April 18, 2023 Board Meeting

001um [Applause] I'd like to call the San Jose Valley Union High School District regular board meeting Tuesday April 18 2023 to order roll call Terry all board members are present yes they are yeah please stand for the salute to the flag ready to begin thank you is there a motion for the approval of the agenda uh Mr President I I would like to actually pull um item uh F3 F3 um which is the Coco committee members item and I will bring that back at a future board meeting so I request that we pull that from the agenda okay we'll pull uh item F3 uh which is Citizens overnight oversight committee members renewal from the agenda tonight consent agenda I moved to approve the agenda as noted with F1 uh being pulled from the agenda and

002to be brought back in later meetings it's ff3 I second the motion roll call Terry Mr Johnson aye Mr Ibarra aye Miss Grace Velasquez aye Ms Noble aye mashiehb I motion passes and now on to the superintendent's report and presentations yes first we have our ASB School Board representative Zoe kazali foreign [Music] I will get right into it so the theater group is performing Grapes of Wrath Thursday through Saturday this week and next week at seven o'clock in the Little Theater I've heard great things about it and I would definitely recommend going ASB has been hard at work preparing for prom the theme is Enchanted Garden and it will be on May 13th and there will be a lot more details coming very soon students have recently organized a walkout in response to the recent

003controversy after the crosswalks that were painted rainbow were repainted white and were waiting for a response from the board and the administration we also participated in the every 15 minutes program today and yesterday a program designed to challenge high schoolers to consider the consequences of driving Under the Influence this included a mock car accident with student participants as they demonstrate the DraStic consequences of driving under the influence College commit day is May 1st so many seniors have been making their college decisions AP testing occurs in the first two weeks of may as well and I don't have too much for sports because everyone is gearing up for tournament and end of the season and CIF but girls beach volleyball just won their first league title in the mountain League they have had a very good

004season I have thank you thank you Zoe thank you that's great so on to uh number two Bond measure K citizens oversight committee annual report yes thank you I'd like to call Peter Wright up to the podium and so measure K was passed in November of 2016 it was a 14.7 Million Dollar General General obligation Bond as part of that there is a Citizens oversight committee with responsibility for overseeing the bond process and Peter will be presenting that report to us today thank you super Schwab and I thank you and um Miss Lewis and um uh Terry thank you and Mrs Westfall for all that you do to support this committee and I feel that you have always provided uh really forthcoming information when we ask for it and have always been accessible to us

005and with our committee of Michelle de ward of Elizabeth of Valerie Fuentes of Alan Jones and Melissa Riddell I can guarantee you that we are guaranteeing that the citizens have been in great oversight of this incredible responsibility to spend this over 14 million dollars to support the Pirates so very appreciative of that and we are coming down to the wire we thought this money would already be spent by now it is not and that is not because we don't have the need we're actually proud that as an office vet we find that superintendent Schwab has been very prudent in thinking about how we spend this money and we need more but we're spending the money with the best uh best information we have and for example in the last year we've done repairs of the

006theater we have done additional information with the boiler permits we've replaced replace the subject take at Refugio and currently we're working on replacing the hot water heater in the locker room and as I know as a former pirate that is nice to have hot water in the locker room and we're replacing the roof due to wind wind damage so we're staying on for another year uh longer than expected but that is because again of the prudence and thoughtfulness of the leadership of spending this Bond money and we re expect to retire the remaining of the 14 million to over 14 million dollars uh approved about 349 thousand dollars remain and we will re uh we will be spent that we'll just bet that uh by the end of next year and we'll report back to

007you the board and be glad to take any questions and Mrs Lewis is the best at answering uh thank you board thank you [Applause] may I just thank Michelle de Ward under her coaching I know that every dollar has been spent very wisely so thank you Michelle and now we'll move on to number three Counseling Services registration and freshman orientation overview yes I'd like to invite up Stephanie gagones and Danielle to the podium to present and I need to figure out how to turn the presentation screen on for well let me make sure I need glasses now is it off it looks on you have to unblock the screen on the bottom yeah all right do you guys have the I know it's worked before oh there it goes it wasn't on okay yeah it

008was off [Music] it should pick it up are we airplane or are we um it looks like he's connected actually connected to this one so it should be maybe HDMI all right I apologize for the technical difficulties there it is okay just gonna get out of there it will go away promise yes okay all right thank you this um first slide shows our counseling office so you'll see um Daniel lagamans the HUD counselor we have Adriana Palacios Alfonso Gonzalez um Maricela De La Cruz is our scholarship coordinator and registrar and our data specialist Melissa Shaw and I'm Stephanie gagonis I'm Danielle our lead counselor will be showing your presentation thank you good evening everyone I'm pleased to be here tonight to give you a quick overview of the counseling services that we provide here at

009the high school um this is our amazing team we have a excellent uh force behind all of our services and we have some seasoned professionals we have some former alumni as part of our team and I feel very fortunate to work with our current counseling team so tonight to start off I'm just going to go over our main focuses in the guidance office um sorry uh beginning with what we provide students and basically our focus is to really work on that transition from students entering as ninth graders and as they progress throughout high school and so that really starts right now we are actually in the at the feeder schools this week registering incoming 8th graders and we're all the counselors are there and we sit down individually with each student and help them register

010for their classes for next year making sure that they're making the good decisions we're there to provide them with answers to any questions that they have and so we start that in eighth grade they have orientation coming in the week before school starts and then right in their freshman year they have a class called freshman focus and that's the class that really is a career awareness program and really starts to expose them and has them start to ask those three really important questions who are they where are they going and how are they going to get there so they really have time to figure out what their goals are what their skills are what their interests are how do those align with the future career what kind of training they need to get there so

011they really have that and the goal of that class is really to flip the Paradigm so instead of thinking right away what college is that I'm going to go go to they're more focused on exploring all of their career options and then finding out based on those career options what kind of training and education do I need and what are some post educational options that will allow me to get that training so they're really flipping that so that they know ahead of time whether they need a four-year degree whether they can get an AAA degree whether there's a trade school that they can get that specific training that allows them to go right into their career path so that is a really great class that as you can tell I'm passionate about um that exposes

012them right off the bat to really thinking about that and as they progress through high school we meet with them individually and we're talking about their classes where they're revisiting those plans and making sure every year that they know exactly what they need to take and what are some classes that they can take here at the high school so that by the time they get to their senior year it's clear what their next step is and they've done the research and so forth to figure out what's going to be the best fit for them this is an example of our grade level counseling that we provide just last week we had our eighth grade parent meeting and so that again is the the foundation of uh getting students off on the right start when they

013come to high school um also at every grade level we have a parent meeting so we'll have a freshman parent meeting sophomore parent meeting and so forth and then that's paired with a classroom presentation and group counseling in the actual classrooms at each grade level and then we meet with students every year before we register for them registered classes so again we're meeting one-on-one individually with every student and so we really have an opportunity to get to know the students as they progress through high school and so forth and so you can see some of the things that we do we're always going over the transcripts checking on their graduation credits and making sure that we are touching base on that four-year plan that they create their freshman year and then as we have a

014variety of other opportunities for them to get information as they progress which I will talk about in this next slide this shows just an overview of some of the College and Career preparation that we provide students as they progress through High School actually that picture is a picture of our AVID program we took um the Avid class on a trip up to Northern California that's at UC Berkeley so our AVID program is a really great program that allows students and provides them to support those that want to go to four-year college that may not have the skills or the support to get there we provide them with that opportunity and a lot of college visits and so forth also I know two meetings ago we talked about the Hancock College concurrent enrollment courses that we

015have to offer here next year we are also adding another additional concurrent enrollment College we've partnered with Taft college so for the first time ever we're also going to be offering an English course for seniors so they can get dual enrollment credit as well we have a very rich AP program which I know Mrs gonis talked about again at that last meeting I'm going to go over more and touch on the rest of the things that are listed here so I will just go on to the next slide also we have a very strong CT program these are elective classes mostly some are academic so in addition to that really rich academic program we have a lot of great electives which again allow students to be exposed to a variety of career paths and so

016forth and this is actually I brought this this was produced in collaboration with the County Office of Education and basically it's being shared with our feeder schools and students are getting the opportunity to really see ahead of time what are some possible options that they have in classes and Career Tech when they get to the high school so whether they're interested in arts media Medical Transportation Automotive hospitality and so forth they can take a variety of classes and then again just get exposed to those and see if that's something that is for them and that might be a good fit for their future and really doing doing that in high school and taking classes that they don't have to pay for in college and really the goal is to get them closer to where they

017need to be to make those really hard decisions when they're ready for that Next Step Beyond High School foreign as far as Career Connections I know Mr nihaf discussed uh again earlier this year we had the pipefitters Union come in we've had Santa Barbara Auto Group come in and so those are the nice opportunities that we're trying to increase for students to get more information about trade schools and technical schools also tomorrow is our career fair this is our fourth annual career fair we have over 45 industry professionals that are going to be there tomorrow and all of our students will filter through so it's really good opportunity for them to again meet with local industry Representatives who can again give them an inside picture of what opportunities that they actually have in the real

018world so that's we're really excited to have that tomorrow um this score this was on one of the previous slides this is new this year we're really excited about this this is a a platform it's like a One-Stop shop basically for students to be able to do career interest surveys to do college searches and so for our seniors this year were able to use this to start their college list and we've introduced it to all of our students they all have access to this and parents also get access to this so I have a little quick YouTube video which shows all of the features I wanted to play really quickly uh kind of summarizes all of the great features of this program it's actually a read-along so if you can't see the screen [Music] thank

019you [Music] foreign [Music] okay so we're excited about that uh platform for students and every year we'll be increasing the usage of that and we also be using that as our senior exit survey so that we can get really good data about all of the schools that the students applied to where they unaccepted rejected wait listed and then we'll be able to break it really down by you know in-state out of state private and so forth so we're definitely looking forward to that data as well um next slide so these are just some common misconceptions that we just wanted to throw out because I think it's important to note that there is a lot of pressure um put on students regarding their choices After High School and particularly for those that are interested in four-year

