Board Meeting 10/8/25

001Good evening everyone. Thank you for your patience. Please find your seats. It is 6:08. This meeting will begin. Thank you. Roll call. >> Esparza >> here. >> Liker >> here. >> Lopez Aino >> here. >> Medina >> here. >> Kenyonz. >> Trusty Kenyon here. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? >> All right. We have Emir and Onian students Chloe Ortiz and Axel Gonzalez will lead the pledge of allegiance. >> Please stand. >> Please take off any hats, hoodies, or beanies. Place your right hand over your heart. >> Ready, begin. >> I pledge aliance 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. You may be seated. >> Students, we have certificates. Thank you. Um,

002next we have our school reports. We have Emory Academy first and I recognize Principal Rebecca Nelson for a presentation on Emory Academy. Good evening uh President Leer, board and superintendent. Uh I am Rebecca Nelson, the very proud principal at Emory Academy. Before I begin, I would like to thank my Emory family that are here community. They are definitely the reason why we are here and Emory is such an amazing place. So um I will go ahead and begin with starting with Emory's story. So at Emory Academy we have 394 students. 61 uh% of our students are socially economically disadvantaged. We have approximately 31% of our students are multilingual learners. 25% of our students uh our students with an IEP and 5% of our students are dually identified. And at Emory, our mission is to create

003the civic and service-minded leaders by developing their leadership skills and inspiring a heart for serving others. And so that is something when you think about our global leadership and empowerment is embodied within our school mission. So at Emory, we tie all of our work with our SIPA, which as you know is attached with the EL district's LCAP and um the district's mission and vision. And so with goal one, one of the things that we were looking at is how are we helping and supporting our families building those relationships. And so, not only are we continuing with our weekday offerings of um our family workshops, but we are also adding on an academic and a parent workshop that is tied to that social emotional learning because as I speak for myself as a parent, there's so

004much learning that we need to do, especially as our kids are growing up in a world that we did not grow up in. And so we think it's important that we're working together tied with and um a book study that is being done with our social worker and family liaison through love and logic which is tied to raising mentally strong kids. And part of this focus is because of our data that we're seeing from our students and our street data as well as our conversations with our families. Under goal two this year we have been focusing in on restorative practices and justice. Um, so last year we had our classified staff that was trained. This year all of our certificated staff members are being trained and then we have afternoon opportunities for our classified staff

005not only to have a refresher but to dive deeper into that to make sure that we're creating an environment for students to feel welcome, to feel successful, and to feel that they're being heard. We continue we are continuing with our release time for our certificated staff to continue uh with those empathy interviews. Last year we had two different release times. Um so all of our certificated staff had the opportunity to interview at least 10 of their students and they were my through our input sessions staff members asked for more time because they found that it was so valuable to spend that one-on-one time with their students to hear them um and to drive our focus. And so we've actually extended that to have more time for our staff members. And this year we are sending

006two of our staff members, one certificated and one classified member to the equity conference. And we're really excited for what that work will come back um and help support our school site again and creating this environment that is uh connected for all of our students and families. Under goal three, which um is really where you see a lot of the output of one and two happening is we do have a instructional assistant that works directly with our learning acceleration tutor. That person provides tier 2 support within reading and phonics intervention. This year we did purchase ready core math uh supplement and resources and I'll share more about that when we look at our data. But then we are also continuing with the GLAD training for three certificated members for this year. Last year we uh

007were able to fully train three. This year we're continuing that process to ensure that all of our staff members are glad trained to best support all of our uh English learners. And then we're also have time for our teachers to work with our phenomenal TOSA to be able to um look at our data and to make sure that we're making real time uh changes and supports for our students. So when we were drafting our SIPA goals, we really looked at where we were as a school site. And so what I wanted to share today was our I Ready data for ELA from diagnostic one which is the lighter color to the final diagnostic. And you will see that as a school site we made those shifts or gains from having less students in the red

008and more students in the green. Not only overall, but one of our big focuses last year um after our staff members, our primary staff members were trained within UFI was really honing in and heard honing in on uh funological awareness and and phonics. And so we definitely saw growth within those areas. And looking at our comparison of I Ready one diagnostic from last year to I Ready one diagnostic this year, we're seeing that it's starting to pay off. It's not huge jumps, but we definitely are now seeing that less students are in that three, twoyear, oneyear uh sec, excuse me, are less students are falling within that third, three years behind, two years behind, and more students are now in that mid above andor early just from diagnostic one at grade level. In math, we

009did see something similar. So we had again a comparison between diagnostic one um where we had roughly 8% of our students were at or around right beginning of grade level to 38% of our students in that uh final diagnostic and again you can see the comparison within each of those different domains. I again wanted to share because I think it's important the work that we did from last year impacts how we are going to start off this year and you can see in that diagnostic one comparison of last year versus this year we have more students in that midabove or early on grade level um in comparison to being behind. not where we fully want to be by any means, but we're starting to make those gains and it's really nice to have this data

010from I Ready to support our our work um at Emory. I also wanted to share within our CASP ELA data, I think it's important in looking at our cohort data, which is why it is color-coded and you will see that we had especially within that fifth and sixth grade groups, for example, our when they were fourth graders two years ago, 39% of those students were meeting or exceeding ELA standards to 54%. Our fifth to sixth graders from 47 to 54. Um, we did see a slight dip in our third to fourth graders. Um, and you can see kind of it's an interesting piece that we're looking at as a school site is in the graph that's on the bottom what's happening at fourth grade. So that's been a point that we are really looking at

011for this year to support. And so one of the things that we saw is that phonics and phmic awareness. And so we've actually have a targeted intervention group that's happening this year to support those students. uh as I shared about roughly 30% of our students are multilingual learners and so I was really proud one of our focuses last year was how are we supporting all typologies of our multilingual learners and we saw some really phenomenal results and growth again not fully in comparison with their uh English counterparts but we are starting to close that gap as you can see again from fifth to sixth grade we went from 14% of those students meeting or exceeding to 35 and fourth grade from six to 27. So it's uh something that we have been looking at not

012only with designated EL but also diving into what does that integrated EL time look like or throughout the day and supporting our learners in all content areas in math. Again we maintain in our overall but you will again see some really big jumps for example from fifth to sixth we grew from in our fourth graders to fifth graders from 31 to 35 so at 4% and so dip somewhat similar in our third to fourth grade um I did create that graph as well to help multilingual learners our thoughts behind how we went from 8 to 12% % overall is actually because we saw that giant gain in the ELA because we know that in CAS math it's not just the math it's also about reading it's about comprehending and so there is that correlation in

013the reading and math though again as I shared there is a big need in supporting our students within math which is why we did purchase the common core math as a supplement because we knew that we needed extra support for our kids our ELPAC data from last shows a level four to a level one at each different grade level. And I'm really excited to share and to celebrate the amount of students. If you look really that big trend in fourth and fifth grade, um we know that every year we have new students and so uh we do have students that come to us in fifth grade that are newcomers. So the data is not always the exact same students. We also have students that are being classified as deemed appropriate by their team being their

014teacher and their adults at home. But we are seeing some really amazing work that is happening in and it's really paying off in that fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. And I say that because we are in this window right now of reclassification. But as you can see, for this upcoming year, we're looking at based upon last year's data, 19 of our students could technically qualify for reclassification. So going over doubling the amount of students, though the percentage is still saying the same. And again, that's an estimated because it does come from the team. If, let's say, the parent feels or as a as a team that we're not feeling ready, we feel that the designated ELD and those supports that are needed are there, we are holding off. Um, attendance is incredibly important. I know

015for those that follow us on social media, we do some pretty fun things at Emory. Um, we have our phenomenal trophies. Uh, my staff is a slightly competitive, just slightly. They laugh because they know it's true. Um, and so we have a trophy for every single grade level. And even in the combo classes, I do have to split it up. So, for example, if the classroom's a one two combo, that classroom could have the opportunity to get two trophies, and that's a pretty big deal if you get both trophies. Um, just looking at that teacher in particular. Um, we've also had where classes um have had the opportunity to slime a staff member. That was definitely a big hit. Not only did that class and that teacher get to slime the staff member, but the

016entire school comes out. I've been silly strings. We also have um our attendance incentive. So, if you attend every day, and that's one of the language pieces I have, because I get it, there are times where you have a doctor's appointment, you have a desk appointment, and inevitably they're in the middle of the day, but as long as you can come back to school and make sure that you are there, um, we count that as attending and then they get to participate and this is from this year's rock and roll recess where we had 200 over 200 of our students attend every single day. So, we was huge success. My behavior IIA was out there with me. We had other staff members that were playing as DJ as we were uh just having a great

017time with from our TK all the way to our sixth graders um and playing giant board games. Um we do know that this is still an area of need. So this year we have implemented even more uh attendance support. So we continue with our I can practice but we have reintroduced our postcards. And so postcards, our staff members write a note just we missed you. Right? Just and that's it's has on the front we missed you and the teachers and all staff members just write it. We send it off and we mail it home. Um this year alone I have conducted five home visits not including what my social worker and family liaison. I have my school psychologist has done home visits. We've had teachers that have helped. Um I've covered the class because I

018don't sometimes when the principal's there it can sometimes feel a little punitive. So, I've gone and helped cover a class and let a teacher go with another staff member. So, it's we're here. What can we do? How can we help support? Um, and so we are seeing that our attendance is going up this year, which is great. Um, because we know that when they are at school, that's when they're learning and growing as our community. Um, and then I just wanted to share a few other highlights at Emory. So, um, as I'm sure you know, last year we did earn our purple star for our military. Um, uh, well, [Applause] so, uh, for our participation, we do have a higher number. We know that that also has an area of need for anyone. I am

019a a child of two veterans and there is a change, right? There's when your parents go out on deployment or when you're having to move. And so, we're really proud and uh, of the work that we do. We um so this the one of the top pictures is is our purple up. So in April we purple up for our children um that are of military families. And then as I brought back at the be or I shared at the beginning we our goal at Emory is to create civicminded service students. And so we're really been honing in these past couple years on what does it mean to be a global leader? And so we've had our passport around the world where each class gets to learn about a country, celebrate that country, and then they

