Shasta County Board of Education Regular Meeting - May 13, 2026 Part 1

001board member interviews, which is agenda item 9.1.1 that are scheduled to start at 6:30. If it is not 6:30 p.m. when item 9.1.1 is reached, we'll be we will skip that over and proceed with items on the agenda that follow. At 6:30 that we will then go back to item 9.1.1. Does that sound acceptable to everyone? All right. So, then can I get a motion to approve the agenda? I motion to approve the agenda. Thank you, Arthur. Is there a second? >> I'll second. Thank you, Jessica. It's been moved and seconded to approve the agenda. Is there any discussion? All right, then all those in favor of approving the agenda, say I. I. Any opposed? No. All right, motion carries unanimously. Uh item number four is public comment. We do have a couple speaker cards.

002Uh Ronny Lund is first. Turn it on. Good evening, board. Um I wanted to speak to this um I O item 9.1. Which, you know, is the interview of the student board member candidates and making the appointments. Um a couple of meetings ago I had spoke with Jacob. And he had he he had told me a couple of things. One was that he was applying reapplying to do it again. And then the other thing that he said was that it took them about 6 months to get up to speed. Um and really know what was going on and you know, what what their role was. And so, I just had an idea that I wanted to throw out to you guys for discussion. I'm hoping that you'll discuss it, but my idea was that I'm

003assuming that everybody wants as many students to go through the student board program as possible. So, in my mind um you know, appointing somebody that's already done it sort of defeats that purpose of having as many people go through the program as possible. But, I think that you should have a third student board member that is a mentor for the new people. And briefly I had talked with Jacob and he has some ideas. I I can't say what they are because we didn't talk about it in depth, but he had talked about having uh board members be mentors for the students. Um but I know as being a board member, board members don't always have time for that kind of thing. So, I thought uh you know, appointing a third student that has already done

004it, that could be a mentor to the new people, would be a way to resolve that issue and would be really helpful for the new students and it would get as many students through the process as possible. Anyway, thanks. Thank you. Uh Madison Zimmerman. Good evening, everyone. I just wanted to speak here as member of the community and really recognize the impact that Jacob and Abby have had this year. I see you guys on social media. I see you guys interacting with students all throughout our county and some of the incredible initiatives like the um mental health public service campaign that you've been working on and your work has definitely gone seen. So, just really want to thank you for all of that. I've seen the impact and it's incredible. And as everyone on the

005board is listening to the um candidates later tonight to really think about the role of the representative in being able to being able to represent all the students um the students of their school, as well as what they bring to the broader community to make sure that policies really make sense for today's kids. So, thank you everyone. And thank you guys in particular. Thank you. Are there any other members of the public wishing to address the board? All right, then item number five is recognition of our 2020 5 2026 school board student board members, Abby Dang and Jacob Garcia. Uh, Mike. Well, um, Madison took the words right out of my mouth. I I think, uh, I can't believe we're already here in May, but here we are, May 13th board meeting. And this is

006an opportunity for us to, uh, formally, uh, recognize the efforts of of Abby and Jacob. And we want to thank you because you are everywhere. Uh, I don't know how you are able to balance because you're also amazing students and contributors in your own in your own school context, but we, uh, we marvel at what you've been able to do. I will I will actually I do appreciate the public comment about, uh, getting board members, student board members, uh, up to speed. Um, but once you did, once you did catch on and catch the vision, and it's not you, it's it's it's it's us, but once you did see Lane, uh, for you to be able to contribute and work, uh, you were unstoppable. You you jumped into our youth, uh, our youth commission, um,

007whether the and then on the social media, uh, promotion of this opportunity for, uh, what we're doing tonight as we have the opportunity to interview for, uh, prospective, uh, candidates or board trustee student board members next year. You were, uh, instrumental in recruitment there. Uh, you also helped revive the the voice panel event, uh, and we've been able to use some of the feedback and that we heard from that event in in other sessions with the administrators and school counselors. Um we're we're anxiously awaiting the the public service announcement through with your work with KIXC. You've been at events, you've also been at the the the mini meetings that we've held as a board. This is our uh this is this is a busy time of the year where April had two meetings, May has

008two meetings, and we we are in awe of the way that you've been able to represent the students in Shasta County and serve in your capacity as a a student board members. We do appreciate the input and the voice that you have given us throughout the year on on very important topics, on very important decisions that this board has. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and I will stop. I will give the give some time over to our trustees to be able to share out thoughts and impressions that you've had working with Abby and Jacob. And then we do have a we have a certificate, and I believe we have some cupcakes. So with that. Uh Laura. Yeah, I just want to say I've really appreciated your smart perspectives, your hard work, and

009just the sense of grace you have. It hasn't always been an easy year, and I think you've just been wonderful. It's been great serving with you. So thanks so much. Jessica. Yes, I will just piggyback on everybody else, but it's been really great getting to know both of you a little bit, and I look forward to uh getting to hear about your future and your whatever it is that you're you endeavor. You're going to school, and who knows what's going to happen with Jacob. Um but also just both of you have really inspired me a lot this year. Um the amount of work that you've been able to do with your already crazy busy schedules has kind of reinvigorated me and and I do think about it when I think about how tired I am

010or that I don't want to show up somewhere and I'm like, these kids, like you guys are running circles around all of us I think. And and also your professionalism, your willingness to use your voice on this board and to give input about policies and decisions that we're making and not just be someone sitting in a seat. I've just really appreciated and enjoyed getting to know both of you and work alongside of you. So, thank you. Yeah, you guys did an amazing job and you know, it takes a lot to get up here and do public speaking and be informed about what you're talking about and I really appreciate both of you because you took the time to put in the work and it really shows when you come with your board reports and bring

011in perspectives from students around the county. So, yeah, good job. Teresa. Boy, I really have to piggyback on what Jessica said. You said it beautifully. And man, do you look sharp. >> [laughter] >> So, but anyways, yeah, having you guys on the board was was awesome. It was awesome. Thank you. I can't wait to see what what happens in your as you guys reach adulthood and and get out there cuz I know if you guys are going this hard right now, you're guys going to go harder faster later on. So, good job. Yeah, thank you for your voices and your just diving right into things. I enjoyed discussing different policies and things with you when we've been up here. You guys definitely were not afraid to speak your mind and your opinions and I really

012appreciate that and it's been a pleasure to work alongside of you. All right, we do have a little pomp and circumstance over here. So, in addition to a certificate of appreciation for your efforts, uh Abby, this means a whole lot to you right now. Jacob, it will. But, uh we would love to recognize uh we would love to recognize you with a with a certificate and also a token of something that uh you will be able to take with you, Abby. Uh when is your graduation? June I thought you'd have it down to like the hours, but uh uh so, [clears throat] could we uh could we invite uh President Orlicky up and we can present you, Abby, with this certificate of appreciation appreciation for your service as student board member to the Shasta County

013Board of Education uh July 2025 to June 2026, but that does not mean you have to come in June. Okay. And we'll go ahead and do this. Thank you, Abby, for everything. And Jacob, come on up. Wouldn't it be great if you had the night off? >> All right. Now we are on item number six, which is approval of the consent agenda. These action items are of a routine nature or items for which no discussion is anticipated and are acted upon by a single vote. Board members may request that any item be removed and given individual consideration. Are there any members of the board who would like to pull a consent agenda item? All right. Then can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? I'll make a motion to approve. Thank you, Laura.

014Is there a second? I'll second. Is that Teresa? All right, thank you, Teresa. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on approving the consent agenda? All right. If not, we'll do a voice vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed, no. No. It carries four to one. Thank you. All right, we are on item number seven, which is presentation. Uh the school safety symposium. I believe that's Ela Tucker. Thank you. Materials have been provided to the board members as well. All right. Hopefully you guys can hear me. I'm a little short, so. All right. So, Ela Tucker, safety director. This past April I attended the Tulare County Office of Education uh school safety symposium on behalf of the Shasta County Office of Education. Um this was an interesting opportunity

015because not only is Tulare County hosting this, they have over the past couple of years. Um so it's great learning opportunity, but it also gave me a good opportunity to meet with the team that I've been coordinating coordinating with with Active Net. So um it it was really great timing in that regard. The purpose of the symposium really was a gathering of administrators, uh public safety officials, and uh safety other non law enforcement public safety officials to come and discuss the complex realities um that occur on our campus related to our campuses related to safety. If I had to encapsulate it under a theme, it was really a shift from being um reactive, so just responding to incidents that occur on campuses, to being proactive, really looking at how to mitigate risk and address threats

016before they actually occur. So it was a two-day conference. There were about 19 different sessions, and there was a lot of different topics to discuss. So there was school safety grants. There were representatives from organizations like the Sandy Hook Promise, which shares best practices in addressing warning signs and threats. And then also discussions on administration crisis training, in particular from a former administrator that unfortunately had a worst-case scenario happen on their campus when they were an administrator at their high school. Uh from the sessions I attended, I had gathered some of those resources that are presented before you today in a packet. Um it's certainly not all the information, but I thought that it was some of the more useful information that can be shared throughout our school communities. So I'm going to go over

017each of those and highlight uh what it's all about and some of the takeaways here in my five, three minutes left that I have. So, there are three primary resources that are can provide really practical action for districts and school sites. And then information on grant processes, particularly related to federal funding for safety uh grants, and then legislative updates and mandates that we're tracking related to comprehensive school safety plans. So, for the first item that's on top, it is a crisis leadership one-page, but it is front and back. It's a checklist that's been developed for school and district administrations. It was developed by the former high school administrator that I mentioned, uh and he provides a before, during, and after action list that uh is based on his personal experience of an active shooter incident

018where tragically uh two students in that high school lost their lives in addition to the former student, which was the the perpetrator. This is not specific to violent critical incidents, and I want to highlight that, but it is relevant for emergencies that can take place on a campus. The takeaway for this item is that it provides high-level guidance for preparing, responding, and then improvement processing for when an incident happens, so really that after-action review process. Item two is a second item that focuses on school grant fund school safety grant funding. This is developed by Foley, Jones, and Callans. It is a grant writing firm that has worked in close partnership with the Tulare County Office of Education developing their programs. And these resources provide a concise overview of what is being seen in federal grant

019opportunities lately uh from their perspective from as professionals that really span over 50 years working in education, state and federal legislation, and the also a program evaluation. The resources outline perspectives that they're hearing from state law enforcement partners, as well, that are working with school districts related to expectations, trends, and then also some of the complexities of multi-agency partnerships that can exist. The takeaway here is that it provides key considerations required for strategizing, applying for, and securing grant funding. Again, with an emphasis on the grant federal funds. Lastly, there is a heftier document of 39 pages, but this was provided by Knowledge Save Lives. They are a team of former first responders that have transitioned to working with educational communities and businesses. And the document covers a lot that relates to legislative updates um for

020comprehensive school safety plans in particular, training requirements, and then also outlines 10 best practices that include an action list and some measurable actions uh measurable results that can be tracked. These items include reviewing a risk assessment, really what a risk assessment should address, SEMS, which is a state emergency management system compliance components, and then also references to some basic courses that school staff can take for free. So, the takeaway here and something I think we can all understand and appreciate is that uh school safety is complex and there's a lot that goes into it, but uh some of which is compliance components, others are features of best practices for mitigating risk, but really this resource consolidates a lot of that information into a more digestible format that can be shared across our school system and

021community. Lastly, I want to note that the information that I've I've shared with you this evening uh is going to be included in our safety sandbox newsletter that's going to be going out later this month, as well as our upcoming Safer Schools Coalition on June 3rd. So, it's not going to live with me, but it's going to be shared with our district and charter partners. So, with that, I will conclude and if you have any questions, please let me know. And I hopefully I didn't go too much over time. Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? Laura. Yes, so did you find that what we're experiencing here in Shasta County is similar to what you're hearing there at the conference, the concerns, the challenges were the same or was it different? Yeah. Yeah,

022I think a lot of the challenges are the same and I think that though it was of course California districts that were represented at that conference, um it's it's really challenges that we're facing across the country within our school systems. And so there wasn't any, you know, really outstanding unique aspect that only one school was dealing with. It's the same sort of challenges that maybe just in a different flavor to their specific community. Some communities experience more gang-related violence, um but still, you know, the various violence and threats is a challenge. Same thing with drugs, substance abuse, challenges online with exploitation and how that spills over into the school environment. So we're all kind of in the same boat um with some of the same challenges. Thank you, Arthur. Thank you. Uh I know we're

023we had this at another board meeting and we talked about mapping out schools and I was just wondering what the progress was at. Have any other school districts reached out and I'm sorry, can you repeat the first portion of that? So in a I think it was two board meetings ago, we uh were approached with some information about mapping each individual school so law enforcement had the same language when they went to each school district so it wouldn't be, you know, this room would be room 11, but uh the law enforcement would know like ABC, you know, how whatever pattern they chose or so we were offering that to every district that wanted it. I just didn't know if any district had reached out saying that that was something that they were thinking about. Yes,

