SRCS Regular Board Meeting - April 23, 2025

001Now opening the April 23rd, 2025 meeting of the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education. We will begin with public comment on close session agenda items. The agenda items are public employee performance evaluation, public employee discipline dismissal release, conference with labor negotiator, conference with legal counsel, and student expulsions. Uh I'm going to allow 90 seconds for each public comment. I'll read three names at a time. So when you hear your name, please come up to the podium. Um all right. So, first will be Jordan Henry, followed by Brenda Rodriguez, followed by Britney Gibbs. Sure. Good afternoon. My name is Brenda Rodriguez. I'm a math teacher at Maria Coreo. The following outlines a concerning sequence of events and raises serious questions regarding the decision to remove Amy Whis as principal of MCHS. We have shared a

002complete document with you and these are only highlights. Based on these facts, we respectfully request the board and cabinet officials to reconsider this decision and reinstate Miss Whis as principal for the upcoming school year. On Monday, March 10th, the youth truth survey results from Maria Creo are overwhelmingly positive across feedback from family, students, and staff. On Thursday, March 13th, Amy Whis, a dedicated leader with six years of MCHS vice principal and one year as principal, receives notification that she is not a good fit for the school and will not be employed within the district for the upcoming school year. This news comes without any prior indication of performance concerns. Disturbingly, Dr. Morales reportedly informed two SRCS leadership council students that the decision to remove Miss Whis was further protection. This vague and alarming statement lacks

003transparency and warrant warrants further scrutiny. The assertion that Miss Whis is not the right fit after seven years of service at MCHS is illogical and unsubstantiated. The absence of any negative formal evaluations throughout her tenure further undermines this claim. April 2nd, Miss Swiss is offered a position as an elementary school principal by HR. This decision is perplexing, particularly if the rationale for her removal from Coreo involves safety and security concerns, as hinted at by the cabinet. Allowing her to remain as a high school principal for the remainder of the year further contradicts this implication. the logic of deeming her unfit for a high school principal ship. But thank you. Your time is up. One is unclear. Next is Jordan Henry followed by Britney Gds followed by I'm really sorry I can't read this. The last

004name starts with a Wald something. Go ahead, Jordan. Okay. Hi there. My name is Jordan Henry and I'm an English teacher at Maria Creo. As of Tuesday, April 8th, official verification confirms that Principal Whis has never received any negative or unsatisfactory performance valuations from HR. This irrefutable fact directly contradicts any implication that her removal was performance related. The SRCS board's apparent failure to investigate the evaluation process and the cabinet's reasoning behind Miss Whis's removal is a significant oversight. It is the board's responsibility to understand the precise information rationale used to justify this decision. If this decision was based on inaccurate or incomplete information or made without affording Miss Whis due process and an opportunity to respond, it represents a serious breach of trust and sound governance. This decision also constitutes a grave error in judgment

005and a potential violation of her rights. The complete lack of a public explanation for her removal despite repeated requests from the community and during meetings with cabinet creates a significant appearance of impropriety and undermines transparency and trust. While confidentiality laws may restrict the public disclosure of specific details, the SRCS board has a fundamental right and responsibility to be fully informed of the rationale behind the significant administrative decision, particularly in light of the absence of any documented performance issues. Despite Dr. Morales's claim that the decision was not made in isolation, the responsibility for this action rests squarely with the SRCS cabinet. The re recent reinstatement of Kyla Bradong sets a clear precedent for the cabinet to reconsider past decisions to ensure stability. Reinstating Amy Whis as principal of Maria Creo High School would provide students with

006essential continuity and a stability during a period of significant district-wide change. Reconsidering this flawed decision and reinstating Miss Whis would be a crucial step towards restoring trust in Thank you. Your time is up and next is Britney GS followed by Sorry, how do you say it? followed by Lisa Greenstein. Go ahead, Britney. My name is Britney Gettys. I'm the math department chair at Maria Creo High School. We implore the board to take immediate action to rectify this situation. It is not too late to do what is right and bring Amy Whis back to MCHS. We urge a thorough review of the circumstances surrounding her removal and a decision that prioritizes the best interests of Maria Creo High School community. Thank you. Thank you. So next is Mr. Wlassic followed by Lisa Greenstein followed by Maddie

007Doyle. Good evening. This my name is Sassi. I work Maria High School for 29 years. In 29 years my experience a lot of administration teachers leave and come and go from the 29 years my experience the four administration I remember Pamlin Markle Disan Amy they care about school they care about safety all the time for emergency when I go ask them they right away they stop what are they doing and they fixes the problem. So, please consider your opinion. Bring her back. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Lisa Greenstein, followed by Maddie Doyle, followed by Stephanie Pellegrino. Good afternoon. My name is Lisa Greenstein and I'm the administrative assistant at Maria Creo High School for over 10 years and I'm an alumni parent of 19 years. I've supported five principles. Every admin team change significantly

008impacts our mission and vision. New admin need time to learn the school climate, nurture relationships, interpret policies and procedures, internal systems, complicated budgets, and effectively lead and inspire students, staff, and families. You have the opportunity tonight to pivot in the decisionmaking regarding the disruptive and unnecessarily shuffling of the MCH admin team. Please pivot on your original vote to reassign MCHS principal Amy Whis to Proctor Terrace Elementary School and your vote to lay off MCHS bilingual assistant principal Justin Tamala. mitigate the disruptive ripple impact of these decisions. Vote today to reinstate Amy Whis as principal at Maria Creo and vote today to reinstate bilingual Justin Tamala as vice principal at Maria Creo High School. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next is Maddie Doyle followed by Stephanie Pellegrino followed by Emily Walper. Hi, my name is

009Maddie Doyle. I'm the English department chair at Maria Creo High School. As an English teacher, above most other things, I value logic and reasoning. One of you is also an English teacher, so I know you know the value of logic and reasoning. I've taught a few of your children, and they can assure you that I value the importance of logic and reasoning. When we're making claims, when we're making decisions, it's essential that they are rooted in logic and reasoning. Otherwise, they don't make sense. And what I'm really asking here for you today is to make this make sense. Make it make sense to delay counseling rehires instead of immediately allocating ALCAP funds to protect as many counselors as possible as soon as humanly possible. Make it make sense to haphazardly shuffle administrators at a time

010when sites are desperate for stability. Make it make sense to define a good fit for a school by ignoring the repeated cries from student, staff, and families who actually make up that school. Make it make sense to remove an excellent high school administrator to an elementary school when there are no identifiable good reasons to do so off the top of your head. Make it make sense to give a community survey about what we want in a principal. Never show the hiring committee that survey. Allow a hiring committee to hire a principal. Fire that principal when she has no documented issues. And then give the exact same survey as if we haven't already repeatedly told you what we want in a principal. I need you to stop being silent as a board and let us know

011how this makes sense. Bad information leads to bad decisions. So either please do something about these bad decisions or do something about whatever or whoever gave you this bad information that is completely devoid of logic and reasoning and frankly makes no sense. Thank you. Next is Stephanie Pelgrino followed by Emily Walper followed by Andrea Lefu. Good evening. I'm here to offer an outside perspective since I've only been with Coreo since August of last year. I have seen 10 principles in five different schools across my 25 years in education and can say with conviction that Amy is a strong leader whose primary goal is to foster the safe and connected learning environment referenced in Santa Rosa City School's mission statement. She is Coreo. She spends countless hours to show up for students and celebrate all of

012their endeavors. uh is one who leads by example, empa emphasizing the importance of consistent and collaborative relationships among staff and students to increase achievement and promote mental health. I hope you can empathize with a community that is so dedicated to their principle that we are here repeatedly to advocate for this essential relationship. True leaders are rare in my experience and for Amy to foster this much faith, endorsement, and loyalty should underscore how indispensable she is to Coreo. Amy's removal shows how very little Dr. Morales and Miss Xans understand our school climate. There is no better fit for Korea than Amy Whis. Shoehorning someone else in will irreparably damage the trust of students and staff, inevitably leading to a mass exodus of qualified teachers and apathy in students who will no longer feel valued in this

013community. Thank you. Next is Emily Walper, followed by Andrea Lefu, followed by Rachel Gunter. Hi, I'm Emily Walper. I'm an English teacher at Marie Cura High School. We all care about the welfare of our students. None of us would be in this room if that weren't the case. When thinking about childhood development and well-being, we understand how essential stability is for the healthy development of a child. We know it on a gut level, and the research certainly supports it. This year, the misguided decisions and needless administrative shuffle presented by Dr. Xans and Dr. Morales have unleashed senseless chaos and instability and have actively harmed our students, family, staff, and entire community. By now, you have all learned that that the justification for these decisions was rooted in falsehoods and misinformation. You know this isn't right.

014But thank goodness this afternoon, you are in a rare position to exercise control and make things right. You can change course today and reinstate principal Amy Wu, springing back stability and hope to Maria Creo and the district. You've already recognized the good sense in returning the middle school administrators to their current sites as they undergo the transition to high school campuses. do the same for Amy Whis and Maria Creo. The students and families in the MCHS community have experienced an immense amount of chaos in their lives over the last decade. From wildfires to our neighborhood to CO to enormous disruptions completely out of anyone's control. But this year, the chaos is different. You are in control. You have the power to fix the mistakes made by Dr. Zans and Dr. Morales. Do the right thing

015for this community. Bring back Amy Whis. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Andrea Lefu, followed by Rachel Gunter, followed by Margie Brady Longong. My name is Andrea Lefu and I'm the parent of a freshman at Maria Crayo High School. I want to share what Principal Whis has meant to our family. When my husband and I attended freshman orientation in August, we were nervous about sending our firstborn off to high school. Like many parents, we've seen our son thrive under supportive leadership and struggle when he hasn't felt seen or valued. But at Creo, our worries eased the moment Principal Whis took the stage. With warmth and humor, she told us our little pumpkins were in good hands. She shared her vision for Creo, which we saw reflected in the confident, engaged students who spoke that night.

016The excitement to welcome our freshmen was palpable. The sense of community was immediate, and it's only grown stronger. Whether it's a football game, a band concert, or holiday lights on campus, Principal Whis is there connecting with students, encouraging staff, and welcoming families. Even at the end of a long week, she shows up with joy, energy, and unwavering commitment. This is our family's fourth school. And we've never experienced a community like this one. And while it takes many people to build a strong school culture, Principal Whis is at the heart of ours. Coreo has something special, and removing her is deeply disruptive to that. It sends shock waves through a community that's thriving under her leadership. It's been a joy watching our son grow this year, knowing he's valued, supported, and safe. Please return Principal Whis

017to our campus. so Creo can continue to be the strong, supportive place our students deserve. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Rachel Gunter, followed by Margie Brady Long, followed by Tyson Rustler. At the last school board meeting, President Mali, you wrote a statement asking for all of us to support each other. And I'm here to say today that both as a teacher and a parent at Coreo that we do want to support you. We want to support the board, our school, and other schools who have lost good administrators and staff members. Many of you on the board are new and you have been handed an overwhelming job. And even for those of you that are not new to the board, you can't possibly know everything that's happening at each campus. So, those of us who

018are closest to the school, we're coming to you to support you with the information we think you need to make the best decisions. 10 months ago, last summer, we were given a survey asking us who we and what we wanted and a principal. I know many people like myself responded that we would be the best leader for our school, and she's proved that over the last year. We cannot replace her. So many people have said there's no replacement for someone who can come in with her level of expertise, knowledge, commitment to our school and establish relationships with both students and staff. And then last week, we just got the same survey again asking us about what we want in our next principal. We heard that nobody from last year's hiring committee saw the results of

019last year's survey. And so we're wondering who is looking at the results now. We urge you to look at those results and see what the community is asking for. And it really comes down to it. We want to know like if whis is good enough quote unquote for proctor terrace why not Korea the same for LC principal and others and I understand that I can't necessarily hear the answers to those questions but you can and you deserve good answers and so as you enter this close session please ask good questions so that you can make informed decisions. Thank you. Next is Margie Brady Longong, followed by Tyson Wrestler, followed by Peter Alexander. Hi, I'm Margie Brady Long, a teacher at San Rosa City Schools for the past 24 years. I'd like to respond to several

020points from the opening paragraph of Dr. Morales's biography, as they stand in stark contrast to the reality experienced by many in our district. Genuine dedication to community. How can one be truly dedicated to a community they haven't taken time to know? A leader who is generally genuinely dedicated would be able to distinguish the unique challenges and strengths between elementary and high school principles. Unfortunately, many Santa Rosa City School communities feel unheard and dismissed. Feelings that are the opposite of what a dedicated leader would inspire. Building trust, fostering collaboration, and providing clear, transparent communication. There's a grow a clear and growing call from the community to be rebuild trust. The weekly emails do not substitute for true p transparency. They fail to communicate the why behind decisions or to explain the process and thinking involved. This

021kind of communication doesn't build clarity. It breeds confusion and frustration. Transforming the climate and culture of educational organizations. This kind of transport transformation requires a clear shared vision. one that excites, motivates, and includes everyone. Currently, there's no trust in the cabinet. Sites feel targeted and subjected to decisions that seem arbitrary and disconnected from the realities on the ground. I'm going to jump to the end here. This constant chaos is draining. It's diverting energy away from where it matters most, our students. A real leader minimizes your time is up rather than generating it. Next is Tyson Wrestler, followed by Peter Alexander, followed by Brandon Foster. Uh, members of the board, I feel for you. You have a hard job and the responsibility to make hard decisions. I can understand and respect um unpleasant but necessary decisions.

022Your job is made all the harder when you're working with bad information. I can see as a teacher and a member of this community that you've been frequently given bad information or misleading information or given the runaround. It's almost impossible to make good decisions on the basis of bad information, but it's not too late to respond to new information and reverse many of the unnecessary and bad decisions that have zone chaos in our community. Please reinstate Amy Whis to Maria Creo. She's the best fit for us. Please also be humane to our counselors and our teachers. Do not wait until the last minute to rescend as many riffs as possible. Um, I understand the frustration that you must feel. Our communities frequently asked for input by our district office only to have it disregarded in

023favor of illogical or apparently predetermined choices. Um, as a teacher who was on the hiring committee that recommended Amy Whis, we were not given the information from that previous survey that was not given to us. Um, and at this point between surveys and our recommendation and that hiring committee feels that our choices have been flatout disregarded and overridden. Please respect the clearly expressed needs of our community. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Peter Alexander followed by Brandon Foster followed by Christopher Harsti. Good afternoon. Knowledge is this something that we're supposed to work with or just kind of like put in the back of our mind to forget. I don't know to what degree hypocrisy is in this room when we are taught and teach our students the very things that we ignore and we teach

024them to ignore. for the last 50 years since I was in high school when they said go out and make the world a better place. It's only gotten worse and now we're in this huge mess. The mindset of hypocrisy. You disregard what Martin Luther King taught. We're a bunch of slaves and inmates and you're going to argue about one person at the top of this chain that does nothing more than you, which is just pretend that you have the power to change everything, which you do. the most powerful people in the most powerful state. Are you here to fulfill your fate as destiny's day? Perhaps it's time for the teachers to school this nation to a higher station with a freedom strike, a strike of the system. Pull the plug. All wars are banker wars

025and they're all deception whether they're over there or over here. And you're in a war and the system doesn't give a hoot about you. The power that you have is the power in your heart. It's a strike. Like what uh a guy named Harry Bridges did back in the day. He shut down the ports and everything stopped. The system can handle everything that you do. But a strike and we are the most powerful people and we pull the plug on the system. That is where the power is. I've given information to you. Thank you. Your time is up. And as opposed to Thank you. Next is Brandon Foster, followed by Christopher Harsti, followed by Rob Chandler. Good afternoon. My name is Brandon Foster and I'm a Grace student at Piner High School and I'm here

026to today to advocate for our vice principal Ryan Thompson and assistant principal Norma Vasquez. I along with the student body of Piner High School are petitioning the board members, our representative, President Roxan McNelli and Dr. Daisy Morales to keep our administrators on site for the 2025 2026 school year. I am here today to deliver our petition that includes 430 paper signatures from students and 285 signature online signatures from students, parents, and community members totaling 715 signatures. We are asking that you please take this petition into consideration. discuss why we should keep these two trusting adults we fully feel safe with and take action resigning Vice Principal Ryan Thompson to our site and bring back assistant principal Norma Vasquez given our increased enrollment. We hope that you will review this petition and give us an answer

027as soon as possible and we can move forward. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Christopher Herazzi followed by Rob Chandler followed by Charlene Simons. Right. Hello, my name is Christopher Rosty and I'm a student at Maria Courier High School. I'm here to support the reinstatement of our principal, Miss Whis. But I'm also here to say that this board and district leadership needs to stop shooting itself in the foot. As per statement by board president McNell and Superintendent Morales, the districts needs to establish quote strong sight teams. Miss Whis has understood and served our community and school for over 5 years and is the strongest member of his site team we could have. Yet, she was removed. District leadership needs to work with schools rather than against them. I understand the district does not want to

028go back on decisions to avoid reopening the whole school closure issue, but the removal of Miss Squeeze is a completely separate issue. District leadership needs to be willing to acknowledge and amend their mistakes, their mistake and sweeping decision decision in among others as well address the issues surrounding transparency and communication. I'd like to thank board member Jenkins for being the only one to acknowledge this in the previous board meeting. The community understands the fiscal difficulties that we're facing. Though the communication about this could improve and acknowledges that these decisions are multifaceted. However, this makes transparency all the more important. I'd like to remind you that the protest against district leadership near unanimous vote of no confidence and petition to remove Dr. Moralas occurred after the groundless decision to remove and move school administrators, not after

029the decision decision about school closures. Due to the failure of Dr. from Morales to acknowledge or address these issues facing our district and her decision to remove belove beloved school administrators like Amy Whis. I cannot support her continuing to be the leader of our schools. But most of all, please bring back your time is up. Thank you. Next is Rob Chandler, followed by Charlene Simons. I'm Rob Chandler, Maria Cre High School community member. Um, today I want to talk in support of Amy Whis and Brad Costcarelli. It feels like there's no plan for the staffing in Santa Rosa City Schools. Um, it's questionable as to who made that staffing, the staffing decisions. Um, I'm not actually convinced it was the superintendent. Um, there's no local replacements for these people. Just the thought that they grow

030on trees is a misconception. um except at the district office. They're the only people with the administrative certificates. Um we'd be forced to hire out oftowners most likely, which doesn't really work out for our local community. I'd urge the board to listen to the community, parents, staff, and students. That's something in support of Amy Whis that I think is quite clear. Um, you know, with the protest, the walk out, the students, the staff not being at work that day, it's not about saying the right words, it's about doing the right thing. It's never too late to make the right decision. Feedback is never reviewed like other people mentioned as well. You know, in the case of Brad Costcarelli, he's worked at the district for over 20 years. Um, Santa Rosa High School, very supported um

031by the teachers and staff. Um, and to do that to somebody I think is not right. I think it's morally wrong. Um, if you speak up for yourself and your school and the district doesn't like that, you go against it. Thank you. Your time is fired. I think that's actually Thank you. And last is Charlene Simons. Hello. Uh, I'm Charlene Simons, a teacher and parent of graduates from Maria Creo High School. Oh, thank you. We're not too low. And, um, I'm here in support of our principal Amy Whis, as well as the other administrators that have been mentioned here, uh, Hidden Valley High School principal Brad Koscarelli and the Piner High School administrations, as the Piner High School student brought up. um and also our counselors here at Coreo. Um I'm wondering board who who

032are you getting information from? Who's it that you're listening to? Um a name comes up to me. I'm wondering maybe she has a vendetta against Mara High School. I'm I'm speaking from my heart here. Vicki, Dr. Vicky Xans, what gives? Are you out there watching this? Where's the camera? What What gives? or do you have a vendetta against Mara High School? What Amy Whis has been a a fantastic principal for us. We would like to keep her on. You know, a couple days ago, I get the the parent square thing about a survey for what qualities do you want in a principal at Mary Curry High School. It's like is this a joke? Well, Amy Whis, hello. I mean, are you not listening to us? Who who are you listening to? Please listen to you've

033heard all of us speak already today. I hope you do take it to heart. Please reinstate Amy Whis and the other administrators that have been beloved throughout the district. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everyone for your comments. The board will now recess to close session. Now reopening the April 23rd, 2025 meeting of the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance and then remain standing for a territorial land acknowledgement. and we have Ed Burke here for our land acknowledgement. I acknowledge that the 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

034to commit to comm continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit. By offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm indigenous sovereignity and will work to hold Santa Rosa City Schools more accountable to the needs of American Indian and indigenous peoples. Santa Rosa territoriz. PBlo administr No,ch. Thank you. Gracias. Thank you, Ed. We will now move to C3, report of actions taken in close session. During close session, the board voted to terminate the superintendence agreement without cause under section 11.2 of the agreement effective today, April 23rd, 2025. The yay votes were trustee Kirby, trustee Casten, Trustee Deator, Trustee Jenkins, and myself, President McN. The nay vote was trustee Medina and um Vice President Manieri was absent. Uh associate superintendent Lisa August will be taking on the roles and duties of the superintendent

035for the time being um until the board can appoint an interim. The Item C4, items considered in close sension for action in open session. There were none. Uh, statements of abstension. Are there any statements of abstension tonight? Adjustments to the agenda. Trusty Casten. And I'd like to request that we move the consent calendar up to uh immediately after adjustments to the agenda and we take that up after this item. Sorry, what you're asking to move the G items? Yes, I'm asking to move the entire consent calendar up to take up as consent without discussion immediately after um adjustments to the agenda. Okay. Are there any is there any opposition? Trusty Medina, would you be okay with it being right after the special presentations? Yes, fine with that. Okay. Any opposition moving G items to after

036presentations? All right. We will make that adjustment. Any other adjustments? Trusty C uh Kirby uh request to move remove F9 from the agenda and push it to a future board meeting since chairman uh Maneri is not here to respond to some potential changes that may need to be made to those policies. Is it possible for those items to wait? All right, we will push item F9 to a future meeting. Any other adjustments? All right. Um, that brings us to special presentations for student of the month and certificated and classified employees of the month. So today we have presentations from Hillard Commtock Middle School and Rinken Valley Middle School. Um, so we'll start with Principal Bushman from Commtock. Thank you, President Mcnal and board of trustees. I am the loud and proud principal of Hillyard Comtock

037Middle School and I am so honored to present Saii Salario, the student of the month. It is my great honor to present Sanai Solario as the Hilliard Commtock School Student of the Month. Along with being an exemplary student with a GPA of 4.0, Sai has made an impact on her teachers and staff. Below is a sampling of what some of Sai's teachers shared when asked to describe her. I am recommen recommending Sai because she has she is a student who exemplifies dedication, kindness and a strong commitment to learning. She is always engaged in classes, eagerly participates in discussions and collaborates effort effortlessly with all her classmates, fostering a positive and inclusive environment. Her outstanding behavior, respect for others, and kindness make her a role model for her peers and a deserving candidate for this honor.

