001Calling to order at 7:29 I think it is. Firstly, do we have any public testimony? >> I'm sorry. We got to take role. Apologies. >> Director present. >> Student director Armana Ardam present. Director Jennifer Shinowski >> here, >> Vice President Jennifer Korn, >> present, Student Director Korea Carlson, >> and President Mike Chen >> here. >> All righty. Um, do we have an approval for the meeting agenda for today? >> I'd like to make uh two amendments to the agenda. I move that we combine items 14.1 and item nine. And I would also like to pull items 16.4 for discussion. Do we need to take a vote on those amendments, Liz? >> I'll second. >> Oh, it's been seconded. Um, are there the eyes? >> I I unanimous. >> Uh, great. Um, >> you want to
002just determine the order, indicate where you want to place these items on the agenda following. Um, I believe we'd like to move 14.1 to 9ine. So nine will include 14.1. Um, and I think the discussion of 16.4 can go at the end of >> after. Thank you. >> Copy. >> Makes sense. Uh, thank you so much, Vice President Korn. Um, so, uh, do we have a report out on the closed session? >> Yes, pardon me. Um, yes. Uh, close session was called to order at 5:39. Um, directors Chang, Korn, Shinoski, and Vasadev were in attendance. Um, the board had a conference with legal counsel about item 3.1.1. We received information from our attorney and provided guidance. Um, 3.2 was also an information item. The board received information. Item 3.3.1 was the approval of director of
003state and federal programs. Director Shinowski moved to approve. Um, vice president Korn seconded and the motion passed unanimously. And then for item 3.4, um, the board received information from staff and had a discussion and provided direction. >> Thank you so much. Um, Vice President Korm. Um, next up we have the superintendent's comments. >> Thank you, President Chang. Uh, good evening B USD family. >> We are excited to have you all here this evening. We have a very engaging and excited exciting board meeting. Um we first want to just call your attention that tonight's meeting is going to be uh not the typical format in that um it's going to be different because we have specific legal statute um as we're going to be engaging in um public bidding tonight for our old Oxford Elementary School.
004So this is a special meeting um because we potentially will receive bids for the possible sale of the old Oxford Elementary School. And so you will notice to the right that there is a table set up with our partners from Norheim and Yost real estate brokers and our legal partners from DWG. Um they are facing you like we are facing you. Um and so we might actually get some live auction action here tonight y'all. Um making it a very exciting board meeting. I'm also excited because tonight um we are also going to get a presentation of our 2425 CASP data. Uh the CASP is this assessment we give at the end of every school year. every district gives it in California. It's an opportunity for us to identify um our students progress um on the
005key content areas inclusive of ELA, math, and science. You will get to hear Berkeley's story, how Berkeley compares to the state and county average on in terms of our performance on this particular assessment. This is one measure that we use to assess um our students progress in learning, but is a very important measure. There's lots of funding um ratings as you know and other important things that are assigned and aligned to this particular uh assessment. And so we are excited to share with you where we are um and where we're going and just not only our our journey from last spring to now um but our journey over the past three years since we've been a team together. And so you will hear not only about our baby's proficiency um and sliced and diced in
006all different ways um but you will also hear the work that we've been doing to move our students who are not proficient um towards proficiency as well. So um stick around. The auction is going to be engaging and exciting. But for me the draw tonight is that we actually get to talk about what we're here for and that's our baby's teaching and learning experiences. We have a board uh mission or district mission sorry to enable and inspire. You will know what it is. our diverse student body to achieve academic excellence and make positive contribution to the world. And this is one data point, one important data point around our progress towards that goal of academic excellence. So, please stick around. If you can't stay here, then please watch us online and we will be uploading
007um information on our website as well. But it's a pretty good story, y'all, if I do say so myself. Um you also heard the director Korn um ask for us to pull um item 16.4 and so I wanted to point you all's attention to that. that is an information item that is on the mobile communication devices here in B USD. It is a first reading, but it is not the first time that this uh policy has come to the board. It actually was approved last year. Um what the board is going to be engaging in this afternoon, sorry, this evening is an amendment to that policy that gets a little bit more clear around our expectations for how our babies have, if they have, um mobile phones and smart devices at the school site. And
008so with that item being pulled, it's an opportunity not only for you all to have input um in public comments should you ch um choose to do so, but it's also an opportunity for our board members to discuss and engage so that if we do take it back to our policy subcommittee, we will have that much more information and um to inform any revisions that we make. So another exciting topic. Y'all excited? >> We didn't sound excited, but that's okay. Um the last thing that is exciting is that our babies do um lots of things and show their academic excellence in a number of ways and are brilliant of course um in in countless ways and they also make positive contributions to our world not just after they graduate but right now as BUD students
009and so with that in mind want to invite you all um to our Fixit Fest. It's the fall fix it fest. is going to be on Saturday, October 18th at Willard Middle School from 1 to 3:30. Um, the climate literacy and maker space programs in collaboration with transition Berkeley, Nimble Repair and Culture of Repair are hosting a fall fixed fest open to all the community. Do you have something that's broken? >> Oh gosh. Okay. So, if you have something that's broken, and if you are like me, you probably have something that's broken. If not, break it and bring it because our babies our babies uh repair things. Um it's an opportunity to uh get it repaired to learn a new skill all while you are helping to reduce waste. We are B USD and we
010are really conscious about um our imprint on our environment. And so repair categories include clothing, bicycles, elect how do you repair? You can repair clothing. So um clothing, bicycles, electronics, small appliances, jewelry, toys, and more. So, Saturday, October 18th from 1 to 3 and vacuum cleaners from 1 to 3:30 at Willard Middle School. We hope to see you there. It's going to be an exciting Saturday and tonight again, it's going to be an exciting board meeting. Thank you all for coming. >> Thank you so much, Superintendent. Um, we're now going to move into um item eight under open session um for public comments. U there are two opportunities for public comments now and at the end of the meeting. You don't get to speak now. There's an opportunity at the end. You can also email
011us at boardofedbererkeley.net. If you have complaints about specific district employees, we do encourage you to use the district complaint process which is at complaints berkeley.net. Um the board does not respond directly to comments or questions made during public comment. um board members, the superintendent and staff. They do take notes uh during the public comment and they might follow up with the speaker after the meeting. Uh this is a hybrid meeting. So we have public commenters here and there's a number of green cards and we have folks online too. So we've designated um a number of minutes per person, two minutes, right? Uh Miss Charz, that should work today, I think. um to be followed by those folks online in person and then online. Each public commenter will have up to two minutes depending on the
012amount of speakers. Um and then uh you know we don't want to be rude but if you're hitting two minutes we give you an a little bell and then I will have to cut you off like soon thereafter just for fairness. Um of course decorum expectations uh I know everyone here is very decorous. Um, no person shall disturb the order of this meeting. Such behavior includes, but is not limited to, booing, hissing, creating, or participating in a physical disturbance, speaking out of turn, in violation of applicable rules, preventing or attempting to prevent others who have the floor from speaking, which is not very polite, preventing others from observing the meeting, entering into or remaining in the area of the meeting room that is not open to public, or approaching the dis without permission. So to
013keep things moving, I'll call two names at a time so you can kind of come up in the background as the first person is up in the front. Um, and if I have a pronunciation issue, I apologize. Please make sure to correct me. Okay, we're going to start with the students first. Um, firstly, we have Estrella Alamia or Alamo. Please correct my pronunciation. And Leslie Martinez can come up right behind Hello, good evening board members and community members. I hope everyone is doing great. My name is Estrea Latina and currently a freshman at Berkeley High, also a part of the club. Enthusiastically waiting to be a sophomore so I can be in the class. My personal experience at Longfellow at Longfellow Middle School as the Bent alumni was more than amazing. I loved getting support
014from teachers and counselors. They helped me in both receiving emotional and academic support. Whenever I had a bad grade, Miss Magoa, especially made sure I knew why that was and how I could fix it. The Penta teacher, Miss Patton, made sure we learned stuff we wouldn't learn in a normal English class. For example, we would read books with authors of people of color to learn the power of reverse so we could have a wide range of knowledge. The class was always full of love and was like a home in school. I got to make a connection with more than half of the people in the class and everyone made me feel loved and cared for. This is extremely impactful in my life because I felt like I had plenty of people uplifting me and helping
015me reach my goals. It's important to support programs like Bente because it helps students like me to be better prepared for high school. I learned a lot about why and how college knowledge will not only help me in now but also in the future and in how my decisions will impact me in both a good and a bad way. My sister is currently a seventh grader in Pente at Long and she says her experience so far has been more than great. It's the first time she's had an African-Amean teacher and she finally feels seen and truly cared for personally. Being in a classroom you feel like you belong to is not only important for Latino or like first generation students, color students, but any student in general so you feel like you're a part of
016a community. Thank you for your intention. >> Thank you um Leslie Martinez. Then next we'll have Nishia Gyhan. >> Good evening board members. My name is Lesie. I'm currently a freshman at BHS and I'm proud to be a graduate of the Longfellow Poente program and a current member of the Poente Club at Berkeley High School. Poente has given me more than academic help. It's given me a community. Being surrounded by people from different backgrounds has taught me the power of diversity and how much we can learn from one another. event that made me feel seen, supported, and like I could trust one another. It helped me build my confidence, find my voice, and believe in my future. As a firstgen, you can imagine it's a little stressful to be perfect in school. But thankfully to
017Poente, they helped me a lot. I got academic support. I learned a lot of new things, and I visited colleges that I never thought I would see as a middle schooler. It opened my eyes, and from then on, I was positive I would go to college. Three years ago, I could never imagine I would be up here talking to you guys. But Poente allowed me to build my confidence in more than one way. I have made new friends through and I feel like a big part of the person I have grown into has been because of grateful to be part of that program that not only opens doors but also brings people together. It is important that you continue to support and fund. Thank you. >> Thank you. And up we have Nishia and then
018um if Noelia Ramirez Zalde could come up as well. >> Good evening. My name is Nesa Gagan and I am a junior at Berkeley High School. I'm here to express my interest in being appointed to the Berkeley Youth Commission. I participate in clubs like mock trial and ethics bowl at Berkeley High and I have volunteered with organizations such as the Women's Earth Alliance. These have made me interested in civic engagement and making an impact in my community. I'm fascinated by the political process and believe that serving on the youth commission would be a great way to learn from city leaders while making decisions that affect young people in Berkeley. I've already submitted my application and I'm hoping to be considered for an appointment by one of the school board members. Thank you so much for
019your time and all you do for our community. >> Thank you so much. Noelia. >> Hi, good evening. Uh, my name is Noelia Ramirez Lisald and I'm an 11th grader in the Penta program at BHS. Um, this month we have an ongoing celebration of Latino heritage in our district and I want to talk today about a program that guides many Latinos at BHS. Um we need your ongoing support to keep going on things like field trips and also in bringing guest speakers from outside states universities. Um I also find it really helpful to have the same English teacher for 10th point world literature and 11th AP lang. Um in addition to have the same counselor for three years. Um, Poenta program uh has created a really close tight-knit community for me, especially with my teachers
020and counselors since I've known them for multiple years. And uh for me, there are many little components that make this program special. I want to share my experience of going on numerous college show trips as well as being a firstgen student and a former English learner. I find it really important to demystify college access college access and programs like make it accessible. As a first gen student, I didn't know much about college before and it's told me that Cisle. Uh thank you for listening to my comments this evening and please continue to financially support the Pente program. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Next on up, um, Isabella Leesma and also Michaela Vidoya Garcia. >> Good evening, school board members. My name is Isabella Leesma and I'm a senior at Berkeley High. I've seen
021firsthand how it's helped my peers and I develop sorry as a student in Penta in the Penta program. I've seen firsthand how it's helped my peers and I develop essential skills, build confidence and bridges to higher academics. I'm currently in the process of applying to colleges and the support I have had has been tremendous. We have seen an increase of students that have expressed interest in Poente. Last year, 117 incoming sophomores showed interest. Unfortunately, we were only able to accept 30 of those students due to the school scheduling and lottery conflict, and we have 32 juniors currently in the program. We have all benefited from college field trips, workshops in and out of the class, and we've received help academically and socially. Last year, the UC eligibility rate for underrepresented students was lower than other
022students, showing the need for POE. With your continued support and funding, it funds a program that benefits students like me and our hope to get higher education. Together, we can create a brighter future for our school and community. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Good evening. My name is Mika Voy Garcia. I'm a high school senior and a proud member of the Poente program. I've been in Poente, a college access program since sophomore year. From my experience, this program has not only supported their students in their academic pursuits, but has also taken the time to foster a community that cheers us on outside of academics. The Poente program being incorporated into the classroom has provided a unique opportunity for students to be able to demystify the college process on a more in-depth level
023and receive daily support that isn't just a one-off, which is very important in a huge school that is Berkeley High. The support from the teachers and counselors and from our fellow fellow Poente students creates an environment where students feel confident to delve into the college process. Konganas. Thanks to our Pente team, my fellow seniors and I have been able to attend college workshops and receive the support we need during this critical college application um process. It's important that you know just how beneficial Bente has been for our for our Berkeley High community because without your continued support, these college workshops and our college trips wouldn't be possible. During this unstable time, Bente has provided much neededed stability and support and I hope with your help that it can continue to do so. Thank you so
024much for your time. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, next on up, uh, we have, um, Marina Cruz. Bridge AG. 2025. Start important. MBUSD. Gracias. >> I will be translating her comments. >> Miss Char is going to is going to translate. >> Good evening board members. My name is Marina Cruz and I'm speaking on behalf of Latinos Unos of Berkeley. First, we thank the district for celebrating Latino heritage and for recognizing our community's contributions. But tonight, we are asking you to show your commitment not only through events, but through continued funding for programs that work like Bridge. Poente has a proven record of transforming the educational trajectory of Latino students. At the October 1st board meeting, we heard concerns about funding gaps, especially with the loss of A3G grant support. This is alarming because PUN
025is partially funded by both BIP and A3G grants. The results speak for themselves. 96% of Poentes's first cohort, the class of 2025, is now enrolled in college. Please note, Poente has students with IEPs 504s and students that join with GPA below 2.0. At a time when Latino and English learner programs face federal cuts, we must strengthen, not shrink, local support. Also, it's very important that we preserve the interpretation services. We urge you to protect and prioritize funding for Poente and Latino student success programs across BusC. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Jarus. Um, next on up we have our uh BFT labor partners. Um, first I'm going to call Miranda Gonzalez and then Megan Kousa. Then after her will be Ali Mendoza. Good evening. Is this better? Okay. Good evening. My name is Miranda Gonzalez. I
026served as a school counselor at Berkeley High School since 2020. Since then, I've served as school counselor, counseling teacher leader, title N counselor, vocal counselor, and again a school counselor. In the many nuanced roles I've held, my days are full of a large array of services in the academic, social, emotional, and college and career domains. My days include brief intervention and counseling sessions with students, supporting my seniors with the exciting and overwhelming college application experience, scheduling, planning, facilitating SSTs and 504 meetings, collaborating with teachers to support students with their diverse learning needs that every child brings to the classroom, and assisting students with the concurrent enrollment process. The flexibility and broad skill set that my colleagues and I bring to work daily make us a strong team that I'm very proud to be on. Our