024so we um our opt-in period which is we're wanting to be flexible with the districts including the charters. Um, but that's going to be May 15th is kind of our opt-in period. Um, that ends there was about a 45-day period. Um, but the good news is is that everybody has been really responsive because I think everybody is kind of on the same page and so we're pretty confident that hopefully by 15th or shortly thereafter we will have all of the school districts. Um, we still we don't have all of those MOUs in place right now. Um, so I can't for sure say that yeah, we're going to have 100% district participation. Um, but we're sitting at like 23 districts at this point where they have >> [clears throat] >> either said that their boards are

025going be taking these items their MOUs to the board today for approval or they did yesterday. And so by this time next week we should have a more confident number on whether or not we're going to reach full adoption across our county. So it is it is something that I'm personally very excited about. All right. All right, thank you. Thank you. All right, we are on item 7.2 which would be support for districts with disproportionately high percentage of special education students. And I believe that's Dr. Patz will be addressing that. I too am short so I have to adjust the mic. Um, good morning everyone. So I just want to talk a little bit about some big numbers and focus in on what we are specifically talking about here and then take questions. Um, I

026like to start off with the state of California is about 15% a little bit under which is also the national average for identified students who meet the criteria under federal law individuals with disabilities education act to qualify for an education plan. To put that in perspective, that's over 800,000 students statewide who have an individualized uh plan. That is more people than live in the state of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, or North Dakota. So, we have a large group of kids. Up here in Shasta County, we're a little bit over the state average, depending on how you look at it. Um and so, we are running that same thing. In the organization that I run, we have about 4,100 kids identified as being disabled. The numbers you're looking at are reflective of census day, which is in

027October, but between then and now, our numbers only go up. We graduate some kids, they go back down, we add more throughout the year. Um when we think about Shasta County, one of the things that we are unfortunately known for is having um ACES scores a little bit higher than we would like. That contributes to having more students identified as needing special education support. And then when we talk about the disproportionality between districts, we see that it's where our students live versus where they attend school. The model for special education is built on the idea that we have just diverse groups of kids inside the classroom, whether they have a disability or not. Um but unfortunately, the mobility in their districts allows students to sort of do other things. So, students with more involved disabilities

028stay at their local schools, whereas students without disabilities might go off to private schools, might go off to charter schools, or might transfer to another public school in the county. And so, we see that shifting population um increasing the numbers of students with disabilities or the percentage of students with disabilities in some of our uh northern and southern districts. So, Gateway has a lot of students identified with disabilities. Uh Cascade has a lot of students identified with disabilities. And when you drill down and look at them, you will see that it's the same breakout. They just have a higher concentration of students because those students tend to not be as mobile as students uh without them. So, they are in those areas. And so, when we talk about how can we support those districts and

029how can we help serve those students, I always go back to the phrase of it's about quality first instruction. What are we doing to get these students into the classroom and learning at the same rate as their peers? Whether it's the programs that the county office has for preschool and the inclusion model that they run and how they help and do early intervention. I don't know if you know this, but a small portion of students qualify at birth for special ed services and the county runs the infant program and does a really good job. And these are kids who are probably going to need services their entire life. Um but then starting at three, we have the preschool programs. And again, that's that quality program that the the county offers that really helps those students

030um exit from needing an IEP. Those tend to be our speech only kids. And then it's boosting where we need to support our districts and our teachers to make sure they have the skills to serve the variety of kids that come into the classroom. And again, I look to the PDSC, the building we're in right now, and all the great trainings they have. Recently, the state started doing the reading screener to look for reading difficulties um early on and that's driving how we do reading intervention. And again, I'll point out the ignite program where students are getting that direct one-on-one reading instruction. Um you know, and finally, it's about classroom management. Because of the high ACES scores, we see a lot of students in county with some behavior challenges that we don't want. And so,

031we have that positive behavior intervention services. Just another way we can help support those kids and give them that quality first instruction that they need. So, um I don't know if that frames the whole question, but that's sort of a start. Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? Teresa? When they test for the reading, how do they test for the reading? Do they do it with uh paper and books or do they do it on a computer screen? Yes. Yes, what? >> Um so, each there are four approved assessments that and this is a gen ed function, so if I say something wrong, feel free to interject, but there are four approved assessments and throughout the county different districts and charter schools have picked different assessments. Some are paper and pen, some are

032one-on-one, some are computer-based. So, it looks different in each district depending on which of the four assessments they're utilizing. Mike. Uh Christian, thank you so much for your time and for being here. Included in the uh in the agenda materials is an overview as well. When we look at the disproportionality, uh we are constantly looking at an underfunded uh area of services the districts uh find challenging. So, when you see a disproportionate uh when you see disproportionality in districts, you also need to understand that federal funding is woefully always woefully uh underfunding um services and that does put pressure on district general fund resources to close the gap. Uh we do there is there is some talk. We're all eyes on the governor's May revise coming out tomorrow. So, uh in that governor's proposed uh

033revised budget, we will be looking at um some of the commitment that he had earlier this year was uh California funding some of that shortfall to help with that. But I think that when you when you when you have the discussion much longer than a 5-minute discussion, but thank you, Dr. Patz, for for summarizing it. Districts are feeling the pinch when they get above that state average in identification because that means more of their general fund will need to go to provide those services. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates it costs three times as much to educate a student with an IEP as a student without one. Just so to put that in perspective. Jessica. Um so I had an I had an the opportunity to serve on a committee for the disproportionality at Chrysalis probably

0345 years or so ago when they were found to be disproportionate. And one of the things that I found interesting was that they were only off by like one student. And then and then they I don't know if you can speak to the process because the other I would imagine the financial impact is the process they have to go through then to get out of that and the time for example at Chrysalis there's one resource teacher and now she had to spend her time dealing with that whole problem and not being able to give that time to students. Yeah, the continuous improvement monitoring that the state does it it really is that old axiom they they they measure with a micrometer they mark with chalk and they cut with an axe. And when you have

035a very small population, one student really puts you over what they call their risk ratio. What they're looking at is how many students do they would expect of a particular demographic to be in each category and for school like Chrysalis which I don't know their ADA off the top of my head, but one student really does have a big swing in their percentages versus say Shasta High which has 4,800 kids, one student doesn't move the needle much. Um and so it becomes very challenging. I know when I was disproportionate uh in a school, we had uh a graduation rate that was unacceptable, and we by the time the state got us the numbers, it had been 2 years. We'd We'd improved it already, and so we had to develop a plan. The nice thing is

036is it's a great conversation to have about what are your practices? What are you doing? The uh the state provides us with a a monitoring coach who helps facilitate those move meetings. You mentioned you were on a committee. It's that conversation with the community of how can we make education better for all students? And then from there, um generally that improves the numbers. Sometimes you can't improve the numbers cuz the students' needs are there, um particularly in some of our more over-identified districts. Um and it's even when you get 3 years of that finding, the final outcome is you just need to allocate some of your funds to more early intervention to keep the kids off of the IEP. So that's a really nice system. People think of it as a as a punitive one.

037They don't take money from you. They just say, "Hey, your plan didn't work. Now you need to put money into it." And so that's a that's a great thing. And we only have one district that's had to do that countywide um for over-identification. Thank you, Teresa. You had a question? So I'm reading here on this um the stuff that came in the agenda. There was a greater willingness to be identified as having a brain that operates differently. She notes that in the past, some conditions were misdiagnosed. So I've noticed that a lot of these kids are um expected to kind of learn in the same way. They're in the same box. Um and that's not the way kids learn. I mean, every every kid is different. I've had six. Three of them were absolute psycho

038childs. Um two of them were absolute brainiacs and the other one just kind of floated right through. So, but they all learned absolutely different. Yeah. But what they're expecting is all these kids to learn in the same way. Doesn't work. I can't speak to your experience, but I what I can what I can speak to and what I've seen some really good work coming out of uh, the county office is the focus on making sure your your instruction is what we call universally designed so that every student comes at it from a different way can still access the curriculum, whether that is having clear out uh, clear expectations, having clear visuals, having uh, hands-on projects, really making sure that that those diverse learners are able to access the curriculum both access the curriculum in different

039ways, but more importantly, demonstrate mastery in different ways because, you know, I stand up here in front of you. I In high school, I couldn't write an essay to save my life. Um, you know, um, but I can tell you a ton of stuff off the top of my head. So, it's a very different skill set. So, I think that's really one of the great things and I would encourage you to attend that because when you see quality first instruction, it is exactly that. It's both delivering the material in a variety of manners, but it's also allowing the students to show mastery in a variety of manners and then bridging those two areas in the middle, which is sort of what special ed does. We are an added service. We are not a place or

040a location. We're something that we add in to that general ed classroom when it's done right. So, yeah, I I agree with you. Kids kid, you know, parents send the best kids they have to school and it's our job to find a way to make sure that they make progress and are really achieving and learning. And, you know, I always say my job as a teacher is to serve the kid that walks in the door. I don't get to pick and choose. And uh, you used some terms I wouldn't necessarily use to describe kids, but I like kids with a lot of energy and I like kids with um sharp wit that other people don't appreciate as much as I tend to. So. Thank you so much for coming. All right, we are in item

041number eight, which is informational items. Are there any board members that have a question about any of the informational items? Arthur. I'm just glad we have another uh another quarter where we don't have any Williams Act violations. So, that's very nice. And there there are some people here that might not know what a Williams Act violation is, so Mike, could you explain what that process is and what we're responsible for? Yeah, Williams refers to a settlement. I'm looking at Tom for corrections and retractions, but Williams uh does refer to the uh the communities' rights, parents uh have rights. We're looking at sufficiency of instructional materials, uh safe facilities, qualified and properly assigned teachers authorized to teach what they are teaching. So, when we have um when parents, when students find themselves in situations where those

042things are not being uh not being adequately met, they have the they have the ability to go through the Williams complaint process. When a district receives that Williams complaint process, we are informed of it and we work with the districts to make sure that that complaint is uh is addressed with with corrective action. Um we we hold that district accountable for closing the loop with that parent and addressing the complaint. All right, thank you. All right, we are now on to action item number nine, which is 9.1.1, which is the interview student board member candidates and make appointments for 2026-27. Uh we received 15 applications for the position of student board member, and we will be interviewing six candidates today. Our six candidates are, and I apologize if I don't say your name correctly, uh

043Jasmine Andresen from Central Valley High School, Cadence Bazelle from University Preparatory School, Diesel DeLello from Foothill High School, Jacob Garcia from West Valley Early College High School, Ethan Morgan from Shasta High School, and Angelica Ikiezi from University Preparatory School. Before our interviews, we do want to thank each of you for your interest in being a student board member. And as a reminder to the board, board bylaw 9150, which is included in the board agenda packet, indicates that the board can appoint up to two student board members. As part of the interview process, we will determine if we will appoint one or two student board members. Mike. Uh thank you, President. I would love to go over the uh the process for uh how the interviews will uh proceed. You do have information uh included. Um

044Carmen has provided that. I just wanted to provide maybe an overview of what that information looks like. You have your your lineup that Michael has just uh just announced. You also have uh the questions that will be asked. Uh the each each candidate will be asked the same questions. Uh I think we can we can put that on President Orlicky or President Orlicky can can uh maybe work with uh with Vice President Trustee LaBarbera to uh ask the candidates the questions. Um notes note sheets are there uh provided for the candidates or for the trustees to take notes. Uh at the conclusion of the interviews, >> [clears throat] >> each county board member is going to note on the ranking sheet here, very official-looking ranking sheet, you will note your top candidate and you will

045submit that to me. We will tally and we will at that point announce the candidate with the most votes. If the county board chooses to appoint two student board members, we will complete a second ranking sheet noting your second top candidate and we will proceed again to count the votes and that person that person will also be will be appointed. And I with that with that if there are any if there are any questions, we'll go ahead and pause here. Otherwise, I'll hand it to President Oyelakin and we'll begin the interviews. I had a just a question on the procedure. So, when at what point do board members have a discussion? It would be after the interviews. Correct. After Yeah, after all the interviews, yeah. After all interviews, there'll be a deliberation. Yeah. Yeah. Are

046there any other questions? All right. Then we will call our first candidate up, which would be Jasmine Andresen. And I hope I said your name right. Andresen? All right, thank you. All right, thank you for coming. Our first question is we'd like to know more about where you've been and where you are headed. How long have you lived in Shasta County and which schools have you attended? And what do you hope to do after graduation from high school? I have lived in Shasta County my whole life going from Redding, Anderson to Shasta Lake. I for preschool I attended Prairie which is in Anderson and for kindergarten I attended Little Country Church. Then I moved to Shasta Lake and attended SLS also known as Shasta Lake School through first through eighth grade and then I transferred

047to Central Valley High School. Um after graduation I plan to go to a four-year college to obtain a BSN or Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. Thank you. Tell us something you are passionate about either in education, your high school campus or from your personal life. I'm really passionate about helping people and being involved with younger kids whether that be helping out my sisters with something they need help with or uh younger underclassmen at my school whenever they need a help with anything. I am also passionate about the animal I am raising for FFA. I am raising a market hog to show at the Shasta County District Fair this June. Thank you. What do you see as key challenges for high school students in Shasta County? A key challenge I see especially from my school is

