001It's 6 o'clock, we're gonna call this meeting to order. Uh, first is Pledge of Allegiance. Vice President. Cheek. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Can I get a roll call, please? Trustee Sharp? Here. Trustee Cheek. Here. Trustee Cohen Thompson. Here. Trustee Coleman. Trustee Dean. Thank you. Trustee Dunn? Here. Trustee Lavelle? Here. Approval and adoption of the agenda. Can I get a motion? Second. for a motion by Trustee Dean, a second by Trustee Cohen Thompson. Can I get a roll call vote? Yes, Trustee Coleman. Trustee Dean? Yes. Trustee Dunn? Yes. Trustee Lavelle. Yes. Trustee Chee? Yes. Trustee Sharp. Yes. Okay, moving on to consent items. All matters listed under the consent
002items are considered to be routine and will be enacted by the board in one motion. There will be no discussion on these items prior to the time of the board. Votes on the motion unless members of the Board of Staff's request specific items to be removed from consent items for discussion and individual consideration for action. I would like to pull C. Are there any others? Yes, I would like to pull A and B. Okay. Okay. Anybody else? Okay, can I get a motion for the remaining D and E so moved second. Okay, we have a motion from Trustee Cohen Thompson and a second from Trustee Dunn. Can I get a roll call vote? Trustee Cohen-Thompson? Yes. Trustee Coleman? Yes. Trustee Dean? Yes. Trustee Dunn? Yes. Trustee Lavelle? Yes. Trustee Cheek? Yes. Trustee Sharp? Yes. Okay,
003moving on to comments from the community. Okay. So we have one. I'm going to go ahead and apologize to everybody. I had chunky French in high school is what they called it. I am horrible at pronunciation, so please feel free to correct me, and I will try to learn as you come up first and only person I have on comments from the community is Giovanni. S. Petia? You have 2 min. Good evening. My name is Giovanni Espathia. I'm an employee of Vallejo City Unified School District as an HR technician. I'm also part of CSEA Executive Board for Vallejo Chapter 199 as your treasurer. As well, I'm part of the regional team as a regional political action coordinator for Region 68. I'm here tonight to ask a couple questions. We've been told that there's a hiring
004freeze in our district by our admin that it has to be done. However, last night there was a school board meeting where Mr. Chamberlain brought five management positions to the school board to be passed. The school board approve of these positions. We were told that our district has to lay off. 220 FTEs classified positions to say $7.3 million dollars. Now they're wanting to bring in 5 management positions. Who will they manage if they are laying off 220 FTEs? These are the following positions that were approved. Coordinator of Human Resources, Executive director of operations, assistant director of business services, assistant director of operations and executive Director of Human Resource. Yes, coordinator of human resources. Executive Director of Operations. Assistant Director of Business Services. Assistant Director of Operations. and executive Director of Human Resources. If we are
005going on the lowest side of the salary, they will be spending $567,093. on five people in management alone. How are we as classified and community members supposed to make sense out of this? Thank you. Thank you for coming. Anyone else for comments from the community? Okay. Moving on to correspondence. Do we have any correspondence? Correspondence. The only correspondence that I wanted to mention is the picture that's on the screen, which is future voice. Oh, sorry about that. Can you hear me now? We were able, on March 3rd to be presented by the Solano County Board of Supervisors for women's History Month. And we were recognized as the only all-woman. ward in California. So there's the picture. The all-women County Board of Education. Yes. We're the only one out of 58. Thank you. with our female
006superintendent. And that is the pictures that I have to share. That's the only correspondence that I have at this time. Okay, moving on to Superintendent's report part one. Student of the month. Student of the month. Let's see here. We have Carmelo Ramirez. As the program administrator. Catherine Garner as the teacher, if she's here. Okay. Come on up to the podium. Good evening, President Coleman, Trustees, Superintendent Dr. Nicola Parr, colleagues and guests. My name is Pamela Brinkerhoff, and I'm here tonight to welcome our Student of the month, Carmelo Ramirez, along with the family members present tonight to honor him. Catherine Garner, who serves at our Travis 2 Elementary School, is here to present why we have decided Carmelo is our student of the month. Before she comes up, I must tell you. Have you ever had
007a day where you just needed to put a smile on your face? That is what Carmelo does for me every single time I walk into the classroom. He smiles at me. He has to has to come and say hi to me. He has to come and acknowledge me in the room and tell me in his own way that he is so excited that I'm in his room and happy to see him. So I'm super excited to turn it over to Catherine. Thank you. Hello. Thank you guys so much for having us tonight to honor Carmelo. I almost cried already what Pamela said, so please give me your time. Carmelo's a friendly, intelligent, and playful student at Travis Elementary in Fairfield. While these words describe him well, they do not fully capture the impact Carmelo has
008had in our classroom each and every day to truly understand who Carmelo is. You would need to walk into our room and experience his presence for yourself. When you enter our classroom, Carmelo is often the first to greet you. He makes it his mission to ensure that every person he meets feels seen, remembered, and welcomed. He remembers names after meeting someone just once, and he offers kindness so naturally that it immediately sets the tone for our room. Last year, Carmelo joined my room and almost instantly became a friend to everyone. His warmth, humor and social nature helped him build strong relationships with both peers and adults. Carmelo has a special way of bringing people together and our classroom community is stronger because of him. Academically, Carmela has shown incredible growth and determination. He approaches learning
009with curiosity and confidence, and his language skills and classroom participation have improved tremendously. Most importantly, Carmela took pride in his own learning and worked hard to do his best each day. Our classroom is truly a brighter place because of Carmelo. We are incredibly lucky to learn alongside such a funny, loving, and remarkable student is an absolute honor to recognize Carmelo as a Solano County Office of Education Student of the month. Thank you. Just critique picture. Okay. Alright. Here we go right here. One, two, three, two, six. Yeah. This is his team, they show up for their kids. Right. One, two, three. Yay. Okay, now on the count of 3. Uh, we're gonna say congratulations, Carmelo, and throw up your hands. One, two, three! Congratulations! Thank you for coming. Okay, so we have our next student
010to be honored. is Jameel Harbor. We have Dr. Valerie Garrett, director, and Nicole Ruiz, program administrator. Sorry after justice for tall people. Good evening, trustees, Superintendent Dr. Parr, colleagues and guests who are in the audience. It is my esteemed pleasure this evening to be joined by our program administrator, Miss Ruiz and Miss Pitts, our academic intervention teacher. As we share with you why our students, Jamil Harbert is being recognized this evening. This young man does an amazing job on all of his coursework. He spends countless hours on the weekends working on his assignments, and he is one of the most well-spoken, kind. Manorable young men we have ever met. He is the reason why many of us have decided to go into education, to be a part of the light that we see in our
011children. To his family, I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to be of service to your family. You have done an amazing job with your son, and tonight he is making history here with the Solano County Office of Education. We thank you. On behalf of the JCCS Department, as a proud member of the Solano County Office of Education, it is our esteemed pleasure to present to our Board Superintendent, colleagues and guests. The JCCS March 2026 Student of the month, Jamil Harbor. Okay. All right. 1, 2, 3. Kind of a big deal today. So… All right, everybody right here smile. One, two, three. All right, and on the count of three, we need the whole room. We're going to say congratulations to meal. One, two, three, congratulations to the males! And that ends
012part one of my report. Thank you so much. Okay. We're going to give them a minute to depart. We do have a few seats that opened up if people that are standing want to sit down, you're welcome to… Take a more comfortable position. Okay, otherwise people in the hallway, if you'd like to sit down, we have some seats. Okay. Okay. So moving on to board discussion part one. We are reviewing board policy on the appeals. I first want to thank you guys. We don't often have all our seats filled, and we are so appreciative that you would take time out of your busy schedules. and attend yet another meeting that I know some of you log quite a few hours of these. So thank you so much for being part of collaborating with us and
013working together to do what's best for our students and our families and our districts. So we go ahead and start with Courtney. You'll give your presentation, and then we will. I've got speaker cards. If you want to speak, you want to grab a card out there, fill it out and hand it up here. So we'll hear from Courtney. We'll do speaker cards, and then we'll do board discussion. Okay. So thank you, President Sharp. Good evening, everyone. This will be brief. So this is a discussion item only, and this item came based on trustee request to extend an invitation to local Solano County school districts. to provide an opportunity for folks to give feedback, if any, on the board's policy 9,000.21, which discusses appeals of interdistrict transfers, expulsions, and student records. And so, based on, and
014we'll go next to public comment based on the public comment and feedback from community members and local districts. The board will then engage in a discussion to decide whether or not, based on that feedback, if they want to bring this back to discuss possible revisions to this board policy. Thank you. Okay. So with that, we will start. I first speaker is. Again, apologies on the names. I'm very sorry. Chris Calabrizi. You have 2 min. Good evening board and Dr. Parr. Thank you for having me tonight. I'm Chris Calabrese. I'm the superintendent of Benicia School District, and I'm here tonight on behalf of my students and to advocate for them. And your decisions that you make as far as appeals are heavy, and they not only have a financial impact on school districts in this county,
015but they also have an impact on the lives of our students. And so I'm here just to voice that for them. And I know you already know this. These students and and Penisha schools have been there since Tk and kindergarten and 1st grade, and some of them now are in middle school and high school. They haven't attended school in their home districts. They've attended in Venicia. And so I'm here to advocate for them and be a voice for them. And so I fully understand the situation that Valleja was in, and I understand the weight that this has on all of you, but I ask that you consider their education, consider the fields that they've played on, consider the classrooms that they've been in. The bands that they've played in, the drama performances, and the students
016that they consider friends, and that they've built community with. And so I just want to remind you of that. Not that you don't already know that, but just to speak on their behalf. The other piece of this is the Allenville. And so we are. We've talked to Vallejo School District, and we are really pleased that they were willing to honor all of our requests for Allenville for our own educators that work in our district, and that's the right thing to do. We also have others that work in Venetia. And so and they want their students to attend in Benicia schools, and some of them already do. And so I'd ask that we just remind you that what Ed Code says, what the Allen Bill says, what our board policy says, and what your board policy
017says, which is 10 h a week working inside of a district. And so I ask that you consider that and remember that, and remember the education of our students. There are Benicia students, regardless of where they live. We've been educating them. We want to continue to do that. So thank you. And I and I welcome any questions. If you reach out to me personally, I'll be glad to answer anything about. So thank you. I have a question. Okay, Trustee Dean. Um, just a clarifying question. Was there something specific in the in the policy itself? that you are trying to point to. Your policy is aligned with our policy. It's aligned with Ed Code. And so I'd ask that we continue with that. All right. Thank you. That's helpful. Okay, second speaker, Glenn Emboy. Good evening,
018members of the board. My name is Glenn Amboy, and I am the President of Vallejo City Unified School District Board of Education. And BCUSD, our guiding principle is think BCUSD first. For our board, that means making decisions that protect the educational opportunities and resources for more than 9000 students who attend our schools each day. Over the past decade, our district has lost more than 4,000 students. Like many districts across California, declining enrollment has created significant financial and programmatic challenges. In response, our board began reviewing enrollment trends in winter 2024 25 and formally adopted updated transfer regulations in June 2025. This was a thoughtful and transparent process designed to stabilize enrollment and ensure. that the resources intended for Vallejo students remain invested in our schools. With large numbers of student transfers out, the funding that supports
019education systems leaves with them. Over time, that loss impacts the students who remain in our classrooms. Our goal is to ensure that our schools remain strong, stable, and able to serve our communities needs. We respectfully ask for your partnership in supporting the work our district is doing to rebuild and strengthening our schools. Because at the end of the day, our goal is simple to ensure the students who attend Vallejo City Schools every day have the strongest schools we can provide. That's what it means to thank BCUSD first. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is Ruben Aurelio. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, President Sharp, Superintendent, Dr. Parr, Board of Education. So I am Ruben Aurelio, Superintendent of Vallejo City Unified School District. So small as Superintendent, my highest priority is the success, stability and