020share a performance um of some kind. This year we actually brought in a new piece. So instead of doing a superhero for attendance kickoff, we thought, well, how do we how do we ground the work into what our mission statement is? And we talked about what does a historian do? Because as a global leader, especially in this day and age, you need to understand your history. You need to understand the impact it has. And so our grade levels worked together and they were historians and being able to we had the we had our kindergarters and their history units. It really is more egocentric and and within themselves, but they were talking about really to be a historian, you have to make green choices is what we call it at Emory. And so what are green

021choices? What are those good people that are out there? Um all the way to our sixth graders which had the different um aspects of their history unit sharing and coming to life. And it was a really neat opportunity to see. And again, I appreciate my staff when I said, "Let's try this." They probably laughed at me a little bit and then they they they did it. And so I think that's the big thing at Emory is we're just we're a team. So across the board in our highlights, uh we were very lucky across the street. We had our park that opened up and we were able to bring our students, our leaders. We've had the restorative practice our we don't just conduct empathy interviews we look at that we have our staff members I have

022staff meetings that are dedicated to looking at that data what are our kids saying and drive those next steps um and one of those happens to be for example on that bottom left is we know that we have students that are in need so in the spring my family liaison again phenomenal human being I said I have an idea and she said let's make it happen and so we did a clothing swap where we just had staff members donated clothes. We had clothes from the community. We made sure they were all washed from little babies, even to adults, and we just had them out on tables and we had kids walking out with bags of clothes because that's important, right? It's those little things that then make it so that Emory becomes the community and

023the space that they feel safe and welcomed at. So, that's just a little snippet of us at Emory. Um, do you have any questions for me? Principal Nelson, thank you so much for your presentation and thank you for bringing your wonderful staff here from Emory. Really proud. Uh it's really really impacting. So on your presentation you mentioned about the your evening workshops. So how are you impacting those parents during the workshops? >> Um so we are so how are we impacting those parents? So last year what we had is I had the LAT and the TOSSA had one evening night class and it was tied to um our phonics and phmic awareness reading skills and they actually taught games for parents right because I when I think about like how to help and support what

024are those games what can you make it so it's not just I need you to sit down and read so it became different games and I we did it in the evening and then we did another one during the school day and I think And I I believe it was Alex um was literally s who's our tossa who was sitting next to a parent playing and role modeling how to do that. And the feedback that I got from our families was just how great that was because learning how to read is hard. And you can't just just reading to your kid isn't going to teach your kid how to read. And so that's been that science behind it. And that was I think the big impact. And because of how powerful that was, we are

025now doing another evening. But then also from hearing from our parents, again, parenting is hard. This world is hard, especially with social media and everything that is out there. So that's why we wanted to add in that social emotional learning piece because again, we're raising kids in a world that we did not grow up in. And so growing and learning together we felt was important. >> Yeah. uh you know actually when I attended one of the conferences it was one of the key elements of you know bringing those parents having fun you know doing something you know playing games and it was one of the things that I I encourage most principles that are in our district you know just to trying to bring all those parents participation you know get involved and that's that's

026wonderful thank you so much >> thank you for your presentation it already answered my questions. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Madam President. Thank you so much for coming this evening. Good evening. Good evening, Emry. [Music] Go Eagles. Um, one day one of your students may sit here like I am an Emory alumni. So, I'm very proud of that people. Um, and I'm very proud of Emily. Not only what happens in the classroom beh in behind those doors, but as I drive by, I feel the energy. Okay. Even though we have a fence up there, I can drive around and see the playground. I can I can see where we have a new bus stop area for parents. And I hope that's going well for parents and uh and and more safety up on

027the on the hill there. And uh but the playground is just beautiful. It's as a child we just had dirt and but we did have a junior Olympics there on back field. Okay, that was fun. But it was all dirt. So I'm really happy to see the garden. >> Okay. And and how it is uh affecting the playground as far as uh clean air, filtering our air. So you're helping the environment. So, thank you to your team and our gardener. Uh, I forget her name. I apologize, but it's beautiful. Um, and as far as your parent uh workshops, I I'm really uh I hear a lot out there in my community and um and I encourage them to participate and uh and if they can't just to reach out to their teacher and um and

028don't be afraid to do that because that that's their first line of communication. So I always I always share that uh I also sit in the back in a observation mode if you want uh in our district committees. So uh do know parents of Emery that uh I look for you and uh so if I if you see me in the back of the room just say go Eagles. I'll know who you are. Okay. So I appreciate that. Um also about attendance. Thank you so much for bringing that attendance up. Thank you team. Um, have you ever thought about inviting a board's member to get slimed? >> Um, Amy, can you put that as a note for us to be able to uh I already have a name picked. Perfect. So if you can take

029that please back to your staff and invite us all >> and uh that would be really interesting uh for you to come up with some kind of criteria that uh would entice all five of us to come. What do you say Eagles? >> So yeah so 95 is our minimum. So, you know, uh do invite when we get maybe like 98. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Is that a doable thing? Eagles, >> thank you. Thank you again. Go Eagles. [Applause] [Music] >> Um thank you so much for presentation and all the work that you're doing. Um, I really appreciate the focus on the social emotional um, aspect of teaching. Um, you mentioned several times that we're living um, in a world much different than the world that we grew up in and with access to all

030the information that the kids have and able to see things happening all over the world. I think in a school like yours that has an emphasis on being a global leader, um, I think it's it's very, um, I I just can't imagine being child um during this time where we have like some of the greatest uh wealth inequality, right? We live in a state where we have some of the richest people in the world. Um yet our schools um lack the funding that they need. Um our district can't afford to pay the teachers what they deserve. Um many of our families are struggling when it comes to paying their rent um and keeping up with their dayto-day expenses. Um, and you know, we're seeing things that I remember learning about learning about some of the

031things happening in the world. How did people stand and watch this happen? Um, and we're in a moment right now where we're seeing some horrible things. Um, so I really appreciate you guys focusing on taking care of the students social and emotional well-being. And um, I'm really happy to see all the progress that that you're making. Um, I noticed the re classification for the multilingual learners. Um, and sorry if I if I missed this, but I seen that like the numbers are projected to like more than double this year. Um, is there something that you uh like kind of credit that to? >> So last year we did spend a lot of time um we started off with how do we best support these students in all their typologies and we uh revamped what our

032designated EL time, right? So that dedicated time to support our English learners. Um, and I think that had greatly helped. We had some nice smaller grouping because I do think the size of the class, especially when you're talking about that time period, um, really helped. So we brought in our VAPA teacher who uh, through the Emmy department was trained to be able to help and support our English learners. Uh, we had our LAT supporting. So it was an all hands-on deck. at Emory just because of of staffing piece. We have two dedicated time for designated LD. We have a primary and an upper and uh we also include our uh mild to moderate SEC classes where that is a time for them to mainstream and it's just stop and this is what we're focusing in

033on. And then because obviously we don't just support our English learners or multilingual learners during that 40 minutes, we've been looking at what other supports need to be put into place all day long. what does it look like in math? What does it look like in social studies, in science, in your ELA time? So, um, again, we still have a lot of work to do, but I'm I'm incredibly grateful for that team right here because they are dedicated and just every minute they're thinking about how do we help all of our students and keep pushing them. >> Thank you so much. Um, I'm going to check out the Love and Logic book. I'm curious about that. Um, I think it's beautiful that you're teaching your students to be historians and um, fostering a love of

034learning and creating connections through game nights. And um, I especially love the clothing swaps. I feel like that gives people hope and gives everyone a sense of being able to help because in these difficult times sometimes it's like what can we do? What can we give? Time is limited, funds are limited. But um recognizing that we have qualities and things to share and give that are worthy and that will help others I think is magnificent. So thank you all. Thank you. All right. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Next we have ONA school. I recognize um principal gues for a presentation on O on school. Good evening, President Liker, trustees, superintendent Espinosa, and members of the South Bay community. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I am truly excited to highlight the

035incredible efforts our team has been focusing on to create positive learning experiences for our students. Before I begin, I would like to take the moment though to acknowledge the representatives from our school that join us tonight. Thank you so much for being here. You're the reason why onian is great. had been a a privilege and a pleasure being uh the principal at ONA. This year marks a major milestone for ONIAN. 10 years of successful implementation of the leader in me program. Over the past decade, we have built a leadership focused culture that supports both academic achievement and the development of character and life skills. Our work is carried out through action teams and a student lighthouse team which is a group of peer nominated leaders who model the eight habits of highly effective people daily

036and they help lead by example across campus. At Oni, we believe that every single one of our students are leaders. We have established a culture grounded in responsibility, student leadership and collaboration where students take ownership of their learning and lead with the purpose every day. Let's start with what ground us at on which is our mission. We believe that our school should be a place where every student feels happy, safe, and loved and adults as well. That sense of belonging lays the foundation for true learning. As we look ahead to the school year, our instructional focus builds on that mission, and we are committed to growing readers, mathematicians, and leaders who feel valued and capable of success. At Onian, we proudly serve stu. We are proud of the students and families who make up our

037school community. We serve a diverse school community. As you can see, we have 454 student leaders. 119 of our students are multilingual learners. 135 uh students are diverse learners which are students that represent about 37 30% of our students that receive special education services. So these are our leaders who represent the heart of who we are. We are a committed we are a community that values every learner. We meet them where they are and we work together to help them grow into successful, confident and capable individuals. This year, we continue to place a strong focus on improving student attendance because consistent school attendance is critical to student success. Last year, according to A2A data, we had approximately 32% of our student leaders who were chronically absent. So with that said, our I can team really

038focused on analyzing that attendance um data, looking at trends and really um trying to find out what is it, why are our students not at school, really identifying barriers and also developing inclusive culturally responsive strategies to support our families and students. As you can see, some of the images here are an example of an event that we had at school to involved students and also um parent engagement. We had our lunch with the loved one. We also had read across when uh parents were invited to come and read to their students and that we thought that will motivate our students to come to school. So these are the type of events and strategies that our icon team really focus on plan to make sure that we include everyone. We're shifting that focus from why are

