12.11.25 Board Meeting

001right now. They all have I can't take home mom take care of mom. >> Yes. Just give me whatever you got now. All right. We're just going to set up a little before we come back. Yes, >> we're going to be here at 550 and you'll be in this open drum. Classic definitely. Where's your face? I learned Board of Education, 2025. This meeting is available in English and Spanish. Would the translator please give the instructions about translation for this meeting? Good. The Zoom interpretation feature will be used in this meeting for English and Spanish support. All participants on this call must select their language of preference by clicking the language when the host turns on the interpretation feature. This is found in the world icon located on your feature panel. Interpretation for this meeting will

002be conducted simultaneously. Thank you for your attention and collaboration. Thank you. Please note that a recording is being made at the direction of the board and the recording may capture sounds of those attending the meeting. I'd like to welcome the CMS band under the direction of Mr. Mendoza. So, welcome to all of you. So, as we begin our meeting, uh I see that all the board members are present. So, we can begin. We're on to item three, which is approval of the agenda. If there's any member of the public who would like to speak on this item, which is solely about the approval of the agenda, please use a blue card or use the raised hand feature. Okay. Now, seeing any uh board or is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> I move

003to approve tonight's agenda as listed. >> Second. >> Okay. Uh great. Any questions, comments? Let's vote. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Chair goes I. And the motion passes. Um, we're on to item four, public comments for close session. Tonight, the topics are conference with legal counsel pursuant to California government code section 54956.9, subdivision D4, regarding potential pending litigation, one case, public employee discipline dismissal and release, government code 54957, week one, and public employee performance evaluation, government code 54957, superintendent. It's time for public comment on closed session items. Uh if you're here in the room with us, you can submit a blue card or online you can uh use the raised hand feature. Okay. Uh seeing none, it is 6:00 p.m. We are going Oh, it's not 6 p.m. It's 6:03

004p.m. 6:03. >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh 6:03 p.m. We are going to recess briefly for close session. We'll take a five minute break after close session and return to the boardroom at approximately 6:30 p.m. We'll see you soon. Yes. Okay. My bad. You too. What do you think? All right. Open the door. Nice. Bye. La go home. Oh no. Hey Heat. Heat. Congratulations. What's that? Goodbye. Happy birthday. Good evening. Happy birthday. Heat. Heat. Good morning. This is hot. had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw it, you would even say it all. And one Christmas reeer shinse. And if you ever saw it, you could even say Good day. with laing. I care. See the blazing before us launch new Sing together all the way. Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell,

005jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle Jingle bell shine jingle bellancing brighting all Jingle drop the night Jingle bell one sleighing jingle jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell. around the Christmas tree. The Christmas Every Christmas tree. Everyone sing happy. Thank you all. This concludes our program. Thank you again. Are you ready? I didn't tell you You got to follow me. What did they do? Hi, how are you? First time in here. Well, we have a lot of family. >> It's a very busy room. Busy office. Yes. Yeah. What's the next today. >> Yeah. Wonderful. Wonderful. >> How's it going? >> Good. Good. >> I get shots of the the farm. >> You did? >> Excellent. um where they land. >> So your spot should be a really You know what? No, he's still on. I

006was confused. Oh yeah. like all three of us. >> I'm not I don't know how to That's not bad. I don't like Yeah. Ready? Victoria's lawyer again. here. >> Oh my god. It was very No matter where you go, >> how's everything going? What can get you from okay to great? >> Yeah, my son had it. I never really Yeah. I don't know. I don't have any I'm starting to say >> everybody Well, they can do the situ Oh, Did you use this for the students last night? >> We did. We just took it over here. >> Are they first with that would need that mic? >> No, not yet because right now it's going to be acknowledgement and then they >> and then we get Uh they can just wave at me. >> This

007right here. It's after. >> Yeah, they were good. Can I just move it a little bit? I think they were already set up. That's what Guys, we do that. Yeah. >> Okay. Hi. So, it is now 6:39 >> 6:39 p.m. And um I'm calling back to order this regular meeting of the board of education December 11th, 2025. U we are going to return to close session at the end of the meeting. So, uh, we'll do our announcements then. Uh, right now it's we're on to item seven, which is our flag salute. It looks like our flag might be being led by Cherry Chase. Is that accurate? >> Yes. >> Excellent. Um, what grade are you in? >> fourth, and fifth graders. >> Yes. >> Okay. Excellent. Well, welcome. Um, so you're you're giving the directions

008now. >> Okay. >> We will start with the pledge of allegiance. Please stand with your a place your right hand over your heart and begin the pledge. >> I pledge al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under indivisible with liberty and justice for all. The Sunville School District would like to acknowledge the indigenous people as the first inhabitants and continued custodians of this land. San school district is located on the ancestral and unseated land of Maraka tribe who have peacefully honored and cared for this land for thousands of years. We recognize that every member of the sun communities continues to benefit from the use and occupation of this land. We acknowledge our responsibility to learn from the wisdom of the Aloney people

009and consider how we how we might work to repair injustices and move forward together in honorable ways. >> You may be seated. >> Thank you so much. That was great. >> Thank you. Okay. So, um we that was number seven and eight. So, we're on to number is it number nine, the annual organization meeting of the board of education. Dr. Crosby. >> So, can we Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us for tonight's program. Can we uh start the presentation? So want to give a brief um highlights of 2025. So this year we launched our ELA and Spanish language arts uh pilot that successfully negotiated a three-year settlement with our partners. Um and here you can see some of the other things that we did including improving our cyber security. Let's go to

010next slide. Additionally, this year we welcome two trustees, Miss Peggy Shan Brewster as well as Miss Ellen Profetta. Let's go to the next slide. And then um you already know about the work that we did with child nutrition services in terms of expanding uh food services options for our students across the district. Let's go to the next slide. and as well as expanding transportation to be able to support my family and students uh with after school support. Let's go to the next one. And then we celebrate Dr. Gallagher's retirement this year. And next slide. And also welcome the new superintendent, myself. Let's go. Next one. And uh this year we were able to formalize an MOU partnership with the Sunnyville Education Foundation which has been supporting the Sunnyville School District family of students of overall

011schools and programs for a number of years. Let's go to the next slide. And since Cherry Chase happens to be here again, Cherry Chase was also recognized as a California Distinguished School. Uh let's go to the next slide. Uh this year we also celebrate the ribbon cutting ceremony over at Sunnyville Middle School which is a really nice welcome event for me as a new superintendent as well. And then uh next slide please. Also just being proactive in figuring out how else we can collaborate and partner with our communities to support. So these are some of the resolutions in terms of partnering with other agencies including Senator WAB um emphasizing and and doubling down on our support for our LGBTQI plus families and uh making sure that we update our protocols regarding immigration build capacity across

012the organization. And then the next slide we launched our district AI task force and we just had our third meeting yesterday. Is that right? Mr. Shihara >> fourth meeting thank you so much in collaboration with AI AIE edu as well as uh play lab and the lead of innovative schools through digital promise. Let's go to the next slide. And then uh we held our inaugural state of the district which was just amazing and seeing our students up at the front showing off all their talents and demonstrating what they're all about. And then this year we also next slide uh launched our student board reports and you're going to hear from our students in a in a short while as well. And then let's go to the next slide please. And then also uh we were

013happy to support our families in need during the Thanksgiving break food distribution as well as I'm grateful for the Sunny Bell Education Foundation for their campaign which raised over $22,000 to provide direct support to our families through gift cards for markets. And we're going to have another food distribution next Friday from 8:30 to 4 pm here at the district office, but also we'll be supporting families who may need support with transportation and uh providing them that that resource. And then this is an actual bell. Congratulations to Sunnyville School District. on the next slide. Uh last week they were officially recognized with the prestigious California School Boards Association Golden Bell for their work in parent engagement. And so congratulations to the entire district and those are just some of the highlights for the 2025 year. >>

014Thank you. >> Okay. So um as a note to the public, uh this is the board's second discussion of our me of our uh conversation. It's the second conversation that we're having around this matter. Uh the board has had a conversation our most recent governance meeting about the roles and all the committee assignments that we're going to take on for the year. Uh and so we're going to just use that as a starting point, but then the conversation can continue. So um as a result of that for board president, uh I have a motion to make. I would like to nominate trustee Peggy Shan Brewster for the role of president. Uh Peggy's been our vice president of the last year. She's done a great job uh as a thought partner and just has been really

015active in the community but also um has just been learning a lot with Dr. Crossweight and I feel like she did an excellent job. So um do I have a second formation? >> I second. >> Great. Uh any discussion from the board? any additional warm thoughts for Peggy that you would like to tell her? >> Congratulations, Peggy. >> Okay. Yeah, we're we're all really excited for you. We think you're going to do a great job. Okay. So, um all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Okay. Chair votes I. And the motion passes. Congratulations. >> Okay. Um for board vice president. Uh the way that we had initially talked in our first conversation uh was to make a notion motion for trustee Isabelle Hubz Flemish for the role of vice president president. Sorry.

016Uh do I have a second? >> I second. >> Okay. um board. Uh I I really believe that uh trustee pl's going to be we have qualified people who would be really great for this role anyway. Um you know both Michelle and Isabelle have a ton of experience and both president twice. Um, you know, again, for me, I really feel like having um a North Sunnyvil emphasis this year will be really powerful and um I'm sure that all of us can support from each of our individual roles. So, I don't I don't think that it's any one person over another as far as capacity, but I just feel like um it would be North Sunnyville um representation at this particular moment as we're, you know, trying to unwind some maybe some underserved historical things that

017have been happening as we're looking at our systems. I think it'd be really powerful to have more Sunnyville voice there. So, um, in the conversation and I feel pretty confident that we can still contribute and support from all of our seats. So, um, that's my thinking on that. Um, any any other discussion? >> Yeah, sure. Um, as you guys know, with this next year, probably being my last year on the board, I would have really liked to have been vice president. Um, nevertheless, I will vote in favor of the slate to support my fellow board members. >> Thank you for the motion and I accept the nomination. >> Okay, so we um all those in favor, please say I. I. >> Okay. Chair votes I. And the motion passes. Congratulations to trustee. >> So in

018our deliberations, we also discussed last time for nominating trustee Evelyn Petta for the role of clerk on the board. Um you know I think it's really important that uh you know even though this is your your first full year um coming into the board, you were just appointed last spring. So, um I believe that you're completely ready for this role and we're really excited to have you on the team and I hope that you get to attend some of the meetings like if if um in lie of the vice president at a at a packet review meeting or something like that because I think it will just give you you know you're just in the rotation now. Okay. In the seat for eligibilities to do that. Okay. Uh, so, um, so I'm making a motion,

019but did I have a second? >> I second. >> You second. Okay. All right. Um, all those in any other discussion for Evelyn. Welcome, Evelyn. >> Okay. Um, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. The motion passes. Yay. Congratulations. So, I want to assure everyone from the south side of Sunnyville that um we will still be completely represented. Each trustee actually represents the entire district. Um it's just the area that we're elected from. Uh so, uh I feel confident that everyone will have representation on our board. Don't worry. Okay. Um we're on to our committee assignments. Uh we also discussed all of these based on our schedule and our time. Uh so but there is another opportunity to discuss them again here tonight. So for a representative to the Santa Clair County

020Schools Association which is the SECSBA. Uh we had discussed in our previous meeting that that would be myself and Evelyn. This is a monthly meeting. Um actually since the pandemic it's been on Zoom and all of us can attend the meeting and really our district just gets one vote. So, um, we can be the official representatives, but, um, you know, we're all welcome to attend. And Isabelle's very active. She's chaired Hoffman awards for three years, and now she's the second year as a vice chair for legislative action committee. Um, I've served on every committee that they have there. Right now, I'm on the success committee, which is a unhouse students advocacy group, and I'm also on legislative action. I'm a former chair of that committee. So, I don't have a problem if someone else would

021like to be um you know listed as the official representative. You'll just get emails from Bonnie Mace who's the executive director. I get lots of information from the executive director anyway. So, if you'd like to participate and it let me know. So, there's like no offense there. Um so, um do we have a motion or nomination or idea? for sure, Evelyn. >> Yeah. >> And does anyone else want to be nominated? >> Well, it's one and then the alternate, right? >> Well, you only get one vote and so it's really just whoever's there. So, you actually, >> but I think on here it's the representative of Santa Clair County School Board Association and alternate. >> Sure. So, Evelyn, well, we could nominate Evelyn to be the representative and someone would anyone else like to be

022the alternate? You want to be the primary or the alternate? >> I could be the primary. >> They they very rarely vote. You can be the primary. Yeah, that's great. But okay. And then um would anyone like to be the alter? >> I thought you were doing it. >> Yeah, sure. Okay, I'll do it. Okay, we need a motion. I move Evelyn Petta is the official representative to Santa CL County School Boards Association with um trustee Bridget Watson of the I >> Great discussion. Okay. All those in favor please say I >> Okay. Um chair votes I and the motion passes. Congratulations to us to being on that committee. Lots of work. Let's go. Next thing is representative to the Santa CL County Committee on School District reorganization. Um I have a motion to nominate

023Michelle Majino. Uh Trusty Majino for that >> and second. >> Excellent. Any discussion? >> All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Thank you. Chair votes I. So the motion passes. Thank you. Trusty Mino. um the answer to the district's wellness committee and alternate. Um I have on there as a in my notes for um myself as primary and then Peggy as alternate. I will I'm open to reversing that but I think you'll be very busy as board president. Um so uh do we have a motion for that? >> I move uh for the lean to the district wellness committee to be Peggy with the alternate as Bridget. >> I think the opposite way. primary. >> Oh, Bridget is primary. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, that's what I meant. Bridget primary. Yeah. >> Okay. So,

024Trustation Bruce second. Thank you. Um all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Okay. Chair votes I. That's us. Um next is lay on to the district's um CVOC. It right. It's listed in the agenda as facilities and finance committee CBOC which is the citizens bond oversight committee. Um I think it should be listed as the citizens bond oversight committee. Um and we have two people on that. Uh and we have trustee and trustee. So I move to nominate trustee and trustee imagin. Do I have? >> Great. All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Okay. Okay, chairside. Motion passes. Thank you for your service on that committee. Uh, next we have raisements to the district's bond committee, which is the new facilities committee. >> I can just go with the

025motion. Yeah, >> sorry. >> You can just go with the motion. >> Do I have a motion? >> Yeah. I move to appoint Virginia Isabella as the district's um bond committee that we just filmed. >> Great. All those in favor, please say I. I. Um chair votes I the motion passes. Um the next one I wanted to talk a little bit about before we vote on it because um I did hear from two of the other boards. I checked with them and with this is leazison to the 2x2 by 2 by two which is going to have another two to it as well. Um because Santa Clara is going to join. So, I did want to let you know that they um the other boards appointments for the school year, even though we are boards

026by the our appointments by the calendar year. So, um I'm happy to finish the year. I'm also happy to let someone else attend if they have a burning issue that they would like to do um there. But I think since this is the first time Sunnyville has been involved in this, this is where um Certino Union has been coordinating the meetings because they have they're a union school district. They have several cities they work with. So they go to Los Altos and then they go to Certino and >> San Jose and now they're just starting Sunnyale. >> So we've had two meetings so far this year. The idea is it's a recorded like four times a year meeting. Um, and we just we just started to talk about things that we could work on together,

027but then they realized that we did not have Santa Clara Unified in the room, so we'll be inviting them. So, it's still kind of warming. >> Um, so I just right now and we did not have a we had it the idea was president plus one. So we could go with um you know uh president and vice president which is how we started the the conversation with them. Um not all boards do that. Um Michelle had an interest. Um so you know I'm happy whatever does anyone have a strong interest like they really want to do this or what should we make a motion to discuss? We can discuss first or we need to make a motion. discuss >> to discuss. Do you have a motion? >> You can I think you can finish the

028school year. >> Start next year. >> Make a motion at the table. >> No. >> Okay. So your motion is to have it be motion that you finish this the school year and then in August we start you know in the next school year >> and keep keeping other president and vice president and then we do president but starting in August the other >> okay and they okay Um, now the only downside is that like I think that you know I mean if Michelle you have an interest in city government right and you would like to participate in that and it's still forming so that might be you know interesting for you like to to be a part of that or >> it is something I would love to be a part of. >> Yeah.

