09/18/25 Board Meeting

001We can say one more time. >> Oh, sure. I'm sorry. Um, this meeting is available in English and Spanish. Would the translator please give instructions on the translation services available? English. Thank you. I see all that all board members are present so that so we can begin. Uh as a note, please note that a recording is being made at the direction of the board and that the recording may capture sounds of those attending the meeting. Um let's see, item three 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 agenda, please use the raised hand feature or hand in a blue card now. Okay. Not seeing any. Um board, I'd like to approve tonight's agenda with a modification that we

002add an item under reports 9F comments from the Sunnyville Education Foundation, which I believe was just left off from a typo. Is there a motion to approve the agenda with the addition of a 9F? >> Please second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? >> I just want to confirm that we can do that. >> That adding that is fine. >> Okay. Uh any discussion? Okay. Seeing none, let's vote. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Chair votes I. And the motion pass. Um, item four is public comment for close session. There's any member of the public who wishes to comment uh on close session. Uh, if you're here in the room with us, we need a blue card online. If there's any member of the public who would like to comment on a

003close session item, please use the raised hand feature. Now the topic tonight is conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation significant exposure to litigation pursuant to government government code 54956.9 um D21 case. Okay, seeing none, uh we are now going to adjourn to close session. It's 6:03 p.m. We will return to the boardroom by 6:30 p.m. [Music] >> And welcome Oops. >> Nice to see you. [Music] Okay. I'm going [Music] Second row. Second row. [Music] I'll just read another voice. Hi everyone. It's 6:31 and um I'm reconvening this regular board meeting of the board of education. Um I see all members are present. We met in close session uh and regarding a conference with legal counsel for anticipated litigation and uh no action was taken. So, we are on to item seven, which is our flag

004salute. So, please join me. Actually, we have Maddie Kister who's going to lead us with the flag salute. Thank you. >> Um, please rise if you're able and join me for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. And I'd like to invite uh Caleb up to read our land acknowledgement, our living land acknowledgement. Thank you. Sunnyville School District is located on the ancestral and unseated land of the Mo Morakma Aloney who have priestfully honored and cared for this land for thousands of years. We recognize that every member of the Sunnyell community continues to benefit from the use and occupation of this land. We acknowledge

005our responsibility to learn from the wisdom of the Aloney people and to consider how we might work to repair injustices and to move forward together in honorable ways. Thank you. Okay, we are on to item nine which is reports. Um we are very excited to have the student our student representatives here from Sunnyville Middle School for student reports tonight. Uh we'd like to we have Caleb Kollister, Lauren Zang, Ellie Yao, Alicia Chen, and Maddie Kollister here with us. Um so why don't you introduce yourselves and make your presentation? You're very welcome. And you can come over to the board chair. Thank you. Good [Music] evening, President Watson, trustees, superintendent crossweight, and community. We are the student body representatives from Studyville Middle School. We appreciate the chance to serve and to lift student voices. Tonight, we

006are excited to share some updates from our school. Good evening. My name is Kayla Coer and I serve as president of Sunnyville Middle School this year. I'm in eighth grade and I love playing basketball for the school team. I actually just finished the game which is why I'm in my jersey. We're excited to have doubled our leadership team this year by turning one leadership class into two and that is already having a big impact on what we were able to do. Last year our leadership team produced all the media and also run all events at Sing Middle. But this year we have a separate team media and our student council team is focused on leading events that will create the kind of culture that we want in our school. I wanted to give you a

007quick rundown of the events going on in our school from a student's perspective. Recently, our leadership team hosted an event to celebrate Spartan pride, which stands for prepared, respect, integrity, determination, and empathy that all our students strive for to be successful. Leadership created booths that students would visit during lunch, representing each aspect of our motto to earn candy and other prizes in a constant flow throughout our lunch period. Approximately 200 to 300 students showed up. We hope to make lunch events a common fun aspect of our school that leaderships can put on frequently to promote good habits out of all our students. Next, back to school night just happened for all our families. Families were able to see a glimpse into what their children will be learning over the next year. And for a lot

008of new sixth grade parents, they were able to see a little bit into the new school routine their kids were getting into. One more exciting schoolwide occasion was the competitive junior cabinet elections that added grade level representatives into our student counters group. In fact, one of them will even be speaking to you all later in this update as a voice of the sixth grade. The final thing I wanted to speak about is NWA testing. This test gives us hard data about the growth of students in our school or even where they may need to improve. This data allows our school to make the necessary adjustments to help students thrive, which makes it very important in their routine. Now, I'd like to invite Ellie up to talk about the ability. Hi, I'm Ellie and this year

009I am serving as secretary of students and I'm in seventh grade. I've played with and travel a lot to support my brother and m little was built in 1961 and we have only renovated this. Can you believe these buildings are 64 years old? Spartan Village was created with twotory buildings, additional classrooms, and places for students to hang out at lunch. Something me and my fellow appreciate about the new buildings is that the classrooms are colorful and comfortable with rocking chairs, stools, and hoverboards to fidget with during class. We also appreciate that there are paper towels in the bathroom instead of hand. One thing that student council wants to propose is having more range cover in village. Don't tell Mr. He doesn't know that we are doing this. We should add room coverage over the middle

010of the campus because when it rains students all cram into the hallways which makes it hard to navigate through the hallways. As part of the class of 2025 and 2022, we are one of the first peoples to use the campus and therefore we are grateful. Now I will turn it back to N to talk about what her and her fellow classes help her to transition. >> Hi, my name is Maddie Coer and I just started sixth grade at Sunnyale Middle. My brother and I both went to Ellis Elementary from K through 5th and we really care about the Sunnyale School District. The transition from elementary to middle school is big because we go from having one teacher who knows us really well to having many teachers who have a lot more students. And we notice

011right away that they might not have we might not have the same strong connection with our teachers that we've always been used to. We also have to carry all of our stuff around everywhere that we go and that can be a struggle. If I'm going to be honest, the first few weeks of school, it felt pretty stressful with everything that was going on. One of the most stressful things that we can experience is the very short 3minute passing period. It feels so rushed that we suddenly hear the bell ring and we have to immediately pack up all of our stuff and leave for our next class. Also, because of the construction, classes like PE and music are so far for us to travel through the sixth grade wing and the new building in just a

012few minutes. We're also always worried about if we're going to make it to our next class in time or not. This is also a big problem for the students who ride the bus since they're so often a late bus and kids will come into class not having context or understanding about what we're learning about. Although the transition to middle school was rough at some point so far, there have been some things that staff have done to help us. For instance, they've given us phrase if we're late to class while we're still getting used to switching classrooms. It was also helpful to get a school tour that the web team hosted at orientation so that we would have a general idea of where we were going on the first day. Now that we're a month in,

013I'm having fun making friends with kids from other elementary schools and learning that I can still get to know some of my teachers very well. Having a lot of teachers actually means that you might have some teachers you get to know better than others. And I'm excited for the rest of six day. Thank you. [Music] Hi, my name is Alicia. I'm in seventh grade and I serve as treasure in the student council this year. I also love playing Magson and supporting all my fellow teams. Seventh grade feels very different from sixth grade. Although it only started one month of the school year, in sixth grade everything was brand new. We were adjusting to a whole new campus, figuring out how to get around and trying to remember whether each day we have PE or There

014was a big focus on routines and getting comfortable with the changes from elementary school. Classes also felt different. In sixth grade, teachers helped us go through the basic rules. This year in seventh grade, the work feels more challenging and teachers expected us to be more independent as we're learning how to manage more responsibility such as keeping track of assignments, studying for tests, and asking for help when we need it. It feels like we're prepared for the higher expectations that will come in eighth grade and beyond. Another difference is our grow in the school. Last year, we were the youngest in the school and looked up to the older grades. This year, as seventh graders, we feel more like leaders. We're not the new kids anymore. Now, we get to set an example for the new

015sixth graders and show them more middle schools. That responsibility makes us more grown up and important in the school community. Overall, seventh grade feels like a year of growth in confidence. Compared to last year, we were more independent, more comfortable, and ready to take on bigger challenges. It's exciting to see how much we've already changed since sixth grade. And we know this year will help us even more as students and people. >> Hi, I'm Lauren. I'm in eighth grade and I serve as the vice president of the school and I championship team last year. I wanted to talk about the climate here at the middle. Now, I'm not talking about the weather, but rather the general feelings and familiarity of students. I remember and I'm sure you all do as well, the strange uncertainty or

016hesitation stepping into school as a now that realized to the school. A couple years ago, the compass might have been hard to navigate around people to approach. And now that we're older and having connections with new people, I can tell that most of us in the first few days of school, I felt so happy that came up to me. So I'm really glad a majority of my class this year and chaos I relate this perspective to the ability to detect and how it is to run around just like what talked about. We are really grateful that our school took the time and effort to give us students more freedom and better learning environment instructions. To summarize my points, I think that the climate here at Sunville Middle School has definitely grown warmer and more inviting

017over the years. What once felt big and intimidating has changed to the place for apprentip and learning and thrive. In conclusion, our school has gone through a lot of change for the better. We're all hoping that the next time we share with you, there will be even more exciting updates and events to talk about because this is for the success of the students at our school. So, the more that they drive, the better. On behalf of the student council team at all Middle School, thank you for taking the time and interest to listen to what's happening at our school. Thank you. [Applause] Um, I was just wondering if we could get a picture of this the students who report tonight. Would that be okay? Just take a quick minute. That's okay with the students. We

018would love that. Okay. So, you're our first student report. Very excited. >> Reporters. [Music] Everybody ready? One, two, three. One more. Okay. One, two, three. [Music] >> Okay. >> Thank you. Great job. [Applause] One more set. Keep going. Very comfortable. >> Okay. Um, so we're on now to item 9B, which is a superintendent report. Students, you are very welcome to stay, but we understand if you need to go, it's totally okay. >> Lots of homework. >> All right. Thank you so much. Uh, welcome everyone to our regular schedule where we want to just thank everyone who was able to come out and uh, to my first meet and greet at Columbia Middle School. It was great to get to know so many of you and also to hear about what you feel are our strengths

019as a school district and uh where we should focus our energies next. I also want to just take a moment to congratulate Dr. Valentine is here. She got selected and announced as a full rice scholar representing Sunnyale School District. I heard there might be a trip over to Finland. I don't know, but you're going to have to ask her. And again, I want to thank um Sunnyville Middle School who was able to join us today for the student board representatives and looking forward to having uh Columbia Middle School at our next board meeting as well. Let's go to the next slide, please. Um and with that, I do want to just uh ask u um our CBO, Mr. Arthur Cuffy, who's going to be presenting to you the 2425 and audited actions presentation at this

020time. Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone. I'm Arthur Cuffy, chief business officer here at Sunny Love School District. I'm excited to present the financial or the unodited actual financials. We will jump right in and I wanted to start off start us off with a quick intro. I'd like everybody to think of a healthy ecosystem. Think of the soil, the trees, the rain, the insects, animals, and how they all depend on one another. When they work well together, the whole system thrives. Our school district is no different. classrooms, buses, kitchens, facilities, finance, so many other parts which may may seem very separate but are very much interconnected. So when each one of these pieces align and supports each other, our ecosystem gives our students the best chance to succeed. So tonight I'll be sharing the

021story of our that our finances tell about where we are, what we value, how we can align our systems to best fulfill our promise to our students. So what you see on the screen is a brief overview of the topics in my presentation. We'll jump right in. So I wanted to just orient us all with the budget process. So the the budget cycle is a 15-month process. starts in June of a year, uh, ends 15 months later in September of the following year. And there's quarterly check-ins every 3 months. Every 3 months, we have, uh, a bit more data to share. Um, next slide, please. There we go. Oh, too far. There we go. So, what this slide shows us is the last budget cycle. So, the 15-month period, all five check-ins. Uh, this is

022meant to be transparency for uh our budgeting practices. And what you see here is at each cycle, the check-in uh with the board and the community and how our projections have evolved. So I like putting this slide together and putting this data together in this way because I feel like it gives a comprehensive look at our expenditures. So dating back to uh 2017 18 uh all the way to current and the future three years of budget. Uh you get to see the the summary of all of our expenditures broken down by each category. What I want you to focus on is the purple bars. Our expenditures have increased by f 50% in just four short years. 50% in just four short years. Second thing I want you to pay attention to on this graph is

023the green bar. Uh and we spend over 80% of our cost on our staff. Next up, this is a historical uh view of all of our positions. And as you see, over the last 10 years, we've uh significantly increased our staff count uh about 30% increased over that time period. While at the same over the same course of time, we declined in enrollment from 6,700 students to 5,700. So this graph shows uh the general fund revenue versus expense and the biggest takeaway is we are spending more than we are bringing in. The graph just is a a visual of that. So I wanted to show this slide because not not for the specifics of the numbers but because I think it gives a good visual of the components that are leading to our structural deficit.

