001We have to do a long time ago, way back in 2003, no, 2008. Do I have the yellow cards from all those who wish to speak? Okay, well that's good. Okay, let's go to two then. There's also some chairs up front here. Funny room in front row. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to call the meeting to order. And we're going to our first order of business to have the Pledge of Allegiance. In the interest of all the people who've come here today to speak, we're going to go directly to that. And postpone the superintendent's report. So the rules for the public comments are in the agenda, but they include that members can't yield time to one another. And our total limit of time is 30 minutes. And so in order to accommodate those who
002have said they're wanting to speak, we're going to need to limit each person's comments to two minutes. And ask you to please focus on your top points and we're here to hear and listen to what you have to say. So we're going to start with our first speaker is Lincoln McClure. I'm not going to wear one. So, And that's it. Thank you for your comments and thank you for keeping them to the point. Our next speaker is Emily Pierotti. Am I saying that right? Alright. Good evening. My name is Emily Pierotti and this will be my fifth year teaching with Test and Unified. One of the things I've loved about this district is the amount of training and support I received over the years. I've gone to numerous trainings for CPM and writers workshop as
003well as the math conference in Palm Springs. And it seems like the district is very willing to help their teachers as much as possible. However, I was surprised last year by how little test and trained us and supported us in regards to my students needs during this pandemic. I can only recall receiving a book on distance learning practices that I was encouraged to read in my spare time. And a staff meeting with student testimonials about how much they needed us to support them. However, I'm looking for you to help support me in this coming school year. First, since I'm going to be teaching a newcomer core class where my students will be learning English for the first time, how shall I properly teach that class if myself and my students are in masks? This pertains
004to relationship building and properly educating my students on the English language. For example, some students that might speak Spanish can mix the V and B sounds. So how can I properly see if they are making a V or a B when they are speaking the English language? Relationship wise, one of the first things that I do as a teacher is learn my students' names. Last year was the first year that I was unsuccessful in learning all of my students' names because I could only see half of their face. My second concern is regarding a battle I faced as a teacher being asked to make sure my students are wearing their masks properly, covering their nose and mouth. My number one priority is their safety and well-being. How am I to uphold this mantra if asking
005a student to wear a mask violates the very educational code I'm expected to follow as an educator? Article 5.2 in California Ed Code regarding behavioral restraints says that a behavioral restraint that restricts breathing, including but not limiting to a blanket or other item to cover a people's face, we are not supposed to impair people's breathing or respiratory capacity as far as discipline goes. So how are masks an expectation or an exception to that rule for non-disciplinary situations? Does asking my students to wear a mask violate this expectation and how should I go about addressing this concern? So again, my three questions to sum up are how do I continue doing what the district is asking me when I am violating Ed Code? How do I ensure the health and safety of my students when the
006mask they are wearing is very harmful and dangerous? We're trying to get through everybody. Yeah, thank you for your time. Kelly Hannigan, I have a separate card for you. Did you fill out a card? I did. Well, then, well, so did Kelly. Can I speak to Kelly? Kelly, you do not want to speak? You cannot yield your time to another speaker. No, the next one will go on to the next speaker who is Shannon Wooten. All right, we'll go on to Shannon Wooten then. If you don't want to speak, Kelly, that is not permissible under the rules. I said you cannot. Yes, you do. Where is he? Okay, Kelly, are you going to speak? I'm here to ask USD to make mask mandating optional. Mask wearing is very disruptive to learning and communication. Long-term harm
007to kids from masking is particularly enormous. We can't continue to put this pressure on our kids. Anxiety, depression, suicide, it's at an all-time high and masking is only going to make it worse. Masking is psychological stressor for children and it disrupts their learning. It hides our children's emotions and affects bonding between teachers and kids. How will a new kid at school make a friend wearing a mask? Adults have no reason to put their safety ahead of the well-being of the school kids. Any teacher or staff that wanted a vaccine has been given the opportunity. The adults instead need to sacrifice for the kids, not the other way around. When you ask kids to wear a mask, you're instilling fear in them. And fear can paralyze and it robs us all of joy. If you make
008kids wear a mask, it will just be another year of diminished education and personal growth. Please allow it to be optional for those of us that don't want our kids to have a mask on their face. The ones that want to wear it, let them wear it. You have the power to enforce this or not. We're trusting that you'll do the right thing. Shannon Rutan. Hi, thank you for having us. I am here to ask that you make masks optional for next school year. There's no evidence masks truly work and in fact there's some that's quite the contrary. Children are not at severe risk for COVID-19. The age group has a 99% recovery rate. At this point every teacher and staff has had the opportunity to be vaccinated if they choose. There's no legitimate reason
009to keep masking our kids. I believe because there's so much of a slogan of following the science and yet it doesn't seem science is being followed. I'm left to believe that this is political and about something other than health and safety. There is an element of risk in everything we do. Every day there's an element of risk to our lives. We all take our measures based on our specific set of circumstances. Please choose freedom over militancy and fear. Let people here choose what they want to do for their health. Now the last thing I want to say is I'm going to read a portion of my son's letter that he wrote in. He's going to be a junior at Foothill High School. He says that the last normal school year he's had was eighth grade.
