001Vice President Chang, whenever you are ready uh to call the meeting to order, let's please go ahead and begin. Okay, cool. Um, we're going to call the meeting to order. Nice to see everybody. Um, so, uh, first order of business, uh, is there a motion to, um, move to have, um, President Brown and Director Shinowski, um, attend remotely? I move that we allow them to attend remotely. Call a second. Great. Director K has moved and seconded by Director Vasadev. Do we have a roll call? Director Vasadev, yes. Director Wenta, present. Uh, Director Korn here. Vice President Chang, uh, yes. President Brown, yes. And Director Shinsowski will be joining us shortly. Thank you. Great. So moved. And President Brown, would you like to proceed? Yes, I'll take over from here. Uh good evening everyone. Thank you
002all so much for attending the May 7th board meeting of the Brookley Unified School District Board of Education. Um just to give you uh some housekeeping things. What we'll need to do first is we'll need to actually take care of our special meeting um item and we'll do that in public. It is not typical for the board to do that in public, but we'll do that in public uh tonight um because of some shifts that we needed to uh make as it relates to participation. and then I'll close that special meeting and then um open up our uh reopen our public session up um and we'll continue with our regular um agenda for public session, but there will need to be some um corrections that are made to that agenda. So, when the time presents
003itself, we will do that. Okay. So, at this time, I'd like to call our special meeting to order at 7:28 p.m. Uh, we have already approved uh the participation of myself as well as uh Director Shinowski for the special meeting. Is there a motion to approve this agenda? There's only one agenda item tonight, and that's action number 5.1. Is there a motion to approve? I move to do so. Moved by Vice President Chang. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Director K. Miss. Travis, can you please call the role? Director Vasv, yes. Director Clark, yes. Vice President Chang, yes. Director Korn, yes. President Brown, yes. Okay. Uh, the motion passes and so this evening's um agenda for our special meeting is approved. Um, now we have a public comment period that is specific to
0045.1. I know that there are many uh people who are in the audience tonight who would like to comment on things as it relates to our regular meeting agenda, but if there are cards that are uh green, cards that are green that are specific to item 5.1, we will receive them at this time for this special meeting. The public comment period will only be 5 minutes. And so, um, Director Chang or Vice President Chang, excuse me. Do you have any cards for public commenters who are speaking specifically to 5.1? I don't see any here. If there are folks who had put a card here, please let me know. Now, regarding again, this is specific for 5.1, not for other agenda items. uh just specifically for 5.1 and that would regard um approval of resolution 25-045
005resolution regarding reduction or discontinuments of certain certificated particular kinds of services. Final notice that is correct. I don't see any hands raised here and I don't believe there's any such cards green cards. Okay, seeing none um I will go ahead and close this public comment period. Um, and we need to take action on number uh 5.1, which director Chang already read the title of that resolution. Um, before we take action, are there any questions, comments, or concerns from the board of education? None on the side that um in the boardroom. Okay. Hearing none, uh, is there a motion to approve this item? I'll move to do so. Moved by Vice President Chang. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Director Korn. Miss. Travis, can you please call the role once more? Director Vasadev, yes.
006Director Clark, yes. Vice President Chang, yes. Director Korn, yes. President Brown, yes. Okay, the motion passes and all board directors vote in favor. At this time, I'll call for adjournment at 7:31 for our special meeting. Now I will call uh our regular meeting to order at 7 uh 31 as well. Um is there a motion? Oh, excuse me. Um we will need a motion to approve the agenda. However, there are some agenda items that need to come off. Specifically, number six, student presentation. We will not have that presentation tonight. Um, unfortunately our students are not available, but we are excited to have them at our next meeting, which will be the second board of education meeting in May. And so we'll just uh remove that from the agenda tonight and see them uh at the
007next meeting. Are there any other corrections or additions that need to be made to this evening's agenda? No one. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Nope. No one on this side. I just want to make sure you I I can see you all. Okay. Thank you. Hearing none. Um is there a motion to approve the agenda? I'll move to do so. Moved by Vice President Chang. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Director Korn. M. Travis, can you call the role? Director Vasv. Yes. Director Clark. Yes. Vice President Chang? Yes. Director K? Yes. President Brown? Yes. Thank you so much. The motion passes and this evening's agenda is approved. Miss Tres, can you please call the role of the board of education? Director Anavasv, presented. Student director Winter Clark here. Director uh Vice President Mike Chang
008here. Pres uh director uh Jennifer Korn present. Student director Evelyn Velasquez is excused this evening. Uh President Kada Brown present. Director Shamasi will be joining us shortly. Thank you very much. Uh Vice President Chang, whenever you're ready, you may please report out for close session. Absolutely. Um we at close session uh which was about I believe 6:15. Um with regard to 3.1 district provided updates and board provided consultation. Uh with regard to 3.2.1 2.1 District provided recommendation. Vice President Chang moved in favor. Director Korn seconded. The vote was unanimous. With regard to 3.2.2, the district provided a recommendation. Director Korn moved in favor. Vice President Chang seconded. The vote was unanimous. With regard to 3.2.3, the district provided recommendation. President Brown moved in favor. Director Korn seconded. The vote was unanimous. And with regard to
0093.3, the board engaged on process and planning with the pres uh superintendent. Thank you so much. Thank you as well for your report out. Uh now we'll move to our first opportunity for public comment. Um I'm going to ask Vice President Chang since he is there in person uh to help us with the public comment um period. Please be kind to him. Uh because I know that there are a lot of people who would like to speak tonight. Um and so please be kind to him. We only have 30 minutes uh for the public comment period. Um, and so, uh, depending on the number of cards, President Chang, I will advise you, um, to give each speaker maybe one minute because I learned that there are a lot of folks who would like to speak,
010um, tonight. And so, uh, if you could please put a timer on your phone, President Chang, Vice President Chang, for 30 minutes, and Miss Charz will, um, assist you in the board chambers by putting a one minute timer for each speaker. Um, and do you need anything from me, Vice President Chang, or are you ready to go? I'm ready to go. Thank you so much. And, uh, thank you, uh, Yasmina for assisting and staff as well for supporting. We have 34 I'm sorry. Go ahead, Vice President Chen. Can I just address you really quickly? Um, based on a comment that was made here on Zoom. Um, yes, there is an opportunity to um to uh take comments here on Zoom. And so, um, Vice President Chang, what I would advise you to do, uh, because
011there are seven attendees who have their hand up online, um, which means that you'll need to have seven minutes for your online comments. And so if you could um if you could please uh make sure that within that 30 minute period. Okay, there are now eight com eight hands and we aren't going to nine hands and we aren't going to take any more hands because we are about to begin the public comment period. And so if you could please give yourself um uh some time to make sure that you will be able to get to your online commenters as well. Absolutely. That'll be 21 minutes for green cards and 9 minutes online and Liz will keep me on task as well. Thank you so much. Thank you. We're ready to begin. Great. Um so 34