020well-being of the thousands of students who walk through our doors every single day. That commitment is the very foundation of our district's guiding principle. Think BCUSD 1st. You will hear from my colleagues tonight regarding the specific staggering financial data, historical enrollment declines our district is navigating. I will leave the exact numbers to them. However, I want to emphasize what those realities mean for our school system as a whole. For over a decade, the ongoing outflow of students has not only drained our funding, but also severely disrupted our ability to build consistent, predictable, and thriving school communities. When our enrollment remains in constant state of volatility. It is the students who remain in Vallejo, many of whom are our highest need learners. who ultimately bear the burden of reactive planning and diminished resources to reverse this
021trend. Vcusd is actively doing the hard work of recovery. We have already made difficult internal decisions regarding staffing, budget reductions and program alignments. Those internal efforts cannot succeed unless they are paired with responsive enrollment management. I want to be clear that our updated transfer policy was not a sudden reactionary or abrupt measure. It has been a highly deliberate, transparent, and phased process. Beginning in the winter of 24-25, we carefully analyzed our transfer patterns. We publicly previewed our intended policy shifts in the spring of 2025, so our community would not be caught off guard, and our locally elected board formally adopted the updated regulations that June. We treated year one as a transitional period of communication, and we are now moving into year two of full implementation. Okay, that's my time. Thank you. Thank you. And
022next up is Heather Tapacio. Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Parr, President Sharp, Vice President Cheek, Trustee Coleman, Trustee Cohen Thompson, Trustee Dean, Trustee Dunn, and Trustee Lavelle. I appreciate the opportunity to come before the County Board of Education on behalf of VCUSD. You may recall last spring, Superintendent Aurelio and I aligned our new administrative regulations for interdistrict transfers. Historically, VCUSD has approved an unsustainable number of transfer requests. This outflow of students has resulted in a direct outflow of funding with a financial impact exceeding $30 million over those years. These losses lead to real world consequences, including attributing to school closures and impacting the level of services we can offer. This spring we're reviewing approximately 800 transfer requests. Benicia alone accounts for roughly 300. While we respect family choice, we have a duty to ensure sustainability of
023Vallejo schools. Our updated policy introduces the necessary safeguards, including establishing a cap of 1% on new transfers, which is a provision allowed in the Allen Bill. annual accountability and prioritized retention to ensure that we proactively outreach our outreach to our families and offer high quality alternatives with support. Past practice has resulted in hundreds of students per year to leave our district and being served in neighboring communities. Our new policy corrects those practices and ensures that requests for transfers are considered individually and on their merits. By limiting the number of interdistrict transfer permits annually, we will be supporting the efforts to further strengthen Leo schools. I'll skip a little bit, because I have about 15 seconds. As you consider appeal requests for before this body, please keep in mind that the work BcUSD has done to
024develop sound procedures and the work of our staff who consistently conduct outreach to families that's to serve their needs. My last part would have been good. Mr. Pasio? Mr. Pazio, can you go back? We got a question. Trustee Dean? I have a clarifying question, because I'm not sure I heard you correctly. So, you've implemented a cap of 1%. Yes. But then at the same time, I thought you said each request is considered individually. Would you say that's true up to the deadline and up to the 1%? Or how is that? So we will be… We have not actually approved or denied anyone yet at the end of the deadline come the 31st, we will. We will start to approve those right? We understand that we will have to use that 1% as our goal. to
025get to a level of 1%. I don't know that it'll happen all at once. Because we do have to consider the needs of individual students. But we are going to sort them by request type, sort them by grade level. sort them by how long they've been in their desired school and start to make some decisions, start to make phone calls and make sure that we have offered them all of the possible services that are available to them in Vallejo. Can we serve their needs here? And and I think that's in line with with the county board's policy. I passed the part I didn't get to say, but the county board's policy specifically the county board will grant appeals only in cases of significant legal, financial, equitable hardship or deprivation to the student which cannot reasonably
026be remedied by any other means. If we can remedy their needs within district, we should be allowed to. The other part is in making its decision, the county board shall consider the financial and other needs of the district of residents. You may consider our financial hardship. And the cause and the financial hardship it is causing to the community of Vallejo. So I, with that, you know, my request is just the board take all of those things and weigh them. that we are weighing the needs of the community, and we are not being arbitrary in our decisions. I appreciate that. May I follow up? Absolutely. I'm really focused on what your process is. We know what what we are able and not able to do. We've been doing it a long time. Yes, ma'am. But with
027regard to the process that you're referring to, which has changed, and I understand you put a lot of work into it, so we have this one… we have a deadline now. We have a 1% threshold cap, if you will, and then I'm hearing you say that you are going to subjectively evaluate. We recognize that we will have to. Okay. We recognize that we can't just say, oh, 95, that's it. Right? We'll have students who are we have students who are whose parents work for Venetia City Unified. And we've already committed that we will not hold those back. Their parents work for that school district. I'm watching my attorney, so so I don't make her uncomfortable. So. in terms of what the parent understands is the process. Our is there a timing like 1st in is
028going to get. covered? No, it's just on that date you start. We are going to start sorting them. I mean, when you have 800, you've got to just go through a process, you know, and I can't tell you it's the that's why we did not do first in, first approved, because that feels unfair. Right? We want to be able to review them with the associated documentation in hand, and do outreach to ask questions all along the way. Miss Lee and Miss Townsend have been communicating with families that have submitted things, making sure they know that if something, if it's a piece of documentation was missing, that they have until the deadline to submit those items. They have been offering them additional outreach all along the way, so that by the time we get to the
02931st, we can rest soundly, knowing that we have done our due diligence. Anyone else? Trustee Coleman. Speaking of these, all these documents that they have to load up and. all of that in your process. I don't know if you're going to use a rubric or what what whatever your process is going to be. Are you going to share that with this board? So that we know what you're looking for when you get… When you do approve those transfers? Oh, we hadn't discussed that. I'm sure I can discuss that with the superintendent. Okay, about what what items we should share. But we are being very strict in our process. We are. Right? And I just we just hadn't discussed it at this point. So. Trustee Lavelle. Thank you, Ms. Tapacio. As far as the families that
030have been outside of the district for extended years, has there been contact with them or since they're not in your system, how have you reached out? It has been difficult to contact them because they're not in our system, right? It's it's difficult to to know where people we don't know what people have moved. We don't. We we don't know. How could we? Right? And so that's why we shared information with our neighboring school districts. so that they could also make their families aware. They know who they have that are that don't have. Benicio or Napa address, they know who their students are. And we've been meeting with those superintendents as well, so that they kind of know how we're approaching the work. We're not seeking to be punitive to anyone, but we do have to
031start to turn this ship around. And this is one of those tools that we have to employ. Any other questions? Thank you. Next up is Ruben Fernandez. Good evening, Board, Superintendent Parr. My name is Ruben Fernandez, and I'm the assistant superintendent of business and operations for the Vallejo City Unified School District. To think VOCOSD first is to recognize that our community's public education dollars must be rigorously protected and invested directly into the students who live and learn in Vallejo. Can you speak a little louder for us? Thank you. As an assistant superintendent of Business and Operations, my focus has been the hard realities of our fiscal survival. You have already heard about our structural deficit, and I want to break down exactly what our transfer outflow means per student under the State's local control funding
032formula. Each time a student transfers out of our district, Vallejo loses between $10,000 and $11,000 approximately. in base grant funding alone for this school year, depending on the child's grade level. When you look at our recent history, the scale of that loss is staggering in 2324, approximately 1,000 students transferred out, and in 2425, another 975. That is not just a loss of ADA. That's a massive hemorrhage of local resources that leaves our remaining 9,000 students, many of whom are our highest need learners, bearing the financial burden. I want to be clear that VCUSD is not just relying on transfer limits to save us. I think VCUSD first, we have already made agonizing, difficult internal choices. We have implemented budget reductions and made difficult staffing adjustments. navigated painful, very painful school closures. But we cannot simply
033cut our way to fiscal health. If our enrollment floor continues to drop unpredictably. Our locally elected board's decision to implement that 1% cap on outgoing transfers last June was very carefully calculated and a necessary measure. Predictability is the absolute foundation of our financial recovery. And we respectfully request that you evaluate appeals based strictly on procedural compliance. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up is John Fox. Good evening, President Sharp, Superintendent Dr. Parr, Vice President Cheek, and board. It's a pleasure to be here. And first, before I begin, I want to thank you for all you do behind the scenes. And I know what you do. For the almost eight years I've been on the board, it's been quite a struggle, to say the least. I've been part of closing 11 sites. I've cut millions
034and millions and millions of dollars. It's been extremely painful. I'm so proud to be a Vallejo citizen. I've been in Vallejo 25 years plus. I'm also very proud of the teachers and all the staff in Vallejo. I'm also proud of not just Measure S, but how we've updated our sites. We've updated them. We've made them safe. We have so many positive things. Since I've lived in Vallejo, there's been such a bad rap and negative connotation of our city. A lot of people moved to Vallejo, and they don't give us a chance. They just think, oh, no, we need to take our kids to another city here, here, here. They closed the door or the mindset before they even give us a chance. And that really hurts in many different ways, as you see. When I
035started in Vallejo, we had about 12,000 students. Right now, we're hovering around 9000 students. And going down because of declining enrollment because of charter competition, declining enrollment, and also these interdistrict transfers. What I'm asking you, please, please. If there's anything within paperwork or procedural, please reach out to any of us. We want to partner, and we know you want to as well, and I appreciate that. But also, I'm frustrated that some districts. really don't want to do the paperwork. Does Napa, Benicia, Fairfield or others? American Karen, are they doing the paperwork? Are they? Looking beyond it, because it's money to sustain their district. Are they doing the yearly renewals that they're supposed to be doing? And again, we want to give a chance to students to get the experience of Vallejo, all that Vallejo has
036to offer. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up is Matt Chamberlain. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Matt Chamberlain, and I'm the assistant superintendent of human resources for the Vallejo City Unified School District. Behind every successful school is the educators and staff who support our students every day, teachers, instructional aides, counselors, custodians, food service workers, campus supervisors, bus drivers. They all work together to create the learning environments for that our students depend upon. When enrollment fluctuates significantly, it creates immense uncertainty across the workforce that support our schools. Large swings in student populations that leave empty desks. They lead directly to staffing reductions. Program changes and deep disruptions that harm both our employees and our students. To understand the sheer scale of this impact on our workforce, we must look at the
037painful operational realities our departments have had to navigate because of ongoing enrollment volatility. Our district has had to implement agonizing staffing adjustments, managing school closures. and actively using school reduction toolkits for our employees to address this fallout. We are forced to continually restructure essential classified roles from transportation to food service to campus supervision. When our enrollment drops unpredictably, it forces a reactive staffing cuts that damage morale and teacher retention. Many of our district's costs, like contracted services, utilities, and our vital facility obligations are fixed. Therefore, when the revenue disappears so quickly, the district is forced to balance its budget by reducing its most valuable resource, its people. This historic outflow has forced us to continually adjust staffing levels, leading to unpredictable staffing levels that damage morale and teacher retention. At Vallejo City Unified School District,
038we strongly believe in thinking VCUSD first. That means supporting the educators and staff who dedicate their careers to serving the community of our students. Ensuring stable schools and stable staffing ultimately benefits the 9,000 students who rely on us every day. To conclude, we respectfully ask that you help us protect our workforce by limiting your review to these appeals strictly to procedural compliance. Rather than reintroducing the volatility that destabilizes our staffing. Thank you. Thank you. Trustee Dean. So the focus of your comments was unpredictable. enrollment drops. Can you speak to that? How? How is it they're unpredictable? When students are leaving the district, we do our darndest to make sure that we are protecting our enrollment. But when our students leave the district that leaves a hole in our funding. I understand that, but I'm talking