038Sini advocates beautifully for herself by email or in person when she is struggling with a concept. She works above and beyond to not just receive full credit on assignments, but pushes herself to complete the more challenging extra credit questions. She helps those around her and is kind and respectful to all students and adults alike. Sai is a quiet force in the classroom. Sai re respects others. She respects herself. She handles every task with a determined energy that models what a student should act like and what a student should do. She simply cooperates. She never derails the learning environment. She enhances it, always maintaining focus and always demonstrating dignity. She is her own person and her own path. A path destined for success because she conducts herself with integrity and true grit. Congratulations, Sai Solario, and

039thank you for being such a positive representative of Hillyard Comtock Middle School. Congratulations. I'm going to take this shirt. Yes, you. Tonight we are going to be honoring our classified employee of the month. We are honoring Maria Dela Cruz as our classified employee. Maria is our family engagement facilitator. She has been an amazing asset to Commtock. She is dedicated to serving our parents and students. She supports teachers by contacting and translating needs to parents. Maria supports the translation communication through parent square for our ELLL students and families and supports the student safety adviser to communicate to families regarding tardiness and detentions. She helps keep the main office running smoothly when it gets chaotic with students and their needs. Here are some of her colleagues thoughts and reflections about Maria. She is a very hard-working person.

040Always there for students and staff. Advocates in the best interest for the students and parents. Communicates very well with parents and students. She is a team player. Maria is helpful and nice. She is willing to work with some of the students who have had behavior struggles and she does check-ins with students to help them make better choices. Some students elect to check in with her as they feel she is a safe adult to talk to on our campus. I am recommending her because I see how helpful she is with students who need extra help throughout the day. She always has a positive and welcoming attitude when I talk to her. She supports the health tech and assists if necessary. Maria is a huge support and advocate to all her EL students and that she connects

041with especially when it comes to time to take the ELPAC testing. She is organized and supports the process and makes sure teachers have what they need during the testing time. As the principal of Commtock, I have had the pleasure of working with her daily as I do not speak Spanish. She has helped me with students and parents so that I can best support our famil family's concerns. She translates the daily announcements for me and also reads them if I am not able to make it to the office in time. These are just a few of the comments that were shared. It is an honor to have her as part of the Commtock School community. Congratulations Maria for being an amazing human being. Ma is Ma or Maria. Okay. Just just so we could get her

042name right. It's like Ma. Thank you. Yay. Okay. Tonight we are honoring Lizzie Buyers as our certificated employee of the month. Lizzie has been an amazing physical education teacher for many years and we look forward to having her for many more. She has stepped up in her role not just as a teacher, coach, and leadership teacher, but also adding athletic director and department lead to her duties as well. She has taken on these new responsibilities with grace and enthusiasm. She is truly inspiring. Here are some of her colleagues thoughts and reflections about Lizzie. I recommended her because of everything she does for this school. She teaches, runs our special, spectacular rallies, puts together all kinds of Comtock team building activities. Miss Buyers is always there for the kids. She really embodies all that Commtock stands

043for. She is the athletic director as well as as well and really encourages our youth to be athletic. Lizzie loves her colleagues and always has their back. I am voting for Lizzie because every year she gets snubbed like Val Kilmore in the 1993 Oscars for his role as Doc Holiday in Tombstone. She is the most involved out of everyone here at Commtock. No contest. Lizzie Buyers. Lizzie Buyers has taken on the department chair with such an amazing attitude. Everything that leadership puts on her has been amazing and she has been able to manage so many students without the help of another staff member in the gym. She shows up at all sporting events just because she cares and she knows how much that it means to our students. All of them, not just hers. These

044are the reasons why she was selected as our certificated employee of the month. Congratulations, Lizzie Buyers. You make us all proud. Thank you so much, Principal Bushman. Next, we have Principal Corell from Ranken Valley Middle School. Thank you guys for having us tonight. Um, it is my honor and pleasure as the principal at Rink Valley Middle School. Um, to uh to be here and to honor some great staff and a great student from my school. Um, it is my honor to present eighth grader William Messing as the Rinken Valley Middle School student of the month. Along with being an exemplary student with a GPA of 4.0, William is an active member of our leadership team. Below is a sampling of what some of William's teachers shared when asked to describe him. I selected William as

045student of the month because he is not only an excellent student, but he is also a positive president presence on our campus. As a TA for the office, he consistently delivers passes with a smile and a friendly attitude. Outside the classroom, William William is an adventurous and dedicated runner and mountain biker, showcasing his energy and determination. He's an amazing athlete and a well-rounded young man who represents the very best of Rinken Valley Middle School. Keep up the great work, William. William is one of the kindest human beings I've ever been fortunate enough to to meet. He truly is invested in his education as evidenced by his stellar grades. He always goes above and beyond academically and socially. I wish we could clone him. William is a dedicated and positive force at Rinken Valley Middle School.

046His everpresent smile, even in challenging subjects like math, creates a welcoming atmosphere. He is incredibly kind and always willing to help out. William's commitment to his studies and uplifting spirit make him a deserving recipient of this honor. Congratulations, William, and thank you for being such a positive rep representative of the RVMS student body. That was good. All right. Now, you ready? All right. Natalie Long has been named our RVMS classified employee of the month, and it's a recognition that is more than welld deserved. As a special education aid, Natalie is a vital part of our team and plays a key role in helping our students succeed both academically and socially. Her calm presence, strong work at work ethic, and compassionate nature make her an incredible asset to every classroom she supports. Natalie consistently goes above

047and beyond to ensure that students feel seen, supported, and capable of achieving their best. What truly sets Natalie apart is her ability to build authentic, professional relationships with students. She creates an environment where students feel safe and understood which in turns help which in turn helps them engage more deeply in their learning. Her strong rapport with students also plays a major role in supporting classroom management as she is often able to redirect students with kindness and clarity. Teachers regularly comment on how much they value Natalie's support, not only for her instructional assistance, but also for the way she brings calm and positivity to any space she's in. Beyond the classroom, Natalie's commitment to student connection and culture shines just as brightly. This year, Natalie took the initiative to start our Native American club, a space

048that has quickly grown into a meaningful and vibrant part of our campus. The club has become a place where students feel a sense of identity, pride, and belonging. It's been so successful that students from Maria Core High School have begun attending regularly, showing just how farreaching Natalie's impact truly is. Her leadership and passion have created a safe and welcoming space where students can celebrate culture, community, and self-expression. In addition to the Native American club, Natalie also supports several other studentr run clubs on campus, including the craft jewelry club and the always popular manicure club. These spaces provide students with opportunities to build friendships, explore creativity, and connect with peers in fun and engaging ways. Natalie's presence in these clubs demonstrates her ongoing commitment to creating an inclusive and supportive school environment where every student feels

049like they belong. Natalie Long embodies everything that we value at Ranken Valley Middle School: kindness, dedication, inclusivity, and an unwavering belief in the potential of every student. We are incredibly grateful to have her as part of our school community and are so proud to recognize her as our classified employee of the month. All right. There you go. All right. I know this guy's been up here a time or two. All right. Ian Meyers has been selected as our RVMS certificated employee of the month, and we are thrilled to recognize the outstanding contributions he makes to our school community every day. Ian's leadership on campus is a major reason for our continued growth and success. He is a dedicated educator, a trusted colleague, and a true champion for students. Ian plays an active role in shaping

050the direction of our school through his involvement in both the principal's advisory council and our guiding coalition. His thoughtful input, consistent presence, and collaborative spirit have made a significant impact. As part of the guiding coalition, Ian has been instrumental in helping to improve school culture and climate by advocating for and developing stronger social emotional supports for our students. His voice in these conversations reflects his deep understanding of what students need not only to succeed academically, but to feel connected and supported at school. In the classroom, Ian is an outstanding teacher who brings energy, creativity, and compassion to everything he does. He creates a learning environment where all students feel welcomed, valued, and capable of achieving their best. Ian has a clear student centered vision and approaches his work with an equitable mindset. Always striving to

051meet students where they are and help them grow both academically and personally. His ability to motivate, inspire, and bring out the very best in his students is a testament to his talent and commitment as an educator. Beyond the classroom, Ian continues to make a powerful impact through his role as a coach for both RVMS cross country and track and field teams. His work with student athletes goes far beyond training and competition. He builds character, fosters teamwork, and helps students develop resilience and confidence. Ian's dedication to his athletes mirrors the care he brings to the classroom. He sees each student's potential and works hard to help them realize it. Whether he's leading a committee, teaching a lesson, or coaching on the field, Ian Meyers consistently goes above and beyond to support our students at our school.

052We are incredibly grateful for all that that he brings to our VMS and are proud to honor him as our certificated employee of the month. Thank you. Thank you, Principal Florel, and congratulations again to all the awardees. Um, we'll move now to our consent items. So, we are seeking a motion on items G1 through 11. I move items G1 through 11. Second. Sorry, I missed that. What happened? I moved and trusty Medina seconded. Okay, roll call vote. Student board member Zeninga. I. Trustee Casten. I. Trusty Medina. I. Trustee Kirby. I. Trusty Jenkins. I. Trusty Deator. I. President Mcnal. I. Motion passes. All right. Now moving to the report section of our agenda starting with our CSEA report. President Mary Leman. Good evening. Good evening, President McN, board members, associate superintendent Lisa um Lisa August, student

053board member, cabinet, and everyone tuning in tonight. Thank you to everyone here tonight, to those speaking, those listening, and those just showing up. It matters. We're here because we care about the future of Santa Rosa City Schools. And that future starts now. One we want to help build together. On behalf of CSEA, we want to congratulate the students and teachers of the month from Hilliard Comtock Middle School and Rinkham Valley Middle School. A special congratulations to the classified employees being honored tonight. Maria from Comtock and Natalie from Rinken Valley. Thank you for your work and contributions to our school. Last week, our members ratified theou on the impacts and effects of layoffs. We know this is a difficult and stressful time, especially for those still unsure where they will be next year. There are many.

054We are here for you. We must continue supporting one another through the days ahead. We continue to work on job descriptions. Tonight, we support several action items. May as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the guest teacher appreciation in May, teacher appreciation week May 5th through 9th, and classified employee week May 18th through 24th. We support the SRCS transition plan updates and thank SCO for their presence. We support recommendations to approve the reclassification of five classified positions. These members successfully used appendix E of our contract to show that significant new duties and responsibilities had been added to their roles. Their initiative and growth have earned this recognition and we're proud to see their work validated. We are the bus drivers, the custodians, the nutrition workers, the instructional aids, the office staff, the maintenance teams, the

055techs, the ground crews, all of us working together behind the scenes. We are rooted in service and in collective care. We understand that true purpose comes from connection. from helping others and from holding up our communities. And we're not slowing down. We are looking forward to finals, to graduations, 32 days away, then summer school. Be sure to check Ed Join for summer school positions and sign your students up for summer school. The news tonight about Dr. Morales leads me to stress that it is our responsibility to help our students and families move forward through the changes that are coming. We are in the throws of emergent change. Emergence is order arising out of chaos. Through this change, we can better understand the roles, responsibilities, and realities of our students, families, staff, and our community. Like

056Confucious say, tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I'll understand. To rebuild trust, we need involvement, communication, and partnership at every level. Let's engage, embrace the challenge, and empower each other to keep moving forward with courage and compassion. Thank you, President Leman. Next is our Santa Rosa Teachers Association report. President Katherryn Howell, sorry. Good evening, President Moral McN, Associate Superintendent Lisa August, Katherine Howell, President SRTA, representing about 900 teachers, many of whom are in the room tonight. Um, I guess I'm going to start by saying thank you. I had to completely scrap the report that I did write for this evening. Um, but I'm going to say thank you for listening to the voices of the employees of this district. Thank you for listening to the educators who

057give 100% of their mental energy and time to the future of these students um and Santa Rosa City Schools. We say thank you for seeing that the leadership that we had was not the leadership that we need. Thank you for making that change. Thank you for making it quickly. Thank you for making it decisively. Um we hope that as we move forward through this time of chaos which is still with us that we can do this together. Uh with true collaboration and with voices being heard and the knowledge the historical knowledge of the teachers being part of the decision-making process. It's not going to be easy. Um, but we're ready for a challenge. I think we've proved that in the last few months. We're ready for this new challenge of uh moving forward together, of

058creating the district that we want for our students. Uh, pulled out last year's t-shirt. Our students still deserve the best and we hope that we spend every moment of the next few months getting that for them so that the next school year will open successfully under new leadership with a new vision. Thank you. Thank you, President Howell. Next is the superintendence report. Um, Associate Superintendent August, I know you just stepped up. Is there anything you'd like to say? Thank you, President McN. Um, I just want to say that, um, you know, we are going through a huge change right now and I just call for all of us to please, um, treat each other with compassion and respect and, you know, mutual collaboration. Thank you. Thank you. Next is my report, the board president's report.

059Um, obviously we've we've just made a major change in this district. Um, I'm still gathering my thoughts about what I want to say about that. Um, so I do want to let you all know that, um, because of this big change, I have taken tomorrow off from my day job. So, I will be here present for anyone in the district who needs support. Um, I can be at the DO, I can visit sites. Um, just happy to be around and talk and support anyone who needs it. Um, other board member reports. Trusty Delator. Thank you, President Mali. Um, thank you all very much for being here tonight. Um, thank you for taking a seat in this room tonight. Thank you for joining the Zoom. Thank you for sending the emails. Thank you for continuing to

060communicate what your needs are as educators, as students, as family, and as our community members. None of this happens without all of us working together. And as we pivot through a leadership change, the direction that that pivot ch takes us is incumbent on all of us to guide it in the right direction. The board could not do this alone. Our staff cannot do this alone. Our students cannot do this alone. So, let's set down the hurdles and roadblocks and truly collaborate in unison and work together to find the best path forward for all of our students. We are attempting to build sites that our students want to be at, that our families want to send their students to, that our employees want to work at. And we need to do that together as we are

061collaborating and consolidating and designing things that we have not dealt with in this district before. And I do have faith that together we can build something great. Um I got to spend some time the past couple weeks uh visiting the Marie Crew High School banders magical night of music which was amazing. Thank you very much to the music teachers, to the amazing musicians, and to the families that dedicate time and energy to lift up those programs and how valued they are. Um, it's a little bittersweet, but I also went and saw the Slater Middle School's last spring concert. And as we continue to have these conversations from here forward for the rest of the year of the last event and the last concert and the last visit, um I just want to continue to remind

062the rest of my colleagues as board members and our district staff how important it is that we show up for these communities and we make sure that they are seen and heard and respected and loved for everything that they have put into those campuses as we are closing them and moving on. um being engaged, being involved, and providing the respect necessary to truly honor the transition is a very powerful tool that we can all partake in. Um so again, thank you guys for being here. As we pivot, know that none of these decisions are easy, but the direction depends on all of us, not just words that we say or ideas that we have, but it takes going to take all of us. Trusty Jenkins. So, I prepared this before this evening's discussion. Um, but

063I would say the last two weeks have been concerning for me. I've been actively engaging in the community, meeting with individuals and groups discussing our current state of affairs. I attended the chief's community advisory team meeting and as most of us know the city of Santa Rosa is also dealing with budgetary concerns and needing to make cuts. As of right now, it's not looking great for SRO's for the fall as us moving forward in theou was only a tiny part of that puzzle, but a necessary first one. I'm disappointed in parts of our community for their continued attacking of people in challenging roles. I would encourage folks to problem solve around what you can do to support the programs. Who do you know as a collective community who can financially support programs and work with

064organizations to get those funded? That is a good use of energy and community. The energy put into blaming and hate in front of our children is upsetting. People act out when they're scared and we as a district have done a poor job of making um the community feel safe due to lack of communication and transparency. I get that. However, adults must do better in their own behaviors. Also, I attended the LCAP meeting at both LC and Montgomery which were well attended by district staff. Um could have been better by the community. Um for those who have not yet engaged in this feedback loop, please find the link. Is it still open? Yes, please find the link uh and QR code through the website or parent square to provide your perspective. Everyone is encouraged to fill

065this out to get your voice heard. Um, a big takeaway from the presentation for me was the A to G graduation rates while district graduation rates are in the mid 80 percentile, which is great. The district A to G grad rates are only in the mid30s. That means only about a third of our students are graduating and ready to enter college. That is a huge problem if students are required to be taking these academic classes and not succeeding. I'd like to know where kids are succeeding and what we what we're preparing our students for um following high school, especially if our enrichment elective CTE offerings are not reaching all students to engage them enough to find a love of learning. As a trustee, I'm getting a surge of emails from the community requesting the reinstatement

066of programs or courses that have been cut cut and for individuals to be reinstated to their roles. To me, this is problematic as I'm not being told internally that courses or delivery or services other than those during the RIFF process are being changed and I may not have the most current info on who is where administratively, nor do I know each person individually. I want to know I want to be able to um provide support, feedback or advocacy to those who are looking to me for answers or direction. Um however, in this age of information, getting the facts dispersed is challenging at all levels. This is an aspect of the miss that the district must do better on. Hopefully, the transition reports will include programmatic changes as well as updates on retirements and staffing. Personally,

067I want facts, not sugar-coated fluffy facts, but what is happening, both challenges and successes. Our scheduled meetings um are missing the opportunity to have transparent conserv conversations in front of the public to address the changes and financial struggles in an effort to regain some community trust. Um, I think that we need to kind of adjust some things so that we're able to be more transparent on anything that has to do with funding and um, and I understand the the necessity for the resolutions and celebrations to balance out the business, but we really need to focus on how we can uh, be more transparent and communicative about the stuff that we're dealing with. Very um, I lost where I am in here. very like upfront in our face. And then uh lastly, there's lots of sporting