010Students everywhere desire the normal school experience, laughing with friends, having fun in busy classrooms and seeing friends every day. Not to mention interacting with teachers and being able to ask questions without a muffling fabric over our mouth and foggy plastic barriers standing in the way. He says that the students, the precautions taken against COVID are far more detrimental to the student population than the virus itself. Students around the country are looking forward to school year without such detriments. They want a normal school year without masks, shields or capacity limitations. Students will be much more inclined to come to school and learn. So he asks that you please make masks optional. Thank you. Thank you for keeping your comments within the time and you made making good points. Severe anxiety, trapped, distracted, disconnected, hopelessness, cloudiness, panic,
011unable to concentrate. My name is Ezra. I'll be a seventh grader at Hughes Middle School and these are all the things I feel while I wear a mask. Last school year I felt a lot of anxiety from wearing a mask to school. There were a lot of days that I wouldn't go to school because I struggled to wear a mask all day. I always feel like I couldn't breathe. The days I attempted to go to school wearing a mask, I had a hard time concentrating. My grades dropped very low. My mom requested a 504 plan for me because of my anxiety about the mask. The school decided that the best plan for the 504 would be to give me mask breaks often. I told my mom why do they think it's a good idea for
012me to walk out of the classroom when I'm already struggling. Once my science teacher got upset with me and demanded to know why I wouldn't wear my mask correctly. I felt intimidated by her. One day I was sent to the principal's office because the staff didn't approve of the type of mask I had on. The vice principal called my mom and these were his words. Ezra's mask is too breathable. Please don't force us to wear a mask. Mental health should matter just as much as physical health. Thank you. Next speaker is, I don't know if it's Mari or Mary, Mark. Good evening, everyone. I won't take my full two minutes tonight. Thank you so much for having me. Good to see you, Superintendent Franklin. It's been a while. I wanted to just mention to everyone
013here that we are also having a critical race theory forum tomorrow at the county. I know Superintendent Franklin participated in a colloquium last week. So I hope you'll encourage everyone to attend ours tomorrow evening at 6 as well. If you cannot attend in person, we'll have it live on YouTube. Thank you so much. Thank you. And now we have Kevin Kiley. Thanks very much. I'm Kevin Kiley. I'm the vice chair of the California State Assembly Education Committee. And I want to first apologize to you on behalf of the state of California because you, for the last 16 months and before that, had to deal with mandate after mandate from the science deniers in Sacramento. And I know it's made it very hard for you to do your jobs. But at this point, we know California
014was one of only a handful of states to have a school shutdown order statewide. And now we're one of only a handful of states that's defying the CDC by having a statewide mask ordinance. And I know that it puts you as board members in a difficult position. But I'd say there are a few things you could do that would help all of our cause for California to do the right thing for kids. Number one, fully support Let Them Breeze lawsuit against the state of California. Number two, with a unified voice, tell Governor Newsom to end the mask mandate and do the right thing for kids. And number three, since our state government is so inept that it tripped over its own laws and has now thrown enforcement back into your hands, here's just an idea
015I'd have. I see you have professional governance standards over here. You could post the mask policy from the state right there. And then you've done your job. It's enforced. Other than that, leave the kids alone. All these folks here are parents. They know what is best for the kids better than anyone. Certainly better than this governor does or better than any bureaucrats in Sacramento do. So it's about time that we started putting kids first in the state of California. And districts can be a powerful voice in making that happen. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Gavin Nelson. Hello. My name is Gavin Nelson. I'm going to be a senior at Foothill High School. Six months ago, I had a major heart surgery, a severe heart defect that caused