048student involvement. A lot of students don't necessarily like to participate in class or they would rather be on technology and not pay attention and that's something that it makes it to where they can't get the education that is provided and when that happens it's something that the student really it's something that the student has to be willing to be there and learn. Thank you. What is one thing about the education system that you believe could be improved? I believe that student involvement is something that can be improved uh just because the education is definitely important for life and for anywhere a student needs wants to go. That's all. Thank you. And then last question, is there anything else you'd like to share about why you would like to join the Shasta County Office of Education

049as a student board member? I would like to join because I want to help have a voice for students from my community I come from a small district and that has a small high school that has less students than other high schools in the area and I just want to help be a voice that can show forth what our community is about. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jasmine. All right, our next candidate is Cadence Bazel. Did I say that right? Hi, Cadence. Hi. Okay, first question. We'd like to know more about where you've been and where you're headed. How long have you lived in Shasta County and which schools have you attended? What do you hope to do after graduation from high school? Um I'm born and raised Shasta County. I was born in

050Mercy, about 10 minutes away from here. I have lived here my whole life. I've moved anywhere else. Um I've been to five schools, which I'd say is probably more than the average person in Redding specifically. I attended Buckeye, Anderson Heights, Turtle Bay, Mountain View, and now I currently attend U-Prep. Where I've been and where I'm headed. Um If you would have asked me when I was 12 years old where I was headed, I would have told you I wanted to be a doctor, which is a very noble pursuit. Um but the reason I wanted to be a doctor was because I thought doctors make a lot of money and I mean sounds like a pretty good career, right? Um as I grew older, I realized that that came out of a place of I had

051always been maybe a little bit of ashamed of being a low-income student. I had teetered between poverty and low-income pretty much all growing up and I didn't want to continue that cycle that I saw my family and further my parents go through. Um but as I've grown older, I saw I wasn't too far away with doctor. I still do want to help people. That's been my passion since I was a child. But um I want to help people in a little bit of a different way. After college, I plan to attend a four-year university. I actually just found out that I am a QuestBridge Scholar, which is for high-achieving low-income students to help them get access to being able to attend four-year universities. Um and so hopefully I can attend a four-year university with a

052low amount of debt and I want to get a degree in political science, a double major in political science and economy, and become a human rights lawyer. So, that's kind of the plan after high school. Good goals. Thank you for sharing that and explanation of how it changed from when you were 12 till now. I really appreciate that. Tell us something you're passionate about either in education, your high school campus, or from your personal life. Um I think me being here, my peers and other people interviewing here, the board, and everyone who's taking the time to come to this board meeting shows that we all kind of have passions that derive from a similar place. Um community, growth in our community specifically, um education being not just a brick place, but a cornerstone and a

053foundation for our nation. Um and since I am so passionate about community and specifically education, I'm extremely passionate about making sure that every student has the right to a successful education. Um like I've said, I have I have been to many schools. I have been low-income and pretty much every school, and that's not not always super easy. It's some opportunities like for example, AP tests are $100 a test. SATs, you're paying $60 to $80 for each test. Um at Shasta County alone, 16% of students are at or below the poverty line. So, this is something we see very frequently in our own county. And um I'm passionate in making sure each one of those students has an opportunity to a successful education. Um that's something that's important for kids I see who were like me

054growing up, and all people in the county, boy, girl, no matter what, I just think everyone should have that equal opportunity. It's a daunting thing to think in a lineup of 10 kids, statistics say about two of them in Shasta County make it home and not know if they have a full meal at the table, or have to go to school wearing the same clothes they wore all three days in a row. That is not a good basis for a successful education, and I think that since I'm so passionate about education, I'm even more passionate about making sure that every student has the right and chance for a successful education. Thank you. What do you see as key challenges for high school students in Shasta County? So, I think especially in the digital age that

055we're in and not just for Shasta County, but for everywhere is experiencing this right now, but AI is a really big problem that we're facing and I think that the real problem of AI is not just in cheating. People have been cheating for generations to come. I'm sure in your high school experience you saw kids cheat on tests. That's nothing new. The problem with AI is is since it's so accessible, it's become rather than a just a thing you use, you know, you forgot to study for a test or something. Not condoning cheating in any way, but it's become something so accessible that it's it's allowed kids to not struggle. It's allowed kids to not be creative. It's allowed kids to not face challenges. I think the biggest problem we're facing right now is especially

056in an era of such technology and so many opinions are out there for the whole world to hear, you know, I think it's really important for everyone to have critical thinking skills and to be able to face challenges and work collaboratively. And I think that AI poses a very special threat because it it allows students to they can put in a prompt and have their whole essay written for them. They can put in a prompt and have their poem for a class written for them or their history assignment done for them. And I think that kids should want to challenge themselves. I think me being right here right now I have just as much social anxiety as the next person. And this is a challenge for me. And still it's something that I want to

057do because I know no matter what comes of it, I'm going to grow and be better because of it. Um and I think that's something we can fix by teaching kids that AI is is a tool, not something to lean on or a necessity workshops teaching students to use it in a way that's beneficial for everyone, not harmful. Um Uh I know next year my school is implementing some technology so that kids can't use AI so easily on their test. So, the programs like that is is how we can start to fix that. So, Yes, thank you. Thank you. What is one thing about the education system that you believe could be improved? Um in the recent years, obviously with COVID, we see a decline in literacy rates, um especially in California. And this is

058obviously frightening, but it's we know it's because of a lot of COVID and absences and not going to schools. Um but we see it on a more systemic level in the sense that adults right now 25% of adults in California um do not have a basic proficient literacy level. Um which is which is very true. And um this is, you know, something that should be it's it's very important again, especially with the use of technology that we're able to discern and and make good decisions um based on what we see and what we read. So, since this there's this big uptake, um this shows that it's not just an issue because of COVID, but it's systemic inefficiencies with our education program that's causing this. California is one of the lowest literacy rates in all 50

059states of the United States. California It bounces between first and second. Um so, I believe, in my opinion, this stems from from funding inefficiencies. I think that because we're lacking funding, we have teacher shortages, and when we have teacher shortages, the quality of education goes down. Um more students have to be put into classrooms, 30 kids, sometimes up to 30. I've had classes of 35 people. Um and when things like that happen, it doesn't allow for as a as much of a proficient individualized education. I heard someone talking earlier about how um not every student fits in the same box. Not every student learns the same way, and when we have classes of 35 kids, it makes it so that every student does have to fit in that box cuz this one teacher doesn't have

060time for 35 kids to learn individually. So, when we have these funding issues, it really does affect the quality of of all the children's education. And children really are the future. I think that this generation's job is to solve the problems that the generation before it couldn't. So, I think it's This is a really big problem that we, you know, need to continue to improve. And I already see we've been putting works into improve, but um yeah. Thank you. Yes, California sits at 25%. Nationally, it's 21. It's pretty shocking, both numbers. Is there anything else you'd like to share about why you'd like to join the Shasta County Office of Education as a student board member? Um I know the mission of this board is for a rigorous uh education that provides resilience in students,

061and therefore uh encourages them to think critically, work collaboratively, have empathy, and uh explore diversity, and things like that. And those are all things that I live by and that I constitute in my daily life every single day. They're things that are important to me even now as as a 17-year-old student. Um And I think with my experience, I'm a a sibling of five. I have uh four little ones. I'm the oldest. I've been to many many schools. I've met a lot of people. Uh pers- personality and being a personal personable has been something that's been instilled in me because I've had to make so many new friends in so many new school districts and different schools. Um And so, I think that I could accurately represent my community and give you guys a little

062bit of perspective on, you know, what's going on with our our youth in in the school districts. I'd also say I'm an active member of my community. So, I can give you the most new and and >> [laughter] >> updated information. Um and I just think that at the end of the day, education really is my passion and I want to provide equal opportunity for everyone and I think that if I was seated on this board, especially with your mission and your values that I I already know about, um not only do I align with them, but I really want to see them enacted in our county in the future and I think if given the opportunity, I could be a really good fit for that. Thank you. Thank you, Cadence. Okay, our next candidate

063is Diesel DeLello. Hi, Diesel. Thank you for coming. >> [clears throat] >> Uh we'd like to know more about where you've been and where you are headed. How long have you lived in Shasta County and which schools have you attended? What do you hope to do after graduation from high school? Yes, so I've lived in Shasta County my entire life. I attended Junction Elementary School till the fifth grade. What Sorry, I've had some issues lately with my respiratory. If I cough in the middle of this, I apologize. I've had some issues lately with that, but I switched to Junction Elementary School, went there till fifth grade, then I went to a private Christian school called Roots Farm EDU. Then I switched back to Junction halfway through eighth grade year because of educational reasons. I was

064falling behind in math and I knew I would attend Foothill High School, so I needed to be up to the public standard. And for the last 2 years, I've attended Foothill High School. When Thank you so much, actually. When I attend um Sorry. When I graduate high school, I hope to attend a four-year university and study political science. Uh my goal in life is to be a politician and bring integrity back to politics. I think that's something that really needs to happen and being active public figure and you know, fight for the common person in this entire country. Thank you. Tell us something you are passionate about either in education, your high school campus or from your personal life. The largest thing I'm passionate about is politics and educating people on politics and having civil

065discussion. I lead the Turning Point USA at Foothill and we don't just sit there and debate all day. A lot of what we do is just going over the simple basic forms of government cuz a lot of kids just don't know it and we really like to just go through and learn like for example, the last meeting we had was about the different systems of government and how they operate. So it's a big passion of mine to educate people on that. I also am very involved in our community. I love getting out there and just talking to people. I work on a political campaign where we go and we just all we do is we door knock and we just go up to people's homes and we have conversations and that's one of my favorite

066things to do is just community outreach. Thank you. What do you see as key challenges for high school students in Shasta County? One of the largest challenges I see is the lack of drug prevention classes and drug awareness. I came from a home when I was younger and drugs were heavily prevalent. So I was able to learn why that's bad and the battery precautions and things that come with that. But when I come into high school, I've not seen a single drug prevention class be offered or drug awareness class be offered at least at Foothill where I go. And for many students who didn't have my experience, they just know the basics drugs are bad blah blah blah whatever they're you know, people tell them. But the fact is that we need to educate students

067on this and have them aware of the terrible repercussions not just to your own health, but to also people around you and how it affects your family and your community. What is one thing about the education system that you believe could be improved? I believe the largest thing to be improved upon in our education system is the one-style-fits-all learning. Um for example, me personally, again, as I said earlier, I fell behind in math eighth grade year and I've never been able to recover and having to sit in a CP math class and you were just handed a paper every day and a homework assignment and you just you fall behind because I can't learn all of it quick enough and there are many other students like that. I mean, our math proficiency last time I

068checked, I think was at 27% when I was studying to do this and it's a huge problem. Um so, the one-style-fits-all, you know, education style, really, I think is the largest issue. Thank you. Is there anything else you'd like to share about why you'd like to join the Shasta County Office of Education as a student board member? Yeah, I believe when you're sit on a board like this, you need to be representing not your opinion, but the opinion of the majority of your peers and I'm one who is extremely prevalent in student body life. I get out in the community and I believe I can accurately represent most of the students their opinion and not just share my opinion on a board. I'm also part of the FFA program and I did 4-H for eight

069years and I think having a voice for rural students who most of them don't even know this board exists cuz I that's most of the people I hang out with and actually talking to people and getting them educated and say even just making videos and just showing them what's going on so they can have a voice and I can share their opinions would be one of the best reasons I could be a good fit on this board. Thank you, Diesel. Uh Jacob Garcia is our next candidate. Well, you look awfully dapper. Thank you. Very nice suit. We'd like to know about where more about where you've been and where you're headed, how long you've lived in Shasta County and which schools you have attended, and what do you hope to do after graduation from high

070school? Well, thank you for having me tonight to interview. Um my name's Jacob and I've lived in Shasta County my entire life and I'm proud to call it my home county for 17 years. Growing up, I attended the the Cottonwood Union School District from kindergarten through eighth grade. I attended both North and West Cottonwood schools. And I now attend West Valley High School and I'm very excited I'm going on my senior year this August. Alongside my high school career, I'm also dually enrolled in Shasta College and I'm also very excited cuz next Friday I'm graduating with my associate's in chemistry and history. After high school, I plan to attend a four-year university and major in chemistry. And with that chemistry degree, I would like to become credentialed and teach secondary school science. And my plan

071is to not stop there. I would like to earn my administration credential, move up, principal, director of a district, superintendent. Who knows where that may be. It may be in Shasta County, it may not be, but that's where I want to be headed. Tell us something you're passionate passionate about either in education, your high school campus or from your personal life. Well, I could talk to you guys about many things that I'm passionate about, all my experiences. I could talk to you about the term I've had this past year, which I'm incredibly passionate about. I could tell you about studying and researching staffing shortage here in Shasta County. I could tell you about leading my school campus as student body president or just volunteering out in the community. But, that's a lot to talk to

072you about and I think that one thing that I find in the center of all my experiences is the passion to bring people together. Exactly 1 year ago, I sat in the same seat interviewing for the same position and I told you guys that my passion is to bring any group of people together. And still, especially during my term as student board member, that passion is in every aspect of my life. At school, I love to create an environment where students can feel connected and included in our campus and I love seeing our students feel connected to something bigger than themselves. Um on my football team, I like seeing my teammates all come together towards a common goal of winning Friday night football games and even in the the community, I love seeing community come