029Okay. So, um, so then I would >> I Yeah, maybe you could change the motion to include Michelle in that and, um, >> as a frame. >> Yeah, just start now. >> And then we could maybe if everyone else is going to do that's so that would be my I that's what I would like to do is I'll do Peggy and then if everyone else is going to continue like beginning of school year, then maybe I would stop step off. So we would have that lit. >> Yeah. Like if that's but if everyone changes to calendar January year then I would just stay on till December. Yeah. >> But then if everyone's getting new people August then I would go off and then you would join on. >> Okay. >> Does that seem good? >>

030Yeah. Because I think still like because Sinclair Unified hasn't even been at the table with us yet. It's still kind of it's not a big deal. Yeah. Let's let's So you made a motion and you seconded. >> We're ready to vote. >> Yes. >> Okay. All those. Yes. >> Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Okay. Chair votes I. Motion passes. Um. All right. And then we have our DACA um district English learner advisory committee. I have a motion for um trustees Brewster and Trustee Hubus Glen. It's a quarterly meeting. I'll second. >> Okay. All those Any discussion? Good. All those in favor please say I. I. >> Chair votes I. The motion passes. Um, we discussed this also in our meeting. Uh, so I have a motion. Um, I'd like

031to nominate Trustee Bino and trustee Flemish to the Sunny Bell challenge team. >> Is there a representative? >> So, I'll second. But when I saw my name there, I can I mean, I'm fine being an alternate, but I think it's Thursday I like going when I can, but I think it's Thursday mornings and I now have a class on Thursday mornings. Okay. So I will rarely be able to attend. So I don't I don't remember my niece being this is also in the middle of all my grandpa's stuff. So >> yeah sure >> my Okay. Isabelle, do you still want to be the leazison for challenge team? >> Yeah. >> So I can be the alternative unless want to. I just will rarely actually be able to attend those meetings. >> Okay. >> Attending them

032and I can continue. >> Yeah. So maybe you're the alternative. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So do we want to modify motion? So, let me modify my motion to have it be um is Isabelle as the primary and Peggy as the alternate. >> I I was the original. >> Oh, you were. Okay. >> And so, second. >> Okay, great. >> Uh and just a reminder to everybody, right, this is this is some of the this is not really appropriate for other board members to go to, but because this is not directly our districts, any board members can go to this anytime. Um, Evelyn, are you on the email list yet for the Sunnyville Challenge team? >> Okay. Could we Who >> I think you can just >> I say on the list then Michelle maybe you

033could just email >> for for adding everyone in. Yeah, because it's just nice to like So I I can't go anymore, but it's just so nice to like see the stuff. And if you can I guess you work on Thursdays, so you usually wouldn't be able to attend, but >> it's nice to like hear about things in the community that are all youth focused in the city. Okay. Um, so all those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Great. Chair votes I. And the motion passes. Um, and then we're on to it's le it's for just for our purposes lesson on to the Sunnyville Education Foundation. Um, this is something that's uh nominated controlled somewhat by the Ed Foundation, but it's a two-year appointment, so we don't actually need to nominate her right now

034because she you're they run through June. Um that might be something that um in the future like I actually think all board members should serve on the ed foundation at some point because it gives you that opportunity to see across the district. So Evelyn if you're interested in doing that like it's a two-year term. It's Saturdays. Um but yeah, it's I would future in the future. Okay. Yeah. In the future I um I'd like to see because I work Saturdays too on some Saturdays. So to miss it. So that's my >> Yeah. And it's not every Saturday. It's one Saturday a month and >> yeah, >> but you could you could go and see it one time like maybe you could attend as a guest at some point just check it out. Okay, great. So

035um so we're not going to even motion on that to the neighborhood association. Uh we had discussed about myself and trustee um Shen Brewster being a the leaison to the neighborhood association. Um but uh in in between meetings, Trusty Shen Brewster and I talked in the car and we were wondering if that might be something that Evelyn might want to join. Join >> I think they said it was a quarterly um meeting and it's on Monday evenings at the city hall. Would you guys Monday? >> And sometimes on Zoom I think it alternates between in person and Zoom >> because I work on Mondays too every other Monday. So I just don't want it to fall on the Monday that I am working at. Do you know what time? Why don't why don't we put

036you on air >> and then um >> within one of you so she can't go. >> Yeah. Like so and I'm going to suggest that it's me so that Peggy can do her present team thing. >> Yeah. I think it's like 7 7:30 it should be late enough for me to be able to join. >> Okay. >> Did you say Zoom or >> you can do Zoom as well? >> Yeah. Okay. So I have a motion for to make the to the neighborhood associations. Um myself as primary and Evelyn and no myself and Evelyn and then Peggy as an alternate >> I think it is primary. >> Oh sorry I apologize. Evelyn is primary >> and you >> and me is alternate. Okay. I like that even better. >> And then if you're both not

037available then you can reach out to my second. Okay. He seconds. >> Trusty Shster seconds. Thank you. Um, all those in favor, please say I. >> I. Okay. Uh, and then there is a short note here for acknowledgement of board presidents, but we did the slideshow. And well before I can if I may, we also want to present this plaque of appreciation to Bridget Watson, president Sagal School District Board of Education January 25 through December 25 for her steadfast commitment to sound governance strategic leadership strengthen our collective work and advance the district's core initiatives. Oh my goodness. >> Oh my gosh. Okay. >> As well as our incoming president. Thank you. We'll be taking pictures in a few. Okay, that sounds great. Yeah, go ahead. You you So, I just want to say, you know,

038thank you to the board and thank you, Dr. Crossplate and to your whole team. Uh it feels uh you know, very odd that the year is over because it seemed feels like it's just been a sprint for a long time here, you know. So, so but um you know my whole uh my whole goal this year was to build a um position with getting a trustee on board and going through the whole process with the community to um find and select and board Dr. Crossley and I'm really excited for um the year ahead because you know I just I'm just here to support you and to support the team in the district and um I'm just planning to continue doing that from a different chair. So here thank you so much and um the flowers

039are beautiful and I love the flag with the cute little owl. So adorable. So thank you Um, hi Bridget. I want to thank you for your leadership. Um, the way you have welcomed me as well as um, the other two members of our governance team with um, such grace has been just so inspiring. Um, I am so impressed by the way that you lead with kindness and welcoming and I just really appreciate you including me in every step of the way so I feel prepared to take this next step and um I credit you for for all of that community building and um thank you so much. >> Thank you. And and we have more work to do so I'm I'm sure that we're all in really good hands with you as a leader. I

040really believe in you. Thank you. Okay, so um right now are we >> Oh, I'm sorry. Um any other comments? Go ahead. I just wanted to thank you for your leadership. >> Thank you for your leadership, which is always amazing. >> You are like a trail racer. You always do. You do so much that it's always a difficult act to follow in everything you do. And that's how it should be like you always keep not just the extra miles like the extra five miles and make presentations and graph and and sell sheets and present to everybody and explain it. Whatever you do is always like that and we're very to have you and we keep having you for many many years. Thank you so much. And >> I just want to say thank you for

041your service. I know it takes a lot of extra time doing echo what they say and I appreciate it. >> Thanks. Yeah, I just so great working with you and I'm just I'm so excited to see what we all can do together. Okay. So, um we're gonna >> pause pictures. >> Okay. We're going to take a short pause. We're going to take a few pictures of our new configuration as a board and um let's let's just plan for Okay, just give us 10 minutes and then we will resume the meeting. Thank you. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Excellent job. Nice job everyone. over here. >> Good job, Chargers. >> You're ready. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Nice job. >> I love all the artwork, too. Very nice. Now we got >> Yeah. No,

042I was like, "What happened? It's >> right there. take them off. >> I guess you just take them off. Right in the middle there. I'm just wondering about like >> Do we want to try some after this with all of us standing too? Maybe. >> Yeah, we could do that. And everybody in the back, just come up as far as you can to the chair. That gets everybody in a good plane of focus. >> So much smiling. All right, here we go. >> We don't love that. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> You come right up. President, come right in here. Oh, sorry. >> I'm like blinking all the time. >> All right. This looks nice. >> Can you look? There's at least one where I'm not blinking. >> I think I'm a whole bunch of

043cheeks. >> I was for sure blind. face. >> Um, I can take some of it off. Yeah, I'll put a little skin smoothing. >> What's that? because it looks better when all your heads are about the same. >> Thank you. >> Like All right. >> Standing in front of this looks better than >> Evelyn. Evelyn one picture. Thank you. Oh yeah. And then all of her Yeah. So, yeah. >> What's the most important part? Thank you. Yeah. Highly recommended. Yeah, the real bell. >> Can I get a picture? >> Yeah, right now. >> Take one more up. Okay. >> Yeah, that's right. >> All right. >> Grab the flowers. You said to do it in front. >> Yeah. All right. a few months ago. I don't remember who I bought this. Thank you. Just want

044to say congratulations. You want to take your water? This is your computer. Unless he has the first and then I don't know this next Are you sure? much more than usual. It is 7:24 and I'm calling back to order this regular meeting of the board of education on December 11th, 2025. As the new president of the Sunny Bell School District Board of Trustees, I'd like to thank my colleagues and the community for your confidence in my leadership. Educating the next generation of thoughtful and engaged humans is our responsibility and our delight. And as a former middle and elementary school teacher and teacher union representative, I'm firmly committed to ensuring our district develops intentional and sustainable systems in which staff are respected. as professionals and supported in their work with appropriate high-quality materials and meaningful professional

045development. By deepening existing collaborations and developing new partnerships with the community, I'm confident the district can continue to close opportunity and achievement gaps with the belief that all children are capable and deserve solid foundational education from which to achieve their dreams with the joy and purpose we've promised. As a member of the community and with two kids enrolled at one of our title one schools, I'll continue to champion accountability, transparency, and integrity in our system. We'll continue to grow communication and build trust between the district and the community. With our unified governance team and with clarity of direction and purpose, Sunnyville is positioned to become a school system that truly honors and serves all students, knowing them by name. celebrating their strengths and meeting their unique needs with immense optimism about the opportunities that abound.

046Again, thank you for entrusting me with the honor of serving as board president for this year. >> Okay, we are moving on to item number 10 reports. >> We we noticed something that got split earlier. 9B. >> Yeah. The appointment of the secretary of the board. >> You don't mind doing that? >> Yes. Yes. Um 9B. We are moving on to the appointment of the s of the secretary of the board and as our superintendent um he is our secretary um by default. So I I move to um appoint Dr. Crossweight as secretary to our board. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? Hi. >> Okay, moving on. We're going to student reports. Thank you so much for your patience here. Good evening, board president Watson, trustees, superintendent

047crossway, and community. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to represent Senville Middle School and voice our students. My name is Lauren Zang. I'm in eighth grade and I serve as the vice president of our student body for Sunday middle. Tonight we will update you all on a few of the fun events that have taken place over the course of the last four weeks. The leadership activities team went all out to host our first dance of the year on November 14th with a theme of sweater weather. Approximately 250 students attended this exciting gathering and we know it created valuable memories along with the chance to socialize outside of school. As part of that class, I can sense the growing connection among our students from our collective effort put into the event. In terms of sports,

048the sixth and seventh grade girls volleyball teams worked hard and made it to the championship games. In addition, five or six wrestlers advanced to sectionals. Today, we have a guest speaker from the seventh grade girls volleyball to elaborate on her experience participating with the team. Now, please welcome Ellie. Good evening everyone. My name is Elizabeth Tess, but you can call me. I am a seventh grader at Sunnyville Middle School and also an overachiever, which is why I want to participate in school extracurriculars and sports, including volleyball for sixth grade last year and seventh grade this year. If I could describe my volleyball explorers with one word, it would be improvement. This is because that was one of my greatest achievements during this particular season. I really appreciated how kind and helpful my coaches were. And

049that is half of the reason I improved as much as I did. from learning how to hit better to doing hard balls that I would have never been able to do without a supportive leader guide me. Them along with my teammates always knew when I needed my space to practice something on my own or when I had a rough day and just needed to clear my head. My teammates also always made sure that I was performing the best I could and that I had a smile on my face no matter if I hit a ball out or I made an amazing play. Playing on the volleyball team gave me an opportunity to change my mindset on how I could play from I can't do this effort to I can't do this yet and also increased

050my confidence and desire to get better. I would stay after practices to work on what I needed to my coaches happily cheer on my teammates when I wasn't playing and learned to shake off my nerves if I messed up during games or even practice which I never used to do. This skill also began to weave into my life in general from school to church work, which I'm grateful for. Overall, although we ended our season in second place after our championships, I feel this is one of the best seasons I've ever had with any sport I've played and I and definitely still felt like home to me just in a special way just to my team and I thank my school for making the opportunities possible. Thank you all for listening and I appreciate the time

051given to me to share my perspective. Now, please welcome Alicia. >> Good evening. My name is Alicia Chen. I'm in seventh grade and I serve as treasurer and also part of the leadership activities team. One thing I learned in leadership this year is that taking initiative and actively encouraging the team is a crucial part of efficiently maintaining through complicated obstacles. Recently we had our academic award ceremony which celebrated and recognized our students for all their hard work. Around a thousand students and families showed up and celebrated their students achievements. High academic honors were given to students who earned averages of 3.75 or higher and principal awards were presented to students who achieved all four in their content grades. This Tuesday we also held our winter concert where our band orchestra and choir performed. During the