020College um unfortunately there's a lot of misconceptions and myths so we try to clarify those myths so it's always good to remind everyone that admissions are different from every school the admissions and the criteria that Cal Poly uses is different than admissions criteria that UCSB uses versus Westmont and so I think when we hear the media there's a lot of information that becomes misinformation because it's not a One-Stop it's not a one fit for what your goal is After High School so these are some common myths and students just really need to realize that there's a ton of options regardless of their grades regardless of the extracurriculars that they have there's a four-year College out there for every student if they really want to go to so we want that message loud and clear to

021you know don't give up on that that if that is your goal we can definitely ensure that you can get to that goal because there are a variety of schools and unfortunately we hear only about those really really very selective schools top-tiered schools and yes those are very difficult to get into and it's you know we do have students that get it admitted but you know that's the exception but there are so many unknown own and underrank schools and so we really want to expose them and they don't have to do everything they don't have to do every single extracurricular and be a president of every club and so forth to get into those schools they really want quality more than quantity so um one of those those myths and so forth so I just

022wanted to throw that out there and then this is just a snapshot of our graduates this is the senior data that we get every year so as you can see 87 percent of our school our students go on to college to your college almost half of our seniors go to a two-year college and oftentimes they go there do their GE and then transfer or they might go through a certificate program or get an AAA degree there's lots of options when they started a community college and then um about almost 40 percent go to four-year college and then you can see the remaining go to either trade military travel ticket Gap year which is growing in popularity and then some go right to work as well and this is I just want to give you an

023idea of our registration schedule so it really does take a whole month to register all of our current students for classes since we do that one-on-one registration with all of our students so we just completed it last month and then this month as I said we are in at the feeder schools doing that registration for all of the incoming 8th graders so that's a really fun time to meet with the students and get to know them they're really excited and nervous and so forth uh and then as I mentioned we do that orientation Friday before school starts they have a tour all the ASB is here um and everyone's here to really uh welcome to the high school and give them a little bit of exposure and we also have some feeder schools bringing their

024eighth graders tomorrow to the career fair so we've invited all the feeder schools to come to actually have that experience as well any questions I can answer I first I commend you for meeting one-on-one with every student that's quite remarkable for high school secondly I have two questions no I have one one other comment um I was very pleased to see all the eighth graders at open house and I guess they were invited as well to come so that was really nice they were so excited absolutely and usually the teachers give them an assignment and it's like a scavenger hunt and they have to get signatures so they're running around and having a good time so yeah they were they're all very excited so the only question I have is do you keep tabs on

025um the you probably do not but I'm gonna ask it anyway the two those who complete um a two-year community college degree or AAA so we do a follow-up with um seniors once they graduate it does get harder and harder every year um to get that data but we know that there's some databases that are they're doing a better job of actually tracking those and it's a whole system so we um are going to be getting more of that data and and that's going to be part of that whole score program as well to really have some really good data and scattergrams and everything to really see what the trend is After High School yeah that would be interesting to know thank you sure um I agree with what um Sherry said you have it

026looks like you have a wonderful program in it and the one-on-one is amazing um I had a question for like the eighth graders in the feeder schools then it goes to the students that are here already um like in eighth grade ninth grade a student doesn't know what they want and if they don't have a background in if their parents don't have a background in college or education they don't have the questions to ask when they come in so you may have a student that's brilliant in science but is quiet at the junior high level and he doesn't know like what he can take even though you show them everything it's almost too much information for these kids you know but it's also important that if they are College Bound or potentially and they don't

027even know they have that opportunity that um they start at freshman year they start taking those classes that they need are you doing any kind of surveys or anything to get those kids or talking to those Middle School teachers to say hey is this kid here we really need to watch him or her they have a lot of potential in this field or this field yes part of that Focus class does extensive career interest surveys and they actually do a lifestyle calculator as well to make sure that they know how much they actually have to make to have the lifestyle that they want and so they can match that with the careers and find out what their interests are what options they have within those interests and then which jobs pay the income that they

028need to actually you know if they want to stay and live in Santa Barbara County and so forth um and so when we touch base every year on those as well and so we're having those conversations and you know what are your goals you know what are your interests what are your skills and making sure that they're taking classes in the areas that they're good at so if they have a if we have a AP class that would allow them to get more experience if they're interested in a certain like stem careers for example science technology engineering math we're definitely encouraging those students to take those specific classes and or electives and tell them to take the electives to get a taste of things that might be a good fit for them well that's great

029and helping those kids that parents may not have the educational background to really guide help you know because a lot of us we have our parents at help guide us and there's families that don't know and so a lot of kids I feel get lost you know they don't even know to ask the question like oh I can do steam or stem or whatever it may be and that's what the AVID program is actually created for to really help those students whose parents never went to college there might be first generation college students themselves and so yes they don't have those you know the skills or the knowledge of what it takes and so they're really working and right from the echo freshman year they're doing a lot of that searching all of our College

030reps will go to that class to present and it's not just College reps it's you know art schools it's tech programs as well so they're getting a wide variety of exposure to options that they probably have never considered or heard themselves that's great great thank you I actually don't have a question I just wanted to Express gratitude for the work that you're doing seeing the names of your team up there and the flowchart uh is really encouraging to see how you're working together to keep our students front and center um and we know we know best is it Educators right that's what we keep the resource center to really help individual students to get what they need so you can Thrive is really the way to go and so thank you for doing so I've

031been witness to that in my walks around here which I'll share a little later so thank you thank you thank you for your support foreign thank you Danielle [Applause] and now we'll go to the principles update okay I wanted to share with the board some updates on project-based learning some one of the things I've been trying to promote all year is problem and project-based learning I want to thank the teachers this year half the teachers spent some time with me last summer doing some training to understand what uh project and prom based learning looks like a little bit and I want to give some shout out today to some of the projects that we've uh I've seen teachers launch this year and give a little explanation of what it looks like so one is um

032the why behind project-based or problem-based learning we don't have a lot of time and we've done it a little more in depth earlier this year but it really is the idea of really engaging students at a different level skills are involved so students should be walking out of their experiences with some real tangible skills they are applying their learning they're getting that portfolio development so instead of just having a test score or an essay or a report you actually have some something that could be in your portfolio a presentation you've done a podcast you've made a documentary film a really good presentation Etc the data shows that students that engage in problem or project-based learning actually do better academically and in college there used to be a thought that was the opposite that we thought

033that people that did Road learning you know kind of lecture note-taking were the high performers but really students that engage in more critical thinking inquiry-based approaches actually are the ones that will do better overall in terms of kind of academic College Career Success also the idea is student ownership and we'll talk a little more about that students have an opportunity kind of insert their strengths and interests into projects and that you become a lifelong learner so so um you may hear other terms out there I use project and problem based I think those are synonymous but you'll hear other things called challenge based learning the idea that we would a teacher might come to a class and just kind of throw out a challenge and let students wrestle with that problem and then hopefully that

034leads to a to a project inquiry it's all inquiry based we're asking uh questions and we'll explain that a minute competency base that goes back to the skills right strength base where students have a chance to kind of again bring out their strengths so if I'm a really good filmmaker um you know videographer I get a chance to bring that to the project right um and different students have different skills and if they collaborate they can bring those their project play spaces society that maybe we connect with the community in that process as well here's some key components to Project based or problem-based learning you have to address a real world problem issue or challenge and you have student voice and choice the slides are a little bit uh got dropped off here and the

035last one is that you share your work publicly so you attack a real world challenge problem or issue students have some voice and choice in different aspects the way they usually have choices on maybe how they focus in on the problem because there's different ways to attack a problem so they'll particularly take a particular Focus to kind of specialize in the other way that students have choices is how they present their learning so again if I'm if I'm given a project and I can do a presentation someone else can do a podcast someone else can do a documentary film someone else might decide to use art so we might have different ways we're addressing some of the same things but we're doing it in a different way okay and the final one is you've got

036to share your work publicly that's really important in Project or problem-based learning the work the students do has to be seen by at least the class and hopefully beyond the classroom right so okay here's some questions that we're best in projects this year uh just just sample so again we start with inquiry and in project and problems we're going to call them driving questions what is something the world you would like to see change these are these are broad big questions right that was probably asked in either our social studies history or English class how can you use the hero's journey to recognize and celebrate a local hero that's English class how are roles of women today similar or different from the Victorian era that was actually in an English class how can Stress and

037Anxiety be useful components of productivity that was Mr McKinnon and we'll talk about that one in a minute how would you rank decades overall based on political social economic impact and that was in a social science class um just want to give you a heads up that next week we have an article being published in an International Education website called getting smart not known to the general public but known to a lot of people in education and we submitted an article that's getting published that features some of our teachers and their projects and kind of not only the projects but why they did them and what they what they learned from the students and what they learned from the project so we'll share that the link to that article next week is supposed to be

038out Monday um these are some projects I want to give a quick shout out to particularly in our social science department again that's sorry about the the word I got left out I do my slides in Google slides and they don't translate into PowerPoint all the time very well those of you who use the Google Slides may know that right okay so I want to give a shout out to three of our social science teachers Mr Wolf Mr Barry and also Mr Cantrell and the all three of those gentlemen spent time last summer with me and other teachers trying to get these kind of ideas going and they really embraced them Mr Wolf has done a series of Civic engagement projects again where students are asked kind of those large questions about them tackling an

039issue in the world and given those options Mr Berry did a really great project earlier this year as a final project the first semester with history students where they chose a topic in history and they did a comparison from past present future one group shows education one group chose women's rights one group chose technology very different topics but they were all comparing what's happened historically to the present Mr Cantrell has done some fast fantastic projects he's dove in a lot of areas he's created these things called project menus or Choice projects where students have a a menu of options and he's done a lot of things regarding the United Nations sustainable development goals in English I want to give a shout out to three teachers Mr Shattuck Ms Rick Miss Cathcart misdirected The Local Hero

040project this idea where we talk about the hero's journey but then find a way to apply that to a local person and then miss cathgart's done several Civic engagement projects and Mr Shattuck has also done several literary type projects again where you take issues from the literature and then ask questions about larger issues related to those themes in math I recently saw Ms Rodriguez do a fantastic project that she started this designing this summer where students had to redesign our library and they used a program an application where they got to do so it was a little bit of architecture a little bit of engineering a little bit of design and using geometry to redesign the library which by the way probably could use a redesign um okay and but in all the right ways