027eight-hour days are also 50 minutes longer, 50 minutes longer than that of our general educator colleagues. In the time we serve students before and after school, it's critical that our skills and labor are acknowledged as necessary in order to best serve our students and meet them when and where they are. This district doesn't offer competitive counselor salaries as other nearby districts do not require counselors to work longer days than teachers. I asked the district to formally recognize and fairly compensate the 50 additional minutes that counselors work each day. The nature of our jobs require less structure in order to be more accessible to students as needs arise while still being able to answer emails and meet with guardians and educators and specialists. Thank you for your time. Good evening, school board. My name is Megan
028Kuza, and I'm here to ask the district to respond to the BFT proposal on school psychologist and behavior specialist staffing ratios. But first, I should explain who I am because many of you may not know what I do. I am one of four full-time behavior specialists currently serving BUSD. Last year, the four of us supported more than 250 students across all grades and all schools via uh counseling, I'm sorry, coaching and consultation. We support many more via training, including crisis prevention and uh response training that we're offering seven times this school year. But with rising need, it's clear to us that the staffing ratios BFT proposed are reason are a reasonable solution to continue this support for all of these students. This is the work that keeps students in general education settings. Without it, many
029more students could end up in non-public schools. We love our students and we want to keep them here in our community, not just for financial reasons, but because they belong here. Providing stable staffing ensures that all students in our district, including those with higher or specialized needs, feel safe and supported every day because our students can't wait. Thank you. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Alli Mendoza and this is my seventh year as a school counselor and second year as lead counselor at Berkeley High. I'm here to ask you on behalf of counselors across B USD for our district to formally recognize and fairly compensate the 50 additional minutes that counselors work each day from 8 to 8:23 a.m. and from 3:33 to 4:00 p.m. While counselor's contracted workday is from 8
030to 4, our pay scale is the same as other BUSD staff members who have had a contracted day of 8:23 to 3:33 p.m. The 50 minutes is valuable time spent supporting student wellness and access. But the reality is that the regular school schedule is filled with classes, exams, and academic interventions. This leaves very little room to meet with students during the day without disrupting their learning. The before and after school windows are often the only opportunities we have to meet with students without pulling them out of class. During these times, students show up before the school day begins or linger after the bell rings because they are seeking resources, graduation information, or support with their college applications. The data makes it clear that this is not a small or occasional part of our job. It's
031a daily demand. In the 2425 school year, BUSD counselors logged 699 student walk-ins before school, 1,972 during lunch, and 1,45 after school. That's over 4,000 student contacts outside of instructional time. This data is only reflecting the counseling offices located in the DB building at Berkeley High. If we accounted for the school uh student contacts in our college and career center, wellness center, bridge counseling office, the point counseling office, BTA counseling office, independent studies, and our special education counseling offices, these numbers would easily be doubled. The work is already happening. Therefore, we're asking you to acknowledge it, protect it, and support it with the compensation it deserves. Thank you for your time and for your attention and for valuing the well-being of every student we serve. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Well, so was that
032Ali? Okay, cool. Thank you. All right. Um, we're changing it up a little bit as we we uh noted earlier. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you for the reminder, Vice President Corn. Oh, the four commenters online. Let's do that first before we shift to the open ceiling of the bidding. >> Sharon Freriedman promoting Sharon Freriedman. >> Thank you. Can you hear me? >> Uh yes. >> Yes. Okay. Um I'm Sharon Freriedman. I am a parent of a B USD graduate and um also I'm a resident of um an on Oxford school a couple of doors from the I'm I'm an a resident on Oxford a couple of doors from the school and at a recent block meeting we really talked about that we hope that the board will look at not necessarily the highest bidder
033per se but a bid that's really worthy of the city of Berkeley and really worthy of um the community a bid that has some vision um that would make Berkeley and this neighborhood uh a better place um and not just look at what's another way to have it be just the most the best bid that will also have the most uh expensive kind of housing. So, for example, many of us um we raised our children through BUSD in this neighborhood and we know just personally for us, my generation, what's in store for us as we um age in our hometown. Is there a way that we could downsize from our, you know, single family or two family homes and live in a place in this city and neighborhood that is just smaller, more modest and
034then sell our homes to open up the real estate for the big families that are just starting out? Wouldn't it be great if a developer had a vision for Oxford school to build small, modest homes that um that people who live in Berkeley could actually afford and trade, you know, the houses they live in for a better um place that's more suitable for aging in our neighborhood. So basically, I mean, that was just one example that resonated with the neighborhood at the block meeting, but to please consider something that's worthy of this city that we all love and we've invested so much into. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh, Miss Char, we have another online. >> Maline Roberts Rich is up next. >> Okay, thanks. >> Hi, Berkeley School Board. Uh, my name is
035Meline. You've seen me before. I'm Berkeley High class of 2012. I also am the goddaughter of the late great Caroline Ran who taught cooking and homeck at Berkeley High. Excuse me, my son's here too. She taught cooking and home at Berkeley High for three decades. And you guys have heard my comments before. I've talked to many of you at your um after hours as well, but I'm very passionate about improving nutrition education at Berkeley High School. I think this is incredibly important. Um, if you don't teach young people, particularly young women, about the importance of things like protein, iron, calcium, etc., it can be a real issue. Um, there are other educational sources for this, but I think that the optimal place would be the ninth grade, excuse me, my son's here, the ninth grade
036um, health curriculum if there's or the the new activity. I suppose it's um, um, PE curriculum. that would be a great place to teach young people about how to properly nourish themselves and a little bit more about nutrition and physiology, too. Without teaching that sort of thing, I I really think that the curriculum is remiss. Um, and it's it's just super essential. So, I appreciate you considering this and continuing to work on it. I'll I'll keep coming until it's done. Thank you very much. >> Thanks a lot. Uh, Miss Chariz, we have another person online. >> Up next, we have Jennifer House. >> Thank you. Um, Jennifer, are you ready? >> Hello everybody. Thank you so much. Okay. Sorry, didn't realize I was on already. Um, I'm really glad to be here. Thank you very
037much. I wanted to make a public comment um um regarding the cell phone policy that um we'll be discussing further today. Um I am the parent of a TKER um at Washington Elementary and also an eighth grader at Longfellow. Um I am part of the group that was um working to organize across the district um at the elementary school level parents that are so concerned about the current research regarding cell phone use and the impact the negative incredibly negative mental health impact of cell phones um for our children that um just really feeling like the policies at school are not adequate and therefore banding together to try to do something about this um and joining the wait till after a movement. very pleased that our school at Longfellow u made the decision um to go
038ahead and work to have an out and away policy um and very concerned that these kind of policies are not being supported at the district level. I think many of us are very confused why we didn't hear about this more, why there weren't more um um solicitation of public comment regarding the change um and the possible rubber stamping of something that to me is five six years old um as a policy. Things have changed so incredibly in our understanding of the impact of cell phone use and mobile devices on the mental health of our children as as our superintendent says, our babies. And I feel I feel that deeply just like she does. And I feel it's very important that we address this and allow for that public comment time so that we can support
039the schools across the board to um support our children to manage cell phone use and to manage the potential for intense addiction that is there. So I'd really like to encourage the board to open this back up and to um to be able to really follow the law that is there around soliciting public comment in a way that is that is adequate. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. And then do we have one more left? I think it's Lind. Miss Lindsay Noel. >> Yes. >> Lindsay, are you ready to come on? >> Hi, my name is Lindsay Noelt and I'm speaking regarding the draft mobile device policy. The process to update this policy has not adhered to state law, which requires significant stakeholder participation. Significant engagement is defined by the California Department of Ed
040as requiring local districts to reach out and seek and incorporate input, not just accept unsolicited input during open board and subcommittee meetings. Because this process did not happen, the policy being presented does not necessarily fit the community needs. The district has until June 2026 to adopt a new policy that complies with the AB through 3216. So there should be no issue in organizing surveys, pilots, and going on a committee tour to inform and gather feedback from students, teachers, and families. It is not legally defensible to claim that people could have commented during a couple of poorly publicized weekday in-person meetings a year ago. This may not be a new policy, but the requirements of the law are new. It is especially concerning that this is the district's stance when 62% of the policy meetings over
041the past year have been special sessions with agendas and times posted only 24 hours in advance. In multiple ways, the process for this cell phone policy has fallen short of upholding the law. There is time to rectify this. Please start community engagement now. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do we have others online? >> That is the end of our online comments. >> That is the end. Thank you so much. Um uh so we are changing up our scheduling a little bit today. Um at item nine, we have um 9.1, which is the opening of sealed bids and call for oral oral bid >> for the sale of surplus real property for the Oxford. Thank you. Um would the team like to proceed? John? >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Uh Miss Chayz, if we can get
042the wireless mic for my colleagues on the right. Um good evening everybody. There is some statutory language that I do have to read through uh to go through this process. So first I just want to tell everybody good evening and thank you for coming this evening. Um this evening is about opening any sealed bids that we have as well as receiving any oral bids. And the reason for combining the two is we receive no uh responsive and responsible sealed bids prior to the deadline. So this evening will only be re receiving any oral bids of interest on the property. So with that to the public um excuse me uh if you intend to participate in one of the oral bidding in the oral bidding auction I apologize uh if you haven't received a paddle please
043come up and collect one from my colleagues to the right. um and to get an auction paddle. The ed code prov education code provides for a step-by-step statutory process that California school districts must follow in order to sell surplus real property belonging to the school district. Once a property is declared surplus, the first step is to offer the sale to a the offer the sale of the property to a certain public entities and eligible nonprofit charitable and public benefit corporations set forth in education code section 17464. If a school district is unsuccessful in selling a surplus property through the priority offering process, the next step in the statutory process is to make this property available for sale through public bidding, which is the reason why we are here today. I will start by providing a
044brief description of the property and the district's legal council will then provide an overview of the steps that the district has taken to date under the statutory surplus property disposition process. legal will then explain the bid and auction process and procedures that we'll be following today before we get started. The Oxford site property which is identified as county of Alama Assessor's par assessor's parcel number 061-2558-017-00 is approximately 1.26 26 acres of land and that is improved upon with a singlestory and three-story building containing approximately 32,624 square ft therein. The Oxford site property is located at 11:30 Oxford Street in Berkeley County in Berkeley in the county of Alama. The property once served as Oxford Elementary School. Additional information and details about the property, including disclosure documents, can be found in the bid packet that was
045issued on August 5th, 2025, which is also available on the district's real estate agents website, Norheim and Yostast. With that, I'm going to pass it over to Jessica Johnson, our legal counsel from DWK. >> Thanks, John. Um I'm going to quickly provide a recap of the statutory process the district has gone through to date and then I'm going to go over the rules and the process that we're going to be um engaging in today. Um because the district does not have a current or anticipated future educational use or need for the Oxer Oxford site property. The district's board of education declared the property to be surplus to the district's educational needs in 2024 and authorized district staff to proceed with the statutory priority offering process in accordance with the education code. The district did not
046receive any written letters of interest or intent to purchase the Oxford site from public or nonprofit entities in response to the priority notices um provided to the public and nonprofit entities. Accordingly, during its regular board meeting on June 18th, 2025, the district announced that it would hold tonight's public bidding auction and directed district staff um via resolution uh 25-053 to proceed with the next steps in the statutory process and make the Oxford type property available for sale through uh public bidding. The notice of sale and bidding instructions, also known as the bid packet, was issued by the district on August 5th, 2025, and included a description of the property, the district's pre-bid questionnaire and mandatory bid form, and all offering and disclosure documents. The deadline to submit a sealed written bid and deposit was 5:00
047p.m. on October 10th, 2025. Likewise, all parties interested in bidding on the property either through a written bid or orally at tonight's auction are required to submit a pre-bid questionnaire on or before 5:00 p.m. on October 10th, 2025. Um, this process typically starts with the opening of sealed written bids. However, the district did not receive any sealed written bids. So, we are going to be proceeding forward with the oral auction part of the evening. After we conclude the oral bid portion of the agenda item, uh we'll announce the top three qualified bids, if there are three, um district staff will review all bids for completeness as outlined in the notice of sale and bidding instructions prior to the announcement of the top three qualified bids. Any bids found not to be complete or in conformance
048with the notice of sale and bidding instructions will be set aside as non-responsive and disqualified. Um, as part of this stage in the statutory process, the district's board must either accept the highest bid or reject all bids. Uh, a few final reminders um before we proceed with the oral bidding auction. The property is being sold as is. The district makes no warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind with regard to the information concerning the prop property provided in the bid packet at this meeting or otherwise. Each bidder shall rely solely on its own due diligence, independent inspection, investigation, and analysis of the property, including its condition and title. And by submitting a bid, certifies that he or she has done so. Um, by submitting an oral bid, you are presumed to have familiarized yourself with
049the property, the bid packet, and disclosure documents, and completed your due diligence process. Um, we're we're now going to commence the oral bidding auction portion of this process. I'm going to pass it over to Steve in a second. Um, a person need not have written submitted a written bid in or order to make an oral bid. However, oral bids will only be accepted from biders who timely submitted a pre-bid questionnaire by the October 10th deadline. Each oral bid must exceed the last highest bid by at least 5%. And Steve will be uh helping out with those those uh the math there. Um once the bidding is complete, each person who submitted an oral bid must reduce their oral bid to writing using the mandatory bid form and turn it in this evening. The mandatory bid
050form must be fully completed and executed by the bidder. We will also ask uh the three highest oral biders to submit a m mandatory bid deposit of 1% of their submitted bid within 24 hours. An additional deposit in the amount of 10% of the purchase price is required from the winning bidder within 10 days of the board's acceptance of the uh successful bid. If the successful bidder fails to complete and consummate the purchase for any reason, the bid deposit and the additional deposit, including any interest earned thereon, shall be retained by the district to offset damages the district sustains as a result thereof. If you've not done so already, if you submitted a pre-bid questionnaire and have not come up here to um get your uh paddle, please do so now. >> Are there any
051questions from the board before we begin? >> Members, there any questions? No, we don't. >> Good evening. Um Superintendent, I'm going to try and make this as exciting for you as possible. Um, >> I might have to do some dancing or something, but I I don't know. It's gonna be cool. >> We have a gavl up here. Would you like this? >> Um, >> yeah. >> Uh, that feels Yeah, I should probably do that. Yeah. >> There you are. >> That is exciting. >> Yeah. >> Wow. This is crazy. Okay. Um, >> all right. We're ready to begin the oral auction. For each bid, I will call on the bidder in the order that the paddle is lifted. Just a second. Um, if two biders if two biders attempt I have to read the script.