024So in this in this slide you'll see there's the revenue growth on the left where it says base growth. Uh so we might grow by 2% in revenue. Then you have all these factors that are outpacing our revenue growth um from the expenditure side. So things like uh salary schedule increases, stepping in column increases, inflation, pension, uh insurance premiums and for us our special education contribution which this year was 25.5 million. So, next I wanted to touch on our special education programs. One of our biggest programs uh and more most important programs, you know, in alignment with our equity beliefs. Uh our our students with special needs are are very important and so it's important that we have the resources to to meet them where they are uh and get give get them that individualized

025uh support. So one of the realities of of this program which is so important um is the cost. So you can see in the the purpleish is that fuchsia in that purplish color um kind of shows that our cost per student has increased by 48% over the last six years. The green shows our percentage of students with uh IEPs and how the proportion of our student body has grown u over the last five years by 54.5%. And the red bars just show that over the last four years the contribution required from the general fund has grown by 84% from that 13.8 million to 2525. Next up, wanted to go through a few of our local uh some of the factors in our local economy that we're we're watching and that are particular to us. So,

026our property tax growth has slowed. Last year, we we saw a 6% increase. This year, a 2%. Next year, we're already seeing some unfavorable signs. um some indicators that that tell us that our growth might not be as robust as we've seen in the past. You can look down the street to 23 and me was just sold for 47% of what it sold for in 2019. And so those types of transactions in the commercial real estate market are triggering Prop 8 uh Prop 8 reductions, excuse me, which are not uh to the advantage of Sun School District. Next, I wanted to briefly talk about the fair market value adjustments. This is a requirement that we we have. Um and in order to explain what this is, I want you to think of a home. If

027you buy a home and that home appreciates, if you until you sell that home, you don't actually get the revenue from the a higher value. So for us, we have cash just like all the districts in the county, we have cash in the county's bank account and they invest that cash. At the end of the year, we have to book an adjustment to reflect the appreciation of the investments they've made with our cash. What it does to our books is it reflects revenue that is unspendable. So, it can mask the structural deficit that we have because we're we're recognizing revenue. So, right now, we have $1.2 2 million of this unspendable revenue in our general fund ledger. Um, so I just wanted to point that out. Next, after school programs, very important program. our community

028um has expressed the the importance of this program, but one of the realities is we are even though we got a one-time bunk in funding this year, we are still operating at a deficit in that program. Measure Y partial tax, we were able to pass that due to the the great support of our community, uh which extended a $1.1 million revenue stream for eight years for us. Also, trends, we're watching our enrollment is slightly down year-over-year from one year ago today to to to the data we have from today. It's down 1.2%. But our TK enrollment is up about 17% from last year. We've been we've been doing a lot um you know for our our community. Some of the things we've done is uh we've contributed to a few city projects like the Lakewood

029Library and also the Columbia Neighborhood Center. Utility costs are up about 13% year-over-year. Insurance premiums up about 20%. Uh we were able to to upgrade our Wi-Fi in all classrooms. Um but that was about $1.5 billion for that investment. And we were also able to secure some filtered water bottle filling stations across all of our sites. So, some real exciting things for us, but I just wanted to point out some of the highlights of the year. Next, I want to talk about our programs briefly. Homeschool transportation, we've been expanding, serving over 700 students now, and we have we see measurable impact of that program by the improved attendance of those students. our arts and music programs. So, we get a grant for for to support those programs. Uh, pays for roughly four teachers and it

030gives the sites a bit of discretionary funds to to spend as well. Uh, also the general fund supports the programs in one way by by funding the starting arts contract which was just over 300,000 for us last year. Next up, kids learning after school kas program and you you can see the numbers of the structural deficit in that program. Um we brought in about 5 million or 4 million but we spent about 5 million the science camp program. So, we were glad to be able to to send about 600 of our students and 330 of our staff members to science camp uh for a total cost of about $360,573 per attendee. Uh we also were we're very pleased to to receive donations of about 40,000 from our parents and uh Sunnyale Education Foundation. So, really

031appreciate the support. Also, our child nutrition, last but not least, our child nutrition program. Uh we've been expanding our scratch cooking. Last year, we served over a million meals. We were able to do some great things in that program. Eliminate plastic wraps. Uh last year, and this year, we moved to eco-friendly utensils. So all these fun exciting things in that program but program does require uh a contribution from the general fund of about 557,000. So next our reserves. So for a community funded district having a healthy reserve is very important. Um there, as we talked about earlier, there are factors that can uh turn sometimes quicker than the LCFF model. And so our board has a local resolution to maintain a 20% reserve. From the last time I presented the budget in June, so now

032you'll see a small uptick in that. Last year, um in June, it was 9.7% reserves. Now it's up to 10.4%. Again, some of those some of that is due to the uh the unspendable revenue that is in our in our books. So, what this what this slide tells me is that there's you know, there's work to be done. Um you know, we've done a lot in a short period of time and so we just want to make sure that that we are pro proactive and able to maintain uh our quality of program for our students. So the road ahead and kind of in summary, our property taxes are slowing. Our expenditures are up 50% in just four years. Staffing is over 80% of our cost. Costs are generally trending up with program and staff expansions.

033Uh and simply we're we're spending more than we're bringing in. And so we are trying to have a proactive uh approach to this to maintain that that in sustained uh effective programs. And so as always we we end where we start. That's why we're all here with our promise. And so as we continue to work together to to align our ecosystems um to be most favorable to our students and their success um you know we keep we keep the students in mind in in everything we do. So with that I will move to any questions that you have about this presentation. public comment first. >> You can't order this is a different order for us. So >> uh so for superintendent report usually there isn't public comment. Is that right? >> Correct. Okay. So board

034any questions or thoughts that you want to share? >> It is not public comment because it's under a superintendent report. >> There'll be public comment on it when it's the action >> or discussion item. But if you have a clarifying question or you have any questions for Mr. Cuffy or for superintendent. >> Hi Mr. Cuffy. Thank you so much for your presentation. Um this is a bit different than our last update. Um and it's very concerning. um what do you see for us um in terms of writing the budget and making sure that we can ensure quality programming? >> Yeah, great question. I think at this point um you know we're we're in the stage of understanding where we are uh and everything that that we're doing. we are really analyzing um in a way

035that maybe we weren't in the past. Uh so for instance contracts that are coming through we are analyzing we are uh vetting them and really asking tough questions about how is this going to lead to school success. Uh we have a a soft which what one might call a soft hiring freeze where every vacancy we're trying to use uh that opportunity to just talk about the position. See, uh, not that we want to end services, but how can we maybe continue services in a different way, more efficient way. So, these are some of the ways that we're at this point, you know, just trying to to move in the right direction. >> And may I also add is just that at the end of the day, we also want to make sure that we're protecting

036what happens in the classroom, our staff, and understanding that what we're experiencing here in Sunnyville is not unique to Sunnyville. This is something that's happening across the state and um you know the there's concerns about inflation since the pandemic. Costs have increased just our families are experiencing higher costs with transportation, gas, utilities, food, it also affects us as school districts as well. And at the same time, we want to maintain and improve the quality of services for our students and staff and families. Yes, I have I have a question. I know that we've been well kind of reorganizing and cleaning seeing where everything is going as you say knowing where we are at before we take any any measures. Do you have any idea about any measures that will need to be moving other than

037higher freeze in organization wise and uh also I wanted to know how you calculate the number well I suppose is if you take per student in the IEP is about say 37% and then the other kids are about 25%. % sorry 27,000 and the other kids are about 25,000 per per pupil per year is am I right if I divide 157 million between the 5,000 and 700 students I have 27,00 500 around per year so when so in a way if we want know where are we per year? Which one would be the number? >> Great question. So what this So we're talking about the the numbers in the purplish fuchsia. Not sure what that is. Um those numbers that is strictly the cost of the special education program. The total cost divided by the

038the number of students with IEPs. So, that's how we get to the cost per student. Um, and the what I was trying to showcase here was just over the six-year period, the cost per student has increased um by that 48%. So, the the general takeaway here is just cost of services continue to rise and that's just a reality that we we have to like you said, we have to know where we are. um the services are incredibly important. Um so it is a reality to our budget that we we can't do anything about. Um but it's good to to understand that because it does put pressure on the rest of uh the budgets and we have to be very efficient um with with everything. And so this is this is one one slide I just

039wanted to point out some of the challenges that just the economy the state of the economy and inflation the rate of uh the cost of services that we have to deal with. >> And what is the number? I heard that there is a magic number for type of schools that we should be trying to spend between personal and services. You say that we're about 80%. >> Yeah. So, we're about 83% and usually it'll be between 75 to 80. So, we're a little bit above that number. Um, but not too far off from the range as well. And and the reality is that school districts, most of our resources go to staff and that's not going down. And then you think about stirs and purr that's those numbers are continuing to increase as well as uh

040benefits other benefits. >> So squeeziness. >> Yeah. The green the green bar here kind of speaks to to that question. [Music] I appreciate the transparency around where we are and where we need to go and I think that's very important as we um bring the community along as well. Um because there will be some changes. we recognize that. Um, but also we're we're all here together for the students and I appreciate you bringing this information to us in this way. >> Yeah, thank you. And I I think also with the um I think there's an opportunity for some creativity and you know um really I think looking at the programs in a in a really critical uh mission clarity way is going to be really positive overall. So, thank you very much. I'm really glad

041that we're keeping students first. So, >> thank you so much and please my report. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, we're going to go down the line. Um Christy Profetto, would you like to start with your report? >> Hi. Um so some things that I did um or attended uh Lakewood Village Neighborhood Association. I'm part of them and I helped um uh put together our um community uh picnic and um it was a nice nice outcome. We had um the mayor come out, Lee was there. Um uh we had um uh Patrick Kirby um he was out there too and um Otto Lee's um people were there. Patrick Aaron's people were there. So it was really nice um to see everyone come out and um support the community. We had a fire engine there. The

042kids loved, you know, um going to the fire engine, looking at it. Um we had um barbecue um burgers. So, it was a really nice event. Um, and people got to um meet new neighbors, neighbors that they're that's been there, but you know um just people coming together. It was really nice. Um I also went um or I presented at our Fairwood 101 presentation for volunteers. One was virtual and one was in person and that went very well. Um we just had our Fairwood Alliance board meeting. Um and then we also had a back to school picnic. Um and it was nice to see um new kids um families come um and then as well as you know old families that's been there to um connect. And yesterday we had a rosary novena for um

043a good friend that just passed. >> Well, let's see. I'll start with today we did a great visit to SNS and we saw the kids using the new spaces they were amazing the spaces and the kids and the way how they are utilized it's very very nice to see them complexion from after see from conception well during other than oh I forgot last time to add some of the visit that I did with trusty Watson and trustee Brewster. So I'll add them for my next report and the big thing this period was the CLSBA conference during the weekend last week. I was there since Wednesday evening all the way until Sunday and it was a great conference. We presented as a Santa Clara CSBA. We presented with the legislation action committee and we presented our

044advocacy work and gave a guide to other counties how to work hard advocacy for the advocating for the kids. We also well I was also part of the I was the chair of the committee for the event. So I was also busy with some last minute things and presenting and going to the mic when it was necessary and it was a great conference. Everybody seemed very engaged and very happy to be there. And as indifference to the AC that is on December, somehow this gets a little bit more intimate than the thousands of people that go to AC. This one we had a little bit under 400 people. H but it's also very it's like we all have the same heart and the same goal towards the kids and towards equity and is state in

045every presentation in every keynote speaker. They have very interesting life and very interesting path to get where they are and how how they got to be who they are today. And we even had some candidates go there and take their speech, why we should vote for them in the next election. So it was a very interesting conference in general and we all had the ones that we went there. We miss you a lot. But we had some opportunities to engage with each other and also share good moments. We're going um yeah, so that uh conference, so CLSBA is California Latino School Board Association. Um and it was a great event and I just wanted to Isabelle mentioned it that she is on the board of directors for that and I'm just grateful for her leadership

046there and what she provides for that like that board, but then also in turn that affects all of the districts in the state. Um, and so thank you so much for all of your service and it was a great conference. Um, a lot of good stuff. Um, so I appreciate being able to be there and appreciate all of you for it. And then I'm going to take I usually don't do this, but I'm going to do a little bit of an Eileen kind of a personal uh not directly related to school board, but just stuff that's going on or whatever. Um, you guys know I'm a cryer. I cry very easily. Sorry. Um, so just with what happened last week, I really was taking a look and like what can I do? Like I am

047not a violent person, nor will I ever be a violent person, but what can I do to make our country better? And so I just want to share with you guys that the commitment I don't know how I'm going to do it. It's really hard, but my commitment of not looking at the other side as the enemy or that they're evil and like I have I have to do better. And so that's kind of my from the stuff that happened last week, that is my personal commitment is as much as I disagree with them, I have to look at them differently. And so just wanted to share with you that's kind of my my personal challenge that I'm taking on from the recent events. >> Um, thank you Michelle. That Thank you for coming here

048with your heart. Um, so I attended a few more back to school nights including Sam Miguel's and Cherry Tase last week. I was really pleased that the schedule's been such for the back to school nights that we've been able to attend many. Um, and it's been really wonderful to see the parents out um, meeting their teachers and building community with each other and um, learning how to support students at each school site. Um, having gone to several back to school nights, there are um, a couple questions I had just um, in terms of some noticings I had. Um, the child care was kind of um, not always the same. The opportunities for child care, whether or not there would be child care was not um, the same at campus to campus. Um, nor was language