041and in science when I should give a shout out to Mr kirkhart and Mr kakowski who tried to do things for again around the United Nations sustainable development goals there are 17 of them um they are big International goals related to all things that are happening um economically around the world and then students are choosing one of those that they want to focus in on and do some in-depth research so that's just a little snapshot the final one I wanted to give a shout out to is to Mr McKinnon who also attended the workshop this summer and his project was very interesting because this is what happens when student ownership gets involved he started out Mr McKinnon started out with a driving question about how can you use anxiety of stress as a positive because

042we always think that anxiety and stress has to be negative but in reality people use anxiety and stress sometimes to to do work right that's where some great ideas come from and sometimes we have to be under pressure uh to do creative things well the students turn it into a fantastic um performing arts project where they addressed real world stories real world issues related to on-campus and off campus about personal trauma and a whole host of other things the part that was really powerful about it is it met all the criteria project and problem-based learning it was real world issues turned into public work where students had voice and choice about how they did that all under the guide of Mr McKinnon in theater which again is the class right so just another great example

043of problem and project-based learning in in real time we probably do not I'll let you guys decide this is a video if you this is not our school this is a friend of mine school this is a math project and we can either play the video or we can just do a quick summary quick summary okay so well I'd like it I'd like to see the video okay I'll give you a quick it's about seven minutes long as this is a high school in another state these are advanced math students But the teacher it's called the finance project the difference is they're learning math but they're taking the math and doing something very different with it this is something any school could do by the way foreign [Music] so the first thing we want to

044do is quickly remind ourselves what is our particular situation what is the top things we need to remember about our family so here is kind of some questions I always ask myself to make it easier for me so what she's doing her students are going to give Financial advice to people in the community so they become financial planners [Music] company that that explains the background s everybody at all of them have the budget we don't know about the fact and so that always leads into the problems and so they zoom in and figure out what is the heart of the things about the situation then we zoom out to the solution what do we think is the biggest thing I have and so we wrap up with what are those questions and so there's Gathering

045data on people from the community who want their financial advice off without six thousand for him and so of course foreign so that doesn't get to College Planning there are many vehicles available so then she brings an expert in from the outside there's a professional financial planner two years what the subject means in a way that you just can't talk about the goal for today is being able to explain compound interest because that goes back to them meeting their financial goals students did a lot of work on calculating retirement and mortgage and College of Education one was involved in that is a really super-sized version of exponential compound interest equation which is a learning objective inside so question one is interviewing you why is based on Thursdays but I wanted them to really see how

046in the world that basic formula so they looked at a basic compound interest rate and then they look at how it worked in a financial state ments and mortgage policies for today's financial situation and had to email back and forth to get more information and clarification so one factor living in these very complex potential and they're putting that into individual math report for me but then they have to switch that and make a conversation eight years on the day of presentation this is all of the students first project so it's really important that they have another opportunity to review and make sure that they're ready for the client the break that I did was four percent um five uh years ago or 15 minutes dollars paid off and come what you guys can do is

047you can show it and say also when they meet with the client and just have it be okay um thank you guys for for um I'm going to play that but just a couple things and you guys can definitely ask questions but the reason that such an interesting project to me is it meets all the criteria again so we have a math class advanced math advanced math pre-calculus but they're taking the information and they're applying it obviously real world issue is retirement planning right then they add this component of the client so they're doing a service to the community that also makes it more public so it's public for their teacher public for their peers but probably more important public to the outside public right um and also think about all the skills that they

048are uh practicing and learning that are not just mathematical skills right all those communication skills all the problem solving skills all the collaboration skills and all happening in one class in one project so that's why that's a pretty good example so even though that's not our school I just wanted to show you what what some folks are doing out there and Melania is a math business teacher who shares this type of stuff all over the country so any other comments questions about project or problem-based learning why do I have to take class it shows this is yeah it's applied you know I don't know why you have to take algebra two just do it right and we got to show that we got and it is about that right we've got to show people we

049got to show all students that this stuff has value and meaning it's not just for a test or just for um you know a grade is that this is actually information you could use not only for yourself but to help others right so and that could be a career path too that's another thing is you know student not every student needs is going to become a financial planner but this is exposing students to one more potential opportunity right that they can use their math skills for so even if they just use it for themselves and you guys know that as a culture we could all probably use more financial planning right so so Michael is this being implemented this type of program currently yeah I mean it's like yeah that you know it's really uh

050my intent this year was to challenge teachers um and we've had about half the teachers go through some training with me last summer and kind of expose teachers to this sort of approach they've heard problem or project-based learning but what it looks like and I try to give you some of the key components um we had quite a few of our teachers like at half went through training and I think you know a large part of those have been implementing some projects and I gave you a few examples there's a long way to go this is not something you could just do one time and you have it down if you talk to Mr Cantrell or Mr Wolf or Mr Shattuck or Ms Rick or Miss Cathcart or Mr Berry um any of the teachers

051that are trying this sort of thing they'll tell you that they're having really good experiences their students are excited and engaged and as a teacher they're learning a lot but this is something that's going to take you have to keep it's like everything else you have to keep perfecting math is one of the harder subjects to get this sort of thing going and typically for a variety of reasons so shout out to you know Ms Rodriguez for for getting that Library project going um and Miss Gandolfo has also tried to do some of those type of things so I hope this stuff continues for sure we're going to try to do some more training a little bit this summer but this is available to everybody and there's great resources out there to do this kind

052of work um it's all free and we are getting some great teacher experts on this campus I could really tell you right now that those teachers I mentioned could could be helping all of our teachers who want to do this type of thing so um so we have the capacity and the potential to do it if everybody if everybody agrees that it's uh hopefully an important thing to pursue thank you thank you Michael all right thank you guys [Applause] and now for the superintendent's update yeah well um I wanted to thank Michael for bringing pbl here to us this year and all the work that he's done with our teachers and for our teachers for engaging in that work I think project-based learning can be so engaging and relevant and really make school a place

053where we can learn about real world things and solve real problems and I think those skills are critical in preparing our our students for their future so um thank you Michael for presenting on on the work that we've done this year um just some updates we're wrapping up our state testing so 11th grade cast testing is um almost complete I want to give a shout out to Courtney Moreno who's kind of behind the scenes doing all of our testing coordination and I don't think people really appreciate everything that she does to make all of that happen we're going into our AP testing now in a week and a half um so those are those are lots of activities and events happening on campus I do want to thank um all of the participants for every

05415 minutes that was quite a production um I've I have not experienced that before but it's two days of some very intense and very impactful learning Claudia Pena was our coordinator and this would not have happened without her and I know she just put in a ton of work to make all of that happen so I want to thank Claudia for for seeing that through as well as all of our partners and all of the staff and students who participated as well um our our annual College and Career Fair which I just learned it's our fourth annual College and Career Fair is happening uh tomorrow from 9 15 to 12 15 and so obviously all of our partners and folks who come in and show our student what students what careers and college opportunities are

055out there are we're very thankful for I also want to thank Jen Rasmussen and Kelly Carter for coordinating that as well because it's a lot of effort to get everybody here and and on campus speaking that so we have a lot of examples of exceptional service and um positive Community involvement with our high school over the years it's one of the things that I um Everybody told me when I first came here is how great and wonderful our support of our community is and I think we have an opportunity to recognize um some folks from our community I want to bring Josh McClurg up to the podium to talk about what that might look like thank you uh thanks uh Andrew Schwab and thanks for the board for listening to me and last time I

056was up here I was asking for a ton of money for a scoreboard I am not asking for money this is completely free cost of district nothing again my name is Josh McClurg hold on I'm old now all right um I'm I'm a current head varsity football coach and PE teacher I'm also the a proud pirate alumni class of 94. I wanted to address the board tonight about renaming the pirate field and the stadium after Jeff and Carl Rio I think you will need some backstories I'm sure not all of you know the story of Jeff and Carl and what they did for Sports in the community here Jeff Rio went to high school at saying is where he played football and basketball he graduated in 1989. he got hired in the early 90s in

057the maintenance department here at syhs he then became an assistant JV coach in 1991 in 1993 he moved up to Varsity that was during my senior year looking back on it being coached by Jeff changed the direction of my life he was a tough love coach who brought so much enthusiasm inspiration motivation and true caring for his players I was always a tough kid to coach imagine that my dad coached me one year in NFL or NFL I wish I wouldn't be here uh one here in yfl and he said never again I mean I quote you he said never again Jeff was the first coach that I really clicked with and I was not the only one everyone that played for him would run through a brick wall for that guy Jeff is where

058I drew my inspiration to coach and who I have modeled my coaching style after Jeff's last season coaching football was the 1995 season yes I said 95 not by choice he was tragically killed in a car accident on a rainy morning in February of 1996 at 24 years old his death shocked not only the entire pirate football family but the entire saniana's Valley I still remember exactly where where I was when I found out I was coming out of the weight room at Hancock College and my friend's sister told me a celebration of life was held at the stadium here at Santa in his high school I think English teachers call this foreshadowing there was over 5 000 people in attendance including every varsity football team he coached he bled black and orange and every

059player that played for him did as well fast forward a couple of years his father car real was Carl Rio was still having a hard time with the loss of his son Carl was a longtime horse trainer in the valley and also delivered mail for the post office he talked to Coach Ken grundyke and Carl started helping out with the football program to continue Jeff's passion and Legacy for coaching football and giving back to his community I believe this was in 1999 when he started volunteering he did not take a stipend he was the equipment man part-time athletic trainer and a shoulder for the boys to lean on he stayed late after every practice to talk to the players who are having a hard time at home or were dealing with a breakup he would

060buy bananas food and Waters for the boys on every game day every summer practice when I got hired in 2012 I asked him to stay on and he did during this time he also was coaching and volunteer coaching for the track program his guidance through my first year was something I can never repay we struggled and were one of nine I was a rookie coach I was a bit lost at times with how to deal with all the pressure he would stay late with me sometimes until midnight after a bad loss and let me vent then reassure me I was doing a good job Carl would tell every coach he loved him and he meant it at the time Carl's Health was not doing well he struggled to walk without a limp in 2014 he