052If two biders attempt to make an oral bid for the same amount, I'll have to arbitrarily select one of the biders and will then continue to call for higher oral bids from any bidder. Please wait until called upon and then declare your bid amount. The first oral bid must be a minimum of $3 million and each subsequent must be five uh% or higher. And I'll announce each 5% increment as we proceed if necessary. The auction will continue until a final bid is received that no other eligible bidder wishes to exceed. So with that, without further ado, do I have a bid of $3 million? Bidder 101, what's your bid? >> $3 million. >> All right. Do I have a bid of 3,150? $3,150,000. No. Back to you. Bidder number 101. Um 101. You've got $3
053million going once, $3 million going twice, $3 million. That concludes the oral auction. >> That was not exciting. Yes, it was. >> I'll work on it. I'll work on it. >> Thank you. Um, >> if you submitted an oral bid, you must now reduce your oral bid in writing by completing the mandatory bid form. Completed forms must be turned into the uh turned in before the district can proceed. District staff will review all bids, written, oral, and oral for completeness as outlined. the notice of sale and bidding instructions prior to the announcement of the top three qualified bids. Any bids found not to be in not to be complete or in conformance with the notice of sale and bidding instructions will be set aside as non-responsive and disqualified. All biders are requested to remain present
054until the conclusion of this agenda item. Thank you very much. Um so before we can proceed, we need um the the written bid form So at this point in time, what I would ask is for the board president or board member to make a motion. uh the mo then that would be either to decide to accept the highest bid or reject all bids. Um and you will ask for a motion followed by a vote. Um if the board votes to reject all bids or if an adoption of the resolution does not pass by a twothirds vote, the board shall instruct district staff via motion to either rebid the property, withdraw the property or or from or withdraw the property from sale for sale. I move to accept the bid. >> Is there a second? >>
055A second. >> Do we have the eyes? >> I >> motion's moved to accept the bid. >> But wait, there's more. >> Uh so we do have to just modify the um resolution. And what it is is the current resolution. The recital sets where says whereas the following opening and cons following the opening and consideration of the sealed bids by the board, the board called for oral bids of at least 5% higher than the amount of the highest written bid received from the qualified bidder in accordance with education code section 17473. So what that shall be replaced with, excuse me, >> just this read. >> Yeah, >> got it. Thank you. So the replacement of that is whereas as no eligible and timely written bids were received, the board called for oral bids of at
056least $3 million. So, delete the green highlighted text reference blah blah blah blah blah. In section three, you will insert the name of the highest bidder, which is Patrick Kennedy. Uh, and the highest bid amount of $3 million. In section four, what will be deleted is insert the name of the second highest bidder. And in section five, insert the name of the third highest bidder. Those will be deleted. So, we would ask for a motion for those changes to the resolution. >> I move to make those changes to the resolution. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Are the eyes? >> I seconded. >> I'm sorry. >> Seconded. Who second it? >> Oh, I'm sorry. Seconded by >> Copy. >> So, we have unanimous moved by Director Schnowski. Okay. So, just as followup,
057uh further instruction for our highest bidder is within 10 days, an additional deposit of 10% of the purchase price is required. uh together with the executed purchase and sale agreement. In the event of the successful bidder and the district unable to successfully consummate a purchase and sale agreement, the district reserves the right to rescend the awarded bidder and reawward the bid to the second highest responsive and responsible bidder. If that fails the third highest and to reject all bids and rebid the property or to withdraw the property from sale or pursue any other legally available option to the district for disposition of the property and that concludes our item. So thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Um so that was exciting and a live bidding process the gavl. Um so uh
058we are on to back on to action item 10 which is committee comment. Um are there any committee comments today? I'm not seeing any. So we'd move on to um >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. Uh, Miss Charz, we have committee comments online. >> We had given a heads up about Vincent Harris. Is Vincent in the building? >> Vincent, are you here in the building? Um, I don't see Vincent here. So, we're going to move on to item 11. Are there union comments? Yes, there are. I believe we have a video recording. >> Yes, >> Miss Char is pulling up video. O superintendent Ford in the Berkeley school Ford Moral and the Berkeley school board directors and Matt Meer, president of the Berkeley Federation. Watch the superintendent. Um, we're having a volume issue. That's the best
059way. Oh, Superintendent Ford Moral and the Berkeley school board >> and Matt Meyer, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. >> We could have >> read it out loud. time. >> Do you want to read it or um BCC, do you want to come up first while we're figuring out the the IT issues? Are you okay with that? Cool. Um Miss Tar, is it while you're figuring while we are figuring out the um volume issues on the video, we're going to have BCC come on up for Okay, >> good evening um board members and superintendent Ford Morell. We represent the Berkeley Council classified employees and we have several sped 2 instructional assistants here tonight. They would like to share their experiences about the incredible work they do on a daily with our students in the
060early childhood education program. But due to low pay, the district faces significant challenges in recruiting and retaining these essential employees. Consequently, the vital work they perform for our youngest and most vulnerable students is at risk. And without action on your part, our students are likely to pay the price. Thank you. >> Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, everybody. Superintendent Oh, pull it down. Thank you very much. Good evening, Superintendent Marthol and members of the board. We are representing the preschool special education 2 instructional assistant team. My name is Donna Grean and I am a dedicated and loyal employee. I have 10 years of experience working alongside our special education teacher in my preschool classroom. And during those 10 years, I've learned how to support many students receiving special education services with varied needs. From managing
061and supporting their bodies on the playground to feeding and handling feeding tubes to changing diapers and supporting their IEP goals, I've grown in my knowledge and can survey the classroom to see and attend to the needs of other students while caring for my one-on- ones. This is the experience our parents feel and value when they leave their child in our classroom. It is essential for parents to trust their children are well cared for by reliable professional sped 2 IAS. Unlike agency staff, we have years of training specific to our preschool students which ensures all students well-being and safety in the classroom. SPED 2 IAS provide specialized care for the most vulnerable students Berkeley Unified serves. sped IAS deserve a fair wage that reflects that knowledge and the care. Thank you very much. Good evening board
062members. My name is Romy Terra. I am a spy. Um our preschool programs have evolved with many four year olds moving to TK. We now serve students as young as 32 month old who are still developing skills. They require consistent support, guidance, and supervision. Our team often steps in to support those very young children. In addition to giving SPE students one-on-one support and helping them work towards IEP goals, each day requires patience, problem solving, and collaborations with teachers, therapists, and families. Supporting students in this way demands specialized training, careful observation, and dedication. We work to ensure every child has access to learning, safety, and growth. Our commitment to helping children make meaningful progress towards their independence and inclusion. Our compensation should reflect the complexity, skill, and care involved in our daily work. Thank you. >>
063Good evening members of the board. My name is Vulasabi and I am a spat I preschool IAS are among the district's most flexible employee. We step in wherever needed supporting teacher assisting with physical and behavioral needs with a focus on the safety and growth. Many of us work in inclusive classroom extending our support to student with disability alongside their gen ed peers. We we request that you examine our class and camp studies ped to IAS. Have the district take a close look at what our jobs truly require. This includes the possibility of reclassification of our role recognizing that our duties have become more complex. We love what we do, but we also see how vital this work is for the district's goals of equity, early intervention, and inclusion. Our dedication, expertise, and professionalism is critical
064to the success and inclusion of every child in our classroom. It is time for our pay to reflect that reality because fair pay for SPE 2 is not only a matter of equity for SAP. It is building and sustaining an experienced lawyer workforce and also an investment in students outcomes, classroom stability and long-term success. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. We have uh give one more. Okay, we will read it out loud if necessary. Martell and the Berkeley School Board Directors and Matt Meyer, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. Our Berkeley educators continue to make gains on state assessments. The combination of a cohesive district-wide focus on instruction combined with the heavy lifting our educators are doing in the classroom continues to make a difference. Our students outpace Alama County and the state
065across every metric and in some cases quite significantly. In a direct applesto apples comparison, we are improving against ourselves yearover-year. Now, let's do an applesto apples comparison with the county on how BUSD treats their employees. Every single district but ours has school counselors on the same workday as teachers. Why are we different? What justification is there to not pay them for the extra 50 minutes of work that they are on the clock each day? Most districts pay their educators to attend mandatory meetings after school. Those that don't most likely are not scheduling those meetings after school and are providing subs during the day. What justification is there to not pay people to do the same work they would be doing during the day during non-work hours? Our child rearing policies discourage our educators from staying
066in this profession once they want to start families. 25% of our income is not enough to live on, especially when health care insurance premiums are so high. An employee goes from 100% pay to 25% pay. And at the same time, the cost of benefits will go from 14 $1,114 a month to $1,448 a month. This alone for some people is close to their monthly pay under our current terms. I think one of our members said it best at the last meeting. How can I be expected to continue supporting Berkeley students but have no means to support my family and my future? Our school psychologists and behaviorists should have staffing ratios like almost all other certificated staff in our district. If the district thinks they shouldn't, we want to know why not. Our negotiations team was
067pretty shocked last week at the negotiations table. The district was still not ready to negotiate on any proposal that has a financial impact. We scheduled this meeting after the last board meeting for the sole purpose of getting some responses. We have no idea the district's priorities, how close or far apart we are, or have any sub had any substantial discussion on how we can move towards an agreement. If the district needs direction from the board, the board should make the time to give that direction. If the direction has been given, the district needs to evaluate priorities and give us responses. We are basically in the same place we were last May. We can't figure out why the district is stalling and it does feel intentional. A similar dynamic has happened in other local districts and
068as a result they are at impass. Just like last meeting and the meeting before, our members are waiting to hear the district's ideas on how the district plans on retaining our staff and supporting our students and we hope to have answers very soon. Thank you. >> Thank you BFT President Matt Meyer. Um, do we have any other union comments online or here? Does not appear. So, we should move on to board member comments. Are do our student board directors would they like to speak today? Would you like to go first? Go ahead. >> Hi, good evening everyone. So, as the first quarter comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate our BUSD students and staff for their hard work and commitment to academic achievement. As a senior, this time of year
069is especially significant. So, I'd want to extend a special thank you to our Berkeley High teachers and counselors for dedicating extra time to writing letters of recommendation and supporting students with their college and career planning. Um, tonight I want to focus my statement on state testing. As a student, I've noticed a concerning trend in how these assessments are perceived. I think especially in the 11th grade group, students take state exams at the end of the school year. And this is a really, you know, challenging time as a lot of students are juggling like AP and IB exams, finals, and like a lot of students additionally take SAT or ACT testing. And so I think with so many highstakes assessments happening at once, many students understandably kind of deprioritize the test, often rushing through it or
070selecting random answers to finish. And I think while I recognize the efforts to incentivize registration in state cast testing, I believe that a deeper issue is the lack of student understanding and the real impact of these exams. I think many students aren't are not aware of the uh impact that standardized test performance um can have on impa impacting school funding enrollment and the resources available to address the very issues that they care about. So I believe that implementing clear and engaging presentations to help students understand why these tests matter will make a positive impact. I think it can also encourage stronger participation and lead to more accurate data um and ultimately benefit our school communities. So, thank you and have a good night. >> Thank you so much. Um, what are not to put you
071on point, but would you like to make a comment to other board director? It's up to you. >> Okay. Not this time. Um, another uh board director would like to director Bosv. >> Uh, thanks, President Chang. I just want to thank our labor partners and everyone who came to give public comment tonight. Um, also want to thank our student director for your very detailed public comment. Thank you for your director comment. I um also wanted to give a shout out to the students and families and community based organizations who came out to support the PUTA program and the positive impact that this program has had on our students, especially our first generation students. I'm glad to hear that there is a BHS Buente club uh that students can join as freshmen because I know that
072was an issue when we initially tried to figure out the scheduling at BHS for this program. So, I'm glad that there's other ways for students to chime in. And then for people in the audience that came and listened to our students and families, you know, for me, this work and this partnership with the UC's is very personal. I uh as a former first generation student benefited from the UC's K to2 outreach programs. In my case, it was the early academic outreach program which is a sister program to point. But had it not been for this program and the invaluable support that I got as a kid, I know that I would have not gone to college. It's because of the UC's K to2 outreach programs which went as a part of that I was able
073to get help applying to college. I was able to prepare for the SAT test. something that my parents as immigrant parents had no idea how to do for me. And at that point, a million years ago, without dating myself, there are a lot of kids who could afford private SAT classes and I and I could not. And so going to San Francisco's community college with my little backpack and meeting my UC adviserss is how I got through that test. And I remember when I was filling out my college applications, I had no one to help me because my parents did not speak English. And so it was through a program EAOP which is a sister program to point that I was able to apply to college and become the first woman in my family to
074graduate from college. So I just want to reiterate how important these programs are. Um they're try to like tested right they've been around for many years and a lot of us even very senior officials at the department of education would not have gotten a college degree had it not been for these programs. So, I'm very proud of our students, proud of our counselors, and proud of all of our families that are supporting our BHS students who are going through and similar programs. Uh, earlier this month, I had the opportunity uh to speak at Stanford's Graduate School of Education's uh 2025 annual conference uh called Communities in Struggle: Reaffirming and Reimagining Commitments to Educational Justice. And I was really honored to be invited by Stanford to speak about the role that schoolboard directors can play in