039about predictability. You said or are interpreting what you say is said to mean that these drops in enrollment are unpredictable. The ones that were previously attributed to. charter, um, declining enrollment generally in the state of California. So what's unpredictable? We can plan the best we can from the end of the school year to the beginning of the next school year, but until we see the students in their seats, and we have that accountability of who is there. It's unpredictable. We would like to think that our enrollment will continue to grow above 9,000, 10,000, 11,000 students, but we can't guarantee that until they're in their seats. And if allowing them out of the district prevents us from growing our enrollment, that's a significant problem. For example, we had at the request of the county, we've had
040to reduce between layoffs and vacancies, 214 FDE. That's a significant cut to our district. And it's not lost on on our board. It's not lost on our cabinet. It's not lost on our staff that we have to do less with less going forward. And why is that? Because of our funding not being predictable and consistent because our students, we hope, are going to be there, but we won't know that. Until we count them in the fall. Any other questions? Keep going. Um… What I'm trying to, in my experience in the 18 years I've been on boards. There's a plan. We even have it here. There's an expectation. There's predictability around how many students are going to be involved. That's how you determine who you're going to. who you're going to hire and key. Absolutely. So
041the emphasis on unpredictability is surprising to me. To me, it sounds like you're saying you don't plan. for expected changes. We absolutely do plan for expected changes. What I what I'm saying unpredictability is when students decide to leave our schools for a charter when our when our schools decide to put in a transfer request for. Something that is not an Allen Bill, say, requirement. When students leave our district, we the plan goes out the window. We have to then reestablish what the plan looks like. We have to reestablish what our funding looks like. And that affects our employees. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Lawrence Hagar. Okay, let me get started. Okay, good evening, members of the County Board of Education, families, community members. My name is Lauren Tager. I've been an elementary school
042teacher with the Vallo City Unified School District for 18 years. I stand here today to speak up for the incredible dedication and talent that resides in our district schools. And too often we focus on the problems. But I see firsthand the transformative work that's happening in our classrooms. Our teachers are not just delivering curriculum, but they're champions of student success. Bringing joy, risk-taking, and mentorship to our children who need it the most. My school, Pennycook Elementary, is a shining example of this, where we have moved beyond standard teaching to empower students through the philosophy of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. At Pennycook, we're building a leader in me culture. We're teaching our children to be proactive, begin with the end in mind, and to think win-win. I see kindergartners and fifth graders
043alike learning to take charge of their own learning, setting goals and solving their own problems. These are not just academic lessons. They're lifelong habits that turn students into leaders. And preparing them to be productive, empathetic members of our community. Do the families considering transferring out, I urge you to look at a tangible character-building education that's happening in our classrooms. Our teachers are crafting a school culture that prioritizes student self-confidence, responsibility, and teamwork. When we teach students to quote sharpen the saw, it's taking care of their own well-being. We're creating balanced and resilient kids. Let's invest in our local schools and support the teachers who are creating a synergy of success where the whole school community is better than some of its parts. I strongly urge you to stay to have the students stay in our
044district, support our teachers and district, and invest in the future of our children. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Kevin Steele. You have a… Never laughed out. Good evening, Board. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Kevin Steele. I'm a 20-year third grade teacher in Vallejo. And I. I care very deeply about the stability and success of our local schools. I'm here to respectfully ask. that you reconsider approving additional out-of-district student transfers. At first glance, student transfers may seem like a simple matter of family choice, but from inside the classroom. we see the the real impact. When students transfer out of their home districts, the funding attached to those students goes with them. For schools already operating on a tight budget, this loss can mean fewer teachers, larger class
045sizes. reduce programs and fewer resources for the students who remain. Every student who leaves represents not only a funding shift, but also a disruption to the long-term planning that districts must do to maintain strong academic programs. School schools build staffing course offerings and support services based on enrollment projections. When transfers steadily pull students away, it becomes harder to sustain programs that benefit the entire community. I also worry about the message we send when we rely heavily on transfers instead of strengthening every school so families feel confident enrolling their children locally. We risk creating a system where some schools grow while others lose the resources they need to thrive. My time is up. Thank you. Gary Murray. Good evening. I have a hoarse voice. My name is Greg Murray. I'm a teacher at Hogan Middle School.
046I started in Vallejo in 1997, and I think there was 20,000 students back then, and now we got 9,000. So I've watched the school closures, I've watched the students leave. And it's it's a terrible thing. And there's all kinds of reasons for it. But one thing that I think Vallejo lacks is a good marketing program because we don't promote ourselves. We do a lot of good things, but it's out of the public view. I teach at Hogan Middle School, eighth grade math. Integrated math, coding, robotics, Arduino. And it's a lot of fun. Now, both people… I think you got to be crazy to work at middle school. I'm certifiably crazy. That's okay. Good thing. But I also supervise soccer at lunchtime. All boys plant lunch. It's. 8th grade boys, seventh grade boys, it's wild out
047there, okay? You're all women. After school, I coach all girls soccer. completely different game. And when you said you're all women, it's like, that's great. It is, it's good. But we have to have a balance, right? We got to hear both voices. That's just a sidebar comment. But getting back to why I'm here. I think that we need to ask ourselves, what do we want for public schools in Vallejo in the future? Do we want public schools? That's a question we all need to ask ourselves. I grew up born raised, educated in California in public schools. That's why I'm a teacher. I went to public elementary, middle school, high school, San Diego State. All public schools publicly funded. That funding, if you take it away, those programs go away. Thank you for your time. Laurie
048Tachmeyer. Yes. Cool. Good evening, board members. I have been with BCUSD for 26 years. I have been there through 12 superintendents. I have been there through 24,000 students. I have been there through school closures. I have been there with our students leaving and going to Benicia. Without accountability. We now have a superintendent who is trying to turn our district around. We have a superintendent who wants to put our children first. We have a superintendent who is trying to make Vallejo better. And I'm hoping that you will work with us. Okay, we have a lot of people who don't believe they don't believe in BCUSD. But have they actually really been there? Do they know the clubs we have after school? Do they know our soccer program? Do they know our basketball program? Do they know
049that we do crochet? Do you know that we have a Loma Vista farm? Do they know anything about us, or do they just move out because Vallejo has a bad reputation? Which is what our problem is. I was not only a teacher in this district, I met a parent. I chose to keep my daughter in Vallejo, and my daughter now works for Disney. She's been with Disney for 13 years. She was a concierge at the greatest hotel. She was raised in Vallejo, right? We have amazing things happening. We designed the TK program with the state of California. We created the program with LA Unified in Fresno. We are some of the first in the district or excuse me, in the state. have that program. But they want to transfer out? I think our problem is
050press. Okay, we have more negative press than surrounding districts, which doesn't really seem so fair. But we are more than that. Allowing students to transfer out without credible plausible cause hurts our students. Allowing them to transfer out for fear hurts our current students. It hurts our communities surrounding our schools. It hurts our districts. It hurts the children and the parents who choose to live there. Most teachers are facing financial difficulties. Don't make it worse for our kids. If you live in Vallejo, it should be VCUSD first. Thank you. Next is Glenn LaValle. Good afternoon, board members, staff, and members of the public. Glenn Lovell, Executive director of Napa Solano Central Labor Council, Aflcio wanted to stand in solidarity and echo the previous comments made by our teachers, classified staff, as well as leadership. of the
051Paleo School District. In speaking, of course, in strong support of this board collaborating closely with the district, obviously to carefully reconcile individual student need with these systemic issues, you know, given. What is clearly major issues of attrition in student attendance or losses of student attendance. We know that behind every individual student need are the structures, the proverbial village, and we have to be supporting. that collectively. And so looking at how we're supporting the district and its resources, keeping the structures together and working closely with those workers on the front lines to make public education a success. I would also venture to say that this will probably. be an issue that will proliferate to other parts of the county, because we know being an outlying part of the Bay Area, but still within the affordability crisis,
052which is ubiquitous, of course, we should expect intra-county displacement of students. Over the coming years, and so I'm sure that this is really the most severe of other cases that we should be getting ahead of. But once again, encouraging the collaboration with the local district and with our educators on the front lines. Thank you. Ralph or yeah, whatever you just said. Yay. Thank you. Good evening, ladies. I'm in my union shirt today. I'm the Senior Naval Science Instructor of the Navy Junior ROTC in Vallejo. When we were in, uh… Our other congressman's district before we were redistricted, we were the only junior Rotc out of 150 high schools in that congressional district. I'm here to support my superintendent and his department heads, because this is a good team, and they're doing everything that they can
053do to try to save this district. I had an experience working in a district that went under and got taken over by the state. That was Englewood High School. And I saw what the state does. You would think that the state. which makes all the regulations about how one should run a school. if they were to take over a school district, would try to run it as a model school district. But they don't. They don't put an er doctor on that patient. They put a hospice. They put that patient in hospice and just watch it slowly die. And I think they need all the support they can get from this board to try to save this this situation financially. Now, you asked questions about predictability. I've seen it. I've seen it where I have really
054good cadets in my program, and they're there one day. And all of a sudden it shows up in Aries, not here. And they're just gone. We don't know where they went. They just disappeared. We don't hear from the student. They're just gone. So it is unpredictable. Now, that's only an anecdotal experience, but I've seen it. Does anybody have any questions? Thank you very much. I have a statement. Yes, ma'am. I've met you in a another life, and he brought out all his kids from his junior ROTC program. And what a program he runs. So good on Vallejo City Unified. Thank you very much. Okay, my last card. So if you have any other takers, it's not too late to sign up. Nick Driver. Evening, President Sharp, Vice President Xi, Dr. Parr, board members. My name
055is Nick Driver, and I serve as Superintendent of a four-school charter district in Vallejo called Griffin Technology Academies. And for the last 4 years, since I've been there. We have tried to improve our program because the number one thing that charter law, when it was created in 1992, says is there should be competition between different kinds of public schools, and that will raise all boats. So I stand here, even though we compete directly for students in Vallejo with Vallejo City Unified. I stand here in support of their request to you to work with them to limit the number of transfers. We think I've seen for the last couple of years that. Superintendent Aurelio and his team and his board have been in place as they've made remarkable changes. And we really respect the changes and
056the competition that they have brought against us and all other schools. I also want to say that even though charters get a bad rap for taking students away from other schools, we've seen an even enrollment over the four years that I've been in there. So we're responsible for 0% of the growth. in students leaving for Vallejo City Unified. It's really. declining enrollment, online schools, private schools. And most of all, in a district transfers. I know you can't do much about the first 3. But I do would appreciate if you could consider their request. We would like to get on with the business of competing against VCUSD and its stronger programs, and it'll make our schools stronger, their schools stronger, and we think it'll give all the students of Vallejo a better future. Thank you. Okay,
057so that's my last speaker card. Do I have anybody else? Nope. Okay, so I want to go ahead and recognize a couple people in the room just because we don't usually fill our seats, and I think it's really important to see how our community comes out when something important like this is on the agenda. I see superintendents. I'm from Vacaville, so Mr. San Padre. Um, we have our new Vacaville grown superintendent. I read about you in the paper, but I apologize, I don't remember your name. Sasha Beguel. Okay, any other superintendents other than our. Mr. Aurelio? Oh, okay, yes. Tiffany Benson from Travis Unified. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you to all of you. Anybody else? Obviously, we saw Ruben. And then I see we had when parking was at a premium, and