061was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer that had spread through his entire body we were in the locker room at napomo high school before a game when we found out it was the first game Carl had never missed that I can remember his wife had called me to tell me right before kickoff when they did this when they then I talked to Carl the next day a week and he told me when they did his body scan for cancer he told me and if you know Carl I'll do my best Carl impersonation lad my body lit up like an effing Christmas tree with all the tumors and then he laughed about it that was just Carl he always had the most optimistic point of view you'd ever seen he fought for almost two years and

062even made it out to a home game before he passed the following year in 2015 we adopted the Mantra Rio strong as a football program to fight like Carl was it was a shame here the players raised money for a tunnel we run through and if you wonder why there's a 66 on it it's to honor Jeff Rio that was his jersey number it's the only number we have unofficially retired no one has worn it since 1995. his memory and story are told every to every player this day we have the real Rock by the weight room we touched before taking the field and practice games we have the real Memorial Scholarship that Carl started for Jeff he used it he used to fund it himself at Carl's or Crest after he passed he was

063to be cremated with no funeral and Carl's words were be kind to one another and to Mentor a young person you identify as needing guidance after his death the residents of the valley donated over sixteen thousand dollars to the Jeff Rio Memorial Scholarship in Carl's honor Mary Ellen is his widow she is getting older and I thought I would ask her one more time for her blessing as I would never do anything without her and her son supporting it I texted her Sunday night this Sunday night and asked her thoughts about renaming the field her response Josh you have been such an advocate for Carl and Jeff and I love you for it I have forwarded your message to Mike and Steve their sons and I will get back to you with their thoughts on

064Monday I received this Josh the boys think this is a wonderful tribute thanks for your caring thoughts Carl found down solace being there with football after Jeff Titan now we have the chance to put their name on the field forever I found my coaching my passion for coaching and teaching because of Jeff Rio I stayed with coaching and teaching because of Carl Rio I know we do not have any buildings excuse me sorry um I know we do not have any buildings named after anyone most schools and colleges name buildings or Fields after Rich donors we have the chance to name the field after two people to change people's lives from what I was told we'll have to come up with a naming policy and I recommend a committee excuse me my advice is to

065reach out to former PE teacher and head football coach Clinton grundyke he has been involved with saying his Sports since 77 and that's 1977 and continues to coach track I've already talked to him and he would love the opportunity to help I urge you as a board to Fast Track this procedure so we can have the field renamed before the first home game so Mary Ellen and her sons can be there to see it if you need further evidence of this these men's effect on the community please come into our team room and I can give you the names of over 100 ex-players that will tell the same tale as I have tonight there are many things that are negative and dividing in our society and Community as I know everyone knows this but there

066are so many great things and the valley support of Carl and Jeff and their family is a great one to be celebrated in a time that we need some shining positive light and to continue to carry on a special story of two great men who are involved with pirate sports for over four decades combined I look forward to hopefully starting the football season with our first game at Rio Memorial Field thank you for your time tonight [Applause] if you have any questions let me know you can reach me by email I know that there's a ton of people that want to talk and I thank everyone for your time thank you Josh and thank you Josh we do have a policy around naming things and so I'll be sharing that with the board and we

067can talk next steps moving forward that concludes my report so now we'll go on to uh board comments and correspondence if anybody has any comments I do okay if I um might and um make sure you pull the mic a Little Closer I just got teary-eyed because of the Rio family I want to thank you all first and I want to apologize this might be a long-winded but I want to say that I'm very saddened by the news that Mr Niehoff has has turned in his resignation I don't know I've only been here a short time as he has but um with I'd have I'm sorry I'm really nervous because now I'm a little emotional um I've been in education for over 25 years and I have never met an administrator with has so much

068compassion for students and staff has such a forward-thinking vision of education is fully committed and also is so well liked by students and staff Mr Niehoff has all of these and that's very difficult to find I remember coming to the board meetings in the fall and listening to his educational philosophy thinking you know who is this this new principal and his passion for the school and I just can't tell you as an educator how phenomenal I think his vision is for where he could take our school over the last several months I've gotten to know him and see his vision for our school put into action it is student-centered focused on learning and instruction and student engagement as we saw in the project-based learning that he's already implemented at the school he um and seeing

069how I was in a math class I don't remember which I think was algebra of students collaborating in meaningful ways up on the board doing this around the world all talking you wouldn't even know it was a math class walking in all of these things to Mr Niehoff after reading his letter last night I just really feel that it's important for everyone to hear it I'm not sure if everybody has received it or heard it and I asked Mr was all right but I think it's really important because it encompasses so much uh Dear Santa Ynez Valley Union High School parents and Guardians I am writing to you today to share an updated an update about next year I have decided not to return as principal of the high school although this is not my

070original intention I have decided to move to a different move in a different direction professionally I have said this publicly many times but I want to reiterate once again how great I think the students are at the high school I have thoroughly enjoyed working alongside them getting to know them from day one they were friendly polite professional engaging Cooperative interesting and a whole lot of fun they made my time here very rewarding I also want to reiterate again how great I think the faculty and staff is at the school as I have shared previously I've worked at several other high schools and visited dozens of other as consultant and just like the students the faculty and staff here are very special they are not the norm or average by any means indeed I'm very proud

071of the collaboration this year with the students faculty and staff it's been a pleasure to model the importance of lifelong learning while the school embraced the efforts to become project-based um have increased technology integration and to create a more engaging Collaborative Learning environment I am proud of the many unique projects and challenges that our teachers have embarked on this year in addition to the great emphasis on project-based learning technology integration and healthy classroom culture I'm also proud of the things that we have added together such as the students of the month character service and Leadership our first annual syv Latino leadership conference principles plank podcast and the monthly news letter and so much more I am also very appreciative of all the great support and collaboration that I've received from day one from so many

072parents alumni Business Leaders and community members I've appreciated all the dialogue positive feedback and support this entire year my goal was to be an instructional leader first and foremost and this I can attest to just talking to him his passion in education I worked hard to model and live that both for teachers and students I always try to make learning the Forefront unfortunately there are some Dynamics outside of the students and teachers that make it almost impossible to focus on teaching and learning in my estimation there is not much that I can do about some of these factors some are part of the current fabric of our society and culture some are small groups of people in the community that are seemingly destined at all costs to attack one another and wielder agendas at a

073school's expense I am concerned about the degree of seemingly unnecessary conflict gossip drama and contention that makes it very difficult to lead especially as an instructional leader who wants to focus on the teaching and learning Johnny Nash Heist Union San Andreas Valley Union High School is a great school and like all schools however there is always room for improvement I would like to see the community support the school in the continuous effort to connect all students to relevant and meaningful learning experience experiences that prepares them for work in the 21st century globalized and Tech infused economy I would also like to see the community come together and put more come together more and put aside some of the differences in disputes in order to better support a positive work at the school for all of

074our students in addition to coming together more in a collaborative manner it would also be beneficial if all the adults would continuously help one another model to our students how to engage and work with one another or productively and positively this includes working together to avoid spreading gossip and misinformation as well as giving one another the benefit of the doubt in all situations and even potential conflicts although I was only here this year I will always be fond of the school and my experience here I will continue to support the students staff school district and the rest for for the rest of the school year and Beyond I will always consider myself a supporter and a cheerleader for the high school and will be available for any professional recommendations that could be helpful as an

075educator an educational writer who has Dove deep into educational research and pedagogy I would like to leave a few examples of my published work that gives us food for thought on how to move forward educate move education forward for the greater success of our students so here we go and he lists and links seven different articles that he's written thanks for all of your time and support I hope the school continues to grow and strive next year and Beyond sincerely Mr nihad his letter States it also succinctly we could be and we should be a great School in the short time that I've been on this board I've had the opportunity to see the the vision of the administration and how it's been implemented implementation in the classroom it focuses on instruction and learning and

076helping the students to become successful we hear it at every board meeting what everybody brings here but unfortunately as Mr Niehoff has stated um that there's Dynamics outside small groups of people in the community that are seemingly destined at all costs to attack one another and wield their agendas at the school's expense is concerned about the degree of seemingly unnecessary conflict gossip drama and contention that makes it very difficult to lead especially as instructional leader and he's an instructional leader that we are losing as a school we should we all should be here for the children allow the staff and administration to do what they are here to do through Mr niehoff's leadership we were heading in that direction building a community and if you look at Community Unity as in the word Community yes

077of course our school has room for improvement schools always do people do we all do but the continued attacks are taken away not only time and talent from the staff but we're also losing great principles and that are leaving not only this it's also costing us if you want to look at it from a member site um Financial drain also at the last board meeting I had asked a question about some of the um line items on our budget and we have it's that are legal and investigator investigatory fees have risen since September they're almost 30 percent 29 exactly it's tens of thousands of dollars that could have been spent on our students we as a community need to work together and come together as a community for our kids to create Unity we need

078our administrators to be able to teach and learn and get this Vision change the Dynamics of Education in this day is broken and we had a leader who had a vision That You Don't See often and I don't know if we're going to find someone and to you Mr Niehoff honestly if we could do something to change your mind I think we should as a board because it is a great loss that you're not going to be here next year thank you [Applause] anybody else okay Jose yes I actually do um thank you thank you for that I really appreciate it I just want to provide a little bit of context uh for those of you uh who may have been a little removed just over the last three years I'm also that this is

079my third year on school board and and to name it it hasn't been easy our community has a lot of challenges there's a pandemic but before that a lot of just a lot of a lot of different tensions in our schools and our students and our faculty and staff were yearning for change for a shift our students were calling for a better lived experience on campus all the current students in recent alums when the board came together there was an opportunity to fill the position as a superintendent some core factors or core qualities that we were looking for as a board and I was part of the hiring process were a bridge person someone who could bring people together someone with experience and with some compassion that could show compassion to the people in front