049language access um, uh, translation services um, for all of the classrooms. So, I'm I'm hoping that we can look at that as we're going into open houses and back to school nights again um to make sure that everybody has access. Um I also attended a construction meeting um at Sunnyville Middle School uh with some neighbors. Um we have um lost some trust in our neighbors and I must credit um both Mr. Coffee and Mr. um Burns for bringing together a um you know a presentation about uh what we are doing in terms of the construction around SMS. This is for the neighbors that weren't as informed as they should have been and now we will continue to rebuild that trust um with them. So I thought that was a very difficult conversation and I was

050proud of how we showed up. Um, please pass this along to um to Grant as well. Um, and also see this as a great opportunity for us to um continue having these conversations with the community as we're building um and continuing to repair and rebuild trust there. Um, I also attended my first CLSBA unity conference and um, that was just so inspirational to be in roomfuls of educators and trustees that were committed to public schools and leading public schools. Um, and many of them, many of us had come through the system and the system did not serve them well. And yet we still they still found a way. And I found that just so inspirational to be in a room um with that kind of energy and with that kind of thinking. Um I finally

051met the famed Dr. Victor Rios um and his colleague Dr. Cassandra Via and heard their life stories. He is known for reframing um the that students um instead of being at risk, they're at promise and to recognize assets instead of um deficiencies in our students and to reimagine schooling in that way. Um and I was also really pleased to meet in person um Robin, Dr. Dr. Robin Avalari Lassal who also um speaks to how our public school systems don't necessarily um they have the outcomes that they were meant that they're designed to and also there are so many opportunities to um change the system and um work for all students and um that was just it was just a really inspirational and invigorating conference. I was so happy to be there. Um there is one

052thing that um the I think he's the board trustee of San Diego Unified School District, Dr. Cody Patterson, he talked about going through the San Diego school district, Unified School District and just doing wonderfully. And he reflected back and he said, you know, I was just welcomed. And this is a white man, you know, and he's he was in La Hoya. This is like a very rich part of San Diego. and he said, you know, and it's because I was treated like a golden child and we should all like all of our children should be treated like a golden child, right? We should have um those same expectations for all of our students. And I felt like there's there's a lot of emotion in the room because I think we all recognized that yes, maybe

053some of us were also treated like golden little edge golden child growing up, but that's not the case for everybody. And um it was just kind of like a call to action and solidarity. Let's let's make that happen. This is what our school should be. Thank you. >> Um thank you. So, I agree that California Latino School Boards Association as an association is pretty amazing. It's statewide and um if you haven't already gotten your tickets for the lunchon, you should put in that order now because those tickets are going to sell out and they will also have powerful speakers um at the annual education conference. But um thank you Isabelle again for all your work on that and and uh you know thanks for your leadership. Okay, I just wanted to say that it is

054uh Hispanic Heritage Month September 15th to October 15th. Uh, in my own ESL class that I teach at FUHSD in the adult school, we read this um, third grade Scholastic News article about Enrique Alejandro, a student podcaster with a channel called Diabetic Superkid. And he shares the way to make his favorite traditional Mexican dishes with recipes modified to accommodate people with type 1 diabetes. So, it's a mix of nutrition and cultural love and heritage and like family. He's this cute little kid. He does these funny little dances on Tik Tok while he's cooking up a storm. But it was just so positive for my um adult English learner students to um you know, even if they weren't from Mexico, they recognized this idea of like food and love and culture and like connection while they

055were learning all about text features and building vocabulary. And I want to really uh commend teaching and learning and all the teams for putting together the um slide deck for resources for uh Hispanic heritage month um for this month. So, thank you for doing that because I know it's it's just nice to have resources out there. Um and I'm going to send all of my other stuff, all my other activities to um the district and they'll be in the minutes and along with I just sent um Dr. crossplay some save the dates for some additional events happening through SECSBA. Um, okay. So, now we are on to item uh D, which is the Sunny Mill Education Association. If there's an official representative online, please use the break raise hand feature now. Okay, seeing none, item

0569E, the California School Employees Association. If there's an official representative online, please use the raised hand feature now. >> Okay, seeing none, our new item for the night, item 9F, Sunnyville Education Foundation. Um, I see a couple of possible official representatives in the room. Please welcome to the microphone and sorry for the clarifier. >> Thank you so much for adding us back to the agenda that that made our week exciting. My name is Katie Roland. I'm the vice president of the Sunnyville Education Foundation and I'm here with our president Michelle Eugenie as well as Courtney Jensen who is our programs chair and I'm here tonight to present several grants to the Sunnyville School District. So thanks Arthur for making this moment extra special for us all. We are really pleased to award $10,000 to San

057Diego. [Applause] That's gonna support the production of Frozen. So, the students are going to get to let it all go and all those fun things. They should all come out in March. And then supporting our Bishop Bobcats with just under $2,000 for a drum perks assembly, easing the way into the performing arts transition with a great assembly on teamwork. And this is just the first installment of over $100,000 that we'll be giving to every single one of our schools this year. And that is meant to support enriching educational opportunities. The other thing that's in the check is $4,000. And this is to support inclusive library initiatives at all 10 sites in the Sunny Hill School District to be managed by the central librarian Julie Griffin. So we're really excited about those things. And finally, I'd

058like to invite you all to come hang out with us tomorrow evening at the San Miguel Elementary PTA welcome picnic where you'll get to see the staff sensory tent in use at a full event for the very first time. And on Saturday, we'll be at the state of the city with a booth. And we're really excited to celebrate the two former Sunnyville Education Foundation board members who are being deservedly recognized for their contributions to our community. So advanced congratulations to Trusty Watson and Elsa Nunes and thank you all so much for your partnership. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're on to item 10, public comments. This is the time to talk about things that are not on the agenda. Uh you have two cards. Um if this portion of the agenda provides an opportunity for

059members 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 2, 2A, and.3 preclude any action being taken on an item not appearing on the posted agenda. Time limits allocated to public testimony are three minutes per person and 20 minutes for public comments. Speakers are asked to give their name and affiliation so that an accurate record can be reflected in the minutes. Um, so I see two cards. Are there any more? Okay, perfect. So, uh, are there any online? >> Three. >> There are three for things not for things that are not on the agenda. Okay. So just as a reminder um folks uh if this is the time for things that are not on the agenda and um

060I have two cards in person, three folks online. I'd like to invite to the podium first um Mr. Jam Yamanagra from Sunnyville Sister City Association and then after that it will be Mor. >> Uh good evening uh members of the Sunnyville uh school district board. My name is Jay Yamanaga and I am vice president, board member, and student exchange program leader for the Sunnyville Sister City Association. I come before the board to thank you and the students, teachers, and administration at Columbia Middle School and Sunnyville Middle School for your continuing support of our student exchanges and to give you an update on our uh 2025 and 2026 programs. Uh since 2020 uh sorry since 2014 with your support SSCA has sent over 150 students to Japan from June 17th to June 26th 20 students from

061Columbia Middle School, Sunnyville Middle School, Fremont High School and Homeset High School and five adult chaprons traveled to Japan visiting Tokyo and also Sunnyville's sister city of Isizuka. As part of this trip, each delegate stayed with a homeay family in Isizuka and attended school there for a few days. After hosting Isizuka delegates in March of this year, it was wonderful to watch the bonds between our two cities continue to grow. I wanted to give a special thank you to the five adult chaprons who accompanied the student delegation and supported our students during the trip as well as a thank you to all of the Isaac city uh staff, school staff, teachers, students at the uh at the four schools in Isiza that we visited and of course all these homeay families who welcomed our students

062and made this family such a great success. In 2026, we will again be hosting 20 students from Isizuka, Japan in March, and we plan on sending 20 students to visit Tokyo and Isizuka again in June. Our program applications are due at the end of September, and I'm looking very much looking forward uh to meeting this year's talented applicants. And uh finally, I want to express my gratitude for all the collaborative support that we receive uh from the Sunnyville School District, uh Columbia Middle School, and Sunnyville Middle School, including Superintendent Crosswite. um, President Watson, uh, Principal Poe, who was here tonight, uh, Principal Ibasaki, who was also here earlier tonight, and our school, uh, volunteer, uh, facilitators, Jesse Weintock and, uh, Julie Ledwig. And I also want to thank, uh, our five adult chaprons from 2025,

063including, uh, Jesse Weintock and Par. I'm looking forward to another great program in 2026, and, uh, thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to giving you an update as we continue our programs. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Next up is Miss Jansen. >> Good evening. My name is Courtney Jansen. Uh San Miguel parent talking tonight on my own behalf and I want to talk about communication. So I will start by saying thank you for the communication this year. It has been um really good. I will say that I have appreciated all the weekly superintendent updates. I've appreciated all of the amazing work on social media and so much more. It has been noticed and we're all very appreciative of it. Um, but my comment tonight is going to push

064you to go even further. My short version is please share the good with the bad. My longer version is that I found out a bunch of stuff in the last couple weeks that I did not find out through official district channels. Um, for example, I learned that Fairwood and Lakewood no longer have assistant principles this year and they did before. I also learned that playworks at San Miguel, which was doing the younger grades, has cut back so that now first graders only get Playworks once a month and I believe it used to be twice a month. And as a parent, I did not know about these things unless I just happened to ask the right person. I also know again just by asking that we have some amazing music teachers now on hand that we

065did not have in the district last year. We were having to use I think starting arts. Um, and so that's a piece of good news that I didn't get official communication from. And I think I'm saying it would be great to get that official communication. The reason that we need the bad news in addition to the good news, there's there's several reasons, but one, if you don't share the bad news with us, we start to wonder about the good news. Um, so trust us, we're parents, we're partners, we're members of the school community, we want to know everything that you're working through. We saw a great presentation um by Dr. Cuffy um I don't know 20 minutes ago and it painted a very somber picture that parents need to know in the district. Um, we

066need to know because we need to know that if we don't fund things like measures Y and the bonds, we're not going to get these programs when hopefully they come asking for more money in the future. People need to know why it's important. And we need to know if we don't have it, what do we lose? And we also need to know who to bug. So, for example, the playworks cutting at Sam Miguel. I don't know if I'm supposed to go yell at my uh trustee. if I'm supposed to go yell at the superintendent. Um, but maybe it's my state representative or it's my well, federal representatives are a separate thing right now, but I don't know who to go to to help support you guys in your effort to bring the best education possible.

067So, um, the communication has been great. It's much improved, but please keep going and we are your partners and we want to know about this so we can help make it even better. Thank you. >> Thank you. We're going to move to our speakers online. We have Crystal Ortiz followed by Jesse. You may begin. >> Hi, my name is Crystal Ortiz and I'm a parent of two children at Bishop and also a member of Bishop Elementary School Site Council. Um my issue uh has to do with safety and neglect also violating section 504a which prohibits disability discrimination requires accommodations in all programs including after school program. School staff November 2023 taped up my son's foot with tape and napkins to make an imitation shoe after an incident happened where one of his shoes was lost

068after recess. Hence the lack of supervision since no staff members saw the incident. They called and asked if I could bring him another pair, which I said yes, but I wanted to speak to a principal. When I got there, the shoe was found. Schools um and programs have a responsibility to keep students safe and supervised. If staff are untrained and not qualified to handle behaviors tied to a disability and children getting excluded instead of being supported, that's a failure of duty of care. Um, my son at the time was having severe separation anxiety and aggression. So, me being his mother was heartbroken that he was put in such a situation. Also in November of 2021, I'm sorry, November 21st, 2024, my son got dropped from an afterchool program, which I had complained to the program

069director and filed a district complaint after staff informed me that my son was being aggressive so that he had to call another counselor in to redirect him. When I asked what the form of redirection was, the counselor who was watching my son said that he tickled him. I then told him that that's not a form of redirection. I believe no parent uh would approve of such care and would make sure that this gets corrected. I filed the district complaint, but believe nothing was followed through with despite the district saying it was. Um, I plan to take this all the way up the furthest it goes to get my story out there and to be heard so that changes can be made. >> Thank you. Next up is Jesse. >> Hello. This is Jesse Jerki, former

070SMS parent and current Vargas parent. Um, I wanted to comment that with congratulations on entering the or being approved to join the League of What was the term exactly? Innovative Schools. Um, I went and looked at their website and it seems to talk a lot about AI and I've heard a lot about AI in various board meetings as well and I just wanted to express some concern that I have about AI in the classroom. Um, specifically right now the way that a lot of AI programs are set up, they often produce false results and there's no with absolute certainty. So there it is very difficult for adults and let alone children to be able to tell when the information that they are receiving from the AI is false. In addition, uh there have been many

071stories recently of people being um trained to believe conspiracy theories and led into suicidal thoughts and actions. Um there have been several stories in the news. So, I just want to make sure that the district is really uh considerate in their policies in implementing any AI in the classroom, especially with how untested and how uncertain the technology is. And I just also further want to say that there are some programs that are being targeted to the schools that are I think um morally suspect. For example, there's one program that has been marketed to schools that has recreated Anne Frank as a bot you can speak to and she often answers in um with excusing the Holocaust. So overall, I just want to make sure as we move to be an innovative school district that we

072are being considerate. I'm not asking that there's no AI ever. I just want to make sure that whatever use is done in an equitable, fair, and reasonable manner with as much safety as humanly possible. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Oh, that's it. Okay, great. Um, thank you for that. And we are on to item 11 uh public hearings for public notice of sufficiency of instructional materials. Uh Dr. >> Thank you. Good evening board. Um this is an annual um responsibility we have um to stay in compliance with regards to instructional materials for our students. Um in addition to um this item tonight uh following we have a responsibility to report this information to Santa Clara Office of Education. Um we also as a part of this process um provided a 10-day notice