075authentically uplifting parent and student voice. So that's something that is um very very powerful to me to talk about. And I was grateful to Stanford GSC not only for inviting schoolboard directors but also parent advocates from different districts, nonprofit organizations too that work in partnership with districts. So we had some uh CBOS that work with Ravenswood and some schools in East Palo Alto and we had some parent leaders from SFUSD there and it was great to talk about our respective our respective roles and really uplifting marginalized voices in our school district. And so for me, for those of you that know me, you know that language access, that access to college and career readiness, um and that supporting our Spanish monilingual families is something that's really important to me and also giving voice to our
076special education families. I also want to point out that as we celebrate various heritage months, I was really excited that on October 6, Governor Gavin Newsome signed Assembly Bill 268, uh, which makes California the third state to designate Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, as an official state holiday. So, I'll be reaching out to organizations like APISMA, the AsianPacific Islander School Board Members Association to see how we can work with the various districts um that that organization ventures and supports to create a better sense of belonging for students who celebrate Diwali in our schools. I also want to thank the parents who shared their concerns about the cell phone policy. I have a lot of views about it. I'm really concerned about the mental health impacts that cell phones and social media have on our
077adolescence. And so, I understand the parents voices. I agree that robust engagement is important and I look forward to engaging with them as a member of the policy committee. Um I know we're going to have another we're going to pull out that IR and have another discussion but I do look forward to engaging with families more about this. Um yep and that's it and I look forward to diving into our data tonight. Thanks. >> Thank you. Director Vassad have another board member who would like to speak. >> Vice President Korn. >> I will keep my comments very brief this evening. Um, I just want to say that I'm grateful to all of our public commenters, especially the students who came out to share about their experiences in Poente and also all of the B USD
078staff who we heard from this evening and our labor partners. Um, and I will just say that I'm very much looking forward to digging into our uh presentation tonight about student achievement. And I'll leave it there. >> Thank you, Dr. Schnowski. I'll also be brief. Um, I want to thank Sylvia Mendes PTA for inviting me to their meeting last week um to talk about some of the issues around um construction there and also many of the solutions that the district has um sought to um address those issues. Um, I encourage folks to reach out if they're con have concerns um about the construction and the progress and I look forward to a grand opening of Sylvia Mendes next year um with the entire building. I also am looking forward to the data presentations tonight and
079appreciate everyone that's come and speak so far and I will end there. Thanks. >> Thank you so much. I'm going to keep it brief as well. Um, you know, happy Latin X heritage month. Um, and thank you, Director Vasadev, who going through your personal history about the importance of programs such as Poente. Um, and I'm looking forward to uh reviewing the data today and also the policy that's coming up to and thanks for our um district partners as well for putting all this work. And without much further ado, I think we should move on um because we have lots of stuff to do. Um uh consent calendar. Uh it's now time in our agenda to approve the consent calendar. Great. So, as a I'm sorry. So, as a reminder, um I know a lot of
080exciting stuff has gone on with a gavvel being knocked a couple times. Um we have uh we had in the a consent item was already pulled. >> That was the information item. >> I'm sorry. It's not a consent item. It's an information item. Thank you. Um and we're going to discuss it. Um, I move to approve the consent calendar. >> Great. Is there a second on the consent calendar? >> I'll second. >> Uh, director Vasadev has seconded. Do we have the eyes? >> I I >> I. Great. Um, it is so moved. Um, we're off to action item 14. >> That's the one that we combined with. >> That's right. 1441. We can skip that. That was pulled up to nine. Um, end of the year data review. What everybody's excited to hear. 15.1. Thank
081you. >> You want to sit in the little chair? >> I'll sit there. Okay. Lower. We could figure it out. Okay. How to do it. >> All right. All right. Good evening, uh, board, superintendent, members of the public who are still with us. Um, my name is Jill Hogendike. I'm the associate superintendent the ed services department. Um, I'm joined here this evening with uh, director Chris Albeck um, from our curriculum and instruction department, Dr. Lina Sweeney who is the director of our Bria department and Rebecca Weissman is joining us here who is one of our Bria TSAs. Um if you go to the next slide we're handing me the Let's see if it works. I haven't got a new Chris has one too. We're going to have dueling next. >> Does yours work? >> All
082right. While we're waiting for it to turn, uh we're just going to remind ourselves of the district mission, uh to enable and inspire our diverse student body to achieve academic excellence and make positive contributions to the world. Um and in the context of sharing, um our results from the spring uh testing season, it's we're really honing in on ensuring that our diverse student body achieve academic excellence and make positive contributions to the world. for tonight's presentation. If we go to the next slide, um we are really aiming to review our BUSD spring 2025 state assessment data. You can see there the list of the data we will be looking at inclusive of our SBA um our Smarter Balance assessments for English language arts and math. Um our California science test um and we will be
083looking at some disagregated data. I think what's important for our presentation tonight is that we are really looking to share both growth and proficiency. Um over the course of the last three years, this is going to be year four of a data presentation, at least during my tenure, we have been really focused on that proficiency. U but tonight we're going to share with you some of the growth data. Both of those are essential um for us to understand uh academic achievement um on the part of our students. It's a more holistic picture of that information. Even though we don't often spend a lot of time looking at growth data in these public settings, it is a data point that we are looking at as we engage in those conversations with our site leaders and at
084our schools. Next slide. Um, as we take time to reflect on the data, we also do this in the Okay, now I got we also do this in the context of goals and actions that we have articulated across our BUSD plans. The California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress or CASP. Um, our data that we that we were going to be sharing tonight really provides us impact data that are connected to the actions in our LCAP goals, particularly goals one and two that are centered on high quality instruction and academic supports. Um, they are also directly uh related to our district strategic plan pillar of academic excellence and equitable outcomes for all. You can go to the next slide. Um we are also grounding this presentation in B USD's theory of change and improvement. You
085can just click through all the bubbles. Yeah. Which draws on our three key insights for organizational excellence um that you see there on on the left side that we have presented um to you uh at at in these settings before. At first, ideal results require ideal behaviors. And for us, that means delivering highquality research-based tier one instruction and supporting it through collaboration, coaching, and feedback. Second, we have purpose and systems drive behaviors. When our purpose is clear and our systems are coherent, we create conditions for effective aligned practice across all of our schools. And this includes the use of data within an MTSS framework to identify students for differentiation and support. And third, mindsets and form behaviors. Real improvement depends on a continuous improvement mindset, reflecting on what works, learning from what doesn't, and using
086that learning to grow. Our theory of change helps us move toward academic excellence and our mission and recognizes that learning happens in real classrooms with real people and those spaces must be student centered, rigorous, inclusive and joyful for every student. And it's also really impactful um are that our educators are um are are really the lever for this work in our classrooms every day. And then finally, in order to hold ourselves accountable, we need to be clear on how we measure our progress. Um, we have set what we call a 3x5 target for our assessment measures. And I see head nods. Everybody's starting to remember the 3x5. Um, meaning that we're looking for 3% annual growth for all students and an accelerated target of 5% for our focal students. So I I will say before
087we get into the data, we're definitely proud of the progress that we've made and at the same time not satisfied. So we've met uh the 3x5 target in some areas, but definitely not in all areas, which means that we have room to grow. And then before we look at data, just want to make sure that we are all clear that when we look at our data results overall, we are also intentional about looking at data by ethnicity with a particular focus on our black African-American students, which make up about 11% of our BUSD population. Um, and our Latinx students who make up about 22% of our BUSD um population. Alongside of ethnicity, we also look at the data by program groups. Um, and you can see that there. I will remember next time not to
088put all the acronyms. We'll spell that out. But students with IEPs are our students in special ed. SED is our socioeconomically disadvantaged students. ELS's are our English learners. Um, and I think that clarifies the acronyms there for the public. And this again uh tonight we are going to see some bright spots and we don't just celebrate them. We want to understand them so that we can move from bright spots toward um what I've shared before is toward constellations identifying practices that consistently produce results. We use our data to ask what does it tell us? Uh what do we need to do better? And we use these improvement questions here to focus uh our inquiry to study trends and to identify opportunities to learn reflecting on what what's working, what isn't and why. All right. So
089for tonight um we are going to be looking at our smarter balance assessments and on the next slide we are looking at three um assessment uh data sets in particular. our smarter balance assessments for English language arts or ELA and our smarter balance assessments for math in addition to our California science test. As we look at these data on the next slide, um we are going to be talking about them within these performance levels, standard not met, standard nearly met, standard met, and standard exceeded. And the performance level names are going to be changing. So more on that on that soon. Okay. So, um, beginning in 2022, which is, um, I know the year I started here, but it's it's also important for English language arts, that was really the first year of our literacy
090action plan work. At that time, 66.73% of our students met or exceeded standards. And you can see the spring Casper results um for the following two years there in 2223. Uh and then the sorry spring 2023 and spring 2024 and then we'll do the little drum roll. Um spring 2025 we are above the 70% mark at 71.64% which is great. Um but if you click once um that is a 1.7% increase from the prior year. We didn't hit that 3% target, but when you look at the um the the scores over time, if you click one more time, there's an animation there, that's about 4.91% um over the last three years from that baseline year. On the next set of slides, we have math. So again, in spring 2022, we had 57.52% of our students
091that scored at uh or above standard. Um, and you can see those increases over the next two years. And then for this year, spring 2025, 66.29%. So again, one click, that's 1.63% of an increase for last year. So we didn't meet that 3% target. But if you look at that trajectory from the 202 uh testing administration, that's an 8.77% growth, which is pretty significant. So definitely something to be proud of. Um and then just want to contextualize this. Um BOSD students have scored higher than students in Alama County um overall and that trend definitely has continued this year. Um we are about 16% higher in ELA, 18% higher in math. Um and then we are also um outscoring uh the state averages that you see there. All right. And so with that, I feel like
092uh director Aradam was um she and I she and I must have been on the same wavelength because we're going to we're going to start this work with our smarter balance participation rates because there um we did a little digging last year and a participation rates and uh Rebecca's going to share some information about that. Yeah. >> Good evening, directors. I'm Rebecca Weissman, a teacher on special assignment on the Brea team. Every spring, I coordinate the district-wide administration of the state tests. And this evening, I'm pleased to present to you this year's participation rates. A little background before we dive into our results. Beginning in 2018, the state introduced an accountability system for CAST participation by including it in the academic performance indicator rating on the California school dashboard. If a district or subgroup within
093the district, such as an ethnicity, program, school, or grade level, does not meet a 95% participation rate, a penalty is applied that gets factored into the overall indicator rating for that group. In addition to the dashboard implications, it's important to have consistently high participation rates for a number of reasons, including being better able to compare results from year to year and determine growth and to procure a more complete picture of how our students are doing. I recognize and appreciate our student director's feedback and statements on the importance of increasing student understanding around the value of CASP testing. So, without further ado, here are our exciting participation results from the spring 2025 CASP administration. Drum roll. Uh, next slide. Oh, they're here. Okay. So last spring we potentially reached the highest third through 8th grade participation
094rates B USD has seen in recorded history with the preliminary 97% completion in ELA math and science. Admittedly recorded history only dates back to 2017 on the dashboard, but I still think it's impressive. And given that accountability for participation didn't begin until 2018, I'm going to surmise that 97% is indeed our highest ever participation rate for grades 3 through 8. I say potentially also because the 2025 state calculated rates won't be available until the November release of the state dashboard. And now for the moment I know you've really been waiting for, the high school participation results. Next slide, please. In the spring, we reached a preliminary 87% ELA participation rate amongst 11th graders compared to 81% in 2024 and 85% in 2023. Math participation increased by 7% from last year. Cast participation is complicated to
095calculate because students can take it at any time in high school. So, results will be updated when the official rates are released on the dashboard in November. Increasing our ELA rates by 2% may not seem like an enormous an enormous victory, but it required a huge undertaking. Two years two years ago, 688 juniors took the ELA test. Last year, 675, but this year, as a result of a variety of strategic and intentional actions, students completed the ELA test. How did we accomplish this feat? Well, let's think about our three continuous improvement questions. What are we trying to improve? What changes or actions might we make and why? And how will we know if a change or action led to improvement? As the data clearly shows, and as our student director so incisively spoke about, we
096must improve cast participation at Berkeley High. Last winter, we worked closely with the site coordinator at BHS and designed several changes and actions we would implement to try to improve participation. Our actions included student outreach, teacher outreach, and changing math testing from taking place in students history classes to their math classes, which involved some tricky logistics and extra people power given that not all juniors are in math 3. Given our higher rates this year, I believe we can deduce that these changes led to some improvement. Even in the case of math where our participation rate was 2% less than in 22 23 two years ago more students actually tested the math as such because of the large class size and we still have more growth to make. And I'd also like to share a quick
097little highlight um that students um included information about CASP testing in the student video bulletin. Um so I really enjoyed watching that. Tonight, we're mainly going to be looking at our raw true CASP scores, but in November when the California school dashboard is released, our academic indicator could be affected by our participation rates if we don't hit 95% overall. And for individual subgroups and schools in 2324, so not last year, not this last spring, but the year before, we did not reach 95% overall, nor for several subgroups, and thus received a penalty that lowered our indicator scores and colors. Upon request, the wonderful data folks at ACCOE ransom members and estimated our indicator results had we not received the penalties. Next slide, please. The 2024 performance color column shows our ELA indicator colors. The column