058I saw a lot of the teachers unions and staff out there. You want to just give us a stand up and show us that you're here and supporting your schools? Thank you all for being here. It means a lot to see you in the in the house and voicing your concerns. I can assure you, I can speak on behalf of our board that we don't take any decision about letting a child transfer in or out to any district lightly. We've been very impressed with sorry, Vaca, those are where I live with Vallejo City Unified School District. We're always impressed with Vacaville, too. But just the changes. It's a sea change from what it used to be when they come in here with. inter-district transfers, and and we see that, and we love it, honestly, because
059it makes our job easier. And we know that you're that you have a heavy lift, and this is not that this is difficult work that you're doing, and we want to partner with you, and we're here to listen. I hope that you'll stay here as we have the discussion, so that we have any questions. Maybe we'll. Go ahead and pull a few of you out of the audience. Okay. So with that, Dr. Young. No. Oh! Sorry, I apologize. You'd think board members would be the first one I'd recognize. Okay, so welcome, and thank you for being here. Any others that might be out there? Am I missing anybody? a John Fox spoke, so I I saw him. So okay, anybody else? Excellent. So we'll go ahead and start board discussion. Do I have anybody who
060wants to? Kick it off. Okay, Trustee Coleman. Yeah, I I really appreciate you guys coming forward and and showing up in person and and talking to us about your change. Certainly, we'd like a little more information so that when people come here, we can do the right thing, and. I think we have in most cases, but and we do follow the Ed code. So we do appreciate you showing up and explaining your thought process and and how you're going to go about to reclaim these students. Thank you. Anybody else? Any other discussion? Trustee Dean. I feel similarly, I really do appreciate we actually for years. For years, we're not getting a reaction to inquiries. Um, at least it was a very light touch. So, um, I do all the superintendents in the room. It's a
061really big deal for us, and we appreciate it. And certainly the teachers, of course, and CSEA folks are very important. I do want to say that. I hear a little bit that perhaps we have been vilified in some way. And that's not fair. We work incredibly hard. Some of us have 3 jobs, but we sit here month after month, year after year, reading every single staff report. You will not find us opening up our packet on the dais. We work really hard at this, and… uh, you know, I used to be on Venetian Unified, and we'd have 200 people show up for changing algebra from first period to second. This is a different life. These are every single decision about a transfer or an expulsion. is just gut-wrenching for us. So I I appreciate your
062concerns. But I also would appreciate you respect the work that we have done all along. the notion that we don't follow policy is offensive. It's offensive. And it doesn't help your case. So we are taking this very seriously. We do want to help Vallejo, every single one of us. That's not a question. 3 of us represent a portion of Vallejo and our trustee districts. So that's really important. All the districts are important. So having said that, I was, you know, I was actually craving some actual comments about the actual policies, and we got a few hints. I do want to mention that if we are going to make adjustments, I think it's very, very important. To put into the policy. Something about what the import of a closed session. And what that really means, because
063we're getting hints that. Either folks don't know, don't respect. the notion that those are communications that don't. Leave the room because of student privacy issues. But respecting us, respecting the challenges of the family and the students themselves. It's very, very important to your message. I think that's all I have. But again, thank you so much. We love it when there's people in the room. Some of you have been here on occasions where there's, like, 5 people. So this is a very big deal for us, and I do. I really, really do appreciate your comments, and I hope we can work together successfully. Sidan, do you have anything? I'll just be brief. I just want to thank you all for coming today and just recognize all the different groups. I'm a 30 year educator myself, so
064I have very passionate about this. Um, and so just recognize the challenges that you're facing and can appreciate it. Um, and just want to commend you on the efforts that you're making to turn things around and do things differently, and, um, show families all the great things about VCUSD. And so I just encourage you to keep doing that, keep doing that hard work, and I'm hopeful that that you'll see the results that you're wanting to see out of all your hard work. St. Cohen Thompson. Yes. I have family that. was entrenched in Vallejo Unified Vallejo City Unified School District. So I hear on your side what employees are saying, what the teachers are saying, what the aides are saying. I understand that. I understand the union, because I have a. family member that deals with
065unions, school unions. So. I just want to impress upon you and Ditto on. Trustee Dean, I'm not sure you really realize what we do when we go into closed sessions. We really delve into EdCode and policy. We really talk about issues, the family issues, and we have to be careful. that, um… We don't, um… rule out issues that families have that they don't put out on the table, but they're underlying. And we understand your issue with with with the the funding. I'd like to know, are you guys going up to the Capitol and standing out at the Capitol and talking to your congressman? Because they're the ones that you really need to be talking to, because they're the ones that provide bills that provide the funding. So we're going to work with you as best
066as we know how, according to law. But at the same time, you have a charge to not to just come to us to ask us to help you in your dilemma. Because your dilemma is nationwide. It isn't just Vallejo or Solano County. It's nationwide, everywhere they're having it. And so. being proactive. It's really good. But consider… confronting their congresspeople, your assembly people, your Senate people, because they're the ones that are going to bring the money in. Go up there and bombard the governor. All right, they're making changes in. the Department of Education. I do a lot of. cohorting around Cspa to understand what's going on. I get those daily reports, and trust me, I read them every day, sometimes 2 or 3 come in a day, so I know. work out. I read what's happening
067in the whole state of California. We're with you, and we're going to help whenever way that we can that works best for all that's concerned. Thank you. Trustee Lappelle. Thank you. I too want to add my thanks. It's it's a joy to see the support that the district is receiving from those that are committed to our children there. And just thank you for taking the time after a long day to be here to. advocate for them in any way possible. I do have a quick question if there's anyone from outside of our county, because much of. What we do obviously involves districts outside of Solano and and so just wanted to see if there was anyone from neighboring counties. That would step up. For Napa County, for instance, just I want to make sure that
068we're all on the same page as our our policy talks about a working relationship with other counties. And so maybe for our Council is what we have in alignment with what other counties would recognize as standard procedures. Without going into this, I'm not aware of every single county policy on point. What I can share with you is that yours is wholly consistent with what the law provides for. But I certainly would be happy to do sort of like a survey if you all are interested in that and provide you some feedback in terms of where you all are, and. You know, relation to other county policies. I certainly can do that if you're interested in that. Thank you. Another point that I wanted to make is that so much of what happens with these interdistrict
069appeals happens outside of our boardrooms. And I know, for instance, Dr. Lane was handled. preliminary work for our. before they come to us. And I know this happens with other boards as well. These are not simple decisions and very complex. I assume this would be taken care of by somebody other than Dr. Lamis now that. She's moved on, um, but just grateful for staff and the work that goes on behind scenes to to work for best outcomes for families. Cheek. I want to first really commend everyone who came out tonight. Thank you guys for showing up for such important issues like appeals and transfers, and it does make a difference for not only our kids, but our families. I'm going to give a special applaud to Vallejo City Unified School District for all the work
070that they have been. Doing, we do see that the improvements that are being made, and I believe I have an appointment to meet with the superintendent, and I would love to really extend my myself to the once a month come out and think tank, think about some ideas, some shared ideas to what we can. continue to do to make Vallejo the star city for education again. So, and for me, I guess. I would minus in the question, but more of a I guess it's just a question. Hopefully, you'll give me what I want. It would be helpful when, without talking in any specific cases, it would be helpful in knowing how someone matriculated all the way, how they got to us, because I know that you guys have a process, and then you have a
071secondary process, and maybe even a third. And so it would be interesting to know. Did we get all the information that nothing comes up that's all of a sudden a surprise to us at the end, or a surprise to you guys, or to the parents? It would be interesting to know how they made it to us, what what they threshold they didn't cross that got them all the way to us. That would be helpful, because we want to follow Ed code. We do absolutely follow ed code. It's a robust conversation when we retire behind doors. And so, but help us help you. The more information you give us, the better we are prepared to make the decisions that's best for the parents and the students and the district. So that would be my request. Does
072anybody else have anything? This is a discussion item, so we can't take any action. And it will come back before the board. Okay. So you all are welcome to join us for a robust, lively conversation about county education, or if you want to leave, because I know you have families. Please don't feel obligated to stay. Enjoy your families, and thank you so, so much for being here. We very much appreciate it. We all are reachable by email and phone. If you need us. If you have additional comments that you forgot. Please don't hesitate to email. So thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay, we're going to do a little 5 min break. It is 712. We'll be back at 720. Thank you. Oh, thank you. John, it was great to see you. I know I am
073somebody, okay? That was the superintendency. No, it was a conflict. She was on the community. It's 7:20 I'm gonna call this back to order. Trustees, return to your seat. Let's roll. Okay, we're going to resume the meeting with Superintendent's report part two. Okay, so we have attached for your review. The second interim financial report. We also have Becky Lance. Thank you, Ernie. the Director of Internal Business Services, and Michelle Henson, Deputy Superintendent, Administrative Services and Operations. They are both available for questions that you may have. Do we have any questions on the second interim financial report? We do not. Thank you. Okay, next on the agenda, we also have attached for your review the SCO Transportation Plan. We also have Michelle here, who would be available if you have questions. Do we have any questions
074on the transportation plan? Is there any changes? No, there are no changes, just an update of some minor language revisions just to reflect. what it is SCO does in terms of transporting students for our programs. Thank you. And next on our agenda, charter school update, and I would like to ask Jas Baines-Wright to come on up and. Give that report. Hi, good evening, trustees and Superintendent Parr. The team will be sharing updates, and we'll start with their narrative. We'll start off with updates from Elite. The ACT testing for all students has begun. All high school students took the test, which aligns with their college preparatory program. The more prepared they are, the more they are seeing students opting to at least try community college and begin their post-secondary training. Because of their scores on the
075ACT, many students received awards due to their high performance. for parent engagement. This year they implemented quarterly meetings with their parent leaders at venues in the community. This Friday, they will hold their third meeting. It takes places at Velar Los Portales in Vallejo from 5.30 to 7.30 PM. They will discuss successes and challenges they have faced this year, and provide necessary and relevant updates to their parent leaders. They are proud that their parent leaders have taken it upon themselves to host two beautification events to help elite enhance the look on their campus. The oratorical competition has taken place as well. They hosted their sixth annual competition. This year their theme was, we come from family history and the importance of immigration in the United States. their videos with this year's winners will begin to post
076in a few days, and it was an incredible competition with students reciting oratory in English, Spanish, French, Haitian, Creole, and Tagalu. And is there any questions about the narrative before I move on to the matrix? Okay. Updates to the reporting schedule matrix. These items were received after February 23rd, the oversight fee for February, the master schedule for March. Substitute log for February and certificated staffing list for March. Any questions regarding the matrix? I have a question. Sure. Is it absolutely correct that there are no past due items right now? Yeah. How many years has it been? 5, 5 years? That's actually big news, so I wanted to make sure. Yes. updates to the snapshot. The 2324 audit appeal has been filed. The 2425, they are awaiting the certification letter for that audit. And Charter Safe
077revisit will take place on March 26th. Yes. Trustee Dunn. I just have a couple of clarifying questions on the, um. The Miss Assignment summary that's at the very back. I just want verification. Maybe. So yeah, please. Thank you. the… The top one needs to complete remaining requirement to add a permanent multiple subject authorization to current single subject. I'm assuming that's in progress. That's just to note that that's needed and the teacher is working toward that. Correct. Um… the I think that's the same one intern credential is just issued needs to complete the program for preliminary credential. I'm assuming that's in progress, and that teacher is working on. The next 2, they must qualify, must qualify for an intern credential extension or preliminary credential. What? Is there a time frame for qualifying for that? Or what's