052concert, our cooking class organized a student led fundraiser, selling a book to raise money for the Sunnybell Education Foundation. It was a wonderful night that highlighted both our students talents and the importance of giving back. To conclude, many thrilling events have happened over the past month. We are excited to come back and share with more and share more with you all next time. On behalf of the rest of Sunnyville Middle School, we appreciate you all for taking the time and interest to learn about what's happened at our school. Thank you, Lauren, Ellie, and Alicia. And now I'd like to welcome the um CMS student representatives, please. Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Isabelle. I'm going to be talking about Oh, I am in eighth grade. I'm going to be telling you about the STR program

053at Columbia Middle School. >> Hi, my name is Jackson Band and I'm in sixth grade. I'm going to be telling you about the Hunos program at Columbia Middle School. >> Hi, my name is Bachelor Fuentes and I'm in seventh grade. I'm going to be telling you about the AV program at Columbia Middle School. >> We will first start off by telling you what a typical day in each of our programs. A typical day in Strive is working on how to be cordial. If you're prepared for high school, they also teach you how to advocate. The Strive teachers take us to field trips like Pizza My Heart and colleges. One thing I like about the Strive program is when you are stuck in work and scared to ask a teacher for help or just need extra

054support, you can ask your teachers if you could go to the SH room and get help from from an adult there. They have a lot of expectations for us being on time to class in your work and being respectful to your teachers. If you ever need someone, you have three adults and an amazing counselor there to help help or prepare you for anything. >> A standard day, sorry. A standard day in AVID looks like many students talking with their tablemates, discussing a quick write at the start of the period. A quick write is an activity where everybody in class gets their aid notebooks and writes about a picture or prompt that is on the projector screen in front of the classroom. Sometimes we as students may not have a quick bite. But if we do

055not, that means there is another important activity to do. After we finish all of our quick writes, Mr. Brown, our teacher, pulling us from class dojo to choose who will talk about their quick writes and expand on what they mean about what they wrote. The mood in the classroom is always decently relaxing with only a few people having side conversations. A typical day with those starts at 7:40 a.m. with a quick overview of the agenda and we read for 8 minutes and sometimes we read or do a complete test or warm up test and sometimes Miss Yog sign it on Google Classroom. We have to write it in our journals. Then she assigns an ad puzzle and we have to work on that for the rest of class or she has a test and we

056have to work on that. Later we as students have one more class in Spanish which is social studies and during social studies we will always write down the homework and our agendas and then we will do either an ed puzzle or some sort of vocabulary activity with DCI in mind. Sometimes we'll do a drawing and writing project which is always simple straightforward so it's easy to comprehend and we just get confused. The mood in the room is always quiet in the morning because we have to wake up so early. Next we will share three things we are working on in our programs. >> One important project we are doing right now in STR is high school prep. They are getting us ready for high school and helping us pick our classes and making sure we

057can advocate and ask for help. Another really important project is the blog. The blog is something that is holding me back from success. And everybody everyone has a blog. My blog is staying quiet and not asking for help. And what that make does to me is makes me fall behind in class. But with the help of Stripe, they help me how to ask for help and advocate and not and not fall behind. In AVID, one important assignment everybody in class has been working on is our TRF. A TRF stands for tutorial request form. It is a piece of paper we can use to write up things are confused at the moment. for a topic in the TRF. It could be anything related to school subjects, for example, math, science, ELA, and so on and so

058forth. Another important thing we are working on class is learning a lot about how to ask questions and being prepared for college like also practicing for social skills as well in class. Lastly, one of our most recent assignments have been writing about and the stuff we do. For example, what, how, and why the things we work on are important. We try to we try to focus on the why of the work first and the importance of what we are doing. >> Thing we have been working on in Hudos is our Spanish skills. For example, our teachers make us try in Spanish before we talk in English so that we can practice and get better. Another thing that we have been working on is we have been trying to be able to do our daily routines

059all in Spanish and quickly so that we can practice Spanish and even have extra time. So we are practicing to have extra time for other things. Our last important project is that we are trying to finish our book to learn about Francisco to practice our Spanish and our grammar and our grammar. For example, whenever we do our code tests, Miss Papio always waits for us to point out any mistakes that she sees to see if we are paying attention and if we understand how the Spanish grammar works. Next, we'd like to tell you about the important things we have learned. Three things I have learned from Strive is I learned what my love is and I also learned how to be cordial and how to advocate. I have learned how to get to school on

060time and how to turn in my work on time to ask for help and to not be scared of anything. I can always count on strive for any life event situation. Three things I have learned so far in my elect are summarizing important text which could be from socratic seminars or just a piece of text from the book. Something else I've learned so far is by talking to people and socializing with them is important to understand your own self better helps expand on new ideas and be more creative. Lastly, one of the most important things I've learned is to ask questions. Because if you really want to know about something, you need to speak up about what you want to ask about or what you are confused about. I personally think that this is the

061most important for everybody because sometimes asking is all it takes to make you realize what you've been stuck on for a good amount of time. >> Few things I've learned from the do are how to speak and comprehend Spanish. I have also learned a lot about how different or similar Spanish and English grammar can be which helps when we need to spell in English and if it is similar to Spanish and we can use the Spanish word to help spell the English one. Lastly, one of the most important things that I have learned is how to be prepared for class even though it is very early and being able to focus in class because they're so early is difficult. Finally, we would like to tell you why each of our programs are important to our

062school and what students get from being a part of them. Stress is important for us because we have three adults that we can trust and we can get help with work and homework. We have a safe place whenever we need anything. We can always count on them. We get lots of help in class for example when we don't want to be in a class because the teachers be or just to be quiet place to work oneonone. We can ask the teacher if he can step out to go through the strike class and he can't say no. >> Abid is important because it really helps students understand such be prepared for college. What me and other students get from being in the program is the clarification that it is okay to not be correct or to

063have the correct answer. It is a safe space in heaven. >> Is important because it teaches us how to wake up early and how to speak and understand Spanish. And us students get a big head start on Spanish because compared to those who start taking it out in high school and it is easier for us to learn more things in Spanish because we started at a younger age. Thank you for your time. >> At this time I'd like to welcome all six of the students to come up and take a quick picture with us. Yeah, maybe board members behind so everybody Got it. I can see everyone's faces. Awesome. Ready? One, two, three. And one more. One, two, three. Got it. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. We will now move on to the

064superintendent's report. Dr. Crossway. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. Uh let's go to the next slide please. So just want to give you a brief update in terms of hideout for ELA's mass number charts and then you can see the titles and uh we got 31 teachers across the district representing eight elementary schools including uh special education and let's go to the next slide. And so we're also going to be inviting our families to learn more about the pilot process as well as get a chance to see the curriculum and review the materials and provide us feedback as well. So there you can see the upcoming dates for our families to be engaged as well. And we'll be providing more information out to the community about this opportunity as well. And we go to the

065next slide. So want to let the community know that we are partnering with think together to expand our afterchool program options. Um and through this process explore a feebased option to support more families. Currently uh Sunnyville school district is known as a tier 2. I don't want to get too much into the technical details here, but if you have more than 75% of your students who are identified as interest earners or low income, you're considered tier one. So, Sunny Mill is considered a tier 2 district and we're required to prioritize our ELAW funds for low-inccome and English learners who are interested in the program. Um but we also have the flexibility as a tier 2 district to serve other students um and also explore the option of how to cover those additional costs. Um so

066this is a wonderful opportunity and we're looking at about 200 additional slots. We currently serving about 436 students and uh looking at Bishop Ellis Lakewood and San and some more information will be going out to families of the community next month and we're hoping to be able to launch this program by the end of January, early February. And let's go next slide, please. >> Yes, of course. >> So, you listed four schools, but we had originally heard that there's two. Are we expanding it? >> Yeah, so we're looking to expand that. there's so much need in the community and initially we were talking about two schools. However, some of the schools like Sen um even though there wasn't a wait list it was because also families were were interested but also knew that there weren't

067really slots available >> and so but as we make this information available more and more families it is a huge need in the community. >> Yeah. >> And next slide. Yes. question about >> I have a question about that. Do we know like an approximate ballpark cost for per month to do or >> Mr. 480 >> roughly about 480 is what I'm looking at. I know that families are spending upwards of over $1,000 right now. >> Sure. And if we go to the next slide, just want to give an update on the food distribution. Again, I want to thank everyone who came out to support uh including the Sunny Valley Education Foundation that raised over $22,000. It's a testament to the commitment and the support from the community. We were able to support over about

068400 families who received additional food on two different days. Uh we directly targeted some families and u also made it available for other families, other Sunnyville School District families. So, we're going to continue that next Friday the 19th from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. here at the district office in the parking lot. And you don't need to register, you don't need to sign up, just need to be a Sunnyville School District family. And um our staff has been working really hard. We got volunteers helping uh get the packages ready. And so, we're welcoming families again. And I know a lot of families that came out. We're very appreciative and very grateful. And uh you know it's it's tough out there. Uh families are it's tight and we don't have one of them. We know that

069families are having an empty side between paying rent, buying gas, and buying food. And we want to be able to help out as much as possible with these efforts as well. And just lastly tonight for your consideration, we have an item on Oh yes. And uh so this is uh nearly 17,000 uh gift cards were distributed. And there you see the the numbers across the schools. And then on the third column where it says cards distributed at the district, those were gift cards that were also included in the uh food distribution um as well. So just to rough you the numbers of cards that were distributed as well, which is about 17,000 plus in total funds there. And then lastly, I just want to make a notice that tonight the board will be considering item

07013D, which is an opportunity for the school district to explore an early retirement incentive. And this is an opportunity for us to explore other alternative ways of reducing our expenditures without having to go directly to a layoffs. and we've been in conversation with our two associations, SCA, our teachers, as well as our classified CSEA. And um we'll be providing more information should this be approved tonight uh next week to all of our employees as well. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Crossweight. We are moving on to board member reports. We will go down the line starting with Trusty Watson. Okay, great. So, um I am gonna send my uh activities in, but uh trustee Huba Slimmerton and I both went to DACA the other night. So, I did want to

071give a little report out about that meeting. Um the DAC committee is very interested in learning more of and about the EL curriculum and um some of the dates that were on there were shared with the DAC committee but not all of them and I not sure if that was because based on like what was upcoming or in between their next meeting. So, um, but I don't know if there's any way for them to get like a special visit from someone who's familiar with the ELD pilot process. Um, but they were really interested in it. Uh, the meeting also seems kind of short for the amount of information that they're interested in, not for what they're scheduled to cover, but for um like their questions that they're having. uh they're very interested in uh exploring

072the idea of ELD after school support and they were told we were told at the meeting that there is one school in the district that's currently um doing that or has just started doing that and they're really interested in ways to help their students at home so that they can test out of EL. They had questions about what is the typical how long should they expect their children to be in ELD? And then even though they wanted to um they wanted to get support for helping their students um at home, they're also very interested in wondering if there could be some sort of like an afterchool or inschool program where they could do test taking strategies or work with the practice test in a school environment because even though they were told in the meeting

073um you know was kind of referred to them that they should be practicing the practice tests at home. They said, "Well, you know, at home the kids are distracted. They might go get a little snack or something." And they and they were also very curious about like the whole administration process. So, they had like pretty good questions um from the previous meeting that were answered in this meeting and then they had more questions. So, it was like they're going to have to wait for several more months. So, um maybe somebody who's uh you know familiar with the ELD like uh actual administration of the test and things like that that might be a helpful person to have. Uh but it it was a really positive meeting. They used wordly for the first time uh and

074it was keeping up with the conversation. So it was really good for two translation and um people were a little shy because we're still mostly speaking in English in the meeting but um when people would drift into other languages now and then uh you could see it picking that up and people were translating into their heritage language the conversation as well and um so it was very that was very positive and um I want to thank the district for working on that. I'll send everything else in online. Um, I just wanted to Is it on? Um, and I always like when I'm in this spot that's always like the I feel like this is the worst spot cuz like almost everyone's here but then you like are not looking that person like this is so

075I apologize Bridget. This is the hardest spot over the years to be in. >> This is the best everybody. Yeah. >> So I'm not like Yeah. Yeah. It is a tricky spot. Um anyway, I just wanted to say I think you know the annual schoolboard conference is great to go. I think uh for me I think I said most of you like the first two years I learned a lot of stuff and now it's less about I mean I get little tidbits here and there but it's the relationship building and the connecting with people like mostly with us and we we get to other people but I just um I value that and so that was super great. Um, and then I'll just share one thing as kind of going through my notes of stuff

076I did learn. Um, and I thought this was a good one. I think someone was in this one with me. Maybe it was Peggy. I can't remember. Um, but it was uh about being a smarter communicator communicator, staying cool when the heat is on. And they had these um kind of five Bs. So, it was be ready. And I think this is like good even when it's not necessarily like heat the heat is on just good principles, right? Be ready. Be thoughtful. Be decisive. Be clear. Be quiet. And monitor. I just thought that was really good. That's it. Um, hi. >> Hi. Hi. So, um, Oh, no. No. I'm at a spot. >> Yeah, you're like in the middle between the two. So, I went to my first um CSBA um conference ever in my

077life. Um and that was really fun. Um I was telling the board that I felt like I was a student um trying to register for like classes or workshops and then and then also looking for the the meeting rooms and tons and tons of people. Um, but it was really fun and I I learned a lot about um the different things that I um uh attended at the workshops. And then um it was it was also fun to to be with um you folks um just getting to know each other and um you know uh eating and um dancing. So that was all fun. Um and then I quickly had to come home that Friday um and help Fairwood's um family dance. So, we made food cups and sold tickets. Um, it was a big

078turnout. Um, it was like a spring turnout. Um, a lot of families came out and that was nice. Um, and then the next day, um, we had the Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association, um, parade, holiday parade, and it's our second year doing that. Um, and we had, um, it was so nice to, um, see the Fremont High School um, marching band um, perform. And then as well as the Girl Scouts and my daughter's in the Girl Scouts, so she was there holding the little um you know sign and then the Boy Scouts um spirit of Sunnyville, Mayor Klein came out, Patrick Erands was there, I fle was a lot of fun. Um our principal um Roander was there and so was the Lakewood um principal. So um you know at the end there was cookies and

079and chocolate um hot cocoa. We had the classic war riders and motorcycles. It was it was a big um it was a big deal. It was a big event. Um and we're looking forward to having it again next year. I saw the photos of that. It was great. >> Well, the main thing I think is the annual education conference in Sacramento, which was great. It was a lot of very interesting sessions and workshops. Before that I had the delegate assembly for two days. It was a lot of work. They didn't give us any break and it was but it was very interesting and very rewarding during the oh and other than that there have been some meetings with the legislation action committee and the dag and I will send my report later. >> Thank you.