073together and just work towards another common goal. But, through all these experiences and this passion, I've learned that the strongest communities are ones that the people feel seen, heard, and respected and that's the impact I hope to continue making on this board. I don't just want to represent the students, I want to represent the students, staff, administration, community members, and the parents. And I've learned that leadership is not just sitting right there and making decisions, it's standing alongside everyone else and pay paving the way. And I want to continue to use my voice to advocate for the students, advocate for every single person involved in Shasta County education. I want to stay dedicated to the work that I've gained here and I want to give back to the community that's given so much already to

074me. Thank you, Jacob. What do you see as key challenges for high school students in Shasta County? Well, one of the key challenges I see for high school students in Shasta County is the inequality of opportunities that we offer. Serving on the board, I got to have my eyes open to the many different school sites in Shasta County, but I realized that schools are very unique. I come from Southern Shasta County, West Valley High School, and students that are 15 miles away from me, Enterprise High School, look completely different from the one that I attend every single morning. Some schools have a strong performing arts program. Some schools have a variety of CTE pathways. Some have a campus culture that makes every student feel connected and included, but other schools may not have that same

075level of access for those opportunities. And I think that can create a challenge and a barrier for some students because they shouldn't have to pick and choose these opportunities simply because of where they're located and simply where they attend their school. And this is such a big issue, and there's not a There's not a simple solution to this big issue. But what I know we can do to fix this is we can do what we do best, and I think that we need to listen to our community. We need to listen to the students, parents, and everybody that's out there in education every single day so we can understand the differences between our schools and make sure that students have an equal opportunity to all of this all these opportunities that we can offer. And

076after all, every single meeting that we have here monthly, we're one step closer to seeing what Shasta County education can be and what we dream it to be, and I'm incredibly proud of that. What is one thing about the education system that you believe could be improved? Well, I think we all agreed one thing that we can be improved is um how students learn and how they're deemed as succeeding. Every student learns differently, but education sometimes feels like one size fits all or a student has a lid put on top of them. I've learned that students thrive in traditional classrooms, but some thrive in the CTE pathways, some thrive in that hands-on learning, some thrive in our ROP programs, dual enrollment, the arts, or maybe even studying independently. And I think students are more engaged

077when they're studying within their learning style. I've personally seen that with being dual enrolled in Shasta College that studying independently is increases my confidence and makes sure it's paved the way to what I'm passionate about after high school. And at the same time, I recognize that other students may not learn that way. Other students find success through agriculture, the trades, again, CTE pathways outside of the traditional classroom setting that we normally see. But I think that we can improve the education system by recognizing that, not just here, but in California, nationwide. It would be so much stronger if we recognize that students are unique, students learn differently, and an individual's success is unique to them. Is there anything else you'd like to share about why you would like to join the Shasta County Office of

078Education as a student board member? Yes. Well, I could tell you about the relationships I built with every board member, I could tell you about the relationships I built with the staff that I'm incredibly grateful for. I could tell you about the people behind me that are supporting me tonight, but I want to give you guys a background of how this all started and how this all happened. I started my term on July 1st of 2025, and in those early months during orient- orientation, late July, mid-August with Mike and Abby, I noticed in our meetings that we had one common goal, and that was that during our term we wanted to leave a lasting impression on Shasta County education, and we wanted to build on something that we can remember when Abby and and take

079on our endeavors after this term. We didn't exactly know what to do. It was early and we were still picking up on our feet. Um and as the months as the months went on, more and more I realized I wanted to get involved. I wanted to have more purpose here. And it wasn't until November when Abby and I took a trip down to Sacramento and presented to the State Board of Education about equitable school counseling that that vision became clear. And from that point on, projects like the student voices panel, uh addressing staffing shortage with that ad hoc committee, or even filming a PSA with PBS coming out in 2 weeks, that everything began to take form and take shape. And I can finally say that I'm proud of the momentum that I built, but

080that momentum I don't want it to go away. I'm seeing the work that I care about grow, and I know it's not finished, and I'm eager to continue building on that work because I want to see that I want to see these initiatives that we're working on benefit the students, and I want to lay the foundation for what's next and for all the student board members yet to come. So, if I'm appointed to this second term, I'm ready and I'm excited to keep building on on that momentum, and I want all of you to know that I'm not done serving the students of Shasta County, and I'm not done serving Shasta County at all. Thank you, Jacob. Thank you. Our next candidate is Ethan Morgan. >> [clears throat] >> Hi, Ethan. Thank you for coming.

081We'd like to know more about where you've been and where you are headed. How long have you lived in Shasta County, and which schools have you attended? And what do you hope to do after graduating from high school? I lived in Shasta I've lived in Shasta County my whole life. And I initially went to Turtle Bay School, and then I transferred to U Prep, and then I went to Shasta High School, where I am now. Which is not the typical route, actually. Very few students come from U Prep to Shasta. So, that's a little bit unique about me. But, one of the things I want to pursue after high school is a bachelor's in physics. I think I'm going to go to Shasta College as soon as I'm done with high school, and then transfer

082to Chico State. I am currently studying physics 1 and physics C mechanics right now, and I'm really passionate about that. But, I think education is one of the things that I think is so critical to developing as a person in our modern day. Thank you. Uh tell us something you are passionate about either in education, your high school campus, or from your personal life. So, there's education, and there's also extracurriculars, right? So, I participate as the president of a filmmaking club. And this is a network that is connecting people to local opportunities for filmmaking. And it's not just limited to filmmaking. Like, we can create projects where we do like school projects, for example. Recently, for my AP English assignment, we had to create an advertisement that was talking about argumentative appeals. And we were

083able to parody Star Wars in this, actually. Which is quite fun. But, filmmaking is something that I'm truly passionate about. We've currently worked on a project that is about 2/3 done now. It's a short film about zombies, but it's essentially a starter project to get people involved. We want to increase opportunities in our community, and that's what this networking is about. Um as someone who has been directing this project, I think I've been able to see the challenges in connecting people, which is important to how I lead my life and how I'm able to lead others. Because considering the opinions and challenges of other people is critical to be able to lead in general. Which that is why I'm passionate about it. Thank you. What do you see as key challenges for high school students

084in Shasta County? So one of the key challenges I see in my life in Shasta County is an understanding of the education system. As far as I've seen, many students simply don't understand the difference between, for example, dual enrollment, articulation, and how college credits can be achieved. And I think a lot of that confusion comes from just not being made aware about this information. It takes a lot of personal research to be able to understand what to do. Um for example to be able to decide my senior year, which is taking a lot of self-study on the side as well as doing college classes at Shasta College, I had to spend a lot of time researching and seeing which credits would align with my schedule and my school's policy about graduation requirements. So, one of

085the key challenges is not just about college credits, but it's about access to education in general, and deciding how to pursue education. Because students feel a lot of pressure to move into a university or post-secondary education in general, but they don't understand how to move forward in their education in the present or in the near future, which this is becoming increasingly uncertain because many students simply lack the desire to look for this because they don't have any um influence on their decisions for doing so. I mean, many students just take the CP route, right? And that's because they don't see a lot of motivation in pursuing the higher levels, like AP and honors. And there's a a stereotype that goes around really, where teachers and students believe that the students that are in CP just

086don't put out as much effort. But it could be that they just don't have as much opportunity or don't see the same opportunity because awareness is about knowing the opportunities, not just having them. Thank you. What is one thing about the education system that you believe could be improved? One thing about the education system that I think could be improved is really the independent access to education. More flexibility in being able to pick classes and being able to educate oneself is really critical. One thing that I know I've struggled with as a high-level student is selecting those credits, right? I want to take as many classes as I possibly can and be able to get all those college credits, right? But I struggle with not being able to do that. I have to work around

087and optimize based on my school's policies and Chaska College's policies. But my experience isn't limited to this problem. Um I know there are students that struggle with deciding their classes because they have home life issues, right? So, there are issues with poverty, of course. There's issues with substance abuse. There are many aces. Those are knowable issues. But, uncertainty is one of the rising issues that I think we could address. Of course, with the release and development of AI and new technologies, this is going to be an ever-changing problem, especially as technology accelerates in its development. So, when we see uncertainty in our communities, we shouldn't limit it to just effort. We shouldn't limit it to just funding. We should look at the system as a whole. Of course, the future is incredibly difficult to predict.

088This is true in many areas, especially this one. But, being able to look at our community and see how the different pieces of it interact is what creates the system. We're able to analyze this and be able to evaluate what we value in this system, that is our education system. So, I think one of the education improvements that can be made is access to education. Being educated in how to be educated. Thank you. Is there anything else you'd like to share about why you would like to join the Shasta County Office of Education as a student board member? I would like to join the Shasta County Office of Education as a student board member because there are many opportunities that go beyond just my influence here. I think being able to develop the skills that

089are required for better and greater um growth in communities, whether it's this one or other communities or larger communities. I think the skills that can be developed in the student board are critical to being able to help others. As systems change, as communities change, the problems that they face also change. And being able to have the skills to adapt and being able to analyze, being able to critically reason, being able to evaluate, those are all critical to being able to address the issues that communities face. So, moving forward, after being a student board member, I would see that communities could improve regardless of how many issues there are, because just because there's an overwhelming force doesn't mean that it can't be conquered. We can still try, we can still do our best to uplift others

090and develop our communities regardless of the challenges. Thank you, Ethan. Yeah, at this point, if we could, um, uh, Angela's not here. Uh, we we did have a, uh, student candidate that had a mandatory student performance this evening, and so we uh, tried to build the schedule that would allow her to be [clears throat] at the mandatory performance as part of a class and then, uh, be able to join us. Unfortunately, [clears throat] we are, uh, we are ahead of schedule. So, um, I I I can hand it over to, uh, I can hand it back to President Orlicky as far as like how we would like to navigate this. We can take a we can take a break. Um, I I think to be fair to uh, what we just experienced and to our

091students, thank you so very much for the way you showed up and prepared. Um I I think that uh I speak on behalf of the entire board for your uh for your willingness. Uh we appreciate um and we uh are excited about the opportunity that we have to discuss what has been shared tonight. Um but I I do want to be uh I want to be fair to those that are present tonight. I also want to be fair to the student candidate that is trying to uh be in two places, right? Um so with that we I I guess I'll hand it back to the board to discuss the options. That's why there was a gap in the uh in the schedule. Is there any thoughts from the board about what you would like to

092do? Arthur. I think I think we give her the opportunity to come. I think, you know, cuz we have it scheduled at 8:00. I don't know if we told her that she needs to be here at 8:00. And if we actually told her that her spot was 8:00, we should honor that. Mhm. Uh we can take a break. We can talk. We can go through the rest of our agenda and then circle back. So, whatever anybody would like. I think taking a break and then finishing the agenda and then when she shows up at 8:00, we interview her. All right. I agree with that. Mike. >> just uh recommend to be fair to those that uh have shared tonight, if we could make sure that in our notes we have uh clearly captured what has

093been shared so that that's not lost if we do take a break, jump into a a jump into additional agenda items. I just want to be fair to what has been been shared by our candidates uh so far this evening. Jessica. Uh I just wonder if we should also refrain from engaging with the applicants while we're on our break. Yeah. Jackie. And then what if how long are we going to wait cuz at 8:00 it's still she might not make it at 8:00 is my understanding, right? Her appointment is at 8:00. So that's what that's what I told her. This is the latest we can do. Right, but she still wasn't sure if she could She said it would work out. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. I just didn't know if we were going to like

094cap it at a like 10 minutes after or right at 8:00 or what. Okay. All right. So we're good for a 10-minute break and then come back. All right. Let's be back at 7:32. >> Mhm. >> Call the meeting back to order after the break at 7:37 and we are going to go to item number 9.1.2, which is approval of the 7-11 Committee. So, can we get a motion to approve the 7-11 Committee so that we can begin any discussions necessary? I'll make a motion to approve the 7-11 Committee. Thank you, Jessica. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Arthur. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on the approval of the 7-11 Committee? Arthur? Did all the candidates that uh we randomly selected get the opportunity to say they wanted to

095be on the board or did we have some people fall off? Yes, so we uh did make contact with all 11 members. Um all but one indicated that they would be able to be there at the first meeting scheduled for May 20th. Uh one uh has a uh prior scheduled engagement where they will have to miss the first meeting, but they would like to be able to participate past the first meeting. Um and we said that we could get them caught caught up to speed on the things from the first meeting and that they could participate from that point moving forward. Um and so we do have the first meeting scheduled. Uh invites have been sent and so today's just the uh action to formally place them on the committee after the selection occurred at

096the special meeting. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Arthur? Could you just give like maybe just a 2-minute brief summary of what a 7-11 committee is for maybe the board members that are potentially here for next year? Uh yeah, so uh whenever a school district uh has uh property that they would like to designate as surplus land, uh Ed Code requires that they establish a 7-11 committee uh to review the needs of the school district uh currently as well as into the future um and determine any potential uses for those spaces prior to designated in designating it as surplus. Uh the reason it is called a 7-11 committee is not because of Slurpees and hot dogs, but because of the makeup of the body. Um it must have at least seven members and no

097more than 11 members, and they must be representative of different areas from within the community with different areas of expertise. And so, uh the board has gone through the process of identifying those members and has selected those, and tonight it will be action to approve that committee. Thank you. Any other discussion? All right, it's been moved and seconded that we approve the 7-11 committee. We can do a roll call vote. We'll start with Jacob. I. Abby. I. Risa. I. Arthur. I. Jessica. I. Laura. I. Jackie. I. And I vote I as well. Motion carries unanimously. All right, 9.1.3, appoint board representative to the Shasta Trinity ROP JPA board. This seat is vacant because of the resignation of Robert Brown. So, Mike, did you want to add anything to that? I included in the in the

098in the write-up was at the time that Trustee Brown was appointed uh, Trustee Gorman was was named as an alternate, but given the the time and the the the day and the time, the routine schedule does not work. Um, and so we are here now looking at uh, appointing someone in Robert's stead. Is there anyone that would like to serve? Jessica, you have a Jessica. Comment or you want to be on the ROP board? Oh. Sorry. Um, yeah, I can nominate myself. Okay, so you're now Jessica is nominating herself. Is there anyone else that would like to be on the ROP board? I wouldn't mind. I know. All right. So, we have Teresa nominating herself. So, we have two nominees, Jessica and Teresa. Do we want to give a chance for each one of you

099two? Oh. Okay. You withdraw your nomination? All right, Arthur, you wanted to say something. I was I was going to say it's um, the second Tuesday of the month at 9:30. So, if your schedule allows for such things, then by all means apply, but if it doesn't, then I don't know what your schedule is. Okay. Is there a question on the time? Yeah, I believe it's first Tuesday. First Tuesday. Yeah. Okay. So, if there's nobody else wanting to nominate or be nominated then we will we can do a roll call vote on appointing Teresa to the ROP board. I will start >> make a comment that I think she would be a great fit because she's very interested in the trades and vocational. So I'm glad to see her on there. Yeah, thank you. Yeah.