068and VAPA events happening uh at all of our sites. I'm sorry to say I did not make it to Slater's final music production as it was the same night as the LCAP at Montgomery. Sarah Williams is an absolute gem and I hear it was beautiful. I look forward to what the end of the year brings for our students. Prom season is upon us. Best Buddy's prom is this weekend. A friendly reminder to any and all adults who support teenagers to always have a plan in place to pick up a teen who is wanting to do the right thing and get home safe. Please continue to have conversations with your youth about risky behaviors and decision-making. Thanks. Trusty Medina. Thank you, President McN. Um, couple things. Well, first off, uh, Trusty Jenkins, you mentioned all the

069VA events. There's so many going on. say, you know, look into your schools and support the students. Show up, be there. They put a lot of work and effort into all their performances and their work. Um, I did want to take a moment to uh congratulate and highlight uh the CCLA and Elon Band for taking first place of the band at the Pedaluma butters parade. Uh they represented represented our district well, competing against, you know, schools from throughout the county. They'll be out again at the Apple Blossom Parade this Saturday, 26th and later on Rose Parade. But Mr. Nava did reach out to me um to to ask to let people know that they they're still trying to raise another I think they still need another $15,000 so that they can make their their uh

070invitation to Disneyland. So, they got to get paid that out that paid off by like the middle of next month. So, they're trying to raise money. So, if you could support, you know, reach out to the school, help out in any way you can. Um they're doing a great great job there. Um I did also want to um express a little, you know, given all the chaos. Um I'm excited to see that the the teachers at LC Allen are are are looking at moving towards a 4x4 model for scheduling, which is something that's kind of done at uh Rancho Gati that I've advocated for in the past. And I think it would be a great opportunity for students to have more opportunities to take more classes, more electives, and also to help them meet a

071lot of those A throughg requirements that um Trusty Jenkins was was uh alluding to. Um, and the other thing that was reported uh by Superintendent Morales is that our IT staff has now implemented the the data transition and created student accounts for the CCGI program, which I think will be very helpful um in in the year to come for students to have accounts to do career exploration and as they figure out what careers they want to go into, they could see what what schools offer those careers, but at simultaneously see what classes they need to take and help them understand what A throughG classes and requirements they they need to take to get to where they want to go. And so hopefully that'll help with our numbers and getting us to where we want to

072be and help students understand what they need to do to get the careers that they want. Um so I'm excited about all those things that are happening internally in the district despite all the chaos that um are facing. So I just want to report all that out. Thank you. Any other trustees? Student board member Zuniga, do you have a report? Okay. Um, quick update for the superintendent student council. Yesterday we met um at Santa Rosa High School and we hosted and we gave a tour. Um, and then we went over to the nutritional services um and met with Ed Burke. Um, and he gave us a tour of the building, all the amazing instruments and crazy things that go into feeding our entire district. I learned so much. Um, then we sat down with with

073Mr. Burke to discuss regarding the state of our school's lunches, their nutritional value, the taste, the effectiveness in which they're prepared, um, and making sure they're prepared sustainably. Um it was it was an amazing experience, much needed. Um I'm excited to um hear the report later on. Um and I'm looking forward to planning in the future. Um tomorrow I will be at LC Allen as a panelist for the future student representatives. Um which I'm totally psyched for. Um and I'd also like to thank Dr. Morales for creating the superintendent student board because without that I wouldn't have met with Ed Burke. Um and he wouldn't have we wouldn't have had that conversation with all of the high school representatives um yesterday. Um and that board or that that council is a it was an extremely

074extremely necessary step in the right direction um when it comes to student intervention and voice and making that making sure that's amplified um in our district and on this board. So thank you. Next is our school consolidation and transition report. Our team will come down and join while we're waiting for everybody to be seated. Thank you very much, President McN, members of the board. um our Santa Rosa city community in person and online. We can maybe go ahead and start off with our um executive directors for educational services um with this with the site updates and and then we'll Thank you. ahead. Um, thank you, uh, Associate Superintendent August, um, President McN, members of the board, student, staff, and community San Rosa City Schools. We have a couple of things to update with. Uh, starting

075with, we did have an empower teams meeting with the Santa Rosa family. I'll turn it over to executive director Dr. Pettis. Good evening. Uh so the empower teams from Santa Rosa High and Santa Rosa Middle School met on Wednesday and uh had a very collaborative conversation. Um some of the positive highlights uh you know we saw that there were a lot of options for the garden. Um that this keeps the feeder pattern going. Um they were very pleased that there would be an increase in SSAs on campus that was very well received as well as the uh appointment or the move of maintaining Deborah Lrath there as a vice principal. So they were very um that was very positive. Uh we talked about bell schedules and uh some decisions around staff meeting time, safety protocols,

076uh the website being one website. So there's beginning really beginning to coales the two the two schools. Um some of the things that are still needing to be worked through um that are areas um that were stated as areas of concern the lack of sinks for art and science in the Dodto building. You know, we we do feel that we'll be able to still address grade level science in the new building, but we acknowledge that it is it is not a science lab setting. And so we we want to find ways to mitigate the impact of that with some portable sinks in the first year and then look to see how you know a more permanent solution could be made. Um they also stated uh concerns with administrative staff potentially being stretched too thin. So

077that's something we want to talk through with our administrative teams and um just the shifting of classroom sizes for the high school teachers that have had rather large CLA classes in Dodto and the way that they've been trained for more collaborative learning and what that's going to look like in a smaller space. So I I do want to acknowledge that these are uh concerns and things that we continue to work through with the team. Um big highlight was Panther Cub night which was on Thursday. It was a really successful event. I just want to thank the all the staff from Santa Rosa Middle and Santa Rosa High who made that possible and especially thank the students who served as a panel uh to really help welcome the incoming seventh and eighth graders. you had middle

078school panelists there and high school panelists to to also share about what it's like to be on the campus. So, that was very positive. Um, there's more, of course, in the written report that's been submitted to the board and if there are any other questions, I'd be happy to answer those about that uh the work we're doing with the Santa Roses. Um, and uh so with that, I will turn it over to Director Haley, executive director. Good evening. I'm going to highlight actually elementary which is exciting finally. Um so the uh Albert Bella Elementary School uh staff and um students went to James Monroe Elementary School. Only the students that will be attending James Monroe I want to clarify that uh to actually do a field trip. They went on different days. They met with

079their classes. They did tours of the school. They met staff. They did water balloon fights. um they did um different activities to really start to try to build that community with each other. So they know they have familiar faces and they're familiar with the setting when they get there. Um it was really lifted by the teachers and the admin. They did all of the work. And then um Luzalena and I met with the librarians from SCO and walked the Santa Rosa High School library, the Slater Library and the Monty Library to really try to figure out how are two libraries going to mix. So we worked with the librarians. They gave us some I'm sorry and President Hal attended as well. Um they gave us some helpful hints. Um it's going to be daunting. I'm

080not going to um shy away from that. Uh so we're going to have to really work on that and it it's going to take time, a lot of time and a lot of manpower. On the 30th, we will be having anchors away with the Montgomery Slater. It'll be seventh and eighth graders welcoming to the Monte campus. It will be led uh primarily by the I'm like I'm like what's your sign say? Um, so it will be led um primarily by uh a panel with teachers with students and the the um principal and the vice principal um Tyler Alborne. So they will be leading that and then uh we are sending a survey to the empower team to see what is they want to start working on, what is left, what are the big big asks,

081big tasks, when do you want to meet again? Do you want to meet during a school day? Do you want to meet after school? To try to get feedback um and have it led with what their interests are. The last update together about the work with the schools um is that we're currently creating an overview description of each school site that will just highlight all the programs that are in place and being designed for the reconfiguration. And so we're working on another communication piece so that it's like a it's like a brochure, if you will, like here's what this looks like for our community. Great. Thank you. I think that's it from ED services. If you have any questions on that or if you have any Yeah, go ahead. Shocking. Shocking that I have a

082question. It's actually not a question. It's actually just a um piece of information. Not that you don't know this, but when we went through all the consolidation stuff, the schools came up with such amazing um marketing for each one. Uh I know we had flyers from a lot of the high schools that were all set put together. So, wanted to make sure that was on your radar for um for the communicating app. Thank you. So, um I really applaud the positive highlights and that's so great, but unfortunately as trustees, we get a lot of the negative stuff as well and I got to make sure that that is um brought up and uh bugs put in your ear so we can ensure that these are addressed. Um we are consolidating two schools onto one site.

083We have now communicated to our community that those are going to be a junior senior high school and operating in separate functions 7th and eighth graders 9th through 12th. What we need to be very clear when we're working with these empower teams and building and designing is that our middle schools are not a refugee campus that was lost in a fire and are now guests on the high school campuses. So, that's some mixed messaging that's coming from people that are trying to partner and work together and it may not be as smooth as being spoken out about and I want to make sure those are nipped in the bud and addressed right away and that we don't have discourse built up and resentment um because of things that may or may not be perceived. Um,

084specifically with our McGomery Slater um there's a lot of issues over space. I know we're working on a new building. We're not quite sure what we're going to do yet, but our ESN classes, our PE classes, um it was announced previously that there would be culinary and now it's being announced that there will not be culinary for 7th 8th. This is very impactful stuff that families are listening to. Um and we need to make sure that clear information is getting out there and accurate information so that families are making the proper choices. Um, so it's just, you know, this this back and forth and this this contention between staffing um that I'm hearing about through families um and through staff is something that I have some concerns about and I want to make sure teams

085aware of it and we're not just hoping it's dealt with at site level and it gets worked out that you know you guys have that information as well so you can help work through that. Yeah. Okay. But let's I I totally get where you're coming from. I would just ask that the public then actually listen to what's coming from this table because we're not we haven't contradicted ourselves with respect to like for example the culinary issue. We've been given consistent information here with respect to what was going to be available. So your culinary issue, you had a principal at the new site say we're going to have culinary when they welcome students and now those families are being told there will be no culinary for 7th. So regard if you want to tell the public

086to listen to your table only then that has to be communicated to our staff that's also communicating with the public on who to listen to. Yes. Um I'm talking about what So just to be clear though in terms of what we're reporting from the table I hear what you're saying. You're saying it's something different came from some other source. But yes I get what you're saying. Understood. I just want to actually address culinary. Um, and I think it is important because yes and it is um very important to Slater. It is a very wellbuilt built program. The current teacher Lilrin has done an incredible job and I will never deny that. I met with her I can't even get my Mondays straight, you know, and when I went in the facility it's state-of-the-art. Like it's

087amazing. And I we don't have that capacity right now at Montgomery and that's the concern and I don't you know my big thing is I'm not going to make a false promise and and and I hear and I know what you're talking about exactly and it was addressed. Um, and it is important that that doesn't happen because it's not it's it's not fair and I and I it's not fair to the the Slater team that is sitting here, you know, and and I understand that completely. Um, and I do want you to know that, but I also am not going to make any false promises. And I not going to say I can bring it over. Well, first of all, I can't bring much over because I'm not that strong. But um yeah, I'm not

088going to bring over something I cannot promise and we cannot promise as an educational component. And I wanted to be very clear to the community as well that we are trying to cut millions of dollars to rightsize our budget and our district. And unfortunately that does not mean everything from both sides is going to coexist and magically fit in a space that it won't fit. That's the reality. So we are going to lose things that we love. That is a painful decision we had to make as a board to consolidate and try and rightsize our budget and our district. So, we're not going to be able to retain anything. My ask is that we communicate clearly and we communicate the same message that we're not getting having to um talk over ourselves with different messaging

089or having to fall back and correct messaging. that we do our best to communicate that same message from any level so our families can rebuild some trust within us as a district and be bought into this build. Understood. If I can chime in for just a moment and it's not I want to be careful in that just because something looks different doesn't mean it's not going to happen. And I think that's maybe where some of the communication glitches are coming through is that we don't have it with this short of a turnaround for one facility-wise. We don't have the ability to immediately create an entire culinary space within that short time frame. There are ways to make culinary work in a it will look different. That doesn't mean that we aren't working towards that. It

090also doesn't mean that there isn't because it doesn't come up maybe in the same way as a specific individual class. There's conversation about part of a wheel to allow, you know, exploration. And so just those conversations are being had. There are several things that we're working through. That doesn't mean that it's not happening. and we're trying we're we're working really hard to make sure that those programs that are promised to move forward will be able to do so. It just may look different in that first year while we're getting up to speed. And I think my my main point to try and push through continue it's just communication in unison and efforts in unison and collaboration in unison and um sometimes you know that this is hard for everybody. So we have incoming teachers and

091students trying to come out to an already established campus. Well, that campus is changing also because unfortunately both all those campuses were on the chopping block to be discussed for closure. So by consolidating we're saving all the campuses by putting them in one space. It's not you guys are closed, we don't care about all your stuff. We are really trying to do the best we can with this limited space we have to serve as many students as possible. And I think we just need to continue to bring light to that for everybody at the table. Um because feelings are getting hurt and people are and nerves are very open and raw. And I don't want that contention to build and get worse. I want us to nip it in the bud and have adult conversations

092that we're trying to work together and we will do better and we will communicate more clearly and not don't touch my toy because you're here. This is my toy. Let's get away from that pettiness. Agreed. And you know, as as facilitators of this really complex work and really highly dedicated teachers that and staff classified an answer certificate that we're working with, what I would ask is when you receive that information to to let Alisa and I, you know, know it. So, as facilitators, we work to set the stage in these meetings. We work with our administrators very closely on on how to support the building of a new culture. And so, you know, when we are aware, you know, we we work closely on supporting our administrators and the teams because this has certainly been

093uh a new dance with new steps. And I think that given the timeline truly the the work that has been accomplished has been really remarkable. And I and I just can't thank the staff that's working on this at the sites enough for their the commitments that they've made to to help make this work. And I commend the staff as well and I thank you for bringing that up. Like everybody's been burning the candle at both ends to try and fit a very large project and a very short timeline with very limited space. Um, I just ask that we continue to be respectful of ourselves and each other and how we're holding space and showing up in places so that we can get through these raw nerves and continue to try and work and build together

094and ensure that you guys as a team have that information so you can help um staff work through those and it's not, you know, felt like it's something that come out of left field. That's that's my main communication is let's make sure we're all sharing the information and we're helping the staff to the best of our abilities so we can really build something beautiful for the students. Trusty Medina. Thank you. Um I since we're on the topic of culinary and and all this transition is a multi-year process that we're dealing with. Um, I did want to highlight the fact that I believe there's a nice culinary facility at LC Allen High School that's been unused because of no no uh teacher and as we look in the long term what happens in the future. I

095think given that culinary is something that's in high demand, students constantly want it, that we make sure that we use these facilities that we have in the future, um, year two or whatever we like to call it, keep that in mind and and maybe bring that as part of the future work. Trusty Kirby. Um, a couple of follow-up questions since I guess we're we're just going to talk about the Santa Rosa uh middle school combination tonight, but so a couple of things you brought up the portable temporary sinks in the Dodto building. Can you maybe a question for Director Odin maybe, but can you be more specific? Are these the little pump things that are out in the courtyard like at a concert or are these like in the building? What what are we talking

096about? There there's a request from the teacher for uh something far more upgraded than that that has been submitted to the district office as a request. Um we know that the COVID small pump ones are not, you know, they are very temporary. Uh so I really appreciated that. uh I believe it was that the art teacher that was there, you know, quickly looked up and said uh sent me a link that I have passed along and said that like this would wouldn't be perfect, but it's better than these other ones. And so, okay, if I can um speak a little bit to so for the business services part of the update, we'll go ahead and jump into that since it kind of led there. Um yes we said okay what can we do in the

097short term again because it takes time um anything that we're going to do that requires a renovation you know a change in the structure of a facility which would include sinks and um as well as you know many other things we often have to go through DSA so division of state architecture and that adds about nine months to any project and so that's something that I wanted to clarify this evening also as to why um we're seeing things that are talking about what's happening a year from now and that's because yes, we're trying to address the immediate needs for these very these moves that are happening very quickly next year, but we are also planning in the long term to make the adjustments for both, you know, Santa Rosa Junior Senior High School and Montgomery

098Junior Senior High School, but also preparing for the future at Piner Junior Senior High School as that will become. So all these shifts, that's why you're seeing a lot of things coming early on things that maybe we don't have a per an absolute decision on yet because if we slow the process, we actually won't be ready in that following year. Thanks for that. Um, another comment on your report mentioned you said something and in the written report it says that classrooms uh may need to be moved to smaller classrooms. They can't accommodate all the students. So, where are we going to put the students if the classrooms won't accommodate them? Yeah. So, um these were teachers that had been in the Dodto building that are now going to go to the main building. And uh

099I'm sure someone here will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's it's two or three classrooms that are uh smaller in size. I think it's two that are that are smaller in size. And um and uh my understanding is the students do fit but it's the instructional model that is very different in that when you have a larger classroom you can group students you can you know you can have a very different setup than in a smaller classroom where you know you kind of have to have rows and columns and and I'm sure you know there'll be uh different iterations of of how that gets laid out. So, um I know that Dr. Fong continues to look through solutions uh on campus with classrooms. A big goal was to keep the entire English

100department together. Um and so this was what was available to meet keeping the entire English department together in the main building. Okay. So, all right. I so I believe and I'm sure uh you know there's other folks that know facilities far better than I do, but I mean technically the students will all fit in the classroom. Okay. Um followup. So to uh director uh Delator's comment about making the schools all feel like we're one big family, I've also gotten a lot of concerned comments from parents. They're concerned about my 12-year-old being in the bathroom with an 18-year-old and getting bullied. So is there is there a plan to perhaps uh make a seventh eighth bathroom and a and a high school bathroom? What what is there a plan? Yeah. And so the the Dodto building

101has has bathrooms that are in you know that building is self-contained. It's why one of the main reasons it was chosen was because it was a place that we could uh you know ensure that only middle schoolers you know that middle schoolers would predominantly have access to these bathrooms. And um so we're I think we've addressed that by having that be the space at at Santa Rosa. Um our PE teachers have worked really closely on developing a bell schedule to minimize the overlapping time in the locker rooms as well as that is another you know space that that has that. And uh with the increased number of student safety adviserss that gives us more abil that gives us a greater ability to help support and supervise you know interactions as well. Okay. And is this

102something that can be is this um I don't say uh division possible with that app? I forget or I forgot the name of it. Um Minga. Yeah the Binga app. Is it something that can also help to send students to a particular bathroom or not? Well, the the the app will tell you where the students are. So, and be able to tell you if they've strayed from the area they're supposed to be. Yeah, that's all. Okay. It wouldn't necessarily keep them from going to an area. It would just let you know that they've gotten to an area they shouldn't be. That's all. You can't you can't like limit them, but it'll just tell you if they went to the wrong bathroom. It just tell you if they're where they are. So, yeah. Yes. Oh, so

103it tells you if they're not in the right place. Yes. It's not an effective way of do of tracking this. I think that's to answer your question. Okay. Thank you. My experience with Minga is it it you just write a pass for where the student is supposed to be. But if no one checks that I mean what I have I write a pass and if they don't come back then I have to radio for a supervisor to go find this student. Like that's that's all it is. Okay, Trusty Casten feel like we're getting into a place where we're trying to talk through every potential future outcome. And in this school district today, we have a school with almost 800 students that has three bell schedules that has seventh and eighth graders that do not go

104and hang out with the kindergarteners in the bathroom. I assume that we can apply the same level of logic to this process as we're looking at doing the same thing with two different potentially two different bill schedules instead of three and use those types of human systems in order to address these concerns while also making sure we're getting the benefits of having fewer transitions for our students. because the fewer transitions for our students are the things that lead empirically to lower dropout rate and a higher graduation rate. So within that concept, within what we're currently doing, are we able to learn from what we're doing at CCLA and apply it here? And can you just talk a little bit about that? Yes, I mean that's a theor same theory of action. I mean you could

105if you argue in the other direction, you could find a million ways how it won't work as well. But we do have a functional example of how um a span school as you would call it K8 with multiple schedules and um students across a wide range of grades can co-unction on a on a campus. Yeah. I don't know if you want to go to it. You can Yeah. And and to that end, you know, uh I think that having uh Melissa come over from CCLA to Santa Rosa presents like a really good opportunity to maximize on that experience. Um and you know, we have administrators there on the site that are experienced as well with multiple bell schedules. I I know that Dr. Fong, you know, having worked at an elementary school. I was also

106an elementary school principal once upon a time and we deal with a lot of different bell schedules and this is not exactly the same scenario and that these students are a lot older. Um but but yes, I mean there's there's definitely, you know, something to be learned from an existing site in our district that's been handling that as you've said. So, yes, we have like Melissa who's going to, you know, for Melissa's uh vice principal, Melissa Jones, who's going to be coming from CCLA to San Rosa High and has that experience. That's right. And I believe she also has athletic experience as well, right? Yes. Thank you. Right. Are there other departments to hear from? Yes, there all the rest of them. This is just at services. Um so I have a a couple of

107updates with uh transfers. Um the inter district transfer applications are slowing down uh quite a bit uh over the last two weeks. We've received two additional exiting applications, only two since our last conversation. That doesn't mean that more won't be coming, but that's how many we've received since our last conversation. We've also had seven additional entering families requesting to attend Santa Rosa City Schools. And while in uh a more traditional year, we might be closing the door and saying, "Sorry, you have missed the window, we are opening to considerations when there is space available at the schools." Um updates on our intra district transfer numbers. We currently have, as shared in that last uh presentation, uh families who are on the waiting list. And tonight, I wanted to share just a few details about that.