016me to have my breathing. And on top of that, I've been diagnosed with asthma since I was four years old. My whole life I've had breathing issues because of these two conditions. And I have to use an inhaler to try to keep my breathing under control. Towards the beginning of my junior year, my mom obtained mask exemption forms from the school district. My mom filled all the paper correctly, including a note from my doctor. And when she presented the paperwork to the staff, they told her that I still have to wear a mask. So they will have to inform the school district that they need to change the things in their exemption forms. If you truly care about our health and safety, why was I denied of this exemption? Why was my health put at
017such a great risk? If I catch the virus, I have a very high chance of survival. And with that, I'm asking you to follow the science. Follow the science that says that kids are at low risk and not dying. And please stop putting us last. Thank you. Next speaker, John Schrank. Good evening. Let's have some fun with math. You know, the subject that's been around for a few thousand years, the same subject that board member Stone is looking to eliminate. When a child starts kindergarten and completes her senior year of high school, she can expect to attend 2340 school days. With the onset of remote learning that started near the end of 2020 school year and continued through the 2021 school year, you have now negatively impacted nearly 230 of those days, 10 percent of
018a student's education. Wearing a mask in class for six hours a day has proven to negatively impact the quality of education for these students. Keeping a mask mandate is trending the statistic in the wrong direction. If you continue this agenda through the end of the school year, you will have obstructed my graduating senior to the tune of nearly 18 percent of his K through 12 education. If I had a third grader, it would look more like 50 percent of his education thus far. The governor's office has been vague on direction and has kicked the can down to the school board level. You have the power to determine masks should be optional. Yet you have announced you will continue this draconian practice, a demonstration of your disgusting thirst for power and control. For those that want
019to attend school and learn without a mask, they should be able to do so. The freedom to choose what is best for a student should be left to the parents of that student. In a recent Orange County Register article, Dr. Franklin stated that children are more likely to succeed if they are happier. I quote, Dr. Franklin said, you learn more when you are socially and emotionally happy. I agree with this statement. I believe the removal of masks will foster socially and emotionally happy students. So, Dr. Franklin, how exactly does a mask mandate support your argument? This is yet another question I'm sure I'll wait forever to get an answer on. Go some intestinal fortitude board. Get out of bed with the teachers union. I believe the remote learning and this is I believe they want
020remote learning. And this is your way of supporting that agenda. Instead, how about aligning yourselves with the students you claim to serve you the time? Jack Sullivan, Jack Sullivan. Man, I can't believe I have to follow up those. That's going to be a tall order. Well, I want to say four wonderful years at Foothill High School graduating in 2019. And one great thing about Foothill was I got to see my friends every day. One of my favorite things about school, obviously. You know, this whole issue is really puzzling to me. I couldn't even, to a certain extent, couldn't even believe that this event was even going on tonight, that this event had to happen tonight. Because I can't believe that this is still an issue that we're going on two years. Is it two years?
021Two years past the initial incident, you know, with COVID, the COVID breakout. And this is still a topic. It's ridiculous. Just a main point I'd like to make. Fauci said that normal masks aren't even effective. He said that you have to wear N95 masks to actually have some protection. So why not have an N95 mandate? Why not have a vaccine mandate? What about a perpetual mandate since the flu is really more deadly to students than COVID? How about a school from home mandate? These are all legitimate ideas if we give validity to the insanity that is a mask mandate. It's ridiculous. Yeah, I really don't even know what to say because this is just so absurd. But anyway, that's about it. I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly. Shanice, Shanice D. Yes, you're pronouncing it right.
