated by the superintendent. The buyout provisions of the employment agreement provide a no more than three month months in buyout in year 1 and no more than nine months in buyout in years two and years three. Uh that concludes the oral summary of the employment agreement. Um I am going to ask Dr. Thomas to come down after we take action and we will use the rest of the time for that. But I would like to make

359sure we get action done. So if I could have a motion in a second. >> Motion to approve. Second. >> All right. We have a motion from Trusty Deator and a second from Trusty Dufasi. Roll call vote please. >> Trusty Deator. >> I. >> Trusty Dufasi. >> I. >> Trusty Jenkins. >> I. >> Trusty Kirby. >> Hi. >> Trusty Medina. >> Hi. Vice President P. >> I, President Casten, >> I. That motion passes unanimously. And with that, I do want to move to discussion on this item, even though we already voted on it. Invite Dr. Thomas to come down and enjoy these last 16 minutes of this meeting with us. Sorry, I will be very brief. Um, even though I guess I could take your time, but we don't need to do that. >> Thank

360you so much for this opportunity um to serve the city of Santa Rosa and the Santa Rosa City Schools. I have been already very warmly welcomed um into the Santa Rosa City Schools family. I, you know, Santa Rosa is very familiar to me. I grew up nearby and I think I have probably swam in every pool, run every track, played in every gym um and run on every or played on every court um here probably in the county but certainly here in the city. I also have family who attend our schools. I have friends whose kids attends our schools and so it's also not only familiar but it's personal. I am really looking forward to building on a lot of the hard work that has happened. There is a lot of hard work still to

361go. Um for me that's going to be about collaborating with our teachers, with our principles, with our students, with our families, and with all of you to really build, sustain, and support the schools that we know our kids deserve and that we want to deliver um on the promise of public education here in Santa Rosa City. So, thank you again for this opportunity. Um, I look forward to working with all of you. I am ready to get to work, but not until July 1st. >> Well, I just want to congratulate you and thank you again for your willingness to serve. Um, I'm going to give a chance for our board because we all like to say a few words and this is one of those positive moments to welcome someone to the community and to

362the to our family up here. Um, so I'm sure we will use the time up that you graciously left us. Um, Trusty Dea Tori. Hello again, Dr. Thomas. Um, welcome and welcome to the opportunity that lies ahead. Um, words like difficult, um, insurmountable, crisis, these are all things that you've stepped into and you've stepped into willingly. um you've applied for this position, you knew what you were getting yourself into and I really look forward to the opportunity to uh get to know you and collaborate and create wins and create solutions for problems that did not just happen overnight and opportunities that we're hoping will provide solveny and steadfastness for our students, for our staff. for our community and for university school districts to uh reblossom into new beginnings and new opportunities that um we can

363all truly be proud of. So, thank you for your commitment. Thank you for joining us and look forward to working with you um to get things right. Trusty Kirby >> also add my welcome. Uh enjoyed getting to talk with you this this uh morning. I guess it was about an hour. Um not long enough. I know I talked too much. I'm sorry about that. Um but yeah, just to u continue on with what Jeremy said there. Um there there's a lot of work to be done here. You know, we've started the process. Um, it's not going to happen overnight. Uh, we're looking for some continuity, some uh some stability, and uh we hope that you find a home here and stay here a long time to help build this uh to the place that we

364know it can be successful. So, again, welcome aboard, >> Jesse Jenkins. >> Welcome. Nice to see you again. It's been so long. Um, I had the opportunity to also chat with you earlier today. I appreciate that. Um, really just welcome. Good luck with with our town, our town of fun. Um, I look forward to the opportunities that your expertise and your experience brings to our community. Uh, another lens, um, an outside perspective, but also from the inside. That's really really exciting. Um, I look forward to our work together and again I I echo the sentiments of my colleagues as far as the stability, the consistency. Um, we're in it together and we're continuing to to rebuild that community and the trust within our community. Uh, and so welcome along. Trusty Pra. >> Hello. Um, I

365look forward to getting to know to know you and to learning what your vision is for our district and what your five-year short-term goal and your long-term goal are. And um I'm hoping that you uh can build a better, stronger, more cooperative relationship with our certificated and classified staff and help us bring back um enrollment. >> That's fasci. Thank you. Welcome. Very excited about having you here. Um, I'm new to the board myself, so we'll learn some together, but perhaps even though you're way ahead of me in most areas. So, I look forward to getting to know you better. And, uh, I also talk a lot and being Italian, my hands will start flapping, so you'll just have to get used to it. Trusty Medina, >> thank you Thomas. Um, gracias. Well, welcome again. Uh,

366thank you, uh, for being here. I know, uh, we'll be seeing a lot more of you after July 1, but I also appreciate that you were able to be here for this meeting and, uh, to start meeting many of the people that you're going to be working with when you come and join us. So, we're all very excited. I know personally your the work that you've done with many different types of grade model configurations um is a lot of the work that we're working through right now and I can't wait to hear your ideas on uh implementing a lot of the things that we've started. So um you have quite the challenge cut out for you and uh you know looking forward to it. Uh with that if there's nothing else I'm going to actually

367go ahead and move us to adjournment. All right we're adjourned.