100All right, then I will start the roll call vote. I vote I. Jackie? I. Laura? I. Jessica? >> I. Arthur? I. Teresa? I. Abby? I. And Jacob? >> I. Motion carried unanimously. All right. Action number 9.1.4, board member attendance at the California School Boards Association County's Conference, September 25th to the 27th in Marina del Rey. Are we just authorizing if people want to go or are we asking them if they want to go right now? I I think this is so it's it is early. We have only like the limited information that's included in the agenda. I know Carmen is working closely with CSBA as the details come out. But we do have September 25th through the 27th. And this is an initial uh I I this is an initial ask for interested trustees. Um

101if you are looking at September 25th through the 27th and your calendar uh allows you to attend, we would love to get that information so that Carmen can um jump on the registration as that information becomes available. Oh. So the latest that we do have is included in the agenda item as a PDF. All right, is there a Are there any trustees interested in attending? You know, okay. There's three or four of us. All right. So, can we get a motion to approve attendance at the conference in September 25th to 27th? I'll motion to approve. Thank you, Arthur. Is there a second? Second. Jackie, thank you. So, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any other discussion concerning attending that conference? All right. If not, we can do a roll call vote. Uh Jackie. I.

102Laura. I. Jessica. Arthur. I. Teresa. >> I. Abby. I. And Jacob. I. All right. Motion carries unanimously. 9.1.5 board member attendance at the California School Boards Association Annual Education Conference, which is December 3rd through 5th in San Diego, California. Would there be any board members interested in attending that conference? Okay. So, several of us. Uh can I get a motion to approve attendance at that conference? Can I get a list to who wants to go? Yeah. I'll motion to approve. Thank you, Arthur. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Jessica. It's been moved and seconded. And can we raise our hands again for those that were interested, just so Carmen can write that down? And then also for the last one. And then for the previous one as well. Is there a Okay. Yeah.

103Plus Michael. Yeah. All right. So, it's been moved and seconded to approve attendance at the conference in San Diego. We can do a roll call vote. Laura. I. Jessica. I. Arthur. I. Teresa. I. Abby. I. Jacob. I. I vote I and Jackie. I. All right. Motion carries unanimously. And we are still about 15 minutes before our next candidate is scheduled to be here. And I don't want to rush the discussion on item 1. 6. So, I think at this point we will take another 15-minute break. So. I would just point out we have cupcakes. >> Mhm. >> Going to call the meeting back to order. And we are going to return to item 9.1.1 which is interviewing student board members. And we have Angela here. Thank you so much for coming. And so we have

104five questions. So we're going to I'll ask you the questions and then you'll have the chance to respond. Thank So the first question is we'd like to know more about where you've been and where you are headed. How long have you lived in Shasta County and which schools have you attended? What and what do you hope to do after graduation from high school? Uh so I've lived in Shasta County like June is going to be my fourth year. So not very long compared to my peers, but uh I moved to Redding 4 years ago from Bronx, NYC. It was a fun move. And the schools I have attended so far are Mountain View in eighth grade, Shasta High in ninth grade, and then U Prep for 10th and 11th grade which I'm currently in. Uh

105I hope to be a biomedical engineer. I want to double major in biomedical engineering and Portuguese with a minor in art when I go to a 4-year university. And if possible, I want to do some clinical research on some special bacteria. Thank you. Uh tell us something you are passionate about either in education, your high school campus, or from your personal life. Well, I'm really passionate about the sciences. That's why I want to be an engineer when I grow up. I think they're such a cool field to study. I also in my high school, I'm passionate about my school's orchestra. It's a bigger program than Shasta and that was one of the reasons I moved cuz like there were so many more people and I could improve my violin skills. And I also in my

106free time crochet and paint. I like keeping myself busy. It's nice. Thank you. What do you see as key challenges for high school students in Shasta County? I think peer pressure is probably the most prominent challenge. Not necessarily just in Shasta County, but like all around the US and every US school. And it's hard because it's among your peers and it's it makes it creates an environment that's really hard to say no. So I feel like if more programs targeted at that would be very cool. And just improve the environment as a whole cuz uh peer pressure breeds bad things like reckless driving or alcohol usage or drug usage. And if especially in like broken homes. So if like we are able to give high school students a strong strong foundation to build on that

107would be nice. Thank you. What is one thing about the education system that you believe could be improved? Well, as I wrote in my application, I think we're a bit too virtual nowadays. After COVID, we transitioned from uh physical learning to online learning through Zoom and Google Meets and I even after the COVID pandemic has had ceased, we still like to use that technology, which is not a bad thing. It's a good thing that we're able to have like Google assignments and Google classrooms and it really makes learning easier, but I also think that like it's a bit overused like in some of my classes. We're just watching a YouTube video for the entire thing and it's it's a bit disappointing because I remember in my like elementary school days and middle school days, we'd

108have like projects, fun projects to work around and then we talk to our classmates. Like online learning is also like decreasing social interaction between us. So, I don't think it should be removed. That's not what I'm saying. I just think if we could downgrade like in our curriculum, bring back more physical projects, like writing essays in class, writing short stories, not just like online everything. Thank you. And then our final question is, is there anything else you'd like to share about why you would like to join the Shasta County Office of Education as a student board member? Uh, well, last summer was when I started getting interested in advocacy for students like me. I joined this program called CASC, the California Association of Student Cans Councils, because a friend of mine like pushed me to

109join and it was a very like cool idea. Like we didn't do as much as I hoped we'd do. Like we all we ended up doing was like a conference and we invited some I think some members in the community. It was nice, but like it had the potential to like voice student opinions. That's what it was advertised as, but it it didn't really do that. It didn't really make an impact. But then I found out about like this student board member thing. I was like, "Oh, this this is like task, but it may actually do something. Like, you're talking directly to the people in charge." It just sounded like a really like cool idea. I didn't even know like we had student board members. I didn't I didn't know this was a thing until

110like 6 months ago when I saw it like in the school bulletin announcements. I was like, "Ooh, seems interesting." Thank you so much, Angela. Thank you, Angela. Okay, so the first thing we need to decide is do we want to appoint two members or one. So, we would need a motion to either appoint two or to appoint one. All right, I'll make a motion to appoint two members, but to consider them individually. Okay. Consider one at a time. All right. >> Second. Thank you. So, it's moved by Laura, seconded by Jackie, that we appoint two members, but consider them separately. Is there any discussion on that? All right, then we will vote on that. Uh Teresa, you want to start on that motion? I. Arthur. I. Jessica. >> I. Laura. I. Jackie. >> I. I

111vote I, and Abby. I. All right, motion carries unanimously. All right, so we have our ranking sheets. Is there any comment on the board about how you would like to do this? Would you like to everybody rank, send it on to Mike, and he tallies it, and see if someone gets four votes? Or any other suggestions? Since we already have the papers, let's just do that. All right, then I will give you guys time to review your notes and mark your ranking sheets. Ranking ranking sheet number one. >> Okay, for everyone's first number one ranking, um we have Diesel DeLello receiving four votes, Jacob Garcia receiving uh two three votes, one of them being a student vote, which is a preferential vote. So, since we have one candidate that receives four votes, would there be

112somebody who would like to make a motion to approve Diesel DeLello as one of our student board members, Abby? I have a question real quick. Um I still Do I still have a preferential vote for student board members, too? Okay. Yes. Okay. I was just wondering cuz I I think I remember last year it was different. last year the two board members had no when you're deciding Yeah, but he sit down there. Um So, even I don't have a vote. Okay. I I do have a vote? Yes, but you'll have another vote, too. But am I still like when I when we're voting for the next student board members, am I is my vote still preferential? Yes. Yes. Okay. Motion to approve Diesel DeLello? Is there a second? I'll second. All right. It's been moved

113and seconded. Is there any discussion? No? All right, then we'll start with the roll call vote. Abby? No. Teresa? Aye. Arthur? Aye. Jessica? Nay. Uh Laura? Aye. Jackie? Aye. And I vote aye as well. Motion carries five to one with one the Novo is preferential. All right. So, we have a second candidate sheet. Um we're not supposed to have secret ballots, so I think we really should have said the names of who voted for whom. Yeah, I can I can Thank you, Laura. So, Trustee La Barbera is Diesel Delello. Michael Orlicky is Diesel Delello. Teresa Roberts is Diesel Delello. Arthur Gorman is Diesel Delello. Jessica French is Jacob Garcia. Uh Laura Manuel is Jacob Garcia and Abby Dang is Jacob Garcia. Sorry. Okay. So, for the second member, we will follow the same procedure then

114to fill out your sheet number two for your second top candidate. >> All right, for our um for our second candidate ranking uh Trustee La Barbera, Jacob Garcia. Laura Manuel, Jacob Garcia. Teresa Roberts votes Jasmine Anderson. Abby Dang, Jacob Garcia. Trustee Gorman, Jasmine Anderson. Jessica French, Jacob Garcia. Michael Orlicky, Ethan Morgan. Ethan Morgan, one vote. Jacob Garcia, three votes with a fourth being a preferential student trustee vote and Jasmine Anderson, two votes. All right, so at this point it'd be open up to discussion or deliberation. So, is there someone that would like to speak? Jessica. I just wanted to take the opportunity to um tell our student applicants that I was just really in complete awe at all of you guys. I um I almost cried when you were speaking just because your authenticity and

115your vulnerability just really touched my heart. Um You guys are you're all amazing students and honestly it just gives me hope for our future and not in some sort of weird um way, like genuinely from my heart. Like I'm so impressed with all of you. And personally, the decision was very difficult for me. So, um I encourage you guys to continue coming back if you if you can. If you're not going to be a if you're not a senior already, come back again. Seek out other opportunities, um to use your skills, which I already know you're going to do, but just thank you for coming. I'm proud of all of you. Arthur, did you want to talk? Yeah. Speak. I think everybody did good. I think Jacob, you did amazing. Uh Diesel, all the other

116candidates. And that's one of the reasons why there's an additional uh thing for a discussion tonight because we're going to be talking about opportunities for everybody to stay involved with us by doing a student board uh committee, a county-wide student council. So, a lot of people have applied in the past, and some of them didn't get on, and we didn't give them an opportunity to actually participate. And we want to what we we're going to do, and talk about it later, is hopefully uh do something where every high school has a representative uh and gives us a voice for student voice. But, uh we want everybody to come back. We gave an opportunity for everybody last time to participate in our our fentanyl and our tobacco cessation programs. But, I think this one, if you're

117looking for advocacy roles and wanting to represent your high school well at the county level, that if we uh work as a board to make sure that happens, and there'll be ample opportunity for everybody to apply and do actionable items. Yeah, I um I really I remember hearing um Arthur say that Central Valley never had a representative on the board. And I was really hoping we could get a Central Valley representative on the board. But, um obviously that didn't work out and that's okay. But, I just so impressive. I can't wait to see where you go, Angela. I can't I absolutely cannot wait. So, I just hope that you kind of stay in touch with us and get on that kind on that council. Um, because I have a feeling you're going to go far.