022My name is Shanice and I am speaking on behalf of being a daycare owner. I serve children younger than five and I'm also a mother myself. These mask mandates are very heartbreaking. Like we said, we know developmentally children need to see your expressions. That's how they learn empathy. And it starts at this young age. I feel very discriminatory to say that children under two aren't required to wear one, but yet I have to explain to my current two-year-olds that they may need to wear a mask. Thankfully, all of my parents are on board with us not wearing masks. We believe in our freedom of choice. As a mother, like I said, I went back and forth on sending my daughter back to school due to the mask mandate. I ended up sending her back the
023last three months of school, but every day I just felt so torn in having her come home and tell me, oh, mommy, if I drink my water too long, my teacher would tell me to hurry up and pull up my mask. Oh, mommy, we're playing tag, but we have to do an air tag. We can't even touch each other. And like we've all known, according to this science that we so need to follow, children are not affected by this. And I just want them to have a normal sense of childhood again, because this really is going to be detrimental to our future children. Of course, we all care about their safety, but we really do have to go based on the science, and that's currently not what this district is following. I'm having a lot
024of anxiety on sending her back to school. You know, as a first grader, she'll be in school even longer than she was during her three hour program. We also know the health effects. Like we said, these masks are dirty. They're actually holding in more germs. And I honestly don't see any benefits to having the mask. But again, that should be up to – that should be our choice. And if a parent wants to send their child with a mask, that's okay, but that should be choice. Thank you. Thank you. Denise Ramirez. Denise Ramirez. Denise Ramirez. Hi. It's emotional to hear these kids. And this is my first time speaking here, and I have two boys who are on the spectrum of autism. They receive speech therapy. They have done the preschool program at Ladera. I
025have never so scared – at least seen my kids regress with homeschooling, having to do school from home, having to wear masks, which they don't technically have to, but they don't want to be ostracized by making new friends. They go to Legacy Magnet Academy, a brand new school, beautiful. And they couldn't even step foot on the first day. And when they went back, they have to go back with masks. It is detrimental to them. I have a five-year-old who's starting kindergarten, and I will not put her in Tustin Unified School District. She will go to a private school, because I cannot stand to see her masked, and she doesn't want to be masked. And neither do my boys. So I'm pleading with you. I don't know how any other way – I wish I could
026come up here more composed and without emotion. But it's heartbreaking. Please do the right thing and make it a choice. My boys will not go to school with a mask. It's their protected right, as it is their disability to not wear it, and it's uncomfortable for them. Just please make it a choice. Let us choose what's best for our children. Kevin McGowan. Hey, how are you all doing? So I have two children here at Tustin Unified. We all know the mandate of masking and whatnot. It's ridiculous. We all know the data behind it. I'm not fooling anyone. I'm sure everyone here has had their vaccine. Everyone's had the opportunity to have it, right? I assume so. So why are we all still doing this? Why are you imposing restrictions on our freedoms that I fought
027for overseas? And then I come here, all right? And I come here, I see everyone standing here, sitting here, all holier than thou, and you make decisions for our children better than I can. Who thinks that? Because I'll ensure all of you get voted out next go around. It's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. We all see the data behind it. The data, CDC, we like that, right? Only when it applies, though. But I'll put this out here. In 2020, CDC reported an increase of suicide attempts in teens. 21% increase. Is that okay? Right? Do you need a master's degree for that? Oh, yeah. Doctorate? Oh, yeah. No, common sense. Very common sense. Everything we're dealing with. CRT, I'll touch on that really quick. I could talk a lot about it because I have a lot of passion
028behind all of this. CRT, I called the guy right behind here. He didn't even know what CRT was. Oh, really? Really? Incredible. We all know exactly what it is. If you think we're going to be teaching our children that their skin tone is going to set them different from someone else, right? I see everyone behind me here. They're all beautiful and wonderful. Skin tone alike. I don't care. It doesn't matter. It's my biblical belief, right? I treat everyone the same. I don't need the school teaching my child because their skin tone's white. Oh, look, this guy has a shaved head. He must be one of those guys. No, I treat everyone with respect. Equitable. It's parenting. Leave it to us. Stay out of it. Thank you. I'm not sure the first name on this. Miller