108We currently have 131 applications to attend Maria Korea High School that are still on a waiting list. And we have 128 applications for the Santa Rosa Junior Senior High. Most of those at the high school level. um that are on the waiting list. Um there was actually more requests to attend Santa Rosa than there were to Maria Coreo, but because of the larger size of the Santa Rosa campus, we were able to accommodate more of the priorities 1 through six. Um all of the families who are currently on a waiting list fell into priority 7, which means none of the other reasons. Um, and there has been a very small handful of additional transfer requests at a variety of elementary and secondary schools. So, there are still families that are coming in and filling out

109requests after the window. Um, we are examining the um analyzed school capacity and the uh current pre-enrollment for the schools and when possible we are not placing families on waiting lists. we are moving them directly to approvals. What we are sharing with families is that we will examine our two waiting lists. There is one additional waiting list that will have to be created and that is at Helen Layman Elementary because right now Helen Layman is at capacity and so if we get any additional requests at Helen Layman Elementary, we will have to put those families on a waiting list as well. What we are planning to do with our waiting lists is that we are going to reanalyze capacity at the end of May, at the end of June, and at the end of July.

110And if at any of those three points we discover that the in pre-enrollment has dropped to such a level that we are able to invite additional families, we will use as per board policy a public lottery to draw names. So, if we discover we can add 10 more applications at Korea, we will uh do just like our charter programs do. We will hold a public lottery. We'll draw the first 10 names. We'll call the families. If they say yes, we're done. If we are able to, we will accept a few more. Um, the reason that we've chosen those three windows is because we do know that through between now and the end of the school year, there will be some families that notify us that they are potentially making decisions to go into specialty programs

111within our district or outside of our district. And then we know that there are a number of families who make the decision to move, but they don't do so during the school year. they wait until the school year has ended before they make a move out of the Santa Rosa area. Um there was some uh there's we've been giving a lot of attention to the incoming 7th grade enrollments um because we want to acknowledge that right now our incoming seventh grade pre-enrollment is low at three of our four middle school programs. the one uh school where it appears that the incoming seventh graders whether they are rolling up from our current elementary schools are coming in from our feeder districts. Um that appears to be on par is Santa Rosa Middle School where this year

112we have 206 pre-enrolled for the 2526 school year compared to our current 7th grade enrollment of 214. So it seems pretty level at uh Rinken Valley uh Hillard Commtock and Herbert Slater. Our enrollment numbers do look low for our incoming seventh graders. Um the examples are currently we have 346 7th graders attending Rinken Valley, but our pre-enrollment only has 295. So we're about 50 students short of where we would have been last year. Um, Comtock this year currently has 190 current 7th graders and we've only had 158 pre-enrollments, so about 30 below. And at Herbert Slater, uh, we have currently 261 students enrolled. And right now for the 2526 school year, we do have only 169 pre-enrolled for Slater. Um, we are currently working with our SCO partners to administer a survey and our goal

113is to have a very rapid turnaround. This survey would be going targeting directly our rising seventh grade families from both Santa Rosa and our feeder districts. And we'll be asking a number of questions specifically kind of um a tiered interview or a tiered survey starting with are you already registered for school for the 2526 school year at one of our Santa Rosa schools? If not yet, do you need help doing so? And if they say yes, I need help, it would take them directly to links for how to apply. If you are on the fence, what more information do you need to help you decide? And then finally, if you have decided not to come, can you tell us why not? Because right now, while we have individual anecdotes, we don't have a good cross-section

114of why these might not be happening. And we know that um if there's a hundred families, there's a hundred different stories. And we want to be able to get information from as many families as we can in our district transfer weight list and on the low seventh grade enrollment numbers. Are we able to identify if any of those are correlated to our boundary map realignments? Um so when we look at the boundary l uh map realignments, we are being very careful. Anytime we're working with a family and we have to put them on a waiting list, we are examining not only where their address is aligned with the 2526 boundary map. But we also look at the second year because there was a commitment not only by the board but by our department that if

115your secondyear school is not the same as your next year school. So if you are assigned to one school for the 2526 and a different school for 26 27 because of the the predicted boundaries that we would be um working as hard as we can to honor if the family would like that the secondyear request. So we have been looking at that and we know that there are a few pockets around town where a family has a different school assigned um next year than they would the following year. So we are doing that level of deep dive working with our families. So I'm more concerned about families that are living in a boundary before it was changed assuming they were going to a certain school and now that we've changed that boundary if they're making

116decisions to leave our district entirely or if they are making requests to go to the school they thought they bought a house to go to. Um, again, one of the challenges I wish that I was able to make a single statement about that, but I think that every one of those situations is true. And there's probably a hundred other explanations for why families might be making the decisions that they are. That's why this um demographic survey that we are working with SCO on it is not one that is being written and designed by us. We are actually working with some demographers to help us design a very valid and reliable survey so that we can start to collect that level of granularity and why families might be making those decisions. Just to have it said

117like I have concerns about the boundary map realignment because that is situations that we created. So we could be displacing families from schools they want to go to from homes they purchase because we rely on boundary maps. I have concerns about that. Yeah. Anecdotally, I can share that I had a conversation with the CBO from Windsor um earlier today and he said that they do see a slight increase in their interd district transfer requests in the seventh and 9th grade and it's specifically related to the Mark West area and it's roughly um he he's going to give me actual numbers but um he thinks it's about 30 students. Mr. Cash. So to you briefly referenced the surveys, but I think to give folks some certainty about where we're heading because all along we've talked about

118a need to realign the district boundaries, especially with looking at feeder districts is that we're heading for these surveys. We're heading to gather the data during this process. And then we also are having a demographic study in our collaboration with SCO uh that is going to be completed specifically with a twopoint um eye towards them being able to contribute to us revisiting and providing minor adjustments adjustments to the maps um sometime after summer. And so I'm more saying that as a statement, but if you could answer that that is accurate from what we what we're tracking that. Yes. Um the plan is that that second demographic analysis would be done on or um after the 10th day of enrollment because with the first 10 days there is a very specific amount of um validating and

119calibrating the pre-enrollment versus the actual student count. And so within those first 5 to 10 days of school, there's a significant amount of very traditional, not unique to this year at all. Um, you know, we expected there to be 1500 students. 1300 actually showed up and then in the first 24 hours an extra 20 and then 15 and so we don't do that kind of demographic analysis within the first 10 days of school. There may be a third step and superintendent, associate superintendent August, if you can help me remember, they're also going to be looking at census day. Correct? Yes. And part of what they're looking for is not just about Santa Rosa City Schools, but really about our county as a whole and specifically within Santa Rosa as a city and all of our

120feeder districts. what the patterns are, why people are are choosing different options, and we aren't the only ones seeing this strange influx or or outflux. Yeah. And then I I want to highlight and just confirm what I heard about Santa Rosa High School and we have a waiting list for our high our high students, but it sounded like we also have at least a small waiting list additionally for our junior classes. Is that what I was hearing? Um, at this point I do not have a any standing waiting list at any of the four middle school programs. I do have a waiting list that is being started at one elementary, Helen Layman, and at the two senior high schools, Maria Coreo and Santa Rosa Senior High. with the current enrollment um at Santa Rosa uh

121the juniors at Santa Rosa High School, that current enrollment exceeds our current Santa Rosa Middle School or is right in par with where we're at with San Jose Middle School. How much room do we have for enrollments before we would have a waiting list? I believe that at this time I I'm not prepared to say because the recent decision to identify Dodto Hall as being the new home for the Santa Rosa middle program or the junior program of the Santa Rosa Junior Senior High. Um I'm not prepared but at the next meeting I can bring what is the capacity of Dodto because that would determine the capacity of Santa Rosa Middle at this time. We believe we are um comfortably under the capacity of Dodto but we're but we're on par with where we would

122have been traditionally for correct. Thank you. Yes, Trusty Jenkins. I have a couple of questions. Um, so I know that we had like this bubble year with ADA, but with those numbers being low at three of the four middle schools, what actually like fingers crossed we'll get them up and everything will be beautiful with marketing and all the things. Um, but should we be prepared for the next year? Like are some the Slater numbers, the Montgomery 7th numbers are concerning? Um, and I know we have the bubble year. I'm calling it a bubble year. I don't know if that's the term that's been used before, but the ADA year, hold harmless, hold harmless bubble year. Um, but what happens in year two if those numbers don't go back up? So those are things that we

123will have to determine um at you know once we see actually where enrollment is and so if we don't see that increase and again remember there are changes with charter things coming up as well. So there's a lot of unknowns that we will have more information on towards the beginning of the year. If we don't see those increases, then we will need to make additional reductions. And then um as my second of the third of the three questions, um are we are we able to capture the numbers? Has anyone reached out to like Spring Lake? I'm curious about the Spring Lake Middle if they are getting a huge increase. So, um, when a child is applying for a charter program like Spring Lake or the RCP, RUP, um, those types of programs, they do not

124go through the traditional interenrollment application process. We have not yet reached out to the school to ask what is their projected enrollment at this time. Um that is going to be part of what the survey helps us determine because if they say we are not coming that you know it's one of those branching kind of surveys if not where are you going and so we will be able to capture that information. It's also important to realize that right now families may have um plans but they may not be holding acceptances in their hands yet. And so it may be a very difficult question to answer definitively at this time of year. Are we talking to them though? Can like can we just ask how's your enrollment? We we have not yet and we will be.

125And then my Lake Middle School is at capacity. Say again. Spring Lake Middle School is at capacity with a wait list. Um and then for Dr. Zans. Um, so I'm assuming with low enrollment comes low classes and lower st like it'll be trickier to bring back more staff unless the enrollment gets bumped back up. Correct. That's correct. Thank you, Trusty Medina. Thank you. Um, a couple questions. I don't know if it's been addressed yet, but the thing with, you know, these huge changes in capacity and attendance, um, what are we doing around traffic and addressing traffic, increased traffic at the schools and specifically at Montgomery and, uh, Santa Rosa as as we prepare for the new year? Are we reaching out to SRPD to make sure they kind of help us in those first couple

126weeks as, you know, they've done that in the past at some of our schools? So, I'm going to answer half of the question and then I'm going to kick it over to the bell schedule information. But um one of the things that we have already done is that we have provided our updated boundary maps to our partners with safe routes to school to ensure that they are redrawing their safe routes suggestions to the community to assist families with knowing what's the best way to get from my house to my new school. But one of the uh strategic ways that we are addressing it is through um some strategic bell scheduling. So the uh at Monty um the middle school starts earlier than it starts at 8:15 and then the high school starts at 8:30. So

127that has a little bit of a time lapse. However, the thought is um that the high school kids would be dropped off in a certain area and the middle school would not be dropped in that. They'd be in a different area. So, it would kind of alleviate that. Um we have not talked to safe schools, at least I have not. Um nor SRPD. Um and this is just something that was planned at our last one and we just have to finalize exactly what is that going to look like. Uh once the new building opens up, hopefully it's a little clearer because there's a lot of congestion right now. Uh even one car can't get through. But um so that is, you know, the high school goes to one area, the middle school another. The buses

128once again will have both students on it um age groups and then they'll go off the um Halman Drive. And um at center of the middle I know this this year the Magnolia project was piloted. I'm wondering would that be continuing? Yes, I I believe it is continu. Yeah, it is continuing. Yes, it's it's what we're referring to as the wheel where you explore the different aspects of CTE. There's a curriculum with that. So, yes. And um as far as the drop off for Santa Rosa Junior Senior High, uh yes, the bell schedule, the start time is going to be earlier for the middle school. And uh the team at the last empower team meeting did look at a couple of scenarios for drop off that are really direct to the Dodto building. So uh

129a map is being worked out to make that really clear to the parents. And so also looking at what the impacts are of that being the drop the drop off and we're hoping to work about signage as well. So, from a high school parent, logistically, it's great that there's a tiered window, but know that that 15 minutes means nothing because there's a lot of families that show up 30 to 45 minutes on each side of that time and there are definitely plenty of our campuses that are now overflowed onto the streets and cars can't even get through and drive through on the street currently on one site. Now, we're going to combine those students onto a site and take those two sites away. We're going to run into a lot of problems logistically. So, love

130the tier time, but it's it's probably not going to help us much. We really need to focus on the different locations for drop off and pickup if at all possible. And following up on that, I think also just again repetitive clear communication to parents and students about where you should go cuz sometimes they just do whatever. And I would echo the with lots of personal experience on this one. Um 15 minutes with the same drop off location isn't enough. It doesn't work. And especially if there's only one lane, you can end up blocking the whole the whole parking lot and access area. So looking at two locations or looking at 30 minutes um for uh for a a break. Um I'd encourage that. insight from a Monty parent too. I've created my own circle because

131circles have changed. Um, so with Montgomery, there's like a corner. There's the front where the new building is, and then there's the parking lot, which is where a lot of parents do. And I just create a little circle hoping I'm not going to go into anyone's parking spot too much. But we're very creative with our drop offs. And I think definitely, you know, following up on on Nick's experience, um, connect with CCLA to understand their experience with it because 15 minutes is definitely very little based on what I've heard of CCLA. Well, I think it's important that with CCLA, I I actually was there for um the beginning of it uh when it merged. And so I think a lot of the concerns also is the neighborhood which is something we'll have to take into

132consideration definitely in in the Monty area because it is a neighborhood. Um so it is un Yeah. Great. Can we move on to the next department? Sure. Special services. Um the last uh week or so I've been uh spending a special attention at the secondary level. We've been working a lot on uh finding elementary spots for our program classes and we've been able to do that. Um in some cases we've been working with uh facilities to some some upgrades such as fencing and so forth that we'll um have to put in at some sites. With respect to um Montgomery Junior Senior High School, I'm glad you mentioned that ESN um classes. Um I've spoken extensively with one of our current Slater and soon to be Montgomery junior uh senior teachers and working with u um

133Montgomery administration. I I we're not finalized yet, but I believe we'll have a solution to that and taking also working with our program manager because we really have to look at the needs of the students in each particular class to be able to establish the spaces. Um I attended uh the Montgomery High School special education department meeting last week. Uh heard a lot of concern because there's a fair bit of room and space shifting from uh resource teachers and SGI teachers and sharing rooms and and so so forth. So there was a there's a fair bit of concern there and we'll try and address it as best we can. Uh last Friday was at the Santa Rosa High School uh department meeting. Uh similar concerns. Santa Rosa High School, the high school end of it,

134as you know, is extremely tight on space. We believe we've found a solution with respect to the ESN classes that were previously in DInnesota to move them into the the the main building and we're looking for some additional space moves that aren't aren't finalized yet but I think we'll get there and we have a there's a pretty good solution that the center of the high school principal came up with respect to uh the resource teachers and again there is some sharing rooms involved and and so forth. Um, last night we held a special education or special services parent listening session. It happened to be at Montgomery High School, but it was not focused on Montgomery High School per se. It was co-sponsored with the SULPA. Had a lot of elementary school parents who were uh

135had concerns about their new site and what school they were going to and so forth. And hopefully we clarified that. They also expressed concerns. Will we have the bus transportation and all those details because the bus routes will be changing. um and so forth. Some a parent expressed concern about with bigger class size are they going to be able to have the inclusion opportunities and so forth. So we're we're addressing those as as best we can but it was it was a very good session. Um last week looking forward to 26 27 because that's what we have to do at this point as well for planning. Uh we several of us business services and the facilities and community partner were able to walk the Bella site with our early childhood Caitlyn Panella who's our principal

136to look at what uh modifications and uh arrangements will need to be made at Beiel because as you know we had to we postpone the the two classrooms until 2627 but it gives us a real opportunity to to design a really nice preschool site. The other point I want to mention, uh, we had one of our community partners, Sonoma, walked it with us because, as we've talked about before, we'd like to turn that site into an early childhood education center or campus or something of that sort with um, many of our community partners with general education, early childhood education programs there, which will in increase um, inclusive opportunities. Last thing, I've met just about every week with Selpa and SCO um in terms of support they can provide. Uh as you know in in addition

137to these uh school consolidation, we are also taking back a number of students from skull SCO and non-public schools. So we are actually in hiring mode with respect to teachers and this week we're also identifying where there were vacancies and so forth. I know that's Dr. Xan's department, but so that the displaced teachers can uh have an opportunity to choose sites. But um as part of that, we've asked Selpa to provide particularly with uh behavioral support and behavioral training before the beginning of the school year. Um ideally, I'm I'm my ask is also that we do some of that in general ed if they're if they're able to do that working with the behavioral services uh department at SCO. So, I I think it's a it's a good opportunity. Again, I will say I think

138we just posted 15 or 16 special education teacher positions, mostly in specialized programs, some from retirements, uh some from expansions. So, uh we will have to give those new staff and new teachers a lot of support um particularly with students transitioning into uh new campuses and students transitioning back from school. Was that SULPA meeting recorded? the SULPA meeting recorded? No, we've been so with respect to SULPA, um they've been a piece of the meetings we've been having with SCO. First off, the ad hoc meetings, which we have another one tomorrow morning at 7:30 if I remember correctly. And then I've had some uh small meetings with the executive director of SE Selpa, Elizabeth Engelkin, and uh a scope person and a program manager or program specialist I should should say from SULPA sort of brainstorming

139ideas of how they can support us, support us. Yeah. Um I'm curious. I know we had the presentation about like streamlining special ed and and I'm assuming we're still moving forward with that. I know it's a slow process. Um but I'm just saying it out loud because we're hiring more people in special ed while we're trying to streamline it will all come together beautifully, right? With a pretty price tag. a a a piece of that is we have to be able to serve the students that we're bringing back in the neighborhood of 30 35 SCO students uh non-public school students and we have increased students uh from from our feeder districts. Um, so, uh, yes, with respect to the SCO students, the current the current price tag for a SCO student is $14,000. And so,

140every student we bring back is we're not putting out $104,000 to SCO and we can serve them uh at much lower cost um in our system. So, I hope that answers it somewhat. But the optics, yes, we are hiring significantly. And uh if um if there are teachers who want to be part of our wonderful special education system, I encourage people to apply. I'm sorry, I'm trying to market ourselves right now. Mr. Kirby. Um, with respect to the, uh, San Rosa High School space, I know you said there were challenges finding some, uh, some of the classrooms there. So, I was just, I had heard that perhaps you were going to that some of the Art Quest classrooms may have to be the ones that were being taken over to utilize by special education. Is

141that correct or um not in terms of our program classes and I this is probably a question that Dr. Fong can answer more specifically unfortunately I Lena do you know I think there may be some on the resource end I yeah I think it was space um for specialty services I checking with Dr. There's no classes being but it could be for like sorry to have this conversation out loud but for like a a speech language pathologist and and that sort of thing. We'll we'll we'll check on that. I know we're not moving any of our classes into that area. Now, my understanding too is it's office spaces um that are Yeah. Just to follow up on that one, if we can just make sure that it's not any of the studios or any of

142the uh places that the Arquest students are using for their uh project work, that would be great. It was storage some rooms that had been for storage, but we'll definitely double check. Yeah. Um, but we need spaces for IEPs and speech services and well and if they're shared that makes sense. And uh we just want to I just want to make sure that as those students are working on their um on their projects and in their in their program that they still have the spaces they need to continue doing that. We're we're certainly working towards that. But as you can understand, you know, we're we're attempting a a big thing to combine. So there's, you know, we've talked about there's pressure points in different places with this and so but if we go in that