078the implication of that note? That's a more complicated one. I'm trying to think how to… get to the nuts and bolts. So, uh… Typically, you would, if you're in your program, and you have coursework left to do. In your program, you have coursework left to do. You would, and you're out of time on an intern credential, you would work with your program to get a new one issued. If for any reason an educator might be out for a while for other reasons that are. Um, you know… stuff I don't want to get into, then it could be a case where they can't work with their program to get that done yet. And it would have to wait until they are back in their position for whatever reason that they might be out. So I don't
079know the details on that person's situation other than there are extenuating circumstances. It means that there's not an update for that one yet. Okay. So potentially if the person has to be out, it would be like a substitute going in the meantime. Right. Yeah. All right, thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Thank you. Okay, we have next on our agenda. Dr. Valerie Garrett, she's going to come up and give us an update on the local control accountability plan. an adjustment? Good evening. Good evening again, trustees, Superintendent Park, colleagues and guests, and those listening online. Thank you so much. I'm being joined tonight by our Senior Director of Educational Services, Hannah and Miss Jess. are going to help me tonight, because not only am I going to give a review, but I have the honor
080tonight, Trustees, to facilitate your participation with giving us feedback for our LCAP. Next slide. So for our community, I just want to do a quick review of what the LCAP is. This is the document that states how we're using our resources and activities to support our students. And I want those in our Solano County community to understand and appreciate that our board. has truly supported us with having a document that reflects what is needed in our community. And I know that I just have to say this because I feel like it needs to be said. That was wonderful to see the board recognized on that screen. And I just want to say on behalf of the students at our community school, the students at Evergreen Academy inside of the juvenile detention facility, the families. who
081have been impacted in a positive way by Golden Hills and Evergreen Academy. Thank you for supporting us, and I mean that sincerely. And that's something else you should be proud of, and that's something that should be in the news, that our board truly. supports our students, and I'm saying that as the Solano County resident and educator for over 27 years. Next slide. So, um, I love this slide because it highlights our JCCS program. It's just so our community knows that we provide academic intervention training for our teachers, college and career readiness, professional development. I love this slide because it truly highlights the depth and breadth that we take to make sure that our program encourages and inspires our students to be successful. Next slide. This is just a reminder that our LCAP and our school
082plans for student achievement are in alignment. This graphic shows you how those 2 documents parallel each other, but they have the same commitment, which is focused on. academics, providing college and career readiness. Our LCAP goes one step further, which is not on this document, but we also have a goal specifically focused on our foster youth and students who are experiencing housing insecurity. So thank you for that next slide. board members this evening, instead of me doing a lot of talking, we want to hear from you. So in front of you, you should have a post-it and a pen, and I'm going to explain to you how this next section is going to go. And you are experiencing what our students, parents, community members, community partners experience, and why our LCAP truly the voices of our
083community. Next slide. Our first goal is focused on improving instructional outcomes for all students. And what I would like for you to do board members, so that our community could hear you. If you could think of what we could do, or what we should continue to do. to support our students and their instructional access. If you could share it verbally and then write it down so that we could capture it in our LCAP. These two fabulous leaders will you raise your hand when you're finished writing your statement, your recommendation, and then we will put it on the poster so I can have that data along with the other data that we collected to go into our. LCAP. So next slide. So again, the question is, when you think about our students, and we run a
084community school which serves students who some of them have been expelled from one of the 6 districts in our county. We also serve students who may have been inside of the juvenile detention facility. and transfer to the community school. We've even had students who have heard about our community school and recommend it to come. I will tell you this little fella is probably going to kill me for this story, but he said, Dr. Garrett, I'm going to do something so I can stay. I said, young man. You've been doing a great job, but that speaks volumes about the teachers and the support staff members and the leadership at this school. So I want you to also think about our students who are experiencing housing insecurity. I got to present to the Foster Youth Council for
085Solano County, and also the homeless heart is what it's called. There are a lot of families in Solano County struggling. So I want you to share with us what you think we should do. to improve instruction for all of our young people. Any recommendations? I think you do it so well. I don't know, I mean, when you have a group that's as stellar as you guys, it's hard to think of. a new way to improve instruction when you're doing such a great job out there already. Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it right? So, um, oh. Mr. Cohen Thompson. Hi. I read everything. Maybe we got it all right. You got it. You need to be writing a book on it. Okay, I have the good fortune to go to the event for the
086Family Justice Center. And there's a new director there. She's from Richmond, retired police chief, African American woman, young. Maybe you might would collaborate with her to see some of the. programs that they have, or the resources. their resources that, um. You may be able to add to theirs, to their programming. But that would be, I would say for you, that would be a resource, okay? But just keep doing what you're doing, because the students. tell the story. The students tell the story. Thank you. I'm gonna go ahead and echo that. It's hard to suggest anything, because this is the rock star program of SCO, and we do. You guys do just such an amazing job. This is the program that if I'm bragging about sco, it's about. Jccs and Evergreen Academy and the community schools.
087But that said, since you want suggestions, I think we need to make sure that we are fully funding and maybe making it even more robust that transitional program, so that you do all this great work. You've got this kid in a good place. And then we pitch them to the next place, and we want to make sure that they come alongside. They can't make up, they can't be Dr. Garrett, but they could be something, and that way we're not losing. the strides that we're making with these kids. So that would be my suggestion. And just as an aside, I'd like to recognize an oldie but goodie from SCO. First time back in the room here in a while. Rick Vicaro, we are we are blessed to have him back on staff. Thank you for being
088here. Thank you. And oh, trustee. No, I'm just going to diddle everyone is saying. But if I had to thank them something, maybe we can establish a program like a scholarship. College track program where we follow the kids after they go back that come, you know, and start maybe… I can't say fundraising, but finding funds that can once that can take them on to college. Thank you. Great recommendations. Yes. I have a comment. Madam Chair. Um… 1,000%. You, madam, are a superstar. But the program, I mean, we see month after month the most glorious part of our job is to sit in here and see what you have done. Absolutely. But, you know, I'm a little competitive, and we have a task, so, like Amy, I'm like, I gotta think of something. So I have
089two thoughts. One thoughts around nutrition. So this is a topic, it's an issue spotting, it's not a particular… So, how do we support, uh, improve instructional outcomes? Um, make sure the students are… are meeting their nutritional. Needs are being met all over. So, that kind of leads to the second one, which is. Also an issue. meet them where they are, and I know we do this. I know we do it, but… Even looking at nutrition, are we working with food is free forlano? I know we are, but, you know, maybe there's something we could do to enhance those things, maybe. Just some thoughts, right? Um, not at all criticism, because we know you're doing it. No, that's excellent, Trustee Dean, I need you to write that down. I can put it on my little post-it
090here. Solano, possibly. And the reason why I say that is because the kids at Golden Hills during the LCAP meetings, they want to learn about gardening, how to raise their own food. We did have that program going on. I know the program has been struggling financially, but it would be wonderful. to have that back. Trustee Dean will be looking for your post-it. Okay, trustees, I know I'm also being mindful of time, because I know educators can talk. Are you comfortable with me moving on to the second goal? And if you have any other thoughts, just raise your finger, just… and, um, one of these fabulous ladies will grab your post-it. Next slide. So goal two, this goes back to what the trustees were mentioning and for our community. We are really big on providing transitional
091services. And just as a reminder, we have student support specialists assigned. So Golden Hills and Evergreen Academy, and both of these colleagues do a warm hand approach when students arrive to our campuses and when they exit, we actually stay in touch with students for a couple of years. So when they need assistance with getting into a college or a trade program, we write letters. We tell them, come on up and that come on over to Golden Hills. We'll meet you. We do home visits, you name it, we do it. So we just number one, want to find out from you, are we on the right track? Do you have any other recommendations for… I know you gave some wonderful ones about really enhancing transitional services. Any other recommendations that the Board has next slide. What
092are your thoughts? When my kids were younger, they had a they had them, you know, at the beginning of high school start this folder, and every time you got an award, or you got a letter, or you got, you know, whatever it was that you had that was, you know, great report card. You put it in there. And kind of… so that they could be dreaming about. where they want to what they want to do next. And it was a nice thing to reflect on where they'd been and where they were going, and it was kind of a scrapbook of life in some ways. All the… I mean, you left out the crummier parts, and you put in the nice stuff, and it was something… I think it… Probably has a mental health component to
093it too, but that then when you went to go apply for scholarships and for college and things, all this stuff was sitting right there, and you didn't have to know where the heck did I put that, whatever it was. And I think it would serve not just the transition services. But it'd be one of those SCO, you know, Dr. Garrett Hart things that, you know, how much we love our kids. And I think that would be helpful to them. Absolutely. Write that down, Trustee Sharp. We'll collect your post it. Trustees, any other? career readiness component. To the program. Absolutely. That's coming up on goal 3. Oh, okay. No, write that down, Trustee Chick. I think I'm having different trades come out and talk about what type of work they do and how to get involved
094and. different fields, career fields. Absolutely. Thank you. I'll ditto on that with the union. Bring the union people out. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. And again, trustees, we always say this during our educational partner meetings. If you think of something later, please let. I know the correct, Dr. Parr, you can correct me. It would go through you. And then your office would share with me if the trustees have additional. things that they like to have in the LCAP following this. Sometimes you think of something after the meeting is over. That happens a lot. Parents are sending emails or show up, drive up to the porch, and hey, I wanted to add this. Okay. We're going to move on trustees. Next slide. So goal number 3 is focus on college and career readiness. And right now at
095Evergreen Academy and Golden Hills, our kids learn about personal finance. We've partnered with Travis Credit Union to have the kids learn the difference about what a loan is. Versus a grant, how to budget your money. You can't just… if you make $2,000 a month, you probably don't want to rent an apartment that's 1,900. How are you going to watch TV or eat? So, um, next slide. Just want to have your thoughts about, number one, are we on the right track? Um, do you have any other recommendations related to college and career readiness? And I know you shared some great ones a second ago. What about college tours like tours and colleges with the students as a field trip? Please write that down, Trustee Cheek. shadowing. Shadowing. Yes. Excellent. Thank you, Trustee Dean. You want to
096capture that? Any others? All right, I'm going to move this along. Next slide. Goal number 4. This is a big one, social emotional supports. We are so fortunate to have mental health and wellness clinicians that the kids really, really love at Evergreen and Golden Hills. Because we have a lot of young people, and I know there are people listening to me in the community. There are a lot of young people that enter our schools who are dealing with what I call a lot of weight. And the fact that these young people to be at Evergreen Academy. And to know that there are people that care about you, that's very hard to be away from your family and friends. We make sure that if kids want to talk about it, go into court is hard. Sometimes
097our kids come back from court, and it's hard to go back to that classroom. But because we have those mental health and wellness clinicians, students have a place where they can let that out. Same thing with the community school. Think about the kids. That's very difficult when you have to temporarily not be able to attend your neighborhood school. To be away from your friends and your network. We make sure with our social emotional supports as our kids have access to the wellness center and they have someone to talk to. Next slide. So I just want to find out from you, trustees, who have done. I know I've been here 6 years of service to the county office and the children in Solano County. You've done an amazing job of supporting us having social emotional support.