029is the last name. Allie. Allie. That makes sense. Thank you. Hi, guys. I'm a teacher. I teach in Tustin. I've been here for six years. I came from Anaheim, Santa Ana. As a teacher, I observed something last year that's 100% supported by neuroscience. Masks prevent learning. Okay? The fail rates of students in our district skyrocketed last year. You know this. You have the numbers. Many TUSD students, possibly the majority, are kids who don't have a parent at home. Sorry, my phone died. I'm very bad at technology, you guys. See? Another problem with distance learning. Okay. They don't have a parent at home to make sure they pay attention or do their homework, so they need to be present on campus. We're caring adults like myself and Ms. Perotti, who spoke earlier, are going to do
030our best to make sure that they're engaged. Masks prevent that engagement even when they're on campus. Students can't hear their teachers. They can't hear their peers. They create a psychological barrier that makes it easier to sit silently when enough of them don't participate as it is. Masks have direct physiological effects as well. Brains don't work without air, guys. Okay? We need to breathe. I know that you know that. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be disrespectful. I know you know that, but you guys get to take mask breaks. You can go into your office and close the door and breathe. My kids can't do that. My students can't do that. They can't just walk out of the room whenever they feel lightheaded or they have a headache. Okay? They don't get that option. Oxygen deprivation
031can lead to neurodegenerative disease over time. Are we willing to put our kids through ALS or MS in the future to save them from a 0.0003% risk of death or hospitalization from COVID? Okay. At the very least, we're significantly damaging their ability to learn. I struggle to think clearly when I'm masked. I have a headache. I feel lethargic. I can't focus. And I've been teaching for 18 years. I know what I'm doing. You're asking kids who can't breathe to learn new things. That's an impossible task, and it's an unfair for you to ask. Please, please let the parents choose. Okay? I'm not afraid. I'll take them all. Well, okay. We're nearly out of time. I have three more cards have come up. I'm just not going to be able to take those. So we have
032two left. Sharon McKeon? McKeon? Something like that? All right. Next one is Janelle McMahon. Janelle McMahon. All right. You, Sharon? Okay. Have any of you had or known someone who had cancer? It's a very scary thing. Imagine right now if your child was diagnosed with cancer. Imagine if the doctors told you that your child had a 50% chance of survival. That would be frightening. If your child's chance, imagine if your child's chance of survival went up to 70 to 75%. That would be wonderful news, right? It was for my parents. When I was in sixth grade at Testimemorial, I was diagnosed with leukemia. The doctors told my parents I had a 50% chance of survival. And after my treatment started, it was raised to 70 to 75%. My parents were elated. They were given a
033gift, the gift of life. Now, imagine if my parents were told that I had a 99.9% chance of survival. It would be amazing. The best news ever. I wish my parents got that news. Well, with COVID, our children, if they get COVID, have an even higher percent chance of survival. John Hopkins released a study along with others that show that children under 18 have nearly a 0% chance of death from COVID. There are about 75 million people under the age of 18 in the U.S. There have been 331 deaths of 17 and under, with most of those deaths being kids with underlying health issues. It is unbelievable that anyone would want to mass kids in school for a 0.03% chance of death. My goodness. Our kids have more of a chance dying while driving or
034being a passenger in a car, crossing the street, or even being hit by lightning. Are you going to prevent them from going outside when it rains ever? I mean, come on. Do you not realize that all these kids are already hanging out together all the time already? And they have been for months. Birthday parties, play dates, out to dinner, sports, carpooling, and so much more. Kids do not have a serious adverse reactions to COVID. Can you tell me how many TUSD kids were hospitalized or died last year? For all those children who are at risk or who live with someone at risk, they need to take the precautions that are necessary. And they can choose to wear a mask or go to test and connect. There are options. Please give us choice. Do not mandate
035masks for our kids in school. Janelle McMahon. That was Janelle. So the other person, Sharon, isn't here? Apparently not. Okay. Elizabeth Siegel, then. I just put my card in. I didn't actually have anything prepared. But my biggest issue with the masks is that it's become so politically charged and it really just puts you in a political box. But I have two kids that are going to start kindergarten. One's going to start fifth grade. And this whole year, I've been debating on putting them in private school. But I moved to Tustin for a reason because of the schools in the school district. And I know you, Lynn, personally, my mother-in-law, Suzy. But each of you, I mean, you can go home and look at and look up the data and look up the science on masks.