039you absent to how can we help you be here? And that is the mindset that we have been shifting at on really coming from a supportive stance rather than a punitive stance. Our team is taking a human- centered approach to chronic absenteeism. We're listening and learning through empathy interviews and fishful discussions with students and families to understand their challenges of why students are not participating in school. We are analyzing street data to uncover those patterns and really understand the context behind those absences. And like I mentioned, we are really planning collaborative strategies to make sure that our students are here. We're focusing on building trust with our families and really building also um very positive teacherto student relationship and really um trying to build an inclusive uh supportive environment and also um improving our parent

040communication or our parent communication to make sure that's strong and that way our parents feel that we're here to support them and that we are here to to make sure that their kid is here every day at school. We also involve our students directly with classroom and personal attendance wigs which wig stands for wildly important goals. Our students have the opportunity to set and they track their own attendance as well. As you can see, there's an image of our first grader here tracking his own attendance. As part of our work to reduce chronic absenteeism, we have deepened our partnership with the Reach Out to Family Resource Center to help um ensure that our students are being here every day and that our families are feeling supported. We do understand that um part of the reason

041why our students are not coming to school is because they are facing some challenges at home like housing, food insecurity. They're also facing transportation challenges and health concerns. Through this collaboration and the support of our wonderful parent engagement leaison and our school social workers, as you can see, they're up there on the picture, we're making sure that our families are feeling welcomed and supported and that our students have the resources that they need to participate in school. We truly believe that improving attendance isn't just a school effort. We believe that it does take a community for us to work together to make sure that our students are coming to school every day. This year, we're setting two important goals focused on attendance. As you can see here on this chart, according to the California school

042dashboard data, we have made steady progress from 48.4% 4% in 2022 down to 28.1% in 2024. Thanks to the hard work of our attendance action team, our staff, and our families, these goals keep us moving forward, ensuring that our students are here present at school, learning and growing. We're very proud of these gains at Onian. Just like I shared with you, leadership is part of our culture. Students use leadership language, habits, and expectations. We focus on three key tools. Wigs help students set and track meaningful goals. Leadership notebooks allow students to own their growth through reflection and data tracking. Studentled conferences give students the opportunity to share their own learning with their families. These tools empower our students to see themselves as leaders of their own learning. And to go deeper, our student lighthouse team

043members, they do receive social emotional learning sessions focused on building leadership skills, empathy, collaboration, and a growth mindset. At Oniant, we believe in supporting the whole child. We're very proud to enhance our implementation of positive behavior interventions and supports by providing staff with professional development and traumainformed practices. This helps us better understand and respond to student behavior through a lens of empathy, safety, and support. We also have established a very strong behavior support team that works closely with our students so that they can meet their behavior. wildly important goal. We're also extending that support to families by in offering parent workshops to help parents nurture their children's social emotional growth. So, we're very proud of this support. I am very proud to say that our greatest progress over the past few years has been in

044the area of English language arts. As indicated by the California school dashboard data, there has been a significant increase in the percentage points of students meeting and exceeding expectations in ELA. In 2021, as you can see, almost 16% of our students were meeting and exceeding those expectations. And now in 2025, which is preliminary data, almost 38% of our students are meeting and exceeding those expectations, which you can see that it's almost an overall gain of 22%age points. So, great job my team. I'm excited also to share some powerful growth in our I Ready reading data from last school year. As you can see, at the beginning of the school year, we had about 16% of our students were reading at at at early, mid, or above grade level. But by the final benchmark, you can

045see that number had increased to 47%. Which is a 31 percentage point, which is amazing growth. This incredible progress, as you can see, is a direct reflection of the hard work of our teachers, the focus on foundational reading skills and academic interventions for our students, as well as our students dedication to growing as readers and setting those wildly important goals in academics. In the area of math, our California school dashboard data shows about a 14% overall gain over the past few years. We're while we're very proud of that progress, we also recognize that in math, this area remains an area of need for our school. With the expert guidance of our incredible TOSA, I hope she's somewhere in the audience. Oh, there she is knowing me. Our teachers have gone even deeper in their math

046practice. Together, they have analyzed math data. They have explored the math block structure from the California math framework. They have reflected on their practices, and they have worked together to create a schoolwide math goal to align our instruction moving forward. This kind of focused, reflective work is helping us build a more consistent and more aligned and effective math instruction across all grade levels. We are confident that by making these instructional shifts, our students will continue to grow as mathematicians. Our I Ready read reading, excuse me, I Ready math data from last school year, as you can see, also shows significant growth. At the beginning of the year, we only had 6% of our students at mid or above grade level. 6%. So, by the final benchmark, that number rose to 32%, which is a 26

047percentage point increase as well. That's amazing work as well. This growth reflects the intentional efforts of our teachers and students. And while we still have work to do, we do believe that our focus on improving math instruction will make a meaningful difference in student outcomes. We are also committed to strengthening in instruction through a standardsbased data approach that ensures that all students receive the support they need to grow and succeed. This year we have prioritized grade level release days where teachers review reading and math data. They identify trends and they design targeted intervention strategies to support our student leaders. A key part of this work has been our continued implementation of a multi-ter system of support where students are identified as whether they they need to one support or tier 2 support and they receive

048targeted intensive interventions and reading. And this year we're offering math interventions as well to accelerate learning and close that achievement gap. our skilled learning acceleration tutor. And I don't know if she is here today, but wanted to give her a shout out. She couldn't make it, but she works closely with our with another very skilled bilingual instructional assistant who has been serving onto for more than 25 years, and we're very grateful. Mrs. Hilda Contas, she's been serving um Onian for a long time. So they work together to provide targeted instruction in reading and in math tailored to each student needs. So proud of them their work at Oniant. We are also committed to ensure that academic growth of our multilingual learners is happening. Currently we have about 36% of our multilingual learners who are um

049scoring at a high level proficiency level. But to promote to continue promoting this growth, we continue to make sure that our teachers receive professional development and glad um training which equips them with effective strategies to support language acquisition. staff is also this year we're also planning on having them um participate in progress monitoring meetings that include action uh an action plan that indicates what are we going to do to make sure that our multilingual learners and our long-term English learners um are going to what are we ex exactly going to do to make sure that we continue um to offer those supports that they need so that they can reach those high levels of English proficiency levels we have about um I want to say 14% that is about our reclassification rate this year um

050that we're hoping to reclassify if they do meet that criteria. So we um like I said we're very committed to ensure that our English learners and our multilingual learners, long-term English learners continue to make progress. As I close, I do want to thank all of our educational partners, our families, our dedicated and talented staff, our PTA and community members for their continuous support. We understand that their support plays a vital role in helping our students grow and making sure that they're reaching their well important goals. So, thank you so much and thank you so much for for my staff. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Madam President. Thank you so much for coming. Go Orcas. >> Yes, go orcas. >> Quite an improvement. >> Great job, team. Great students. Okay. Uh I always say 75% of

051the challenges is uh uh getting the kids there. >> Yes. Okay. 25% is keeping them. And it's evident here that they're showing up >> in our little ne This is my neighborhood school. And our little neighborhood is shifting right now. >> And so it's really important that our children stay engaged in our little neighborhood and because things are shifting and um but I'm very proud of our orcas. I'm very proud of the 10y year mark, our our decade. I hope you have it somewhere on a bulletin board or something because that's quite an achievement and the children that have gone through there including my own grandchildren um are leaders today and uh I I count that to uh Oni and their leaderships and uh five of them went to college all coming from Onian one

052one has her own business another one is a teacher and it keeps shifting now he's in media I mean the orca kids that come out of Ant uh those teachers are so strong. I mean way above way above. >> I agree. >> And so but the kids have to be there. >> That's right. And that's I think that's definitely one of our challenges at Onanta is attendance, right? And really working with our families to make sure that they participate in school has been a pleasure. And that's why like I mentioned it's not we're not working in isolation. We're working with our community partners. As you can see, there's a photo of Kes, right? Like um we're really working hard towards that. >> Well, there's, you know, like I said, there's community shifting right now and

053I'm kind of like a little nervous because uh um housing insecurities are happening and people are moving out of our little neighborhood. So, uh whatever we can do to uh keep them, uh if I need to go knock on the door, let me know because they are my neighbors. I know them. Um the um the fact that you have emphasized uh abs I mean um your attendance again this year means that you're really focusing hard on that and uh you know if we all focused on that uh it would be a better day for our students like I said 75% of the time. Okay. And so, uh, lastly, let's see here. Oh, I wanted to talk about because we're on attendance, um, attendance recovery because the district went into, um, a state uh, mandate that

054said we can have attendance recovery starting July 1. So, any student that's absent for one day can do an independent study contract. U, have you implemented that into your um, to your 10 to recover that learning loss. >> Not yet. That's something that we haven't discussed yet as a team, but I really looking forward to it and really providing that opportunities um for our students. I know there has been some um off we have offered to some of our parents um for you know one day that they're not able we have offered that but as a as a team in our attendance team that has not been like a focus lately um but that's definitely something I am looking forward to be having conversations. >> Yeah. Well, I'm glad I said something because it is

055an opportunity to recover that learning loss and that uh really important ADA that we um need. Um also while you're having these conversations with your IAN team and your teachers um interession program um is uh set up for attendance recovery as well. So if if your students have been absent before the fall break, you could have sent them there and it's an accounting thing. You don't have to do anything except for ask a parent if they want to participate. Here's our intercession program, attendance recovery. Um um instead of getting the, you know, yellow letter in January saying, you know, you're bad. Um I I want to really offset that with this. And uh and I think our parents would be uh happy to know that they have the option if they have to be absent

056that the child has a a learning recovery option and uh and a day that they can uh get full attendance. So I would appreciate that effort. >> Thank you >> Principal Solis. Thank you so much for your presentation. Um also like to recognize you on in staff. You know, thank you for coming in and supporting the principal. A lot of great things. You know, it's you guys are hitting just about every goal that you have set. Um there's one goal that you put in there and I'll read it and it says where every everyone should feel happy, safe, and loved. I really like that. I want every parent to feel like, you know, I'm dropping off my kid. I want to make sure my kid feels safe, you know, loved. And it's a learning environment.