118So, Jacob, I'm glad you're back on the board. Diesel, can't wait to work with you. And the others, I can't wait to have more more interaction. So, thank you. We haven't made a second appointment yet. So, we don't have that. It's still open. Yeah. So, uh, Laura, you are in the queue to speak. Yeah, um, this was a really strong slate of candidates. I really am impressed with all of you and each of you are very unique individuals that came across. Um, you have passions in different areas and you're very articulate and I think, um, each of you would make a good board member. So, it's hard it, you know, it's a tough decision for the board. I think, uh, for me though, I really want to see Jacob continue on the board. I really

119have appreciated, um, this past year of his service of just what he brings to the board is both, um, generosity and curiosity. I mean, generosity in that he really listens to people and he's listening for understanding, not just to wait to have his turn to talk. He, um, he wants to learn and then he has this curiosity, but it's not just wanting to know more about it. When he sees an issue, he wants to do something about it. He's a person that works to solve things or to make things better. And, um, that's been, uh, really impressive to me. He's worked on the student voice panel. I was the only one of all of you here that went to hear it. And I can vouch for that he and Abby did a wonderful job on

120it. Um he's doing the PSAs. He's going to be doing the educator appreciation dinner tomorrow night. Whatever the task is, he fits it in. And he does it. And I'm really excited about this um educator educators arising. I think that's what it's called. Of trying to get um young people interested in the teaching career. And Jacob's really taken that on. But it's just getting started. And he needs more time to continue it. So, I really wish that the board will consider um voting for him and getting him back on the board again. That would be a great opportunity. We haven't done that before. But he would be the one to do it with. And so, I really I really hope that um we can do that. Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

121Abby? Um I just want to say that I am so impressed with every single one of you guys that um had the interview today. Um as a student board member, you know, I was lucky enough during my um application last year. We only had four people. So, far less competition than what you guys are facing now. You had to like If you're here, you're already like the top people cuz there were 15 applications and we had to narrow it out to six. Um yeah, so I'm just so impressed with every single one of you. Um congratulations to Diesel. I hope you continue your um advocacy journey on the board. Continue to have like a true representation of every student here at Shasta County. Um as on your position as a board student board member, and

122I really hope that the board considers con- um having Jacob continue his position on the the as well. I know he said that he built up a lot of momentum and he wants to continue his journey. Working with him personally, I've got to know him personally. He is just genuinely such a good person. He um has so many aspirations in life and I I really hope that you guys would consider keeping him on the board. And to all the people who um maybe didn't get this position, you know, this is just a minor setback. There's so many more opportunities like Arthur was telling you about like the advisory board that we're um probably going to discuss like right, the student council. That's another opportunity. There's also CASC like you mentioned. Um I know the person

123that is going to be president soon of CASC club and she's probably going to do amazing job. She's going to probably revive the whole program. So if you guys want to be more involved in like policy stuff, talking to like state senators, all that, they do a lot of that, too. If you guys want to join CASC, um there's so many different opportunities other than just like the student board member position. So I implore you guys to continue exploring those opportunities, continue putting yourself out there and applying to these these positions, doing all this stuff. And it's okay if you don't get it because there's you know, there's so many like I said, there's so many different stuff that you can still do. Yeah. Thank you, Abby. Is there any other Can we make a

124motion? Yeah. I'll make a motion to appoint Jacob Garcia. Second. So then moved by Arthur and seconded by Jackie to appoint Jacob Garcia. Is there any discussion? All right, then we can do a roll call vote. Uh Jackie, do you want to start? I. Laura. I. Jessica. I. Arthur? I. Teresa? I. Abby? I. I vote I as well. Motion carries. Thank you to everybody that applied. Um just because you weren't accepted is not anything negative about you. We appreciate all of you. This was really hard. We had 15 people apply, we had to narrow it down, and then we had to narrow it down again from there. So, thank you everybody. You're all amazing and wonderful, and I'm sure we'll all see you guys again in some other type of leadership capacity. Uh Mr. Freeman.

125Uh yes, thank you to everyone that expressed interest. Congratulations Diesel, congratulations Jacob. In addition to the advisory council student council that is on the tonight's agenda, we also work closely with the Reach Higher Shasta uh executive committee. Reach Higher Shasta is a TK through 16 uh TK through 12 and including college group of um interested community members, business leaders, and educators. And in that space, we also look for student voice. And so, we can be in contact with those applicants that were not selected for for our board and give you that option as well for um possibly advocating getting involved in education in Shasta County. All right. Then we are on to item 9.1.6, which is the creation of a countywide student body council. So, this was brought up I believe by Arthur and Jacob

126last board meeting. So, does one of you want to speak on that? Arthur? Yeah, and before anybody disappears, please get Mike's contact information if we do create this student council. Uh what we've seen in the past is that we've had a lot of applicants that really wanted to do something and make a big change in the community when it was student board members and we wanted to give them an opportunity from all aspects because we have people from Fall River, Fall River, Burney, out in that area. We have Anderson, Cottonwood. We have Foothill kids, uh rural kids, and then we have everybody from what we would consider the inner city of Redding. Uh and so we want a voice from every high school. So we already have some amazing candidates here from different schools and

127uh you guys would be able to be on that board. That gives Jacob and Diesel next year a big uh opportunity because we do these student voice panels and we bring in uh just Jacob can talk more about it, but bring in multiple people to talk about the issues that are going on in Shasta County and get you guys involved in local government and I think this would be an amazing opportunity not only for you to serve your community, but it would propel you further in whatever you want to do later on in life because it does give you great school uh tools to use wherever you go. Uh Jacob. So the point of this agenda item is to approve the creation of a an advisory council, student advisory board. Um I just want to

128real quick say how this all started. Um I knew Shasta I knew Shasta Union had a superintendent's advisory council before, um but when we went down to the state capital in November, Abby and I, I met a student board member who came from a smaller school in Placer County, uh north of Sacramento, and she said that she started a student advisory board once she was elected on her district board as a student board member, and that got me going and thinking, "What can we do in Shasta County about a student advisory board, and I understood that the role of a student board member is not just us. It won't just be me and Abby. It's 37,000 other kids in the county, and how we can make our reports more meaningful is representing every single student

129in the best way possible. And it hurts my heart that, you know, Burney and Fall River kids can't apply, and you know, their administrators are looking out for them driving home at night from board meetings. And I don't want that to be a problem for them to advocate. I don't want that that I don't want that to be a problem for their voice. And I think this is the next step to get there is creating a student advisory board so that we can have these monthly meetings, whether that's most likely on Zoom, and understand what's happening all out Shasta County. You know, here we hear much from West Valley and the Shasta Union High School District, but what's out there in Fall River? What's out there in Burney? What's out there in Igo? I want

130to know, and I want to bring it to you guys, and I think this could be beneficial for us. I think it's getting our foot into the door to what else can happen. Thank you. Is there anyone that wants to make a motion to approve this, or and then we can discuss further about how it would look? Do you not want to make a motion? Motion comes before discussion, usually. Robert's Rules of Order requires motions before discussion. Well, if you want to overrule the decision, you can, but we have to have a motion to discuss. That we're going to make one and then discuss. Yeah. You would discuss it. Yeah. If I If I could um I would I would just even after hearing Jacob's report on the kind of the origin of it, the

131recommendation was the discussion, but I'm totally cool with approving this and reaching out to those that are doing this and bringing those models and bringing those policies back to us. With the With the action taken to establish it, we can go get those details instead of having the discussion. As it states in the recommendation, the thought was have the discussion here. But Jacob, if you have contact information with people that are doing this, we can reach out, grab those things, and come back to the board with something with with some of those details. So, I would I would just uh I would revise my recommendation that's included on the agenda item if if that is more feasible. I'll make a motion for the creation of the county-wide school body council. And then I just need

132a second and then we can discuss. Second. No, no. All right, so moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Jacob, I saw you turn your microphone on. Yeah, I I can bring back that contact and I can get in for She's senior right now. She's off to college, I think on the East Coast, but I can always get information from her, meet with her, and get how she started it and what that model kind of looks like. I also follow her on Instagram and also her student advisor Instagram, and I see all the wonderful things that they're doing. So, I'm happy to meet with her on my own over this next month and bring it back to you June or July of exactly how she how it all played out for her and how we

133can play it out here. Any further discussion about it, Jackie? Um yeah, so I'd like to see how what you Okay. Yes. Perfect. Any other discussion? Arthur? Yeah, I just echo what you guys said, but I really want student from every high school. So, it's like that's important that we get something from them. They all have Shasta Union High School has their own board members and uh Burney, and of course they have their board members. Central Valley with Gateway Union, they have their board members. So, uh I hope that we can get a voice from every high school and that is built into this. Uh that way we can hear what we've all been talking about tonight and give you guys that applied another opportunity to serve your community. Any other discussion? All right, it's

134been moved and seconded to create the student county-wide student body council. So, we can start with the roll call vote. Jacob? Aye. Abby? Aye. Teresa? Aye. Arthur? Aye. Jessica? Laura? Aye. Jackie? Aye. And I vote aye as well. We are on item number 9.1.7, which is the board policy review. So, the first one up would be a new exhibit 9270 conflict of interest. Um Austin, are you addressing it? Yeah, thank you. Uh so, LEAs are required to adopt a code of conflict of interest and that code of conflict of interest is required to be reviewed every 2 years for changes and or additions to positions for disclosure requirements. Um in conducting our uh bi-annual review, um it was discovered that at the May 8th, 2024 meeting, the last time that this was discussed, in board

135bylaw 9270, the appendix section of that was acting as the code of conflict for the organization. Um, and to the best that I can surmise due to a clerical error, that was struck out. And so, the board bylaw that currently exists does not have a code of conflict attached to it. Uh, we have been uh, going We have been um, acting as though the code of conflict that previously existed was still there in terms of all of the disclosures that have been filed by staff that were previously mentioned in that code of conflict. The form 700s are on file. All of the disclosures have been there. Um, but we need to adopt a code of conflict uh, that covers Shasta County Office of Education staff, as well as trustees. Um, and so the recommendation put

136forth here uh, is that exhibit 9270 is established, um, which would allow it to live, the code of conflict to live independently of board bylaw 9270, uh, and would act as the code of conflict for the organization staff and the trustees. Um, I included uh, the board agenda item from May 8th, 2024, so that you could see exactly what happened at that meeting, um, and then a copy of a clean version of what the appendix said prior about the code of conflict of interest, and then a redline version of the proposed exhibit, uh, with the primary changes being made to clarification of titles of staff, uh, and disclosure requirements. Thank you, Tom. Thank Thank Austin. Good evening, board members. I just wanted to add a process step that you um, might be interested in. Um

137the county board of supervisors reviews your conflict of interest code. So, after it's updated every 2 years or not updated, we send it to the county board of supervisors. So, that's why it comes up in the spring or other summer of every even-numbered year. And as Austin said, the if you're just looking at the exhibit, it's okay, let's make sure the exhibit's there, and then there's some minor changes in red to um adjust the titles of positions that need to file the form 700. Thank you. Are there any questions from the board members about anything that Austin or Tom said? All right, then can I get a motion to approve 9270 conflict of interest board bylaw? I'll make a motion to approve uh board bylaw 9270 conflict of interest. Thank exhibit 9270, sorry. Exhibit 9270,

138yeah. Thank you, Jessica. Is there a second? Thank you, Jackie. So, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on exhibit 9270 conflict of interest? All right. If not, then we will do a roll call vote. I can start. I vote I. Jackie? I. Laura? I. Jessica? >> I. Arthur? I. Teresa? I. Abby? I. And Jacob? I. Motion carries unanimously. All right, item two is revised board law 9270 conflict of interest. Did you want to say anything on that? Yeah, so again in the uh biannual review, um it was noted that there were some updates to current law and some changes that were needed to be made to the board bylaw um after review with legal. So, those proposed uh changes are outlined here and I will turn it over to Tom to explain

139kind of what those changes are and the recommendations for the updated bylaw. Thank you, Austin. Um just backing up a step, the board bylaw is really just the policy that gives you a summary of state laws on conflicts of interest and so there's always changes to conflict of interest laws in in some way. So that's what you see in the revisions to the board bylaw. Separately, the exhibit is just like who files form 700 and what they file. So this is really just a a narrative summary of what the the law is and um the model policy uh produced by CSBA wasn't exactly, I think, what a county office um wanted because it wasn't clear that it needs to apply both to the county board and the county office of education and its employees. So

140many of the changes you see in red in this document are intended to be clear, like, yes, this is the one conflict of interest code that applies to county office and county board. And then um the language on abstaining was just rearranged and a couple of items described in the cover sheet were changed, like, there's a threshold for campaign contributions that went from 250 to 500. Um but other than that, um I mean, nothing uh super substantive, just updates to track the law. I'll be happy to answer questions. Other. So you were you mentioned campaign contributions, but that's not a a gift is not a campaign contribution, but I am excited that we can receive gifts of less than 500, but I've never received a gift of a gift of 250. That's But if you

141are raising campaign contributions, that's not covered under this. This is something entirely different. Yes, the treatment of campaign contributions is quite different from from gifts and the gift limit I'm blanking on the number. I believe it's $630 per source per calendar year now. Um but the conflict of interest that can be caused by campaign contributions, that number used to be 250 now the legislature has changed it to 500. So you're saying if someone runs for school board that they can't accept more than $500? Oh no, it's not a campaign contribution limit. There are no campaign contribution limits for this board unless they were to adopt something. What this rule is about is um for many years it used to be that campaign contributions would never cause a conflict of interest for school board members. The

142legislature changed the law it used to apply to other local governments now the legislature has changed the law and has said yes campaign contributions can cause a conflict of interest under some circumstances. So those school board members that are raising and spending campaign money need to watch their contributions. The threshold being $500. So if you get five more than $500 um from a a particular person or company then you're going to need to watch to see if under certain circumstances that campaign contributor to you has business before the board. Um so it's a little arcane like many of these conflict of interest rules but if you just the one takeaway for you is if you're raising um campaign contributions of more than $500 you need to track whether those contributors have business before the board.