036You can make your own opinion about if masks work or not. And you can find out the data on children. So really, I find it so hard to believe that we're having to come here and plead our case when it just seems so apparent that kids don't die from COVID and how it obstructs their learning. And they have to go to school with these masks on that collect germs. I mean, intellectually speaking, it just is so absurd to me to have to come up here and plead a case when really all you have to do is make it optional for people. I just I'm really unprepared. But I just I appreciate you giving us this time. And, you know, I don't want to call anyone names or anything like that. I just feel like it's
037a conversation I can have with each one of you. You know, sit down and show you the data and say, really, what is your what is your opinion? Do you think masks work for kids? Do you think we need them in schools? Like, honestly, I just feel like make it optional. And we live in a free country. I just don't understand why it's logical. Thank you. I appreciate the time. Thank you. And I hope you make a good decision for all of you. Shannon. Is that what you say? Last name. Shannon. Did you call Kelly Felton? Because I was waiting and waiting. But is Shannon here? Hold on to me. Can you find my name? Well, somebody spoke when I called Kelly Felton. OK. Wasn't me. OK. Well, go ahead. My name is Kelly Felton.
038I'm speaking today as a concerned parent and resident of Tustin. I'm aware that you are receiving $40,334,563 in COVID relief money. I know that some of this money is required to be spent on COVID related items such as information, PPE, et cetera. And you can use a large portion of this at your discretion on long term impacts of physical, emotional and learning losses as related to COVID. I ask you to consider using several million dollars to put into your high schools and middle schools for the lasting effects of having no ability to fundraise last year. Beneficial programs such as football, band, lacrosse, theater, art, et cetera, have to start their school year with a large deficit because they were not able to fundraise per their usual methods. Their projects were put on hold and the
039schools and participants suffered immeasurable levels of social, emotional and physical fitness losses. Being that one of the measures of emotional health comes from extracurricular activities, I've canvassed and submitted a small example of data and funds that these programs raise every year for themselves. One middle school, high school music program, for example, needs $15,000 worth of instruments, $3,000 in repairs and $5,000 for color guard. If we can work together on this COVID related issue, I think that you would directly even the playing fields for all students of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds to provide equity and inclusion programs that would give them the experience and the proper brain development needed to prepare our students for adulthood. Through all these extracurricular activities, students can be emotionally healthy, Dr. Franklin, to perform better academically. People are pulling their kids
040out of this district because you don't follow scientific principles and pander to political narratives such as ethnic studies and critical race theory. Parents have more options, including CaliforniaSchoolChoice.org, and they will pull their kids out. We need to respond to the COVID affected community in a way that creates unity and emotional stability to our students. Thank you. Our last speaker, Kathy Metzger. Kathy Metzger. In the meantime, I'll wait until he comes up. This is going to be really simple. Who put a card in? We're wasting time. I could have been done by now. Who put a card in? Wade Nelson. My name is Wade Nelson. I will be in 10th grade at Foothill High School. This summer I've been able to enjoy doing a lot of things. I've hung out with my friends every week. I
041went to an amusement park. I competed at a national level for my sport. I've attended church weekly. I performed with my band at large youth dances and just last weekend was able to attend my brother's Junior Olympic water polo games with hundreds of people. At none of these events we were being forced to wear a mask. Why then are we being forced to wear a mask at school? And why do you think wearing a mask is conducive to a mental and physical healthy learning environment? Children between the ages of 0 to 17 have less than a 0.1% chance of dying from COVID. The CDC found that mental health related emergency room visits increased 31% in 2020 for children between the ages of 12 and 17. In May of 2020 the CDC released a statement stating
042we found no significant reduction in the influenza transmission with the use of face masks, yet they continued to push face masks. Scientific studies have shown that masks lower oxygen levels in the blood while raising carbon dioxide levels and are dangerous for those with asthma or other respiratory issues. We are all aware that each school district can make the choice if kids will wear a mask or not. You in particular are responsible for this outcome. Please don't force these masks on us. Wade, Wade, Wade, I want to first of all thank you for your comments. Secondly, I'm sorry I accidentally mixed yours up with your brother's, Gavin's. I'm assuming your brother. So you should have gone right after him and I apologize. I'm glad you got to talk. And so then we're done with public comments.