057Really, really good. Um, also the your social workers, I don't know where you find them, but, you know, thanks, you know, good to them. There's a lot of hard work put in all the hours just to trying to find out, you know, what happened with, you know, someone who's not um who's absent. um the chronic absentism you know to reduce is is it's hard it's hard job I know it's is finding the the reasons is it's difficult and I understand parents may not have the means or transportational personal you know issues but you know you guys are able to work it with those parents that's that's amazing so um thank you so much for your presentation you're welcome Congratulations on all the amazing growth. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you

058onion on to staff. Um amazing growth everyone. The leader in me program awesome. I love how it gives students an agency over their own futures, their own goals. And I mean, sometimes that's things we hope to learn as adults to be able to um feel that we have some power over our own futures. So amazing that these students are able to learn that at such a young age. Thank you. >> Thank you. Have a good night. [Applause] Next we have report of action taken in close session. >> Nothing to report. >> Thank you. Changes in agenda. >> Madam President, um at this time we can change the agenda. I would like to move um item H out of consent for discussion and action. Uh item H is human resources memorandum of understanding with SWAT. Um

059I would like to move that before public comments. Thank you. And if there's no other changes, I'll move the item. Any other changes? I move the agenda forward with the amendment. >> I second that motion. >> Call for the vote or no, my apologies. So, I don't have that little paper. I call for the vote with the Oh. Oh, I I apologize. Um, so the motion to approve the Octo motion to approve the October 8th, 2025 regular board meeting agenda with changes. We have The motion is carried. 5 Z. It does. >> That doesn't show on here. 5 Z. Mine just says zero votes. >> Oh, I see. Now I refresh. Thank you. Thank you for your patience. Um, five votes. Yes. So now we have the communications to the board of trustees. First we

060have South Bay PTA Council, California School Employees Association, Chapter 59, CSEA. [Applause] I heard Is this on? I heard myself called that time. Yay. H good evening, Superintendent Espinosa, Board of Trustees, Amy. I'm here tonight to approach a difficult subject, defending the Department of Education, specifically public education. I've been told the subject may be too political. And I get it. A lot of people don't like to follow politics. They don't want to. It's boring. It's confusing with disputes and that a lot of us can't follow. I am one of those people that hate listening to politicians argue. But I know right from wrong. And here's what I know. If we don't get political sometimes and say something, decisions we don't like will will be made on our behalf, whether we want them to be made

061or not. Schools with high concentrations of students in poverty are being altered. Hey, wait a minute. That's us. Our poverty rate is one of those things that qualified our school district for free food for kids. The dismantling of the Department of Education is also leading to a huge loss of key services such as the weakening of civil rights enforcement, reduced protections for students with disabilities. CSEA headquarters has requested that I speak about this matter and urge others to get online to write our congressmen to try and save the Department of Education. If you are here tonight or watching from home and you feel this is an important subject, all you need to do is drop them a note about how you don't want the Department of Education or their protections to disappear. Think about it.

062What would our society become if public education was gone? Please Google defending education in CSEA and say something. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you. Next we have Southwest Teachers Association Swana. [Applause] Good evening, trustees, executive team, colleagues, parents, and community members. Earlier today, SWAT Vice President Sonia Hernandez distributed a packet detailing the out-ofpocket health benefits cost from 2024 through the upcoming 2026 school year. Based on those figures, I must point out a critical and alarming fact. From November 2024 to this upcoming December 2026, approximately sorry, December 2025, approximately 70% of our dedicated staff will suffer a net loss in take-home pay. Let me be clear, this isn't just a small adjustment. This is an effective pay cut ranging from $240 to $581 per month. That's over 5,000 for some of these members. I must ask,

063is this how you show that you value the people who make this district run? How can you, the board, justify putting this burden on families when the cost of living continues to rise all while the district has the financial resources to prevent this? Is this what you want for your dedicated staff? You can change this. You have the power. And now, Sonia, um, sorry. And now, Elana, you, our SWAT executive board member, has some words to share as well. Good evening everyone. I'm here to express how profoundly disappointing it has been to witness the ongoing failure to settle on a fair and respectful contract. Your continued stalling in settling a fair contract is not only frustrating, it's a clear indication of poor leadership. Leadership means listening, collaborating, and doing what's right. even when it's hard.

064Instead, you've made this process harder than it needs to be. The delays, the lack of transparency, and the unwillingness to come to a fair agreement are showing everyone, staff, students, and the community that you are not leading with integrity or respect. Your actions or lack thereof do not reflect the values of working together, fair treatment or unity that are essential in any educational community. I don't understand how you being our superintendent continue down this path of not willing to settle and do what is right. How do you carry on with a clear conscience? It is difficult to understand how leadership that claims to value education can allow such a breakdown in fair negotiations. This situation is not just a contractual issue. It's a reflection of priorities and right now those priorities seem misaligned with what

065is best for both educators and students. Teachers are the backbone of our schools and the continued delays and lack of meaningful progress feel not only dismissive but deeply disrespectful to the dedication, hard work and the vital role teachers play in students lives. This situation has gone on far too long. Teachers deserve a better uh teachers deserve better and so do the students who rely on us every day. It's time to stop making this more difficult and start acting like a leader who values the people who make our schools run. It's time to settle a fair contract and show through meaningful action and not just words that you truly support, respect, and value the educators who make this district succeed. Please, Jose, wake up. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, SW. Next, we have District Superintendent. >>

066Thank you, President Ler. Good evening, President Liker, board of trustees, students, staff, and community members. today. Unfortunately, director Jennifer Alivera is not with us, but I do want to recognize her for receiving the San Diego Top Tech Award in education category. The top tech awards honor outstanding information technology executives as nominated by their peers and clients. The top tech award awards were launched to honor and acknowledge the work of often unsung heroes of business IT leaders. Jen was nominated by Stephanie Caresperson, executive director of technology at the San Marcos Unified School District in recognition of her achievements, company and community impact, major projects, and demonstrated use of technology within the district to improve process, enable growth, and improve the customer experience. The ceremony was on September 18th at Snapdragon Stadium. Thank you, Trustee Lier and

067executive team for attending and helping us celebrate our director of IT, Jen. Congratulations. [Applause] And then one final um thing. I have been told that the Emory Ram has been located and that it is on its way to look for a home at Emory. Obviously, it's before my time, so I'm not completely clear. >> Trusty can. >> When I was a little girl, I would walk up those steps right there where the bus drops off now. Right up those steps. And that we thought it was a sheep, but it is a ram. Okay. But when the school was being built, we had a lot of families. We had a lot of Italian f I'm Italian. A lot of Italian families. And so, and then they were sculptors. And so, uh, this gentleman came up and

068I forget who the principal was in 1940. I wasn't here, but, uh, he says because it was Emmery. And Emry is named after the brigading general Emmery. Okay. So, it's right there on your wall. And so, historians look it up. Okay. And and so he came and he asked the principal if he could do a a sculpt a ship. A ship. Okay, mind you, we have broken English here. And the principal says says, "Sure, go ahead." So I don't know how many months later. Okay, here he comes with the cheap with the cheap. And so the principal, you know, just said, "Okay." And he put it out there. It used to be a rose garden out there. Okay. And so it was there for my whole youth. Uh and so uh I think in the

06990s it got taken out with the rose garden and it ended up here and then it ended up in the back of a a shed somewhere um for many years. And so for nine years I have been saying that is a treasure that needs to go back to Emery. Okay. And so I've been bugging them for nine years. Okay. So I can't wait till it comes back. Superintendent It's a treasure and it's probably worth I don't know how many millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars uh to the district. It is a treasure. >> All right, perfect. So, Emory Eagles um staff will have to discuss how to handle that. >> Keep Thank you. My mom went to Emry. I'll have to ask her about that cheap as well. Um all

070right. So we have the change to agenda which we had um on the consent calendar um human resources memorandum of understanding SWAT to approve ratify the memorandum to understand that with SWAT regarding full day preschool classes is um will someone share with us? >> Yes. Um, Assistant Superintendent Griffith, uh, can you please come up and summarize, um, the process in theou and then, um, Trusty Gyon, uh, you know, you pulled the item, so you have to tell us what you'd like to see. >> Y, good evening, President Leer, board of trustee, superintendent. Um, so yes, we are bringing forward today uh theou regarding full day preschool. Um, we were awarded additional funds through uh the expansion of our California State Preschool program, which is our current current funding source for our partday preschool program, meaning

071our students that attend in the morning and attend in the afternoon. Those are our partday students. All of that funding is through that grant. Um, so with that being said, we were confirmed the new awarded amount on April 29th of this past year and we have expanded that to our full day students um that are at the preschool right now. We have not had full day preschool. So with the expansion of these new dollars under the same grant funding source, that's not a grant, it's their funding source that they use for preschool. Um, we now have four full day programs there. So, I happy to answer any questions, but it is currently the funding source that is associated with our AM and PM students. >> Thank you. And I just want to recognize um Director

072Cyerson and her staff for working on this on this process. Um, as we know, and the research is very clear, students that start in preschool or have access to preschool are a lot more successful in in school as a whole. Uh, so expanding our preschool offering um to to our community uh is is something that that we should strive for. uh if you know and I and I think I've shared this with the board uh if we had a rich uncle somewhere and he said superintendent you have $2 million a year we would strive to offer preschool to our entire community. Uh it is that important. So I just want to recognize the the team that made that happen. [Applause] Thank you, Madam President, and thank you, Superintendent, and thank you, uh, Assistant Superintendent, uh,

073Griffin. I pulled this item, uh, in support. Trustees, I pulled it because, uh, like I said, it's just words on paper, uh, unless we speak about it. And the preschool works very, very, very, very hard with our little ones. And um not only uh in a time that uh money is hard to find, but this is an opportunity. Thank you. Thank you. It's an opportunity to uh uh expand our preschool program uh right four teachers, four classrooms. Okay. So, not only are you working what is it 85 days, right? A works calendar is 185 days for teacher. The current calendar for teachers. Yes. So, this will give you not only a couple hours more, but um 20 20 additional days on your work calendar. And so, I think this is a win-winwin. I hope you