080Um I have also sent in my activities. I want to congratulate you trustee Flemish for being a VP, elected VP of CLSBA. Um we were really excited to join you at that unity lunchon as well. Um it's been a while since our last regular meeting. So, I do want to reiterate that we had a meeting um with project cornerstone lead Debbie Headley and um explored some other options including some staff trainings um and excited to um to pick up perhaps some more programs. Um we already pay we have a contract and we pay for everything so um we could use more um so we're looking into that. Um, I also went to a multicultural night at Bishop Elementary and a kindergarten teacher, Mr. Joe, and his wife, who is not pregnant this year, but she

081did do this pregnant, they had this like very coordinated, adorable K-pop dance that I'm always like marriage bulls here. They are um fantastic. And we had some other um student performances including um Elsa Nunes brought um some some of her her own kids and students here at Foca and we have our own very own Bishop Toras and they had a a great dance ukulele um uh really good time um great food and then um the other thing I want to report is on Tuesday night I was able to stop by the winter concert at SMS. Um, I honestly could not stop stay very long because I had Andy with me and she'd been out all day. But we did cash on sixth grade and and um at the same time there was a fundraiser that

082was coordinated by students of Mr. Herrera of the food and nutrition and they cooked and baked all this food and there's also some crafts and they were selling that and all those proceeds um went to Sunnyville Community Services and um and they were matched by SCES. So until some about 4,200 with race in that one night. Um and really really amazing to see students um kind of have that agency and just be able to go with that. Um all the principles there at the editing are very supportive. Um that's it. Thank you. At this time we'd like to hear from the Sunnyville Education Association. If this if there's an official representative online, please use the raised hand if you wish to speak. Not seeing any. Thank you. At this time, we'd like to hear from

083the California School Employees Association. If there's an official representative online, please use raised hand sign if you wish to speak. >> Okay. At this time, we'd like to hear from the Sunnyville Education Foundation if there is a representative here. She's walking up. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry. Uh, good. Is it on? >> Good. Yeah. Okay, there we go. Uh, good evening everyone. My name is Courtney Jansen and I'm here on the Foundation's behalf as our programs chair. Uh, our president Michelle is actually planning to come to the next board meeting and provide a much more detailed update. So, I'm not going to steal her thunder, but I just wanted to say thank you for the call out earlier. Um, and thank you for your partnership with everything and the speed SSD students has been

084successful. So, I'm not going to steal Michelle Thunder, but thank you. We super appreciate everything that you're doing. >> Thank you. At this time is a this is a time um for public to comment on things that are not in the agenda. This portion of the agenda provides an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the governing board on any item of interest to the public. However, provisions of the Brown Act Government Code 54954.2A and.3 preclude any action being taken on any item not appearing on the posted agenda. Um time time limits allocate um public testimony to three minutes or 20 minutes um for public comment. Speakers are asked to give their name and affiliation. So an accurate record is reflected in the minutes. I see one card. Um if you are online

085and would like to speak on this item, please use your raised hand feature now. Okay. Welcome speaker Courtney Jansen. >> Okay. the real reason I'm here tonight. Sorry. So So now I am still Courtney Jansen, but I'm speaking on my own behalf as a parent, as you know, with two kids in the San Diego program. And I wrote my notes like 4 days ago and I didn't look at them, so bear with me. But um I want to talk tonight about field trips. And I'm not doing this in my ed Foundation hat. I'm doing this just in my parent hat. Um the short version is that I would like a message from the board, from the superintendent, from the director, our chief of teaching and learning, director of teaching and learning um reaffirming the importance

086of field trips within our district for our students and that field trips are a fundamental part of their learning experience um on par with you might say math or writing. I have seen situations in which field trips are used as um well bribery is the word that comes to mind. There's probably a better word to get students to do what they need to do and to behave in class. And we would never tell a student if you don't behave you don't get to go to math class or if you don't behave you don't get to go to science. And similarly we should never be telling students if you don't behave you don't get to go on a field trip. Um learning happens not just in the classroom and I know several students who talk about

087field trip experiences months after it happened. My third grader still talks about field trips with each other in first grade. So, they're critically important um in situations where we have students who are having a difficult time working on their behavior in class and I would like to encourage teachers that we have the resources for them so that they can address that behavior in ways that don't require field trips as leverage. Um I also know that there is talk about field trips being held as leverage at the end of the year and and actually this is true anyhow because we don't do field trips every week. So, you know, kids get a filter maybe once a month or once a trimester. And everything we know about how to teach kids and behaviors and rewards and punishments

088says that those punishments or consequences need to happen immediately. They need to be short. So, if you have a kid who's not behaving and you say, "Hey, if you don't behave in a month and a half, you don't get to go on that field trip." That means nothing to an elementary school student. Heck, it doesn't really mean a lot to adult either. But we need to be tailoring how we address student behavior to what we know is the effective way for them to learn and for them to address the consequences. So to kind of go back where I'm at, I think it would be very powerful for a message to go out to all staff, principles, assistant principles, teachers, etc. from you guys that says field trips are essential to our students education. um they

089should not be used in any sort of way to um enforce the behavior that we're looking for and to help provide those tools that teachers need to uh get that behavior that they're looking for to make sure that they know that they're supported and do not have to use field trips as leverage. Also goes for assemblies too, but I assume that would obvious. Uh thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Miss Jones. I'm looking at the script and I see there's a chunk of text that I did not read. So I'm going to quickly read that just uh precautionary. Um as a reminder per our board bylaw 9323 the board shall not prohibit public criticism of of its policies, procedures, programs, services, acts or emissions during public comment. We encourage speakers to discuss issues

090with civility to treat people whose opinions differ from their own with respect and to focus on ideas, policies and values. Okay. U we will be moving to the next item. And that is the consent agenda for >> Oh, for right now. Yes. >> Um, we have one more comment, public comment from the audience in person. Um, and >> thank you so much. I'm a Sedley. I'm a parent of a Sunnyville Middle schooler um in sixth grade and then my older two are senior and freshman at Fremont um all came up through Fairwood and Sunnyville Middle and I didn't prepare something cuz I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay long enough to give comments. Um but one thing that has been kind of um something I've been wanting to share and follow

091up on is transportation related. Um, so excited to have the buses and the extended bus service, especially for the middle schools, which tend to be further away than where students live. Um, but I've been really disappointed to see and hear about how they're consistently late. And I think there's this really weird weird dynamic that's happening where we're wanting to reach out and serve under served students, but then giving them this program that's making them late for school like a few times a week, which is kind of um significant. Um, one of the reasons we chose not to do the bus is I wanted there to be space for other kids. Um, and then also because it's so late. Um, and that was in prior years. Um, for my other students, um, my middle schooler wants

092to do it next year, but I don't think that I can let them if the bus is two, three times a week more than 5, 10, 20 minutes late. If you ask their science and math teacher, um, I maybe shouldn't name names, but Miss Lee, she's got some feedback of what that means for her class and how she's trying to accommodate students rolling in so late. Um, and that these are primarily underserved students seems especially problematic. So, I think dialing back maybe how many students are being served, if that would make a difference. Um, I'm happy to keep driving my kid and having them ride their bike. So, thank you very much for this time and congratulations to the board. >> Thank you, Steley. We're moving to item 12, consent agenda items. Any agenda on

093any item on the consent agenda is subject to review and discussion prior to being approved by the board. If necessary, any items may be removed for separate action. The public may address the board regarding any items on the consent agenda. I have one card for a member of the public who wishes to make a comment on the consent agenda. Um if there is a if there is a person that wishes to pull the item from the comment from the consent and comment on it, we may have a separate consideration or vote. Um if you would like to contribute and you are online, please raise your raise hand feature now. So the comment is from Courtney Jansen, please. Okay, this is why I came in person. So uh so Courtney Jansen San Miguel, I'm not asking

094you to like pull anything off consent or anything, so don't worry about that. I wanted to say two things. First, super excited to cast to see cast out de Flores coming back to school assemblies. They came to San Miguel last year, the year before, and the kids really liked it. So, that's great. And second, I sent you an email about this so you know, but I just wanted to share for anyone who's listening. Um, the starting arts program has been amazing and has been doing um programs for schools for several years. And one of the key supporters for that is the Ed Foundation. And I won't look at the numbers here, but the I guess the short version of this is that it's roughly 15 to$20,000 per starting arts production per school. They are unable

095to serve all of our schools for various reasons. Um and that program or those programs are funded in an assortment of funds. Uh some from the ed foundation, some from the PTX organizations, some from school sites, etc. And it looks like not that much money here and there of 20,000 and then 20,000, but when you put it together, it's probably on the order of 140 to I can't remember $160,000, which is a reasonable sum of money. And so my ask is just that we take some time to make sure that contracting with starting arts at the school site level is the right way to approach the theater needs of our students. And the answer could be that it is and that doing the status quo is what we should be doing. But I wanted to

096really flag just how much money um is being invested in this program for our students and I want us to be very intentional that yes this is what we should be doing or hey we need to adjust things here and there. So that is my ask um and I guess yes also do approve the contracts. Thank you. >> Thank you Miss Jansen. We need a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> I move that we approve >> sorry I move that we approve the consent agenda. I say so any discussion I was >> I do have one I just did I don't need to pull anything I just wanted to say that um I I see that there's a um non nonpublic school and there's some other uh special education uh you know costs in

097here. I'm not opposing them. I'm sure they're appropriate. I just would really like to see get a report on the um cost that we're spending for special education and where those funds are. Um like for example for the NPS, are we also going to be transporting the student there? Um not for this particular case, but like we have several contracts with transportation. We have several contracts with NPS's um non nonpublic schools. So, um, you know, and they're meeting the needs of children with extensive needs, and I I get that, but, um, I just kind of want to quantify it like in one place if we can get that at some point, maybe the next few months or two. That's my only >> Thank you. We've been asking for more information about special costs. Um, I

098would also like to see that. Okay. Um so we're going to vote on the consent um agenda. All those in favor >> I chair votes I. Um and the agenda items pass. We are moving on to action items. Um agenda item number 13. A pages. We're moving to a review and action. Uh A reads approval of architectural services agreement with ADIS architects for the Cherry Chase Elementary School modernization project. Um Mr. Arthur Cuffy, can you tell us more? Good evening. So this item is uh excuse me for your review. This would be the architecture service agreement for project that we presented I believe the 30th of October. Um so we we've already spoken about the scope of the project but this would um basically allow the the architects to continue the design phase. So all

099the details are under the item for any questions you may have. >> Thank you Mr. Cy. Before the board discusses it's time for public comment on this item. If there's any member of the public online who wishes to speak on this item, please use the raise hand feature. Now, if there's anyone in person that need a speaker card, >> since we have no speakers, um we would need a motion to approve this. >> I move to approve the um sorry item, the approval of architectural services agreement with AS Architects for the Cherry Chief Elementary School Modernization Project. We got a second. >> Thank you. Um is there any discussion? I am really excited about this project. Um the cherry chase has been waiting a little while and um you know just like SMS was kind

100of one of the last projects right uh now we're we're rolling forward again with Cherry Chase and I think it's a great opportunity for improving the the flow of the whole space and making the architecture match the teaching and learning that's happening. So, >> any other discussion? >> Um, I I actually have a question. I'm wondering about our architect firms and like how many do we have on contract? Have we been using ADIS for any other projects? Are there other choices that we've already been contracting with? >> Great question. So, we have several contractors or architects that we've worked with in the past. Um, for the larger projects, we have been rotating. Um, we we have QKA on the SMS projects. Um, we've worked with His in the P in the past and we'll continue

101to um vet different options. Um, every every um large project we go through a process before we select After the facility master plan, we did a a selection of architects among many biders. We selected I don't remember what three or four that are supposed to be in rotation, but we had like eight or nine that were trying to get contract with us. And then we did a pre- selection of the three main architects. >> I think um Isabelle and I talked briefly about this before when we met with um uh the fac team and um Mr. cuffy before we we're interested in I mean I'm interested in meeting with the architect um and having the architects and designers present to us about the flow of the space especially because they're talking about doing indoor and

102outdoor um and how the indoor and outdoor work together and then also this idea of a steam um you know a steam environment uh and because of where it's located on the the campus and things like that. I'm I'm hoping that we can as a board if the board is interested or maybe it's just Isabelle and I, but I'm really hoping that we can get some uh feedback to do something maybe a little bit differently, some things that were maybe talked about in SMS but didn't actually quite happen there. Um well, that could happen on that that new bond committee, right? Which is partly the purpose of that, right? >> Yeah. Correct. >> Was like to kind of have I mean we it would still come up to all of us but you guys would

103maybe have more discussion stuff. >> Yeah. So that committee would allow two of the trustees to engage in those conversations and be in front of that but we would still need to find a way to bring all of you together through a study session to get those updates and to also contribute to those conversations as well. >> And Mr. We do. So, how long ago did we go through the process to select our current architects >> for this project? >> Yeah. No, no, just in total of the architects that we're currently using. >> That predates me. >> I say Isabelle was a part of it was just after we did the the master plan, right? Like we did >> during co >> I would guess 2022 2023 around the time of the facility master plan.