080of them someone who was willing to take us forward to create the change that our community was asking for and along with that to bring us closer to closing the gaps around the performance of our students trying to find resources and solutions to identify the needs of our students so that they could thrive in their own ways whether they were on College path or a career oriented or back right into the workforce that brought us to Andrew as a hire he had that the board needed that the community asked for that Andrew in a very short time two and plus years has been able to shift resources in division and activate the resources that he needed to take forth not only his vision but the needs in the vision of the school board in the

081community and I know that Michael was one of his top picks hiring him assured and gave confidence that this would actually move and identifying folks who are already part of the uh the the district hires who are doing an excellent job at connecting with our students and developing meaningful relationships that allowed students to see themselves here in a safe environment so a lot of resources were poured into providing for Ace for an environment that allowed our young we're talking about 14 year olds to 18 year olds in most cases right these kids need a sense of connection not only with themselves but the people in the mentors and that are giving them opportunities to learn information about themselves to understand that the culture has is Shifting demographics are changing students are having much more meaningful

082Communications conversations that my generation had in the generations before me these young people are so ready to take on bigger issues indeed with compassion and curiosity and understanding and so I want to make sure that you know that as a background because there are a lot of wonderful things happening on this campus at Refugio first-hand experience watching uh Miss gagones connect with with the students there it didn't take much for the air to kind of come together and how much confidence these students have at Refugio and what they are given the tasks to complete milestones the same thing happened when I walked into some of the classrooms here with a project-based learning some of the discussions that these students were having were Beyond um a lot of other places that I've seen and so the

083Athletics the folks that the students are thriving in athletics they're a lot I think the community is engaging we mean we're full in difficult conversations maybe some that that they were not having before and so that doesn't come easy it takes time and it takes work okay we cannot purchase with any amount of material wealth a place that builds trust that's something you earn that's something you work towards and that's kind of what's Happening Here okay and so we get we lose track of all the positive things that are happening we lose track at the importance of us as adults whether or not we have students in front of us we're also teaching in the way that we behave in the way that we speak to one another and it's really important that we don't

084lose sight of all of the positive work that's happened here that we as a community as a district have been able to move the needle towards students be able to express a little bit more of who they are and show those identities and accelerate their culture it was so refreshing for me to come to the open house and to see 14 Latino kids in their folakotaic aware dancing in front of a community of members who some were paying attention to others were not but they didn't care they're celebrating they're bringing some mild positive energy into they want it to show us in the community that they're here and present and so are many other students the uh the dialogue that took place in Atlanta theater with the project that the super king led to me

085that's powerful that's educational that's getting our students ready to engage with the complexities of their future in the way that they need to engage with so many different minds and so many different uh experiences and I think it's uh it's actually yes we're being challenged we've been challenged over time in the majority of the time it's not by students it's by the adults and oftentimes adults who may not even have children at the school and one of my I one of my invitations and I implore are at extended Community is to please leave the the political grievances outside of the education system outside of this schools and allowed as was said the students to be students the teachers to be teachers and the leaders to be leaders so that our students can be better prepared

086and be productive members of our community of our society because I think that's what we want so let's leave the Grievances the political grievances in the Arenas where they belong and let's engage in dialogue let's talk about that let's come in with compassion understanding and authentic curiosity about those let's teach our students let's give them the language to be able to do that I think that in itself will take them a long way and so I want to appreciate uh Mr nihalf because in a very short time you've been able to accomplish collectively something that the board in the community was asking for three years ago you've you've done a lot more than you probably gave yourself credit to and I want you to know that peace it means a lot that you've been able

087to take that torch authentically the way that you did in the way that you interact with every student it doesn't matter who they are so thank you for that and there's another another celebration I think that's worthy of mentioned is there PT as a is recently being recognized for their work from the national PTA committee on diversity and inclusion we realize that diversity inclusion is a very charged terms unfortunately but what that means is being aware of every previous president right so so I want to make sure that we celebrate all of the positives and not get loose track uh in the midst of chaos and tension we can do this today together and I invite all of us to do so on the board at the student level faculty and staff and community members

088and the wonderful thing about it is that every single person in this community cares and that's why um we have these sorts of moments but we can work through this but let the people do what they do thank you thank you everyone is normal I don't have anything to say I just again um open house you wouldn't even know there were conflicts I saw so many happy students teachers we went in classrooms and I I just want to celebrate what is good on this campus and just so involved uh all the students I learned a lot I learned the teacher they were teaching me things and I just really felt honored to be able to be on a board of a such a vital school so thank you I do want to compliment Mr oh

089I do want to compliment Mr Ibarra and oh and Miss Grace on both of what they had to say it was really positive and encouraging thank you and I I wanted to say uh also thank you all for the comments and it's wonderful uh Josh are you still here thank you for the presentation on uh a person that gave their whole life basically to this community and there are you will find in this community uh I'm born and raised here third generation people people do step up and it's greatly appreciated when you do step up and and speak and support the students support the school support uh everything to do with it so uh kudos to everybody the Rios are very special people they were close to me as well um so I really appreciate

090that that comment and Michael um appreciated what you had to give and what you've given and uh really sad too to hear that you won't be returning so I agree okay so we will move on to uh the public comment time period And I just wanted to read a couple of things here we have quite a few commenters and being a new new one new to the board I was reading through policy and basically every public comment time period what for any agenda item there's 20 minutes allowed typically within that 20-minute time period uh we we have some leeway as a board to uh it typically is a three minute time period that everybody gets a chance to speak um we can make a motion to lessen that a little bit so that everybody will

091get an opportunity um or or I would implore you as a public to maybe appoint people to if you're speaking on the same subject um that would be great as well but it's a 20-minute time period per agenda item so we currently have about 25 cards so I would ask what would you like to do as a board are these all on the same agenda item what agenda item are so the public comment is it's all just 20 minutes it's 20 minutes yes so I would I would uh propose maybe one minute per person well it's all I'm sorry this is a board meeting and this is it yes it yes ma'am please thank you so it's all on the same subject oh it's not okay public comment is an agenda item I I think

092to give everybody the opportunity like you said and they only have 20 minutes if you if there's 25 cards at least if everybody gets a minute that's what they prefer please don't be disruptive I'm sorry this let me please remind you that this uh Mr Parker this just as a just as a reminder this is a board meeting time for public comment that's fine the all the board policy bylaw is 9323 if you'd like to review it it is reviewable this okay I I'm sorry I I have I I I think we need to take a pause uh for a second here and uh and I I do agree that it is really important that everyone does have an opportunity to speak and and I think it's important to also be flexible and so that

093everybody does right there is there's some some flexibility here but we've got to keep this uh Civil Right and so what I'm hearing here is so that everyone speaks maybe not the full three minutes maybe two minutes uh again this this is a board meeting and there are some policies that we could be applied that's not that starting point from the president of the board neither is it for me as a board member want to be mindful of that and so can we get to this place of stability and I actually would propose that um so as long as we stay at two minutes per person allow everyone to speak now and not take any more cards is what I propose so that's a motion I moved to yes that is I I moved to

094allow if this is is this allowed to actually say we will not take any more cards uh cards are right here the current cards will take the current card so I move I move to allow for two minutes per speaker so that everyone who has presented a card is able to speak the policy states you had a number there that if there's 20 minutes and with this there's about 25 cards so we we can be flexible essentially give the extra minute for everybody but you have to imagine that there's so many people if you all want to speak as Mr Ibarra said the civility is part of it if you want to hear everybody speak and it is a public comment as a bird her policy I mean I'm I I'm good with that with

095the cards don't get me wrong we'd like to hear everybody but we do have a lot of business to take care of as well we'd like to hear what you have to say um we're just trying to give everybody the opportunity to do that within the guidelines of the board policy I don't think that and I I would encourage you to as well to email us we all have district emails we would and I we read all the emails um comments don't necessarily come immediately but you will get reply uh so I'm we're trying to to make this work for everybody including for us to be able to go home to our families as well okay yeah I second Mr abarra's motion of the two cards so we will go to we will go to

096two minutes per comment uh for the uh for the public comment period foreign which will take longer than 20 minutes so the first public I'm sorry oh I'm sorry okay tell me when you're ready Terry please yes they will I'm not sure what that is that's B1 we've already passed that Keith principle public I'm not sure what that is okay I will oh well that one's already passed yeah business ES experience exactly right let's fight we'll take a five minute recess so we can get the clock set excuse me um like maybe that's it thank you [Music] excuse me videos okay [Applause] um yep um Wild erness um you call the meeting back to order that's correct [Music] okay we're going to start the public comment time period everybody will have two minutes and I

097would please ask everybody to refrain from any disruptions so that we can get through this time period quickly we'll call up first uh Charlie Roar that's actually that's actually a disruption please just let her come up and speak my name is Charlie rihor I'm a junior at Santa Ynez high school and I'm one of three co-chairs of our campuses gender sexuality Alliance or GSA this year I was invited by the school administration to be a member of a school-wide no place for hate initiative on March 9th I along with my two co-chairs attended a no place for hate meeting to discuss a week of activities at the end of March at this meeting the GSA came up with and suggested the idea of temporarily painting the speed bumps in front of the school rainbow in

098order to show inclusivity to lgbtq plus students during this week of events this idea was met with approval from fellow students and the group facilitators principal nihoff and Adriana Reyes the people helping people inclusivity coordinator on campus Miss Reyes offered to help the GSA get in touch with a local asphalt company who were willing to donate their services in the paint job but the idea of the pride speed bumps was a completely student-led initiative the GSA was informed that the plan was set and would go through Ramsey asphalt came to campus as planned after school on Friday March 24th to paint the speed bumps they also confirmed that they would return the following Friday the 31st to repaint the crosswalks back to White on Tuesday March 28th the GSA was set to help kick off

099the week of no place for hate activities we set up a booth at lunchtime and graciously received donations from syb Pride a local organization not affiliated with the GSA to give out to students well school was still in session that same day unbeknownst to the GSA Santa Ynez High School staff painted Over the Rainbow speed bumps in front of Campus the GSA has since received conflicting reasons as to why the rainbows were painted over prematurely but we were told that it likely had to do with backlash from individuals outside of the school the school statement at the pride speed bumps were politically motivated is completely false over the past three weeks I have been in contact with faculty on campus and I've still not received a definite answer as to why the crosswalks painted white