074do, too. Uh it's over $400,000 um in this fund. And um so I bring it I bring it forward because a lot of times it goes unnoticed that our negotiating teams and people working behind the scenes uh it doesn't it doesn't get told. Okay. Thank you negotiating team uh recognizing our preschool is number one in in our books for uh early childhood education. You are the beginning. my kids went through, my grandkids went through, and uh like I said, uh they they are high achievers because of you. And uh so with that, um I also wanted to share that uh the increase school day for students on top of the two hours. Uh it still has the same ratios. I don't know if you read the agenda or not, but it still has the same

075number of ratios uh there. That didn't change. uh but does give you extra hours of work, extra days, a 20 uh 200 day work calendar um and additional for student calendar. So uh with that I just wanted to uh share that important that I was here when that program started. It wasn't called VIP, okay? It was called the closet right there. Okay. So from that 3 and 3/4 hour teacher to a 5 hour preschool teacher to a sixth hour and now we have seven and a 45minute lunch with all the bells and whistles in here. All the bells and whistles. Thank you, Superintendent. I hope that our preschool uh leaders can read into this and say, you know, we do our work. We see you. Okay. So, thank you for being here preschool. Thank you

076for all the directors that came before our director today because without them at forward thinking, we wouldn't have our very important people uh school. So, and thank you to the community that bought that school and a new beginning and uh this is a new beginning for our preschools. So, with that, I I move the item forward. >> Thank you. Anybody else? Congratulations. >> So I moved I move to ex adopt let me go back to my words here. Let's do it right because they need recognition here. I move to adopt um and ratify the memorandum of understanding with SWAD regarding full day preschool classes. >> As a proud past VIP villager, a very important person. Um I'd be happy to second that. >> Call for the vote. >> Liker, >> yes. >> Medina, >> yes.

077Kenyonz, >> yes. Lopez Aino, >> yes. >> Esparza, >> yes. >> Motion passes 5 Z. Sorry, we had to vote this way because it wasn't posted as a vote. So now we move to public comments on non-aggenda items. The board will take no action or discussion on any item not appearing on the posted agenda except as authorized by law. Individual speakers are allowed three minutes to address the board on each non-aggenda item. Speakers are not permitted to yield their time to another person. The board limits the total time for public input on each item to 20 minutes. How many? We have one. >> Okay, Logan. Good afternoon, Mr. Espinonzad and Board of Trustees. My name is Logan. I am a fourth grader at Emory Academy, and I've been a proud student there since TK. What

078makes this school special is how the teachers make learning fun, and the staff treats everyone with kindness. I enjoy coming to school every day because it feels like my second home and the people there are like my family. Our principal, Miss Nelson, does an excellent job keeping students and parents informed about upcoming news and upcoming events. This school year, I am excited to be a Peace Patrol member because we are a group of leaders who will make Emory Academy a safe, kind, and respectful place for everyone. Emory Academy is an incredible school and I am proud to be an Eagle. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you, Logan. Well done. So, next we have general functions. Um, we have an acceptance of donation. We recognize assistant superintendent Regal Lada who will introduce Kevin Bradley from the

079San Diego County Air Pollution Control Control District for a presentation. >> Good evening, President Liker, board of trustees, superintendent Espinosa, staff and community. Um, before I ask Mr. Bradley to come up, just a reminder, a little bit of a background. uh our district has really focused on you know what is under our control addressing the the challenges with our air quality and our air pollution. Um with that being said we have made an initial purchase of of air purifiers with a special um you know more modern uh um filters that help address the air quality for both our staff and our students in their classrooms and their and their office spaces. um that does require yearly maintenance, replacement of filters. Um that is at comes at a cost. So I'm I'm I'm happy to be

080able to ask Mr. Riley to come up and talk about a grant uh that our team has worked on collaboratively uh Miss Amy Cooper and and James Meyer from our maintenance and operations facilities department to hopefully uh give you the well to give you the opportunity to accept a a voucher for a grant that will allow us to buy additional air purifiers but also a nice large uh number of filters that will save us uh additional costs in the next few years. So with that I'll ask Mr. Bradley to come up. Hello, good evening. Um, my name is Kevin Bradley. I'm the supervisor for the grants and incentives team at the San Diego. Sorry. Gotcha. Uh, yeah, there we go. Okay. Yeah. Hi, I'm Kevin Bradley, uh, supervisor for the grants and incentives team at

081the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District. Thank you all for having me tonight. Uh, as mentioned, I'm just going to discuss in a few slides, uh, a project that we're working on to get air purifiers placed in South Bay Union schools. Uh, partially to address the ongoing Tijuana River Valley crisis, as well as their good kind of allpurpose for air pollution control as well. So, uh, I almost said next slide because I'm used to somebody else advancing them. Um, do I point this somewhere specific? There it goes. Okay. Uh, yeah. So, just to quickly kind of describe this funding structure that we're planning here, um, usually we do this a different way. We do a reimbursement structure, but because the schools that we're working on right now are often disadvantaged and low-income communities, we

082had to rework the way that we do these programs. So, our approach here is going to be in a very simplified form here. We provide a voucher to the South Bay Union School District. the uh school district uses that voucher with a pre-selected company that we're under contract with to purchase air purifiers and replacement filters for their schools and then the vendor sends us the bill and we we pay for it. So the reason we do it that way is to prevent the school from having to confront a large amount of cash. So hopefully that helps sort of circumvent any cash flow issues. Um the uh only other thing I wanted to mention here is that funding that we get for these grants comes from the state of California um who has given their blessing

083to this approach. So we've really tried to cross te's dot eyes, all that good stuff to make sure that we're following the guidelines um set forward by the state. So um as part of running this program, we do have a few requirements that we would ask the school to follow and and commit to. Um the first uh is to allow a member of our staff to come inspect that the uh delivery has been completed, that the correct quantity and model of air purifiers have been delivered, uh verify that they're functional, all that good stuff. Um that's just part of the requirements and our guidelines that we have to meet before we can actually send money out to the company. Sounds pretty straightforward. We do request annual usage reports. Um we're supposed to report back to

084the state annually on how we're spending their money. So, um, we do ask for a little bit of data from from you all on an ongoing basis, uh, for a three-year period. Um, very simple stuff like maintaining the equipment per manufacturer specifications, notifying us if there's a change in location, anything like that. Um, we'll have some terms and conditions that we will send over along with the voucher. Um, just to make sure that we're all on the same page, all the legal team's happy, all that good stuff. Uh and finally, any public outreach, we ask that this logo that's on the screen is included. That's required in the grants that that we receive. We have to ask that anybody um if they do any sort of public facing materials to include that logo. So, um

085that's a quick summary of the requirements. They will be in in much greater detail, of course, with the forms and documents that we send out to the school district along with the voucher. Um so, like I said, pretty short uh presentation here. I have some contact information as well as a couple links and QR codes if you're interested in what the air pollution control district is doing in regards to the Tijuana River and and more broadly what we do on the grants and incentives team. Uh we do other types of projects that include uh replacing old school buses, building charging stations, stuff like that. So, um I would be the person to reach out to if you're interested in those types of projects as well. Um but with the time we have tonight, I wanted

086to stop here and ask if anybody has any questions or feedback or or anything like that uh while I'm here. So, thank you all for your time and uh yeah, that's the end of my presentation. >> Thank you, Bradley, for your presentation. It's actually really exciting. It's having a grant, you know, having the people that actually going to benefit is our students, you know, our staff, anybody's involved in education, you know, it's it's it's amazing. But thank you so much. Brings of course. Well, I don't know about anybody else, but I'm really excited about this. Um, I'm gonna say that thank you card. >> Oh, >> and I won't have your logo on there, but I'll have ours. >> Okay. Um, this is amazing. And I looked it up. I researched it and it's just

087like this is a new area, isn't it? >> Usually, it's just for uh uh big equipment and >> correct. Correct. Yeah, we do a lot of truck and bus replacements. That's what we're used to. And so this is we've had to write a lot more in terms of our procedures for how to actually do these. That's been kind of a a drag as far as getting this moved forward. Um so we're excited to be at the stage we're at where we're very close, I think, to being able to actually order the the air purifiers. So yeah. >> Well, I I really thank you on behalf of our whole district, our students, and our staff, our working environments. uh the air quality. It's been a concern for many many years, but it's been really bad the

088past couple of years. But um I really want to say thank you um um that uh I know you're the air quality control board is not associated with the county, right? Yes. >> Your own board. >> Yeah, we are now. When I first started six years ago, we were under the county umbrella. we separated to try to make uh purchasing and other things easier for us and then that has had mixed results but you know we're we're our own independent agency now but we serve the county of San Diego. So, one more question. Are we first in the area or district? >> Uh, you and a couple other school districts in the area are racing to be the first. So, it's you're neck and neck with I don't region. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's

089very target at the 200 River, the area surrounding 200. >> Thank you, Madam President. >> Oh, with that, I move the item forward. >> Second. >> Call for the vote. Thank you. Um, motion is approved. Uh, five to zero. Thank you again so much. >> Of course. Thank you. And again, if you have any questions, my emails up there and James, who's been super helpful, also has my contact information so you can get your touch. Thank you all. >> Thank you. Next we have the annual organizational meeting. Recognize [Music] Superintendent Jose Espinosa to approve the date, time, and place of the 2025 annual organizational meeting. Thank you, President Lier. And every year, our board has an annual organizational meeting. Um, education code states that the governing board of each school district must hold an annual

090organizational meeting for the 256 school year between December 1st and December 20th of 2025. Education co code also provides that the day and time of the annual organizational meeting shall be selected by the board at a regular meeting held prior to December 1st, 2025. It is respectfully requested that the board approve the date, time, and place of the South Bay Union School District annual organizational meeting as December 17th, 2025 at 6 PM in the Burus Auditorium. I move to approve the date, time, and place of the South Bay Union School District annual organizational meeting as December 17th, 2025 at 6 PM in the Bridges Auditorium. >> I'll second that. >> Call for the vote. Thank you. Motion carried. Uh five to zero. Educational leadership. We have the 2024 to 2027 local control and accountability plan