073um across the district and also here at um the district office um in order to support that. As a part of this process, um there was a Williams visit and this process was modified um by Dr. Newsome October 8, 2021 and looked at the criteria for how selection of schools would be moving forth to be selected this school year. We have um and will be for next year as well at this time. Two school sites that were selected. We have Cherry Chase as well as August Elementary School that was selected to be a part of the Williams visit. And just to clarify, that's a process by which the county comes to check our resources and materials to see whether we are equipped or not. We have not gotten our final report on that, but that

074will be forthcoming. In addition to that, um, tonight um, asking for your review and vote regarding our sufficiency of instructional materials. I won't go through all of the areas on the um resolution, but the area I wanted to highlight um more specifically because it's an area that we're working on as a school district and will be a part of one of our major reasons for moving forward this school year with some type of pilot for our English language development and English language arts. So currently um when the process for sufficiency of materials and was um re um authorized it also includes English language development materials. So as a result um we have some outdated materials. Uh we've been using integrated ELD and so we do not have the sufficiency of materials in that particular area

075which is going to be leading and guiding our pilot for this year. So that would be a new um area on this sufficiency area that you would be voting on this evening um with regards to mater. And with that um looking for your review and regarding our sufficiency of construction materials. >> Okay. Um, any clarifying questions? Sorry, board. Any clarifying questions before we open to public comment hearing? Public hearing. Um, okay. So, let's see. Um, so I'm now opening the public hearing at 7:38 p.m. If there's any member of the public online who wishes to speak on this item, please use the raised hand feature now. There's anyone in here in the room. I need a blue card. Okay, we're going to give it a minute. One minute. I believe I opened the public hearing

076at 7:39. It's still 7:39. It's still 7:39. So, we're still waiting. >> I mean, I'm just watching it. >> 7:40. We're going to close the public meeting at 7 or the public hearing at 7:40. Um so board there is a resolution regarding the um regarding that we're going to pass or is on is slated to pass regarding the public notice of sufficiency of instructional materials. Um it is resolution 256. Can I get a motion for those to approve so that we can discuss or approve? Sure. I move to approve the senator school district resolution R2506 sufficiency of instructional materials. >> I second. >> Great. Okay. Um does anyone have want to say anything about any part of the resolution? I have a but um so I I just wanted to follow up on Dr. everything

077that you just mentioned about um we don't currently have sufficient ELD um materials. Um and just going over the the wording um to be clear the intentions for this year. Um, it says that the district is currently undertaking a board approved pilot for EL EDA SLA instruction material adoption and interim pilot materials will be used with the intent to formally adopt and implement board approved ELD curriculum upon completion of the pilot process and subsequent board action. Um, I just want to make sure that the language here that I'm reading is it is we will be doing a pilot this year. And what is the timeline for um adoption as far as you know? As far as the timeline, we have not established that as yet um because we're going to basically reorganize because we started

078the process last year and so we will revamp the process this year to ensure that all teachers and staff who want to participate and also there's been some changes with um um timelines with state adopted material. So we want to ensure that teachers have an opportunity to be aware of what is available so that we can um choose which particular materials we will pilot and move forward with. So you'll be getting more information as we solidify the process, the timeline and selection criteria and the other details of building that process. >> I had a question actually about that same those same two sentences when it says um interim pilot materials will be used with the intent to formally adopt and implement board approved EL curriculum upon completion of the pilot. Does that mean that it

079will be used just by the people in the pilot or will it be shared with other um educators? >> At this time it would be those that are involved in the pilot. We do have materials but they're not state approved. And so um so they're you so teachers are actually using classroom units and other materials that they have. and so they have materials. So, we haven't gotten to the process to decide whether or not these additional materials will be being used throughout the entire district because we're right at the beginning of the process to establish what we have the capacity to do um with the vendors that we end up deciding to utilize. >> Um so, classroom units, uh what does that mean that they they're using classroom units? Are these um materials that are

080available to all teachers across all the school sites or are they different sight to sight? >> They do vary sight to sight and we are using some integrated materials that are from current um ELA content areas and then also teacher created materials currently. >> Let me try to add some additional clarification there. We have these materials at school sites and they vary from sight to site. However, at Cherry Chase and at Vargas, we did not have state adopted material for EL. And so what the resolution is, it acknowledges that we did not have those materials and that we came forward and openly shared that information with the county office. However, we are moving forward with a pilot and and the intent is to use a pilot to present a recommendation to the board at a

081later time. Hope that helps. >> Believe by the end of the year. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. So, like as long as I think maybe we could clarify that. I think I saw earlier draft where it was talking about with the intent to adopt by the end of the school year. Would it be possible to to add that in there as a just because that's what we're planning on doing anyway and it would just make it feel more um uh and time boxed to me uh because that's our commitment. So could we say um and like will be used with the intent to formally adopt and implement board approved ELD curriculum upon completion of the pilot at the conclusion of the school year. So just right after the word pilot says something about at the

082conclusion of this school year. Okay. All right. with that amendment. Um, any other comments or >> I think the people who made the motions have to make the amendment. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Can could could you please include that amendment that we're going to say um after the word pilot at the conclusion of the >> So you you don't have to say the whole thing. You can just say the amendment. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. So I change my motion to approve the resolution but with the amendment that Bri has made. >> Okay. Second. >> Excellent. All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Great. Chair votes I. And the motion passes. All right. We are on to the big event. All these lovely people are here for the study session

08312A. Lots of glue cards. Um, presenter is ready. Very excited. So, um, I will turn it over looks like to Dr. Valentine. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, President Watson, board of trustees, staff, and members of the public. I'm Christina Valentine. she, her, hers, and I'm the director of curriculum instruction and assessment and I'm also the founding principal of the Huntos program. On behalf of staff, I am very proud to present about the Huntos an overview of the Huntos program to the board of trustees and I also want to start by saying thank you so much for your support of this unique and impactful program. Um, I'd also like to recognize principles Yabara and principles Poe for their dedication and commitment to the Huntos program at both San Miguel and Columbia Middle School.

084Um, thank you both for your passion and hard work for this program. And a quick note, we normally do translate our Kunto slides um, in the past and we'll work to do that after tonight's meeting. And I don't know how to use clicker well. Next slide, please. U, we're going to start first with an overview of Hunto's program goals. In 2013, the superintendent gave principal Valentine, that's me, um the direction to develop a program of choice that would both increase student enrollment at San Miguel and foster student identity. At the site level, the team really thought about what could we do to develop a program of choice that would lead to transformational change. Um what could we do to build on the assets of our community that are sometimes seen as detriments and how as

085so make them positives rather than negatives and how can we increase student enrollment. So then in the two years between 2013 and 2015 um the group planned and thought about what the DI program would be at San Miguel school. Um the first K group of kindergarters began in 2015 and throughout the next few school years the team really thought about how can we develop a DLI program a dual language program um that meets our vision and mission of creating bilingual, biiterate and bicultural students. um really fostering global citizenship and there's a really lovely mission and vision statement um that's at the school level during that time period. The team was working on developing each grade level as the students progressed through the program um and worked on developing in 2019 and from the inception of

086the program. The team began to think about what a middle school model would look like. um knowing that we had looked at other programs, we knew that creating a middle school DI program is challenging and in many places um doesn't exist in the same way that exists in in our current district in our district currently. So, for example, how can we develop a program that manages to have Spanish language arts as a core class and also an elective choice so Spanish language arts doesn't take the place of an elective and also how do we maintain after school opportunities? This isn't always common in DI programs as they move into secondary. And it was important for the team, students, staff, and parents at the time um that these were separate. And I think at the time

087the board of trustees um made a cons um a thoughtful decision to staff um Colombia in this way because it is additional staffing required to provide this extra course at middle school. Which brings us to today. We're at 2025. It's the 10-y year anniversary of the program. Happy birthday, Huntos. And the question is is how do we evaluate the program? It's developed, but how do we evaluate successes of the program as well as opportunities and develop next steps? Next slide. And it says the TV is going to turn off automatically here. Okay. So, the good news is is the program is thriving at both Columbia and San Miguel. Is it perfect? No. No. I don't know if we we're going to hit perfection. Um, but there are many highlights and there are things to work

088on. I also know that many districts and schools have visited both sites to learn from both San Miguel and Columbia. Um, the program now runs TK through 8th grade and we have freshman and sophomores at Fremont Union High School. Um, we also know that we made a thoughtful decision to uncouple the fourth and fifth grade combination classes, which was originally um, a program design based on student enrollment, which again, thank you to the board of trustees for making the decision to staff the program at these levels. Curriculum, instruction, and assessments are established and are double than what they are at other schools because we're learning Spanish and English as well as all the other content areas. The sealed by literacy pathway awards have been established and Hunto students were the trailblazers across the district. So

089now that we're rolling out sealed by literacy pathways across the district, Hunto students were the first ones to receive these recognitions. At both school sites, bilingual staff has been increased by in both certificated and classified. And I do want to highlight that our special education bilingual staff has also been increased at both sites. This was a thoughtful decision at both the school sites um and deliberate family feedback. I think you've heard some of it at public sessions, but we've generally heard that this program recognizes and elevates the cultural capital of our families. And I think it's just I think it was mentioned earlier, but want to celebrate the bleo group that's recognized by the city of Sunnyville. Um, which is Hunto's students run by Punto's parents. Um, but just an amazing recognition of the and

090a build off of the program. Student enrollment has increased at both school sites and demographic changes have happened as a result as well. And I'm going to talk a little bit later about student achievement in English language arts and Spanish language arts. Um, and as a highlight, next slide, please. I mentioned some demographic shifts in enrollment and that that was one of the original program factors when designing. Um, as you can see in the blue bars at San Miguel and Colombia, enrollment over the last few years has increased. If you look at the light green bars, that's the number of Hunto students at each school site. And you can see the difference in percentage at both San Miguel and Colombia. At San Miguel, the Huntos program is significantly more of the population than it is

091at Colombia. And then um the light gray is the neighborhood or nonhuntos. Next slide, please. Thank you. Um, I also mentioned some demographic shifts in our socioecon demographic shifts. And I want to call out socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and English learner populations. And these are state labels and terms. And I would like to spell them out, but there's not enough room on the slide. Be hard to read. Um, but what we see here is the dark blue and the dark green are the soio economically disadvantaged and English learners at San Miguel and how they've changed over time, declining over time. Um the dark blue is soioeconomically as disadvantaged. The dark green is English learners. And then when you move down underneath that then we see um all of Sunnyville socioeconomically disadvantaged students and English learners. Um

092so as you see over time these populations at San Miguel has um declined over time but across the district it's remained relatively stable. So just to point out demographic shifts. Um, next slide, please. I think sometimes, um, we've heard a question around Hispanic student success in the Windows program, and we do want to recognize that it is has been great. And also, um, we want to pull out a snapshot of data because we think we also can see initially that the Huntos population at San Miguel is also a little bit different than Hunto's populations at other school sites. So this is a quick snapshot that we did this year of San Miguel Kuntos to um a title one similar school Hispanic students and we see that the socioeconomically disadvantaged populations are different. So lower at

093San Miguel than a comparable school and that the college degrees are um education is higher at San Miguel than um at a similar title one site. Again a snapshot worth looking into further but worth pointing out. Next slide please. Something that's been um a wondering is student achievement and just want to again highlight that Hunto students are working on their bilingualism and biiteracy. So English language arts and Spanish language arts. So I know that principal Yabar would say hey they actually need to be flipped. Um but we'll start with English language arts. So we can see here that um we pulled out Huntos data compared to other title one schools and even compared against Saniel itself as an overall school Huntos and neighborhood program and we can see here that consistently like we keep working

094on our student data um and our students are achieving at higher levels of proficiency. I also want to call out that you should look at this data by groups um not by years. And the reason being is if you look at the very bottom 2022 2023 that data pool and that assessment was done in January versus the 2324 data was completed and pulled in May. Um and the 2425 data was pulled and completed in March. And that just has to do with assessment calendar. So you really look at the year as opposed to years comparison. Next slide, please. So, here's our Spanish language arts data. Um, again, it's important to call out call this out because our students are developing proficiency in both languages. This is cohorted data. So, you look at um a blue,

095a green, and a gray together, and it's those students over grade level. So, the first group is third, fourth, and fifth. The second group is fourth, fifth, sixth, and the last group is fifth, sixth, seventh. Um, but what we see here is like our students again when we're getting to fifth grade were achieving similar levels of proficiency to English language arts. It's important to call this out because most of their instruction is in Spanish in elementary school and then we move into English. Um, and there is I'm going to leave it on a cliffhanger because we're going to loop back around to middle school data when I end with high school data. Um, because we know here that we've seen some um areas of focus for us when we move to middle school. Next slide,

096please. Um, a question around our Hispanic ELA data. Um, again, we just pull out here that our Hispanic students again are doing well in Huntos compared to other title one sites. Room for us to grow overall. Um, and also we know that our Hispanic students in Huntos are slightly different. Next slide, please. In math data, we also looked at student achievement overall. Um, a question here could be like, well, do students take the NWA math assessment in Spanish? Um, and they do. So, just the language here shouldn't be a barrier. U, we do have work here to do in mathematics and I know that both principles are working on that. Um, and is also a trend across the district. Next slide, please. Also just pulled out our student achievement with our Hispanic students in mathematics.