143direction, if we can do it through shared scheduling or, you know, still having the spaces available during certain times if it's a space need for specific interviews or uh test taking like try to do share space instead of fully redesating. Um, I think that's an important direction to go because we also want to make sure that we're maintaining the integrity of the programs that we're um, using to attract students to come into our school district. So, um, and I know it's a juggle, but you know, I appreciate all the work you're doing. Next department. Okay, I'll just ask one more question real quick. Um, I was going to ask about the um information about the programs that are going to be moved and like the accessible playground and all that. Um, how could we get

144that information out to parents? The one that you mentioned, I I'm sorry. With respect to like accessible the accessible programs and just more information about the programs you mentioned that were just being discussed, like how can we what are we doing to get that information out to parents more effectively? Um that's that's one area I think we need to that's an area we need to improve on. Um I've with respect to parents program managers uh are supposed to be contacting parents. We have a list of questions that we gathered last night with specific parent concerns. But I think we need to do some more overall messaging to parents who are going to particular sites uh to answer those questions uh in advance both with respect to accessible spaces, accessible bathrooms. Um uh yeah, so I

145think definitely can make sure that there's followup that it's actually being done. Yeah. And that there's a good effective plan would be helpful. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay. Um yesterday we met with the teachers from Bella and Brook Hill that will be going to different school sites. We did what's called the involuntary transfer process for those teachers as well as um the EL specialists that are also being displaced that have u multiple subject credentials. So after that process, we still have some vacancies and we'll be able to go back to our riff list and start rescending notices for some teachers. The next step that we're working on is um we've put out the list of available special education positions also for the teachers that are being displaced from Bella and Brook Hill

146and they will be selecting their jobs for next year on Monday. Um after that we are going to send out a survey not next week but this week before um we leave on Friday we'll send out a survey to the teachers from Slater and from San Rosa Middle School to see which teachers are interested in moving with the rest of their school site and which teachers are interested in participating in the involuntary transfer process. The secondary process is a little bit more complicated because we also have to look at people where a school site may not have enough sections for a teacher and that teacher will also have the opportunity to select to go full-time at another school site or possibly split split their time if that's what's necessary. So, we are slowly working through

147um getting all of the involuntary transfers taken care of. We have also posted a pool posting for some positions that we know for sure we're going to need to hire for um specifically chemistry and earth science right now. We've posted pull postings for that. They opened today and I believe that we will need to post for Spanish as well. We did not riff enough teachers that to call back to fill the vacant positions with um retirements and resignations. Um thank you. Um definitely glad to see those science positions posted. Uh very needed. Um, one that I had asked about previously that I'm concerned about is very specific a mechanics CT position. I haven't seen it posted. I know the teacher's not returning. Um, I'm very concerned cuz time is flying and that's such a very

148specific type of work and I'm wondering is that going to be posted at some point? What's going on? So with that particular position, in order to teach that class, you need an A credential, not any more specific than an A credential. And based on the number of sections that will be offered at Santa Rosa High School and LC Allen High School, it currently appears that there are enough ad credentialed teachers to take on those classes. So unless there are resignations or retirements that we're not aware of or a sharp increase in the number of students enrolled, we don't anticipate posting that position. So all the welding and all that stuff, they know how to do all that. Um, we have to do it based on credentials and what is necessary for that class is an

149A credential. And we have a teachers that will not have sections unless they teach that class. Maybe we could follow up offline just so I could better understand some of those things. Thank you. Do we have any parameters or triggers that we are looking towards our high horizon on how we're going to communicate and better serve our counselors? So, the counselors will be the last ones to participate in the involuntary transfer process in the staff weekly. I did um let the staff know that the reason that we're pushing that off is due to the potential that some of those counseling positions will be brought back through the LCAP process. And what we don't want is for counselors to choose positions for next year and then we reinstate some positions that they may have been in

150and wanted to stay in because that will cause us to have to do it again. So we're putting that one as the last one, but solely for that reason. We want to make sure that we're able to bring back as many counselors as possible and we need the LCAP information first. I had another question about um we we've gotten a lot of emails about French and I just kind of wanted to find out what's the status of that where is it going to continue to be offered as of right now? Um what information could you provide? As of right now, French is going to be offered for next school year at Piner High School, Maria Creo High School, and um Montgomery High School with just the section of French 2 being offered at Santa Rosa

151High School for those students that need to complete their second year. If I can remind us why that we have to look at consolidating those programs, that is a big part of how we've ended up in the fiscal situation that we are is by duplicating programs across all of our school sites. And so it was the direction of the board that we start specializing and and narrowing to be able to meet those fiscal obligations and provide robust programs at each at each of our sites. We can we can provide more information about what that looks like as we get through this process. But I just wanted to to reiterate that. Well, I think the the important part to recognize also is LLT is a graduation requirement. We need to have another language, right? And I

152think it can't be that's changing director Medina. But right now it's no it's officially changed from following school year. Yes. You no longer need language as a graduate requirement for California. Do UC's and other top tier universities still require three years. Yeah. So, what happens to a Santa Rosa High student who started in French thinking that they would do three years and now they're only able to complete two years? Are are there options for them to take French three through the JC or on another campus? What? So, I'll defer to our ed services on on graduation requirements. Um so what is the question? Because there are there are different options. It depends. I mean we have many different um permutations depending on the student and where they start and what school um we could I

153guess I don't know if we want to have this conversation right now but if there are there would be online options also and it depends right now we do offer it at all four schools. though there would be the number of students that would be in the situation I think President McN that you're talking about that would be kind of at a cliff I think is what you're saying not being able to get that third year and I is that your question if I can share the numbers in in this school year in French three there were three students French at Santa Rosa High French three honors had two students French four had three students they were all in the same class this is a class running with eight students this school year. Do you

154have a number on how many non seniors are in French 2 this year? Uh I can I can look that. I don't I don't have that in front of me. I know we don't need to go into the details right now. I just want to make sure that we're not just letting students graduate, but that we're also supporting them in being um college ready and competitive for college. Yeah. Um, I also I also did want to share that uh there were a few families who requested a transfer to either Montgomery or Maria Coreo because of their desire to take the upper division French. And when we had to cap at Maria Coreo, we are still available to offer a family a transfer to a school that would allow them to continue their pursuit of upper

155division French. And that is something that we will continue even though the French program is not um necessarily currently listed in the description. um it because it is a limited program that is not necessarily offered at every school, we would consider it as one of the priorities for intra district transfer. And um I would love clarity on what Trust mentioned like if there's been changes to to the state requirement for graduation, you know, versus the college entrance requirements. Yeah. Um and and for us that's that would be irrelevant at the moment because we want to be able to offer as many um options as we can for the students right now that are taking it in high school anyway. Um and French isn't the only language obviously that we're going to be offering. So yeah.

156Yeah. And I think just to to add that because you know we we also you know we're offering it my my experience you know I'm obviously a cho son of Mexican immigrants. I went to LC Allen. Um, last thing I wanted to take was Spanish. Why would I want to do that? I took French. I loved French. It was a wonderful experience. And I think we we also got to remember that that, you know, we want to make sure our students stay engaged. They want to go to school. So, we got to make sure that we're offering them things that they want to take. And learning a new language is something new. I I speak of it from that perspective of someone that already has another language. you know, I don't want to learn what

157I speak every day, right? So, ju just add that insight as we develop these programs. Absolutely. And and the changes that we can research and provide clarification on what they're going to be is that um VAPA electives are going to be allowed to be credited as a foreign language similarity. So, it's basically going to open up elective opportunities for students that they don't only have to take two years of foreign language, but they could have a VAPA course as well. So, we can get some clarification on that. It's it's actively changing right now, but that's something that we'd be looking forward into next year as what's yes, we should offer as much as we can to all the students that want it, but there are some, you know, acceptance requirements that are changing and evolving.

158So, we'll dig into that a little bit and circle back with a little bit more information. Respectfully though, if information like that comes out, can we please hear it from ED services? Yeah, cuz that's like a bombshell for anyone with kids. Um, it is 9:00 p.m. and we have yet to get to public comment. Trusty Casten, in the same line, I was going to suggest that for the future versions of this report update, well, I think the first few of these was helpful to have them. so broadly spread. If we could narrow it down to specific key points that we need to be updated on, I think we're getting into a really dangerous place cuz we just almost entered a conversation of changing our graduation criteria. That's our graduation criteria and it's definitely not agendaized

159for tonight. So, I think this item is getting to a dangerous place of violating the Brown Act. And so, if we could make it real narrow and just on core points that we need updates, um, I'd appreciate it. us. We haven't actually gotten into the business of the meeting yet. So, um, I'll dovetail into your point then. President McN, there anything else any of you need to share before I All right. So, first I have two cards on this item and then we'll go to non-aggenda items. Um, you'll have 90 seconds each. So, first I have Tammy Axelm and then Allegria de la Cruz. Can you hear me? Okay. My name is Tammy Axel. I'm a teacher at Slater Middle School. Um, I do not believe that this transition is going well. Um, I feel

160like people need to really listen to those of us in the trenches, ask questions, find answers, and more importantly, be okay with saying maybe our vote needs to be reconsidered. There is not one educator that I have talked to that agrees this 7 through 12 change is a good idea. It is rushed, doesn't benefit the students, and I am doubtful that there will be any financial savings. That's a problem. The decision is going to destroy educational opportunities for children. Electives are being cut even those promised to move with the middle school such as culinary. I am told biodiversity, ethnic, ethnic studies, and two music classes are also being cut from Slater. Seventh and eighth grade students will not have access to a wait room facility like they do at Slater. It is also a possibility

161that both middle school and high school physical education classes will lose two additional indoor spaces due to McGomery not have being able to accommodate all the classes needed throughout the entire campus. This means on rainy days, smoke days, or scorching hot days, six full-time teachers and three part-time teachers are going to be relegated to four indoor spaces to teach their classes. This is not enhancing students educational opportunities. Middle school athletics will have transportation. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Next is Aliggria de la Cruz. As you do your best to protect beloved curricular offerings in our district, please consider protecting our art quest programs, which generate nearly $1 million annually through intra district transfers. These programs not only generate critical dollars to support our district, but they are currently facing significant reductions. I

162want to speak to the choir program in particular. This spring, I had the benefit of chapering a group of talented musicians to New York to play in Carnegie Hall. While there, I witnessed the powerful, loving, and creative energy that Marla Tusa, our Santa Rosa High School choir director, brings to the education of our children. While being wideeyed tourists in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Miss Tusa worked quickly to create a space for our singers to offer their voices in one of the most beautiful and distinct acoustic settings I have ever had the privilege of witnessing. Their harmony under Mrs. Tusa's direction brought me to tears. I want to quote her. Firstly, music offers creativity and expression, essential skills for growth and professional success. Secondly, choir cultivates discipline and teamwork as students learn to blend their voices and

163harmonize their efforts towards a shared goal. Third, research consistently demonstrates that students involved in music perform better academically and have improved cognitive abilities. And finally, for many students, choir is not just extra extracurricular activity. It is their reason for coming to school, a sanctuary where they find community confidence and purposes. Currently, choir offerings for next year have shrunk from 3 to one, removing both the intro opportunity and the smaller intimate chamber opportunity. This will devastate this special program. As you make hard decisions, please thoughtfully analyze and consider your actions in a way that recognizes income generating programs that provide unique Thank you. Your time is up. All right, we'll now go to public comment on non-aggenda items. Same 90 seconds each. I'll call three names at a time so when you hear your name you

164can line up at one of the podiums. Uh thank you to the team. Um first will be Jennifer Averbuk followed by Don Newfeld followed by Holly Ratzinger. Hi, my name is Jennifer Averbuk and I'm happily here to represent Proctor Terrace. We've been busy planning on ways to welcome our families from Brook Hill. We have invited and are hoping to meet many of our these families at our spring dance this Friday. We are also excited about having the Brook Hill students visit on May 20th for a campuswide visit. However, as a site, we have huge concerns. We are set to lose our on-site family engagement facilitate facilitator. Miss Andrea has been an enormous resource for our students and families. She coordinates campus tours, schedules and translates IEPs, registers students, monitors reclassifications of EL students, translates parent

165teacher conferences, helps parent enroll their children in summer school and afterchool programs such as Boys and Girls Club. She conducts home visits for our homeless and foster youth. She translates many district forms, makes many, many phone calls to parents with communication about illness and injury, helps situate new families, and all of this with a smile on her face. Our incoming Brook Hill students also use are used to having a FEF in addition to a student engagement facilitator and several amazing bilingual humans in their office to support our Spanish-sp speakaking families. As wonderful as our proctor terrace staff is and will be along with a new principal, we have no Spanish- speakaking personnel other than Miss Andrea. How can we adequately support our families? Hearing of a proposed off-site person who will assist as needed or

166as a designated day of the week person simply is not an acceptable solution. Your time is up for families. Next is Don Newfeld, followed by Holly Rzzinger, followed by Karolina Ortega. Good evening. My name is Don Newfeld. I teach English, ALD, and newcomer English at Pioneer High. I'm here this evening to talk about a role that is often misunderstood, undervalued, and now unfortunately under threat, the role of the family engagement facilitator. At first glance, you might ask, why do we need facilitators when we have teachers? Let me answer that clearly because they do the things teachers can't do, shouldn't be expected to do, and don't have the capacity to do. Family engagement facilitators are the bridge between the classroom and the community. They don't just translate words, they translate systems. They don't just communicate, they

167build trust. At Piner High School, our facilitators are lifelines. Without them, families fall through the cracks. Not because they don't care, but because no one else is there to show them the way. We cannot preach equity and then eliminate the very people who make that equity possible. We cannot say family involvement matters and then silence the voices of families who are trying to be involved. Cutting family engagement facilitators isn't just a staffing decision. It's a statement. A statement that says some families matter less. That inclusion is conditional and that equity only exists in words and not in action. I urge you, do not let that be the legacy of this board. Personnel, hear us. We need support, not cuts of people. Thank you. Next is Holly Ratzinger, followed by Karolina Ortega, followed by Andrea Lefu.

168Hi, my name's Holly Ratzinger. My daughter's a seventh grader at Slater and she's attending McGomery next year. I'm here to share my concerns about my concerns about poor communication and lack of details being communicated to families about the transition to seventh and eighth graders next year. Here are some of my concerns. Number one, electives. We've been promised that our students will have access to all electives. Two weeks ago, members of the Monty Empowerment team right here in this room touted their plans to expand the Slater culinary elective into an entire farm-to-table culinary program at McGomery High. The very next day, I learned that the culinary elective is actually going to be cut next year. A few days later, I learned that the ethnic studies elective is going to be cut. Choir, biodiversity, and sections of

169music will also be cut. Teachers are telling me this, not the school district. Why? When will parents be notified of the true class offerings for our students next year? Number two, bathrooms and locker rooms. You promised separate bathrooms for our middle-grade students, yet they will actually share bathrooms with high schoolers for the at least the first 10 weeks of school until the new building is ready. I have more concerns, but I'm going to skip to the end. Athletics. I see that the plan is to continue to use the Slater Middle School facilities for athletics. How will students get to Slater? Will parents be expected to provide transportation? If not, how is this plan even saving money? How much will the transportation cost the school district? Why not wait to move our students until you actually

170Next is Karolina Ortega, followed by Andrea Lefu, followed by Shaina Kirk. My name is Karolina Ortega and I've taught at Slater for the past 10 years. I'd like to respectfully ask that as I speak this evening, you look at me and not down at your screens. Actions from our district office have severely impacted our students, staff, and the integrity of our schools. Support staff have been cut, programs have been cut, and next year, our seventh and eighth graders will be relocated to high school campuses despite the clear lack of facilities and resources. Reductions were implemented from the bottom up, disproportionately impacting students and school staff. While district office positions remain largely unaffected, decisions that infringe upon our students right to a safe and supportive school environment were deemed financially necessary. And still, our financial outlook

171shows no signs of improving in the near future. Let me be clear, our students are not alone. They have us. But your teachers and your school staff cannot do this alone. We need your help. It is the district office's job to set strong systems in place that support our students and our schools, but it is your responsibility to be well informed and it is your duty to hold the district office accountable. Thank you. Next is Andrea Lefw, followed by Shaina Kirk, followed by Emma Thompson. I'm Andrea Lefw, an SRCS parent and the organizer of the petition to remove Superintendent Morales. I want to thank the board for listening to the community, SRTA for their collaboration, and the 4,791 people who signed it. I want to acknowledge the board for taking on the task of looking

172for a new superintendent in the midst of school midst of school consolidation and budget crisis. However, I urge you to take your time finding the right superintendent to lead our district. I also acknowledge that letting Superintendent Morales go doesn't resolve the problems that we are currently facing, but thank you for taking the first steps so that we can move forward together in unity and collaboration. Thank you. Next is Shaina Kirk, followed by Emma Thompson, followed by Heather Benson. Hi, I'm Shaina Kirk, a parent, guest teacher, and mental health advocate in the district. I'd like to start out by inviting folks, that's parents, teachers, staff, community, all of us to join together in radical empathy. The frustration, sadness, mistrust, and grief is all heard. And there's big emotions, all natural and valid in times of crisis.

173What I'm also hearing are people looking for a place to assign blame. But let's acknowledge that it's not helpful to point fingers. The district office is not against us, nor is the school board. and I see your very real stress outrage at wanting to be heard. And it looks like one of people's most pressing concerns has been heard and responded to. I do wish Dr. Morales the very best. But now, let's find a way towards getting through this next phase together. And thank you, Lisa August, for stepping up to take on this challenge and help us get through this next. Thank you. Next is Emma Thompson, followed by Heather Benson, followed by Megan King. Hello. I wanted to take a moment to share about an event that happened at LC Allen High School hosted on

174April 9th. We along with Redwood Credit Union put on Bite of Reality. This is an event where students learn about financial literacy where they learn how to budget, how financial institutions can help them, and how the decisions they make with their money can affect them later. This is not something that we have been able to do since CO 19. So, we are very excited to bring it back along with a few of our other schools. um that have been doing it this year and in the past. I share this with you because I emailed you all twice and I only got a response back after the second email from one person. So, thank you Sarah for your response. I really appreciate it. It actually hurts my feelings so much that no one responded because as

175you mentioned earlier today, you're encouraging us to attend events, yet you weren't able to attend the event that I emailed you about twice. You talked the talk, but where is the evidence that you walk the walk? If you have questions about the things that we are doing at our schools, please ask the teachers. We have information and we want to support you and share with you. Please in the future at least send a response in the email even if you can't make it. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Heather Benson followed by Megan King followed by Tonyie Johnson. Hi, my name is Heather Benson. I am a Santa Rosa High graduate, class of 93, and I've been teaching in Santa Rosa City School since 2008. I'm currently at Piner High School since 2013. I want

176to ask you to consider saving our college and career counselor and our MTSS staff. Our college and career counselor makes a huge personal difference at our site to our graduation rates because so many of our students are the first in their family to graduate high school or go to college. Nicole Canel's help and advice is critical to our students success and their ability to envision their future. Her work with Santa Rosa Junior College, 10,000 degrees, and other community partners is needed. She follows through with year-round events and programming for all students. I want to publicly recognize our MTSS counselor, Joanna Purdommo, who oversees the Grace program. This program success is dependent on her personal efforts and the time she invests into students. We keep hearing that SRCS wants to replicate Grace at other sites, but

177if you eliminate her role, you will destroy Grace. San Francisco Unified is showing leadership right now by taking heavy cuts at their district office while we're spending tens of thousands of dollars a month leasing Stony Circle with no public timeline or discussion as to how long this lease is going to last. Why not move the district office to one of the closed schools to save money? Even if it is bond money, it would be better spent improving sites that are absorbing new students and staff. Thank you for changing our trajectory now and showing dynamic leadership by listening to what your community wants. Thank you. Next is Megan King, followed by Tonyie Johnson, followed by Sarah Derlique. Thank you. Hi, I'm Megan King. I am a 13-year ESN and leadership teacher over at Slater Middle School.