091update. We recognize assistant superintendent Pamela Rert Montiel for a presentation on standardsbased instruction and ELA EL scope and sequence. Good evening, President Lyer, Superintendent Espinosa, trustees, community, and colleagues. This evening, we bring before you the LCAP update. Just a reminder, the LCAP is a three-year plan that describes goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes. And this evening we will see how our goals, actions, services and expenditures are doing just that. We are required to produce the LCAP. Um we have identified our eight state priorities and we have worked with our educational partners to identify these actions and services. We are in year two of a three-year LCAP. It's hard to believe that I will be before you in just a couple of months doing the midyear report as we're also collecting our

092educational partner input into year three of the three-year LCAP. Just a reminder that our LCAP is based or was developed around the district mission, vision, and values. Goal one is our effective organizational systems. And I always appreciate hearing the school reports because we really do get to see that alignment of the school plans with our LCAP. Goal two is around district and school climate, culture, and connectedness. And goal three, academic excellence for all students. Tonight's update will include an overview of the standardsbased ELA, EL. will also talk about our um Spanish language arts and our spa Spanish language development scope and sequence um which actually encompasses many actions under goal three. So it's standardsbased instruction 3.1 3.6 professional development for academic instruction 3.8 meeting the needs of multilingual learners and 3.9 meeting the needs of

093long-term English learners. And at this time I would like to um ask that director Chavez and director Flores join me at the podium. They are going to share um what they've been doing around this work. And I would like to acknowledge um that this is a cross department project across all of the departments. Um actually all of ed leadership the directors the coordinators our teacher representatives as well as most of this work if not all has been driven by the work that we do together in consultation committee. So with that I will turn it over. Good evening. So, Director Flores and I will be walking you through our journey that started last school year that focus on standardsbased instruction in the following areas. So, as you see here, we have English and Spanish language arts

094and Spanish and English language development. So when we first made the shift to focusing on our standards and allowing the standards to drive our instruction, we first needed to have and develop the following components. So we needed to first establish the units of study for language arts in English and Spanish. We needed to dive deep into the California English learner roadmap. um also focus on integrated English language development and Spanish language development. We needed to also address the diagnostic assessment to see where our students were at in um language arts and reading foundational skills needed to be addressed. Supplemental resources and then the last component is intervention. So all of these components that you see listed here are necessary components. It's a comprehensive way to view our journey in developing our English language arts and

095Spanish language arts. So in order for all this beautiful work to begin as assistant superintendent Reker Montiel shared it's never the work of one. In fact, um Steven CVY says that uh the work of one smart people work together. Um so that's what we needed to do. We we needed to bring the genius brains together. So that's what we did. We released educators and by grade level spans and they began to look at standards, dissect those standards and identified what are the priority standards and then what are the supporting standards that go together and then those morphed into our units. We have four of them. Those four units uh have instructional days in there and then they also have um days in there embedded for midyear assessments. After that came about, we had uh we

096started to think about integrated ELD and also this concept of which is still in development a year at a glance and what a year at a glance it um serves as it's really a road um a road map that has all of the priority standards and it's really a resource that it's a one pager that teachers can look at and see where are all of our standards in one page or are they are some in unit one or some in unit two or some in year in year in year three or unit unit three or unit uh four. So that's what a year at a glance and that's still still in development. So you heard me you you heard us talk about integrated ELT and when we talk about our English language learners it's not

097just about designated ELT. Yes, that is very important and it's a protected time of the day, but we need to talk about comprehensive ELD and that's integrated ELD and designated ELD. Both are very important. So, in consultation, we had conversations about, hey, this is such a great opportunity for SBUSD to recommmit to our English learners because it's a large population of our students. So, we had this uh this vision that at the beginning of this year, we would launch a district-wide PD all around our units, our our standardsbased instruction of our four units that incorporate the integrated EL and SLD standards. So, we did that with our help of our TOSAs, Patty, Noise, Cindy, Alex, Kristen, and Brenda who are coordinators, and myself. we went all to um all of our sites and gave district-wide

098PD um that was all cohesive. So, it was an opportunity to bring everyone together to receive the same message and it was a unifying message centered around the California EO road map that really serves as a framework that really centers us on a policy that gives access to our English learners. And it's great for our English learners, but I'll tell you right now that all of our students benefit from it. Okay? And it's great instruction, great strategies, but it also guarantees that our students don't just get by, but that they thrive. Okay? There are four great principles that the California road map um that guide our work. Principle one, accessoriented and needs responsive schools. Principle two, intellectual quality and instruction and meaningful access. Principle three, systems conditions and support effectiveness. And principle four, alignment and

099articulation within and across our system. In consultation and as a collective unit, we decided to focus on principle one and principle two. You'll see in principle two instruction that is in complete alignment with our standardsbased instruction. That's why we chose that principle one is all about creating safe spaces uh where our students feel welcomed and belong and and spaces of belonging where we leverage and celebrate all of the assets and cultural wealth that our students bring to our schools and our and our school district when they arrive in our districts. That doesn't mean that we're not doing principal three and principal four. There are pieces of that that we're doing. You see alignment? We're doing that when we're releasing folks for professional development or when we're going out at sites and giving professional development. That's

100system coherence. And then that brings us to integrated ELD. The EL SLD standards are not that were created in 2012. So when I say recommit our work to English learners, that's what I mean. We needed a recommit. Um, the ELD standards are not meant to supplant or substitute the ELA standards. In in fact, they're made to amplify the ELA standards. They're meant to coexist uh and to create meaningful access for our English learners to participate and have access to the ELA standards. Okay. So thus far our teachers in K8 our TOSAs our SDC mild moderate staff our principles they have been they participated in two rounds of professional development where they've been we've been diving into what are let's revisit the ELD standards what do they say what does the framework say um what is

101integrated ELD what does that look like and and it's rigorous it's dense it's a lot of work. Um I'm not saying that we are where we need to be but we have definitely you know done a lot of learning um and then we've recentered our work on language functions which is part of integrated ELD. So that is a strategy that we're really focusing uh focusing on. Language functions are what students do with the language to have access to the ELA standards. So some examples of language functions are compare and contrast, right? Um some other examples are quantifications, opinions, classifications. Those are examples of language functions. So some that's some of the work that we've done during the professional development and we're going to continue to do that as we continue with round three and round

102four of the professional development for the rest of the year. So moving on to the diagnostic assessment for the I Ready. So this is a journey that we started in 2425. In order for our teachers to establish a baseline of where their students are at, what strengths and areas of needs are needed for each student, it was important for us to be able to start our journey in having a district-wide assessment that could be used for kinder through 8th grade. So we started with our English language arts, reading and math where students were being assessed three times a year and professional development was provided at all school sites and for our administrators as well this year and we have continued with that for the English language arts. This year I um has established the eval

103diagnostica de lectura. So, our Spanish language arts teachers in our dual language programs are now embedding and including three times of year the reading assessment in Spanish for the students that are in their dual language program. The professional development is continuing this year at all school sites for both English language arts and for Spanish language arts um teachers. And the professional development will be three times a year. And then our administrators will also be continuing to receive professional development. And our administrators are also encouraged to attend that professional development that their teachers are receiving at their school site along with the professional development that they'll receive at one of our instructional leadership team meetings where I will come and specifically tailor the professional development on for principles on how to view their data and then

104be able to develop action steps for their school site. So for our foundational skills in English language arts, we purchased the following two resources that focus on foundational skills. So UFI is UFI foundations for our kindred through 2 grade teachers and then we have heerty for kinder through second grade teachers as well. So phmic awareness is a foundational skills that precedes and supports phonics instruction. Children need to be aware of the individual sounds in the spoken words before they can actually learn how those sounds are represented by letters. Now in phmic awareness we have the individual sounds that are then spoken where students are then segmenting words into individual sounds where we have like cat um and there's a lot of auditory and oral instruction. So before we wanted to dive into providing additional resources

105for the upper grade staff, we wanted to make sure that we strengthened the foundational skills for our primary grade teachers so that students are developing those strong foundational skills that they can then apply to help them develop the phmic awareness. So for Spanish language arts the we purchase estraittas for our kinder and first grade teachers and estraittas is provides explicit direct instruction phonics in espanol and teachers latas have also received professional development in both of these um or all three of these resources. We purchased additional supplemental resources for language arts. These de codable books that are aligned with you and then each school site was able to provide or receive three levels um at their school site. So then our kinder through 2 grade staff who were using um the UFly resource were able to

106then provide them to their students so that they can then practice those skills with decodable books. And then the previous year we also provided professional development on learning A through Z which provides text for students to be able to practice those skills at their independent level. We provided professional development seessaw um where students were able to engage in digital activities that were standardsbased. Words their way was provided professional development last school year and this school year as well. And this was in um an effort to be able to support the phonics, the foundational skills, the phmic awareness and worse there ways an ability for students to manipulate sounds and through handson and digital as well. This year we started with professional development in the supplemental resource for language arts and this is kinder through 8th

107grade. Now this resource is not an intervention but it is standardsbased and this is a resource that is aligned to grade level standards. So every student in the general education classroom and our m mild moderate setting they receive the grade level text at their grade level because legally we're obligated for students to be exposed to the grade level content that they're in. And this is an additional resource that's available for our staff to ensure that the standard is being um addressed at the grade level that the student needs to um be receiving. This uh supplemental resource was also provided like I mentioned to our mild moderate staff but also to our learning acceleration tutors if they're providing um additional support in certain grade levels. our education specialist and then all staff that received the supplemental

108resource has been provided the professional development as well. These supplemental resources were purchased um for our dual language programs in Spanish um for SLA and they were purchased last year. There were one time purchased la familia leria where it was a K2 purchase for neester and sunny slope em leto zonetica were purchased for K2 at nicolof they were based on site need and site request and they were a one-time purchase because they are reusable books that come in sets of six that are kept in the classroom that teachers use for small groupoup instruction. So that was a supplemental resource that was purchased for dual language programs. And last but not least, we are um providing professional development this year. I'm going to start with the phonics for reading. So this is for our fourth through