012cards. We're going to start up with the students. Um we have one student here uh with regard to appears to be the college board. Um Zarya King, apologies for misprononunciation. Zariah King. Thank you. coming on to the front here. Good evening, um, school board president Brown, school board members, and superintendent Morell. My name is Zariah King, and I'm here to support the continuation of the Collegebound program, which is a vital part of the African-American success framework. Collegebound is a program dedicated to promoting college readiness for students throughout California. It offers invaluable services including college readiness classes, financial literacy workshops, and scholarship opportunities. I've been a part of collegebound for three years and my experience has been nothing but positive from the supportive friendships that I made and the connections I formed with the staff and
013my peers. As the president of Collegebound, I have seen firsthand how the Collegebound program uplifts students, offering opportunities to visit UC's, CSUs, and H.B.CU. Collegebound celebrates the academic achievements of its students and propels. Oh, oops. Um, thank you so much. Thank you. So next up we have regarding uh learns and bears again students first. Um thank you students first. So first Carlos Padilla then after that that would be Memphis Jones if you would like to prepare to come on up here for your one minute. And then after that, uh, Sana Jones. I'm Carlos Pia. I go to King Middle School. Please don't cut teaching jobs. These jobs are not just programs. They're the foundation of programs that have changed lives. Coach Sheret from Learns has been there for me when I need it the most.
014He's more than a coordinator. He's someone who shows up every day to help us feel supported and safe both in and out of the classroom. Isaia, Jacqueline, and Tanya are the leaders of Latinos Neos. They empower students like me to connect with our culture and lead with confidence. Their leadership makes us feel proud of who we are and capable of making a difference. If we cut these coordinator jobs, we lose the people who believe in us and help us thrive. Let's protect these vital coordinators and the people who make these programs possible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Carlos. Um, is Memphis Jones on in ready to come on up? Memphis Jones. Okay. Uh, if not Memphis Jones, then Savana Jones. Is Savana available to speak? So, we'll loop back at the end
015to see if you're available, but it looks like not currently. Um so next on up with regard to of we have um and again apologies for pronunciation also handwriting tonin pas is it gutier it is t o n a n t hello and analisa as well. Uh, one minute a piece, please. Hello, my name is Doni. I'm a sixth grader from King Middle School, and I'm here to support Mrs. Senny and OP. It has taken years of consistent advocacy to build the OP team we have today. One that is finally equipped to provide meaningful district-wide community. Even now that stretching over to color sites, Willard uh school lacks a full-time OP specialists and our preschools have no OP presence at all. Reducing staff by 3.0 0 FFT 50 25% will further strain this critical safety
016net and reverse progress we have made at a time when racism, homophobia and anti-quitis cynatism are of the rise of national Berkeley must not uh retreat from the commitment to equity. Families are being targeted mannerized of never before. We have already had families to keep their children from home from school due to the fear of ICE activity. These families have turned to OPI specialist not just from information to protection and support. Thank you. Thank you so much. And next line up is I'm headed. Hello, my name is Angel. I am a sixth grader from King Middle School and I'm here to support Mrs. Sena and Ofie. We urge you to keep Ofie fully staffed. OLE is not just a support service, it's a lifeline. They help connect families to essential resources year round, including toy
017drives, backpack giveaways, holiday gift cards, affinity groups at school sites, and emergency supports in times of crisis. Families regularly turn to OPI specialists when they are experiencing some of the most traumatic moments of their life. From deportation threats to death of a loved one, they respond because they have built relationships rooted in trust and cultural responsiveness. We urge the district to keep Oie fully stopped, expanded where needed, and stand firm in its commitment to equity, inclusion, and community care. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next on up, we have regarding contracts and budget. Again, kids, students first. Um, Livia Siphon. Livia Siphon, if you're ready. [Applause] My name is Livia Son. I'm an 11th grader in AMS at Berkeley High School. I'm here to say that we are beginning to step away from
018our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion with the decisions we are making in the budget. I'm here to advocate for our DEI programs that are made to support marginalized communities that could be impacted by budget cuts. Getting rid of these programs would take away many student support systems and sense of belonging. This is my first year taking the African diaspora dance class. There are two teachers in this class who have already been given pink slips. They have taught me so many things from dancing and singing to being mindful and confident in my own skin. Their absence would deprive our class of vital support they provide many students, especially those who want to study dance in college. Some people might argue that there are important priorities maintaining funding for DI programs, but I know from a
019student's perspective, these courses help students define and understand themselves. In fact, these classes are the ones that keep students engaged in their education throughout the day, especially for students like me, a first generation student of color. These teachers open endless doors for us, so why don't we open doors for them? Education is priceless. All right, thank you so much. Next sign up, we have another student, um, Isabel Ren Mitchell. Hello, my name is Isabelle. I'm in second grade at Thousand Oaks Elementary School. I think that our schools should be fully staffed in order to provide students with the help and and support they need. For example, sometimes there isn't enough teachers to answer everyone's questions about math. That's why I think it's important to fund our [Music] students. Great job. Thank you so much. On
020another topic, we have two students as well. Um, we have Maros Shabir. Where do I speak into this? Hi, good evening. My name is Maharosha Beir and I'm a student at Berkeley Independent Study. I'm here to speak on behalf of Miss Felca. I joined independent study in January and ever since Miss Falcara has treated me with nothing but respect and just kindness. Miss Fela has been such an amazing teacher and I'm always so engaged whenever I'm in her class. She's so passionate about what she does and she cares so much about students. You're not going to find someone like her. I know you want her to teach in person, but there's so much you're not considering. She's not just staying at home because she's lazy, but because she's taking care of her mother. By not
021allowing her to do this, you're turning your back on an important member of this community. And is that not what this this district values community? This decision is nothing but ignorant. I have seen that so many students love Miss Falcar and also love that her classes are online because they're so convenient. For so many students who struggle with their mental health and struggle to even get out of bed, having a class online is so makes it so much more easier for us and it's so accessible. And I speak from experience. Please consider what you're doing cuz we want her to stay. Thank you. Thanks so much. Next, next sound up, we have Michael Robinson, also a student. Is Michael Robinson here available? No. Okay. So, uh, we're going to swing back to our prior topic