104>> Yeah. Okay. So, um I've seen QKA and ADIS um regularly. What what considerations are taken when you're um deciding which firm to use versus the other for the project? >> Yeah. U so it goes through a RP process. Um the the responsive um architects would would give us you know their um their history there. There's a a long process but we go through their history, go through their approach to the project. Um we look at you know projects that they've completed. So we kind of look at their work. Um so it's a multi-tiered process that uh we will go through before selecting. >> Okay. Is there any further discussion? >> Okay. Let's uh vote. Um all those in favor I >> I votes I passes. Thank you. Moving on to 13B, approval of the

105202526 first internal budget report and the associated positive certification for submission to the Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools. Again, >> thank you. >> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you. Um again, chief business officer, Mr. >> Thank you. So, good evening. There's so many things I'd like to present about the budget. Uh we don't have a ton of time, so I'm going to do my best to condense it, but we'll jump right in. So, I always like to ground us in our promise. Every student known by name, strength, and need, I'm ready to excel in high school and beyond and to lead a life of joy and purpose. That was great. Um seeing the students earlier and just listening to their their journey that I'm so glad we started that this year. Uh again, it

106grounds us in um what what this is all about. All right. So with that, our promise is our why. It's our north star. It is what guides us. Um in achieving that goal, there are five interconnected pillars. student outcomes, belonging, engagement, uh, equitable access for English learners, system alignment, and tonight the focus of the meeting will be fifth pillars, fiscal stewardship. So the goal is to be able to to build a sustainable budget that supports learning environments. So just a overview of what we'll be talking about, we'll go through the big picture first. uh set the context for the current financial landscape. We'll look at some of the economic impacts, analyze the economy and its specific effects on our revenues. Uh we'll give a financial breakdown where we dive into some of the details of

107our expenditures, our current financial position, and then some of the strategic adjustments that uh we've been making and um the progress that we've made on in building a sustainable budget that's aligned to our our goals. So again, just to make sure everyone knows where we are in our budget cycle, it's a 15-month process. Starts in June. Um right now we're 6 months later, kind of somewhat midway. Um where we give this update, there's two two updates in the in the middle, first and second interum. This is the first to the next slide. So big picture. So the big picture um again our our objective is to navigate through some of our financial challenges um while making strategic investments in our student success. Despite some of our challenges uh there remains many positives. First is we

108are here tonight um happy to present a recommendation for a positive certification which means we will be able to meet our statutory um obligation of having a 3% reserve and current in two subsequent years. Some of our challenges uh the story hasn't changed but I'll reiterate the the bigger pieces. Property tax growth um have have hit a 10-year low. Commercial real estate markets continue to be impacted with prop reduction requests. Um costs are continuing to rise across the board, staffing, services, utilities, insurance. uh and post pandemic um we're kind of still in the post-pandemic phase where uh many positions were created with onetime funds from uh throughout the pandemic and so we're in the process of trying to close the deficit by using uh natural attrition rather than layoffs. We also uh go through some

109of our strategic shifts um rather than masking the deficit kind of really addressing it and and um making the the necessary changes um building some efficiencies in our process and in general just calibrating. We're in that stage where we're still calibrating um and finding balance between being thoughtful and supportive of our incredible staff but at the same time identifying the efficiencies that will be required to achieve sustainability. Um and again always keeping our promise some uh I won't go through everything there. So the multi-year projection again big picture what you're looking at here is the unrestricted general fund. This is kind of what it all boils down to. um if you want to know like the the health of our financials. And so the the key takeaway here is although we've made progress since the

110budget adoption um in terms of lowering our expenditures um a deficit remains. So we still have ground to cover. Uh as you see this is a snapshot based on the best information we have at this point in time. Um key point is just caution that by the end of our projections show that by the end of next year we will um officially be under the 20% local reserve cap or local reserve minimum. Excuse me. Next slide is just a visual of that. Um and so we went from 34% to 29%. Um and those are already in the books. We're projecting to go down to 26% and then following um the following years we would drop below that 20%. So work there's still work ahead of us. Little bit of the cont context about the state

111budget uh and the economy. So the state also um has a similar challenge and um they have a structure structural deficit as well. Um, I guess my better judgment, my wife was like, "This slide is too busy." And I kept it anyway. Got to listen to your wife, right? Okay. Um, shout out to her. Anyway, so the the the core takeaway from the economy and the state budget, we have mixed um mixed moves to present. So yesterday the Fed chair Jerome Pal cut the interest rates which is typically a great thing. Um we have seen a tech boom. The stock market for California is um the the state budget mirrors the stock market. So the stock market is at all-time highs and alltime valuations. But economists are um flagging caution. you know, when the last

112time we saw valuations this high was right before the.com um bubble burst. So the another large factor for the state is the actions at the federal level have shifted cost to to um states and counties and so that will be impacting them in the future. Um and so there's a lot of uncertainty with how they'll deal with that. um that additional challenge in those deficits. We'll push forward to the next slide. So, property tax growth for us, property tax is very important. Um I have that quote directly from uh Greg Monttover, the acting county assessor. Um this marks the lowest growth rate in a decade. And so we at at budget adoption we projected we would have 1.84% growth this year. Um and it it is it has come in at 1.86. So not too

113well I won't warn but I was pretty close. Okay. I'll keep the jokes for later. Um, also with revenue, we we saw um we saw sometime funds which are great, but again we we don't want to um ignore the fact that they are one time and that our expenditures are ongoing. So, the student support and professional development block grant large word uh or large acronym um is onetime funding and we've already started to use that in a strategic way. Um but it does not close the gap for us long term. Next slide. All right. So, I'm going to dive a bit into this slide. So I wanted to go over what are the largest changes from six months ago when we when you guys adopted the budget to now. So in summary, not much has

114changed with certificated salaries, but slight and this is the general fund as a whole. Uh a slight um decline, the majority of that came from uh management positions that we did not fill, certificated management positions that we did not fill. uh classified we had about a 4.3% um decline from the projection to now. Uh also natural nutrition um many of the positions that we created with the onetime funds as we uh have seen vacancies arise. We've been running them through a process and u being strategic about when we when we fill when we don't. benefits just kind of move in alignment with the salaries, the supplies. Um, we've made some good progress here. Um, in the spirit of good public fund stewardship, we are requiring uh multiple multiple quotes and competitive pricing for larger supply

115orders. Uh so for instance in operations we've had a vendor that we've worked with for many years um and we implemented this and got multiple quotes and found out sure enough we were pretty much um better off going with another vendor. So for common goods like custodial supplies we we want to go with the um get the most bang for our buck. So we captured some savings in in doing that. Uh going to services, we're down about 1.5 million in services. Um that's about 8%. So there's a lot there. And just in the spare time, I don't want to take too much time. If you if you guys have questions, I'll double click on on a lot of these for you, but um we we have made some progress. We've had some considerable progress with

116um you know, better contracts. be be consolidated. Um, and again, we're just being really thoughtful about the larger purchases for the the capital um or long-term investments is, I think, a term that people will understand better. No change. And for the the other outgo or the um the payments that we make to other funds, um we actually saw we we we had a positive um we got positive news from the state after we adopted the budget regarding preschool. So, we were anticipating that the level of funding would not be held harmless to the preandemic rates and that it would be adjusted to current enrollment, which would have been a considerable decline in revenue for our state preschool program. um due to factors that we we appreciate that didn't happen this year but we basically got

117noticed that going forward please don't bank on that hold harmless in place. So that added back um 400,000 or or lower that contribution to the state preschool fund by 400,000. And also we uh captured some of the savings from um eliminating a contracted management position in the nutrition program. So all of that is captured in that last item there for the transfer payments. Uh next slide. So I won't go through this a lot of numbers. Um again the the this is more for you guys to have but the story hasn't changed much since the last time I presented. Um more than 80% of our uh of our expenditures go lower to staff. Um we we've continued to see rising costs as I said um and yeah expenditures up 50% in just four years. I think

118it says it all. The next few slides are just visuals of that same fact just over time um by category how our cost has risen. We can go to the next slide just another pie chart. Uh and this one is just another visual of our position data. So since pre- pandemic year 201819 to now. You'll see the blue bars are our enrollment and you'll see that orange line is our staff. And so there's a divergence. Um and so we've we've come to a point where we we have to address that divergence. Wanted to include just some general costs of positions um and talk a little bit about the other associated costs outside of salary. I think when people when people typically talk about position cost they're just thinking about salary. I wanted to make sure

119that we understood there are other associated costs that are actually pretty significant. And so these are um just to give um to give you and the public an idea of the average cost for these kind of groupings of stat. Um we can go to the next slide. And this was a a just a brief um visual of if there's a $1,000 payment for a certificated employee, there's an additional uh 22% on top of that. So $1,000 becomes $1,223. For a classified $1,000 payment becomes and that doesn't include the health and welfare associate cost associated for employees. So um as you all well know the cost of health health and welfare um has been continuously increasing by enormous rates year-over-year. So our the range of the cost per employee is from zero for people that don't

120take benefits to 50 over 52,000 per employee. So that's a a real or that's a reality that our budget has to um weather. So building a sustainable future. Um the reality because our personnel cost is over 80% of our budget. The truth, the hard truth is that there is no path to sustainability without reducing the number of positions we have. Um, and our strategy is to achieve that through attrition. Um, and something we'll talk more about a potential early retirement incentive as Dr. Crossway mentioned. Next slide. So, efficient and aligned systems. So we wanted to demonstrate some of the the fiscal stewardship through um our operational efficiencies. For instance, uh we have discontinued a lot of spending on credit cards. So more than twothirds of that cost um is projected to be lowered this year.

121Uh contract protections and provisions. So, making sure that we have vetted contractors for a safer experience for our students. Um, and just better uh contract language position review. We talked about that a bit. And then continuing to to invest in our communities. Um, next slide. A few of our investments uh and needs that still remain. Um, one is a technology refresh. We had a we had a large amount of Chromebooks that we purchased during the pandemic and those are coming becoming um, what's the word J? They're at end of life. They're at the end of their useful life and the investment that would be required to replace those 4,000 Chromebooks is roughly a million dollars. So that that would be uh something that we would have to purchase late spring in order for them to

122be in place uh for student learning come next fall. Also um we we just completed the infrastructure upgrade last year where we upgraded all of our network so that um students will have connectivity uh library investment. So our library books we had our librarian Dr. deemed to do an analysis of our library books and um in short they are outdated and so we have strategically started to invest into the special reserve um about 250,000 a year similar to what we uh did for the infrastructure upgrade for technology in order to um get those upgrades and new library books to our students. Next slide. Uh it was mentioned earlier, our special ed program and our commitment to equity and serving students with disabilities um remains foundational and it it is non-negotiable. Um but the reality is

123that the program is expensive and those costs continue to escalate. Um here's just some numbers in history of the realities of the cost of the program. Um and the red numbers uh illustrate the cost to the general fund uh the contribution from the general fund to the program. And so in summary, um we have some challenges that are known. Some of them are new, some of them are not. Um but we we've made some progress. Um and we will continue to do do our best to um get us to to sustainability and again make sure that we are executing on that promise. Um, it was Isabelle again, we got to get those t-shirts. We, you said it best, but we made the promise. Now we got to go out and keep it. So, um, that's

124what we we're here doing every day. Um, night and day, we're we're trying to keep that promise. So, with that, the official business would be to, um, approve the certification of the second interim budget. Um, but hopefully the report gives you and the presentation gives you some context as to where we are. That any questions you may have. >> Thank you, Mr. Cathy. Um, before we move to public comments, are there any clarifying questions from the board? >> Okay. Is uh if there's a member of the public online who wishes to speak on this item, please use a raise hand. Now, if there is anyone here in person, I'll need a speaker card. Do we have any speakers in person or online? >> Okay, please go ahead. We have >> Thank you. Thank you so

125much for the presentation. It was awesome. um lot of details and uh we've been seeing this these trends for uh the past year um as uh you have been presenting and uh I uh have been asking around if uh we should be considering another bond measure um or parcel tax especially parcel tax um on the corporate par uh corporate buildings uh standing parcels uh the business uh side of it um to raise sufficient money for the district sustainability as well as to improve the services and um uh teaching staff and the the shortages that we are coming up with. So that's my only comment. Thank you so much. >> Thank you missa. Um discussion we need a motion to approve please. >> Okay. I move to approve the first interim budget report and associate positive

126certification for submission to the Santa Clair County Superintendent of Schools. >> I second. Okay, we have a motion and second uh discussion. >> U so I you know I appreciate all the detail that went to the report and I know there's a lot of numbers to crunch. Um to just be perfectly candid, like getting the um presentation just the day before is really hard for me. Like I I um so I I um but I really appreciate the um the visuals and I don't think that slide is too busy. That slide work for me that your life is saying. But anyway, I just um in general um you know, as far as like the C there's there's also changes in federal funding, right? Like so we're seeing I know special education is only funded it's

127supposed to be funded at 40% by the feds and then more is supposed to be made up by the state and we only ever get funded a fraction of that. Right. And then um the cost is just very different. So we're having more and more students, a higher percentage of our students um assigned to it. Is there um is there a like for the special education piece, is there like any um like one like one summary impact for like how that's affecting like the increasing cost of special education in general because the students need it, right? But so I'm not disputing that. I'm just wondering like the jump to the general fund on that one slide. It's it's substantially more than it was just a few years ago, right? So, I had I just had

128a question about like is special education um is the are the special education costly defining feature of the shortfall in addition to all the other issues? >> Yeah, it it definitely is a contributing factor. Um again the reality of the program is that it it is expensive. Um it is growing and so um definitely puts additional strain on the general fund but I I would say it it's not the only factor. >> And then my other question was about um you know the gap for declining enrollment like it looked it looked like in 2021 maybe Like I I don't really understand like exactly like it's the number of staff and the number of kids but I don't really understand that that's even though at one point like it's gone up and down and there is

129a gap there like uh how much of the gap like are are we I mean if you're saying are we overstaffed for the teaching side of it like is the teaching the average classroom is the ratio for the classroom. Like we have 24 to1 for elementary and 32 for um for upper grades fourth and fifth grade through um middle school. Is that are those ratios about in those places? I thought we saw something where like it wasn't too far off yet. So are we overstaffed in other places or also in >> Great question. I I would say we've we've made cho made choices over the years um that fit the that the time that we made those choices. I would say over the last several years the growth and I think I've given this data

130I don't have it exactly in front of me but the the largest growth has come in the classified um region. I would also say there's probably some room to overtime to um tighten our ratios, but just strictly calculating numbers, if we were to have the same amount of adults to students per student as 10 years ago, there would be a $44 million decline in in cost. just adjusting to those ratios across the board and it it would be more detailed if we looked at certificated only. So in summary, I would say um through the the increase over the pandemic, we do have um that structural gap that we need to rightsize. But um yes, there is probably some room in certificate but most likely more room in classify. >> Thank you. >> Any other discussions?