097again here um room for us to grow as it is across the district. Um and also we see comparable data to um all students and Hispanic student groups. Next slide, please. Okay, I know I said I was going to loop back to this when we looked at our Spanish language arts data in middle school. This is probably a good example of the work that the middle school has done and I know my carpio is in the space today. Um when you look at the blue bars, those are students who place into Spanish and their current as freshman as freshman two years ago. So, we had 12 students go into Spanish 2. We had nine students going into Spanish 3. This last year, um I know the middle school worked really hard. We had nine students

098placed into Spanish 2, but a dramatic increase in Spanish 3 placement. Next slide, please. Okay, with this broad overview, we just want to end with recommendations. So, um I'd be remiss in saying again that we want to maintain the current program supports um that Huntos has staffing, curricular supports, funding. Um Hunto's program is unique and has unique needs. So, please maintain, we'd like to maintain those. And then following that, we really need to go back to that program evaluation next steps. We're at our 10-year anniversary. Um what do we do next? So, we propose that the first step is to do deep data collection. um engaging all of our educational partners, staff, students, families, partners um and really identify what are what should the focus areas be um over the course of the year and

099then from there we can identify next steps and timeline. For example, we know we've heard a number of different topics, middle school, high school, student achievement, family engagement, communication, um high school placement, all these pieces which is the most important for the community. We know this best and we can confirm when we do broad data collection that is representative of all the families and students and staff in this program. With that, I wanted to end follow my notes. Um, thank you again trustees for your support of this unique program. Thank you principles Yavar and Poe for your hard work and dedication. Um, thank you staff members. Thank you community members. I'll turn the floor back over to President Watson and I'll be available for questions. >> Well, thank you. Thank you and the team for

100putting this together. Um, now it's time for public comment. >> Yes. Before we can discuss, we have uh several blue cards here. Um, if there's any member of the public online who wishes to speak on this item, please use the raised hand feature now. Um, we're going to go through the cards here in person. It looks like I have one, two, I have five here. How many am I? Sorry, put the mic closer to you. Okay. Um I have five cards here. One, two, three, four, five. Um how many online? One. Okay. So, um that will be fine. Everyone will get three minutes each. Uh we have 20 minutes for public comment on this item. So, uh first up we have Courtney Jansen and then Alison Joe. Um, okay. Courtney Jansen, San Miguel parent. I

101have two kids in the Hudas program. Um, a first and a third grader. And I will start by saying we love the program. We're the only family, as far as I know, in the Fairwood district who chose to go to San Miguel. And I hesitated a lot in that decision when we made it and it was a fantastic decision. Um, we've been super happy with the program. So, a huge shout out to the principal and the teachers who have just been great and of course the community may are here tonight. Um, so sorry I'm not prepared because I'm going first and I didn't have time to look at the presentation ahead of time because I couldn't find it online. Um, so I guess I will say thank you for the data that was presented so

102far. It went very quickly. I was trying to catch it. I really appreciate the breakdown of Hunos versus non-hudos kids at San Miguel and looking at the district. Um, I think there will be more conversations of okay, how do we make sure that the successes of the Huntos program get extended not just to the non-Huto kids at San Miguel, but across title one schools uh within Sunny Mill. Um, I would be curious to see how enrollment changes. So, as a parent, I'm very concerned about when my kids will move to Colombia and the 740 start time. I do not know how we are going to make that happen. Um, and I know that has come up before, but I also know that there are families who have dropped out of SEO because that 7:40 start

103time doesn't work. And so I'd like to see the enrollment drop um, not just year to year, but also as you go from elementary school to middle school and then again from middle school to high school and try to understand, are we having an enrollment drop? If so, why? And what can we do about it? Um, it'd be great also to see a little bit more clarity on how many students are getting those bilingual achievement awards that were talked about. um just to help one more measurement of the program and I will stop there because I know there are other people to talk who probably have better comments than I do but again it's a great program we love it thank you for sharing the data and I hope to see more soon >> thank

104you next up we have Alison Joe >> Hi thank you so much for the Hunto's presentation my name is Allison Joe I'm the mom of a current fifth grade Hunto student and a ninth grade former Hunto student who was part of the second cohort um in the program. Uh I attended my first kinera this last weekend. There were kids that I had known since kindergarten and first grade now grown into barely recognizable teenagers. It was amazing. The pink dresses la. Oh my gosh, it was so amazing. Um, I danced to Kabay Dorado, Laona, Labor, De La Coch, and when the DJ gave shout outs to Halisco, Vera Cruz, Muakan, Lee, Waka, Guerrero, I'm clearly not from any of those places. Uh, but I knew which families were and I could see the pride in their

105faces and the joy in their smiles to be celebrating this milestone tradition. And that speaks to the power of the Huntos program. When my family joined the program, I understood that in addition to the program goals of students becoming bilingual, biiterate, and bicultural, there was an integrative objective of bringing families together from across the district and building a community based on our diverse strengths and resources. Because when we bridge that social capital, we not only get and chinita comfortable in the space of a kinetta, we also get families who may not be stereotypical participants volunteering for the PTA, attending meetings, comfortable advocating and talking with their teachers and administrators and feeling empowered in the school setting, attending schoolboard meetings, and volunteering for schoolboard campaigns. I don't know if this necessarily translates into measurable outcomes um

106and in data and bridging student achievement gaps. Nevertheless, I'm here to attest that there is 100% value to this program that may or may not be quantifiable in the data. And without a doubt, when we learn together, we're stronger together. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up, we have Katie H. And then after that, it'll be Katie Willlet. Hello. Um, thanks for having us today. I'm Katie House and I have a fifth grader in the Huntos program and I just um wanted to share how wonderful it's been and um I have um I don't know why I'm so emotional, but um it's been a wonderful experience. My daughter is singing, talking, and reading in Spanish. Was doing circles around my Spanish minor. And I love that she um wants to listen to her fluid um

107playlist every day. Like she listens to it. She listens to Selena and um um Selia Cruz and um Bombay Eyeria and she knows all the words and it is amazing to see. Um thank you how she lights up um with all of her friends in the program. So, I just wanted to say thank you. Um it was very important to me to send my daughter to a school that is full of different cultures and different emotional I mean not emotional, sorry, that's me and different economic backgrounds. And um I I found out about the fun program when she was eight months old. And I just happened to walk by Samiguel and walked into the F FRC and um because I had another friend who was going and I talked to Maisha there and I saw

108Miss Valentine outside and she was um talking about how wonderful the program was and I needed to get it together and um show up at her school in five years. And I actually moved out of my house when we found out we were zoned for Santa Clara so that I could come to the Huntos program. And we got our new house, our new keys, and we went right away and got our new driver's license so we could register for Sunnyville School District and come to this school. And I just want to say thank you to the wonderful teacher, staff, and principles who made the experience amazing for our family. Sorry. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. Next up is Katie Roland and then after that it'll be Gabriella. >> Thanks for making me

109cry, too. My name is Katie Roland. I'm speaking on my own behalf now. I have two students in the Huntos program, one at San Diego and one at CMS. I want to thank you for the attention that the board has invested in the Huntos program. Dr. Valentine, I want to thank you awkwardly when I'm not looking at you um for listening to some of the specific requests that we articulated when you all presented in May. Um I maybe you didn't really respond to them, but you seemed to respond to them and I want to commend you for the hours that you have invested in this program over the years. Um it's commendable. I really appreciate it. Many things I would wish to know were in that presentation and I look forward to actually having a

110chance to kind of sit through and look at it on my own. Um, we didn't have a chance to do that before this presentation, but what's awesome anyway is that all these people showed up when we had no clue what y'all were going to say. >> And I think that speaks to the the love, affection, and passion that the people who are in the Huntos program have for it. And that's maybe one of the powers of the Huntos program and I appreciate everyone that's that's made that possible. something I didn't see in this presentation that I hope you all explore in terms of data because I appreciate Allison your flavor and I'm gonna say also data and so I'll be that person you be that person and you may even plan it. Um one is

111reclassification rates okay we're supposed to be bilingual and biliterate so where are reclassification rates and how do those track against other parts of the district and I remember when I first came to visit the Kuntos program I got to get the tour from Dr. Valentine and she told me, "Prepare yourself. Your student might not might seem behind for a little while and then it equalizes by fifth grade. Am I getting it right? And then by eighth grade, you on it and you're going to go right." Did that happen? No clue because we don't we don't have this like it's not looked at explicitly or I haven't seen it looked at explicitly or it's buried in another presentation that's not explicitly called out for because it's not being considered as like a program um in the

112way that it was tonight. So, I'd love to see that. Um, the other thing that I think is missing that maybe is part of the next steps is where are we going in this time year? So, we looked at all this data. I love that we're looking at it. I love that we're analyzing it and that we have some questions, but we have no I don't know a plan. Where are we going? What are our goals for our children? And what are our opportunities to participate in creating those goals together with the district, together with the teaching staff, together with our principles and our sites? and because we all want to be involved and many people who are not here tonight want to be involved as well. Um my I just appreciate everything so much.

113I want the opportunity to stay involved and I thank you all so much for your time. >> Thank you. Um, next we have MCA. Hello. Um, good night superintendent board members. My name is Gaba Conde. I am from Peru. I didn't prepare for tonight, but I just made my best effort while I was sitting there to write something. Um, I am a parent of two kids at Samuel, a third grader and a career. And I want to start by thanking the school district for supporting the Huntos program. And my family really cannot be happier with the program so far. Um, our experience has been really great. The program means a lot to us and I want to share a little bit about why it is important. Um the way I see the hundos program is

114like a source of gifts that is providing to my family. Um for example the the gift of bilingualism for my kids. Um and when I say bilingualism to me it means that is giving my kids a sense of belonging. Um that is also um a way of honoring the roots uh a tool for understanding the cultural backgrounds of his peers, friends and classmates. Um gives my kids pride of um pride of their heritage and that is um to me a very strong foundation for their characters and the values that they would uphold. also um as pride on uh as um they they get the opportunity to experience a community just like I used to when I was in Bel. It also give us the gift of um diversity and understanding which it's great in their

115every day in every class in every interaction with their friends. It is important to me that my kids can talk to the grandparents and enjoy them at a level that they wouldn't that it wouldn't be possible if they were not in the huntos program. It is also important uh to me that they learn along alongside heritage and non-heritage learners because that makes the program richer and a learning the learning exper experience uh that gives so many opportunities. For example, sometimes my older kid feels great because he can help a friend because he knows a word that the friend doesn't know. And also by being with um with his friends, he learns so much about uh US American culture that he wouldn't learn with me or in the house because we just don't know those things.

116The way he talks, the way he he he is with his friends. I I am um I am very happy. Um so to that I just want to say thank you and I wish you continue to support the program because it means a lot to many families. Thank you. >> Thank you. We have callers online. We have one uh Veronica Conrad. Great. Thank you. >> Hi. Can you hear me? Yes. >> Hi, thank you. Uh my name is Veronica Conrad. I have three kids in the Huntos program, one in elementary school and two in the middle school. And we love the program. We love the community. And um I have a couple of of of thoughts to share. One um you know it's kind of I didn't know we were Huntos was celebrating the 10th

117um year anniversary. I think that's a really big thing to share with the rest of the community. Um, and we should be celebrating that. Um, and and I wanted to um build on Miss Jensen's comments about building better communication about the program development and changes. I feel like that's lacking in the huntos programs and um to create better trust within the community and the parents. Transparency about what's not working and changes to the curriculum um would be appreciated. for example, whether it's relabeling a class so it better matches what the high school high school labels of the class are or um you know and in previous um discussions we've discussed about you know do different school sites know what the kids are reading and is there a reading list so that there isn't duplication of

118the material and kids are always experiencing new literature. Um, so all these little pieces matter um and they create trust within the community and so better transparency with that would be great. Moving forward, I'd like um for the Huntos program to think about ways to immerse kids aside from just which is been awesome. Miss Elsa Nunes has really created this space to have kids be immersed both in the elementary and middle school. But like what about other other different kinds of programs? Whether it's like cooking as Miss Watson was saying or um in high school instead of thinking about developing another Spanish class, what about taking the kids to travel to really use that language skills that they've learned? And then lastly, I would and I continue to ask for um how does the Hunto's

119program compare to other dual immersion programs in this area? there are so many um they also are taking standardized tests. Um we should be able to see like how do we rank at some metric to see how are we doing or how we are not and how we can be better um not only within Huntos but with other schools. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um who are who would like to start? Anyone want to start with comments, questions, share thoughts? Sure. >> Um well, first off, thank you um for everyone who uh shared thoughts and thank you for the principles um all the work that I know you guys present today, but you do a lot of the work, so thank you. Um, okay. Just a couple of things kind of

120connected to what some of the um public comments were. I thought that was a so since there was a lot. I don't remember who said what. Um, but the reclassification data, I thought that was that's what I kind of thought about like, oh, that's a good point. So, um, curious if we can get that. I mean, it doesn't be like imminent, but just if that's data that we could get um with that same breakdown of the other ones with the like Hunto students and then neighborhood students. Um and then um the kind asking like where are we going and I think and maybe Christina can answer this one too. I think you kind of talked about that like we're going to get data and gather people and talk to people to kind of make those