043Thank you very much. Okay. Now we move to discussion action items or? Yeah, let's go discussion action. Let's move to discussion action items. We only have two. The first one is on administrative regulation number 1312.3, uniform complaint procedures, annual review. Yeah, where'd your mask go? Franklin? So do you want to present that or? I mean we've all saw, we've all seen it. Hey, hey, ladies, you are out of order. We're trying to conduct business here. You're out of order. Just please be respectful. Okay. You got to speak and please. We're having a meeting now. Okay. We were having a meeting before too. Yeah, we have agenda items. The last meeting was about everybody getting a chance to speak. There's only one response and it is choice. Life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Amen, brother. God
044gave us our right to breathe. Not you, not a governor, not a president. You're welcome to stay or to leave. But you need to allow us to conduct our business. We are. So the first item, administrative regulation. Okay. Administrative regulation number 1312.3, uniform complaint procedures, annual review. I assume we've all seen that report. So we need to approve the, oh sorry, we're approving revised administrative regulations related to the uniform complaint procedures. I move approval. There's a motion and a second. Did you get those Dina? Okay. So now is there any discussion? Is there a presentation at all? No presentation unless there's questions by the board. Okay. Are there any questions or discussion from board members? Well, I just would say this just adds no substantive changes in the complaint rules, except for it adds some
045procedural issues such as increasing an appeal from 15 days to 30 days for a parent who would like to appeal a school district decision in this area. Okay. So if there's no other question or comment, we'll proceed to a vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Motion carries. And the second item is board policy number 6158, educational services, independent study, full replacement. If you've been following the budget discussions, the state legislature became very concerned about what was and was not independent study and passed a number of new laws that we need to comply with despite the fact that there are even contradictions within the law. But this is what this is for. The motion would be to approve the full replacement for board policy 6158, educational services, independent study for the
04621-22 school year. May I have a motion? Move to approve. Second. And second. Okay. Does anybody have any questions on this? Only if there are questions. Okay. Any questions? Okay. I presume I know enough of you have been following one source or another of the information in the budget, and so you're aware that this is a major issue up there this year. And I just have one question. Was this a CSBA draft or a draft from somebody else? Yeah, we started with a CSBA. We may have made slight tweaks based on our own individual local facts, but we took the CSBA model. Okay. So with that, any other question or comment? Then we'll proceed to a vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Let's just move to the consent calendar. Is
047there a motion to approve the consent calendar? I move approval of the consent calendar in its entirety. Is there a second? Second. Okay. And by definition, unless somebody has a question that they want to ask on a specific item, we don't discuss the items or go over them. So is, we'll just proceed to a vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. So we're going to go at this point back to the superintendent report, after which we'll have board members' comments, and then we will be returning to closed session. And we'll proceed from there. Thank you, Mr. Davis. Good evening, board members, staff, and guests. We've had a busy summer. Summer school has concluded for the high school and middle school programs, and really an incredible amount of work done by students
048and staff. Last count, there were about 1,200 grades that were increased by our high school students, many of those having translated incompletes into passing grades towards meeting graduation and college admission standards. Middle schools focused on skill development, both in reading and math, and in the elementary school, we've doubled the length of the period and tripled the size of summer school. So we have about 900 students who will finish this Thursday, all in time to start a new school year on August 12th. I want to recognize some significant hires that happened in preparation for this school year. I want to welcome and congratulate Morita De La Torre, who's our new chief personnel officer. Morita comes from the personnel office, having been director here for the last three or four years, and has stepped right in and