098I feel like Solano County needs to be in the news because we are interrupting the pattern of young people feeling alone. So I just want to find out from you, are we on the right track? Do you have other recommendations for social? emotional supports for our young people. One visit at Golden Hills, I ran into one of the visiting mentors, and I know I've mentioned this before, but it's always stuck that you and your staff there love the kids into new ways of being. I think it would be hard to improve on that. Oh, thank you, Trustee Lavelle. Don't make me cry. Presentation. Thank you. Trustee also like what you do exposing them to different cultures and different things like the African drum. I just took my granddaughter to… they're coming out now from Philadelphia,
099Mr. Boom Boom. Yeah, they had, like, 50 little kids there, you know, doing that, and I remember going to the one that you had at Golden Hills, and the kids were fascinated by that. So kids of any age, when they're exposed to new cultures. And stuff like that, it also helps them understand emotionally where maybe somebody else is coming from. in their culture, you know, but I think exposing them to as many cultural things as you can helps their emotional well-being. Thank you. And we enjoyed having you there at the school. And I just want to say, too, the other day, Trustee Lavelle came by actually spent a couple of hours with us at Golden Hills and Evergreen. Because we have some books that probably were there in the 80s, 70s. There's some with the
100little Dewey decimal system. Anyway, the kids were so excited because we had let them know, hey, we have this funding and we want to buy you a new library books. And the kids at Evergreen, they had a list. They were put… one young man put all of the old cruddy bugs, had them stacked. And Trustee Lavelle went through every single bookshelf. But it seems like that. It may sound like something small, but the kids were saying, yeah, you know, we're going to be able to have books. is the young people, just so the audience knows, when you're at, uh, Evergreen Academy, you can't take books with hardbacks into your cell. So you can only do softbound books. So the kids are super jazzed. So we are going to get those books and those libraries and
101you should be proud when you guys leave this evening, you need to think about those kids. You're making a child's day. to be able to go to your room and read a book that's interesting. And the kids do want books about different countries. They're fascinated by that careers. So I'm just impressed with Solana County Office of Ed as a whole. That's another talk show. But I just wanted to find out from you if we're on the right track. And it sounds like we are. I can add. Okay, 1st of all, I wanted to. on what Teresa Trustee LaBelle did. I think that is something that is it doesn't fall under this necessarily what I'm about to say. But that is something that's key in here. We get our little calendar. It has a few of
102the pretty much the standard ones that we're invited to almost every year. But it's not until your butt is in the seat that you see the things where it's like, oh wait, she has a connection to the library. She can make something happen. We've got 7 very diverse coming from all over the place. Sometimes it's… we don't know how we can help you, and if we were invited into the programs or we saw certain things, not only can we rah them, we can help, or we can connect. Everybody has different business contacts, community contacts. I think that would be helpful. It doesn't fall under the LCAP. necessarily, but… Yes, it does, write that down. Connecting us, connecting, um, the board members, and then in taking that, then the community. People want to help. They just
103don't know how to help. So, but to the actual LCAP, following those instructions. Student of the month. Are we… is that a big deal at the programs? Are we… we got our, you know, we're really making a big deal. They don't just come here, it's something that people are like, man, I really want that student of the month. Are we playing that for all it's worth? Yeah, it's a big deal. The kids this generation really likes food or technology. It's a big deal. So you get a lunch. If you're at Evergreen Academy, they're like, Dr. Garrett, are you gonna… Yes, because we celebrate the kids there, too. And I think a lot of these merchants around here. Now my orders is I get permission to bring food to celebrate the kids, like the young man
104who helped us with the library sorting out the books that need to be discarded. He's being celebrated as a leader. So we built that into our program so that all the kids feel valued. And that would be another thing that, as a board. I would love to contribute to that stuff. Don't know that it, you know, how do you connect us so that we can help? And then the other thing is a little aside, a push on resilience. I see these kids come in and they have been through, you'll be in tears, they've been through horrible things, and yet here they are, and they are achieving. And that that time at JCCS is a blip. It can be if we look at it that way. And really teaching resilience that you're not, you know, that
105you're going to do better. This is not the way your life is going to go just because you had a little oopsie or something bad happened to you, or something that wasn't your fault, and just really crummy luck. And I think some… a push on resilience would do a lot of kids well, that they don't have to be the victim. They can be the hero in their own story. Absolutely. And Tracy Sharp, thank you for saying that. And that's one thing that my staff, all of us believe in the mantra that. Greatness is was always inside of you. They hear us say that all the time. And that's one of the reasons why at Golden Hills, we sit on the porch and wait for them to come to school, and when they leave, we hug
106them in and hug them out. And we mean that sincerely. Because if you want to see change in our community in Solano, you need to do something, interrupt that pattern. And that's what we all believe in, is encouraging them. So yeah, they, you know, we get the little fuss and like, hey, you need to do your work. And they do it. And so, like, the young man you saw tonight, I mean, what a joy to come here for you to have a space where we can share the good things that some of these young people have gone through and to have a real graduation at Evergreen Academy, where all these dignitaries. come out to see these young people that may have made a mistake. That means a lot. You all have no idea. I don't
107even think I could capture in words the depth and breadth of appreciation. You have no idea what you all are doing. Everybody in this room, for these young people. So anyway, I know I had my time. But thank you. Superintendent. I have one thing that I want to say. I want to thank Trustee Sharp for her words, and… Bring up the fact that this is why we meet once a month. And I'm going to tell the story, Trustee Lavelle. You contacted me. About the books. And we had a conversation about the opportunity that you wanted to spearhead. and connect the library and the services that you have. to JCCS, and that one conversation was perfectly timed, because I was just in a conversation with Dr. Garrett about budget, who was just in a conversation with
108Becky about how much money she has to spend. And that was a great opportunity for us to get you into the school. You showed up. and connected, and got the ball started. So we have to make sure that we all are in communication, and that you are stepping forward, too, and saying, I want to be involved. I want to make a change, and then we work together on how we do that. So thank you. Okay, I know I'm going to move us along in the interest of time, and thank you, Dr. Park. Next slide. Oh, the final goal again closing the achievement gap for Foster and homeless youth. This is a big one. And if anyone is listening. Uh, from the community that serves our homeless and foster youth. Thank you for giving me the
109opportunity to speak. Thank you for all of that feedback. It was absolutely overwhelming to know that there are people partnering, um, to support. the lives of these young people. And just so you know, the older you get in the foster care system, we have kids that are from all over the place, and they come to Solano County to have these resources, and to have an LCAP call that's focused. It's phenomenal. Next slide. And this is the final one. Trustees, I promise. I just want to find out from you. Are we on the right track? focusing on our foster and homeless youth. Do you have any other recommendations concerning our students? Okay, so… I have suitcases, and I wanted to get rid of them, but you hear the horror stories of kids taking their stuff in
110a garbage bag. It was like I serve on a board of education and finding a program to donate almost brand new suitcases for was like pulling teeth. It was unbelievable. And I think that there has to be a way to get some sort of point of contact or something out to the community, because if. I can't find it. I don't even want to know what may have before the Board of Education would have done, and they'd be sitting at Savers, you know. not making a difference, whereas I'm guessing a lot of people are in that situation where there's something out. Suitcases are specific. I'm not suggesting clothes, but it seems like there's a way to have maybe a little more robust tie into scow or in the community. for how we can help these kids,
111because foster kids, homeless kids, there isn't, I don't know, a dry eye in the house when you get talking about the things these kids have been through, and I think a better point of contact where people could call wherever and be able to… it was just there was a better point of contact. for how to disseminate, how to help, but where to give to help these kids. Please write that down, Trustee Shire, please. Absolutely, and I'm very grateful to our county partners, because they're all working from different angles and would trustee Sharp mentioned about young people moving from one foster home to another and having your items put into a grocery bag or a brown bag. It's heartbreaking enough, you know, some of the circumstances, but to have people in the community looking at. teaming
112up with the schools. We have folks that work with us. So our young people who are experiencing foster care, you know, they're treated with respect and dignity. And a continued wraparound approach. And I'm stumbling with my words because I'm a little full. Because I'm thinking about that LCAP meeting and just hearing about some of the things our county partners are doing to support these young people, and then thinking about the young people that we serve every day, and remind them. And I don't know. Maybe some of the people in the room don't know are the people listening online. But we have people here in our Student Services Department. Thank you very. much that takes our students to target to get them things like underwear, lotion, deodorant, things that you… Everyday things. But doing it in
113a way where their dignity is intact. A lot of people may not know that that happens at SCO. That happens to Skow. So I just wanted to put that out there, and I'm going to keep going before I start crying, because I need to get off the mic. Next slide. There we go. So anyway, I want to thank you board members for participating. I want to thank you for everything that you do. Again, as you get in your cars and you leave this board meeting tonight, I want you to know that those young people inside of Evergreen Academy. To be excited about getting books, to know that those mental health and wellness clinicians will be there to have teachers that come every day that do things. Our kids are learning about science, technology, our young
114people at Golden Hills, they're going to be going back to their neighborhood schools or graduating. Our commencement is May 29th for Golden Hills. May 16th, Miss Pitts, I think it's May 16th for Evergreen Academy. I don't have my calendar in front of me. But anyway, I just want to thank you on behalf of all the young people in the JCCS program and our staff members. 14th. 14th. Thank you very much, Jesse Start. I knew it. I had a senior moment. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all, and thank you for participating tonight. Thank you, Hannah and Chess. And trustees and Superintendent and everybody in the room. Have a great evening. Thank you. Okay, so next on the agenda we have Manolo Garcia, Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Educator Effectiveness for the
115Human Resources report. We also have the temporary certificates attached for information. Thank you very much, County Superintendent Parr. Appreciate that board President Sharp and distinguished board members. It's my honor to be up here this evening to answer any questions you have about those routine items. Before I do that. If I may, I want to respectfully. Offer some words of encouragement. To Mr. Vaccaro? Mr. Vaccaro, it's great to have you back at SCO. And I just want to let you know, we're almost to the halfway point in the meeting tonight. Mr. Vaccaro did ask, how long do the board meetings go? I calmly looked at my partner in crime, and I said, well, usually 4 h and she she responded 5, and I didn't know the muscles in your face could actually open your eyelids that