100or who made the executive decision to have it done this action damages the trust established between the GSA its many allies and the school admin furthers the existing culture of homophobia and discrimination on campus and creates an unsafe education environment I urge the board to protect all students at Santa Ana's high school and ensure equal treatment for the school's GSA and queer community thank you Charlie please uh please refrain from from Applause thank you we'll move on to the next one bird bird Psych I'm Vera seek I'm a senior at Santa Ynez Valley high school and one of the chairs of the GSA one of the gsa's contributions to the school's no place for hate initiative was to have the crosswalks painted rainbow for a week we had the assistance of Adriana Reyes and contacting

101Ramsay asphalt to do it professionally on Tuesday March 28th the GSA held an event at lunch to promote inclusion just hours later without warning the crosswalk was repainted black and white by maintenance we still have heard no clear explanation from the school receiving only vague and conflict conflicting reasons for its premature removal everything about what happened hurts the public removal during the school day at an hour which many parents and students would see the timing just a day before open house four days earlier than scheduled the lack of communication with us the students on our project that we planned I felt invisible unwelcome at this school for the duration of my time here this small show of support a temporary rainbow speed bump meant more to me than it could ever than it ever could

102have to the parents who wanted it gone school has again failed at its job to protect its students as it bent to the will of people who are unaware of the environment they affect and haven't lived what I and many other students have lived the students deserve better thank you Vera again I would ask please refrain we can clap at the end if you'd like uh Sandy Mullen please hi my name is Sandy Mullen I'm not a third generation Valley person but I have been here 27 years so I know that makes me a newbie in a lot of circles I have three children who are alums of Santa Ynez High School well two of whom were presidents of the GSA back when it was a gender no it was gay straight Alliance and now

103gender sexuality Alliance I say that because it's personal to me I usually write out what I wanted to say but today I had to come as a mother and as a woman who works with young children a lot your students and my child's experience here as a non-binary bisexual person was horrific we do talk about all of the amazing things here at the school and it's true my children all benefited from an amazing education they were able to get into top tier colleges and they are all doing phenomenally well thanks to the education and the staff here at Santa Ana's high school at the same time my child was called horrific homophobic slurs in your locker room with adults in attendance who just told the other kids oh come on stop that and that was

104it I didn't find that out until a year ago because he was nervous about telling me also posters were tripped down for a GSA where's Club posters everywhere FFA Ola as it should be everyone should be represented you should have speed bumps for every Club is what you should do but the gsas are the only ones that are ripped down and there's a reason for that and we talk about building a bridge these students these children that you're supposed to protect feel unsafe and you erased their identity in front of them at 2 pm on that Tuesday [Applause] once again I will ask to reflect refrain from Applause and let's just keep this moving on please Alice Mullen foreign Valley and attended the high school from 2009 to 2013. I now live in Santa Barbara

105where I'm getting my doctorate in school psychology and I also have a master's in education in school psychology I'm here today to urge you to consider repainting the site rainbow crosswalks or enacting some other form of visible support for the queer youth at Santa Ynez high school it's my hope that providing some facts may help you to understand the potential life-changing and life-saving decisions that are in your power to make Fact one children need safety and belonging we know from extensive research that children can only Thrive and reach their whole potential when they are provided with certain basic psychological needs two of these basic needs are a sense of safety and a sense of belonging Fact Two queer children are hurting queer youth are more likely to experience depressive symptoms than suicidal ideation risk factors

106for these symptoms include negative interpersonal interactions school bullying victimization and violence victimization in community settings fact three schools can be a protective factor for queer youth luckily we also know that schools can be a source of support for queer youth protective factors include social support from friends and feeling safe at school fact four you work for about 178 queer students based on current estimates of the Gen Z population it is estimated that you directly provide services to about 178 queer students you have the power to support these youth by increasing supportive factors and reducing risk factors I would encourage you for a moment to put the politics of public education aside and think back to a time when you were 16 years old to a moment at school when you felt 100 supported by a

107teacher or administrator how did that moment shape you clearly you all care deeply about youth or else you wouldn't be serving in an unpaid thankless job like School Board somewhere along the line someone at school probably made you feel safe supported heard and loved and you probably threw your hat in the ring for school board to do the same for someone else this is your chance to be that person for 178 students it doesn't matter if you personally think being queer is a sin or weird or confusing or trendy all that really matters under all the politics and the vitriol and the Facebook common after Facebook comment is that you have a chance to make 178 students feel safe supported heard and loved thank you your consideration and go pirates thank you Alice [Applause] Erica

108Valdez [Music] foreign limit is new I've been watching the board meetings for a few years and I've not seen this until now anyway I wanted to share my deep disappointment with the decision to paint over the temporary rainbow crosswalks planned by the GSA students as part of the no hate play no place for hate wheat I strongly supported the original decision to paint the crosswalks and show all students that they are welcomed and belong I urge you as Educators and board members to please listen to your students and listen to parents what kind of message were you sending the students by literally painting over and erasing the symbol telling them that they matter that they belong that they are accepted I don't know if you have taken the time to listen to their stories of

109the recent students and current students and their parents but I have and I can tell you I've cried more than once might cry now how can you possibly be okay with their suffering why are you opposed to giving them a physical and visual symbol telling them and all students that they are accepted and supported I'm genuinely asking because showing support to all students or all of your students is not political telling the kids that they belong to doesn't exclude anyone else you as Educators and caretakers of these kids should have stood up to the angry adults and protected them from the ugliness and bigotry in our Valley school should be a safe space for students and right now our school sadly is not that again I supported the initial work and decision and I supported

110all the amazing work that Michael Niehoff and Adriana Reyes have done on this campus for inclusion this year I urge you to hire as a replacement someone similar to him that will continue this work and continue working with Adriana and if it wasn't evident Enough by the student walkout the students love and need her so please listen to your students the students should matter more than the few angry adults feeling a toxic learning environment please stop letting them win protect the students stand up for the students the majority of the community will support you for doing that I understand the crosswalk was not the board's decision but I urge you to work to support inclusion work on campus and to support these students who are resiliently speaking up to fight against the hate of adults

111in our community show them you support them foreign Beth Lee I am a Solvang resident and I am an alumni from Santa Ynez High School class of 89. and I'm here to show support to all the students but particularly the lgbtq students and their allies when they staged their walkout they said we deserve better they do deserve better they deserve to be seen safe and supported and that support should be consistent and strong as educators we know in the hierarchy of need first students have to feel safe until they feel safe they can't learn and thrive in all the ways that we want them to so please when you are making decisions for these students I beg you you have to put their need for safety first you have to put their mental health needs

112first that has to be way more important than the voice of some angry parents you like I said you've got to stand up for them they are the present and the future and they deserve that thank you Marybeth live be oh excuse me I'm sorry I picked up two uh Pete Thompson Michael thank you so much for I'm uh saying as alumni my both my kids are going to school here um I'm here to speak out for all the rest of the kids that go to the school that aren't here I understand what everybody's saying here but everybody at the school she had been on an equal playing Ground are we not agreed playing Ground actually that's uh don't converse level Level Playing Field right are we right here everybody deserves equal amount of respect

113at this school and here I'm saying this is I mean I applaud you guys for Pete address I applaud everybody for for coming tonight but um I want to make sure that nobody falls through the cracks at this school there's a lot of kids that are not choosing to return next year um I just want to ask everybody here people that have been here for a while there's a lot of new faces here I've lived here my whole life and I want everybody to think about you know a lot of these kids here have never been out in the world yet and don't know what the real world is like but there's a lot of parents here that I see that have been here for a long time think about it why are we here

114why do we live in the valley because it's an amazing place and you can't tell me any different you can go there's a reason why you're here right everybody here loves it here and if you don't like it well there's a lot of other places that you can feel like you can go to but I'm gonna be hard-pressed to find a place to go that's going to be more accessible and giving than this community and a lot of you kids don't know that yet and I applaud everybody here that actually stood up for the net for the Pledge of Allegiance something that everybody here should be doing the time's up thank you thank you Pete please please hold the Applause live B I okay I'm just gonna go with what I said um there are

115many positive changes you can bring with your positions of power protect the kids right so your actions and your words trickle down and affect our community as we clearly see here tonight see what your actions and inactions have done this is a gift to be used and not abused please so with that said do better as a member in our community with two children already in the school system I'm already worried what my kids will face each day so revisit your words review your actions and Own It draw a line make that boundary and stand to include all of the communities who have been oppressed suppressed and made to feel invisible these are children that actually confided in adults in this school within its programs please do better do not let ignorance fail this community

116I implore you all to if you think you get the idea you don't just ask or have a conversation I've been ignorant many times in my life but I ask I learn I develop and I'm still learning so let's listen and raise the voices for those who have lost their own voices and instill positivity in our Valley make a statement that you will choose to embrace the students in need Paint is only a small step towards inclusion but nevertheless it is a step in the right direction for our future it is crucial to understand that sexuality and gender identity are matters of identity and not politics that is a week and fail argument that continues to be aimlessly regurgitated I know you will take the correct course of action and understand that people have been

117hurt this needs mending This was meant to help the children feel welcomed and safe on their High School the repainting only solidifies we cannot see a bright future for our children in this community because leadership will not have their backs when the time comes let's remedy this now I appreciate all of you for taking the time away from your own personal lives but at the same time we all want to come here and live good lives too again I ask you please refrain from the pause that would be nice thank you Lee Rosenberg so first of all uh in the Pledge of Allegiance I hear uh and justice for all once there is a manifestation of justice for all uh and that we all feel about it secondly this placard is very meaningful but it's

118binary there's a we that suggests as a they would reword this and say you are seen you are heard and you are supported the unfortunate attacks that uh came to Mr Schwab and Mr Niehoff to whom I've been a very fond and emotional farewell um and Mr Wolf who I believe is going to be departing these attacks are essentially a manifestation of a political agenda that agenda is manifest to a very large degree explosive degree in Florida we want that here I don't think anybody wants it here I certainly don't the names that I collected with the help of some of the students and others who were the attackers and who put the pressure on Mr Schwab Mr Niehoff and others interestingly enough seemed to share the same political preference so I have a suspicion