022on learns and bears and see if Memphis Jones is available and Sana Jones. Cool. A minute a piece, please. Good to see you. Hi. Oh, do you want to pull that down a little bit? Thank you. Oh, you want Can it Can it move down? Yeah. Great. Hi, my name is Memphis. I'm in Sylvia Mendes Elementary. It's important to keep our staff and Anita. She helps me when I'm sad and has lunch with me when I'm lonely. She's so nice and lets me work in the office with her. Please keep bar. Please keep I know you can do it. All right. Thank you so much, Savannah Jones. Hi, my name is Sana and all right, you got it. Miss Anita is the best person. She helps me when I'm sad and she lets me have
023lunch with her and we just all love her. Thank you. Wow. Thank you so much. Thank you, Savannah. Great. Love having the students come up. And just double checking, is Michael Robinson here? Michael Robinson. Maybe later. Do we have any students online? Um, Miss Chavez, just one. Can we have that student speak now for one minute? Moral Walker, we're ready for you. Okay. Sorry. Hi. Hello. My name is Wall Walker and I'm a ninth grader at Berkeley High School. Um, I am here uh on the account of Baba MD and Mama Jessica who are in the Afroian dance class at our school and this is on the notice of them getting a pink slip recently. And I would just like to mention that um this is my first uh year taking a class like this,
024a dance class like this. And just over this whole this whole course of this whole year, I would just like to say that they have been such great mentors and teachers. It's not only their just professionalism but the community that they've built among the students like I feel that they are very respectable people they are very personal and in the way that they teach it feels like a family um and I'd hate to not see them in this program a part of this program next year because they've built such a like I've said a community and they definitely deserve respect for what they've done so I just would hate to see them be not included anymore. Thank you so much. Before I Thank you. Before I move to the adults, I'm going to call out
025for Michael Robinson student again. He had to go. Okay. So, um there's there is an opportunity at the end. You know, that will be a late night though, but he could certainly come back at the end or come online. Um so uh on the topic of um budget contracts broadly speaking I have some cards here. I'm going to call them out and please come on up one minute at a time. If you know that you have written on this topic please prepare yourself to come on up. First Molly Bluestin and then after that Erin Smith. Then we have Susan Warren as well. Good evening school board members and superintendent Ford Moral. My name is Molly Bluestein and I am a third grade teacher at Craragmont Elementary. This is my 11th year in this district. I'm
026also a proud parent of a kindergartner at Craragmont. As a teacher, I work from 8:30 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. and many unpaid hours before and after work. I ensure students start the day off right with breakfast and a safe place to learn and play. I prepare lessons and materials to ensure students can access the curriculum. I meet with other teachers and staff members to discuss how to best meet the needs of all students. We are all highly qualified, well-educated professionals and deserve to be compensated as such. Our salaries do not reflect the fact that the cost of living in the Bay Area is one of the highest in the country. The massive cost of employing contributions to our medical benefits only exacerbates the problem. We deserve to be able to afford in the area where
027we work to we should be able to afford to live in the area where we work. When compared to comparative districts, Berkeley ranges from dead last to below average depending on the step and column. I'm asking you to support increasing compensation. Thank you so much. Next on up, Aaron Smith. And then after that, Susan Warren. Good evening. My name is Aaron Smith and I'm a biology teacher at Berkeley High School. I love teaching. I love my students and my colleagues. And up until recently, I saw myself spending the rest of my career at Berkeley High. However, due to the lack of affordable health care offered, I'm going to be leaving the district at the end of this year. Last year, I was diagnosed with a serious progressive heart disease. Sadly, the insurance plan that grants
028me access to the health care that I need costs over $1,000 a month for just myself, not including all of my out-of- pocket expenses. This semester alone, I'm on track to pay nearly $10,000 in healthcare costs by June. Earlier this year, I was happy to see B USD establish January as disability awareness month. Awareness and representation is so important as we teach many students who themselves have disabilities. However, many employees with disabilities like myself are being forced out of this district by extreme healthcare costs, leading to be leading BUD unable to retain the very teachers they claim to want to uplift. Thanks. Thank you so much. Thank you. Sorry to hear about your health challenges. Next on up is Susan Warren and then after that I'm Shannon Amaral. Hello, my name is Susan Warren and
029I'm a proud member of the international school and academic choice communities at Berkeley High School. I'm here to ask for competitive pay to retain dedicated teachers like me and my colleagues and full compensation for IEP 504 meetings so we can support all BUSD students. As a teacher, I work 15 hours a week beyond the duty day, planning rigorous coursework for my IB and AP students, creating projects, and giving feedback. I hold office hours to support those who are absent and need help. I spend hours each week to support my 46 students who have IEPs and 504s and SSTs, all unpaid. And for a small portion of this, I'm eligible for inservice credit, which is nowhere near what anyone would call fair compensation. And the last six years, my pay didn't even go up due to
030the salary schedule. As a result of all this unpaid work, I don't know how much I can afford to do this job that I love. We need to be fairly compensated for our time and labor. Better conditions for us means better conditions for our students. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh, next on up, Shannon Amaral. And then after that, um, Dan Brownson. Hello, my name is Shannon Amarol and I am an ESN case manager at Rosa Parks Elementary. This is my 20th year of teaching and I am here to ask for full compensation for IEP meetings, SST meetings, and 504s. In my line of work, I must work beyond work hours to fulfill my duties. I have spent more than 142 hours of time this year beyond the duty day, completing paperwork for powerpoints
031and IEPs, personalizing lessons and activities for students who need services and accommodations, meeting with teachers to discuss this work before the duty day starts, during lunchtime, and long after the duty day has ended. I spend time coordinating meetings with a small army which can include a gened teacher, principal, sped supervisor, case manager, parent, speech therapist, occupational therapist, counselor, psychologist, physical therapist, hearing support therapist, vision therapists, often all of whom have to attend due to federal mandate. At Rosa Parks, we have 49 students with IEPs. We need to be compensated for our time, all of it. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Dan Brownson. And after Dan, Emily Han. Hi. Again, you've often heard my union, BCCE, talk about uh the issue of contractors. I'm not angry at the contract staff themselves, but I am angry at
032the companies that exploit them and rip off this district. Here are I'm not going to name any names since I've been advised to not do that, but here are an six examples. Company one charges us $108 an hour for occupational therapists. They pay those people $8250 an hour. Company 2 charges us $58 an hour for pair of professionals. They pay those people $26 an hour for the same position. Company three charges 118 an hour for school psychologists. They pay 90 an hour. Company 4 charges 65 an hour for pair of professionals. They pay 32 an hour. Company five pay charges us 55 an hour for behavior text. They pay 2350 an hour. And company 6 charges us 125 an hour for school psychologists. And according to indeed.com and Zip Crruder, they pay 50 an hour,