098to the right, the last column, shows our estimated color had we not received the penalty. Although it wouldn't have made a difference overall, several subgroups would have been assigned a higher color had 95% of students in that group taken the test. For example, black African-American students with a participation rate of 88% received a red indicator color after the penalty was applied, but would have been in the yellow had it not. Latinx students with a rate of 91% would have been in the green. Next slide, please. For math, these student groups would have had better ratings as well, including Latinx students with a rate of 90% who likely would have been in green instead of orange. So, we eagerly await the release of the dashboard on November 15th and predict that we will see fewer impacts
099from penalties with our higher 2025 participation rates. And we will continue to plan and implement changes and actions to continuously improve our CAST participation rates, particularly for 11th graders. Thank you, Rebecca, and also thank you for all your work on CASSP. Um, good evening, board of directors. It's a pleasure to be with you tonight and to review our our summitive data from 2025 with you. Um, I will review now our SBA performance data for our English language arts categories and we'll review by grade level bands, by grade levels, and also by our racial ethnic groups and our focal programs. Next slide. Um, on the Smarter Balanced ELA assessment, overall overall, excuse me, students in Berkeley increased by 2 percentage points. We see proficiency maintenance at 72% proficiency at the elementary school levels with a 3%
100increase in our third grade. That is our um, early elementary, excuse me, elementary bright spot for our grade levels. And next slide. At our secondary levels, our um our students demonstrated a clear upward trend in English language arts with a 3% overall increase from 68% proficiency to 71% proficiency. That's a steady measurable growth across multiple grade levels for 2025. 8th grade posted the largest gain with a fivepoint gain. 11th grade grew four points which was a meaningful jump. I'll now transition to looking at our SBA results disagregated by our focal populations. Next slide please. Here we examine our ELA data through our racial ethnic student groups. We saw growth for several student groups including our Asian students, our multithnic students, and our students identified as other. Within that other category are students who are American
101Indian, Filipino, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. The other group showed the largest increase at a growth of nine points. However, however, excuse me, proficiency remained flat for our black African-American students and our Hispanic Latinx students. Next slide, please. Results were varied across our program groups. proficiency declined for English language learners by three points and for Latinx English learners by five points while rates for students in special education and those experiencing housing insecurity remained essentially unchanged. To note of the students who took the Smarter Balance assessment, 104 students out of 201 are EL are Latinx eel. So, I just wanted to point that out as as a curiosity that I had. Um, next slide and I will pass back to you, Rebecca. Okay. All right. So, in addition to the proficiency data you're more familiar with,
102next we're going to introduce a metric that we haven't previously presented, distance from standard or DFS. To ground us in prior knowledge, students SBA scores are reported as scaled scores. These are the numbers parents see when they view their child's report. Each grade level has a scaled score necessary for proficiency. Everyone's scaled score is either above or below the proficiency score, and that's how we then report proficiency rates. What distance from standard tells us is how far above or below proficiency each student is. A DFS of zero is the proficiency cut point, often referred to as the standard. A positive DFS score represents a given distance above the standard, above proficiency. A negative DFS DFS score represents a given distance below the standard, below proficiency. In this theoretical example, in the image on the right,
103an imaginary student with a DFS score of positive 1.5 is 1.5 points above the score required for proficiency. A student with a DFS score of negative 1.5 is 1.5 points below the score required for proficiency. Next slide, please. So, let's use a weightlifting analogy to help further understand the concept of distance from standard. Imagine you join a weightlifting class. Your coach sets a goal based on your age and experience. Say to lift 100 lb. As you train, you get closer to that goal. If you can lift 90 lbs, you're 10 lbs below your goal. That's like having a negative distance from standard score or a DFS of -10. If you lift 100 lb, you've met the goal. a DFS score of zero. If you lift 110 pounds, you're now 10 pounds above the goal, equivalent
104to analogous to a DFS score of positive 10. In the same way, when we look at student performance, the standard represents grade level expectations. A negative DFS, DFS means a student is performing below that standard. A DFS of zero means they're right on target, and a positive DFS means they're exceeding expectations. Just as in training, the goal is steady progress, moving closer to than meeting or even surpassing the standard through strong instruction, support, and practice. In the graphs that follow, we show the average distance from standard for a given group of students. For example, you will see that the average DFS score of all students in BUSD who took the test is positive 53. Keep in mind that the graphs only represent the average DFS score of each group and that students within the group
105will have a range of scores, some positive, some negative, some proficient, some not. And now I'll pass it back to Lena to present our hot off the press distance from standard data. And um I'll I'll also go through a little bit about DFS data here um as it relates to our English um English language arts scores. So, distance from standard tells us how far students are from meeting grade level expectations and whether that gap is closing. From 2023 to 2025, Berkeley Unified School District's English language arts distance from standard improved at every grade level. That means students across the district are moving closer to grade level, reflecting stronger tier one instruction and more aligned intervention supports. We use distance from standard data because it shows real learning growth. Not just who met standards, but how
106much progress each student is making. This helps us measure excellence, close equity gaps, and stay aligned with state accountability goals. Next slide, please. Our deck online ends on this slide. So, I I'm wondering if it's Oh, >> we're just getting to the good stuff. >> That was slide 30. 35. I mean, we're almost there. This is the good slide. Especially for 11th grade. >> I brought water. >> Is everyone taking? It's buzzing. >> I felt the >> This is the good. Okay, >> I think this work. I felt this vibrate. >> So, >> there we go. >> It might work. >> Wait, go back. Go back. Go back. >> Go back. This might be working now. >> Okay, you can click it for me if you don't mind. >> Oh, it worked. I think it
107was me. Liz, you weren't doing it right. >> You want to click it for me? >> I'll click it for you. >> But we lost our audience. Stop the clock. I don't want these minutes to count. >> Almost. >> Oh. Huh? Ready? You know what I mean? But I think this is right. If you're online 102. >> All right, we'll start up in another minute. We have a couple of board members that are coming trickling back >> actually, but it's only Yeah, there's a lot in the appendix >> just in case you wanted it all to ever. >> It is true. We're like half We're halfway more than halfway done. All right. >> Okay. Next slide. >> Next slide. >> Thank you. >> Just the headline though. >> All right. >> Next one. >> There
108we are. >> There we go. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So this chart shows our average distance from standard in English language arts. In other words, how far above or below the state standard students scored on average by grade level. A higher score means students are performing further above the proficiency line. So upward movement here represents real improvement in mastery. We see consistent upward movement across the district from an average DFS of 33.8 8 in 2324 to 53 53.0 in 2425. That's nearly a 20 point gain in two years refle reflecting broad growth across most grade levels. We'll highlight early grade levels that show particularly strong growth. Grade three moving from 37.2 to 49.1. Middle school performance is strengthening too, particularly in 8th grade where the average distance from standard grew from 31 to 51,
109excuse me, to 57.1, a dramatic increase of more than 25 points in two years. Grade 1, excuse me, grade 11 showed one of the strongest recoveries from nearly zero two years ago to 51.2 points above standard this year. Next slide, please. >> Um, >> do we you want to ask something right now? >> I I just want to orient myself a little bit better to this. Can I do does everybody understand this chart perfectly or can I >> go ahead? >> I think you ask a question. Yeah. >> So, here what this is saying, let me just take grade 11. I just want to make sure that as we're going through more data I understand it. So this is saying that 51.2% of 11th graders or sorry >> that on average 11th graders are 51.2
110points above their zero which would be at grade level. >> Yes. The proficient cut point for that grade level. >> That's incredible. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I was looking at the data correctly. Thank you. >> Thanks for the question. >> Okay, next slide, please. >> Ask one followup. What What is that point? What is being 51.2 like points above standard mean? >> Right. If I take, you're not 11th grader, but you took these last year. So, right, 51.2 points above the standard. What does that mean practically to like a parent or a board member? >> So, of of all the students in that grade level who took the test, um that's the average score, standard score above grade level of all those students who took that test. But what's the scale? Like
111>> what's the highest number of points above grade level that's possible? >> So the the cut point for example um actually I have these numbers in here. One sec. Yeah, it's different by grade level. Where's my example? Um so for example I think fifth grade the the um proficiency cut point is like 20 2850 um as the for the scale score. So 51 points above would be the difference between the students scale score and that cut point score. >> Thank you so much. That's super helpful. >> All right. Okay. So going further into why we're using distance from standard and and why we hope that this is helpful and beneficial in understanding um our student summitive scores, state scores. Um going into a little bit about more about why we use distance from standard data
112and why we're so interested in in in presenting this to you tonight. Um it's distance from standards shows how much growth is happening not just the bionary of who made it into proficient or who still isn't isn't in proficiency. Um it provides a more complete picture for us than than just the percentage of students who met the proficiency band. So it shows how how um effective the work is that we're doing and shows it from a different lens. Um, it helps us analyze in a different way which focal groups are closing gaps and accelerating toward grade level expectation and it's more sensitive to small gains. It also, and this is very important for us, um, aligns with California's accountability system. And so, next slide. Okay. Um, this is our English language arts distance from standard
113representation divided by our racial ethnic groups representing a three-year analysis. Our average distance from standard for all students improved over the last three years, showing a clear upward trajectory in English language arts achievement since 2023. There were significant gains for some of our focal groups. Specifically calling out our Hispanic Latinx students moved from slightly below standard to above standard. Slightly below atgative.4 to above at plus 15.9 suggesting meaningful literacy progress over the last years. Our other group calling out that group also increased by more than 35 points. We also recognize the work that remains and um pointing out that our black African-American students distance from standard has stagnated um showing no improvement over the last two years but improvement since 2023. Okay. And now I'll pass over to Director Albeck to go into some of
114the literacy actions. >> Uh good evening superintendent and board directors. Our district's data shows meaningful progress in literacy and we also recognize that significant gaps remain and improvement requires sustained focused efforts. Last year our literacy improvement work focused on three significant levers. First was building around educator capacity. We further trained literacy specialists and special education case managers to provide aligned tier 2 and tier three interventions. The impact on that investment is visible in our data. Our distance from standard improved across all grade levels, a sign that students who have unfinished learning made meaningful growth. Second, strengthening our progress monitoring systems. We introduced sight aligned planning tools and diagnostic assessments that allowed teachers to identify focal stu students and track growth more precisely. Through this, we learned that fidelity to progress monitoring is key. It's not
115just about having a tool, but how consistently and collaboratively we use it to inform our instructional priorities. Our third action from last year as it relates to literacy was advancing our curriculum pilots which we have learned a lot about. Our two pilot cycles of English language arts and Spanish language arts gave us critical insight into which highquality materials best support our teachers and our students. Those learnings directly informed BUSD's recent adoption decision and our planning for full implementation this year. So while we saw progress especially for our students receiving targeted reading support last year also surfaced where we still need to grow. Next slide please. As our theory of change reminds us ideal results require ideal behaviors and ideal behaviors come from clarity of purpose systems and support through continuous reflection and improvement. With our
116efforts from last year, we recognize there is still a lot to learn and a lot to improve. From last year, we learned many things. First, participation rates, particularly at the high school level, are essential for understanding true growth and progress across all student groups. We learned that structures and routines for reviewing progress monitoring data must be consistent and embedded in the daily professional learning plans of our schools. We were reminded as we all are that time is the most critical condition. Teachers need protected space and time to implement new programs with integrity and reflect on student learning. We also learned and plan to ensure aligned support from instructional leaders, coaches, specialists, and administrators is vital to sustaining implementation across our system. These insights ground our work in continuous improvement, learning from our experience, refining our
117systems, and using what we've learned to better drive outcomes this school year. Next slide, please. At the end of last year, I shared this image with you. It outlined the literacy improvement priorities we were setting for this school year. So, what you'll see next isn't new. It's the intentional follow-through on the direction we already established together. Next slide, please. This year, based on our learnings from last year and the commitment shared with you all at the end of the 2425 school year, we've prioritized three focus actions to strengthen literacy instruction across BUSD schools. First, ensuring instructional integrity. B USD teachers are now doing the very hard work of implementing our new set of curricula. Fishtank ELA alongside functional phonics and morphology at our English only schools and Esparanza and Aliba leaka at Sylvia Mendes. Our
118focus is on ensuring that the evidence-based routines that we know were previously absent, such as building background knowledge, engaging with text, and building deeper meaning, are now being taught with consistency and integrity at all schools, at all grade levels. Second, providing time and structure for teacher reflection. What we know is that teaching a new curriculum takes an extraordinary amount of time and effort. Again, we commend our teachers for the commitment to the significant change effort that we are undertaking. To support, we built in subrelease unit internalization days. On these days, teachers work collaboratively to debrief the unit they just taught, calibrate on the student work assessment and common rubrics, and backwards plan for the upcoming unit. This builds a continuous cycle of reflection and responsiveness in tier 1 instruction. Lastly, deepening differentiation. As our data
119indicates, we need emphasis on scaffolding access to all of our students, especially for students with unfinished learning, our multilingual learners, and students needing foundational skills support while maintaining rigor for all. The goal is that every student, regardless of the starting point, engages in grade level literacy with success. This year's literacy work is about moving from pilot to practice, ensuring consistency, coherence, and equity across BUD classrooms at every grade level. I believe we are going to stop and take questions specifically on literacy at this point if that's still the plan. >> Yeah. Um folks, other questions about literacy in particular? We're breaking it down this way so that we can have individualized questions. Dr. Schnowski, >> you'll be shocked to know I have many questions. Um, so one of the early slides, um, they're not numbered.