178And first, I have to say thank you. You heard us. You asked the hard questions. And anyone who knows me, I knows I hate emotions. It's a wicked fact. And yet, I hear am here emotionally saying thank you. Um, I do want to uh acknowledge the complexity of this process and the difficult decisions that are being made. Communication and planning though has fallen short and those gaps are directly going to impact our students in very real ways. You've heard it. Middle school electives have been cut. It's a very clear and concrete example. As you were told to your faces, we heard it in the newspaper. It was quoted and then it was cut. And that hurts us and the trust gets broken. The reality of this process is it's being sugarcoated. Promises are being made

179only to be revoked. It's not respectful. It's not leadership. Our specialized programs like my beautiful ESN program is serving our students with the highest needs at Slater is an exemplar program for the district and we are being left without the essential facilities. No inclin inclass bathrooms, no access to facilities required to fulfill their IEPs. And despite what you were told that there is space, there truly is not that adequate space they deserve. The planning simply hasn't been accounted for our specialized students with the highest of needs. You asked us to move mountains. We're willing to do it, but we can't do it with teaspoons. And I'm really looking forward to hearing what you say, John, about our new program. Um, our empowerment. Thank you. Your time is up. Thank you. Next is Tony Johnson, followed

180by Sarah Derle, followed by Melissa Wild. Connie is not here. Okay. Sarah Derlique. I am Sarah Derik. Um I've spoken a few times before. I wanted to thank the board for listening to your constituents. Um listening here tonight, listening to teachers talk, listening to the planning for the 7 through 12. That's a lot of energy. That's a lot of time. And that's a lot of effort. And I hope that the board talks to the school district administration about the changes in administration to RVMS and Maria Creo High School. Um, if you look at the metrics and data, those schools are doing well. And I wonder why anyone would bother to change things and spend all the energy there when really all of the money in the school district should be spent. All of the time

181and energy should be spent in trying to make the 7 through 12 transitions work and the consolidation at the elementary school level work. It's a bit like running to a car accident scene and ignoring the car accident and trying to get people out of cars that weren't involved in the accident. It's a little bit like fighting a war on many fronts. I've talked to many, many parents in area 7 and they're going to fight fight fight to keep Amy Whis and Daryl Corel at their schools. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Melissa Wild, followed by Jen Toby, followed by Patrick Aches. Hi, my name is Melissa Wild. I proudly teach first grade at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts and have been working for the Santa Rosa City Schools for 15 years. We as

182teachers are grateful that you have taken the first step in restoring faith in the district by removing Dr. Morales. I'm here today as a member of SRTA who is heartbroken over the loss of several valued colleagues at our school. Our school community has invested in and built relationships with these educators and these people cannot simply be replaced. How can a school build community in this unstable environment and under this duress? I'm very confused about why district leadership and the board will not allow our school to enroll the many students on our wait list. How can our school sustain itself with only one kindergarten and one and a half first grades? As long as I've been at SRCSA, we have always had two kindergartens and two first grades. What is the district's vision and plan for

183our school and its community? Why is the district strangling our enrollment? This will negatively impact the longevity of our school. By not allowing the families on our weight list to enroll in our school, this district is restricting families options to stay in the district. As experienced educators, we know that smaller class sizes mean a higher quality of education. If this district truly cared about the equality of education it provides to students, it would not consider maximizing class sizes without adding AIDS. Instead of creating a vision for a better future and making long-term plan to proactive build that future, I see a district simply scrambling and reacting to crises that it could have prevented with. Thank you. Your time is up. Next is Jen Toby, followed by Patrick Aterson, followed by Moren Cecil. Hi, I'm Jen

184Toby. I'm a middle school teacher and I've been privileged to work for San Rosa's schools for 30 years and I've taught at almost every middle school except for Santa Rosa Middle during extended school years. I just have one request and I've waited four and a half hours to let you know this. Many difficult decisions have been forced upon our district. The community and every site has pleaded to stop harmful unnecessary administrative relocations. This includes my own site of Rinken Valley Middle School who has no current admin team for next year and we have had to onboard new admin six years. The past six years, there has been no action by the board or HR to keep Daryl Corel and Elizabeth Stevenson on site to let them grow and flourish with our staff. If we want

185to keep our middle schoolers, to feed our high schoolers, one way is to let them know we're going to have consistent leadership at our middle school sites. Please. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Patrick Aches followed by Morin Cecil followed by Eoldgeist. Despite serving different communities on opposite sides of town, LC Allen and Maria Creo high schools have a lot in common. They both have amazing and devoted teachers. They both have incredible music programs and they both have lost their trusted principles entirely out of the blue. When I asked the district admin directly about why Gabe Alba was ousted after we had experienced a tragic stabbing on our campus, I was told it was entirely unrelated to the stabbing, that he was going to be fired anyway over a personnel issue. Similarly, two weeks later,

186Amy Whis was suddenly informed that she was not the right fit for Korea. However, both seem more than fit to continue being admin in this district as they were both reassigned to two elementary schools far from the communities they once fostered. Recently, I heard that they were actually removed over weapons and safety concerns at their respective sites. Is that our new solution for violence as a district? When, not if, a weapons threat happens again, will we just replace an admin and call it a day? How will our admins be ready to deal with these situations if we continue to remove those who have actually experienced them? Given that they were well-loved in their communities, the reason for their removal feels shortsighted and arbitrary. I don't want to believe that that about the district I work

187for, but I don't know how else to view these decisions. We need admins we know to help guide our communities in the coming years. Please help restore trust in the district. Please bring back Amy Whis and Gabel Va. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Moren Cecil followed by Eold Gis followed by Holly Rzinger. Did she not already speak? Okay. Followed by Nicole Guest. Hello, my name is Moren Cecil. I've spoken several times and sent you bunches of emails. There'll be more. Um, to clarify, A3G requirements are based on the University of California admissions requirements which require two years of a world language and recommend three. If you choose to eliminate it as a high school graduation, it will still affect students going to the university whether they go through the JC or another way. Um,

188as far as French, French is one of three official languages used on our continent, the whole continent. 55% or more of the English language is based on French or taken directly from it. If you're sitting at a table, it's unab from the French. If you park your car in a garage, it's another French word. And I could go on. We live in wine country. The primary language of wine is go for it, French. We also are foodies. What's the primary language of food? Lots of it is French. Um, what else was I going to say? If students take four years of a world language, the same one. When they get to the university level, they don't ever have to take another world language. If they don't, they still have to take two years at the

189university level. Choices mean more students and that means more families will stay. And lastly, continuity of learning. If I get a student who has to transfer to a school where French is not offered, they abruptly have to restart that whole process. Thank you and thank you for your decision about Dr. Morales. Thank you. Next is Oldgist followed by Nicole Guest followed by Ken Ash Salinger. Hi, my name is Isold and I talked last time two weeks ago and here I am again. That's the second time for me in my 22 years of teaching at Santa Rosa City Schools. Um, thank you tonight for your questions about French specifically. I teach Spanish, but I'm also the department chair. And so, as I'm making the schedule for next year, we have to hire another Spanish teacher because

190we do not or not going to offer French. So, we have no money savings by dropping it. It is true that there are classes that are sometimes small and eight does sound very small. Um we did not have a teacher last year for most of the time. We had a vice principal who made the lessons even though she doesn't speak French and um and we lost some students. We hired a French teacher this year and she was excited and she was encouraged to grow the program and uh a month later she was told that she was being let go. So, it doesn't it it feels bad, of course, and I really don't want to lose French at Santa Rosa High. I student taught at LC Allen when there was more than a full-time French teacher.

191There was a French teacher and a half and they lost the program and it hasn't come back. So, I really don't want to lose the program at Santa Rosa High either. I don't want people to transfer from one school to another and not be able to continue their language. We offer the seal of biiteracy, but you have to take four years four levels. Thank you. Next is Nicole Guest, followed by Ken Ash Salinger, followed by Lorraine Perez. Good evening. I'm Nicole Guest and I'm a counselor at LC Allen High School. I was not planning to speak tonight, but upon learning that we're missing one of the board members, I changed my mind. Before I get started, I will thank you for listening to SRTA and the community and the decision that you made behind closed

192doors tonight. As one of the 22 Rift counselors, I continue to show up and give my best at my school every day. This all of this is stressful and messy. We need leaders. We need our elected board trustees at their scheduled meetings. You are elected officials and your constituents deserve it for you to do what you were elected to do. Be present. We are present. The students deserve that from you. Thank you. Next is Ken Ash Salinger, followed by Lorraine Perez, followed by Carmen Molina. I would like to start by thanking you for your decision on removing uh Dr. for Morales uh and for listening unity. But as has been stated, that is proof that our district is going to need a strong foundation to go off of. And one of the things that is

193removing that foundation is removing uh Mrs. Whis. She is a wonderful principal who has genuinely helped so many people and it will be a disaster to not have her there in this transitional time. I would also like to mention uh things about the leadership that you have all shown specifically about giving information to the people. The meetings you have run do not have clear information with clear answers about what you are talking about. I have seen you actively dodge questions and ask what we want when we have already stated our answer. I was the only student at the LCAP meeting for Korea where we are discussing what should be done with the funds. Not because I was the only one that cared, but because I was the only one who knew about it. At every

194meeting I have gone to, you have presented information without explaining it properly and expected us to carry on. And to be honest, it feels like you are ignoring not only what we want, but what we need. This is your job. And yet you act like your job is just to make sure students give you good test scores and you make good money. So if you're going to act like that, please at least give us our foundation and our principal back. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Lorraine Perez, followed by Carmen Molina, followed by Damarice Cordderero. Awesome. Amazing job. This is what we're here for. We're here for our students. This is our future. This is our future generation right [Music] here. Uh good evening board members, community members, and those joining us from home. My

195name is Lorraine Perez, and um I come to speak today as a deeply concerned educator. Um, and although I work at Piner High, I'm speaking for all school sites. Um, thank you, Trustee Jenkins, for raising awareness about the need for increasing A throughG graduation rates in our secondary schools. And although I consider myself an educator who promotes rigor and excellence in my classroom, I know my job cannot be impactful if my students needs are not met first. Which brings me to why I'm here. I'm here to be a voice about what has happened to the restorative programs across the district. Last month, I became aware that out of 28 restorative counselor positions, three will remain, three that will be shared among the entire district, three for thousands and thousands of students. I have since become

196informed that the district may consider keeping more of these restorative counselors. Uh but instead of being sightbased, they will be a cohort of them at the district. This is deeply concerning. Restorative counselors are effective due to the relationships they form with their students. At Piner High, our restorative counselor, Delmare, on average, has a student impact of reaching over 300 students via community circles, Native American club, and having his room open to students during break and lunch. Not to mention the one-to-one relationships that he has. So, over 10 plus years, that's thousands and thousands of students. Um, I know my time is up. And uh, thank you. So, it prevents conflict. Next is Carmen Molina followed by Damarice Cordderero. Hello, my name is Carmen Molina. Tonight, I come before you as both a parent of a

197future seventh grader and a fourth grade teacher at Hidden Valley. Earlier this year, I was involuntarily transferred, forced to change schools and grade levels over Labor Day weekend. This disruption could have been avoided. Unfortunately, delays in decision-m have led to a pattern of lastminute changes in disorganization. We are operating with that with intent or sorry we are not operating with intention. We are operating in chaos. Because of this my family made the difficult decision to move our daughter to Windsor Middle School. Why? Because we have lost faith in Santa Rosa City Schools to ability to provide a safe wellplanned model for 7 through 12. Every week I hear what the district is thinking about doing. That you hope to implement changes. But we hope to is not good enough. As a teacher, if I took

198that same approach in my classroom, I would be failing my students. We need strong leadership that makes timely fact-based decisions and the district a district that stops functioning in crisis mode. Communication must uh improve. The continued missteps are not just frustrating. They are driving families and staff away. You've spoken about declining enrollment. It's not a mystery. Families and staff are leaving because they are exhausted by the instability and lack of direction. We need action. We need clarity. We need leadership now. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Darice Cordderero. [Music] Multilingu personal. Certifices. certific Multicultural This is dumber. She said, "Good evening. I want to thank each of you, every one of you, for your service to our community. I want to express my concern for our multilingual student community. Many of you expressed at the

199last meeting that you don't have an extensive knowledge of our students, and that worried me even more about the process we're going through. No one has informed us what will happen now, that you made the the bad decision to remove classified personnel and the few certified bilingual staff who directly supported our students. Please take the time to understand our needs and don't leave us a on you know a aside or behind. Do you may not realize it but your decisions affect our children not only academically but also emotionally. We see serious racial problems as a result of the differences we make among students. They've always denied us extra help for our students such as programs, tutoring, and certified multicultural staff. Now not only that, but they will remove what little help we have left. We

200don't have translation services at back to school night. 504 plans or IEP meetings for our students. They have an impact on them because the administration doesn't care about us and they demonstrate this but not seeking our support for students. Please support us. Thank [Music] you. That concludes public comment on non-aggenda items. I need a break. Does the board need a break or would you like the clerk to Okay. Five minute break. All right. All right. Um, so we are on our F items starting with F1 resolution for May as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Go ahead, Dr. Castro. Thank you, President McN, Associate Superintendent August, members of the board, uh, student, staff, and community, Santa Rosa City Schools. Despite challenges, the Asian-American and Pacific Islander population has in the United States of America have

201played a vital role in shaping American history and continue to advocate for justice and equity. This evening, the group that was going to join us unfortunately were, and I guess um it's a good thing because we have a complicated evening, unable to join us due to conflict in their schedule. This year, the AAPI Heritage Month theme is quote, "A legacy of leadership and resilience. This theme is particularly significant as the Federal Asian-Pacific American Council celebrates four decades of service to the A&HPI community. It highlights the importance of past leaders and the resilience of the community in the face of adversity. So tonight's requested action is that the board consider the approval of resolution 25-105 designating May as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Thank you, Dr. Castro. I have no blue card, so questions, comments,

202or a motion? Move to adopt the resolution declaring May as AsianAmerican Pacific Islander Heritage Month. That being resolution 2024-105. Second. Any discussion? All right. Moved by Trusty Medina, seconded by Trusty Deleator. Roll call vote. Student board members Zeninga. I. Trusty Medina. Hi. Trusty Deator. Hi. Trusty Casten. Hi. Trusty Kirby. Hi. Trusty Jenkins. Hi. President Mcnal. I motion passes. Thank you, Dr. Castro. Next is F2, resolution recognizing guest teacher appreciation in May 2025. Okay. Thank you, Associate Superintendent August, President McNal, um members of the board, and those here with us and listening online. Um I have the honor tonight to um present the resolution recognizing guest teacher appreciation month, which is May. And um we have about 330 guest teachers that are registered with us and some of them have been registered with us for over

20325 years. Um 11% of our guest teachers have been with us more than 10 years. Um also our retired teachers tend to come back and want to be guest teachers with us. So, um, we couldn't do what we do. We wouldn't be able to do professional development. We wouldn't be able to, um, serve our students if we did not have these dedicated guest teachers that showed up every day, um, sometimes on a moment's notice. So, with that, I would like to, um, request the approval of the resolution recognizing guest teacher appreciation in May 2025. Questions, comments? Motion. Motion to approve. Second. The tie. Moved by Trusty Deator. Seconded by Trustee Cast. Roll call vote. Student board members ina. I. Trustee Deator. I. Trusty Casten. I. Trusty Kirby. I. Trusty Medina. I. Trusty Jenkins. I. President

204McN. I. Motion passes. All right, moving on to resolution for classified school employee week May 18 through 24th, 2025. Thank you, President McN, Associate Superintendent August, and school board members. Uh, I am here to proudly um request your consideration for classified school employee week, which is May 18th through 24th. Uh, typically the third week of May has been designated as classified school employees week in California by the California School Employees Association and the California State Legislature. Our classified school employees contribute to the establishment promotion of a positive instructional environment and play a vital role in providing for the welfare and safety of our students. Every day, our classified employees provide us a essential services to ensure school sites and offices are open, can operate, provide continuity for students, parents, and staff alike. Each and every

205day, our classified staff go above and beyond to ensure schools are clean, safety precautions are implemented, meals are served, technology implemented, and district business operations continue to serve our students, staff, parents, and our community. Our classified employees represent a very wide range um of roles and services in this district and likewise provide a very wide and and rich array uh of experience, skills, abilities, knowledge and talent. um the common bond regardless of the role that they play is the dedication and passion that they bring to the important work that they do for our district, for our students, our staff, and our families every day. With that said, I kindly ask you consider um passage of this resolution. I move passage of the resolution. Is there a second? Second. Moved by trustee Casten, seconded by trustee

206Delator. Any further discussion? Roll call vote. Student board member Zininga. I. Trustee Casted. I. Trusty Deator. I. Trusty Kirby. I. Trusty Medina. I. Trusty Jenkins. I. President Mcnal. I. Motion passes. Um, we need a motion to extend the meeting. Motion to extend the meeting to 11 p.m. Second. Uh, all those in favor? I I Any opposition? No. Sorry, who seconded? Okay, thank you. All right. Um, so next on the agenda is F4, resolution for teacher appreciation week, May 5th through 9th, 2025. Thank you. Um I am here to present the resolution and ask that the board consider the adoption of it. Um resolution 202425-107 recognizing May 5th through the 9th as teacher appreciation week. The resolution that recognizes teacher appreciation week um is an important one and we do it every year. But um I

207think it's important to remember that the goal of teacher appreciation week is to raise national and local awareness of teaching excellence in building a better society. We know that education is a grand and powerful profession worthy to be honored and respected and excellence in education begins in the classrooms of our nation's schools. We can't underestimate how important teachers are to our entire community. And this week is to celebrate the significant role that teachers play in shaping the lives of our students and the future of our nation. Uh we commend the dedication our educators put forth to all of our students. Taking on the task of shaping these young minds is a big responsibility and to say that teachers can change lives is not an exaggeration. And I recall a story I just heard recently from

208Alisa Haley about a teacher who saved a student's life and that former student was able to tell that teacher that. And it just was a really great reminder of of how important our teachers are. So I ask that you consider adopting this resolution to recognize May 5th through the 9th as teacher appreciation week. I move the resolution for teacher appreciation week May 5th to 9th. Second. Moved by Trustee Casten, seconded by Trusty Jenkins. Any discussion? Roll call vote. Student board members ina. I. Trusty Casten. I. Trusty Jenkins. I. Trusty Kirby. Hi. Trusty Medina. I. Trusty Deator. I. President McN. Motion passes. Thank you so much. Um I President McN could I request that we take items uh six and seven out of order as there must consider action items say that is the board comfortable

209with us moving six and seven before five any opposition all right so we're going to go to F6 approval of final decision of reclassifications for California school Employees Association chapter 75 I Almost got out of here. Okay. Um, so every year our classified employees have the opportunity to request reclassification, meaning that if their job duties have changed significantly in a way that they believe that their current salary range is not the appropriate salary range or their current title is not the appropriate title, they have the opportunity to request reclassification. That request for reclassification is then brought in front of a board uh in front of a group which consists of one member from district human resources, one member from representing CSEA and one member that can be from another school district that has experience or

210is currently working in human resources. So that process did take place in um February of this year and as a result of that the final decisions were rec the decision to recommend reclassifying the senior secretary position in the state and federal department from range 25 to range 28. recommending that the community worker position, which is a position uh working with Indian services, be um reclassified from range 17 to range 20. That the administrative assistant middle school position be reclassified from range 26 to range 27. that the human resources recruiting technician be reclassified from range 29 to range 33 and that the assistant food services transportation manager be moved from range 21 and its current title to culinary coordinator range 22. the following um reclassification was not recommended and that was the request to reclassify library

211technician 2. So um each of these reclassifications if approved will take effect on July 1st of 2025. Board any questions? I have one question. um financial person. Uh just saying out loud, this is all sound with our budget and it's not going to cause any negative impacts. The impacts will not have a substantial impact there. I mean, there's the impact is listed down there, but it's not going to flip something. I move to approve. Second. Moved by Trusty Jenkins, seconded by Trusty Medina. Any further discussion? Roll call vote. Student board members ina. Trusty Jenkins. I. Trusty Medina. I. Trusty Casten. I. Trusty Kirby. I. Trusty Deator. I. President McN. I. Motion passes. All right. Moving on to F7, which has a long title that I'll let you read. Yes, it has a long title which

212is um this is a memorandum of understanding between Santa Rosa City Schools and the Santa Rosa Teachers Association regarding the impacts and effects of school consolidation and closure. Um we entered into negotiations once the decision was made of which schools would be closed or consolidated and working together with our partners from SRTA, we were able to come to agreement, tenative agreement on a memorandum of understanding that addresses such things as um priority for involunt for involuntary transfers um the payment and organization for moving from one school site to another school site as well as some things that were of concern to our SRTA partners such as having to switch classrooms too often. We agreed that one teacher would never have to be in more than two classrooms as well as um the guidelines if a