116wide. All right. So back to business. You have the staffing report in front of you for the last period. We had 3 wellness program assistants that we hired and two paraprofessionals. And the temporary certificates of clearance, just a couple pages there as we approach the hiring season, that those pages will increase in number, but… We're just on the verge of that for our school districts and charter partners. Any questions? Where did we find these new hires? How did we find them? Well, from lots of sources. One of them was former student. So new career, new new job opportunity for them. Another one coming from the private sector, another from a nonprofit. And two were subpareducators for us, so they were already serving as subs and decided to make it permanent. Awesome. No poaching. That concludes
117my report. Okay, so moving on to new business, we have. We have an opportunity to vote for a Csba delegate assembly for subregion 3 C. There were no nominations, but we can write in someone if we would like. Anybody have a write-in candidate they would like to. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're all looking at you. You're looking the wrong direction, then. I did my time. I'm gonna say I'm sorry, the Benicia guy left, because I noted that our subregion is has 2 fair fields. And us. And no one from the other. Am I right? That's correct. That's correct. I said, that's unfortunate. They do a wonderful job. It's Helen Tilly and Jack Flynn, and and I will say that they do a great job. But diversity is always good. It ends up if we don't fill the
118spot, Robin will appoint some Robin, the director. It's Robin still going to be the director? Robin. Yes, that's my understanding. We'll appoint someone. Why not? Do we have a write-in, or are we going to? hope that our districts have chosen someone wisely. Three of us have done it. Right? So that leaves four. You want to take on the SCSBA? Okay. No, no, she's offering you a position. Good luck have already done it. Mm-hmm. It would be nice if one of the four of you. I see Trustee Chief moved her mic. All right. So what? What is the what do they do? It's that you have two… May and a December meeting that you go to. They are either in Southern California or in Sacramento. It's over the course of 48 hours, and you go to
119one regional meeting. And then you go to a solid day of them talking to you about things, and sometimes you vote. How's that for an honest? I apologize. And it's really rough weekends. It's like Mother's Day, like the weekend after Mother's Day, and it's the weekend after Thanksgiving. So they are brutal. Yes, go ahead. I had her. You had no one. I cannot in good conscience. So I I'm moved that we write in Trustee Coleman. Do I have a second? What are you thinking? Okay, so we have a motion by Trustee Dean, a second by Trustee Cheek to write in Trustee Coleman for the CSBA. president. Not president, I'm sorry. Wow, I gave you quite a promotion. As for the delegate assembly. Can I get a roll call? Do we have any discussion? Roll call
120vote, please. Trustee Cohen Thompson? Yes. Trustee Coleman. STD? Yes. Trustee Dunn? Yes. Trustee Lavelle? Yes. Trustee Cheek? Yes. Trustee Schrum? Yes. Ari. I put 3 people. That's true. There could be a runoff. Okay. Moving on agenda items removed from consent. We had 3. 1st was a, and it was removed by Trustee Dean. I'll confess that with the room and the anterior space so full, I got kind of excited about the opportunity to share our experience at the Board of Supervisors. It really was quite meaningful. First of all, that they actually invited us was pretty huge. and recognized us as what we are, which is a all female board and superintendent, which is such a rarity. And I really just wanted to take the moment to recognize the significance of that. As it relates to the…
121Was it a proclamation that we were going to do? So, just thank you to all of my sisters on the board. It's been such a wonderful experience over the last couple of years. In particular, what I didn't say at the at the Board of Supervisors meeting was, you know, we have really evolved as a unit, and I'm very proud to be a part of this. So I just wanted to take that moment. This moment to say that before we. And I'll add to that that let's call out. Who we have to be thankful for, which is super supervisor Wanda Williams. Oh, yes, it was her leadership that brought it to the board of supervisors and recognized our board. Yay. Okay, so hearing that, do we want to go ahead and just run all three and
122we'll vote on all three together? Or do we want to. Do them one at a time. Is there a rule better to do one at a time? Okay, one at a time. So can I get a motion on Women's History Month? Okay. And a second? Okay. So I have a motion from Trustee Coleman, a second from Trustee Cheek. Can I get a roll call vote? Comment and cheek, yes, please. Trustee Cohen Thompson? Yes. Trustee Coleman? Yes. Trustee Dee. Yes, Trustee Dunn. Yes, Trustee LaBelle. Yes. Yes. Trustee Sharp. Yes. Okay, item B was also pulled by Trustee Dean. The Vietnam Veterans. But not national Vietnam War Veterans Day. I'm not going to make it. I decided to go back to those years. Yeah, I think… Some of you know that my husband was a Vietnam veteran.
123And I see this every year. And I think about saying something, and I don't know how many more times I will see this, so I thought it was important, especially now that we have grandchild that he doesn't get to meet, and… I just want to recognize that for all of these years there are so many people who served. Who suffered silently and continue to suffer silently. And, you know, we get a lot of resolutions, and it just I just think it's important for us to actually recognize what we're saying in these documents and why we're saying these things in the documents. So yeah, that's I just want to honor everyone who served, whether they're they're what it costs them is visible or not. And of course their families. And the people in their community. The
124ripple effect. But that war, well, certainly last all our our lifetimes. We are now the generations that follow us, so… I think it's important to honor all the folks who were involved. And I I will also say for a long time. you know, no one could speak about being a Vietnam veteran for decades. And to come to a point where that's no longer true, that has special meaning as well. So I just to all of you, thank you for letting me say this. Thank you for letting me bring this up as a moment to really recognize what we're saying in these resolutions. Thank you. And it is a lesson that, regardless of whether you agree with. wars or administrations or whatever, it's always appropriate to think a serviceman for their service. A lot of them
125were treated terribly, and we have. horrible history to try to reconcile, and I'll never forget, you know, when you see someone with their vet hat on in Vietnam and saying, thank you for your service, and how some of them, wow, it really does, um, not something they always got. So can I get a motion and a second, a motion on. Some will second. Okay, I've got a motion from Trustee Cohen Thompson and a second from Trustee Cheek. Can I get a roll call vote? Trustee Cohen Thompson? Yes. Trustee Coleman? Yes. Trustee Dean? Yes. Trustee Dunn? Yes. Trustee LaValle? Yes. Trustee Chee? Yes. Trustee Shark? Yes. Okay, the last one is C, and I pulled it off. It is our budget revisions, and I had a couple quick questions. On my. Page four of seven. It
126is… Midway down the page. First interim is the title. and it has a object description as economic uncertainties, and I don't think I've ever seen that one before, so I was hoping to get a Becky lecture on what it is. So I do actually make the entry now in our system. So it loads into the sacks. Otherwise I can enter it there. So part of your financial stability is having a reserve for economic uncertainties, which is the standard is around 3%. So that is my adjusting entry for the interim report. To get us back to the 3% plus or minus wherever we were on that. Okay. And then, since I've got you up here, for the benefit of all who are certainly listening to this meeting, unassigned, unapportioned, and UNR? That was the other, um…
127What does that? It was the next one down first interim revisions. It could be the Br number 2 6 0 0 1 8 6. Same page, page 4 of 7. It was literally right underneath economic uncertainties. And I'm not really asking that specific one so much as like. I get unassigned, I get unapportioned. What's UNR? unrestricted. Unrestricted. Okay, nice. Okay. Then question, ask question, answer. Thank you. Anybody else have any questions? Okay, so can I get a motion? So moved. Second. Okay, I've got a motion from Trustee Cohen Thompson, a second from Trustee Dunn. Can I get a roll call vote? Trustee Cohen Thompson? Yes. Trustee Coleman? Yes. Trustee Dean? Yes. Trustee Dunn? Yes. Trustee Lavelle? Yes. Trustee Chee? Yes. Trustee Schar? Yes. Okay, moving on board discussion part 2 board policy 9250 remuneration reimbursement
128and other benefits. Courtney. Yes, thank you. So before we dive into the policy itself, there's a brief presentation, a PowerPoint that I wanted to go over with you all to give you some background, and for those of you who may not know, or if you do know, just remind you about 801390, which effective January 1st of this year. increase the monthly compensation for school board and county board of education members by 5 times amount, which is a significant amount. And so we wanted to make sure we take the opportunity to first kind of discuss what the increases are, and then how that impacts your current policy, and whether or not there's a desire to. make any changes to your current policy. So next slide, please. So I've already discussed this one. I'll go to the
129next one. Okay, so this is a chart that shows the increase for county boards specifically. There's a separate chart applicable for. school districts. And it's based on class, which is set forth in the education code and classes are. You are designated as a class based on the average daily attendance countywide. And so, and correct me, Staff, if I'm wrong on this, but. Cisco used to be at a class three, which is the 60,000 to 139, 999,000, but was released recently was recently bumped down to a class four. Is that still correct? Okay, I'm seeing nodding heads. Um, so just for your awareness, that will impact kind of what the monthly amount that the board could get, which is currently $1,000 per month, which, again, based on the new law. So… Next slide, please. This is
130just an excerpt from the very beginning part of your policy, and I think it'll probably be more informative and helpful to actually look at your policy. But what this. Says is essentially that compensation for each board member is consistent with whatever the education code says on that. So it's very broad right now. It doesn't specifically delineate the amount. It's just deferential in terms of whatever the law says is what board members can get. So I wanted to kind of talk. through with you all and what that actually means. I I know you all revised your policy back, I think, in 2023. I wasn't in this role at that time, so forgive me. I'm not privy to sort of the intents of the any amendments that were made to the policy. If we so if we
131turn to the policy now. Um, if you all have it, I'm sure in your board packet. You have sort of a calculation which just says, and this is on the first part of it, that the amount of monthly compensation allowed by law divided by the number monthly the meeting held times the number that the folks attended right? So right now that. I interpret that to mean whatever the maximum allowed is permitted by law is what you can get, and I'm not sure, and we wanted to open the door to discussion like, was that the intent to account for any changes in the law? I would imagine that may have been partially the intent. But if that's not, do you want to discuss. Either keeping it at this, that it's the maximum amount allowed, or do
132you want to have a discussion and dialogue about some other alternative amount set forth in the statute? So again, I think there's a reasonable interpretation that currently the way it reads is that it kind of accounts for any changes in the law and should be adjusted. But we wanted to make sure for transparency purposes that there's a discussion amongst the board in terms of what your desired intent goals at this. policy. So with that being said, questions for me? Otherwise, I think turning over to you all for a discussion on what you would like your policy to say. if if you want any revisions at all. Can we pull up that policy? So it's sitting on the. Okay. Does anyone have any questions for Courtney? They're pulling up the the code. So you said we're
133currently a class 3. or we work? I don't know if you have the ability on your end. Okay. Well, do we have any questions? Do we have discussion? I wasn't on the last ad hoc that did the. policy. I know the one previous we had discussed how every year we needed to bring it back if we wanted to increase it, but it wasn't anything like this. It was. I want to say it was like 15, 20 bucks. So this is a… Definitely different. And I guess my follow-up question would be, if we were 3, and now we're 4. Because the law changed, we don't need to… even if we did nothing, we can leave it alone because we're still eligible. Whereas if the law hadn't changed, technically, we needed to reduce $500. Oh, good question.