143Okay. So they made rules for school board members but not themselves. Is that what you're trying to tell me? Sorry? You know they made rules for school board members but not themselves? Yeah. Oh um yes. Uh-huh. That's correct. >> I thought. Yeah. If you want to look at the public records act that applies to the legislature you might be surprised to see how short it is. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Rules for me, not for thee. Are there any other questions for Tom or Austin? All right, then can I get a motion to approve revised board bylaw 9270 conflict of interest? I make a motion to approve. Sorry. Oh, go ahead. I will make a motion to approve. Thank you, Laura. I second. All right, thank you, Teresa. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion

144on the approval of revised board law board bylaw 9270? All right, if not, we can vote. Uh Laura, do you want to start? I. Jessica. I. Arthur. I. Teresa. I. Abby. I. Jacob. I. I vote I and Jackie. No. All right, motion carries five to one. All right, item three would be revised board law bylaw 9250 on remuneration, reimbursement, and other benefits. Mike, I believe you're Yeah, I'm excited to uh this is our this is our initial journey into working together as a board to revise uh board policies as things are updated. Uh in No- in December the board uh the board did as part of their annual organization meeting, look at the remu- remuneration. Am I saying that right? I always want to say renumeration, but it's remuneration of uh of our board members,

145uh and there wasn't there was an increase. Uh Assembly Bill 1390 allowed for uh new limits to uh compensation for uh board members, and so uh we thought that this would be a great place to start as we looked at uh the um board policy update process. Uh in the lead-up to our board meeting, we did receive a couple of questions as it relates to uh board bylaw 9250. Um specifically uh in some of the language uh around benefits uh for board members. And then also um regarding a change in how the stipend was administered to uh to board members. So, I'm going to I'm going to hand that over to uh Tom, to uh legal counsel, to kind of walk us through some of uh some of those questions as it relates to that

146board bylaw. Okay, thank you, Mike. Um I just was noticing on page two of the proposed document, there's still a blank for the compensation amount. But the board has already uh authorized a specific amount, correct? Correct. It is $800. >> Thank you. Uh so, a question came up as to um how does that $800 earned or not? And um the [clears throat] uh statute, I believe it's education code section 1090, says that in order to receive the monthly stipend, one must attend all meetings. And so, I don't know that if that's been a point of discussion in the past, but all meetings means all regular and special meetings. So, um it just make sure we're going forward that we um compensate board members according to how many of the all meetings held uh during the

147month. And that is a that is a change because in the past, the stipend was linked to the attendance at the regularly scheduled meeting. But when Tom informed us of that Ed Code 1090, uh we did make the change to distribute the stipend across attendance to all meetings. Many meetings Correct. Many meetings uh many months, there's only one meeting. But the last last month, this month, and next month are there are two. And so, in accordance with Ed Code 1090, the $800 stipend is going is is spread equally across the meetings regular or special scheduled for that month. Yes, study sessions are typically special meetings under the Brown Act. And then Tom, could you speak to the other It appears I think that there is some language that we're going to want to revise as

148it relates to the question regarding board members receiving or having the ability to pay into health benefits or is our health benefits in the language for for this board bylaw. There are a couple of options as it relates to the availability for benefits for current and uh former former board members. >> Yes. Uh so as you can see in the proposed board bylaw language, there's three options that are given here. Um and it's up to the board how they want to provide health benefits to themselves. Option one, which correct me if I'm wrong, is current practice, which is the county office pays premiums for county board members. Oh, you don't at all? Where did I'm sorry, I got my wires crossed on that. Okay. We do not currently have any board members having premiums paid

149by the Shasta County Office of Education for health and welfare benefits. Oh, okay. So this is to discuss whether to start providing that. Okay. Sorry. I got my wires crossed on that one. So three options. The county office can pay up to the amounts paid for other employee groups. You can't have a more generous um health benefit payment to board members than um employee groups. So, if um you're, you know, you just pick your your best plans and those and those are available to the county board members. You know, you know, anything up to the best plan is what I should say. So, that's option one, which is paid paid fully. Option two is um reimburse uh board members for approved health plans that have been paid. And again, that would allow board members to

150select um approved health plans, but they would be reimbursed for their payment of the premiums. Same result, just a different method of getting there. And then option three is um partial reimbursement, where you would um where you would uh just receive a partial reimbursement up to X, you know, which might be some amount less than what um employee groups are are are paid. Or contributed to. Um the So, those are the three options. Uh they're all equally equally uh fine if you want to go with any one of them. I think I want to draw your attention to one more thing. Um a board member asked a question, the very last uh sentence in the bottom of page four is about former board members. And so, what you are able to do is when a

151board member leaves the board, under the law, you are able to still continue to participate in the health benefits that are provided to current board members, but you have to pay for it all yourself. And so, um the part that was uh questioned by a board member is if you go all the way up to um the middle of page one, where um where it's struck out, it says benefits for retired county board members. And it talks about January 1, 1995, and you having to serve at least one term, and that that language is um is a little bit outdated now because we're way past 1995. So, the basic rule is now stated at um the very last sentence on page four, which is former county board members can participate uh only as permitted by

152law. Um so, if the board chooses to provide um health benefits to its own to yourselves as board members, you can also choose whether to pay for former board members. But again, they would have to pay for it themselves. Question about what you've just said. So, the part that um cuz I was the one that asked the thing about the January 1995 thing, but it does seem like that part that was struck out, it does have some part with some parts of that language do seem pertinent. Um retiring from the board after at least one term, that seems like that's reasonable. And then continuing at their own expense if coverage was in effect at the time of retirement, that seems like that's a good stipulation, too. And those aren't included in that very last statement

153about former county board members. And then the other thing I have questions about those options that you went over because we've um the decision on whether to uh provide payment for health insurance, that's always been discussed at the December meeting as part of the stipend compensation thing. And the board has always decided not to do it. So, it's not like an option that we have now. We don't do We don't do it. So, it seems like the only option you could have would be that option two in the line that would say, "County board members who elect to participate um shall pay 100% toward the cost of the premiums." Cuz we've never paid, and we then that's always been a decision of the board that we don't. Thank you for that clarification. I agree with

154everything you just said about the former board members. If you do determine to allow former board members to pay for their own health benefit premiums, then you do want to change that last sentence on page four to specify what the board desires. What you just said sounds perfectly reasonable, which would be must, you know, after serving at least one term and will pay uh premiums for the health benefits then in effect when they retire. Um and I would also agree if the board wants to continue status quo, which is you can um elect to pay at, you know, your own at your uh on your own. It would be option two. Pay 100% of the premiums. I agree. Thank thank you. Are there any other questions for Tom? >> [snorts] >> All right, then is

155there someone that wants to make a motion as far as the options, correct? And then any other part of the option that need to be filled in. So, [snorts] before a motion is made, can I just get some clarification? So, we would be filling in the blanks with the compensation in the uh each member of the County Board of Education shall be provided monthly compensation of $800. I just want to make sure that it's very clear because we have uh we have Carmen here that is is doing this real time to be able to transfer this over. So, that would be $800. Um there is the So, option two would be a 100% towards the cost of premiums in the blank. So, the option two the first part of it um would be deleted. County

156board member pays premium and county office of education reimburses cuz we're >> Parentheses would be strict would be gone. >> that. >> Yep. And then it would be the it would be the statement county board of education members who elect to participate in the county health and welfare benefit program blah blah blah shall pay 100% toward the cost of premiums. And that would be if we go with option two, right? Well, what other one we don't do the other ones. We don't We've already decided as a board that we don't reimburse. Okay. >> And is there any other language changes? Well, I would >> at the end. >> Yes. >> Well, and for the last sentence of four if we're going to continue allowing former board members to participate but to pay the full amount,

157I'd suggest Carmen, are you ready? Someone wants to make this into a motion suggest that that last sentence say former count- county board members and their spouse, registered domestic partner, and eligible dependent children may participate in the health and welfare benefits program provided for COE employees uh at their own expense upon completion of one full term of service. One or more full terms of service. And then still only permitted as law? I think you can strike only as permitted by law. That sounds clunky. Um We could start it with at their own expense. Wait, I've lost it here. I mean, I feel like that the 1995 paragraph it's actually pretty good once you get beyond that. So members retiring from the county board after at least one term may continue the health and welfare benefits

158at their own expense if coverage is in effect at the time of retirement. I think that states it pretty well. The other one adds their spouse and domestic partner. Would you not want that included then? I don't know. What has been our practice? If you allow board members to participate, the law requires that spouses and domestic partners participate as well. So that must just be in before that law. That's why it doesn't say that. That's right. Well, and if I may add, I think the term retiring can be um confusing because I think >> Yeah. I think the criteria is just that you serve one term. Okay. That you that you described, Laura. You've served at least one term. Yeah. I was just hoping for some clarification. So, are we attempting to adjust this bylaw

159for decisions in December? Or that's where I'm confused. So, based on action taken last December, the board approved compensation for $800 and currently we don't have that reflected in any of our board bylaws. >> Oh, I see. Okay. So, that's where we thought hey, getting into this board policy update, let's go ahead and start with something easy where it's just catching our policy up to our practice with the compensation increases. Okay. And then making sure that uh that our policies here match to Laura's point, match the decisions made regarding health and welfare benefits for current or uh former board members um based on the decisions made in our Octo- in our December organization meeting. Okay. So, do we have Carmen, do you have what you need at the close? >> So, I think like the

160it's um serving at least one term, but then the other part is that you have coverage at the time of retirement. So, you wouldn't want somebody that's never had the coverage to leave the board and then go, "Oh, wait, I want that." You know, so I think you would have to have been using it Right. For at least And that needs to be stated. Can I try again? I'll capture all hopefully I'll capture all the comments. Carmen, you ready? Former county board members who have served at least one full term of office and their spouse, registered domestic partner, and eligible dependent children may participate in the health and welfare benefits program provided for COE employees at their expense if coverage is in effect at the time of leaving the Board of Education. Thank you. I

161I got a thumbs up from Laura. >> So, the motion would be compensation blank completed with 800. Option two the the option two language change and the closure pertaining to former board continue having the ability to continue medical health and welfare benefits at their own expense at the successful completion of one term or something like that. Is there someone that wants to make that motion? With All right, Oh, Jackie, you have a But what if they sign up for medical benefits two weeks before the end of their term? Yeah, right. Um, I'll make a motion to approve with those changes and I'll just add an editorial comment that I still remain stunned that the board voted to give itself a 200% raise in monthly income. Um, but go ahead and change the bylaw to reflect

162that. Is that sufficient for a motion? All right, is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, Teresa. So, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on the motion? Arthur, will you just repeat the motion one more time? The motion is to approve this bylaw with the changes that we discussed and they included the um $800 a month for compensation. They included um we chose option two, but we deleted the first line and started with county board members who elect. And then we said they shall pay 100% toward the cost of the premiums. And then at the end we changed that last paragraph to say >> [laughter] >> Go ahead, Tom. Former county board members who have served at least one term and their spouses Author? I move I move we move to a

163vote. All right. We can vote then Jacob, you want to start? I. Abby? I. Teresa? I. Author? I. Jessica? Laura? I. Jackie? >> I. And I vote I as well. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. So we are on now item four, revised exhibit 19250. Mike, is that you? Uh yes, continuing with the same theme of catching up with uh exhibit uh 9250E1 and E2 will be next. Um uh I believe that this would be the resolution that we would be using to excuse um excuse for board member absence to be able to uh and believe if recent recent law changes have allowed for some changes in the just cause of absences. And so those changes are reflected in the in the resolution before you. Are there any questions for Mike on that resolution? If not, we

164could have a motion to approve revised exhibit 19250. I make a motion to approve. Thank you, Arthur. Is there a second? Thank you, Jessica. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on revised exhibit 19250? All right, if not, we can vote. I vote I. Jackie. >> I. Laura. I. Jessica. Arthur. I. Teresa. I. Abby. I. And Jacob. I. Motion carries unanimously. Item five, new exhibit 29250. Mike. Yeah, AB 1390 allowed these new limits and so this chart is reflecting the limits allowable with that legislation. We are a class five county office of education and that would put our limit at $800. Is there any questions about this exhibit? Can I identify as a class one? >> [laughter] >> If not, we could have a motion to approve new exhibit 29250. Motion to approve

165exhibit 29250. Thank you, Jackie. I'll second that. Is there any discussion on I just have one discussion. Arthur. Is there what is a Do we have a a list of class ones? I mean they're probably I mean I'd only imagine it would be LA County. Yeah, class one class one comes with class one problems. Class one challenges. I believe it is uh it is a Leica. Honestly, it takes me about 10 minutes to cross-reference the classes to what county is actually there. So, if you're interested, I'll look while we're while we're talking. Uh yeah, I'll look while we're talking. >> All right, thank you. >> LA pays themselves $150,000. You don't follow >> They do, yeah. 2,000. Yeah. Yeah. Is there a motion to approve this? I'll make a motion. >> Oh, wait, we already