213teacher in the junior senior high is asked to work at the junior and at the senior high school with the exception of if it's because there's not enough sections and we need to do an involuntary transfer. Um bell schedules were not addressed with the exception that this would be left to the empower team. So there were some items that were left to the empower teams and then other things like moving furniture if um you can move your furniture or can't move your furniture and we did come to an agreement that a request could be made and that um that request would go through the principal and facilities maintenance and operations. And so we were super happy that we were able to get this done. um took a lot of collaborative work from a small group,

214but um we got it done right under the wire to get it to this board meeting. Any questions? As long as Oh, question. I was going to move it just hopefully a quick question. Um so there there wasn't any financial impact attached to this for the consideration. Is that still being figured out or uh the financial impact for this is the same as it is with any involuntary transfer which is the 18 hours that a certificated staff member is paid in order to pack and unpack when switching from one school site to another or one classroom to another. The other impacts would be captured in things that come to you separately in the contracts for the movers. Thank you. With that, if everybody's happy on thisou, I would like to move to approve. Second. Moved

215by Trusty Jenkins, seconded by Trustee Delator. Any further discussion? Roll call vote. Student board member Zeninga. I. Trusty Jenkins. I. Trusty Deator. Hi. Trusty Casten. Hi. Trusty Kirby. Hi. Trusty Medina. I. President McN. I. Motion passes. Thank you, Dr. Xans. All right. F5. Come on down. Ed Burke. Thanks so much for having me. Uh, we were just joking. Did we bring hummus? And not this time, but perhaps in the future. Uh, for those of you who don't know, I'm a huge hummus enthusiast and like hummus, I can talk about what we do at CNS all day, every day, but I want to be respectful of everyone's time and I'm so grateful for this clock. Um, so I also want to draw attention. We have additional information associated with our update that's in our board agenda

216as well. U, so I tell you what, I would love to share my screen, but I'm going to go a capella until that happens. So, no worries. Perfect. Thank you so much. So I tell you what, our first slide is a little thing we call alto sabo. It's an idiom that we use uh to describe our daily work. So we are the biggest fans of describing how we're going to grow and overcome our problems together. So alto savo literally means to the penny, but it also means like do your best and rise above. We utilized that in the COVID uh school closures when we had to really redesign the entirety of our program very quickly to meet the needs of our community and we find that still true to this day. So I'll put some

217in y'all. So we have a number of goals that we have identified that we find are going to be the absolute um beginning points of improving our programs. All of them are interconnected. All of them have scaffolding associated with them. And what's fantastic is as we grow in one area, we grow capacity to pursue new goals that also meet the needs of our students so much more. So for example, staffing. Oops. So for example, staffing. We have we're very much approaching the completion of our hiring goals, which is fantastic. We have never been so well staffed. and my time here with Santa Rosa City Schools, which then gives us this opportunity where now we can start working on sustainability, reducing the plastics and expanding our scratch cooking, which gives us so much control over everything

218that we do. And as a result of the work towards these goals, we've seen a considerable increase in the number of meals that we have served. Um yesterday during our superintendent student council, one of our friends asked us like, "How does your budget work?" We are like a restaurant. If we serve more meals, we get more money. We invest that money back into our programming. But this is more than just dollars and cents or meals that we serve. This is capacity. This is an opportunity for us to provide healthy lifelong eating habits that we can then instill in our students. And this is opportunities every single time someone comes through our spaces to provide service. So as we know here, we have a 4.4 increase in breakfast and lunch meal counts compared to the year

219before. the year prior uh we have a 11 and 13% increase. Uh so this year compared to two years ago some pretty considerable increases in the amount of meals that we're serving. We also had a really wonderful opportunity last summer where we increased our meal participation by 36.91%. And for context, a meal equivalent is like apples to apples for breakfast and lunch. So that we can just say like, hey, there are x amount of meal equivalents as opposed to getting into how many snacks, how many suppers, how many lunches, how many breakfasts. Uh we did that by really becoming a sponsor and taking that responsibility on ourselves, which gave us some opportunities to really redesign all of our meal programs. I will discuss that when we discuss our sustainability practices because it's directly related We

220also have a five-year multi-year projection that we're using to guide our investments. We have to be really thoughtful about how we're spending our funds. And so we're looking at if we spend this money and we get this outcome, we're seeing that outcome in 5 years as well, which helps us guide our program. So here's a neat graph. Uh the gold is the 22 23 school year and the blue is our current school year. And as you can see, pretty considerable growth in that time frame at breakfast. Likewise at lunch, pardon me. Likewise at lunch, we're seeing a pretty consistent uh increase, which is great. Um, so we have the most the best news. We, as we said, we are nearing completion of our of our hiring goals, which is fantastic. Our staff of our capacity,

221and they give us this opportunity to pursue bigger and better things and better service for students. We are so appreciative of all of our staff members who come to work every day with a growth mindset, who are eager to do the work, and really living the embodiment of Alputoto Santavo. So, as we are finishing up our hiring, we're now moving towards training. We want to have the best staff doing the best work. All of our staff are responsible for safety. All of our staff, with the exception of two, have to have food safety certifications. And so, there's a lot of work that goes into that. These are manager level certifications because we are all responsible for food safety. We are doing fantastic work with culinary math. Math anxiety is real and it certainly is real

222with our team. But culinary math gives us an opportunity to scale up the recipes that we eat at home for a thousand people. We had a really beautiful deer um called salsa and it was amazing and it was like how do I teach my staff how to scale this formula up to a thousand? So that gives us an entire team of people that can do the work of a director because what I want more than anything is a pathway from our entry- level position to my position. And having a clear scaffolded thing in place where we can address culinary math as a particular barrier for a lot of folks is fantastic. Our culinary skill sets are growing every day. We're getting more and more precise. And I have to say one of my favorite things

223is when staff kind of roast me. They're like, "Hey Ed, you know, this is my first time making your recipe and it's better." And I was like, you know what? Yeah, you're right. That's that's infuriating. So, we had a really wonderful time working with Soma Family Meal. They came in. This is an organization that trains folks on culinary operations. They came in for two days at our central kitchen. They hosted a number of school districts in our area. So, we had these wonderful networking opportunities and how are you doing our salad bars and what are you doing over there? and we found the most beautiful simplified coaching the bibil formula that I cannot wait to unravel un unveil. Um I'm just trying to find banana leaves at a at an affordable rate but once I

224get those banana leaves it's on. So scratch cooking is one of the things that we are particularly proud of. Scratch cooking is local control. We can take feedback. Yesterday we had a great conversation about complete proteins and how do we make sure that vegan entre will meet the specific amino acid needs of students. If we are having scratch cooking, we can address that immediately. This is a really wonderful Instagram video where we made some zucchini muffins that I brought out to our last board meeting. Uh this has been an opportunity for us to reduce sugar and meet folks needs. We are investing $1.38 million into infrastructure. infrastructure gives us capacity. So, a lot of our equipment somewhat limits what we can do where we're like, well, I would do this, but for this equipment that

225we have. So, our opportunity now to invest in infrastructure will address things like sustainability and the quality of meals, particularly as we talk about plastic, because if our equipment can support us with not having plastic enveloped in food, we're going to have better food all day. So, I have a little notes here about what we're spending our funds on. I'm very excited about this blast chiller. We anticipate it's going to be done this week and that is going to have multiple functionalities and get us to scratch cooking, but also some really cool stuff like bread baking, nutrition, education, and taste testing is the thread that goes through every single activity that we do. You can make a great product, but if people don't know what it is, they don't know if it tastes good, they

226don't know what it does for your body, it's going to have a limited impact in terms of what our programming can do. So these are I want to share one brief anecdote and I'll move right on. So our roasted broccoli over here. We did a nutrition education activity at at an elementary school for 20 kids K6. The next day we offered roasted broccoli. We increased the amount of broccoli being consumed by 11 times. So we went from 1.5 lbs which is nothing, just nothing to 16 pounds consumed. And those kids were super excited because their friends were saying, "This tastes good. I want I know what that is and you should try it." Once those three conditions were met, we saw a dramatic increase in consumption and it was awesome. We also can't do this

227without our partners. Our partners enable us to be places where students are. So, for example, we had a great time at Santa Rosa High with the football team at a feeding session and I got the most unique questions of what are the macros on this and I was like, "Dude, I have no idea. Let me find out. 9 g uh from the in the hummus uh which apparently is not very good for football players. So, we need to reformulate and come back with better macros. So, as we said, we want to have more partners. We're going to work with more students. Had a great time with the student council yesterday and I'm looking forward to further collaborations. Similarly, we saw a pretty dramatic increase in local procurement as a as a directed decision that we're

228going to buy better produce closer to home because Sonoma Sonoma County tastes amazing and we really want to participate in that. Likewise, uh procurement is all about networking and meeting people who have shared values and shared vision of what we do. And we're so grateful to have some wonderful partners connecting us with local and organic growers, but also helping us identify how can we how can we get better data and report better data. We have this wonderful opportunity to chat with folks about are you a certified BC Corp? what about your labor relation partners? And these are fantastic data points that we can then collect and then report out in addition to how far away this stuff came from. And last but not least, the thing that I'm most excited about is sustainability and reducing

229amount of plastic and foods. Food doesn't taste good when it's wrapped in plastic. Full stop. If anything, it it just takes a nose dive in quality. No one's having a great time. So, we have been investing in compostables to make immediate moves. And we're buying equipment such as this mockup that will enable us to put food directly on students trays without plastic, which is going to dramatically increase the quality of the product. Uh we did this at Hidden Valley for a trial run. Within 4 days, we saw a 78% increase in participation, which was terrifying uh because we have to serve this food. So that was fantastic. We did the same thing at Brook Hill. We found that there was a significant increase in participation, significant increase in excitement and we think that this will

230be the case at every single school. At the elementaryaries, we've made some agreements with our health department about how we can get around some infrastructure issues so we can start much sooner. At our secondaries, it's going to require a lot more consideration and thought with design work because we're serving so many kids in such a short period of time. However, we are going to switch over to compostables. So, we will have containers that we'll be handing off to students, but they will be compostables instead of plastic. Last, but not least, I really want folks to sign up for the snack committee. I want every single community member to be able to participate and chat with me about what your your expectations and needs are, and I want a representative uh group that reflects the needs

231of our community. So, thank you so much. Any questions, concerns, or comments? Trusty Jenkins. Um, you mentioned being fully staffed, which is fantastic. So, question for you and Lisa August. Um, on the financial side, um, this is funded differently, right? And can you just say each of you say some a little bit about that and why that's so special? So, this is in a separate fund. It is fund 13. It is legally required to be completely separate from our general fund. The funds that go into and out of it cannot be used for anything but school nutrition. Also, um it's done a great job with getting infrastructure grants and you know there have been some opportunities through the state. So those funds for many of those great projects have have come through that that specialized

232funding as well. Ed, if you want to say any more about that. Absolutely. Uh so we get funded by the number of meals that we serve. And so naturally the better your program is, the more meals you're going to serve. Uh we had this opportunity with the summer program where because we were the sponsors as a school district, we could change what we were serving and how we were serving to have more flexibility which met the needs of students out at community school sites that otherwise would not have those opportunities. And so we were then able to a serve more students, have less waste, and better improve our financial situation. So, we are like a nonprofit restaurant is the best way that I can describe it. And like any restaurant, you need to show up

233with your agame. You got to have great service, you got to have great food, and you need to be in the right places at the right times. If I can add another thing, which is that the the food service program used to be used to require contribution from the general fund years ago and with the change in funding and the way that Ed has, you know, improved the program, it it's really made a difference. then it is more than self- sustaining right now. Awesome. Thank you. And then um are you I guess are you and then if not can you say why are you partnering with the school gardens and the culinary culinary programs through the high school? How's that going? If you are if you're not, why not? Great question. So one of my

234favorite collaborators is Chef Colleen Spears, the chef instructor over at Ridgeway High School. Chef is fantastic as an accountability partner. Chef is also really direct about what students want and don't want. And from that, we're developing that as a best practice where we are working with culinary teachers and other teachers in other programs. One of my other favorite I say this a lot. One of my other favorite collaborators is um teacher Natasha Theal over at Piner who's a PE teacher and having conversations about what we can do to do things differently. Likewise with our community gardens, there is an opportunity for us to have some work with our public health department about creating culinary gardens that we can then use in our cafeteria spaces. So we can then say like this is a this is

235a salad that you made. These are herbs and spices that you grew. Uh in prior districts, we didn't have a really strong opportunity to do so because of county rules. And so we're eager to do so, particularly as we're hearing great things about the Santa Rosa Middle program having really fantastic gardens and we are definitely slipping our entries in there and like I really want is some rosemary. I really want is some thyme and some basil because we can definitely use those on a regular basis. But yes, absolutely. That's great. I know. Um when I was touring some of the schools, Proctor Terrace does this really cool garlic thing, but they do it for all their students. It's just like the coolest thing. And then my last question is um regarding the compostables. Compostables have

236been kind of a hit or miss thing generally um specifically in this area. So how are you going to kind of attack that part? Um and by hit or miss I mean um not really compostable. They don't actually get composted. They get stuck in the trash cycle etc etc. Absolutely. I also want to give a shout out to our friend um Michael Stanford who was one of the first people to say like hey when you do compostables you need to speak to Ricology and make sure this is going to work and that has been a throughine in all of our conversations. So as we get samples we also set a sample aside for our friends at rcology and just say hey what do we think? Uh because you're right if it's not compostable then we

237are contributing to a problem without really being conscious of that. So we absolutely check in with our friends uh to make sure that things that are compostable are compostable for our county and absolutely student board member Zuniga and then trustee Delatory. Okay. Um I know the pilot program for the compostable is at RVMS, right? Um it's super successful um and it's proven to reduce waste. So when is that going to be like what is the timeline for that? um and all of these reduced plastic methods when are they going to be adapted to like the district um fully? That's a fantastic question. Thank you. So, the compostables are going to be replacing like for like. So, right now we have plastic clamshells. They're not my favorite. They're awful. We are working with vendors right now.

238So, it's really just a function of how soon we can get the compostable containers at secondaries. at our elementaryaries. I'm going to have to have a couple of conversations about what that change looks like at the school site for staff because staff need to be supportive and make sure that there is enough support for them to do that kind of work. So once we have that, we have already purchased equipment as a pilot program at Lincoln Elementary School where the that sample picture that we had is going to be installed in place. We have a cooler, milk cooler that looks a lot nicer than what we have. We have a new salad bar that's refrigerated and then we have the hot well-based units. Uh so that is something we have purchased. It's has a lead

239time of about 12 weeks. I'm going to have to fact check that because I'm not entirely sure, but it is a long lead time. Um and at which point we'll do a pilot program, see what we like, what we don't like. We might have to make some adjustments to say like where the trays go. uh particularly where in elementary schools we have to set like serving units lower for students but then we want to be cognizant of staff's needs as well because I'm 6'3 and serving a student at their level is very difficult on my back. So there's some going to be some piloting that we do there. Likewise, we've reached out to a couple of vendors uh regarding some design work at the secondary level because and as we discussed yesterday, uh 600 students

240in 10 minutes is a bit of a rocket launch and we need to make sure that whatever this design is, it will not take more time away from students to eat. So, the short answer is, and I I do this quite often as I ramble. Um, the short answer is we will do a like forlike replacement at secondaries just as soon as those compostables come in on order. At our elementary schools, there's going to be additional steps in consideration and preparation, but we do have an exception from the Sonoma County Department of Public Health where historically we weren't able to wash dishes or wash sheet pans, which is the lifeblood of my kitchen. And so we now have an opportunity to transport dirty dishes back to central kitchen and take clean dishes over. One of

241the issues that we had is some of our newer schools have the appropriate sinks that we can use to wash and sanitize those sheet pans where our older schools did not. And we didn't want to create a system of halves and have nots just because of a sink. Uh but so short answer like for likes will happen as soon as the order comes in. And then the more long-term stuff, we're anticipating next year as a starting place for us to evaluate best practices and then push forward. Okay. Thank you. And then so before we fully implement those those programs, um how are we going to deal with the the waste of the compostables and the recyclables? Cuz I know at my school we're high schoolers and still we don't recycle the right way or we

242don't compost. actually there's not there's not recycling bins or composting bins like accessible throughout our facilities and so we end up just putting it all in the trash and that's completely wrong. Um and I know our clubs have been working on it for like size specific um issues but I I just it's a reoccurring thing and it happens at elementary and then middle and then high. So, I'd like to see implementation of just better ways to dispose of our waste before those programs get put into place so that when they get put into place, they're just more effective. Absolutely. Uh we've had conversations with our friends over at maintenance and operations uh regarding the availability of appropriate receptacles and we are working with Recology. to have education programs particularly regarding like separating out recyclables and

243compostables. I think with anything I design is is it easy to do the right thing is the first question that we have to ask because if it's difficult or there's an unclear system that has to be implemented we're going to have a bad time. So starting place is it easy to say yes to I know where the compostables go or where cycling goes. And then I think and this is maybe a bit naive but there is the rule of cool which is to say like like I'm I'm cool and I put this in the recycling because this is the move. For context um there is an enormous amount of like social um cohesion that can come together when enough people are doing it where it's like I don't want to be missing out on being

244part of this cool click that's putting things in the right places. And so I plan to work with students and work with sight specific staff so that we can encourage students in doing that. Um at our elementaryaries we have fantastic supports where our custodians are consistently the ones going like there there and there and then students are getting iterative learning experiences and it's a little different with secondaries and I recognize that. Uh but I think that there are some definitely some opportunities for us to do some collaborations but job one is is it easy to do it and I think that right now we can do something differently. Absolutely. Thank you. That makes total sense. Thank you. So Ed, I love hearing about CNS services and department and I think it's mainly because I love

245hearing you talk about it. Your passion and love is very pure and evident in everything you speak to. Um, obviously you've been with us most of the evening, so you heard how important culinary has come up time and time again. And unfortunately, we are impacted by space and resources. Are there any opportunities with the success of the CNS department to have more innovative collaborative conversations and opportunities with our culinary teachers and students? I love that question. One of the things that I I didn't mention, I used to be a culinary arts teacher and a food service director at the same time. So, I'm very familiar with both sides of that coin and then having students in a commercial kitchen space and what that looks like and what might happen and what has happened. Um, I'm

246interested in exploring that further. I think that it would really reflect on a side-by-side case by case basis of what the teacher is looking for, what the program is looking for, and most importantly, um, how we can create an opportunity. So, for example, in my program where I was a teacher and the food service director, one of the final exams was make your best food and then I might just take your best ideas and put it in the in the in the cafeteria and we did on a regular basis. I love doing the collaborative work. I love having conversations, especially where there's this neat opportunity of I never thought to do that. So, for example, at the student council meeting yesterday, we were chat chatting about using silk and tofu to make chocolate mousse. And

247I was like, okay, hold on a second. My whole life, 40 years old, I had no idea. These are these opportunities where collaboration can happen. Likewise, if students know who we are and and we have the opportunity to chat about what our menus are and how they work, we're going to have a much better outcome because they know our staff's name, they know my name, I know their name. So, that connection before content is something that we could definitely focus on. So, the short answer is yes, I would love to and I think it's going to be case by case or school by school just so that we can make sure that we're meeting everyone's needs. But, I'm very much open to that. just that lived experience and that ex the the knowledge you're bringing

248to the table, it makes those conversations so much easier to have of okay, what do I do now with such limited space or how do I change what was working in an environment that's no longer available to have something creative and informative moving forward um differently. So, appreciate your work, appreciate your time. Thank you for tonight's presentation. I had a couple of questions. Um, so I interact with the students quite a bit. Um, I do alumni interviews for students applying to college. I do boys and girls state. One of my favorite questions I ask is like, if you were principal for the day, what what would you improve most of your school? and and boy, uh, school, you know, school food is, uh, always up there as one of the top ones. So, I appreciate

249the number of meals you're serving, and there's obviously meals served versus meals eaten is a is a big struggle, I know, because sure, you can serve the meal, but the kids actually eating it. And meal quality, you know, they they're like, "Oh, half the half the food goes into the garbage all the time." And a lot of it is the plastics like you're talking about like it just tastes like plastic. So is there a way I know Recology has a way of like they can weigh uh like how much food is being wasted. Do we do that? Do we track that at all? Not presently, but it is something that I'm interested in doing. So the programs that I've observed there is to trustees point there is a lot of buyin from student staff and