033pocketing the other 75. Thank you so much. Um, Emily Emily Han. Is Emily here? Oh, there. Here we go. Hi there. Hi. Good evening. My name is Emily Han. I'm a parent of students at Rosa Parks Elementary. First, I just want to give a huge thank you to all of our educators who are the reasons our kids have any stability during these chaotic times. I'm here because one way to support these amazing educators is also to support the school site administrators who supervise and support them. In the fall at Rosa Parks, we will have our third principal in six years. That level of turnover is disruptive for teachers, for families, and for our kids. I know that people leave the district for many reasons and I also know that our school site administrators are often
034asked to make magic with little support and resources. I'm here to respectfully request that the district provide better and more support for school site administrators, our principles, so that they want to stay in BUSD and our students and our educators have a measure of stability that they deserve. Thank you so much. So um we only have about 7 minutes and 52 seconds uh until we hit 30 minutes. So I'm going to jump to the other topic uh with regard to um uh teacher um retention. And uh we have Rupe Robinson. Is Rupe Robinson available? And Miss Chavez, how many folks do we have online still? 11. Okay. So, um uh President B in addition to uh because we only have eight minutes seven minutes left before we hit 30 minutes. Um an option is to
035either what would be your suggestion given we have 11 folks online and we have uh we have addressed um uh many of them. Can I help you a little bit? Yeah. What would you like to do? So, we have nine commenters online. Um, so our last public commenter will be Gabriella Martinez. And so my recommendation for you would be to go on to the online public commenters, giving each of them a minute. Great. Let's do that. Um, we've hit each of the topics. Uh, let's shift on to the, um, online commenters. Miss Tres, please. One minute each, please. Hi, I'm Evette Felara. I'm part of the Equal Opportunity Now by Any Means Necessary Eon BAM Caucus and an Independent Studies teacher. Berkeley has a long-held reputation of being on the cutting edge of progressive education.
036Teachers and support staff deserve a strong contract. Berkeley students deserve the best possible education. And we've even heard these sentiments expressed by this school board and this administration. But these words are empty if the board and administration do not match them with action. While people are facing um layoffs and losing their jobs and pink slips, we're also facing a crisis in independent studies. We're a small school and yet our online program is endangered. my position as an online teacher is has been um notified and told I've been notified I'm going to be cut as an online teacher and this needs to be reversed. It's really time that this board live up to its reputation and not just say the words, not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Thank you. Thank you so much.
037Can you um Yes. Thank you so much. Next, up next we have Mark Car. Good. Mark Carg Good. Mark good. We're ready to receive. Yes. Sorry. Can you hear me now? Yep. Okay. Uh Mark Argood. I'm part of Eon BAM. I'm speaking for a continuation of the online program and Iet Fela uh as the teacher in it. It's an irreplaceable program. There are many reasons why families choose to enroll students in it, why students in choose to be in it. the the concerns around bullying, the concerns around students who uh have uh issues around bully um I mean mental health issues ICE at schools uh concerns about COVID and health concerns in the family. There's no way to give these services if you have eliminated the virtual program. I know that Berkeley says that it
038stands for meeting each student's needs. That needs to be a reality. I know that Donald Trump obviously will be attacking that, does attack that will be attacking Berkeley, but consiliating that is only opening it up to more attacks and less services for the students. So, I call on the board to continue the online program and to stand up for the education and diversity of the students of Berkeley. Thank you, M. Thank you, M. Up next, Monnique B. Monique B. Okay. Can you guys hear me? Yep. All right. Well, good evening everybody. Good evening, President Kadia Brown. We have talked many times. We have rallied behind Fela. Miss Farca. She has been an excellent teacher that has helped so many vulnerable students in this community. And for you guys to say that the virtual program does
039not need to be here is you being a part of the opposition. You guys are saying that Berkeley don't have the money, but you guys said already that it's not a financial problem. So, let's be real about what it is that you guys are really saying about the virtual program. This is about the fact that you don't want one teacher who is making a difference sustain that difference with the most vulnerable population and the Berkeley community. You're turning your backs on the vulnerable students that need that support. And you can't go to sleep at night thinking that you did a good job knowing that you cut off the most best people that could change the world. I wish you guys would reconsider and actually do your jobs and find the money and find a way
040to make the virtual program stay for good and keep Miss Fela there as the best teacher because you know there's nobody else who will be able to do it. Okay, thank you. Right on the dot. One minute. Um Miss Chavez, up next is um Josie. Josie. Josie, are you available? Hi. Are you able to hear me? Yes. Hi, my name is Josie Halpernfinity. I am the parent of TK twins at Rosa Parks Elementary School. I'm here tonight to support full funding for teacher and staff positions across the district and for the school day and learns program staff at Rosa Parks who have been so essential to my kids experience at Berkeley school so far. I particularly want to ask that TK instructional assistants be given their own job classifications to recognize their unique work they
041do with our youngest learners. As my TK student Ira said, "What would happen in my class without Miss Christina?" That's all. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you, Miss Jarz. Next speaker is Fabiola. Thank you, Fabola. Fabola, are you ready? The char they appear to be present. I'm not able to promote Fabola, but I'm going to enable her microphone. Maybe she can speak from Fabola. Can you hear us? I can hear you now. I couldn't unmute. Thank you very much. I'm a parent uh or a former parent of a Berkeley High School student graduated in 2022 from Berkeley High. He's doing great at UC Santa Barbara and it's because of the great education he got at Berkeley High. you know, I'm in favor of the full funding for staff and for um administrative positions
042at at the school district. It's really important that that the administrative staff also is very important because they assist teachers and they assist in the running and the operations of an educational system like B like Berkeley Unified School District. So, please please some of you board members are union members, former union members and even um uh union members representing um uh staff representing um union members on the Alama County Labor Council. So you guys, I'm asking this, please support your union workers. It's so important. Thank you so much. So, um President Brown, we've we've just hit our 30 minutes. Um are there what would you how would you like to proceed? We continue on with those folks who are online still. We have numerous green cards here. Um there's also an option as everybody knows
043that at the end of the um meeting we also have opportunities for public comment that I do know is a long night. However, you are over this section. So whatever your pleasure is. Um great more hands online. There's three more. Why don't we how about we uh complete the three that are online to give them access in the same way that folks in person here were provided um opportunity to speak as well. Up next, we'll be hearing from King. King, we're ready to receive your comment. Thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Okay. Um, I am a parent of Zarena, I'm sorry, Zariah King, and she spoke on Collegebound and I'm just here to support that program as well. Collegebound is an an essential part of continuing equity in Berkeley Unified School District. Um