131>> Um I also had a hard time Thank you, Dr. >> Um I I also had a hard time with the a presentation. Um I I noticed from when we received um the email with the presentation um to today there was other slides that were not included and my my eyes are too old to be able to see it on this print out nor over there. Um so I'm wondering how um what expectations we can have around this kind of information coming out ahead of time and also how do we make this available to the public going forward? Yeah, we just there's no excuse. We got to make sure that we have the presentations ready when we publish the the agenda as well and when we post the minutes and uh we can keep the

132copies of the presentation. >> So, um are they how how would they be accessible to public later because you can't go add it to the agenda that has already passed, right? >> Yes. Yeah, we we still haven't made the adjust. >> It'll be in the approved minutes I think of what it's right. So like >> no he's saying he's going to change it to the agenda. >> Yeah we can modify it. You can you can add to you can add the presentation after as part of your minutes. >> Oh just as the minutes as the agenda. >> Yeah. So then so that so someone wouldn't go to this this agenda to do they could go to the agenda to look at it. >> That's where your minutes. >> So they don't have to go to

133the approved minutes. They could just go to this >> the minutes are part of that section. So let's say for this section it'll be the content but then the second part the minutes and then it'll be the attachment or the presation. >> Okay. So it won't show up until we approve the minutes. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Um okay. I'm concerned I understand that today we want to positively certify and that means that we'll have 3% reserve in this year and the next coming years. Um you had referenced um a local reserve minimum of 20%. Is that a policy that we have or where is that coming from? >> Great question. That is a resolution that the board passed. Um I was supposed to bring it back last year as a policy as a recommended

134policy because policies are better than resolutions. Um, but it is currently just the resolution that was passed by the board. >> Okay. So, it's a resolution that's not necessarily a policy. It's kind of like an aspiration. Is that correct? >> It's a practice we've had for a really long time >> because our reserve used to be much higher. >> Okay. I I just don't know the history of it because I wasn't around. But >> how long we've had that practice? I think as long as I've been on the board, we've had the like I had assumed it was a policy, but then I found out it's not just recently. But that's how like we functioned as if it was even though technically it wasn't, which is sometimes that happens, right? You have practices that you

135realize, oh, these aren't policies. We need to make the policies. Um, so I heard that we need to right size staffing and we had this upcoming item about um incentivizing early retirement, but that doesn't seem to make up for that gap in the losses, right? If we're looking at that reserves, the graph of the target reserve, um I don't know if I was slide number, but the bar graph, right? Um what other you referenced efficiencies? um what other efficiencies and calibration can we um be expecting? >> So, one of the things that we've been doing since the start of the summer is also looking at all of our major contracts 50,000 and up, right? And looking at working with HR to look at our staffing ratios and how do we compare to neighboring comparable districts

136as well, not only for certificated but for classified as well as management. Uh so looking at contracts, looking at our staffing ratios and of course during the early retirement incentive and then probably back in August, we moved forward with a limited hiring freeze to make sure that every position was something that was a critical position and wondering whether or not we needed to keep all these positions as well. We have to continue to be proactive in terms of looking at all of our costs. But then separately, we also have to be proactive in looking at how we bring additional revenues through philanthropy, uh, foundations, corporations, grants, uh, not only at the local level, statewide, but also at the national level. Uh, so we have been pursuing some of those efforts. be one of 29 districts

137in the country invited to apply for a national science foundation grant for hund00 million um which would be a lot of revenue uh potential revenue for sun but that's just one example so we have to continue being assertive in pursuing grants and also building capacity within the organization to be able to write grants on our behalf as well so those are just some of the things and the other thing is being transparent with the community and this was discussed and shared that at the state of the district um making sure that our employees are aware. So we've also had ongoing conversations with CSCA and SCA. Uh this is not unique to Sunnyville School District. Uh you're hearing from other neighboring districts in the county who are also struggling with their finances as well as larger

138systems across the state who are also, you know, having to make very difficult decisions. But we can't forget that a lot of this is also happening because of what's happening at the federal level. And what's happening at the federal level is directly impacting counties. It's definitely impacting the state of California. It's impacting some of those school districts. And of course, it's impacting our employees and our families, including our children. I I I don't know if you wanted me to go through some of the things we've already done um specific to contracts from the start of the year. >> Perhaps we can get more updates later and also be um make sure that we're transparent with the public about um what types of efficiencies we're looking at besides the early retirement. Um can I come back

139to special education? This chart that indicates that the cost per student has increased by 40% over the last six years. um to what do we attribute that really large increase? >> Can you can you project that? I mean is it on the >> slide 49? >> Is it on it's on the draft? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And if I could just start off with this is special services costs have gone up like everything else, right? So the cost of employees salaries, benefits has gone up and so that's part partially what you're seeing. But the other thing is that we have more students who are now being identified for special need services that we've had in the past. And that again is not unique to Sunnyville. This isn't a trend that we've seen across the

140state and in the country as well. So those two things together are accounting for some of this. Um and then here in Sunnyville we also have um another challenge is that we've over identified uh specifically Hispanic Latino students for special ed services and it's something that we're working on and we have a plan to be able to address that and part of that is is also looking at what are the structures before a student is identified or referred for assessment for special ed services right and so looking at a multi-ter system support also known as FTSS what are the expectations in terms of the general expectations when students are in the classroom one interventions and support differentiated support are available. And again looking at not only behavior but also looking at the academic and how

141do we build capacity with our staff to better able to serve and identify kids who have the needs and also how do we differentiate those supports for for students and then separately how do we engage our families in collaboration to partner with us and so that we're building capacity across the entire community as well. So it's multi-tered, not easy. There's a lot of districts in the county that have overidentified that specific subject as well. >> It's complex. No, I know again >> and we're not certain why, but there's an increased number of special education students across our county and we don't know why. And in particular in autism and uh we don't know where that's coming from or why, but there's just an increase in numbers and we're trying to get that. When I when

142I moved here uh 20 years ago, I looked for I was on a message board and I looked for districts that were good for special education students because I had a student diagnosed with a child diagnosed with autism and um Sunnyville came up as like the top one of the top rated 20 years ago. So I like was like that's that's the school district. I'm like we can look for rentals in this area. This is the school district I want to be in. I mean it was like that was our differentiator. So um I know that's not um everybody's experience but I think when when there is a word of mouth system out there as well. Um say good I was kind of that like maybe maybe our county is good at it and that's

143like a good problem to have right if we are meeting those students needs better than other people. But >> I also wonder if you know if when we get the um the sort of some other support structures for academic recovery. Um because right now, you know, if if the if the safety net is the special education system basically, like that's where we're going to see a lot of the academic recovery. So, um but thank you. I mean, I mean, I'm excited about h having at least passed the preliminary and understanding the problem. Uh because I think if we don't understand the problem, we can't work on it together, right? So, um even though it's not good news, it's important to talk about it. >> So, just one more comment about disproportionality. I I know that

144a few of us attended that um that workshop that session at AEC and you just mentioned Dr. Cros right that we have a plan uh to work on is that what you said that there's like a something in I would love to hear more about that um and I recognize it's countywide um but what are we doing to address that? >> Yeah, so it's what I mentioned earlier is and I emailed the plan to each of you earlier this afternoon uh but working with Dr. and her team, we've um modified our plan to support and address this need, right? And so our plan is now to really focus on building up a robust MTSS system across the district that not only takes into account behavior, but also the academics. Um separately is also um revisiting

145our student success team SST process so that when students are struggling academically we're able to come together in collaboration and look at what's been done what else we can do and other needs and strengths of of children right and how do we collaborate with families and staff to develop a sort of a personalized plan to address their needs based on their strengths and then going through this process and then trying to figure out is special ed or an IEP the next reasonable step because really we want to provide or place students in the least restrictive environment and not just automatically jump into special ed services. >> Will we would we be able to maybe agenda I would like to request that we agendaize that next next meeting or next year sometime >> next year. Nice.

146>> I say that's connected. I think Peggy and I talked about I think we talked a little bit after that thing about this would be a good study session. >> I think we have partially we have two new board members who like aren't familiar with that space at all and then also diving into the plan. >> So we'll further discussion before we vote. >> Okay, we have a motion and a second. Um are you ready to vote? Okay. Okay. Motion second for approval of the first interim budget report and associated positive certification. All those in favor I chair as well. Thank you very much. >> We are moving on to um 1313 C approval of resolution R2613 and the matter report of reimbursement of substitute cost for trusty release time under education code 449873. All

147right. So, this is a resolution for your consideration that would take into account and really uh recognizing educators including classified staff, understanding that they bring critical perspectives to board governance. Yet, they also have um they make personal sacrifices including time off from their personal jobs, personal expenses, and this can be uh prohibitive and discouraged potential board members. So this resolution what it does it supports absence and reimbursement um including administrative costs in accordance with state law which would help remove or minimize any barriers to participating in order to streng strengthen and diversify the effectiveness and representation of school board members. >> I believe I need to I believe I need to recuse myself from this discussion. So, I'll just move over there. Okay. >> Yes. So, uh for the record, um Trusty Wesson is not

148requesting anything out of this resolution, but you are Can you explain why you're refusing? >> Oh, because I stand to um be a person who would be asking my other school district to re So, for example, when we went to ABC, I had to request a substitute teacher for my um adult ed ESL class. And if this were in effect, I suppose that I could have requested, you know, that reimbursement to my district for that substitute teacher's time, right? That's what we're doing here. That's my understanding of it. So, I think I need to be over there because I shouldn't be discussing. Is that >> Yeah, I think you could recuse yourself, but you don't have to physically remove yourself from the room or I won't remove myself from the room. I'll just go sit

149over there for a minute. Okay, we'll just I saw it at the other at another meeting. They like the audience. I'll see another I'll just get another view. I'll be right over there. >> Thank you. Before the board discusses, it's time for public comment on this item. If there's any member of the public online who wishes to speak on this item, please use the raised hand feature now. Okay. We also have um two speaker cards in the room. Um so we have five people total online. Okay. So we have seven um total. >> Uh we usually allocate 20 minutes for this time. Are we do we want to continue with the three minutes? >> I would go down to two and a half probably because you're going to have the time. >> There's a chart

150on your >> Oh, okay. I need to go to the chart. Um seven speakers. Oh, there you go. 2.5 minutes each. Thank you. Um so board are are we okay with 2.5 minutes each? Okay great. So um we have seven people here to speak either in person or online. Um after um each person will have two and a half minutes to speak. Um please state your name and affiliation. And let's begin within the room. We have um Hello. Good evening. Congratulations to winning a board. Um Dr. Cresley, you're in the best hands and it just feels so good to be in this room. So my name for the record is um Pat Harpio. I am a teacher here at Sunnyville School District. I've been with the district for like 12 13 years now. And I'm

151here today to express support for resolution that you are passing today which is I believe our 2613. And this is really important because serving is an act of love in so many ways. You love being able to give to your community and teaching is another act of love. You give your time, your energy. Um you just give your heart and when you do that and you also serve on a board, you expand that in many ways. But you have to again sacrifice because you want to be in the classroom and uh I'm speaking as a teacher but also classified employees they do the same. They work they work with so much intent and they know the students they know the staff they know the system profoundly. So when they are allowed to serve on a

152board and have those frictions removed that is just exponential on so many levels. However, if we are affecting because we cannot I say we because I also serve on another board when we cannot serve to the full potential because we are affecting our uh substitute days coming out of our own um sick days. It really makes us think about how much PD we can access to be able to serve better. And so I am really really proud of this district for taking this initial step to demonstrate how important it is to bring the voices in into this forum of people who are students, people who live through education, people who know the district and or of a district. And so that sheds a light into the discussions that you're wanting to have about policies about

153uh how to better serve and maybe um remove some of the blind spots of other people who don't experience the classroom or the school district every day justice form of how we breathe air. I also want to support this because it's the right thing to do. You are transformational leaders. Your governance style is going to push the world forward and I love to keep serving and others keep serving. Thank you so much. >> Thank you Miss Okay. Hi there. Um my name is Heather Burns and I'm a teacher at Sammy Gale. Um, I want to thank our Sunnyville School District trustees for your commitment to our students and community and for your consideration in adopting this resolution. This would allow trustees who are also teachers and other educators in our community to receive substitute coverage

154days for participating in approved schoolboard activities. This is a great way to make public service and school boards accessible for teachers. serving their community can be a huge issue for teachers who are school board trustees because teachers are not really given um vacation days because it's assumed that we'll be taking our vacations when school's not in session. So therefore, we're only given a very small allowance of sick days that pull together for our sick leave and other personal necessity stuff like doctor's appointments, um caring for sick family members. And when those days are all gone, um we're penalized not only by salary deductions, but it can actually mess up our retirement plans um for when it's time for us to retire. And as you already know, it's so important for our trustees to be able

155to connect with our community, visit schools, attend professional developments and conferences that may be scheduled during their regular working day. Teachers have a unique position and perspective to understand the needs of the district and community and they should be allowed or able to serve their communities without having to make that additional sacrifice of their retirement plans. Um like a lot of other states um even more rural areas of uh California benefit from having a lot of retired educators on their boards. But in the Bay Area, we face a unique disadvantage um to having retired educators serve because it's so expensive to live here. Usually, as soon as someone retires, they move out of state. That's been my experience. Um and so, um that leaves our Bay Area school districts in particular with a unique deficit

156of trustees with that perspective and experience in working in the field. This resolution not only aligns us with the state's recommendations, but it also lets Sunnyville set a good example to our neighboring districts to be inclusive of educators. We would be joining Mountain View in adopting this really important policy. I ask for your consideration of this item which would enable teacher trustees and other experienced educator educational workers to be able to serve our district without sacrificing their personal sick leave and retirement plans. I'd like to thank the board for listening to me and um all the other important things that you guys do. Um I really appreciate you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And we are moving to um online comments. Um as we reminder, please state your name um and affiliation. And um

157do you mind listing the person coming up? Oh, two people. Yes. Yes. Thank you. You got it. >> First we have Susan Humphrey Salah followed by Anna Petrero. Hi, can you hear me? This is Susan Salup. Um, I am a parent of an SMS and Ellis graduate and I strongly endorse the resolution tonight for ST for Sunnyville School District to cover paid leave per the educational code section 4497.3 for Sunnyville School District board trustees who work in other school districts and miss work due to their board responsibilities. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find community members and especially people work at schools who are willing to run for schoolboard positions. It is a herculean effort to run for school board. As you all know, um removing barriers for more teachers and educational staff to run

158for these positions helps to promote equity and bring diverse voices to our school boards. I closely follow the activities of several local school boards, including this one. And the trustees with an educational background, in particular, teachers, bring fresh perspectives and ideas that support students. Thank you for your attention and supporting this resolution. Um, I yield my time. >> Next up, we have Anna Fero, followed by Jesse Winestock. >> Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can hear you. >> Okay. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak here this evening. My name is Anna Petero. I'm the president of the Fairfield Unified School District Governing Board. I'm here as an individual. Thank you so much for this resolution. In addition to the to the language that's in this resolution, I remember speaking at

159the last meeting you had when you discussed this issue. And one of the questions was if there is data or research in other districts that may have had resolutions like this in terms of of paying um for substitutes. And I would imagine that that that the the research would be sparse because the majority of people who run for school board are people who are retired. So you probably wouldn't have a lot of data on people stu teachers who are on school boards. That's one thing. The second that I'd like to speak thing that I'd like to speak to is the rigor and the amount of work that school board members do at the California School Boards Association conference. Your school board member Pat was amazing. She attended every single session and those sessions last longer

160than a school day and in some of those sessions there was the some of the topics included uh legal legislation and we've look when we're looking at school boards and in our own districts AB218 is a big issue. They got to sit in on that. How to become better board members. We got to have sessions on student voices. And so all of the and on budget and to re reemph to reinforce what we're learning not only in our districts as employees but in our districts as as as board members. So, you're getting so much value from this one or two board members, from your board members attending CSBA because the information they garner from that benefits not only them in their district as teachers, it also benefits all of the community as board members because

161now you have even better, more well-informed, well-rounded educators and board members. So, thank you very much for considering this resolution and I wholeheartedly support it. Thank you very much and thank you to your board members for attending. They did a fantastic job. Your board would be very, very proud of them. Thank you very much for the opportunity. >> All right. Next up, we have Jesse Weintock, followed by Anna Reed. >> Good evening. Uh, am I coming through? >> Yes, you are. >> Awesome. Thank you. Uh, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Jesse Weintock. Uh I uh while I am currently a teacher in Sunnyville school district as well as an active union leader, I speak now as a resident of Sunnyvil who is deeply committed to the improvement and optimization of

162the institution of public education. I stand in strong support of this resolution for more reasons than can be discussed during this brief comment window. I believe the multitude of benefits that will arise within our community from the approval of this resolution fall into two major categories. the practical or logistical benefits as well as the cultural benefits. Uh due to the limited time, uh I will simply applaud the previous speakers for illustrating the practical and logistical benefits so uh clearly and eloquently and just say that I believe teachers are the best candidates for schoolboard trustees due to the expert lens that they bring uh to the position. So, the approval of this resolution means that Sunnyville School District is willing to invest in getting the best for our students. Now, on to the cultural benefits. Teachers