121like district staff is not going to make that decision for people that's going to be made collectively. But maybe you could speak to that and then also a few thoughts about the reclassification and I have one more but we'll do those two first. >> Yeah. So I was furiously typing notes. Um this is a broad overview in the beginning of the conversation. We keep working on picking up the conversation and carrying it through. Um, so there actually a number of different data request follow-ups that we need to think about. Um, but you're right on the you're right on the mark with it with the next steps. Um, which is we do need to do broad data collection which involves many different people. Um so we can really identify what's the breadth of um focus areas

122and how can we identify which ones are the most important to tackle like the 25 26 school year um what's the 26 27 school year like what is the general map that we're moving to and I think um that was mentioned earlier but like where are we going next um when we originally designed the program it was first like let's get it started and we'll revisit in three years and we're kind of working off on threeear intervals now that the program was is established kudos and clearly the community is thriving um in great ways and also we want to like set some markers for the upcoming um three years and the three years after that and communicate that with everybody. >> So maybe you could share a little bit more when you're saying data collection

123like what all does that mean? I'm assuming it's not just surveys like focus groups like what what is that when you say data collection maybe kind of expand on that a little bit. >> Yeah, I think that's a good question. uh working with the principles we talked about like a range of different ideas um and also utilizing the existing school structures and hopefully like principal pa bar will grab me if I say anything incorrect um like they'll cross something over because I can't also can't see them um but I think the idea was like using >> I know they start making fun >> okay thank you I think the idea was like can we use existing school structures um that exist right now so PTA school site council as well as do concerted outreach to

124groups that may not be represented at at those spaces. Um, all in survey format, right? As well as focus groups as well as one-on-one conversations. Um, clearly we've heard from a number of families here tonight like we and we got valuable information. So, just working on that. It also includes talking to our students like our students have had different opinions on Huntos depending on which cohort they're in. Um, Principal Poar can speak to that more articulately than I could. Um, as well as like community partners. So we know that we've partnered with different outside organizations as well as other dual language schools. Um so we can learn from them but also validate the work that we're doing. Um so it would include all those pieces. Um but also we got to work on a timeline.

125That's our next step. >> Yeah, that's great. I would say the one thing and it's kind of the thing I always say which I'm sure you're probably going to work on it and I think San Miguel does do a good job maybe comparatively of bringing in other voices but still I mean even using today's example of who came and spoke right the majority of people speaking were white which no offense I'm clearly white too but that space right of like we want to hear from everybody right and so I know you guys are going to do that but that's just I think that's an important space right is like we want to hear from everyone And that's everyone, but we want to make sure the voices who don't come to the table as often um

126that we're really hearing from them and what like what are like right kind of that vision like next next 10 years what does everybody want? Uh I have one more thing but I think this is probably one that everyone wants to talk about. Maybe we stay on this space for a little bit because anyone have comments about this part and then I can say my last pass my last thing. you think for the reclassification rates we did get some data in the um in the last meeting and I remember to prepare for this meeting I went back and I looked at your presentations from 2019 and from previous pre- pandemic from when we were looking at >> uh expanding to the middle school but then also like your when you were still principal at San

127Mal I think it was like and there was a bunch of data in there you were talking about the the fourth grades and I remember I was a brand new board member And I was just so pumped because it was basically the presentation. It was using data to tell the story that we were seeing what we expected that that first year of English instruction. The test scores were like not showing a lot of growth by the time the kids were in fourth grade. Like we were seeing more improvement and it was just just like all the indicators were there. So, I think um I think that and I seem to remember from listening to the um May meeting that we learned then that reclass there were more students being reclassified and so that's why there

128were fewer English learners in the cohort in um Columbia Middle School. So like when you look at the proportion of English learners in that were present in the San Miguel cohorts versus they're getting reclassified out I think someone said a higher rate. I don't know what the exact higher rates but I also am very interested in comparing ours to other schools as well and what their offerings are. Um I'll let some other people talk but I have some specific questions. Go ahead. You're gonna say something. Did Michelle? >> Well, I was just saying like I figured other people might want to talk about the like outreach stuff and then I just had one other thing that other people wanted to talk about that space. >> Talk about outreach. >> Um I really appreciate how um

129everyone came and showed up here and we don't always have people standing here crying emotionally about No, it's beautiful. I'm sorry. I would do the same thing but about how wonderful the education is that is being provided for your students and how rich it is culturally and how meaningful it is and to have like this immersion right and this pride around this and I've um seen the huntos program be such a unifying force for years now and I think that we like to say there's something special at San Miguel And it is the Hunto's program and it is also the whole community that you know that what you bring to the community and and for me here I want to what can we do to expand upon this um elsewhere I mean I want to

130be very also uh clear about what we're doing where we're going form that advisory committee that we've been talking about forming include inclusive of um of of all families and students and teachers teachers and staff and you know the community include the community. I think that's very important. Um but I think there's so much potential. I think there is so much to celebrate. I would love to see the celebration this 10 year celebration. um call that out, but also um like in line with uh what we've been talking about in terms of transparency, calling out where are some areas where we could do where we could improve, where can we look more critically about is this successful in the way we had envisioned it? Uh do we need to reinvision? What kind of supports are

131there? How can we do more besides um thumbs up, you know, culturally? So, um I I just am really proud of um the Huntos program for having such a rich educational experience here. Um and I want to see how to do more. And I do question um as I know that we've talked about before, are we um doing the neighborhood kids a disservice and not including them in the Huntos program and not going full school with that program or perhaps even having other Huntos program satellite programs. I mean my school could use that too like that sounds wonderful. I want to just concur with Peggy on that and also see if we could get some more direction around the idea of a um a Huntos K through8 advisory committee. I believe it was in the

132old X about um you know as Huntos was coming forward and as you were going to expand to K8. I understand that we have parent groups and we have systems in place to meet with people at their school site, but there's something about the program spanning two schools. It was part of basically the vision that we had for when we approved the idea of going to middle school that there would be a Kuntos family advisory committee. And I would just I would think that um you know like Peggy was saying that it would maybe have teachers or staff, but for sure have the families that are involved in the program um allow board members to attend like let's let's have it be facilitated in real as a as a place to look at data and

133feedback. And I think I mean I I think from talking to the board the last time that we had this meeting I think there is just general board support. Is that is that something we can provide direction on in addition to going through regular systems and the PTA and meeting with the principles directly? Yes. >> Like can we >> Yeah. Yeah. I think we we all agree to >> well >> the majority agreed agreed >> that we wanted to have an advisory committee and that was one of my questions tonight. What happened with that? And if that is one of the next step that we were expecting after the 10 years that it will be great. The community asked for it. The majority agree with that the last meeting also I keep asking the question

134about the next step if the next step is to open satellites or it is to do the school like a whole program with the school and extending the program to the whole site and one of my questions is what happened with MAD because I see a lot of good results in ELA, but I don't see the same results in math. So, we do have a reason for that. And what are the plans to fix the situation? >> I think that's districtwide. I don't think that's unique to San Miguel. I think we're struggling in math district right now. We've been new math adoption. We're hoping it kicks in like uh but we we have we have some work to do in math districtwide. Our numbers are not good. So I don't think is that correct Dr.

135Valentine that it's not San Miguel alone. >> Yeah. Although we have seen a reverse trend in our math data overall which means that for a little while actually our math data was trending downward. We were able to reverse and now we're trending upward with math. We're still not at the levels where we would be with English language arts or Spanish language arts. Um we do believe that like our teachers have been working really hard on understanding the new math framework as well as instructional practices and using the curriculum. Um but we only hope to leverage that and keep continue to build but it is across the district. So um the program sounds really amazing. How do um families learn about it and get their um student to apply? Like what's the process? And is it

136um uh as a parent like how do I get that information? >> Yeah, I think um you know that's actually a good example of how the program has changed over time. So, at the in the inception of the program, it was going to the farmers market. Um, going out to the arts and the Sunnyville arts festival. I'm going to get the name wrong. The one in May, the arts and crafts one. Um, but it was all about like just getting the word out that there is a DI program in Sunnyville because we don't we didn't have a history of any bilingual programs in Sunnyville, which is uncommon in California. Um, so that was the beginning of the program and now where we are now is I actually think that the people in this room are

137the people who spread the word about the Hunto's program. I think families are looking for um opportunities for their children. Whether it's like I'm looking for Spanish opportunities, I'm looking for um integrated schools, whatever that looks like, but the families and the parents are the people who actually promote the program to other families. At the site level, they do like of course have tours um for families. And of course, I know Principal Yavar and Principal Po answer questions and even the families. Um, but I would actually say that at this point in time, the families are the biggest promoters of the program, but I >> Aaliyah has an answer to the question, too. >> Oh, and Aliyah has the answer to the question, too. >> Oh, >> we also do Yeah, we need to do

138a new one actually. Um, a variety of digital marketing that target families in the area. And, um, we also are featured in the Bay Area Parent Bilingual, um, education magazine every year, too. So some other ways that we get the word out. >> So I had a couple clarifying questions. So at CMS >> Can I just real quick make my one comment related to the direction of advisory? Is that okay? >> For what? >> The advisory committee. >> Yeah. >> So I just right my concern with it and so just if it's going to move forward, it's kind of what I referred to earlier, right? Is I want us to be careful that um it's not the same voices that we hear like which they have great comments. It's not that the comments are good,

139but my concern with the advisory committee that it will continue to be the same voices that we usually hear that are usually people who are in more privileged places. And so that's my that's why I'm not opposed to having people get involved. That's lovely. But that is my concern and that's my hesitation with it. So if we're moving forward with it, let's be mindful of that, please. >> And and you know, it's interesting. story that where you say but what I seen when I go to the PTA in San Miguel is like non never seen a PTA with 50 people in the room most of them is valid so I don't know why they don't want to do the best job >> I don't know why they don't want to come here to the boardroom

140but it is very well represented by the community and probably if we target the same people for the committee the advisory committee that it very well represented. >> And I also want to say that like, you know, when I think about like one of those committee meetings, like those working meetings, I in my mind, I'm not envisioning it being like student council where there's a few nominated people. In my mind, when I think of that kind of a committee, it's really an opportunity. It's like a it's a small forum. It's almost like another PTA meeting, but it's the district interacting with data. there's like there's two-way feedback and there's things that you can't really have just at one school site or the other. So, I think that in my mind it would be like um

141we're going to have two designates, one from each school or something like that. But, I'm I'm sure the district can come up with some ideas about it. I just think that it's time to like meet that commitment that has been been talked about and and post pandemic I think there was a presentation from CMS where they said you know our next step is to do that we just can't do it because we're still returning to inperson instruction. So I mean it isn't my idea right it was like that was the that was kind of the plan. I know things adjust things adjust and we feel like oh we have great communication because we have all these really engaged parents but the idea for an overarching program conversation that's what I'm interested in supporting um and

142it's see we've had people say that to us over and over um because they have kids in kindergarten and they're thinking about what's happening in sixth grade. I do have a couple of questions um that are more specific. We have other things on the agenda. So, I know I know other people might have other things to say. I just want to ask a couple questions. At CMS, we made the original move to go to zero period and part of that was to ensure that Hunto students would definitely still get an elective. Is that like now that CMS has changed their schedule, do those student do do our Hunto students still get an elective? And are there things that they're excluded from? like is it are they are they able to do music or advanced math?

143Like I know this schedule's very challenging. Do do you >> Well, it's one of the things that we talked about today and I apologize for not getting this presentation out earlier to the public. I take responsibility for that. But I also wanted to make sure that we had sufficient time to capture some of these data and some of the comments that came forward today about hey can we compare how our students in our programs are doing across the county or the state in terms of not only academic outcomes but reclassification really good points um and I do also um want going back to the question about the zero period is I think it's also an opportunity for us to revisit our course to study which means when students get to the middle school what courses

144are available to them sixth grade 7th grade and eighth grade and and and I think there's some opportunity to make some improvements there but again I'm still new here and trying to get some additional information and then um the other thing is the we we had talked about some of these data points in terms of I know we have an MOU in Fremont Union High School District and how do we work together to collaborate to make sure that we're able to better monitor and follow how our students are doing not individually but in an aggregate form because it's something that we're definitely interested in and I definitely want to know how they're doing and moving forward and then what else can we do right to support and uh just I've had conversations with our principles

145and our team about having these type of presentations available to our families but I think it's also important that our stu students be aware of some of the goals challenges and successes as well so moving forward with a district-wide advisory group or committee is important. And it does present an opportunity to get more voices included and then also make sure that we're elevating these concerns, successes, not necessarily in board meetings, but at the school sites, right? And making it convenient and available to our families. And again, we got to make sure that we also our students these discussions. >> Thank you. And I I also wanted to say that um you know Isabelle touched on the idea of going to a whole school model and I know um we've talked to Dr. Crossweight about it.