044the collegebound program ensures sustainability as part of the African-American success framework but also it is a day a data driven uh database driven program that has proven their success for all students. Um, as a fellow educator, a part of a different district, I would also like to just ensure that the board is in support of keeping staff. We are facing the same type of uh cuts, but it is important for the school boards to support our teachers. Just very very important in this um political climate that we are in right now. Thank you so much. Number two of the remaining three. Our last public speaker on Zoom is Tanya Kapner. Thank you, Mr. Charles. Good evening. Uh I am with the uh Eon Bam uh teachers uh civil rights immigrant rights caucus and we are
045here to say no to the cuts and yes to fully staffing the schools and we're here to speak demand that this board listen to the students and the parents and the teachers the classified workers the community that has spoken uh for the accommodation of maintaining the online program through independent studies Iet Felarca 's position is crucial. She is not only an excellent teacher and a fighter for students and rights and the progress of Berkeley that so many people have spoken to all these weeks, but this program is a real accommodation, a real sanctuary that families and students need. People have spoken to many of the reasons. The equal quality public education opportunities that she is providing online should not be cut from Berkeley. Berkeley should not seed to any of this push coming from the
046right wing to to to to to limit opportunities for accommodations for our immigrant students, for our trans students, for our families with health needs, the full range. The people have said it, just do it. Keep Evette Folar teaching online. This is the only independent studies online option. We have a fully online option in Oakland. Berkeley should as well. This is a basic right for accommodations for the community. Keep Evette Falaraa online. The students have said it better, but the community demands that you act in this manner. Thank you so much, Miss Torres. Is that all we have online? So, um, President Brown, we have on the other topic of contracts and budget. We have seven more green cards. Those folk could folks could potentially go at the end or would you like to We are
047now four almost five minutes over the 30 minutes. Should we give them a few more uh green uh minutes or what what do you suggest? Again, Vice President Chang, this is your period to run. So, you make the decision. What What do you What do you guys say now? You make the decision. I didn't say succumb to peer pressure. You make the decision. Raquel Baham, come on down. Good choice. [Applause] Great. Here comes Rael. Thank you so much. Um, Raquel, are you here? Oh, she go here. Hi. Sorry, I almost missed you. Thanks for coming up. Hi, my name is Raquel Bayham. I'm uh here Thank you. because um I'd like to discuss the proposed layoffs and budget cuts. Uh these layoffs feel punitive. We're all here tonight because we're passionate about what we do
048every day. The OPI staff often go well beyond and above the call of duty. The admin assistants regularly are supporting everyone from parents, students, principles, teachers, um, with experience, professionalism, and grace. It feels like we're being punished because the district has a hard time balancing the budget. The proposal to lay off Paula Phillips, the classified PD coordinator, is quite disturbing. She doesn't just make training arrangements. Um, she ensures that the district is compliant with state and federal regulations. She personally trains new hires and subs and on our complex systems. There are other ways to fill the holes in the budget. Cut overtime. Cut the extra spending like paying for out ofstate private schools. Substitute teachers are allowed to get paid for a full day if they work three hours, which in turn they're getting paid
049for two and a half days for technically working one day. I understand that most of you are relatively new, but there are ways to cut these to fill the Thank you so much. Thank you. Next on down we have Ver Diana Castro Sil Sylvia and right after that Hillary Trainer and please say to your one minute thank you I know there's a lot to say you can also email us Ver Diana Castro Sylvia and after that Hillary Trainer Hi there I would just like to yield my time. Thank you. You're going to seed your time. Okay. Um then is Hillary Trainer here? I'm also seeding my time. Okay. Hillary is also seeding her her time. And Lisa Billings, you seed your time. And then um Ariana Braa. Ariana Braa left. And uh John Dario. Is
050John Dario here? Nope. Josh Austin? I'll seize my time. Okay, you also seize your time. All right, looks like um we are done with public comment today. Thank you so much. Thank you, Vice President Chang. Um you are not off the hook yet. We still need to go to uh committee comments and then after committee comments, we need to do union comments. So, can you please do those? Do we have committee comments today? They get you get five minutes. Um any committee comments? SBACK audit DAC parent advisory gender G-Shack CTE African-American Advisory PTA Council BPA. Someone's coming up. Hi there. Okay, we have committee comment. Five minutes, please. Thank you. Yeah, I just want my name is uh Dr. Dr. Darlene Willis. Uh, and I wanted to first, uh, commend and give an appreciation to
051all of the partners in the African-American success framework, highlighting the life-changing work that they do for the African-American students in the district. And then I wanted to just quickly finish what President Zariah from our Collegebound program. What she was trying to do was to invite the board to our Collegebound finale program which is on um May 17th from 9 to noon where you will be able to hear about our wonderful year and our scholars will talk about the great work um for the year of highlighting and then they will also um our students like Zariah and her peers will reveal the colleges the prestigious colleges that they have been accepted to. So, we ask that you please come out on May 17th from 9 to noon in the Oxford Theater and you'll also hear about
052our resolution and recognition from the state of California. So, thank you so very much uh for allowing us to speak and kudos to President Zariah King. Thank you. Thank you. And congratulations on the um college admissions. Um, any other folks for committee comment? Bispira, construction bond oversight, equity and excellence. I don't see anybody here. Um, Berkeley Federation of Teachers. Oh, BCC first. Thanks. Great. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening board members, superintendent. Uh my name is Mo Sher. I'm the vice president of BCCE. Standing here with the president, Frank Brent Hernandez and our BCCE members. Uh on March 5th, we stood before you and said how we start this process matters because how we will end will define us. And here we are at the final meeting at the very end of this process. And the
053truth is how we choose to end it will speak volumes about how we are and what this district stands for. Since that meeting we've seen progress. The number of classified layoffs has gone from 166 down to 25. That shift is not small. That shift represents people who will now be able to pay their rent, feed their families, and show up to work without fear. And so, yes, we recognize the time, effort, and collaboration that went into rescending those notices. But I would be remiss if we didn't speak for those still hanging in the balance, still waiting to find out whether their service, their commitment, and their value will be recognized. But let's be honest, 25 is still too many. These are not abstract roles. These are the people who work behind the scenes to keep
054this district moving. The ones who greet our families, who translate for parents, who enroll new students, who run our school offices, support instruction in the classroom, who keep our programs running, answer emails, our technology working, our students learning and creating and growing. You don't always see them, but you always feel their absence. And if these cuts move forward, our students will feel that absence, too. As a wise woman's once said, if it was 15 students seen or heard, we must hold on to that program because that may be a small number, but we need to look at the value of that program to those students. This is exactly why these final decisions matter. Even when the number feels small, the impact is significant. But every student counts and so does every person who supports them.