119that Florida is on its way here unless we resist it and we resist it damn strong our students are entitled to learn in an environment where they are taught by a faculty that has derived its experience and its knowledge and its skill from education not from politics thanks thank you Lee Mike Brad's is it Brady Mike oh Mike Brady okay sorry I didn't read it thank you for letting the community speak um when we came here there was one traffic signal in the valley so we've been around a while my children went to school here my grandchildren went here by the way one of them just barely made it through thank you we have been around and I appreciate that when I was walking in I saw a sundial out there that's been there for

120actually 32 years that has a poem on it and I pulled up I won't read the whole thing but I'll read one stanza it's the second to the last stanza and what it says is although I look after people in my little throne I never pick just one of them I love to look at many more and I think that's what you as a board and as an Administration have to do quite frankly I think it's a fact that the LBGTQ community has been marginalized for decades and shoved into a corner and now you are hearing them loud and clear and I think it's something that you need to listen to because there have been many people that have been marginalized in our community over the years as wonderful and beautiful as a community it

121is so pay attention and be inclusive thank you thank you Mike bill croa bill Crouch is there a bill Crouch okay there's a little green room across the hall that's a nice way to see this hearing without being in a stuffy room anyway I'm here to ask your advice my name is Bill Crouch I'm on the board of directors for the San Inez airport I'm responsible for airport Dame and that comes up May 20th for those of you who are not familiar with airport day we host approximately a thousand people uh we have a static airplane display the sheriff brings out all their helicopters SWAT team calstar helicopters uh we offer free rides to kids between the ages of 18 and 17. uh and we give free hot dogs hamburgers chips so you can see

122we get a lot of it a lot of attendance for what we offer in addition to that we also provide a scholarship for someone to get a private pilot's license and that's uh eligible eligible students in the San Dimas Valley age of 17 to 19. last year out of there's about 900 high school students in this Valley there were three applicants which to me is very sad and that's why I ask your advice we the applicant who did get the full scholarship is it done she just got her private pilot's license she's majoring in or she's going to go to Stanford and major in aviation engineering very very sophisticated topic so I would like to know how we can interest more students from the high school last week one of my colleagues Bruce Porter took

123this to the counselor's office asked that it be posted all the student has to do is put their phone here it takes you right to the application that is still not posted as I walked around and looked at the bulletin boards at the school today but this I dropped off yesterday and I saw multiple postings this is about the the overall event Bill I'm sorry your time is up I would encourage you to reach out to the superintendent and uh we can help you with that thank you uh Joanne Keane hi I've been involved with Refugio high school as a community member volunteer since 2010. um first I want to publicly thank Stephanie gagonis for her years of tireless and loving leadership of Refugio she was a god Center Refugio arriving at the school's lowest

124point after the school had been gutted with no leadership and placed in a portable in the middle of Santa Nest high school grounds she along with the incredible teachers and staff brought the school back to its rightful campus and with the students they rebuilt a cohesive and trusting School community and have kept that community and the students front and center in all that they do there blah blah blah um um Stephanie has been the engine of Refugio she has been the glue to the Refugio Community she has kept the vision of Refugio alive she will her leaving will leave a huge hole at Refuge Hill that will be difficult to fill which leads me to my second topic since 2010 I have seen six different leaders or leader configurations at Refugio each change in leadership

125has had a major effect on the school's ability to function effectively for its students under some the school flourished under others the school floundered the Right leader is Paramount to the success of a continuation school and its students as you begin looking for Stephanie's replacement I hope you will take the opportunity to visit Refugio to see for yourself what the school is all about talk to the students the teachers and staff to get a better idea of what their needs are in a leader talk to Stephanie see what the job entails from her perspective talk to her about what she sees as needed qualities for this job the small amount of time that this will take is bound to make your job easier as you develop a deeper understanding of Refugio its strengths its needs

126and its students we trust you will do your best to fill the principal position at Refugio with someone who is a good fit for the school community and who can keep her fujio on its upward trajectory thank you for your commitment to our district and to our students thank you Joanne Veronica Rubio it is great to see so many Santa's Community together for the students for our children also I believe we need a bigger room every time I come to the board meetings the numbers are growing we care about our children and our students my name is Veronica Rubio Rodriguez I am one of the leaders of the sadness Valley PTSA board the PTSA board and volunteers have been working hard so all students and families feel welcome in our non-profit organization befall the guidance

127of the national PTSA so every student and person is welcome regardless of their social economic status race gender sexual orientation religious beliefs or physical ability we are proud to help put on the first black history celebration at the school with and the black student union the PTSA had fed over 800 students treats well designers Jazz Bell played we just received donations from the founder musical instruments just for the high school students our board members I mean our board members are from all backgrounds cultures and sexual orientations so we truly represent our school and community and each member and students feel seen to be respected and supported because of the effectiveness of cleaning everyone we found out last week that we have been awarded the biggest National PTA award and a grant in the nation the

128Jan Domi diversity equity and inclusion reward we are we were chosen out of the national PTSA we hope that you you will all join us in celebrating this wonderful honor not for us but for our students who have who are from all cultures religions sexual orientation and different physical abilities the sadness School PTC um thanks all the volunteers and Adriana Reyes for working with us please join us in making this the school a happier and more positive place for the students every child One Voice we always stand and with the students every student we are not doing not going anywhere receiving email from the state that the school wanted to disband thank you Veronica time is up trying to silence us [Laughter] Liz Perez I'm gonna ask the translator to come here because I would

129like this to be said in Spanish because I would like to invite our community to the PTSA Espanol um parents students PTSA GSA what what they're about Escuela is um no Nosotros programa functions so they're here side of it instead of what the students want sigamos is um but gracias thank you thank you Liz appreciate that next up will be Carrie McKinnon good evening my name is Carrie McKinnon I am the mother of two alumni the oldest of which was one of the founding members of the GSA I'm very proud of them for that like Sandy Mullen I could not write something ahead of time because this issue of the rainbow being painted over is so personal and it was so hurtful to me to my children and to the community perhaps you don't understand

130what an ugly thing it was to do perhaps it was not actually literally a hate crime but I believe that emotionally it had that effect I'm I'm shaking I'm so upset by it still I'm upset and I'm fearful for my children who might come back to visit me in this Valley and be faced with such ugliness I believe that we all deserve an explanation of how some people were allowed to put that kind of pressure and I believe that we deserve the crosswalks back for a week I really expect you to do something about it and if you don't I'll know where you stand thank you Carrie again a pause is that moiva mueva whatever Gill thank you uh I wanted to let you know that there are PTSA forms in the back in English

131and Spanish and anybody can join and it's 15 bucks and it's worth it and there are also flyers in the back um Friday night there's going to be a Havana night dance it's an affordable dance it's a 10 bucks and I'm a mom my daughter uh is a junior Here and she loves it she loves it so the teachers are terrific um so I have a question in my two minutes who decided to paint the rainbow back white they can't respond you can't respond I'm sorry the board cannot respond so is there is there a school lawyer here tonight no okay I called the office and asked for a meeting with you Mr Schwab and I called an Astra meeting with you Mr nihoff and I haven't gotten it yet but I assume I will

132so I will I will be calling about that because uh um I'm here to support the students and the learning environment and I was not happy that there was a walk out I want them in class and um don't want to hear from them in that negative way again and I heard that there were legal and investigative fees that were spent this last year and I don't really keep up too much with the local stuff but I guess that would be another question for a lawyer of who's investigating that there was a child was sedated I'm a parent I don't expect that to happen ever again here so uh you can't answer my question tonight is that not how it works okay so I will follow up on those things but just letting you know

133that I will be following up on those things and also to find out how Mr Niehoff gets replaced and who replaces him and who makes that decision is that you guys and uh well I'll be getting an education I guess on this but very disappointing that you let our kids down like that and um that's it thank you Amy Friedman foreign my name is Amy Friedman and God has blessed me with two queered kids a 10th grader here at this school and a sixth grader coming up my role as their mom is has been give been to give them space to unfold just as they are become happy caring and kind humans like all of you I'm here because I'm concerned about their safety education and their well-being no hate week represents accepting celebrating people

134in our Lives who are different than we are there was no hidden agenda no message no hidden messaging it was not political it was a time to understand people's differences and allow our kids to feel safe welcomed and be themselves we live in a society filled with differences different Religion different skin color different sexuality different politics this one week was about including and educating all people and just letting them display acts of inclusiveness the rainbow crosswalk was a way for the GSA Club the lgbtq community to be represented when the rainbow crosswalk was painted over this showed our kids how hateful people can be if you are different than others you are not welcomed this is not the message we should be sending our children not only does this show the major the minority that

135if you don't like something you can bully your way out of it but it shows the unrepresentative group that you are not safe or supported or listened to I am asking for the rainbow crosswalk to be painted back I believe with education our parents our teachers our board our Administration can get this toxic hate out of our school system and inclusiveness make it a priority thank you Amy Kyle Cavalli my name is Kyle Cavalli and I come to you not tonight as a gay man who graduated from this high school in 2001 it's a very unique experience and if you haven't been through it then I don't really know if you should be making decisions for us I find it alarming and pathetic that you hid behind a letter written by an exiting member of

136the staff I think the small groups as you mislabeled are just asking to be seen I find it alarming that as you sit on the board you choose to Gaslight us as an audience I would turn the focus back within yourself in your Administration you complained about 30 percent more dollars being spent on legal matters maybe just maybe the resigning principle gave people the opportunity to be seen just a little to be able to stand up and bring to attention things that were ignored being gay is not political being Brown is not political financial status is not political there are good things happening on this campus no one can deny that did the queer Community feel like the act of painting over the rainbow speed bump was a racing representation I can answer for myself

137and I did I'm here even though I don't have a student here yet I'm a father of four my oldest is 11. she'll be here she can't attend the school as it is right now to be thrown slurs as you walk down the high school is something I experienced almost every day and I wasn't even out until I was 25. I would be so disappointed if she ever heard anything that resembles that thank you thank you Kyle Jillian Knight uh first and foremost I want to thank Michael Niehoff for um Adriana Reyes for their amazing work on the campus this year I'm really sad to hear you're leaving I think you've done some really good work here um as part of the black student union my son was able to tour the stem department at