146I think you mentioned a school in Long Beach um where there's some data around outcomes going to a whole school model versus not. I know that's challenging for us in in some ways is really challenging for the adults. Um, and the idea of like, um, I know you were talking about the different demographics in the neighborhood program versus the PUTOS program, but I just wanted to say that, you know, um, you know, now that we've had now that we're having multiple cohorts year-over-year stay in one class and not switch like so now we're saying the kids you start at San Miguel and TK, you're going to be with those same students all the way up through fifth grade and you're not going to ever change. You're not going to have other classmates and that's like

147and you are those kids in that neighborhood program for your whole time. That is that could be very impactful in its own way. It's a very different kind of message to send to them. even though they're part of the school and maybe their outcomes are a little better and stronger academically and maybe socially, they're having they're benefiting so much from the Huntos program. There's a very very distinct message sending to those kids. >> And then I also want to say like just the data point about maybe 10% less of the families in the neighborhood program have parents who have college degrees. I was the first person in my family to go to college. You know, if someone said to me, well, you know what? You get to stay in that neighborhood program. You don't get

148to go to the huntos program because, you know, your your parents are you're so you know, economically disadvantaged and your parents are don't have the background and so we're just going to make all these assumptions about you. Um, and so like maybe they couldn't handle it, maybe they would be less supportive. my parents knew that there were concrete benefits to being in the hometos program, they would have pushed me to go to something like that, right? So, like what information are we telling those families? Like, yeah, it's good enough. You know, you don't have to you don't have to do the extra homework and you know, you get to benefit from the school. Like, what is the message we're telling them? Are we really telling them? Do we if we have the academic benefits and

149the social benefits of being in that program, are we really sharing the benefits with the neighborhood families? Because if we're just saying to them like, "Yeah, you get to you get to kind of just come along and your kid is going to be in that same class all those years." I don't think that that's right. I mean, and I know that there's assumptions there, but like let's figure out what the data is. Let's figure out what the message is and what it could be. and let's let's invite people to join and have those conversations and find out why they aren't yet and and if there are barriers then we can address them. I I just don't want to hold back the opportunity for kids if if that really is a genuine opportunity that we're just

150holding back because it's inconvenient for the adults because we have teachers who only speak English who have never who have never taught in hontos. They're not credentialed to teach a Spanish class or whatever. Um, I don't want to hold it back because of the adults we have in the space because every teacher in our district works for the district. They don't work for the school. They can dedicate their life to children. Uh, we have lots of children who would benefit from their awesomeness. So, it's a it's a really difficult thing to say because we're talking about people who have been in places for a long time, but we have to we have to look at the overall interests of the students, right? So, that's what I'd like to take a look at. And if and

151if the data comes back and says, well, it's, you know, there's no harm for them to do that. Um, it's really not that big of a difference. Everyone benefits anyway. So be it. or the community is has zero interest and there always needs to be a neighborhood program and they'll they'll put their kids in that for six years straight. Okay. But we have to we have to position it with like all the data that we would just like when we were going to the farmers market and talking to people like come to this great community, be a part of this. your kid gets to be a part of this high register, >> you know, high quality um bilingual education that's a unique opportunity in the Silicon Valley. So, I want to um I agree and

152add on that I think multilingual multicultural education is what we need to be doing for all of our students across the district. And here we have a bud of that. We're beginning. But if we're actually preparing our students for global citizenship, this is how we need to do that. And that encompasses all of the beautiful cultural aspects, the empathy building, but um preparing students for high school and beyond to me means being immersed in other culture, learning other languages, and celebrating um who we are. >> Any other comments from the board? Okay. So, we definitely have board direction on the We love the idea of going out and getting tons of information. We love the idea of a advisory committee. Thank you so much Dr. Valentine. Thanks for your time. Thanks everybody for coming. We

153really appreciate your attending and participating. Um, okay. We are on to >> You want to take a break? Yeah. >> Yeah. Before we do the consent agenda, let's take a five minute break. Come back at 8:47. [Music] Are you ready? Congratulations. [Music] Yes. Yes. Yes. [Music] Look right now. Look right now. >> Thank you. Okay. Okay. [Music] Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Yeah. It was 16. [Music] >> Yeah. [Music] Pick her up and go. Oh yeah. [Music] You can't It's such a good [Music] one. earlier today. [Music] Just put in the last [Music] I'm going to try It can be good. It can be all [Music] I mean, you control somebody else. Okay, welcome back everybody. It is now 8:49. We're returning to our regular board meeting. We are on to item 13, which is

154our consent agenda. Um, got all these. It looks like we do have one item to uh pull from consent. Um but anyway uh right now did you want to say something? >> Yeah, President Watson before you consider against I'd like to pull one item from the agenda which is item 13 C6 and I'm going to pull it from the agenda for consideration and possibly bring it back. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, um, any 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. So, I do have um Courtney Jansen for 13C1 uh would like to pull that one. Is >> I don't think

155>> No, we don't have to pull it. I just want to comment on it. um or you want to pull to comment it? >> I don't know. Do I have to pull it? >> I don't think she has to pull it. She just It's the consent agenda and she's making a comment on the consent agenda. >> Yes, that >> and it happens to be a specific item, but it doesn't have to get pulled for >> or to pull an item from consent to comment on it and have separate consideration. That's if you want separate consideration for it. So, she was wanting separate consideration is my understanding for that. >> I don't have that script. I don't need separate consideration. I just want to >> saying it doesn't need to get pulled. >> Yeah. Just you

156just to add some clarification. So someone can speak on a agenda item and then based on that information you can then decide to pull it and have a discussion on it but not required at this time. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Okay. So if there's any other member of the public who would like to speak on the consent agenda, please use the raise hand feature now. Okay, I see none of Miss Jansen, go ahead. >> Uh, okay. So, Courtney Jansen, Samuel Parent, and I wanted to comment on like you said 13C1 approval of an overnight field trip to Angel Island. And I'm also going to continue my disorganized comments. Apologies, it's been busy. Um, so I saw this and to be clear, I'm not asking you to pull it. And my first thought was, "Oh

157my gosh, that's super exciting." My second thought was, man, my kids will miss it because even though we live very close to Fairwood, they don't go to Fairwood. Um, and then I was thinking about like, as you may recall, a year and a half ago, we did the um, Ed Foundation FTEC, which was the field trip and assembly catalog where I walked you guys through in my Ed Foundation capacity kind of where we are um, with field trips and assemblies uh, at the different sites, mostly elementary school. And I recall in that conversation that there was some discussion of hey should we have basically like a district standard of every student in our district will get a minimum of and I don't remember and I didn't have time to look but some number of assemblies

158and some number of field trips and I was like hey that was a great idea and I don't remember where it is. So if it hasn't been officially like established I would ask that you guys bring that back up and talk about that. um as well as some sense of funding like I don't want to put more work on principles to pull from their school sites necessarily but I do think it's important to have a commitment for everyone to get some basic field trip and assemblies and then I was thinking like shops right like the fairwood one and it's only I think $2,000 or something but there are probably maybe 20 parents doing it and I was really impressed that they could get 20 chaps because at San Miguel and I think we actually get

159chaperones pretty well but even the teachers have to kind of pull the teeth and say Hey, like how do we get that to happen? And yes, Fairwood is a parent participation program and I would expect them to have more field trips and things, but as far as I know, they're the only school that has such an amazing opportunity as doing an overnight camping trip at Angel Island, which I would like to go on myself. So, I would shop on it if we do it at San Miguel. And it and this isn't really going anywhere, but it led me kind of to this thought of how do we while recognizing that Fairwood is a parent participation program, make sure that some of these super unique experiences and special experiences aren't limited to just the kids who

160are there um in that really unique model of like I said, parent participation and what can we do to bring some of these more ideas to all of the schools, set a baseline standard and figure out specifically how to get kids to do some of these kind of things. And I would love to see every fifth grader, especially for only $2,000, um, get to do a similar program to this. And, you know, I know there are challenges that aren't just financial. That's something that we could do attempts here. But I'd love to continue the dialogue. And I just wanted to make sure that you guys were all hopefully thinking about that as well. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, um, or we need a motion or would anyone like to pull something from the

161agenda. >> I wouldn't like to poll anything but I do I would like to comment. >> I think for us we need to because before we pull it to comment. >> So in in the past we said well if we are either just going to pass the consent agenda or we're going to pull it for separate consideration. But if you don't want to pull it to vote on it separately you're saying she can still just talk about it? >> I don't know. So I I >> Yeah, just make a motion and she >> make a motion to approve it as listed. >> Yeah. Everything >> I make a motion to prove it as listed. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Just clarification. Are we are we >> for the whole thing? >> 13 ABC. Is this

162what we're doing? >> Well, this is everything but the one that everybody >> except for 13 C6 >> C6. >> Okay. We can talk about anything. >> Okay. >> Yep. Yeah. Well, I just wanted to say that I'm happy that this is still happening. The Angel Island field trip, I went with both kids and it was an amazing experience. And yes, it is a parent participation school and that's why we it has been facilitated for us to go to so many field trips with the kids because we made it happen with the parents without without the school. But I also wanted to in in in to remember that we're having right now at at least that's my my view. I would like to know numbers because then it's not just me going every time I

163have a site visit asking the elementary school teacher how many field trips they have. But I've been doing it when I go to the elementary school and they I amazed that they tell me two or three every time in every school that I've been and that's a difference between one or maybe none that was four or five years ago. So it's it's an improvement and I'm I've been aware of that but I would like to know in numbers if that's with everybody or just every time I remember and I ask it has been good to know. So that's great and I know it's more challenging in other schools when you don't have you know an army of parents that are willing to to just go everywhere with the car full of kids to do overnight

164trips. That was it. Uh, so I just want to say um, you know, every school, every school in Sunnyville School District is a parent participation school. Anyone can volunteer at any of our schools. Um, there's something for everyone to do. Um, we cannot require people to volunteer in our schools, right? That was a kind of a hit to the program at one point when that legislation came through. you can't you can't say to be here you must participate you must volunteer but um and the and the parents are not the focus of that program the parents are the are helping create student centered learning which when I was a teacher there was project based learning and now it's hands-on learning which happened without the board really talking about it as far as I know um

165so it is a you know that is like one way to try to get high student engagement and differentiation and do all these things we want to do. All of that aside, I think what what I what I really feel about this is that we we got a commitment from the district a couple years ago as a board where they said every child should get I think it was during that meeting we said okay every we think the for direction was every student should get at least one field trip per year right maybe two maybe one that would be kind of like we're going to the park for end of year picnic and one that was educational and like we came we came up with that out of that ed foundation discussion. So we haven't

166gone back and measured that. We haven't seen any reports on that. I I think that's something we could partner with the ed foundation to work towards. But the um you know the idea that like um you know initially I think that's another thing when we when we do eventually talk about Fairwood the just like San Miguel the purpose was to increase enrollment at that school and they thought they were going to be increasing enrollment from schools like Cumberland and Cherry Chase and get them away from the south side of the town because there were lots of parent volunteers over there. Lots of people who are into it. And it'd be interesting to see like where the demographics of Fairwood are really pulling from across the district and the impact that's having on all of our

167schools. So um you know I'm I'm personally very interested in in uh supporting you know any program that's going to be highly engaging and highly dynamic and student centered and you know tons of rigor and love of learning and you know self-esteem building and all that other stuff. And I really love that about you know the program as I participated in it and it's like I knew um trusty Hooves as Flemish and Trusty Profetta in but you know I really am interested in like the impact overall to the district and um if that program is meeting its program goals and I know Trusty Shendrew has something to say here. I think this is a great opportunity to take a look at our programs of choice and what the purpose of them were and whether or

168not we're meeting those purposes because as you just mentioned, Trusty Watson, um we Fairwood and San Miguel, as I understand, were designed to pull um people up to the northern schools that were considered less desirable. And now what we have is that um the very very uh engaged parents that have time to spend on field trips and um maybe more discretionary funds are taking all their kids from my neighborhood school to San Miguel and to Fairwood. And so when Fairwood has like a a field trip every month and my child has just science camp this year, um I wonder what we're doing in terms of um equitable experiences. Are we just um benefiting those people that have the time and money to spend more time and money on their kids? Um it's very um this

169is a very story. >> Yeah. Yeah. So um maybe we can take a look at the purpose if that was for um if it was for project based learning. Are we doing that if it's if it's now just um parent participation? Well, that's not really fair, right? I I know one parent that um she her her child was new to um to the states and she came and she was talking to me on our one school on our one field trip in third grade like oh my kids new what should we do what do you think like this we we get pretty low rankings here in Bishop and should I take them to Fairwood because that'll be a better education I said you know she's learning language and she can be with other students and

170that's wonderful and that's beautiful and this is a great place to be to know about other cultures to learn language with a lot of other language learners and she reclassified last year and now she's at Harwood because it's a better experience quote unquote right so I'm it's very concerning to me and that's something I would like to look at >> but we can still improve the idea is that we need to improve bishop we don't need to break the other programs >> no I agree We should have we should have rich field trips and parent engagement. I mean, even without parent engagement, we should build in gardening programs. We should build in music programs. We should build in all these things that are turned enrichment. They're not enrichment. It's just basic learning opportunities, ways to

171access literature, ways to access, you know, math. It's these are great. >> I know. Yeah. And this is a goal I want us to really think about. You know, when I went to CLSVA, I was like, look at all this innovation like that these schools are able to do with much less funds than we are. Why can't we do that? We had like Anaheim was presenting every student is bilingual, biliterate, and also place an instrument leading their school district. Wouldn't that be lovely? Like that's the education I want to have for all of our students. And I recognize that it's better than it was before, but it's still like keeping our eye on the ball. What's what should we aim for? Right. And I don't want to break fair down. I want to bring everyone