166actually it's already been moved and it's already been moved and seconded. All right, is there any other discussion? All right, then uh Jackie. Aye. Laura. Aye. Jessica. Arthur. Aye. Abby. Aye. Jacob. Aye. And I vote aye, so it carries five to zero with one absent member. All right. Item 10, student board member report. Abby. Good evening, everyone. Okay, so I can't believe that I have reached my final board meeting as a student board member. This experience has taught me so much and I've had the opportunity to meet so many incredible people that will at that I will be forever grateful for. Um when I first stepped into this role, I honestly wasn't sure what to expect. I knew I wanted to represent our students well, but I didn't understand how much work and dedication goes

167into supporting education across our county. Sitting here on the board each month has given me an entirely new perspective on leadership and what it means to truly represent other people. So, for my last board member report, I would just like to express my gratitude to all the people that have made this experience so incredible. Um so first of all, I would like to thank all of the board members. Thank you for giving me this opportunities to sit on this board with you guys and to participate in conversations about policies and decisions that affect students across our county. I came into this position completely new to everything. I had no prior experience in SCUSD. I didn't know anybody on the board, but from the very beginning I was welcomed with kindness, encouragement, and support, and I

168truly appreciate that more than I can express. And also, I am forever grateful to all the staff of SCUSD. Thank um so Carmen, thank you so much for coordinating all our meetings and always being there whenever we need support. And Carrie, I don't know if she's still here. Did she Oh my gosh, she's right there. Okay. Okay, um thank you so much for being an amazing communications director and generally some someone that I always look forward to talking to. And Mr. Freeman, thank you for always supporting our student board members. And whether that's through our meetings that we've had or just your our simple conversations, um I'm just so ingre- incredibly grateful to have that with you. And you've made this experience far less intimidating. Yeah, just thank you. And also, I want to thank

169all the staff of SCUSD. A lot of work you do behind happens behind the scenes, but it makes an incredible um incred- enormous difference. Thank you all for the support, your kindness, and for always helping me feel welcome here. And lastly, I would just like to thank Jacob, my fellow student board member. It's been really special getting to share this experience with someone who truly cares so deeply about the students he represents. We have become quite good friends throughout this year, and not only do I value our experiences together as student board members, I also cherish every single conversation we've shared along the way. I truly wish you the best in everything ahead, especially with college applications coming up. Uh feel free to ask me anything if you want. Yeah. And all the exciting opportunities

170in the future. Serving as student board member has been one of the most meaningful experiences I have in my high school career and is something that I will carry with me for a long time. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Jacob. I did go a different route, but I'm going to get through it real quick. Uh good evening. West Valley spring sports are going very well. Uh we had signing day for our student athletes. I believe we have 12 people going to universities to continue their academics and um athletic career. Uh we hosted prom. It was great. ASB and leadership got real quick to it and now we're planning our end of the year celebration day on the green. Food trucks, water slides, bringing in the end of the new school the end of

171the school year. Uh Youth Commission, May 29th, we're holding our red carpet premiere at the studio. And I believe two or three weeks you guys will be seeing that video posted everywhere. Uh my CSBA student board member training's coming to an end and I got to learn about transitioning out of a term and reflecting on what comes next after it. And additionally, my month has been filled with meetings with Educators Rising this past couple weeks uh working with people from across the East Coast. It's hard working with people in a 3-hour time difference, but we're make we're pushing through it and we're getting ready to address staffing shortage. And then I did not write a whole spiel. I'm just going to speak from the heart about This is an incredible opportunity and I never thought

172in a million years I would be here. Uh this whole thing started in March of 2025. I got uh forwarded email from Carmen uh from my counselor about a student board member opportunity. She knew I was interested in education. She knew I was interested in teaching. And I applied last May. I was appointed and here we are. And I just have to say I'm so grateful because not many students, only two people get like this opportunity and I'm just so incredibly grateful for the board in believing in me and believing in me to do it a second time. But also I want to thank everybody here. I I couldn't do it without you guys. You guys are all determined and I'm so blessed to be in a room with everybody that's passionate about education. Um

173so special shout out to Carmen. Carmen, I bombard you with emails at least twice a week of everything that I need help with and things I don't understand. Uh special thank you to the directors. Carrie, you're the most personal person ever. You're just so sweet. James, I you come through my work drive-thru almost every weekend and I see you all the time and to all the directors, it's amazing. The associate superintendents, I love working with you guys. Claudia, we're still going at it with Educators Rising and to all the board members, I love building these experiences with you. Mike, I hope to be you one day. I hope to be a superintendent of schools one day. So we'll get there. I'm learning learning from you. >> And um Abby, it's been crazy since May. We

174got we jumped right into this term. We jumped right into this opportunity. Um you know, we were competing for the seat and we ended up getting it both together and here we are and I'm just so grateful. I mean, not only do we work together, but we built a friendship and I'm proud to call you one of my friends now and you're going to move on to do such great things. I wouldn't want to do this experience with anyone else and Princeton Princeton bound, they're getting a lucky one and I'm sure you know, you can tell your new friends at Princeton that yes, I sat in a board room until 11:00 p.m. with talking about education and making decisions. It's a unique opportunity and thank you so much and I got to get right back

175to work and I'll keep going at it for another year. Thank you. Um we're on to item 12, Superintendent's report. Tough act of tough act to follow, but to to our to our incoming trustee DeLello, I look forward to connecting with you, and I and I think uh are we good, James? Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay, I would just begin with the end in mind, and start thinking about what that legacy is, what you want that legacy to look like, because that's where we'll that's where we'll start. So, uh quick quick update. I I love this. I love just the pictures of kind of where we've been and some of the things that have been happening, and it's the end of the school year, and at the County Office of Education, we feel that.

176We feel it's not a winding down. It's it's it's a winding up, and there's just a lot of amazing things that are happening, and we'll get into it. On the organization my culture of excellence, I just want to shout out our executive director of student programs, Carrie Webb. Carrie Webb is no stranger to our board meetings. She runs our our student programs, and her hard work was recognized as Educational Options Administrator of the Year for for our region acts as Association of California School Administrators, and that happened in Reno this last weekend, that recognition. So, uh she has a team. If she was here, she would deflect all of this and say it's her team. Carrie does have an amazing team, but Carrie Webb is an incredible leader. Uh on the safe and supportive learning

177environments, I just would love for the minutes to reflect my gratitude to my team. Uh Ela Tucker as our safety director working closely with our admin council, working closely with our cabinet. Carrie Shudy, I can't say enough about how Ela and Carrie were able to work through a very difficult situation 2 weeks ago in this neck of the woods, right? Around the corner, we had a we had a an incident of violence with a with a an individual that was shot. This was in the news. Initial media was quick to link it to us. Carrie was quick to make the correction. This was not linked to us in any way except geographical location, but it was it was it was definitely that. The proximity of that impacted this building. This building was put on lockdown.

178Our organization worked with law enforcement to find the information. Actually, we had folks that were administering aid. We have stop the bleed kits that have been provided through Ela's work as as our safety director, and one of those kits was used on on the victim. But we've been in we've been busy internally having conversations with departments on debriefing what went well, what didn't. How can we use that to get better? And we've also had the same conversation externally with superintendents. As you can imagine, news travels fast. Neighboring schools were like, "What does this mean for me? Clay Ross at Columbia, what does this mean for my programs?" And so working with our our law enforcement partners, working with with our Shasta dispatch. If you remember that day, Manzanita was also put on lockdown. Law enforcement

179now is looking at that as as trying to run interference on the pursuit, trying to pull units off of the pursuit. So it was it was it was a a pretty complicated day. This room was filled with 50 to 60 training participants. So you can imagine the impact that that had. We were able to bring in and and and do some things intentionally to allow that training to continue while still addressing people's emotional state having gone through what they went through. So Uh Ela's been working closely with our team on an after action review so that again we can use this as an experience to to improve our readiness in the future. So, that was that was real. On the successful student outcomes, I just want to share like I think I think this is

180worth a thousand words. This is our ignite reading. 115 students in ignite reading and what you see is on the left you see their baseline. And baseline kids are coming in with kindergarten level and you see that left merging right. So, over on the right-hand side you will see the current reading levels and as students are entering in to our ignite reading. This is 15 minutes intense reading tutoring, consistent appointments, consistent attendance, high engagement and we're we're seeing some significant progress as kids are building up those skills. >> [sighs] >> Yes, they are are they are I can I can probably yield to Claudia, but I do have the list. Um the list is Anderson Middle, Bernie Elementary, Excel Academy, Fall River Elementary, Juniper Elementary, Meadow Lane, Montgomery Creek, North State Aspire, Sequoia Middle School

181and Whitmore. Great question. Yes, and that's that's the idea, right? So, we are investing in ignite reading and as we make that investment we are able to show the progress. Even even great even little more detail you're see you'll see the skill development. Right? So, you'll see these students coming in and because just because it's grade level does that does not mean age level. Right? So, when you see kindergarten that doesn't necessarily mean a bunch of kindergartners are in ignite reading. You have students that are at kindergarten level coming in, getting what they need, and and moving moving over and developing skills. This is a combination of This is a combination of For example, uh some of our investment has been in in some of our districts. In Bernie Elementary School, we through the through

182our native uh learn learning learning communities for native students' success, you've heard them report some of that grant fund was used for Bernie Elementary. So, Bernie's 30 students come from a grant, and those are identified uh are identified native youth. But, uh for Redding School Districts, Redding has made an investment into some of the sites that I that I listed off. So, and some of it is our programs or an investment in, and some of it is is district participation. Jessica. Yes. And if I had all the time in the world, uh Claudia shared with me when when we look at first grade, I believe eight out of 10 students that are reading at grade level by first grade, we don't have to worry about the rest of the way. You might need your mic.

183Some of them did in our student programs, yeah. So, the rate of progress is often twice as much as what's um made, yeah. This is just access to text, and yeah. It's pretty amazing. Yeah, and these kids range up to eighth grade. And I will share the full the full data because it also gets into seat usage, and it gets into attendance rate. And the beautiful thing about Ignite Reading, you purchase the seat license, when the student advances and exits, like you'll see graduated over there on the far right, those seats become available for new for for new placement. Right? So, it's just like, how can we get them moving? How can we get them exited on grade level? Great. Let's go to the next one and fill those seats, so. Yeah. Uh so, this

184is our uh our administrators work with a the Ignite administration to give regular data reporting. So, administrators at the schools that I listed sit down with Ignite reader Ignite Reading administration and they go over these reports in detail to make sure that kids are making progress. If there are concerns about attendance, if there are concerns about a lack of progress, obviously, if you started at kindergarten and through Ignite Reading you are still at kindergarten, we may be having conversations similar to what Dr. Patz was talking about with, you know, cognitive development and, you know, possible identification for special for uh for special education services. Just thought it Successful student outcomes I I I think that Ignite Reading is a is a is a is a poster child for that. All right, this is where we're

185at in the community safety fairs, Buckaroo Bash, our Father Effect who had a hundred and I think a hundred and four participants on a Saturday coming together to build up a to build up that community for dads. Excel had our VIP luncheon where students are uh have the opportunity to invite somebody that's important to their life come and celebrate some of the successes they've seen in the school year. Of course, our podcast is like taking over the world, Carrie Shudy, so thank you for that. These are two amazing I believe that this is These are our two students from Fall River that went to Washington D.C. and secured rural funding. Right? So, it was like get over here and tell us your story. So, when you look at political advocacy and like how can how

186can how can student voice change things? That's how. Powerful, powerful story. Uh we we Project SHARE at Anderson High School had their red carpet night. Uh we had our annual child we had representatives from our organization helping with the Children's Memorial Flag Raising as part of child abuse prevention in in April. Uh and then our our prevention team is everywhere, but I heard you, Mr. DeLillo, and we need to do more because you're at Foothill and you're like, "Where's the prevention?" Right? So, like how can we get to places where we aren't? Uh this was Simpson College Simpson University, sorry, Simpson University at Kinder College trying to just help people make a choice. They're obviously not talking about fentanyl and opioid overdose, but we're talking about happy face sad face and how choices have impact.

187And then uh second second second annual International Day of the Planetarium. And what was the count? Like 400 and 400 something people on the Magnolia lawn there just learning all the things and just uh very very cool things. Quick, we we just passed the 3,000 mark on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. 3,000 kids every month are receiving receiving a book. And this room was packed with Reading Pals. Uh Reading Pals is now at 11 schools, I believe. 180 kids, 120 volunteers, and it's it's now they've they're launching it to Hema County. It's there's there's some cool things that are happening there. You know, tomorrow night we're at Win River for Education Appreciation. This is Abby and Jacob's chance to shine. Uh and we are May 21st Spring Fling. That's in that's a that's a Shasta

188County Office of Education party. And to next week uh uh, we're kicking off with AXA All-Stars student breakfast. And that's my report. Sorry, it was a little long. Oh, no. Thank you. All right. It's like AM and PM, too much good stuff. Any questions for Mike? All right, then we're on item 12, which is moving to closed session.