138Cal Poly and that really made a difference in his life he and his friends as well as my daughter before him spent a lot of time in Pirate's Cove with Hector and now Adriana having safe spaces for students has proven to lower suicide rates amongst teens especially those that are underrepresented like our lgbtqia youth I also believe that all students should be represented on campus in some way and that rainbow cross back crosswalk helped with that visibility the division in this community does not help our students and just as division Nationwide weakens us division locally can see be seen much more quickly and our effects are local youth so much more when we wanted to add an mtss program in 2020 and add a licensed lmft back on campus a mental health committee was created

139it worked and that program was implemented with myself included on that committee and it happened in 2020 I suggest we do something like that again through a social and emotional advocacy committee that would have students and vetted community members along with staff supervision so that we can see what students on campus really want not what a small amount of parents outside or community members want to dictate or limit on this campus we need to allow students to have a fair education but also allow teachers to teach an admin to admin this is about students and always should be working together for the betterment of our community and our students so a committee can help with some of those concerns allows our admin to not be bombarded time and time again we can work together to

140make a safe environment here and continue nihof's progress thank you Jillian Next Step Matt each oh I just lost it hang on one second sorry just set it up the whole time there it is there it is okay I think for this time I appreciate it I'm a resident a taxpayer small business owner a proud member of the community I have a master's degree in education and most importantly I have two daughters that attend this school they're sophomores and they're sophomore and a junior um they're dedicated to their education they're involved in extracurricular activities and have great love for their friends and teachers uh some of them are here tonight um I cherish every moment I have with them that I can share with them in our home they have such a short time left

141in their High School career I unfortunately I'm counting down the days until they step out into adulthood I always try to do my best to listen to respect and respect them and help guide them into adulthood based on the actions and the decisions and Leadership at this school it does not appear that you are interested in listening to or respecting them in the way that they deserve I'm embarrassed I'm disappointed I'm saddened by the poor leadership at this school with Mr nihoff's resignation my daughter who's a junior will have four principals in four years that she's attended this school this is a small reflection of the poor leadership Happening Here my daughters have repeatedly shared with me how they feel disrespected unheard and unsafe at this school I always do my best to give people

142the benefit of the doubt and I know your jobs are not easy but I'm a total loss we're trying to explain your actions to my daughters you've got to do better the meeting started with a student sitting at the table here telling you that they're waiting on response as to why the symbol of no place where hate was painted over waiting for a response you hear from them waiting for a response this is an insult and an explanation accountability is deserved explain yourselves to the students answer their questions and listen dude start here just look at them listen to them hear them support them and Mr Johnson what appeared to be your deliberate and at best and sensitive stalling of this meeting is another example of poor leadership thank you Matt [Applause] Lisa Baker [Music]

143this is an emotional we're the only example that our kids have to be better and we're failing them I'm the parliamentarian for the PTSA because I wanted to get involved not because I was a parent but because my partner has an alumni from 1985 here and I thought it was really great to be part of an organization that was recognized for inclusion and being a really feeling as to be a safe place for all kids to go to school so we came over we watched that the that the speed bumps were painted and I was so inspired that I sent a letter to the superintendent and to the principal saying what a great opportunity it would be for the remaining portion of the school year for those crosswalks to have stayed those speed bumps to

144have stayed the remainder of the year and I never heard back from either one of you being the only example for our children on how to act and handle a situation we need to lead by example we need to support all of our children all of the time I too am in complete support of those speed bumps to be replaced and repainted so that we can show our support to all of our kids and I would appreciate your consideration and like to get an answer back on if in fact that's going to take place thank you Thank you Lisa next up we have Wendy Benny Barry oh sorry Wendy my name is Wendy Berry and I have a student at the high school and I'm also an alumni Mr nihoff I'd like to thank you

145for your dedicated service for the kids my son actually really likes you and um your ability to relate to the kids and all kids and treat them fairly without being a dictator doesn't go unnoticed so very sorry that you were leaving we wish you the best and maybe there is a way you would reconsider um and also um naming the football field after the Rios is a great idea and hopefully you will allow that through following the policy that you have um for naming facilities after somebody the Rios have been a part of this Valley and if anybody in this room has an eighth of their integrity you are a wonderful person I'd like to thank the board uh for focusing on education for our kids we need to put Education First we need to

146put our kids first whether they're gay black white hispanic Jewish whatever we need to leave the politics out of the high school we need to focus on education and the no place for hate that's a great campaign if it's truly a no place for hate but with all the hate emails that have been going to the council to the board and to all the people and to the people who painted it over it's not about hate no hate it is hate everybody is projecting hate if they don't get the the answer they want just like how you've asked 10 times please no clapping there's a rule in place we need to follow the rules so um thank you thank you Wendy uh mark kirthel foreign Members Mark herthel um second board meeting I've been to

147my daughter's going to go here next year I was a senior when Jeff Rio was killed in the car accident and I was right out here in the parking lot when we all heard uh Jeff Rio was my football coach he was one of the greatest mentors any young kid could have and his father was unbelievable salt to the Earth and projected love like very few people I've known so um I fully support naming the field after Jeff Rio and those are two Jeff and Carl are two people that they have had more impact after after passing than they may even had during life and I'd like to see that continue [Music] um just you know I think also for many of us have so many passions and and there's nothing that makes us more

148passionate than our children um and uh I think maybe the board you guys could consider a policy around this the topic of the different uh the clubs or the different um the different groups that maybe there's a place at the school that is dedicated in each group gets their chance to do something they're proud of as a mural there's murals in here when I was here there's murals pain all over the school maybe there's something that um is isn't done in haste but is done with respect and honor um and then you don't have these you got to go forward back and this kind of no good deed goes unpunished um again uh just two cents um and then other thing is just I would it's very hard to run a school I'm on a

149school board of a school with 12 employees and this is much much bigger you guys need to do something to help ensure that your administrators can do their job because most of their job is running the school and I've heard many passionate thoughtful comments tonight but I think you need to figure out how do you interface with the community and listen and and be responsive but how do you always also allow these individuals to run the day-to-day operation of the school because that's their foremost priority and I'm very sorry to hear you leave when I heard that you know I saw you as a natural leader here and it is tragic to see you leave that fast um very sad and thank you all for being here this is the community and it's great to

150see so many people that are friends employees you know friends kind of almost a friend and thank you yeah football coach so do I yeah so I had two two uh later um cards come in one was for B1 which we've already passed um that was Jeff Speck see seek it was for B1 which we've already passed so there's no time uh no comment on that and then Keith uh well if okay well Jeff come on up [Applause] uh I can only hope to be um half as eloquent as my daughter who I'm so proud of um principality off um I'm gutted that you're leaving I reached out to you after this you know how I felt I expressed it to you you're not perfect I'm not perfect I hope that we could have a

151lot of conversations about how how this could have gone and how it would go differently I think we're all poorer for your leaving I I really think that I think also it's not political to acknowledge a group of people that exist to acknowledge the group of people exists is not to ratify it it's not to double down on it it's not to lift it up it's to acknowledge that a group of people exists a group of people that were reached out to by the school and said please what would you like to do we'd like you to participate in the way that we're going to show that this is an accepting Community they said we'd like to do this the school said great then they were told oh actually you're not you're not okay sorry

152you're not okay because you're political I that's so hurtful and anybody who says anybody who says that we're an accepting community we're not we're not if we're an accepting community that would not have been an issue we accept things that we don't agree with all the time it's it's just so disappointing I I won't go into it but I my faith teaches me that I'm supposed to love who's put in front of me supposed to love one another I'm not supposed to judge them I'm not supposed to tell them how to be I'm supposed to love them the ASB put out the only message that was supportive and um and I said hey it's so great to see the students leading it's a Pity the adults weren't the ones doing it thank you guys thank

153you Jeff there was another there was another late card uh Keith oh Keith you need to fix your writing Keith Carlos um I'm here I desperately love this community and one of the interesting Parts about a community is sometimes you love you have to love people you don't like and I'm not saying that I don't like anyone here what I am saying is being a part of a community is being open to everyone no matter what they are no matter what they believe we look at the content of their character and we love them nonetheless we have a leader here with Michael and I am absolutely my same sentiments as Jeff got it by the fact that you're leaving I think that in a time that you can see right now with such fracturing of

154people wanting love wanting to be seen wanting to be heard wanting to be accepted I think you are the person to carry that forward and I I'm desperately asking you to reconsider because what we need to do is come together as a community there are voices that are loud but that is not the majority that is not the you know 10 people screaming sounds loud but there's another thousands that are here in support of everyone in this room and what we need to do I believe as a community is come together and understand each other at a very base level because everything I've heard here tonight has been uplifting other than a bad the bad thing everybody else here is like this is for the kids this is education this is each other we love

155each other we're accepting of each other we see we hear you we support you everyone has that message and I think you were carrying that banner and to see you put it down is wrong and I believe you need to stay do we agree we need leadership in this time we absolutely do we need leadership in this time and we need someone who has the heart of the students because I've never seen it I've never seen an edge okay thank you buddy [Applause] so now we will move on to the approval of the consent agenda thank you all for your comments is there a motion for the approval to the of the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda a nice second roll call plea tip Terry Mr Mr Johnson aye Mr Ibarra

156aye Ms Grace Velazquez aye Ms Noble hi Miss shihab I you Nanos and we can move on to uh discussion is that right we don't know actually there's no action items yeah okay so there are there are no action items currently uh no discussion so we can move on to board matters up upcoming uh board meeting dates has there been any please the board meeting's still going on please if you could Converse outside I'd greatly appreciate it we'll we'll just wait a second until they uh move on okay I'll say that again so the upcoming board meeting dates is there any discussion on that no discussion I might okay all right well we'll move on to closed session at my watch says no that's it uh seven or excuse me eight oh eight I have

157one comment uh but it's over we're going on to close yeah we'll do five minutes yes all right okay foreign language foreign respect s mechanical things