172up, right? I mean, just like just like this Robin, right? >> Yeah. >> That's exactly what we're we bring up the bar for everybody. >> And I do want to bring up the bar for women as well. Absolutely. >> Yes. >> So, okay. So, um that was a valuable discussion and I think we're going to continue it at another time. So, uh are we feeling like we could approve the consent vote on the consent agenda? >> Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Chair votes I. And the consent agenda passes. Okay. We're on to the action items. And we have a few. Uh item 14A, approval of the 2425 unodited actual financial report. And I got to scroll way down on here. So um that is Mr. Arthur Cuffy, Chief

173Business Officer. [Music] All right. Thank you. >> So, we're on 14A, correct? >> Yes. >> So, this item is just the approval of the 2425 an audited actuals financial report. Um, so this is for your consideration. Uh what happens next is if you do choose to approve this and certified we send this certifica certification to the county the county uh is oversight and then the next step would be to the state level. So it's just part of the process that we have to go through every year certify our financial data. >> Okay. Um, if there's any member of the public who would like to comment on this item, please use the raised hand feature. >> Okay. Seeing board have any questions or can I get a motion to >> I move approval of the 2425

174unodited actual financial report? >> I second discussion. No. Okay. All those in favor please say I. I. >> Chairside. The motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Cuffy. Um and item item B is also yours. 14B, approval of resolution 2607 in the matter of the GAN appropriation limit. Sorry. >> Yes. So this is also approval of a resolution number 2607. Uh the GAN limit basically u something that we're all all districts are required to um produce a calculation. It's kind of a spending cap. We never ever get anywhere close to that, but it's something we have to do anyway. So, this is for also for your consideration for approval. >> Thank you. If there's any member of the public who would like to comment on this item, please use the raised hand feature. >> Okay. Uh seeing

175none, board can have a motion. I move approval of resolution 2607 and the matter of the GAN appropriation limit. >> I have a second. >> A second. >> Thank you. Discussion. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Chair votes I. And the motion passes. Item 14 C, approval of resolution R2608 in the matter of reaffirming Sunnyville's commitment to safe inclusive schools for all students and staff across the >> Hi, thank you. This resolution reaffirms Sunnyville School District's commitment to safe inclusive schools for all students and staff and align to board policy uh 410. It directs the district to lead with a vision first founding message that emphasizes opting in uh to belonging. Um the resolution highlights inclusive learning and calls for clear guidance on professional learning for teachers, protection and use of

176inclusive materials and regular reporting of student belonging safety and inclusion. I want to thank Miss Katie Roman for her support and guidance on this. That's all. >> Thank you. I have two cards here for public comment and if there's any member of the public online who would like to speak on this item, please use the raised hand feature. In the meantime, I will call Mr. Doug to the podium and then after that it will be friend. >> Good evening, Madame President, Superintendent Crossway, and members of the board. Uh my name is Doug Kun and tonight is my wife's birthday as well as my own. Uh we uh jointly chose to make other plans uh tonight uh and celebrate another night because you're doing something really important with this positive important and positive this resolution and

177I wanted to be here to speak uh in support of it. Uh in times like these it is vital to build bridges and support people who have different life circumstances than ourselves. In Project Cornerstone, we teach our kids to be upstanders, not bystanders, when we see someone being singled out for being different. And I seek to apply that lesson by speaking tonight. This resolution paints a powerful and positive vision for a safe and inclusive school year in which all students learn about themselves and one another. I want all kids who attend our schools to thrive. And that means celebrating all of our kids. My kids do not need assistive devices for walking. Uh, but I want them to see images of students and adults who do in their books and on their classroom walls. My

178kids are not Hispanic and yet I support them joining in celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month. My kids are not Chinese-American and yet I support them joining in celebrating the Lunar New Year. In the same way, I see this resolution as a hopeful sign that we can build a community in this district that celebrates our LGBTQ kids and the teachers who support them. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that LGBTQ kids who live in supportive environments have far better life outcomes than those who do not. Furthermore, the evidence is overwhelming that all kids do better in more inclusive environments and that it's possible to do so in a culturally sensitive manner. So supporting LGBTQ students paves the path to what we all agree that we want, which is which is positive educational outcomes for all of

179our kids. Thank you for speaking up on a time when so many people's silence is saying volumes and passing this resolution. >> Thank you. Happy birthday. >> Thank you. >> And happy birthday to your wife. >> Next up is Miss Ver. >> Hi. Thank you, board. Um, my name is Veronica Brand. I'm a parent of two students in the Sunnydale School District at San Miguel and Columbia Middle School. Um, I don't have any prepared remarks, but I just wanted to uh say thank you for writing this resolution and bringing it to the board. Um, I read it this morning as I was scanning through the agenda, and it brought joy to my day to see just how proactive and how empowering it felt to to to say that we're going to stand up. We're going

180to help our teachers, you know, have all our students backs and just uh just be there and really uh supporting diversity and inclusion um in a time when, you know, it's scary. Um you don't know who has your back. Uh, I really appreciate um very much so how proactive this board is being in um in telling us that you do and so that I know when I send my kid to school, they're going to a safe place. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Um, anyone online? No. Okay. Uh, so board, uh, any motion to approve? I move we approve resolution 26-08 um reaffirming Sunny Bale's commitment to safe inclusive schools for all students and staff. >> Thank you. Uh board any discussion. >> Um yes, this is a really beautiful language and um I'm

181really proud of our board for supporting this and for Dr. Crossway for bringing it forward um based on a public comment about me versus Taylor um and incorporating um Katie's words in here. Um that is really a wonderful um move for us. I think it's very affirming for the community to be included in this way. Um, I do want to ask what does it look like when we say that educators must be supported with clear guidance and professional development so that they feel confident to teach inclusive materials and so that no child's safety identity or experience is diminished due to fear, discomfort or misunderstanding. What does that look like in terms of u presumably like a an AR? Yeah, but but presumably in AR, but simply is that there's also a need and we recognize

182it that we need to provide our staff with the appropriate professional development. And that's not a onetime thing. It has to be an ongoing commitment from us as an organization and to create spaces where we can reciprocate, listen, hear, and engage in conversations about what else we need to do and what more can we do to ensure that not only our students, but our staff also feel supported as well. How do we um engage our educators in that way to make sure that they feel supported? >> How much time have you got here? >> Well, that's a bigger question, right? But I think that we have this amazing uh set of goal promise. We have a commitment from you as leaders here in New York in the community and you have the community support, but

183these are ongoing conversations in terms of what does that look like, right? And I don't want to give you the impression that that's going to be my decision. It has to be a collaborative process moving forward where we also make adjustments and make pivots. But ultimately, we have to also make sure that we're supporting these ideas and thoughts with budget and creating space and time for that as well. I also want to bring up the idea of a um advisory group for um LGBTQIA students, staff, families, and allies because um I had talked to a couple parents uh before about this and they were equally receptive. Um, and you know, one of them in particular was concerned about like um, you know, feelings of safety. Maybe their maybe their stu their child is not out

184yet, you know, and they wouldn't want to out their child by joining the group. And so um you know just having allyship being part of that um group and then also just people who are available and want to help because I think that we we've had it before where we were making decisions uh regarding uh bathroom access or just simple policies that seem like they're very they're not going to affect certain groups or serve surveys that go out um that are meant they're intended for students to fill out. And then uh we heard from one public comment a few meetings ago last year that the student was like totally like did not even want to answer the question, right? Because of how it was phrased. So, like I'm I'm hopeful that if there was a

185way for um you know, rather than just counting on certain parents being very vocal that there was like an all call for help for when we have issues like this. I don't know how you handled this in your previous district or >> any thoughts you have. >> I mean, I'll just let you know we had a pride summit. I mean, so we had GSA gay straight alliance clubs at the middle schools and high schools and we brought in speakers and um invited staff and students to spaces where they can be comfortable whether they were questioning have been out um allies etc. And it just has grown to become this beautiful space for our young people to be seen, heard, and um supported as well as for our adults to be able to be in those

186spaces as well as leaders models for young people. >> But it takes some time though. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, um [Music] that board, are you ready to vote? Oh, you have a question or >> a comment. Yeah. >> Um, so I just wanted to thank Katie for the like that the great comments you had at the previous meeting that are now in here. And then I just I know we're getting late, but I just want to share a quick story connected to it. So at the California Latino Schoolboard Association, Tony Thurman, who's the state superintendent of instruction, came and spoke and I got a chance to chat with him just briefly. Um, and I shared one a comment that he made that I love. So I shared it with him. So what he

187said was we have to use education to end hate. And so when I shared that with him, then we kind of were talking about that space. And so I shared with him I said there's I said there was a mom in our district who came and spoke to us a while ago related to the new like opt out stuff. And I said she used this phrase optin and I love it and it's beautiful. So I just wanted you to know that I mean it's like you didn't coin that term per se in like the world but I was able to share that with the sacred super. I just think those both work, right? we're opting in to learn about other people. We use education to end hate, right? They just tell you differently. So, just

188wanted to share that quick story. >> You'll probably hear it in his campaign. You'll be like, "That was me. That was me." Um, but anyway, so I mean, board, we're we're in agreement that we're supportive of Pride Summit and uh affinity groups and supportive inclusive. >> Yeah. and and let's make sure to um to celebrate and get this out that we are doing this as well all the great stuff we're doing this weekend. >> Thank you. Okay, so um board all those in favor please say I >> chair votes I and the motion passes. Thank you. Okay, we're on to item 14D, which is approval of resolution R2609 in the matter of support for Proposition 50, protecting public education and California's representation in Congress. So this this resolution affirms SEO's commitment to protecting public education

189at a time when federal actions pose serious threats to students and schools including funding and I'll be with them. >> Okay. If there's any member of the public who would like to comment on this resolution, please use the raised hand feature now. Okay. Uh seeing none of boards, can we have a motion? I move to approve the resolution R 2609 in the matter in in the matter of in support of position 50 protecting public education and California's representation in Congress. >> I have a second. >> A second. >> Okay. Board um discussion. [Music] I am in support of this resolution um because it will um shape California's congressional representation and our ability to defend public education and secure our resources and funding um especially in this time of heightened federal threats um and also re

190um recognizing that it is only triggered by um the redistricting efforts in other states. Um, so I have a different not a different personal opinion, but a different opinion. So I'm actually going to vote no on this. Um, and the reason that I'm going to vote no on this is because I don't believe it's within our jurisdiction. Um, so what I just want to share is while I personally support Prop 50 and in my personal personal capacity, I'm going to actively encourage others to support Prop 50. Like side note, please reach out. I'm happy to share with you why I think it's super important. Um, however, I don't believe this is something a school board should take a stand on. I don't think the district should weigh in on issues like this that don't directly

191affect our students um and don't directly connect to education and our students. So, while I personally support Prop 50 for lots of reasons, um I don't think the district should be weighing on this and I will be voting against it. I like how it was phrased and why it's important for us to have representation. So I'm supporting it personally and today here I I'm in support of it too and protecting the public education. Yeah, I I absolutely am in support of this um resolution and I think it's different than some of the you know some of the resolutions that have been uh that have come, you know, like that we've seen other boards and other um city councils pass resolutions about because this I I really do understand that public education is under attack and

192that democracy is under attack. And additionally, um, it it does directly impact our children because the people who are doing the dismantling and who are who would be triggering this uh going into effect um they are completely, you know, completely destroying the department the department of education at the federal level. Uh they're talking about they're they're kicking people off. They're saying nine year olds can find their own uh you know food. Like they're kicking people off of public assistance for for um nutrition. They're they're impacting our budgets for student nutrition. Uh coming after our families, medical Calresh, National School Lunch Program, our ability to uh it's just destabilizing for us. So I um and especially with the the funding around the um uh students with disabilities. So I think it's really important for schools everywhere

193to support propositions like Prop 50 that are, you know, again preventative in nature and um responsive to the political attack on public education. So, okay. Um, >> and without going further, we have four or five title one schools and the title one fund were stopped this year and they came back because of a lawsuit that been say without representation in one or two years, we're not going to have title one anymore. >> Yeah. I I think it's also relevant because of the funding. Um, and and I appreciate how this um resolution was phrased. um not in terms uh it was actually there was an inspiration um for this resolution that came from San Diego Union um school district and it was very different um the tone was very different. I appreciate that this is focused

194on funding especially around um special education and meals and early childhood education. we have seen already earlier in the year the the funding freeze and the just the unknown are we going to get the money and then um you know there there is a lot of dismantling and I I do want to protect our funding for our students and and that is why I'm voting in favor >> okay let's call the vote um all those in favor please say I >> all those opposed please say nay >> okay uh chair votes I it passes 41 thank All right. Uh,formational items. There is anformational item regarding the California Energy Design Assistance Program pre-approval letter for Sunnyville Middle School modernization. And um, item 16 is future meetings. Our next meeting is October 15th, 2025 at 6 PM.

195Uh it's a special board meeting but it will be available on Zoom and it is going to be a deep data dive um across all student groups. So if you can't catch it in person you'd be able to see it on YouTube later. Okay. Uh thank you and this meeting is adjourned till 9:25. >> Thank you Angelo. Thank you. Nice.