055And beyond their job duties, these workers are human beings. Many are the sole providers for their families. Many rely on this job for access to health care. And we don't know what illnesses they may be managing, what conditions their loved ones face, or how devastating it would be to lose their coverage. This is not just about layoffs or reductions of FTEEs. This is about people's lives. This is Berkeley. A city known for its progressiveness, its uniqueness, its commitment to equity and justice. A city that prides itself on doing the right thing even when it's hard. That's legacy means something. It means we don't just talk about values. We act on them. We cannot afford to continue to be the district that says one thing and does another. We cannot become a place that turns its
056back on those who have dedicated themselves to our students year after year, paycheck to paycheck. It means we don't discard people who have dedicated themselves to our students simply to make the numbers balance. And that's why I bring us back to the second quote we shared on March 5th. It is crucial how we start this process because how we end matters. The decisions this board makes now will have lasting consequences, not just for the employees impacted, but for the students and families who depend on the services they provide. We must get this right. This is your moment to get it right. Because when we talk about equity in Berkeley, it cannot just be a buzzword. It has to mean protecting the people who support our most vulnerable students. It has to mean keeping the positions
057that center family engagement, bilingual access, student enrollment, classroom support, communications, and arts education. It has to mean understanding that classified staff are not extras. They are essential. We are the heartbeat of this district and we've stood by our students year after year. Now, we're asking you to stand by us. The final decisions are being made tonight. Let history reflect that we did not allow loyalty to be met with the pink slip. Let this be the moment we choose people over optics, equity over ease, and truth over numbers. So yes, we acknowledge the progress made, but the work is not done. Not while anyone is left behind. Let this district be defined not by who we cut, but by who we choose to keep. Let our legacy reflect courage, compassion, and commitment, not convenience. Because how
058we end will define us and it will define what kind of district we are and what kind of community we claim to be. Thank you so much. Next up we have BFT. Oh, no. I think it's coordination. Okay. Let me know when we good. Just organizing back [Music] here. That looks good. Hello, Superintendent Ford Marthell and the Berkeley School Board Directors. I'm Matt Meyer, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. I want to remind the board and the community that it is the work of BUSD educators and staff that allows our schools to thrive. Without our educators, those in this room, education ceases to exist. Regardless of the role, each person is necessary and is part of our whole system. Our students succeed when they are able to build relationships with caring adults in their
059lives. This is the instructional assistant, the bus driver, the afterchool coordinator, the school counselor, the intervention specialist, their principal, and of course, their classroom teachers. In order to maintain these relationships, we can't face layoffs year after year. Just isn't an acceptable practice. BFT has had four negotiation sessions with BUD. Although we have made 17 proposals so far, we have not heard any counters or proposals from the district, we sunshined over two months ago. BFT's proposals for our negotiations solve real issues we face. We have common sense solutions. For example, if a meeting with legal ramifications is scheduled, like an IEP or 504 meeting, they may end as much as 2 hours after the full workday has already occurred, people should be paid to attend. It is exactly the same work they would be doing during
060the day. If you do the work between 8 and 3:30, it's paytime. If you do it at 3:30 to 5:30, thank you for volunteering. Our child wearing leave policy should not force people into debt or take docks and pay. Sick leave should be able to be combined with the district contribution, and that contribution needs to go up. No one can survive on 25% of their income with a new baby or ever. If there are large classes, teachers need to be afforded more release time because they have more families and students to support. Again, common sense. There needs to be guard rails and conversations before the district implements any artificial intelligence tools. This is coming and we need to talk. I'd like to go further into two of our major proposals, and that's healthcare benefits and
061salary. For many of our members, especially those with families, health care benefits alone can be 10, 15, or even 20% of our annual income. Double-digit health care increases means that even when incomes increase, they're being eaten up with expenses outside of our control. The total compensation numbers provided by the district are deceiving because they don't show the impact on our take-home salaries, just the district contribution to the health plan. New hires are shocked and some don't end up signing contracts when they see how much they'll be paying out of pocket for benefits. These are people that have made it all the way through the hiring process. Additionally, our salary should be at least the average amount of neighboring districts. In January, the Center for of Economic and Policy Research recently released a report titled All
062Teachers Falling Further and Further behind, reporting that the average California teacher weekly wage has been flat since 2003, as the cost of living in California has increased significantly. In 2023, teachers in California earned 76.2 cents for every dollar earned by similar non-eing professionals. It is no wonder the esteemed learning policy institute has sounded the alarm in a recent report that the number of applicants into the teacher preparation programs are not even close to the labor market demand. The USD going to more job fairs will not solve this problem. Anyone looking for a job will look at our salary and benefits compare it to others at the same fair others that are presenting and most likely will not take a B USD job. According to the district's data, our veteran teachers make less than any other
063district in our county. The district needs to think much bigger about how its workforce is compensated. It is not acceptable to just shrug our shoulders and say, "Well, there's nothing to be done. Our profession is not sustainable. Our district has not made significant progress in closing the pay gap with neighboring districts, and the district must do a deep dive into how it spends its money. We are not budget experts, but we do know that many other districts with similar demographics have figured out ways to compensate its educators, and our district has to do the same. These petitions behind me show a commitment from our members that we stand united as we fight for the schools our students deserve. This is signed by almost every one of our members. Just want to be clear that every
064single site, district, TSA, preschool, it doesn't matter, right? They are all committed to our fight to make sure that we can provide schools, fully funded schools, that our staff isn't facing layoff notices and that we have compensation that we can, as you heard from other speakers, that we can get by on and that we really need in order to live and work in the Bay Area. Thank you. What do we want? Fair contract. When do we want it? Now. What do we want? A fair contract. Where do we want it? Now. When do we want a fair contract? When do we want it? Now. What do we want? A fair contract. When do we want it? Now. When do we want? A fair contract. When do we want it? Now. What do we want? A