120I think it's slide number five. Just this is just a quick comment. Um, on collaboration, this is theory of change/improvement. Just on collaboration, I noticed an when I was looking at an absent of teacher feedback and I think you just brought that up in a later slide, but I think having that front and center I think is really important so that the people in the classroom doing the work are are part of that collaboration like right from the get-go. Thinking about that right from the get-go. So that's just a comment. Um and then I had a question on the participation slides. And I I'm just wondering if I missed something, but um on the slide it looked like the participation rates in 11th grade were 868, but then I thought I heard you say 700
121something. So I'm just wondering what I'm missing. Yeah, >> that was the number of students who tested 755 microphone. >> That's the denominator. So 868 is the total possible students and 700 whatever is is 84% of that 868. Okay. Okay. Thank you for that. I didn't understand. Um and then the participation impacts I thought were pretty remarkable. Do we know what the formula is for the way that they calculate that or it's sort of a mystery and we we just count on ACE to tell us how it would change? Yeah, it's a projection and and and they they have reviewed it. Um and I can ask more questions of it but um but it is it is just a projection of if if students tested at the levels by on average that they that the
122proficiency that they were testing on average and and we had gotten 95% participation or higher than the the projection is that they would have scored within this grade level this proficiency band. >> It's just a projection. >> Okay. Okay. Understood. So it's not like a negative ding on the number. It's it's >> it's it's sort of thinking about like how do we think that population that's missing would do on the test. >> Yeah. Let me explain also. So um for all of the students below 95% who do not take the test, they're given the um the lowest um score. So it's as though if you students do not take the test, they're scoring within the red far below basic band. Oh, so it's even more than a projection there. The lack of participate participation is
123like a zero. >> Right. Right. So, so in for the metric, for example, where um our Latinx students scored within in math scored within the orange proficiency dial color. The projection is is if we had had 95% participation and students had tested at the at the um the proficiency rate that they were testing that they would have been um in the green. >> Understood. Understood. >> Does that make sense? >> Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you. >> So, just to go back to sort of the comments that were made by our board director and also what we're seeing about that partic participation uh ding and impact. Why? Like what's the strategy and why should families care >> and make sure that their kids are there? Like practically speaking, it's not on my
124report card. It's not on my transcripts. Like what what is the takeaway of why families should care? Not just us. We obviously care because it gives us good metrics for improvement and knowing where our Yeah. Mhm. >> So, we Rebecca and I did a lot of work with our high school on explaining this and um and so I'll have her explain some things that we learned that we then explained to all of the students who who would would hear us and and all of the teachers and staff as well. Um, I'll also say that we made concerted efforts such as um having a raffle, having certain kinds of incentives for students. Um, going and speaking to the leadership of the student leadership committees and and really engaging with those groups on why it's important. um
125encouraging those groups to then um publicize in the jacket and also through the video um video news that the students do the bulletin. Um so so we looked at it from from many different angles and um and then we also researched the actual advantages to students >> and um and and I'm going to pass to you so for the for the things. Yeah, there's a few direct advantages to students and families. One is that um proficiency on CASP um can uh allow a student to receive the seal of biiteracy. Um another one is um it can help them in what classes they're placed at in college to not have to take remedial courses. And um there was a third, >> you know, there's two main ones for students. >> Okay. Thanks. >> And so in
126other words, if a student scores in in in the proficient band in mathematics, for example, they can demonstrate those scores um to a community college, to a state school, to a UC school, and that is the ticket to bypass remedial classes that would then um potentially um cause them to be in in school longer, etc. So just sorry just as a point that most of the remedial classes or basic skills classes have been eliminated from community colleges. So that's no longer just so that you know that that's no longer a thing. So >> yeah, >> I would also say just moving from the individual to to the group. I know many families, particularly our families of color and historically under un under underserved student populations really do want to have accurate data so that we
127can understand how those babies are doing in our system and then allocate resources accordingly. So we were at the ASAC for example last week and share participation data and if those families know it's it it actually wouldn't be red, it might be yellow and be able to really monitor and track our progress and we can make more informed choices about um how we allocate resources and what we need to do differently to serve students. Um, and so there's the first, how is my student impacted, which definitely matters to families, but there are many families who just want to understand and tell a better and more accurate story about how BUD is doing by their students in general. And finally, we know that our students are frequently on on Infinite Campus, our high school students looking
128at their grades, etc. And many of our students didn't know that their CAST scores are also also on on um on that. And and once they were told that, we became more interested. I can see this. I can actually go back and see what my old scores were and figure out how I've done. So, um that's there's also that communication with students who do care deeply about how they're performing on on these these tests. >> And I think maybe the more we talk about um these scores and this data, the more people will care about it. I have two last quick questions. >> Can I ask just one final? Um, another neighboring district to ours does put CASP scores on student transcripts, which is um, an idea that has come up. >> Let me just
129jump in. Uh, does Director Vas have a question directly on this point and then we can shift back to Director Schnowsky's questions. >> Well, yeah. And then I have other questions after Director Schnowski's second round of questions. >> Okay, so just really quickly, which district is that? Which neighboring district? >> Albany. I think that's great. >> Great. Director Schnowski. Yeah, I'll be quick. Um, okay. On slide number 35, this is um I think the average SBA ELA DFS by grade level. I just when you explained what these numbers mean, I think it would be really helpful to normalize the scale or something so that they're more meaningful. Like I'm from the Midwest and we didn't take the SATs, we took the ACTs. Well, a onepoint increase on the ACT is a big deal. A onepoint
130increase on an SAT is like nothing. So I think it would be really useful to normalize them. And then I also think I appreciate the appendices and all of the um ends all of you know my statistics and small numbers beef. Um, but I think some of these slides it would be useful to just put the N on the slides. Um, for example, I didn't write down which slide it was, but I know that our Native American population is very small. So, when you see a big jump, that's one student. Um, and so I think it's just important to maybe, you know, I don't I know that it's hard to make the slides not cumbersome, but maybe just under the um the group the group you have an N just so that we can that
131makes it easier for me instead of >> Yeah, thank you. I understand. Thank you. >> Thank you. Super. N as in a raw number, right? Number of >> number of students. >> So the number of students. So like on that slide that's up right now, American Indian or Alaskan Native, I I think I saw 2%. So I think that's two students in the district. So when you see a 12% change or something, and we also have to be careful about recognizing that the total end count in the district is is also slightly different from the end count of our tested grades. So yeah, and so we we have had a process where we're not putting up if if that if that size is less than 10, then we have you'll see particularly in the appendix
132there's a bunch of asterisks. So we don't put those scores up. Um but you're right. I think the tricky thing is and again we can do it we have to do it manually for each of the three things to put in the so anyway but we will keep that in mind. But but just also to point out looking at this slide um the end count is over 10 and that's the reason that we reflected the scores here. The end count for 22 23 was below 10. That's why you you see um you see one fewer bar reflecting our our our American Indian and Alaskan Native students who generally are um under our other category because of the number. um we did disagregate and pull out here because we realized we had an end count of
133over 10 for those two those two years and um and this is one of our our groups that um for which were in um disproportionality for so so we are paying special attention. >> Thank you for doing the disagregation too. I think that's important. >> Um Dr. Vassad, >> yeah I just have a question on slide 37, the average SBA um ELA distance from standard slide. And so, um, just, you know, really concerned about the American Indian data, data related to our black and African-American students. And even though Hispanic students are on the positive sides, the gap between them and the white students is still pretty large. And so my question is um is it possible to get the same data from the county to see how other neighboring districts are doing for these different
134subgroups >> and then right like compare our data to theirs like to see are there are these subopuls doing better in other neighboring districts and what are they doing? >> Yeah. And we do we do get this data from the county but we have we had not yet received it um at the time for this board meeting. So so we we will and we can share that as well. >> Yeah. I'd love to see that in the future communication to the board. And then I would love to also um I'm really happy superintendent that this data is being uh presented to our different committees because I think it's really important to have that um authentic and really um thorough like data deep dive with our different parent groups is of clearly not here. So it's
135great that that we're doing it in our smaller committees. Has DACA seen this data or when will it be presented to DAC? And I loved how you mentioned director Albec too that like we're still looking at the new uh curriculum literacy curriculum at Mendes and our in our TWWI program. And so I'm curious if DACA's been engaged around that work recently >> this school year this rec currently and have not looked at this data yet. Um we will start with looking at the outback and reclassification data. Um and our most recent DAC meeting last week when our advisory committees met, we were establishing routines for the for the committee, but data came up as a a topic of interest among the committee. So we will put together a data presentation for our DAC. >> Yep.