1098th grade um staff. So this intervention it is it has three levels and there's level A, level B, level C. And this is based on their I Ready diagnostic assessment. So then that will the I Ready diagnostic assessment will then place the student at a certain level. The teacher also has the ability to conduct an assessment. So if the teacher notices the student is progressing faster or they notice that the I ready diagnostic result is maybe not at the level where the student is um demonstrating in their class, the teacher is able to use a placement assessment in order to determine where the right placement um for the student would be. So professional development was provided to our learning acceleration teachers who provide this intervention for the upper grade fourth through eighth grade students. our

110education specialists as well and our tosses. Now, in terms of our third grade staff, so here you see you fly again for foundations. So, we wanted to have an intervention program for third grade on up and this specific resource you specifically for third grade. Um, teachers receive a manual. It's a very systemic program that was developed by the University of Florida Literacy Institute and it focuses on the foundational reading skills that students need in order to be proficient readers. This um manual also includes instruction additional instructional materials like that you see listed there and those have been provided to the teachers based on the Google form that they have indicated to us that they need these additional resources. And then professional development again was provided to ensure that everyone um knows how to completely and

111systemically implement the UFly um resource so that students were then able to in a systemic way be able to practice those skills and then apply them and then build their confidence with automaticity. I know that was a lot of information. Um, as you could see, many many action steps that go into the work around the scope and sequence and our standardsbased instruction. But we wanted to provide you with an overview of what's been happening. um what the professional development has looked like that that ongoing development of the scope and sequence in the four units as we add additional information including the integration of the ELD standards and the creation of that um scope and sequence or at a glance the scope and sequence and as well as the different supplemental resources that go along with

112making this happen and supporting standardsbased instruction professional development and intervention. Um, as we mentioned, we know we started with the foundational skills. The goal really being to start to build those foundational skills while now simultaneously addressing some of those gaps because we know that we have gaps. Our hopes are that as our students go from kinder first, second on up to third grade, we'll see less and less gaps, less need for the upper grade intervention. Um, we know that sometimes it feels like the work has been slow. Um it has been thoughtful and um and a lot of of different brains coming together particularly around the the consultation table um to discuss what what was needed um what was being asked for and and really what the system could handle at any given time. Um

113so at this point we are happy to answer any questions about where we are in this standardsbased scope and sequence project. Well, first of all, just like to thank you for the it's amazing. I mean, you guys have been doing an amazing job. I mean, it's is something that it it takes a lot of work, you know, and and I recognize that and it's it's it's something that it's we need to work hard and in order for them common goal is what's best for the students, right? So, um uh just you guys talk about uh the professional development. How many professional developments teachers have currently for this school year as we >> so when it comes to the scope and sequence full day release for every teacher that's four so we have four units and

114so the way that we calendared it out was our greatest hope was to have the professional development where we're unpacking the standards and doing some planning what happened before the unit of study started. Now, obviously at the start of the school year, we couldn't we couldn't make that happen. So, unit one happened very early in the school year. Unit two happened before fall break because unit two will start October coming up. Um, and so then before unit 3 starts, we will already hold those full day professional developments. So, that's four for every teacher related to the scope and sequence units. As far as the other professional development, it really depends on what grade level I teach, right? So, if I am a primary teacher, I've already received professional development on UFly, uh potentially on Hegerty.

115Um if I'm an upper grade teacher this year, I received it on the phonics for reading. If I'm a dual immersion teacher, then I've received other professional development. So, it really depends on the grade level and the program as a that a teacher's um teaching within. So is that like a mandatory or something that the teacher has to request? >> No, it's it's professional development that we offer um release and we provide the substitute teachers or the guest teachers and then the teachers all come together in the same location and the professional development is facilitated either by one of the directors, one of the coordinators. We have Kristen Smith and Brenda Robles both coordinators that have been supporting this project. or it could be um a facilitator from the publisher. So it could be someone

116from from the um phonics for reading program or integrity. It just it it depends. >> And one more question. So on the supplemental resources for Spanish language arts, I noticed that Nester and Sunny Slope, they got La Familia educational program. is something that the school requested or is something that you guys have to >> that's that's based on their needs. So as you saw other schools got decodables. So based on the program needs they request the decodables that they need and that they're using at their school. >> Yeah. See and then you have in Nicolola which have in a different >> type of educational program. >> Yes. So that's that's what my my question was, you know, >> and they're all within Benchmark, which is the vendor that they use for their supplemental dual language

117curriculum to supplement >> in their dual language program. >> Absolutely. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. I think it is important just to point out because we have a 9010. >> Yes. >> And then we have the 5050 with an English teacher and a Spanish teacher at Nicolof. And then we have the 5050 with one teacher teaching both English and Spanish at Sunny Slope. So really that's the work of the ME department is to work with those three schools to identify their needs because we say dual immersion and we might think it's all the same but it's different. >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean it I know that my my kids went to Sunny Slope and I I know how you know how that works. uh it just as amazes me how you know the

118school are able to you know to adopt the program and educational program and it's effective and and that's what I'm asking because I I think the educa uh educators teachers have the input and say you know what this works for this you know may not work for something else that's right thank you so much >> hi I have a question good evening um regarding the I assessment. You mentioned that it's the first year that there's a Spanish assessment. Do they get lessons in Spanish or is that for the teacher just to identify what level is the student at and the instruction that they'll be getting? So, I Ready is working very hard to get the Spanish side to be up to par with the English side. So everything that the English side does isn't the

119Spanish side isn't read, isn't really doing, but the diagnostic assessment is adaptive. So that is great. But the automatic assigning of the lessons in Spanish isn't there quite yet, but they're working on it. But the Spanish diagnostic assessment is adaptive, and it wasn't before, but it is now. The only one that isn't adaptive is seventh and eighth grade. That is still what it was before, but they are working on making that adaptive. That is work in progress for them. >> Thank you for that question. >> But just to clarify, the lessons are there. They're not automatically assigned. Teacher has to assign. It's not like the English side. >> There's a lot of what the English portion has is up and running. Spanish side, not quite. Unfortunately, when it comes to Spanish, it always happens that

120way, unfortunately. But they're they're working on it. And actually, we are going next week for an update on all of the projects that they're working on. So, Director Flores and I will be going to Anaheim to hear where they're at in the development of these components. >> Thank you, Madam President. Wow. Uh just wow. Um I see all the energy in you. Uh but most importantly I want to share that I also see the energy in the teaching. I've been to three schools. Um I see the you fly book in the hands of the teachers. I see the children interacting you know verbalizing the word you know will pill. So, uh, I got to see all that and, um, what really brought me joy was, uh, the smile on the teachers faces. I really think

121we're on the right road here, superintendent, with our professional development. The past nine years, we've been, you know, limping along. But I think that, thank you, Pamela, for your direction last year and getting down to what we needed. And thank you board for supporting the budget that supports this release time of of professional development and putting the tools right there with the teachers. Thank you. Thank you for all your work. Um the um I wanted to share about meeting students where they are. Some teachers say, you know, I have to teach five grade levels. How does a teacher manage that? She's teaching five grade levels. Are you referring to a >> teacher a fifth grade teacher that might have students that are at grade level a year behind or two years behind? So, so that

122is the um I guess the beauty of standardsbased instruction. So I think you heard a couple of times where uh both directors talked about providing resources at grade level because that is our obligation. So our obligation is to teach grade level standards. Um when you teach a standard you can take a look when you unpack a standard you can take a look at at a fifth grade standard and you can look at what how it's taught at fourth grade what are the expectations third grade second grade all the way down. So if you take an example like main idea or the big idea that it it increases in rigor and difficulty and expectations as you go up the grade level. So I can teach main idea at a kindergarten level. I can teach it at

123a first grade level, second grader. It's just the rigor or the expectation. What is the student expected to do increases with each grade level. So as a teacher teaches a standard in fifth grade really the key is different. iating to meet the needs of the students that are not at grade level yet. So providing those scaffolds and even that integrated the integrated ELD strategies, the language functions, there's all sorts of different strategies that can be used to ultimately get to that grade level standard. >> I don't know if that answered your question. I think many of the resources we talked about as well. Um, so if I'm a fifth grade teacher and my students are working um, two grade levels behind, it's possible that I'll have one or two phonics for reading groups in my

124classroom and or they might be going to see the learning acceleration tutor for a small group because again we it's not one-sizefits-all. It's going to depend on the students in not only in my classroom but across fourth fourth, fifth, and sixth grade at a given school to determine how many phonics for reading intervention groups are needed, how many teachers are going to teach it, who's going to be a part of this. >> My goodness, what a plan. >> It's it's Yeah, the master scheduling is the master scheduling, you know, and I'm glad you mentioned the um accelerated tutor. Is that a push in or pull out? >> Um well, in most cases it is a pull out intervention, but you might have also heard this evening where um our principles talked about their ELD rotations

125and that being pushin um or support. So, it just it it depends. Um but our learning accelerate learning acceleration tutors are vital staff members in all of what we're talking about. um in really making sure that we can provide lots of different small group instruction both in and outside. >> And trust, I'd like to just add something to what Assistant Superintendent Reel was talking about and she gave a great answer, very specific, very detailed. Um I want to give just a a much higher level answer. Um, in education we work with students, little people, and we know that people don't come in perfect little packages. So, I haven't been in the classroom in a lot in many years, but when I when I was in the classroom, I taught everything from high school down to

126first grade. And in every single grade, every single class, I had students from all different abilities, all different grade levels, right? And I imagine that'll continue to be the same for the rest of the history in education because kids don't come in perfect packages. So just because we put students at the that are all the same age in fourth grade, it doesn't mean they're all reading at the fourth grade level. More often than not, it means some are reading at the fourth grade level, maybe some at the sixth grade level, a couple at the kindergarten level, some may not even know their letters. And that's kind of the challenge of education, right? That we have to meet the needs of all those students. So, yes, it's frustrating as a teacher. Absolutely. I've been there. um