163want to be treated like the experts they're held accountable for being. The approval of this resolution means that SCSD really believes that teachers offer a lens that is unique, specialized, and valuable when it comes to guiding our district in the right direction. This is why the impact of approving this resolution will be so positive on the culture and climate of our SCSD community. The approval of this resolution means that SCS SCSD doesn't just say they believe that teachers are experts when it comes to understanding what our students need and how to get those needs met. And approval here means that SCSD is willing to invest in that belief. Words are wind. Actions are what count. The action to approve this resolution will go beyond telling teachers our lens is valued. It will show teachers that

164SCESD truly believes, excuse me, truly values teachers unique expert lens. The gesture to approve this resolution will continue to shift the culture of SCSD to one of integrity where we don't just tell teachers they're valuable, we show them by investing in the removal of barriers for teachers to serve on our school board. I respectfully ask that the board approves this resolution to the benefit of our entire community. Thank you. >> Next, we have Anna Reed and finally Danny Choy. >> Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >> Okay. Hello. My name is Anna Reid and I'm speaking for myself. Though for context, I come with a background as a veteran middle school teacher in Certino and a fellow board member serving in Mountain View. I agree with everything that the other speakers have

165um brought up. Uh I just want to say thank you for leading the way in recognizing the effort and sacrifices educators make on the daily and for paving a path to make serving the children of their communities in another capacity easier. Educators are always juggling their duties to provide equity over equality because it's what's best for students. And it's commendable for a district to adopt a resolution and lead by example. Having educators serve on boards to advocate for students is great for communities. Thank you for be for bringing this resolution forward and removing barriers for teachers. And I hope all surrounding districts follow your lead. Thank you. And finally, we have Danny Choy. >> Hello. Uh, can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. Yes. >> Hi, I'm Danny Choy, a trustee at FUHSD and

166a teacher in SJUSD, speaking today on my own behalf. Uh, first of all, congratulations to the Sunnyale board on your reorganization and thank you for bringing this resolution forward. When educators are split, many hesitate to request a sub because the costs too often outweigh the relief that time off should provide. Children thrive under structure and substitutes, no matter how skilled, are hardressed to maintain classroom management, much less continue, say, the planned curricular pacing and the substitute lesson plans. Classroom routines suffer and every teacher can tell you horror stories about the messes, broken classroom items, and disappointing behavioral reports that they've read from substitutes uh when on the days they return. It really is kind of a stressful situation you go under when you take that time off. Public service has its own rewards, but uh

167being a school board member necessitates taking multiple days off during the school year. And as a result of uh policies which don't you know rewards teachers for this they are often forced to carefully hoard their remaining leave days and I appreciate all the work you guys do. Thank you so much. >> Okay that is the end of our public comments. Thank you to our speakers Miss Salah Mero Mr. Wack Miss Reed and Mr. Detroit. Um, we made a motion to approve. >> I move to approve the resolution R2613 in the matter of support of reimbursement for substitute cost for student release time under education code 44987.3. Second. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, discussion. No, I think it's very it's a very important policy and I'm very happy that we are going to take it. We're

168going to make it. >> But transers can't hear you. You got to talk to >> Oh, you could hear me. >> That I'm very happy that we are making this policy. It is uh very important for teachers and to give the opportunity to serve also a board member and I hope we have a we lead the way. >> Yeah. >> Further discussion. I I want to mention that um uh that I think it's over 50% of the school board openings um last election year were uncontested um and people walked in. There weren't enough people that were um wanting to run for school board. Um it is a big ask. We all know that. And um some of the speakers that spoke um today in favor are trustees that did take their own personal time. Um

169uh I I want to clarify that um Miss Cario does work for our district. I think Miss um there's a a confusion. She works uh she teaches for our district but she serves on FHSD. Um so they did take um sub time and um paid out of pocket basically so that they could um go to AAC with us. Um, and we all know how uh important that was like for us as a board and also for all the learning that we did. Um, so I appreciate the community's comments and our support as well. Um, any further discussion. >> Okay, awesome. Um, let's have a vote. Uh, all those in favor? Hi. >> Hi. Um, Cheryl, so those I that is four to zero with one recusal and thank you very much. >> Welcome back Trusty

170Watson. We are moving on to um 13D, approval of resolution number R2615 authorizing the public agency retirement services um P AS supplementary retirement plan SRP and approval of the associated service agreement with Ps Mr. Ar CBO. >> Thank you. So the item before you is the approval of this resolution. Uh if approved, this allows for us to a um engage with the service provider PARS um and b allows us to um begin the process of offering um a potential early retirement incentive. Uh so I can go through some of the particulars if you'd like me to about um the process and the plan. So basically uh this would be a benefit an annuity benefit that will be offered to eligible um certificated and classified staff. The eligibility mirrors stirs eligibility and pers eligibility. it would

171be a an amount equal to 85% of their final um salary would be deposited into this annuity. Um a few very important components to this is the goal of this program is to generate savings. And one might ask, well that doesn't make sense. How are you going to generate savings? Um the the the potential savings are twofold. One component would be when you have a more senior veteran uh employee, they're on the latter side of the salary schedule. If you replace with a newer um employee, there's typically a savings there. More so on certificated side for sure. Um but that would be a portion of the potential savings. But the larger part for us would be um this could potentially increase our natural attrition and the savings that we're looking to gain through that. I

172I do want to stress that this would open the gate for parts to engage with our our employees um over a period of time. they would there would be an enrollment period that would end February 12th. So they have time to sit down with PARs experts to go through what does this mean for me? Um go through calculations also to consult with their own financial advisor, their own family. Um, there's like 14 different options they could choose that from an actuarial standpoint are all equal in value, but it would be tailored to their um particular needs. For instance, if you have a spouse that, you know, in the event that you pass away, you want the benefits to continue, there's an option for you. If if you have other circumstances, it's 14 different options. So

173they would um walk through that process um and and options with the PARs administrators. Um the service fee would be 3.5% of the total payments. based on some rough estimates which are very rough um that would be in the range of 115,000 for the service fee a part um but again I want to make sure that I stress this point the goal is ultimately savings this does not bind the district into this plan the process would be there'll be an enrollment window. Uh at the end of that enrollment window, we would get the data. We'd understand who was ready to opt in. We would analyze potential savings, bring it back to you in late February to um review that data, and then approve or revoke the the plan. So, um yeah, again, our hope is

174that this process gives us another option potentially to help um close that gap. But until we know which employees would be interested, um we wouldn't know if this even makes financial sense. So, Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Cathy. I also appreciate the very uh thorough summary on the agenda. Um before the board discusses, it's time for public comment on this item. Is there any member of the public um in the room or online that wish to speak on this item? If so, please use your raise hand feature now. Do we have any speakers online? Okay. Um, so board, we need a motion to approve. >> I move approval of resolution number uh R2615 authorizing the public agency retirement services supplementary retirement plan and approval of the associated service agreements with Congress. >> Second. >> Oh, I'm

175sorry. I'm asking for a second. Is there a second? >> I Okay. Um, and discussion Um, oh gosh, I just lost it. Um, oh, so like with the process, are the teachers like right, it says it's not like finalized, but I feel like if a you're saying, "Hey teacher, you can do this thing and they fill it out and then we say, "Oh, just kidding. Never mind." Right? But like also we don't want to do it if it's not actually going to like be a benefit. So is it very clear for teachers that like hey we are looking into this this is a possibility you're not actually applying and getting it. >> Yes. So that that is a great question. Um it it is going to be made very clear that this is not a

176binding um if they opt in it it is not binding for the district until we bring it back to the board for official approval. One thing I didn't I was searching my brain for one last thing I really wanted to add. Um there is an avenue where potentially certificated or classified by way of the participants it would make financial sense for us to move forward with that grouping but not the other. So that is a possibility. >> So we could do just certificated not classified or just classified not certificate. >> Correct. Okay. So again until we have participants and data we wouldn't know which we wouldn't know um you know the outcome but I did want to make that clear there is a possibility that that could happen. >> And then my last question connected

177to that right so if I'm a teacher we pass it tonight so I get the information so I apply which then gives the impression that I'm going to retire but I actually only want to retire if I get the deal like they're not binded to retirement are they? >> Okay. And is there any like right I'm going now into like the like non not official just does it then become weird like I don't know other districts where this has happened like like if I'm that teacher and like I don't do other people know that oh I was thinking about retiring and now I'm not so now maybe there's weird politics at my school or I don't right like I don't I'm getting very here >> great questions and this is these are the type of

178questions that we also anticipate from our employees. So one is you have to be 50 or older and minimum 5 years working in Sunny Hill School District to be eligible for this to begin with. Um but this is going to be confidential. Uh parts will be able to provide information. You'll be added in in sessions but you also able to make individual appointments and we also recommend people to check into their stirs and pers for retirement options and what that might look like uh personally. Um, but this is not going to be like we're not going to publish a list. >> So, if I were to pursue all this, it would all be totally confidential. Nobody >> Yeah. >> my school site would know anything about it. >> Once it comes to board, so if

179it does make financial sense for the Sunny School District to move forward with this, that's when they would come back to you for consideration. And once, should that be approved, then that's when we would finalize and uh, you know, the contracts with the employees as well. But up until then, it's we're exploring. So, what this resolution does is allow us to move forward with exploring an early retirement incentive and engaging in conversations with our partners and our employees, but no commitment until a later date. >> Yeah. And then very last question, and you guys might not know, how often do districts do this thing and then don't and then pull back and say, "Actually, that's really safe. We're not going to do that." Like, does that happen or does that not usually happen or do

180you guys not even know? I I don't have that experience in terms of districts pulling back because you know with PARS and other similar groups they do a really good job of presenting the numbers and based on their work and their experience across the state they have a pretty good uh sense of how many people actually qualify and will actually take it based on the numbers as well. But you can't do this on a regular basis. >> So I mean because it has to make financial sense for the district and so roughly it's about every four to five years where it may make financial sense. >> But so if there's someone who is thinking about retiring and maybe looking at two years from now, this is a good opportunity as well. Can you just can

181you share I'm sorry but can you share with us like in general about how many uh 12 positions you think we may need to reduce over time and about how many like this should get us to like what are we >> yeah we're looking at about 90 positions as of last July 25 right so I know we've we've made some gains in those numbers Um we've been transparent with the associations with that as well. Um but we're looking at I don't want to confront with Mr. Cuffy but 12 to 15 certificate 12 to 15 cate. >> Yeah. So the based on um historical data and the offer of 85% ours um estimated that we would hopefully get 20 certificated um sorry 15 certificated participants and 20 classified participants. I think to be honest, I think

182the who is going to matter and which positions they're in. Um because again, if we're able to capture savings from attrition, it's a lot different than just replacement and the difference between um a veteran and a a novice teacher. So, yeah, I think we're we're excited if you guys choose to improve this tonight. We're excited to see how it unfolds and if there is opportunity there. Um, but hopefully the our our employees and the public and everyone can see that we're really trying um to be respectful and and um thoughtful with our st our incredible staff. Um, and this is another I think another um testament to that. >> Thank you. Um I want to clarify that we are talking about 85% of their salary for five years afterwards. Is that correct? >> You guys

183have some really good questions tonight. Um so let me know that. Yeah. So it's a 85% for one year. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Over a 5year period of time. So they have 14 different ways of being able to take that additional um compensation. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And the five years is the the obligation of the district. We will be paying into this annuity over a fiveyear period. How they take it, how quickly, um the those details that's part of the 14 option. >> Okay. >> That was looking like a really sweet deal. Okay. Um let's see. Is there any further discussion? Well, I just I also wanted to say like I think that um I think that it is great for someone who might be close to retirement to say, you know, this might

184be a good time and then have some additional time off and then also if they can spread out the distribution that they can be in a different uh tax bracket for when they are paying their taxes, right? So it's >> one one last point of clarification. An employee actually doesn't have to retire. >> They don't have to retire. Excuse me. >> They would have to retire from Sunnyville, >> but >> they they do not have to actually retire officially retire, but that is a a decision they could make. So, I just wanted to clarify >> because there's different rules once they retire as far as >> they're not going to go to their official stirs retirement, but they're retiring from our district. >> They would be officially resigning from Sunnyale School District. They could potentially

185maybe have another year elsewhere. Um, that is an option for them as well. >> And and again, all of this will be explained to them in detail. >> Thank you. I uh appreciate the creativity here and the humanity. Um so we do have a motion to approve and a second. Um all those in favor I any chair I thank you very much. We are moving on to review. Oh sorry here we go. Here we are. Um discussion um and nomination of 2026 CSBA delegate assembly nominee Dr. Cross please. Yeah. So for your consideration, there's u a window to uh nominate uh someone from the county for the county position, the CSBA delegate. >> Yes, please. >> So every two years you can uh well this is a position that is for two years and every

186year there are people who come up for it. So this year I've been for two years now. So this year is my year of re-elections and I would like to run for one more year for delegate assembly which is as a representative of the region 20 which is the Santa Clara County one of I think there are 10 I think there are 10 delegates in our region. So I will be one of them. They're on alternating just for more information. They're on alternating cycles. So I think there's like four or five now and then later for now and six later or something like that for this year. So and I would like to get reelected for this position. >> Um before we move to further discussion um is there any member of the public online

187or in the room that wishes to speak on this item? Speakers online. Okay. Thank you. Um, so >> when we're making a nomination, right, like I nominate >> Yes. Would you like to make that nomination? >> Yeah. So I nominate Isabelle just to be delegate assembly nominee. Is that the right terminology? >> Second. Let me second. >> Any discussion? Further discussion? >> You're doing a great job. >> Yeah. And I just want to say that like I think that everybody should run and serve on delegate assembly at least for two years because it's the policy arm of um of CSBA. So it's like a very intensive it's like a on steroids. You get a lot a lot of information. It's like a fire hose of information but you get to hear a lot of stories.