136Please invite me. I know I think Director Corner, you're the official, but would love to to go as well just to kind of hear their feedback. I think it's great and would love to hear the report back too from our different sub populations from our African-American parent group like what they're what they're noticing and what they want us to do better. And uh director I should clarify with the ASAC we shared the participation that that there was a difference. We have not actually to the point of um director Albeck shared this data with our advisory committees of none of our advisory committees in part because we like to share this information with the board first. Um but in addition to us preparing um tailored uh decks for the various advisory committees and looking at their
137subgroups of interest if if that's um the choice, we're also planning to share information in our A+ news and also share this presentation actually on the website. So there'll be multiple opportunities for um all of our families to engage and trying to think about uh we have the the bodybuilder or the weightlifter analogy. Um thinking about some other analogies that might help our families really understand the distance from standard because that is something that's new for folks who have not seen that information before. But again, as a team set, very important to understand and see. Yeah. And obviously just want to congratulate the district staff for the gains, too. I mean, I'm asking about the the tough things in in our focal groups, but also want to celebrate the gains. And I'm really glad with
138the communication that went out and also looking at our third grade gains overall, like those pivotal years and seeing overall um improvements. So, I want to congratulate all of you and the district staff for that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Mathematics. >> Yeah. Thank you, M. Any other questions? Oh, I'm sorry. I have some questions. Um, >> d the congratulations and the gratitude for the gains. Um, and I have some questions. Uh, I'm wondering on slide 28, I'm wondering how you all think about um cohorts of students because I see for example that we're celebrating that 8th grade increased by five percentage points. But I also see that those kids when they were seventh graders were scoring 71% proficient and then as eighth graders they were 72% proficient. So in some ways we just got lucky
139with a different cohort of eighth graders this year. So I'm wondering when you think about analyzing data, how do you how do you factor in cohort analysis? >> Well, I can give an example. Um, one one in a recent meeting with a professional learning group with interventionists from across the TK5 schools. Um we did an analysis through Educ, our MTSS platform of um our fifth grade group and an analysis of that group using different um different me different testing metrics including CASP over the last three years. And um and so while I I appreciate what you're saying and I hear that, I also always want to say the test is different each year. So it's but but I but I understand >> it's not to discount the gain. It's just to >> Yeah. Yeah. >>
140be >> Yeah. So, so, so we we are doing that with our um with our our our site leadership and with our our intervention groups um and educible and um and and and easy to visualize for >> that's great. I guess um one thing that occurs to me is just like it's it's really helpful to see the proficiency data next to the DFS data and I wonder if we could also be bringing in cohort data like just the more different ways we have of slicing the data and understand what's happening the better decisions we can make >> and I do think one of the things that we're also looking at is that there is a pretty strong correlation between star and CASP um and so that's another data point that we're looking at too with
141our sites >> which is so helpful because that's our formative data that we can use to make instructional decisions. >> Um I also just on that topic of like other data to call out. I really want to celebrate on slides 15 and 16 noticing not just the increase in the number of students who are meeting or exceeding but in math from 22 to 25 there's a 5% decrease in the percentage of students in standard not met which is also hugely important and I think deserves to be called out. Um >> what else? I guess um the last question I would just ask and director Vasu Dev sort of alluded to this already but oh actually I have one other thing. Um, on slide 31, um, the data on our English learners is disappointing. And I
142guess I'm I'm just wondering how how you all are making sense of that and what um how how this this data specifically is informing the the work that you described director Albeck about, you know, your your priorities for the year, how that subgroups, English learners in general and Spanish speak English learners specifically are showing up in those priorities. So we acknowledge that for our Spanish speaking multilingual learners is a focal focal group for us and that um hopefully I believe in December when we present on our multilingual learner master plan. We'll have an opportunity to share with you some of the work that we'll be doing this year. Um but just a a quick sneak sneak preview. uh we're putting together a long-term English language learner uh action group together with uh EL coordinators with
143some regional experts and with uh several other districts and really thinking about where our ELTELS are getting stuck uh what the actual numbers are behind this and what systems and structures we as a district can put into place to better support them because we know that we have some some work to do there. >> That's really great to hear. Thank you. And my last request is just on this same slide. Um I would love to see the distance from standard data for these program groups as well. >> We can we can get that. >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much. Good questions. Um is uh there any more others? We have like 90 more slides. So >> I'm going to go really fast. >> 1.5 speed >> called an appendix. Dr. Chang. >> Okay. Hold
144on. >> And it's because this clicker. Okay. Hold on. >> Um mathematics. Yeah. >> All right. All right. Take it away, >> Dr. So um I'll try to go a little bit more quickly. Um so just just to overview and and kind of ground us the mathematics um smarter balance assessment um measures in in three key areas. um concepts and procedures, problem solving and modeling, data analysis and and communicating reasoning, or in simpler terms, knowing math, applying math, and explaining math. So, just wanted to kind of point that out in there. Um, okay. So, here we're giving an overall summary of our um of our elementary school. And I want to explain something first. So, overall students in mathematics um increased by 1.6%. 6% um at at 64.66% in 2024 and 66.29% in 2025. So
145you'll see here that we we did point out um with the B USD overall the 1.6% but when you look at the overall bar you'll see only a 1% differential because we um we we round up to whole numbers or we round down to whole numbers. So, I just wanted to point that out because it may it may be something that um that you notice. Um moving back to elementary school, our our our elementary school students um held steady at 70 70% proficiency u maintaining the strong performance of the year prior. And we had a um a bright spot meeting our 3x5 target in our fourth grade which increased by 5% moving from 67% proficiency to 72% proficiency. Um next slide. Okay. So the percentage of secondary students u meeting or exceeding standards rose to
14664% marking a 3% increase from last year. Importantly, every grade level improved um which suggested instructional coherence and vertical alignment. Um at sixth grade, we went up 2%. So that that that's speaking to um students maintaining upward momentum as they transition from elementary school to secondary math. And then we'll point out as as a particular highlight, our eighth grade, which is up 6%, the largest gain um districtwide. Okay. And next we'll look at our 3x5 target um through our math summitive data more deeply. Okay. So here's an overall summary of our our math SBA data across our racial ethnic groups. Um math math proficiency across most of our groups improved overall in 2425 with notable growth for our Latinx students at a 3% growth. um our Asian students at 7% growth, multi-thnic at 3% growth,
147and our other subgroup pointing out that other represents our American Indian, Alaskan Native, Filipino, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students, and that group made an increase of 8% um over last year. However, we note that our black African-American student um proficiency um declined, which which highlights persistent um gaps. Okay, so here is an overall summary of our focal populations in mathematics. Um, math proficiency increased for several key key program groups, including our l English language learners at a three-point increase and our Latinx English language learners at a four four point increase. Yeah. All right, next slide. Okay. So here we move into our distance from standard data um through the lens of mathematics. Um our math distance from standard DFS data by grade level on the next slide that that I'll show um shows clear
148growth across the district particularly in grades 4 through 8 and a strong turnaround at grade 11. So let's move to that and you'll be able to visualize what I'm speaking of. um district-wide growth. Our our math performance has improved each year in our overall category. And um we have had we're demonstrating stable performance at grade three and significant growth at grade five, which you'll notice um here. I want to highlight grade 11, which represents a what we might call a rebound from a deep dip um in the neg negative um distance from standard in 2023, moving up to 2025 in the positive at 14.9 points um above standard. Okay. Um next is is an overview of the final slide in mathematics or mathematics data representation. um we we're we're explaining why we're using DFS when
149when describe um showing data for our our racial ethnic groups. Okay. And finally, um this represents our average math data as represented by distance from standard. Um our Hispanic, Latinx, and American Indian, Alaskan Native students did show meaningful growth this year. um our black African-American students made gains compared to 2023, although um our the scores remain slightly below last year's levels. This is an area where we're continuing to focus our targeted support. Um and so I will now pass back over to director Albec to explain some of our math actions. >> Similar to the literacy, we'll now discuss what we've been doing in math last year and what our plans are this year. So last year our math improvement work focused on three levers. Uh first was building coherence through the meeting of math minds
150which you all heard a little bit about. We brought together we brought together educators, parents, site administrators and regional specialists as a design a shared vision for math for Berkeley Unified. Through that collaboration, we experience the importance of engaging a wide variety of stakeholders and truly valuing the expertise and perspectives that each group brings. The diversity of voice strengthen both the vision itself and the ownership of the work. Second, deepening instructional practice through professional learning. Our supporting students as sensemakers series helped elementary teachers refine how they notice and respond to student thinking and promote promote meaningful math discourse. From this effort, we learned the challenge of trying to develop or change too many things too quickly and that much like in literacy, our collective capacity does have limits. Third, strengthening intervention through aligned curriculum. At
151the middle school level, we launched Math 180 to support targeted intervention with our MTSS framework. We learned how difficult it can be to implement a new program with integrity when continuous professional learning is not provided. Next slide, please. With our focused efforts in math last year, we recognize there is still a lot to learn and to improve. Like in literacy, participate participation rates, particularly in the high school level, remain essential to understand progress and ensuring that our data reflects the full experience of our students. We learned continued engagement with teachers, administrators, and families is critical to maintaining coherence and shared ownership of our math vision across the system. We were reminded that building capacity while holding a commitment to literacy requires thoughtful pacing. Our instructional systems can only move as fast as we can sustain
152with quality and depth. And lastly, developing a mathsp specific MTSS system centered on the lessons learned from our most recent literacy work is vital to ensuring that math interventions, assessments, and progress monitoring tools are clearly defined and consistently consistently implemented as they are now in literacy. Next slide, please. At the end of last school year before we broke for summer, we shared this slide with you outlining the next steps for math. What you see next is our math action items for 2526 isn't new. It's the intentional follow through on the direction we already established together. Continuing the work from where the meeting of the math minds ended, furthering our K5 professional learning and developing further MTS math-based MTS structures and systems. Next slide, please. On the slide before you, you'll see the math actions for
153this school year. First, preparing for a math curriculum adoption. Last year's meeting of math minds established our district-wide vision and framework. This year, we're using that foundation to initiate the beginning stages of a formal math curriculum adoption. This would include engaging our community, putting together an adoption committee, studying and winnowing the soonto-bereleased state approved programs, and identifying instructional materials to be piloted during the 2627 school year. Secondly, we're looking to strengthen early math and vertical alignment. Our early educator professional development work continues through learning labs that connect our youngest teachers at TK through our middle school. These sessions focus on collective inquiry, shared practices, and deepening our understanding on how early numerousy develops into conceptual reasoning, ensuring greater coherence across grade spans. And lastly, third, working towards developing systems for early math intervention. Building on
154last year's introduction of our math impact team and our first steps towards a mathsp specific MTSS process, this year's focus is refining diagnostic tools and progress monitoring systems so that math teachers can identify needs early and provide the targeted datadriven support that we have currently in literacy. Each of these actions represents our commitment to continuous improvement, learning from last year's work, refining our systems, and sustaining steady progress towards a more coherent and equitable math program. We'll now take questions based on our math data. >> You want to do math or you want us to science? >> Yeah, I think we should uh chat about math. We just did literacy now and math. Um Dr. I >> I just have one quick question and I don't know if it's even answerable, but I know many years
155ago we switched to the common core math curriculum and I think a lot of parents were like shocked at the new way of teaching math um that relies a lot less on memorization, you know, wrote memorization. Um and I'm agnostic about it. I I I have feelings about both ways, but I'm wondering what is the new curriculum and what is the new what is research now indicating the direction to go in? Is it still the common core math approach? Maybe this is a much harder question than I thought, but >> uh so there's a new California math framework which entails a long list of the priorities and approaches towards mathematical instruction. Um we know that fluency around early mathematics is still very very important. Um and we know that many students still learn in many
156different ways and different modalities in different models of learning mathematics is still very important. So both are true and we look to share more about that in the future. So >> thanks y >> um thank you so much. Are there other questions? Whoop of other with other board members. Um I have a quick question. Um you know uh thank you for the presentation and all the hard work going on. I know that math is a um is like a touchstone area in the district especially when you start shifting up into the high schools um at the high school level. uh in on this slide that's in front of us with regard to item three um what what are some examples of math focus RTI that we already do currently? So we have it's I would
157say it's much like B USD literacy 3 to 5 years ago where at different schools different math RTI is currently happening. Um math RTI is a little bit different than literacy RTI. So for our district we moved to Orton Gillingham as a tier 2 intervention across all K5 elementary schools. um math is not as as simple as putting in one intervention. Um so we are currently with the math impact team that is referenced in math action item number three. We are experimenting with several different math interventions and the diagnostic tools that we will use to use. But our approach as it connects to SL math action item number one is we have a big opportunity as we think about new tier one instructional materials to align them specifically with tier 2 instructional materials so they
158work um I'm going to use maybe a word that makes sense symbiotically um whereas currently in our literacy structure we adopted a tier 2 system and then we adopted a tier one system so I would say that currently um it's not aligned But we have a huge opportunity to build really build that MTS system in alignment moving forward if that makes sense. >> Yeah, that's really helpful analogy. >> I also just wanted to quickly highlight that we've um for our math MTSS we've expanded fully at this point our STAR math um universal screener three times a year from first grade now all the way through 10th grade. So we have an opportunity to to dig deep with RTI groups um at at at this universal screener data three times a year and also for our
159teams to really be able to analyze longitudinal data using the same measure. >> Thank you. So this analogy is super helpful to the literacy u process and the alignment systems and I'd really be interested in in as you uh test out the various um uh processes with map focus RTI to hear back on that. Thanks. Any other questions? >> Yeah, just quickly, I appreciate you bringing up the STAR data and you brought up the STAR data in ELA as well. It would be great to just continue to to look at how those assessments are predictive of results on the the CASP assessments and what the what we're learning from those assessments throughout the year in a formative way. >> And we we do have some um information on that currently. So I'm I'm happy to
160share that that one of our team members has done. >> Um >> this is just a quick data request for slide 49. I similar to my previous comment on literacy would love to look at the distance from standard like at a countywide level and see if that trend with like grade 11 is also like something that we're seeing in other districts in the county. So, I don't know how to get that data, but would love to just see it and then um better understand why that looks the way it does for grade 11. >> Mhm. >> And and we're also curious just to just to kind of say this, we're also curious about um looking at at at our improvements and wondering about the correlation between increased participation as well. So, that's just that's a
161question that we're asking. >> Great. Thank you. I think we can proceed. >> All right. Science. >> Okay. Excuse me one second. Okay. So, I'll I'll briefly speak about science. I do want to start by saying that um this is the first year. So, on November 13th, we will have our science data represented um on our dashboard fully. So, it it was represented this last year, but not with its color indicators and and this year it's being fully um will be fully reflected. And so, um just to state that and how exciting that is knowing how important science education is. Um so an overall summary for our our um by grade level for our CAST. CAST is our um CASP science assessment um that's given to students in fifth grade, 8th grade and also sometime