065fair contract. Where do we want it? Now. Thank you everybody. [Music] Okay. Thanks so much. Thanks for your energy. [Music] Um, are there any other committee? Excuse me. Are there That's done. Oh, I'm see. Oh, here we here we come. We have uh local 21 coming up. I see you. Um, Miss Chavez, we have local 21 coming on up. Thanks, [Music] Local 21, I'm waiting for the rest of my union brothers and sisters. Yeah, take your time. Coming up while our other union brothers and sisters vacate on us. Okay. Good evening, board. Good evening, superintendent. Should I give it a minute? Oh, yeah. Can we keep the I I understand there's a lot of energy back there. Do you mind keeping the um voices down back there? Your your union brothers and sisters, Local 21
066is on up here. Thank you. Good evening board. Steve Collins with Local 21. I want to say real quick um well so the union with 20% of our membership on the final cut list here tonight and one in particular I wanted to raise um the board is being asked to vote on a 1.0 0 elimination for the PD coordinator and for this entire uh duration of the of this process we have been told that it is a 0.5 reduction and so I just wanted to get it on record because you are officially voting to eliminate 1.0 know, and there's there's some reasoning um why I'll let the the staff uh explain that to you all, but I'm going to let some of my members speak. Good evening, board members. My name is Paula. I'm the
067district's class 5 professional development coordinator. Samantha Tobias Espinosa is the program manager for the BEA fund and the associate superintendent of human resources. My position is the only classified position written into the bear plan to provide indirect services to students via classified PD. The associate superintendent of HR told me and the union that we don't think there's enough work for me to to work full-time and she's telling you tonight that I do not have enough work for a full-time position. And I want to put emphasis on the Wii part. She never asked me about my workload. So, who is the Wii who has decided that I don't have enough work? My interim supervisor hasn't been with the district long enough to make that determination. Did the program manager over the Bara budget make that decision
068on her own? Did she recommend this cut to the planning and oversight committee and tell them that it's the district's discretion how to use the funding regardless of what the measure says? Is she using BARE funds with fidelity? Probably not, because it's not the first time she has not used district funds with fidelity. Did she come to this conclusion because I've missed work due to working injured? What is the basis for her decision to eliminate my position? Because it sure as hell isn't because of a lack of work. The budget presentation talks about equitable cuts to balance the budget and uses certificated PD as an example. It is not equitable to cut the only dedicated position for classified PD. For the first time in the history of my 20 years with the district, staff are
069trained on new systems without having to rely on each other to figure things out. Tonight's resolution is to eliminate my position completely. It's not to reduce it. She said she intends to negotiate with the union to reduce my position to halftime. Well, I don't believe it any more than you should believe her claim that there is not enough work for me to provide training to the district's classified staff. It was crafty of her to eliminate my position completely instead of presenting it to you as a reduction so she wouldn't have to negotiate it upfront with the union. Eliminating my position under the guise that she intends to negotiate the impact and effects with the union is a bunch of bull and uns and unsubstantiated. There's no equity in what she's doing to the classified staff
070and others by eliminating my position. Hello, I'm Dante Gallen. Odo. I'll try to get through this quickly. Uh, it's deeply unfortunate that this board is set to vote on something as critical as our roles without having all the facts, especially from us, the very people who do the job every day. Once again, I'm here advocating for the role of the coordinator. Let's talk about misinformation. We've heard repeated claims that this position was a pilot. That is false. At no point during the job posting or onboarding onboarding was this role presented as temporary, trial or conditional. The narrative only appeared at the board meeting. This is not just a mistake. It's a misrepresentation that caused a lot of confusion to families and staff. We also heard that coordinators are not included in staffto student ratios. Again,
071I asked, if that is true, then how am I able to legally enroll 35 more students than I otherwise could? I do this by creating a classroom taking on students myself and extending myself beyond my job description. I have had 60 students by myself due to staff being out because I am a part of the ratio and I am committed to my school community. But let's be clear, I do this because I'm a supervisor. If demoted to a specialist role, I will not stretch myself thin to keep things afloat and neither will others. This position was created out of necessity. The previous structure where sites had no direct constant um consistent on-site uh supervisor wasn't working. We're told this role was an opportunity for classified staff to grow into leadership. Now suddenly the opportunity is
072being snatched away without proper evaluation, transparency, and care. We keep hearing about hiring a new manager when most of us haven't even seen the current one on our sites. And we were told the district was unhappy with the results of this so-called pilot. But we asked, "What results were you looking for? What metrics?" Because many of us, including myself, haven't even been evaluated this year or last year. So, you're making a judgment without any formal feedback or fair review. And here's what's being completely ignored. The department is capable of building revenue. The district's own projections show that we can bring in over 618,000 through adjusting parent fees. We've worked hard to develop our own strategic plan to support both program growth and funding, yet the plan has been ignored. Why? Thank you so much. Um
073certainly email those concerns. All right. Are there other um committee comments? Seeing seeing none, I don't believe. All right. Um moving on to Thank you so much for all the committee comments. Moving on to board member comments. I'm going to seed my time uh bearing in mind uh some meaty subject matter. Uh who would like to make comments first on the board? U director Vasadev. Sure. I'll keep mines uh brief too. So I know that we have a really important presentation tonight. Wanted to thank everyone who came to public comment tonight especially our students who came to advocate for specific staffing positions or impactful programs. I also want to thank our education workers, all of our education workers and various labor partners for coming to speak about staff retention, increasing compensation, and improving benefits. I
074um even though we don't respond to specific comments um I found one of the comments interesting on just AI and want to definitely connect with the superintendent about um AI and not only its impact to the our labor force but also to student learning and seeing how other districts are addressing this issue. I also just want to highlight some great events that recently took place. I want to give a shout out to our three amazing middle school jazz teachers. Um, last night I don't know if how many of you went in the audience or for the people watching online, the many people watching online. Um, but we had one of my favorite events that B USD hosts. It's a fundraiser for our jazz program at Yoshi's. So, I want to give a shout out to
075Mr. Roland Brown, Miss Nancy Boils, and Jonah Andrea for their amazing work with our jazz performers. Um, all of our students from the Willard King and Longfellow jazz bands were spectacular last night. Lastly, I'd like to give a shout out to a very special BHS student, Kareem Malaise. Um, he is the co-president of the BHS Neurodiversity Club and founder of the Disability Student Union. And I just nominated him to be my youth commissioner for the city of Berkeley. So, he's um going to start next week. very proud of Kareem and in his application he said he wants to evaluate elevate the voice of underrepresented students for our city and to continue his disability activism on the youth commission. So I wanted to thank Kareem for his service to all of our city of Berkeley's youth.