250the food program uh to make that really effective kind of interventions. So I'm very interested in doing so. It is going to require a lot of partnerships to see that a that we are measuring food waste as opposed to say empty juices juice containers. Um, but I think that there is an enormous amount of space for metrics and driving some of that work. So, one of the things that we're really eager to to get into as we explore our programs is for example, we had this idea um, principal Mark Ryan said, "Hey, Ed, some students suggested baked potato bars. What do you think?" I was like, "You know what? Yeah, let's let's find out." So, we did a pilot. We loved it. It's now doing exceptionally well. I'm seeing some nodding. I love that. Um,

251and so likewise, I had a stu a student uh email me, which I have to say is my favorite part of the day is when students let me know how things are going. He said, you know, hey, your wings are pretty dope, but also like I feel like the meat and the nachos could be better. And I was like, all right, like let's what do we think? Alpas store carnitas, like what can we do differently with this product? And so one of the things that I'm eager to do with our SNAT committee and with our work with superintendent student council and even just interacting with students at school sites is what's working, what's not working because it may be sight specific. It might be that one school prefers cheese pizza, one prefers uh pepperoni, but

252we can find clusters and groupings of things that are working really well and things we need to improve upon. Most of all, I think that the thread line with nutrition education is also really important thing as well because I've had conversations with students who are like, I'm here for the pizza and I'm going to leave everything else. I was like, I hear that and I respect it, but also like I need you to eat fruits and vegetables, dude. Like, it's going to help you do amazing things. It'll make you famous. So, there is a lot of opportunities for us to improve on our programming. I had a wonderful chat yesterday where a student suggested, hey, what about uh what about tofu? And I was like, cool, but I also need what is it? Does it

253taste good? And what does it do for our bodies? And so having kind of ambassadors discussing this is what this thing is and you're going to like it. And like we saw with the broccoli, we're going to have a much better outcome. Yeah. Thanks. Um you led me right into the next question. It's good. Um the fresh fruit and vegetable program. So, uh, you know, California Department of Education has a grant for that. Did Did we apply for that? Do we apply for it every year? Did we receive it? Yeah. So, the freshman vegetable program is pretty rad. One of the things that I found challenging was we had an embarrassment of grant opportunities. And so, the freshman vegetable program, I don't recall how much it is this year, but I have administered it in

254the past, which was great. And we had a great time with it. We also needed a lot of buyin and support because we couldn't run it during lunch. So, we had to do it during outside times. So, that meant that we'd have to get into classroom time or during recess, which we thought was going to be a little bit challenging. However, as we wrap up the existing grants that we have, we will have some capacity to pursue other grant opportunities. Okay. Um, well, I'm also glad you brought up the fact about the uh the lines and wait time for the food because that's a that was the second thing that the kids always brought up. It's like, I'm waiting all this time in line and now I've got two minutes to try to woof down

255this meal. So, you know, anything we can do to obviously reduce the the lines would be great. Um, lastly, did I know the USDA visit was supposed to happen this month but got put off. Do you have any update on that though? Oh, absolutely. So, the uh national school food study has been rescheduled to May 12th, 13th, and 14th. Okay. I I'm in town. I'd love to tag along if possible for that. Thanks. That sounds great. All right, that was discussion only. No action needed. So, we'll move on to F8, discussion of the LC Allen new school model update. Thank you, Ed. And I do want the board to be aware that we have a few public comments on F8. Okay. Did they do that first? Thank you, President Minnelli. We're going to go ahead

256and start, I suppose. uh associate superintendent uh August and members of the board, uh student staff and community of Santa Rosa City Schools. We're going to go ahead and get started with the new school model presentation. Um to get us started is um director Debbie Cardardozo, CTE, director of CTE. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Debbie Cardardozo. I'm a director of college and career readiness. Um and I'm very excited to be here. And before we dive into our presentation, I would like to invite our guests to introduce ourselves. Uh Casey will go ahead and start with you first. Hi, Casey Cunningham, assistant principal. Elizabeth Gordon Stole, your substitute principal. I'm Erikica Rafo. I'm coordinator college and career readiness. My name is Lesie Simmons. I'm the vice president of impact and investments at

257the Career Technical Education Foundation. Robert Curtis, Career Techn Education Foundation. Good evening. My name is Lindsay Nash. I'm a dual language immersion. Great. Thank you everyone. Why isn't it going? Ha, there we go. Okay. The new school model is an initiative focused on redesigning the educational experience to ensure that integrated, relevant, and career connected learning opportunities are at the core of secondary school models to ensure more equitable and holistically prepared youth for future success in college, career, and life. In 2020, the CTE Foundation of Sonoma County brought together LC Allen High School and schools from two other districts in Sonoma County to work collabor collaboratively on redesigning the educational experience. In 2021, the CTE Foundation awarded a planning grant to LCL High School in the amount of 50,000 to support this transformational work. In 2022,

258the CTE Foundation was awarded an American Rescue Plan Act grant in the amount of $1.1 million to support LC Allen High School with reforming their educational model to deliver authentic, relevant, and integrated learning experiences that prepare youth for a lifetime of success. The goals of the grant focus on developing and operationalizing a graduate profile, developing robust CTE programs, and investing in professional development. As we mentioned earlier, we are very excited to have the CTE Foundation here with us tonight. They as they have been a tremendous partner in this work and because of their partnership and support, LCN High School has been able to accelerate and enhance its efforts in transforming the school. So for more than a decade, CTE Foundation has been a dedicated champion for career technical education in Sonoma County. Our mission is

259all about connecting high school students to high demand, high wage, and high skill careers that not only drive our local economy, but also help students envision a successful future for themselves right here in Sonoma County. Think of CTE Foundation as the glue in college and career pathways. We bring together diverse partners like Santa Rosa City Schools, our local colleges, and local employers to create opportunities for all of our students. As an intermediary, we coordinate efforts across all of our county schools, provide crucial support, and work to ensure equitable access to pathways, career pathways, essentially connecting the dots between education and industry. And we provide grants for CTE classes, teachers, and new programs like the new school model initiative while supporting a coordinated effort to weave public and private funding to sustain and advance connected learning

260in Sonoma County. Next slide, please. We are not doing this work in a vacuum. We are fortunate to be part of a national movement for accelerated pathways. Uh and we have been partnering with um an initiative that is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Um these pathway models let high school students earn college credit or job credentials while still in high school. It's really about a head start for their future. to make this work for all students. Our role as intermediary, we're developing a shared vision with local schools, colleges, businesses, and our county office of education to create these opportunities together, ensuring that everyone has a fair chance. Our goal is that thousands of our students in Sonoma County gain this valuable edge in the next several years, really preparing them for good

261jobs and a strong local economy. Next slide. Over the past 10 years, uh, as Debbie touched on a little bit, CTE Foundation has directly invested more than $1 million in grants to Santa Rosa City Schools, with the majority going to LC Allen High School. We truly have a deep commitment to your school community, to our school community. These funds have supported crucial staffing, teacher professional development, and the creation of a community-driven portrait of a graduate. and through proactive efforts with Debbie at the helm. I think Santa Rosa really has successfully leveraged an additional $1 million through other funding sources as you see on the screen here. This collaborative effort demonstrates the power of a strong partnership and maximizing opportunities for our students. We are asking that we not start from scratch in this effort. This

262groundwork is significant, but our work is not done. I ask that we work together to build on this investment that we've done for the last several years. We've laid a strong foundation and now is the time to leverage this momentum to design even more meaningful and relevant programs for the students of LC Allen High School. And now I'm going to invite my colleague Robert who's going to share a little bit more about this foundation. Uh thank you for having us tonight here uh board. Uh this is uh the what you're looking at is some strategic goals that LC Allen developed over the last couple of years. This is done with their leadership team and uh with their staff. Uh it highlights some of what you've heard about already as well you're going to hear coming

263up next. So uh some of the big things that we were working on is how do we make sure we're supporting students? Um how I make sure that teachers are feeling supported because we know if if you don't have teachers who are feeling supported, you're not going to have students who are feeling supported. Uh and then uh we anchored that around this portrait of a graduate. What do you want students to know and be able to do? Uh and we did that together with the community to find that uh around these smaller circles. These were some of the initiatives we actually were involved and I'll highlight just a few. Uh one of them was professional learning communities. You'll hear more about that in a minute. But we had teacher teams actually working together uh going

264through cycles of improvement. Uh one of those which Casey will speak to is uh having school be a place of joy and we were looking at youth truth data to see how that tracked and teacher were trying things and um that was one piece. Another element was project-based learning. Uh this was done schoolwide. Um and it was a core part of how we imagined that uh the pathways would actually work as an instructional strategy within the pathways with teachers working together to actually work on projects that were engaging, relevant, and connected to the career theme. Uh one other element that we worked on was working with the instructional leadership team there. uh we were excited to work with them on these strategic goals over the last few years and having them see their growth in

265leadership and moving from uh being mostly talking about departments to looking at schoolwide initiatives and trying to build coherence. Uh so these are just some of the pieces and how they connect and you'll hear uh more about that in in the slides ahead. All right. So, next is our graduate profile. Uh, beginning with school year 2021 2022, we worked with Karina Huey, a consultant, and a team of Elsie Allen and Cesar Chavez language academy students, staff, which included teachers, um, classified staff and administrators to discuss and analyze the input that we gathered from all stakeholders as to what we desired in our graduate profile. Staff and a few students met over the next summer for intensive professional development around implementing the graduate profile in classrooms. Teachers created sample projects and shared their ideas while students

266vetted them by giving constructive feedback. As we continued working to bring the graduate profile to life, the profile of a graduate committee reformed with additional staff, students, and parents. They continue to meet and work on implementation strategies particularly around the use of portfolios where students are able to showcase the ways in which they have met the graduate profile outcomes. Thank you. When we began the new school model initiative work, LC Allen had an established agriculture and public safety CTE program. Based on student feedback uh through our work and industry needs, we established a public and community health program last school year and an education CTE program starting this school year. In addition to expanding career technical education opportunities at Elsion High School, we have been establishing early college credit opportunities for students connected to our

267CTE programs. Uh we have a strong partnership again with the Santa Rosa Junior College and have established a college and career access pathway agreement with uh the SRJC to offer LC Allen students dual enrollment courses taught during the school day on the high school campus which we're very excited about and we're looking to expand that uh next school year. We have also expanded work-based learning opportunities for students which include connections to the Santa Rosa Community Health Center on campus, Sutter Health, um as well as the Sonoma County Fair Foundation, just to name a few. Uh we look forward to having our annual career conference next week on April 29th and we hope that you can attend and check out all the amazing things that are happening on the LCL campus next week. Uh finally, we

268are working on developing integrated pathways that support collaboration between our CTE program teachers and core academic teachers to develop uh crosscurricular projects for students. Okay. And then I'll speak a little bit to professional development. Um LC Allen High School operates as a professional learning community. Within that community are department-based professional learning teams. These teams are are focused on improving learning for students. They collect data to determine whether or not their teaching methods actually produced improvements in learning. And from that data, teams make necessary adjustments in a neverending cycle of improvement. This year's focus has been on making school a more joyful sorry has been focused on making school more joyful for students through improved instructional practices which Casey Cunningham will be speaking to in a couple of slides. Okay, next slide. And then in addition,

269we've also been doing some project-based learning um for integrated college and career pathways. Uh project based learning um in our CTE courses um they have cross-disciplinary projects that connect academic content to the real world challenges. Um and we've prioritized student voice and choice um in those projects to drive engagement. Um the empowered, excuse me, it's inclusive and empowered instructional leadership team. um has been restructured this year to focus on instructional equity and school culture. And those leaders are able to support teachers with coaching, calibration, and shared leadership. Okay. So, um we started our professional learning community early this August. Uh our leadership crew who some are still here right now. Um we came up with a common problem of practice. Uh during our annual team leader retreat, uh you heard we focused um on bringing

270joy into the classroom. Now each department kind of had their different idea of what joy was. Um but let me emphasize joy was not popcorn and parties. Um our focus uh has been to raise the bar academically to challenge our students and to focus on group work as well as student engagement with the emphasis on reading, writing, speaking and learning. Uh because of this focus um we've moved the needle on so many different areas um in our youth truth uh data and our surveys that we took. Um here's a few of them uh that just kind of stand out. I am able to motivate myself to do school work improved from the 33rd percentile to the 76th. Uh I'm able to focus on my school uh work improved from the 38th to the 69th and

271I'm able to create goals for my own learning improve from the 17th to the 53rd. Um, we had a few more. My teacher expectations want me to do my best. Improved from 36 to 46. What I learned in class helps me outside of school was 54 to the 80th. I enjoy school which was our focus. A huge change in 45 to 75. And I'm am getting a high quality education in the school from 22 to 46. Now those are some of the highlights. But if you literally look at this and peel the onion, we have improved in every category in our youth through survey. Uh, some of the ones that stood out, my teachers explain things in the way that I understand. We went from below Santa Rosa City Schools average average average to above

272the median. Um, the work that I do for my classes makes me really think below average to above Santa Rosa City Schools median. My teachers give me assignments that really help me learn. Once again, below the average to above the median. And this is not only for Santa Rosa City Schools, but this is for the county as well. And uh lastly, to order, um in order to receive a good grade, I had to work hard in my classes. Um we were at the median and now we're above the median. We challenged our students. We set expectations and our students showed what you can do when you really focus on something together. Um to finish, we focused on joy and we moved the needle from the 45th to the 75th. In my 20 years, I've never

273seen that kind of movement in any of the surveys that we've ever done. Um, and it's just people there absolutely amazing to work with and our students are unbelievable. Moving on to the dual language emergence strand as a capstone to complete the K12 pathway that begins at CCLA. Uh, a DLI strand exists at LC Allen in a company that in addition to the ARPA grant funds that multilingual services secured a grant written by Rosio Mishio and director Yamas in 2022 for $380,000 as you saw a few few slides back. Um and that grant cannot fund the sections or the teachers but help supplement that program with the three following objectives and that it would be f expanding the DLI program to the high school, elevating multilingualism and um supporting professional development focused on multilingualism and

274multicultural education. The following slide shows some of the specific areas that um that grant has been used to really dig deeper um in expanding um that grant um those I think it's about nine bullets show um where um it's been that grant has been focused um it does fund the DLI um emerging TOSAsa that will be the remaining TOSA that we currently have that one because of the fact that that is a restricted resource was the TOSA that was not rift. As you can see, it supports advisory team meetings, support for credentiing of B-clad teachers, which is something that is required when you are funding a DLI um strand and um it's an area of need that we have in the district. Um we partner with Dr. Jose Medina who's known in the industry to

275be um a real voice supporting multilingual, multicultural education. um professional development has been st um supported for cross um functional work between CCLA and LC Allen. Um so you see a number of the of different resources um a number of different um places that the resource has been used here to support the DLI strand. Uh Dr. Castro, I want to make sure we get to these public comments before we have to adjourn. Sure. Could you give us like a super quick version of the last couple slides and then we can always bring this back in a in a future meeting if we need to? A quick version of the remaining slides. I'm sorry. Perhaps we could just go to public comment right now and then if we have time go back to the slides. Sure.

276Or because we have so many slides left. You mean we have we have nine minutes. Um All right. I have Kamla Brown followed by Jim Ley followed by Kathy Hayes and you'll have 90 seconds each. You want to do 17? Who does something? Oh, got it. Yeah. Hi, my name is Camala Brown. Um, I'm the science department chair at Elsie Allen. I've worked there for eight years. You just heard about all the work that we've done at LC Allen to become a school that better serves our students in this current moment. Um, and you also heard about how um, our efforts to change have shown results. Um, we're not where we want to be yet, but we're moving in the right direction. This is one reason why it was so painful to hear some of

277you on this board say things like, "No one wants to go to LC Allen." Um, it made us feel like you view the 1,000 students that choose to attend LC Allen as no one. Um, if you truly want to see LC Allen be a better school, I ask that you do not collapse our attendance boundaries. Um, this work that is going on there. It anyway, it just it doesn't make sense. Um, I think that it's obvious that our school suffers from an unfair stigma caused by years of systemic and institutional factors, including systemic racism that give has given us this bad reputation. We need time to turn that around. And if you collapse the boundaries, we'll lose too many students before we're able to turn into a school that can attract students. So, I really

278would like hope that you rethink that. Um, I also That's it. I have eight seconds. Anyway, I just want to say that you have um partners in the staff there to make school up. Next is Jim Lety followed by Kathy Hayes. Hi, Jim Ley. Parent from Southwest Santa Rosa. I would just like to uh continue on what was just said. This work reflects very clearly that there are partners in the Elsie community of staff, students, and parents who can turn the page in this transformation process in imagining or reimagining what Elsie is going to be in this sort of new environment as envisioned by the board as it's made its difficult decisions on school consolidations. Um, I'm going to diverge for a few seconds and say maybe the issue of school consolidation shouldn't be a

279regular report item in board meetings that you should set up some secondary just board meetings to rebuild the communication relationship. You are in you are in the unfortunate and fortunate position of being extraordinary times with this community. Tomorrow's headlines will again rock the world. But having set aside to work out those items that are coming up in those empowerment meetings might do that. Moving forward with LC Allen, I know that there are dozens and dozens if not hundreds of people that will be volunteers to support your staff, your district office, and this board as they invest in the next chapter of an amazing institution. I want to thank the staff for this presentation. I know it was supposed to come earlier in the in the cycle. Um, so hopefully we'll have more good news stories

280like this and thank you for your presentation tonight. Thank you. Next is Kathy Hayes. My name is Kathy Hayes and I'm a classified staff member at LC Allen High School. I'm just here to support and acknowledge the ongoing great work that continues to occur at LCL High School. You know, in spite of the tremendous challenges to and at our school, we continue to get up, dust our our knees off, and continue to do the necessary work to transform and highlight the things that are happening at LC Allen High School. I got to say, and and it was said several times tonight, we're exhausted. Um, it is sometimes extraordinarily hard. For whatever reason, our school, our staff, and our students continue to endure an incredible amount of hatred aimed at our community by community members. And

281sometimes it's just really, really intense. And um, sometimes it just makes it harder to continue forward. I got to say that we're an incredible community that gets knocked down over and over and over again. And we get up, we pick ourselves up, and we continue to move forward. And I look forward to continue to serve the students that we're currently serving, students in Southwest, students that are multilingual, students with disability, and students that want to make LCL in their home. Thank you. All right, we have less than four minutes left. Is there anything you'd like to add? We have one more slide. Okay, go ahead. Okay, so as you've heard this evening, there has been a great deal of work being done at Elsion High School to transform the educational experience for students and shared

282local efforts and partnerships to support this work. As we look ahead, we want to build on this foundational work and continue to support Elon High School to serve the students and families in the community, support staff in utilizing project-based learning as a core instructional strategy, uh continue to build on and expand industry and community partnerships, and continue to empower the staff at LCL High School to lead the school transformational process. Thank you, Medina. Yeah. Um, a couple things I just wanted to say. uh CT Foundation folks, a lot of the work that you're doing on the internship coalition and how that will play out in here. Um also want to just echo what Miss Brown said that um I really feel that there's been a lot of investment to make this happen for years. A

283lot of investment time, you know, teaching and and I really want to see it come to fruition and and you know, I just want to put that out there for the board. Thank you all for all your work. Kirby, hopefully a quick question just how many do you know how many students at LC Allen are participating in each of the programs currently? I don't know if you have that number handy. If not, it's okay. You can get back to us. I I thought I had that number with me. I think it, if I remember correctly, it's like 404 CTE students. Um it's like about 42% of the student population in a CTE program currently this year. Besty Casten. Uh for the public safety track, do we track how many of those students go into the

284localmies and end up in our local fire or or police departments and can you send that data when we have more than 90 seconds? Yeah, I I can speak to that. I'm going to be doing a uh CTE update soon um to the board, so I could definitely bring that forward at that time. and just because we have a lot of efforts around community based public safety and it'd be good to know how we're feeding into that goal. Yeah, absolutely. Sorry, one formal request 60 seconds later. I'd like to formal requests that we review the administration shuffles that have taken place and ensure that we're properly aligned and um don't have any further questions or changes that could or could not be made because we have a lot of positions going up for um openings

285and ed join that people want those jobs that are here. So, if we can formally look into that, that'd be great. Thank you all for staying so long. Sorry. Meeting adjourned.