162in high school um at the 11th or 12th grade. It has been how Berkeley has done it. Um last year we moved to to testing at the at the 12th grade and so we've been doing some work determining that as well. Um I think I'll just highlight here that um we improved by by 4%. So we did meet our 3x5 target in in that area. And um next I'll move to um looking at cast data disagregated by racial ethnic groups. Um, I I want to point out here that our Hispanic Latinx students met a R35 target with a 5% increase, reaching 43% proficiency on the CASP. Um, and our other category um also made our 3x5 target with a with a 9% increase. Um, and again to to point out that that group does reflect
163our American Indian um indigenous population. And next slide. And here finally we review um CAST data by our focal groups. Um I point out here the bright news that our Latinx English learners were up 7% which was the largest gain among all program groups on the cast. Um, also to highlight, our students in special education were up 4% um, on this this area. And so, um, I'll now pass back over to Director Albbeck to conclude with our science actions. While our science data shows overall growth across grade levels with notable improvement for our Latinx students and our students receiving special education services, we while we're encouraged by these gains, we also recognize that there's still significant work to do. Um, last year our science improvement work focused on the following three levers. First, developing tier
1641 instruction through standards aligned curriculum. Last year was the second year of a false path pathways implementation specifically at grades one and at grades two paired with targeted professional learning for all first and second grade teachers. This helped strengthen hands-on inquiry based instruction and laid the foundation for more vertical alignment across science throughout our elementary grade levels and into middle school. Second, enriching middle school science through hands-on opportunities. Last year, we expanded the experiential learning events such as be a scientist, reverse science fairs, and the annual fix it fest, giving students authentic opportunities to engage with scientific inquiry and applying their learning in new ways. Lastly, third, at the high school, we we discussed science-based CTE pathways at the high school. Last year, we grew programs that integrated science and career readiness, including biotech boot
165camps, engineering design challenges, and environmental field studies, helping students connect academic concepts to real world application and post-secary goals. Next slide, please. Even with this progress, we recognize there's still significant work to do. And here are the action items for science for this school year. First, we'll finalize our implementation of our FOs pathways in kindergarten and refreshing materials districtwide. This marks year three of our roll out, expanding early science learning and establishing systems of support to our earliest teachers to sustain curriculum fidelity. Second, expanding middle school STEM opportunities. We're continuing hands-on initiatives like the Fix It Fest, like our superintendent shared this weekend. Come on out. uh be a scientist and reverse science fairs while we are formally launching our middle school robotics teams to deepen engagement and connect science with engineering and technology. And
166lastly, at the high school, we're aligning and stren strengthening high school science pathways. This year we're updating high high school science textbooks and advancing CTE connected pathways by one of the examples is our new applied manufacturing course in our CTE pathway um to link classroom learning to industry partnerships and real world experiences. Together these actions will build a more coherent, equitable and engaging K12 science program. And we'll close our presentation with some questions. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, going left. >> Three left, >> not 90. Um, >> cool. So, we should take some science questions for sure. >> Well, I don't have a question. I just want to say that I um really love the work that's happening with the middle school robotics teams. I was part of the birth of this process last
167year. It's really great to see how excited they get and they definitely look up to the high school robotics team. So would love um just to like I think better understand kind of the mentorship opportunities between both groups. But it's really cute and I don't know if directors be have a chance to volunteer. I spent one year of my kids middle school life volunteering every Friday at in the STEM classroom and it was really amazing to see how excited they get every time they go through like a different rotation or if you tell them like that a project that a comparable project's happening at the high school. It's just such a wonderful grade level. So I'm really glad to see that expansion. Thank you for your work. >> Yeah. Amazing. Thank you. Um there's a
168scientist here. Dr. >> I am a scientist. Um so I'm wondering if we know anything about how well the new science curriculum is working and how kids are engaging with it and feeling about it. I mean I I know it's hard to tell especially in the context of all the other changes with the other subjects and also postco you know it's bound up in so many things. So, I don't know that the data necessarily shows, but I'm wondering if we have a sense of that. And I'm also wondering if we have any sense of like Super Science Saturday participants and how are we able to look at any of that data like kids that are participating in some of the STEM summer STEM programs, what are their outcomes looking like? Can we correlate any of
169those things and any of those offerings? Um the Brea department has been doing some work collecting data and and doing some data analysis related to science Saturdays. Um so I can um I I I can share some of that with you. I'm not sure if it's in its completed stage right now, but um but it coming soon. So we've been working on that project since the summer. Yeah, I think it would be really helpful because I know that there's a big focus on our focal populations for many of those programs and so a better understanding of who's participating and then how that translates to outcomes I think would be really helpful as we make budgetary decisions and >> yeah and see it's remarkable the difference between the math versus the science um numbers um because
170in some ways you kind of think of math and science as related >> um you know I remember as kid. Um, both math and science were were feared with a certain degree of dread, math in particular, and now science is kind of cool. I think there's a experiential aspect to science um that the way we're teaching math can can learn from and I'm sure that's happening. But I'm excited about the opportunities that you referenced in terms of math of engaging students in an experiential kind of manner. Um, you know, especially with these very different type of numbers that we're seeing in the two. Any other questions? Nope. Thank you. >> I got I got three things just really quick just so everybody is on the same page as we close out. Um Liz, I think
171you're going to need to forward. Just want everybody uh Dr. Sweeney mentioned this earlier, but the California dashboard is going to release on November 13th. Um and there are some important changes that are going to be represented on that dashboard. You can see the highlights here. And if any of these areas are of interest to you, there's more information about this in the in the appendix. Um on the next slide 65, I just want to share with you and members of the public that we do have district and school newsletters that provide the summary information um across um both the the testing um the testing data that you've seen today along with attendance and chronic absenteeism and and our checks our California healthy kids survey. Um so the individual school level newsletters are found on
172the school website and you can find the elementary, middle and high school overall on the Berea website page. So the link is available for you there. Um and then just a reminder um on you can go quickly through slide the next two slides Liz. Um we we are looking at the data in the context of our plans and just wanted to land on the slide before the last the Berkeley proud just to put that up there. I do think that we have a lot to be proud of. You're the other way, Liz. The other way. >> Oh. Oh, Chris. Oh, Chris is a 28. Other way. Very proud. We do have a lot to be proud of in terms of the progress that we've been that we have made um particularly over the last three
173years. When I think about um my entry point and superintendent's entry point um in the 22 23 school year, there's a lot of infrastructure work um that we honed in on and our superintendent had called out a need for organizational clarity and she identified the four eyes of identity um identified focal student groups, infrastructure and implementation. And I think my team uh there's been a lot of work that I'm really proud of in terms of building the infrastructure and leading toward more coherence and implementation. Um I'm really proud of the work that our teachers and our school leaders, our principles um have been doing to lead this effort. Um uh there has been a lot of uh good work that they have done particularly over the c the course of the last year and a
174half as we've implemented the literacy curriculum um that I just feel like we need to acknowledge because we would not have gotten to this place um without without that coherence and alignment. So um definitely a lot to be proud of and room for improvement. So we'll be back with more data. >> Thank you so much. That was super uh informative. We appreciate all the hard work too. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So next on just make sure what am I doing now? Uh next on up we have we had our pulled information item. >> Yes, that's right. Um it is 16.4 mobile communication devices. You know we have a first reading and we decided to open it up for further conversation. >> Yeah. So, I pulled this item. Um, I wanted to point out
175the main edit that we made at the policy committee meeting which I am trying to identify. Um, we we clarified we we called out specific expectations for the use of smartphones and mobile devices at different grade levels. So um this is on the first page. It's the third paragraph down. Um the new language that we are proposing from the policy committee is students may use smartphones and mobile communication devices on campus in accordance with the law. Applicable school rules and their grade level. So then there are three bullet points. First smartphones and mobile communication devices shall be turned off during instructional time at all grade levels. Smartphones shall be turned off during the entire school day in preschool through fifth grade. And then smartphones shall be turned off during instructional time only in 6th through
17612th grade. Um, I I think the public comment tonight was um thoughtprovoking and I would be open to, you know, continuing to work on this language and I would be open to perhaps directing the superintendent to conduct a survey to find out what parents think. Um, but I just wanted to draw everybody's attention to those changes and open it up for your feedback about how we should proceed. Thanks. Can I answer it? >> Uh, thanks Dr. Korn. I've been in conversations around this for now it's been like a year since the first time we had this in policy committee. >> Um, I think it's important other districts what they've done is that they've set up working groups and one of the conferences I went to and I can reach out to that particular district. They
177said it was really empowering to have students from the high school and from the secondary level be part of that working group because they they're like you could set up the best their argument was you can set up the best policy in the world but if you don't have student buyin and some clear understanding from like parents and everyone's got to be kind of on the same page and the student buyin becomes very important is very hard to implement and so I would be open not only to a survey but a working group for a you know short amount of time but I do think it's important because other districts have done it especially getting students involved and I would love to hear from our student director too um around around this because it's I
178think the implementation is really important and having those conversations around mental health becomes really important and that's part of this part of it the policy the other part I think and the parents are right in calling it out they want to understand how this is going to be implemented consistently throughout the district and And I think it's really it's a challenge in a public school district to implement. And so I think being honest about those conversations and we need student buyin to do it right too. And so I think having a working group with students, parents at the secondary level, staff would be really great like on the implementation side like I want to hear from secondary teachers, right? Like what this what does this look like in the classroom? Um and then I there's
179also like costs, right? because different districts have different mechanisms and so there's definitely like a cost element to having consistent implementation. So I I just think it it definitely merits like a broader I like where you're going director Korn on having a broader conversation. I would be supportive of that as well. >> Thank you. Does superintendent have a comment? >> Yes. I just wanted to appreciate the feedback and the um direction from at least two board directors. Just also want to clarify um that this is indeed a policy that's coming for first read but it's an amendment to a policy before 2024 BUDC did not have such a policy and um with the advocacy of director and others engaged actually uh both middle school and elementary school families to get their input which led to
180us saying no cell phones during instructional time and then this is a further iteration on that um to the point that director Kin just mentioned that is specifically for the for the elementary babies uh not at all and then for our students in secondary, not during the school day. Um, and so definitely open to engagement, wanting to be really mindful and honest with the public as well as the board directors about just staff capacity. Um, and so wanting to um figure out and be thought partners around how we leverage existing structures to get that feedback. um working group is also it's a very nice term and right it it it assumes that there are staff that has the capacity to do it and I don't like to do anything halfway or um in ways that
181are not authentic and so want to make sure that any structure we set up is likely an existing structure and actually where people actually feel like they're heard and valued. Um also want to add that there is a difference between um the the policy itself which says no uh devices during instructional time again for the elementarymentaries so for anyone and then specifically not having them at all for the elementarymentaries and then the implementation of it which is the point that director based def uh just spoke to and I think that the community engagement the student engagement the staff engagement is more critical at that point right I don't think anyone's going to argue and say no we want them to have it during instructional time it's really going to be about how do we make
182that real and true and so as we think about engaging our families and our students and our staff We've never had issue of that. What we're trying to clarify is the policy is the policy. I think we all agree that babies should not have it. Babies of all ages should not have it during instructional time. And now it's about how do we engage folks to have a really thoughtful um implementation to make sure really happens. Again, like like director said, also considering costs and not um adding an extra burden, if you will, to our to our educators who are trying to spend their time focusing on teaching and not trying to spend their time focusing on collecting uh devices. And so looking forward to the um to the thoughtful engagement around implementation. I want to
183stress that um but really um really suggest to the board and to the policy committee in particular that we that we really are clear that there was engagement for the policy and now we're looking for that next level engagement for the implementation of the policy. >> Thank you so much, Superintendent. And um I'm reflecting your remark that there's been a number of um years on this um as being on the policy committee as well. And it's a reflection of California Assembly Bill 3216 as well. And this focus on implementation I think is where really where we're at. And I'm also um supportive of um relevant aligned and capacity um uh aware uh means to get to that point that we have implementation in a manner that is you know effective. Any other comments? Yeah, director.
184I just have one more comment to add and I feel like it is incumbent upon us as parents to also take um a large part of responsibility for this. Um it's really hard to restrict device use of our kids. Um I felt like I did everything right and I didn't get my kids phones until they were 13. You know, that's what they said, wait until 13. And um I wish I had never gotten them cell phones. They're terrible. Um, but I feel like there I do agree it's implementation of the policy and also partnership with parents because I can take that phone away. I cannot pay the bill. I cannot give it to my child and I can also restrict access to that phone in a number of different ways during school hours. And so
185I think we need to really focus on a partnership approach to this because teachers aren't going to be able to take those phones away from those kids without a little bit of support and help um from families and caregivers. So I just wanted to add that. Thank you. And I would love to have a total cell phone ban um for all of school. That's my vote. >> Thank you. Vice President Corn. >> Vice President, you have Go ahead. >> Um, no, I guess I'm >> Okay, great. >> All righty. Thank you so much. So, we are um we're down to uh we extended public comment. Do we have any folks on on line here? >> Nope. Um that means we can adjourn. No. Oh. Oh. >> One person. Okay, >> Jennifer, are you uh ready
186for comment? >> I am. Thank you so much. And I'm I'm sorry I'm not going to It's too late for me to be on video. >> That's okay. >> Just wanted to say um thank you very much for that and this is such an important issue. I thank you again for bringing up mental health. Um and um director, I'm sorry I get your name Shenecki. Is that right? just to say thank you so much for that. Okay, I said it wrong. I apologize. I'll get it. I'll look it up and say it right next time. But just thank you so much for that. Again, I want to recognize that there are many parents here, not only just listening tonight or will be listening to this recording, but also, you know, we everyone here cares about
187children and so that mental health piece is is part of why we are here. So again, if there are ways that we can support to um connect with parents and opening this back up so that we can continue to have that public comment and get that input. I love what you said also about engaging the students especially at the high school level, middle school students, but definitely the high school level and the teachers because I think being able to hear from those as you said secondary teachers that's going to be absolutely critical so we can we can move this forward with not only what resources are here but what resources we may need to allocate to this in the future because I really think that this is going to be a major challenge and issue
188going forward um in the next few years. Um, one thing I didn't mention in my last comments, but wanted to state to is just I did a quick survey of all of the districts and what they are doing around this, whether it's a soft soft thing like what LA USD is doing or whether it really is investing the money into getting the the magnetized pouches and doing that like they're doing in San Monteo and Foster City. So just naming that we are, you know, part of a large state working on this and I I think getting that working group if it's possible is powerful so we can start looking at what other districts are doing and um and be in the forefront of this. We are Berkeley. We're Berkeley strong. So I just I really
189want to support that. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Um any more um commenters? I don't think so. Right. Therefore, we are adjourned. Thank you.