127because you are responsible for the 30 or however many students you have in your classroom uh to make sure that you can meet all their needs, right? And so that that that's hard. That's really really really difficult work. Um and that just kind of shines a light on the work that they're that we're all doing in our system. So I also want to take a quick minute to recognize um our ed leadership team, our consultation team, all our teachers that our principles as well that are putting all this work uh you know keeping all this work going and often and I would say this is probably the most important work that's happening in our district. Um I am sure it's the most important work because improving student achievement happens in the classroom. It doesn't happen

128in my office. It doesn't happen, you know, at the board at the board area. It happens in the classroom. So, that work is the most important work. And often, you know, we don't have very many people here to to to hear about the work that's happening, right? Hopefully, there's some listening to us on Zoom. So, I just wanted to take a quick minute to recognize the team uh and, you know, the entire instructional team uh in our district. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Like I said, I I've witnessed it. So, and I've seen it on social media when they come for PT. Uh there's lots of smiles and lots of things happening, you know, with boards or writing or the work that's being done in the conference room. So, um I do see that where I

129didn't see that work before. So, I appreciate whoever's doing that social media uh push out. Um and again, I I I thank the whole everybody for your work on behalf of our students. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent. >> Thank you. Also, when they talk about adaptive like the programs that are adaptive and so when students are um when students are not understanding the questions that are are being asked of them or they're not fully answering them correctly, then the program knows to like readjust the level. so that it's at their their reading level and their comprehension which is amazing. Um, so thank you so much. My one question is when we're doing the diagnostic assessments with I Ready, I did hear the word embedded when we have like our ELA and SLA diagnostics.

130So, um, they're not doing six a year, right? It's like integrated. How much testing are these little guys doing? >> Six. >> Yeah, I'll speak for dual language and we have our dual language task force which I love. Um because that's a a team that we actually met today where there's princip our three principles from their dual language task force. We have our SWAT president. We have three fabulous teachers from our dual language schools. we we come together and we talk about, hey, what's going on at at our schools? What are our needs? And one of those needs was this diagnostic assessment. And one of those conversations is how much do we assess? We didn't decide on our own in that meeting. We actually sent a survey out to our staff at all three schools

131and say, "Hey, what do you think? How often do you think we should assess?" And then so we sent out that survey. We got it back and we analyzed that survey and based on their feedback, all three schools suggested that we should assess and in English and Spanish in each trimester window. So, it is a lot of assessment. Um, so that's where we're at right now in dual language. Um, we are going to revisit to see where we're at because it is a lot. Um, so that's where we're at right now. Again, it wasn't a decision that was made at dual language task force. It was a decision that was made based on the voice of all three langu uh three dual language schools and the voice of the teachers. So, now we're going through

132a whole year of what that feels like. We're going to revisit that and see what what adjustments we need to make. So, it's definitely is a lot of assessment. Does that answer your question for dual language? >> It does. I just know especially at the end of the year my now sixth grader is really really burnt out like >> when it comes to testing after state testing and then and then >> and I do I do want to I do also want to say that I love our teachers because they had their best interest at heart because they really wanted to see we they advocated they said we want to see how our students are seeing how they're developing in English and Spanish. So, please know that our educators have their best interest at heart.

133So, I want you to know that. Okay. So, that's how those decisions were made. Now, we're in it. And then we'll re we will reevaluate. >> We'll just have to do extra fun stuff at home, right? >> Yeah. So, thank you. >> And then, um I also really appreciate that we have um the phonics resources for our upper graders, too. recognizing that we need to um meet students where they're at. And thank you all so much for your work. >> And I I'll just simply add that this is always a work in progress. I I I I know that in goal one we talk about um cycles of improvement or continuous improvement. And so we're we're continuously um reflecting on our practices and um refining them or redefining them. And I think that's throughout this

134project. So whether it's where the standards fall, we're constantly sending out surveys in all of this work to find out is it working, is it not working, what should we change? even the professional development after receiving feedback from the professional development after day one. what are some changes that people wanted to see? The team made those changes and day two looked different. Um, so I think it's really important to acknowledge that it it isn't stagnant. This work is not stagnant. Um, and just as you mentioned, so was that a good decision or not? We don't know. But if it's not, then we change it. And it's okay. It's okay because we want to also make sure that our actions are meeting our goals and our purposes. and what is the purpose of assessment or what

135is the purpose of um the the professional development or the work that we're doing together. Just want to acknowledge that. So for future updates, just a heads up um that in November we will come back with an expanded learning opportunities update on fall inter session and then in January we will be back with the California dashboard results. Unfortunately, the results are released the day after our November board meeting, so it just won't be enough time for us to bring that forward to you. Um, we kind of had it slated tenatively for November. Um, but we will be back in January with our official California dashboard results. Thank you. All right, we have the [Applause] um I love that like as an as adults who are educators, we're also just learning as we go as well.

136like that whole, you know, continuous learning and um I think it it sets a good like we're good sorry role models for our our children like always we're always learning. So, thank you again. Um next we have the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar will be enacted in one motion in the form listed below. Prior to approval of the meeting agenda, there was an opportunity request placing I already did that. Huh? Did yes. No. When we move stuff around. Sorry. Okay. We already All right. We voted on the one thing. Now we're going back to the consent calendar. Sorry. >> I move to approve. >> Thank you. >> All items on the consent calendar as listed, including the superintendent's recommendations for denial or approval of leaves of absence. Call for the vote.

137Um motion is carried. Five to zero. All right. Uh so we have future agenda items. >> Yes, Madam President. Um I'd like a consideration to have uh in the new year um a presentation regarding and around our libraries. We haven't heard about them for a long time. So, if we can put that on our um radar, that would be great. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. We don't have any. Okay. So, next we have um communications from the board of trustees. >> Thank you, President Ler. Um, I would just like to recognize all the hard work our district staff have put in. Um, it's it's amazing how, you know, we take it for granted, but it's it's a lot of work and I do recognize the all the district staff, support staff, they put

138in all this hard work. And I also like to recognize our school principles, teachers, staff, support staff, volunteers, and everybody involved in educ education. And we hope that eventually we get to work together for our students. And that is something that we all striving. I think I speak for myself, but uh if we work together, we get better results. So, thank you so much for being here. >> Okay, Madam President. >> Well, first, um, thank you very much, um, for the for the great agenda, Madame President and Superintendent. It I thought it was going to be short, but it it is. No, it's not. Sorry. Uh, but it was a good agenda. good uh information that was provided and our and our district is moving forward and I'm really pleased about that. I also want

139to recognize the work of our human resources department with all the new hires and our job fairs. So, thank you. Thank you for your team. Um I have visited uh Barry School. Like I said last month, I was going to go to Barry. I did go to Barry. Thank you, Barry. Barry. Barry and staff. It was beautiful school. beautiful everything this the teacher like I said I I witnessed this you fly with the teacher with the book Janet was with me so uh thank you Barry and um what else was I gonna say about Barry oh uh please tell Veronica that I stopped in to see her thank you maybe next time because she did invite me I did go Veronica so uh also um thank you to the schools they can. Oh, and I'm

140going to Central tomorrow with Manny. So, Central will be there. And uh let's see here. On I forgot to share uh down at Tent and Iris. There's a pocket park that was um redesated as a Steve Park who is the founder of uh four walls. And so we rededicated that two weeks ago. And there I got to see a lot of our children and our families of Oni who came. So I want to acknowledge uh that work of the city that brings uh a park-like atmosphere to we don't have a park by Oni. So thank you city. Uh let's see here. Can read my own writing. Um thank you for the sheep. I guess I'm gonna have to write something up to get that history. Uh let's see here. Uh congratulations to Jen on the

141top tick award. I appreciate her work. I know uh where her heart is. I've heard her speak many times and how protective she is. And um one last note about parents in uh districtled committees. Um I'm really am sitting in the back of the room looking for our parents. And so please parents if you're in a district committee please raise your hand when you see me in the back of the room I'd like to acknowledge you uh even after the meeting if you just raise your hand and say you know Emory or Eagles or orcas whoever's in the room because we should have at least one if not two parents in each district committee and that I'm looking for I'm looking for parent participation in every committee because the magic as I said last month.

142The magic is not here. The magic is in those committees. Either you you work down here at your school site committee and you come up to the district committee. It all goes hand in hand and it's a really important work. And uh one last note, madame president, last night for the first time in 45 years, I'm only 46, but in 45 years, I had I was able to attend at the DAC meeting on Zoom. And boy oh boy was I enlightened. Thank you. I don't speak Spanish but the team did an excellent job in translating both both the slideshows and the oral presentation. We had two parents there. One I think from Nester and I don't know where the other one came from but uh they both spoke in Spanish and I was able to

143follow along with our team's help. So there uh it was shared about how they're teaching our parents how to read the what test was it? LPAC. Okay. So they get the paper in the mail. Well, the parents were saying we don't know what that is. How can we help our students? And so that was really, you know, it took me back. Okay. It's like how do how do how do you communicate that? They the team did it really well. Also the parent can go back and say with the teacher if parent conference is coming up if they have questions this is a good time uh the the zoom was at the night time uh the inperson was in the morning and that was right here at our conference they took pictures it's on you know

144social media it was packed in there so you did a great job and thank you for thank you for that link and and allowing me to sit in the back and just listen I appreciate that and that you know thank you everyone for your work. And that concludes my report. Thank you. >> I don't have much to report on. Um I am happy to see the progress that our students are making um at Emory and Oanta. I'm super excited about this ram that I had never heard about being found. Maybe now we can look for the purple cow. Um but that's all. Um we'll see you guys next month. Thank you all so much for all the hard work. Um I know that um it's an honor to be able to support students and families.

145Like that's what we're here for. That's who we're servicing and our staff. And I hope that we can find ways to work together and know that we are on the same team. Um we have very divisive times right now in big politics, small politics. Um so I encourage people to understand the context of situations and choices that are being made and the roles and responsibilities of those people who are helping guide decisions. um because I know that we're all in this with the best intentions and and good hearts for our students. So, thank you again for all of your work and have a good night.