134So no, because it doesn't the the policy right now doesn't currently dictate what class you are, and so that's we would. You just do the math that depending on whatever class you are at the time that's you then look at the corresponding amount that would be applicable, which in this case. As a thousand Hajib remained a class 3 would be 1,500. So very good question. Let's see LaBelle. Just, you know, in our second interim. We saw that the labor agreements are still open and pending. I. feel that this is a little. Timing is inappropriate that we start talking about this while those. Agreements are pending. I think I I would feel better about making sure. Staff is. taken care of before we start looking to our own compensation. Okay, so to anyone else. I I
135think also I appreciate that. And I think I think also. Um, I'd kind of like to know what other folks are doing. and I understand the basis of why this all came up. I do, you know, because we were watching it. But I think that it might be worth it for the public to understand that as well. So I feel like there's a little more work to be done, and we have some time to do it. So you know what I mean? I would agree. I think maybe it's time to go ahead and bench it for a little while. We can see what others do. We can wait and make sure that our staff is taken care of, and then we can have a discussion, because I I do think I'm always hesitant to give
136myself a raise. I mean, I I didn't vote for the last one, and it was 20 bucks. You and I were the 2, yeah, dissent. But that said… Right, and that was $20. This is a lot more. It could be. I mean, we don't have to go all the way to the threshold. We could go anywhere in between. But I also think it's important. Education is the quiet little stepchild that they don't pay attention to. You're not recognized when you go to events. They only care about it. It feels. Let me go ahead and put in some… psychological words. It feels as though only at election time when they're kissing students and showing up to field trips or classrooms that they care about education. And when you look at what our contemporaries and other things,
137city councils, planning commissions, district boards, even those that serve on these secondary committees and a water board, a all these different things. Their compensation. is in keeping. What are we telling. the world, and as a female born other females, if we make sure we keep our. stipend as low as humanly possible because it's the responsible thing to do. There is some throwing the baby out with the bathwater. How are we going to find a reasonable difference? And I think that's a discussion for a future time once we have taken care of our staff. So… Trustee. Trustee Cheek. I agree with my colleagues. However, I would like to staff. So, um… kind of take a look at other boards and see where we're landing there. And then also how fit we are why did we go
138from a. 3, 2 or 4. What happened? So that's based on my average daily attendance countywide. So that's not go specifically. So that's all the counties in the district based on the average daylight, which, as you know, each in the state declining enrollment and so on and so forth would lead to that. And if you. I want to mention the word respect, because I appreciate what Trustee Sharp is saying that, yes, we're the poor stepped county board in particular. Right. But, but also I respect the effort that went into this legislation that it took years to get this through. So they've done all this very hard work. To get us to write CSBA members. Yes. To get us to where we are here. So I do want to be I don't want to just dismiss
139it offhand. for us and for those who come after us. Right? So… Agreed. But it feels like we need a little more time. We can just give it a… we'll give it a little bump on the agenda. Okay, everyone good? Okay. Okay, so moving on to the Board Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on general in-house and Special Outside Council update. So one of you want to give that or shall I do it? Okay, so we met once again. Wonderful Erica has been in contact with the CSBA. We have an opportunity for a low cost but education focused. Contract with the legal counsel through CSBA, and we've decided to exercise that. They will be helping us with just this little opportunity. And so we're in the process of doing the paperwork for that. The committee itself has
140reviewed the. RFP and made corrections and changes, um, and it's headed to the attorney as soon as all the stars align with. Billing and the office, and their office, and that. So we are hopeful based on our work so far, that we can button this up by the end of June and have it done as part of our. budget. So we'll have locked everything down, and that we are very much specifying, whereas last time we were going after our special counsel. This time we are going after general counsel as well as special counsel, and we would encourage anyone with specialties. from general, including all the specialties, we don't have a, oh, we're only going to hire three. We want the best of the best in all the different, um… issue areas, and so we would
141encourage anyone to apply. Any questions? Any ads? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely clear. So our intention is to contract with CSBA's legal arm for the purpose of advising us on the Rfp. And the Rfp process. Exactly. Great little project. Exactly. Great. Okay, anything else? Any questions? Awesome. Okay, so moving on to meetings and special dates attached to the list of upcoming meetings, events, and special dates for the board members participation and information. Any questions? Board member request in accordance with Board Policy 9250, board members may request to represent the Board in an education-related activity and specify the desired level of support necessary for the activity. Actual and necessary expenses incurred while discharging these official duties will be paid. from the County School Service Fund as permitted by law and SCO's travel policies. Requests will be placed on
142a future agenda for action. Do I have any requests? Nope. Okay, moving on. Suggestions for future agenda items. Anybody have any? Rock and roll. Board member activity reports. Let's start with Elise. Well, I've attended a LCAP training through the ACCDE. And it was really quite interesting all the intricate details of Trustee Lavelle is there as well as a Zoom meeting. And I think the presenter kind of broke it down, but it's still confusing. I did send everybody that my colleagues a copy of the PowerPoint and some other updating trainings that are coming up through ACCBE. Tomorrow, I'm actually attending a suicide assessment, fostering protective factors with system involved youth. And I'm just kind of interested to see what's out there. get more knowledgeable on what's happening around that area with mental health and how it's
143really impacted our youth. I went to the board of supervisors, was awarded Women's History Month. Our leader, Wanda Williams. Network, ring… And also, I went to Toronto University had a panel discussion of future healthcare in Solano County in North Bay, Kaiser, Atenica, and Toro had a panel discussion. Okay, Trustee LaBelle, thank you. As Trustee Cheek mentioned, I also attended the LCAP training by ACCPE, um, sponsored by Placer County Office of Ed, and they really did do a wonderful job. Um, I also went to Oakland Literacy Coalition's conference over the weekend, Literacy and Justice for all, which is just a fantastic opportunity. I know I can start to sound like one trick pony with all my. books and stuff, but it was just a fabulous opportunity there. As Dr. Garrett and Dr. Parr mentioned, I had
144the wonderful opportunity of going to Golden Hills and JDF and and talking about all things books and we've we've got a list going and there's some really exciting librarians trying to. pull out their favorites and stuff. So we'll we'll get it to you. And then the SCSBA meeting. We've got a planned meeting on the. April 20th at 6 o'clock. This will be at the community college. We're going to have a State Superintendent candidate forum. We've got 2 confirmed and working on others. So Nichelle Henderson from the La Community College District Board will be present, as will Josh Newman, a former state senator who chaired the Senate Education Committee. So again, that is on April 20th at the community college, and I'll make sure information gets you 6. 6 o'clock, dinner will be provided 6.30 for
145the panel. the 20th, uh, April 20th. That's it. Okay. Trustee Cohen Thompson. Okay. Austin. attended the, um… Grab your mic. The supervisor's meeting. I thought that was really great. The recognition was good. And it's good for us because we really, no one really knows what we do unless they come in here and have business with us. So, that was very good for that. And of course, the powerful. School Board of Trustees, the women and the dynamics that go on on this board because there are seven women here with seven different backgrounds. seven different careers, because there's no two people that have the same careers. And that dynamic comes in in every discussion, every consideration that we make. Um, I'm very… What is the word I want to use? I'm honored to be on this board
146with these dynamic women, because I learn every time they make a statement. I learn something new. There's something I've learned in terms of. a better understanding of, um… how the world goes around. Also did the diamonds, denim and diamonds. That was great. And I intend to follow up with the new director at the Family Justice Center. Because in Vuleo, seemingly in my district, there's a lot of issues with, um… Foster care and homelessness and mental health services. So I want to follow up on that. to be able to have more resources. I do have some general resources, but it seems to me that this new Justice Center would be the place that I would like to follow up with. I'm on the the the board, but I I'm a part of the series Turo for.
147incarceration and mental health, those series are starting up again next month, and I'll be a part of that. I've got a certificate in that, and I'm continuing to take the classes or the training. that we get here through SCOE on the different aspects of mental health and trauma. And there's one coming up. that I intend to take. is being who we are. people knowing who we are. We speaking to children, we're speaking to parents. for me, it's important to. have some kind of understanding of how to. respond to their needs. All right. I'm not experienced most of their needs, but I need to understand it because the position and the place that I've set in my community, not just my district. But my community is that resource and referral. I'll tell you, I don't have
148it, but I know where to go, and I'll tell them the pay you sent you. That kind of thing. So, um… really grateful that I can take these classes, these workshops through schooling mental health. I'm really happy with that. I did the one for suicide intervention and two others. I can't remember what they were. offhand. Because I wasn't prepared to talk about it. But anyway, um… Eyes and ears open. All right, deal with transportation and housing and the the different boards and police surveillance and all of that in the city of Vallejo that I'm a part of. So that it all interacts. Thank you. Interconnects, not acts, interconnects. I don't have anything to report this month other than all my usual school stuff. Trustee Dean. As noted by my colleagues, and, as I mentioned, we
149we did a did attend the Board of Supervisors meeting, and I will personally thank supervisor Williams for making sure that happened. Appreciate her, and appreciate all the board board members who. We're so respectful. Um, really busy. month at work, so I I think that's the only thing I attended. No crab feeds. That's how busy I am at work. I don't have time for no crab sheets. What else? Um, Henry said gamma yesterday. And finally, I want to say I will thank Trustee Sharp for the gifts. But I must say, I feel a little bit of a competitive spirit coming on. This is going to happen every month. I may be thinking about some gluten-free product. I figured the presidency was the perfect opportunity to dust off my room mom tendencies. My kids are adults now.
150I don't get to do that so often, so. It's been fun. But I welcome competition. You can't have too many sweets. Could happen. And I get it for staff, too. So remember, if you're… it's not just not just 7 up here, we got, we gotta spread the love. Okay, thank you. Trustee Coleman. I went to the Denim and Diamonds. Thank you, Dr. Parr, for the invitation. It was. It was fabulous, and of course the Board of Supervisors meeting. Thank you, Wanda Williams. You're fabulous in your own right. And what else did I do? Oh, and I took my granddaughter to see the African drumming over at the Vacaville Library, and I will say this about the library. I didn't know you could borrow butt pans. Did you know you can borrow butt pants from these
151places? Please enunciate. There's a lot of crazy stuff going on at the library. That ain't it. I could not believe that. I mean, beautiful Nordic wear, heavy duty. Big ones, little ones, all over. I was just like, the library has changed since I was here. And all kinds of stuff you can. Check out machines, all kinds of it's not just books anymore, people. They have it for you. My daughter, my daughter and my granddaughter go all the time, and they have their… and so grandma had to get her library card so that I can take her now. On the days that I have her, so… Yeah, she loved it. She had such a good elb at the Vacaville Library, and they changed that place so much and stuff. It's just kids love it. It was
152like 50 kids in that African drumming. And who was the star? We know. First one he picked on Miss Callie out there dancing the African dress. Yeah, that's what I did. Okay, and for me, I did some housekeeping the agenda review ad hoc and my monthly superintendent one on one which I just got to give a shout out to our wonderful superintendent again. Just how awesome it is to have that opportunity once a month to have her all to yourself and and solve the world's problems, or whatever you do during your time. So. And then I also attended the Board of Supervisors Women's History Month recognition. It was fun. I had a really good time with my colleagues. It was nice to see. We missed Ginger and Teresa, but it was fun to see five
153of us plus the superintendent there, and I would also like to thank Wanda Williams for inviting us, and also Cassandra. She was, um. Cassandra and James was very inviting and wonderful, as always. And then I also attended the Denim and Diamonds fundraiser, and that was a lot of fun. Thank you, Nikki, for the invite. We had a good time. We ate well, we raised good money for them, and uh… It was a lot of fun. So lemon cake. That's right. So Amy doesn't lose a dessert auctions. I did mention I had my superintendent meeting also. Oh, nice. I hope I hope all of us did. We're lucky to have that. So with nothing else, we can go ahead. Oh, actually, no, we're going to move to closed session. I don't see any. Well, actually, I
154do see two of public. So do we have any public comment on our closed session item? Thank you, public for being here. Nope. Okay. So with that, we will adjourn to close session. If y'all don't stick around. Thanks for being here. Happy St. Patrick's Day. It's always nice to see you hanging with us, but I don't. I don't blame you for going home. So this time. I was hovering over your shoulder. And I've never seen them. Sorry, I didn't want to miss a mess up here. I know it'll be down. I'm a good lover. So, actually, I know that. Check, check 1, 2. Yep. Me too, so I just looked back. song. Yeah. He's locked the bathrooms, he's running. In my bag and couldn't find it. Yeah. The call is back to order and the
155report out is that we took no action. And with that, if no one has anything else, we'll adjourn this meeting.