049picked up the ball where Dr. Lewis left it. I also want to welcome and congratulate Matthew Jennings, who is our new director of communications and public information, as well as public engagement. Mr. Jennings comes to us from Oceanside Unified School District, previously Newport Mesa, and he's doing a fine job. Principal is one of our most important positions, as we all know, and I want to congratulate Sarah Tanakawa, the new principal at Hughes Middle School. Sarah's been the assistant principal, one of the assistant principals at Beckman High School, has been a tremendous asset, not just at Beckman, but throughout the entire district, as she helps work on district-wide initiatives. We think that she'll be a terrific leader for Hughes after Mr. Killian has gone to Orchard Hills to replace Mrs. Smith. Finally, I want to congratulate
050Courtney Smith, the new principal at Heritage Elementary. Courtney's had a stellar career here in Tustin Unified, where she's been a teacher, was an Orange County Teacher of the Year. She's been a TOSA for us, and most recently an assistant principal. So we believe that she will do an excellent job leading Heritage Elementary, replacing Beth Blackman, who took a promotion in another district. Besides these four positions, we have several assistant principals, many, many teachers, counselors, social workers, nurses, paraprofessionals, clerks, hired all in preparation for kicking off the school year on August 12th. Can't wait to get started, and we'll have a regular school year followed five days a week for all students. We're looking forward to it. Thank you, Mr. Davis. Now we're at board comments. I just wanted to say I attended the TISMA advance
051this week, and I wanted to commend Dr. Franklin on the incredible job he did, inspiring our principals and our administrative staff to really think outside the box and think how we could do it better for our kids this year coming off of COVID. And I was so impressed and inspired by how hard they all were working and how hard they seemed while they were working so hard, but they were so intent on making sure that we came back from COVID stronger, that our kids came back better, and that whatever we could do to figure it out, to make sure that we address some of these issues, we were going to find that way. And I left there being incredibly inspired by all of them and Dr. Franklin, and I was really proud to be part
052of Testing Unified. I just want to talk about an article I read that talked about critical race theory. Critical race theory is a legal theory that was developed in law schools in the 1990s by law professors. It is something to be taught to law students who are graduate students, and according to what the expert said, it is nothing that should be or could be, in his opinion, taught to K-12 students. And it is not something we intend to teach. What we're intending to move forward with are to teach historical facts that are of significant relevance to all of us and perhaps particularly to ethnic groups that have been underrepresented and to teach the facts as known and given to us by historians. We're not going to go off on theories or anything else. Obviously, students
053will be engaged in interpreting facts as they naturally would be in any history class. And we're also looking to expand literature options to include appropriate literature written by people of many different groups. And so that's where we're at. In particular, it just is not really a K-12 topic when you get to critical race theory. And it's not going to be in our district, and I've never heard anybody talk about that as a K-12 topic for our curriculum or anybody else's, frankly. So I just wanted to say that. And then again, I also wanted to thank our staff, our teachers in particular, as you heard from the teachers here today, worked incredibly hard this last year. They were faced with unprecedented challenges and they, like all of us, were doing their best to provide the greatest
054amount of student learning. And we have funds and are hiring extra staff to specifically engage in assuring that all students complete their unfinished learning and are able to go and move forward with all the, and to be just as prepared when they go on to college as those in our past have been. We have had a record of improving the A through G, the percentage of students completing those, and of reducing the number of our students who have needed to have remedial classes once they go to college. And we hope to be able to reach that point with all of our current students as well. So that's all I had to say for the night. So with this, we're going to adjourn into closed session. We have some more topics we need to address. And
055if necessary, we'll be reporting out. But I don't know of a reason they'll be necessary. So we'll probably just adjourn from there. Thank you.