188You make a lot of connections with people all around the state um and hear what their boards are doing. So, it's just um it's kind of like going to coast to coast and it was like that kind of like funneling of information and training. Um but also um it's just uh when when Reed Meyers, our former colleague, was on it um there was a lot of fighting at the CSBA because the way that their bylaws were set up was that the board would move to do things and the delegate assembly had to approve it and delegate assembly stuck their heels in and they said we are not approving anything you do. So my first delegate assembly everything that they had board proposed for like even just minor like minor bylaws changes minor things they voted

189down everything they didn't approve a thing that came up because they were like you need to involve us in the policy and they came up with these policy pillars and so now when you're at delegate assembly you sign up for a different area right so it could be like um improving the lives of children or it could be governance or it could be these different things. Then they get people in a room and they go they go after it and they say what should what should our direction be or here's some feedback here's some data points and let's go work on this and it's super interesting as an exercise and um and also just as a thinking and it gets into it's a way to insert into the policy of the direction of CSB. So

190now you you see stuff that they're tackling like um the things that I was in the room for uh were things like um hey we ought to like what's our legislative priorities around special education or mental health or when they would say things like um hey there's too many papers there's too many forms our districts are spending we don't even want to apply for the grants because there's too much paperwork and who's reading all these reports well now CSBA has a whole thing about reports on reports on reports, you know. So, it's a great experience. Um, so after hopefully Isabelle will get reelected, she's just going to nail it and just we're all going to vote for her when the when the list comes up because it's really competitive in our county. But maybe when

191after Isabelle's on this year, it's a two-year term. So maybe next year, you know, maybe um one of the three of you would like to run for delegate assembly for two-year term or you know, if I just think it's a great experience. So that's my feedback. >> I am just throw out not necessarily everyone can though, right? It was something I wanted to do redid it and then you did it. So not everyone I think on the board actually can, but I do think as much as you can spread around, but sometimes we have to step back and let other students. >> Sure. >> And as what policy pillars have you been involved? was in fair funding for schools. >> Great. Okay. Uh any further discussion? Thank you. And let's have a vote. All those

192in favor? >> I would I >> I All right. And motion passes. Um we are moving on to 14 review and discussion. At this uh time, we'll move to the discussion items. Um, a reads review and discussion on student nutrition and meals accessed during school breaks. Uh, Dr. Crosley. >> Yeah. So, I shared a little bit of an update in terms of uh our our last two meal or food distributions and giving me an update again about next Friday's meal distribution from 8:30 to 4 p.m. Um, but any questions or just comments you may have as well? >> I actually heard from uh when I was out at discuss we can discuss now or you do public comment. Oh. Um, let's do public comment. That's okay. Um, all right. Is there any member of the

193public online or in this room that wishes to speak on this item? If so, please submit a card or use the raise hand feature. >> Okay. Um, before discussion, oh, we don't need to make action, right? Okay. So, let's go ahead with discussion, please. Jessie Watson. Yeah. So, um I was was up at San Miguel the week uh the week before food distribution and um you know I talked to uh the outreach coordinator there and she was saying that you know for some families it's really it's they could pick it up from the school site. It'd be very difficult for them to get to the district office. They were very maybe they're uncomfortable with it or something like that. they wouldn't necessarily need a delivery, but they could get it at pickup or drop off.

194Is Is that an option? Like, will there be any food delivery for those kinds of arrangements? >> Yes, we'll be making those arrangements as well this time because we heard the same thing. And so, we will be working closely with schools for any families that may have that need whether they need transportation or it's just more convenient to be able to pick it up at the local school site. And then I was just wondering if the um gift card campaign is still open through the Ed Foundation and if they're they are going to try to target the same amount or similar like if they have a goal. It's still open. We are still accepting donations. There are gift cards that have been purchased that have not yet been distributed. Anyone listening is please welcome to

195uh donate if you were still available. But we are ending that campaign at the end of the school year, end of calendar year, December 31st. >> Okay. Um Okay. And then also um are you Last time we also published not just ours but also the um the other food distribution that was happening through Sunny Community Services or Second Harvest. Are we still going to be communicating that to people? >> Yeah. So we'll be working with um our staff to share that information. And also one of the things that we did is when uh families were coming through, we treated that information in the boxes as well. >> Great. >> I just want to thank staff for all the efforts on this. We appreciate it. >> Yeah, it was really it was really fun going over

196to help box things up and um Isabelle and I went and did a shift over there and you know saw a lot of other staff there helping and it was it was really positive. I don't know if they need any more help boxing things up. They're very available. >> That's a yes, right? That's a absolutely yes. If you're interested and can Yes, we would appreciate your help. >> So, the process actually starts tomorrow. >> That's great. And I'm very happy that we're doing this very. >> So, I'll share with you. I was in another district yesterday and families were talking about what Siggo was doing and there's another district that was about 30 minute drive and so they were they heard about what you were doing here and they were just speaking about how much

197it would need it is just grateful for that happening. >> So you have the date in the volunteers. >> Yes. So, tomorrow is the first and there was already some outreach um that uh director Sllayton um gave out, but I have kind of a summary. So, we will be needing there's three phases. We will be needing uh some support tomorrow about up to 10 volunteers in two increments. It'll be from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Um, so we'll be down here in the warehouse on the 8:25 side. Um, so if anyone would like to help out, you can just kind of stroll back there. Um, depending on how much we get done tomorrow, we'll be doing some of the the initial phase, which is building the boxes, um, separating some of the the dry goods.

198um depending on how much we get done tomorrow. We we anticipate needing support on Monday as well, but uh we're not exactly sure how much until we see how much we get done tomorrow. The second phase would start on Wednesday. Um similar where we probably would need Wednesday and Thursday. Um but it would be second phase would be also from 8 to 2 um p.m. in 2hour increments. uh same thing up to 10 volunteers. Uh and the third phase is during the final distribution on Friday. Um and that is pretty much all day from 8:00 to 4:30. Um and for that as many volunteers as possible um we anticipate having um a large turnout. And so um yeah, that's kind of the breakdown of the three phases starting tomorrow. So there' be Friday, Monday, Wednesday,

199Thursday, and then the following Friday. >> Anyone 18 and up can help with that, right? >> Yes. There there was actually someone under 18, but they were accompanied by um by their parents. So I think that's >> for the distribution. >> Sorry, for the distribution. And he was quite uh quite a help with the sign. You you saw him. >> Yeah. And then Arthur, is there a sign up um link or how do how do people volunteer? >> Yeah, so I believe Director Sllayton had um sent some things out to the outreach coordinators most likely. Uh I wasn't I can find out we can get that out. Um yeah, I don't want to give you bad information. Don't have to get sent to me or sent to me. >> Can you talk a little bit

200about the context and how this would be different? Not an itemization, but like this isn't twice as long as break as previously. So, um, how are we augmenting? What are we providing? >> Yeah. Um, >> generally, sorry. >> So, um, the first round we wanted to make sure that we did from when students are not with us to when they get back. So, it was a nine day duration. Uh same goal this time. It's a 16 day duration. So we'll be providing food, you know, fresh produce, milk similar to what last the last round was um you know um from frozen meats, uh etc. So it' be a a large variety of things, string cheese, goldfish, applesauce, cups, you name it. We have a lot of a lot of things that we are planning to

201to give out. Um but It will be for a duration of 16 days. >> Is is that for like one student for 16 days or like how many like where the is each is it one box per student? >> The box is meant to feed a family of four for 16 days. >> Not every meal though. That's just it's just our student meals. >> No, a family of four. The whole family of four. So the box will have >> it's a bigger box is what you're saying. It's like two boxes. >> Multiple boxes. >> Yeah. It's it's not a single box. >> Multiple boxes. >> Yeah. >> So if there are many kids in a family, they might have two sets of multiple boxes. >> Correct. When there's a large family, we give two we

202double everything. So for instance, the um the distribution that that um passed was up to three boxes for every family. There's dry goods, there's meats, there's there's different components. Um there's many boxes and again if if the family's needs um are higher than that for for a member family, then we double it. >> And um with the grocery gift cards, what is the intent for distribution there? Is that also with the boxes or separately or how how are those decisions about distribution? based on based on priority lists that I work with our social workers and our outreach campus by campus and so those were targeted. There was combination of how they were done last time. Some were put in boxes spec um for some some of the families and then some were directly given to

203families as we had kind of phase one and phase two. So similar distribution will be um achieved this time for what we have available to us. >> And we heard last time that the parking circulation thing needs to change, right? So like are how is that going to work and >> Yeah. Yeah. We did have some congestion. Um, so we will be revisiting that whole process of doing to make it easier for people to come in, get their food, but also to minimize the traffic outside. We did get some complaints for them tonight. >> One one positive is we've already connected with Stratford. Um, they're aware of this. They're they have a half day, I believe, that day. Um so the impact of Stratford families would be limited. Um the the other difficult component to

204the last round was just so happened that they were repaving the streets that that same day. So we we worked around it and um you know worked with the construction folks to make sure that our families had a way to get in and out. Um, I anticipate this time around it it should be less challenging without a construction going on. >> Well, I just want to thank you all again for doing it because I every family that I've talked to who's impacted by it or the outreach coordinators who are really or the social workers who are really dealing with the people, they're just so grateful and they just they know it's going to just make a huge difference. And we're like, "Oh, I wish you could see their faces how excited people are about the

205boxes." I was like, "Me, too. I'm so glad that you do, you know." So, it's really it's really great that we're making sure these our kids are ready ready to learn when they come back. >> And I also want to echo that. Um, thank you for all the efforts and and for the acknowledgement that there is a need for this type of support. Um, I think that's huge and I'm proud to hear that other districts are, you know, hearing about it and think, isn't that cool? um that we are able to serve our families and our students in this way. Is there any further discussion? >> One last comment for me. Special shout out to three four individuals. Director Paul Clayton, uh, our supervisor of nutrition services, Armando Rob, uh, Vanessa Escobar, outreach >> coordinator.

206And last but not least, Leah Wilson in the back. >> So much. >> Okay, we're moving on to um review and discussion of Orenda Leadership Conference. Dr. Cross. >> Yeah. We just wanted to bring to your attention that Orenda is scheduling an upcoming conference on the 25th, 26th and 27th, but the 25th and the 26 is specially designed for governance teams. And so, uh, >> February 25th and 26, >> and it'll be, I believe, in San Diego. Um, and it's open to, you know, uh, district staff, etc. But the 25th and the 26th, I think the 25th is a half day and the 26th is a full day um are specially designed for governance teams. So just wanted to bring that to your attention. Um as we continue the study with them, um this is

207a good opportunity for you as a board to consider attending uh getting to know other districts who are also doing similar work. have already uh completed the study and are moving on to other phases in their partnership with Arenda but also for you to um just come together and better understand some of the work and some of the potential next steps as well. >> So I had a question question is there any member of the public in the room or online that wishes to speak on this topic? Please raise your hand now. Okay, great. Let's move on to discussion trust. Sorry, I just had a clarifying question. Um, but or just a question question. Um, so we already have a we have a governing board governance board meeting on the 26th. So is the idea

208that something like this would be turning it into like a board advance or something or of that governance meeting or >> it could be a new u but it wouldn't be able to replace that study session or or that governance meeting, right? Um this would be like a conference workshop style. >> Yeah. Um, so is there like like have you talked to them about this? Did you attend this when you were working with them before or >> No, this is something that they've uh started recently. So I have not experienced it and I have not attended anything like this. We did get I believe two of our principles who attended um something similar already in October September I'm sorry. Um, but they were there for the two days with after the governance team. >> Well,

209I'm I'm personally interested in going if we all go. Like, it's something we would all do together. Is that the idea? >> Yeah. It doesn't have to be the entire team. It can be the entire team, but it doesn't have to be solely if everybody attends. >> Where would you say that? >> It's in San Diego. It's a Mission Bay resort in San Diego. That was kind of my question similar to Bridges like is that I mean maybe you could ask Ren a little bit like is it most beneficial the greater number of board members or if it's just more they're thinking is like no we actually only want like a couple board members to come like what is their >> Yeah. So it's actually the governance team or a few members of the governance

210team including superintendent executive cabinet and some cabinet members and principles as well. And do they oh sorry do they have a past like agenda to kind of look through >> I can get you that information >> to get kind of a better idea of like what this what it looks like. Yeah, because it's a big time commitment for, you know, like all of us to like go away for that. It's like the middle of the week, right, to go do that. But, um, if it's going to help us get deeper into a deeper understanding of the work that we're trying to do in our district to like help us make our it's like going slow to go fast, right? Like, so we get get a deeper understanding, do a deep dive there versus what we

211try to get do a study session here would be shorter probably or but maybe more tailored to us. So, you know, yeah, like would it like how much would it really help us with our work? If it would, I'm like Bridget, that would be great. >> Yeah. I also want to know about the value. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Moving on. Uh, review and discussion coast to coast and Dr. So, I know at the last governance meeting there was a conversation about coast to coast um about two trustees attending. Um but opening it up and seeing if there's any other interest before we go ahead and begin the registration as well for that. >> Um going to have room for public comment. Is there any member of the public online who wishes to speak

212on that item or or in the room? Please, please raise hand raise hand feature or medic. Is there anybody with that wishes this week? Okay. I was just going to say like for in our last conversation um I think because it's during spring break, you know, it's ch it's a challenging time for people to go. And I think um as well said, well, I'll go if nobody else wants to go. Um Peggy's interested in going. Um, but then you and I talked later and you said, "I don't you said, "Oh, I don't I said, "Can I just clarify?" Because I said, "Did you were you saying that because you do want to go or because you don't want to go?" And you said, "Oh, I don't want to go. Um, but I'll go because nobody

213else wants to go." So, I asked my husband and he said, um, he would take care of the dog. The dog will be fine and survive. And, um, so he's like, "Well, okay, I'll make it work with my schedule so you can go." Um, so I was like thinking, oh, I would like to go. Um, but then you said you now you want to go. So I just I'm I would like to be considered as an alternate to go. Um, if if you guys want to go together, um, if you want to go, yeah, don't worry. I mean, if if you figured it out and you want to go, you can go. But I'm I'm also happy to be an alternate because something changed, right? Like I don't know. >> Have you both already gone

214two times? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Okay. That's like one's only once and that person should go. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think I mean three times and you two. >> Yeah. >> So maybe that's the third time. Yeah. >> Only if you're okay with it because I know. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So, if you could put put Peggy and I down >> to close. >> Yes. Uh, so we had close session earlier, but we still have items that need to be discussed. So, we will be continuing to close session and we'll um come back out here to close on the meeting. >> Goodbye. >> Thank you. This is the >> Is it Is this >> well I am definitely This great Okay. >> Yeah. are great. I have my up cross be

215in here to ready. >> It's so cold in here. I don't know why >> it's cold in here. Yeah. >> Okay. Do you go to class or like the open pot or another? Del. >> Okay. >> What time is it? 10 11. >> Oh god. >> Okay. We're still being recorded. >> Um, so it is 10:58 and we are returning from close session. During its recently concluded close session, the board voted to not renew or extend the employment agreement for the chief business officer. Pursuant to his terms, the employment agreement will terminate effective June 30th, 2026. The vote was unanimous. Um secondly, during its recently concluded close session, the board voted to approve a settlement agreement resolving the employment of a permanent classified employee number 370633. The vote was unanimous. Under the terms of the

216agreement, the employee agrees to submit their irrevocable resignation from the district. In exchange, the district agrees to place the employee on administrative leave until date until a date certain. The employee agrees to wait and release the district from any and all legal claims relating to or rising up of their employment with the district. And with that, we will proceed to adjournment. Our next meeting is Thursday, January 15th, 2026. See you then. Thank you. Hey.