076So and that concludes my comments for tonight. Thank you so much. Um and I neglected to ensure that our student was able to go first. board director, Miss Clark. Would you like to go? Yeah, sure. Thank you so much. Well, good evening everybody. Um before I begin, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the voices we've heard during public commit public comment um committee and union comments tonight. Uh from the calls to continue funding the collegebound program to the heartfelt pleas to retain staff who have been life-changing supports for students, it's clear that this community is deeply invested in the well-being of our schools. And I've also heard concerns about the impact budget cuts will have on DEI programs and how that threatens the progress we've made towards equity and inclusion and how
077many have spoken about the serious challenges educators and staff face from the insufficient health care benefits to wages that don't match the cost of living. And these conversations are not easy but they are necessary and I want to thank every person who came forward to speak truth um to power tonight. Your voices are very essential. So tonight's meeting is definitely a difficult one. As we face the reality of severe budget cuts and the official notice of staff layoffs, I wanted to take a moment to recognize how heavy this is for our community and how these are not just job titles on a list, but these are people who have poured their time, energy, and hearts into students like me. On behalf of the student body, I want to say thank you. Thank you for the
078countless ways you supported us, challenged us, and believed in us. The impact you've had doesn't disappear with a budget decision. It stays with us students. And it shows up in the paths we take. And it's because of the unwavering support I've received from educators in this district. Teachers who pushed me to grow, who encouraged me to lead, who reminded me of my worth, that I'm proud to share that I will be attending Howard University this fall. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. I carry their lessons with me as I take this next step and I'm deeply grateful to be in this position because of the foundation that they helped build. And so looking ahead, graduation is coming up on June 6th and it's starting to feel real. For my fellow seniors who are listening, we are
079so close. I know senioritis has hit and trust me, I feel it too. But let's finish strong. Show up, turn in those last assignments and take care of yourselves and each other. We owe it to ourselves and to the people who supported us to cross that stage knowing we gave it our all. And so in closing, I want to say that even in the face of hard news, there is still progress, pride, and purpose in our community. We are resilient. We're hopeful. And we'll keep showing up for one another. Thank you. Thank you so much, director, and congratulations again on choosing Howard, the alma mater of one of our best, if not our best, Supreme Court justice. Um, are there other board members who would like to speak next? There's a little bit of whispering
080going on. Got it. Uh, I'll make a I'll make some quick comments. Um, I just want to echo what others have said. um offering many thanks to the community members, the students, the parents, and all of our union members who came out tonight, especially the people who shared really personal stories um in your advocacy for careful, thoughtful, and equitable budget decisions. Um I've said this many times and I will keep saying it. I am deeply grateful for every single one of BUSD's hardworking employees. I myself was a teacher in this district. I was a principal in this district. I've worked with many of you. Um I I ran an afterchool program early in my career. I I know firsthand the hard work that every single one of these roles requires and I am deeply grateful
081and the layoff decisions in front of us tonight are not taken lightly. Um having to close a nearly $8 million budget deficit is a really difficult challenge. Um and tonight is is one moment in that difficult um project. So with that um because I can't say it better than when said it. She was so eloquent, wasn't she? Um, I just want to say that I am really grateful that the superintendent and her staff will be presenting tonight about the budget and layoff recommendations before us so that we can um have a public um hearing of those recommendations and we can make informed and thoughtful and equitable decisions. Thank you. Thank you so much, Director Korn. Um, I think we have President Brown next on. Uh, I'll actually pass and see my time to the superintendent.
082Thank you so much, President Brown. Um, Superintendent. Good evening, B USD family. Director Chang, I still have comments. Oh, I'm sorry. I I'll Thank you so much for letting me know. Um, I apologize. Uh, I thought Director Schnosu is not on board. She is. Dr. Schnowski, would you like to speak now? Yeah, I just I'll be really quick. Um, I want to congratulate um our very own Wina and all the seniors um for making their decisions. Happy decision day. I loved seeing the pictures that came our way. I also want to congratulate uh both the boys and girls Berkeley High School swim and dive teams who won their um I think it was the regional uh finals last week. And I um want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. I'm really sorry I'm not
083there. I'm navigating a family uh emergency. Um and so my office hours tomorrow are scheduled from 3:00 to 5:00. At this moment I plan to be there. Um but please if you plan to come check the website um because that may change. And finally, um we're going to talk more about the budget later, but I do want to say to any of my union brothers and sisters that are still in the audience, um that solidarity is not just a word to me. It means really looking at the whole and not just individuals. And I think sometimes when we're faced with making these really difficult decisions, um, we get really wrapped up in our own interests, our own needs, and our own, uh, relationships. And so I urge all of us to take a step back
084and really look at the whole and stand in solidarity with each other. And that means to me true solidarity. So thanks. Thank you, Director Schnowski. And again, apologies. Um, uh, next one up back to superintendent. Thanks. That gave you guys some time to get ready. Here we go. Good evening, B USD family. Yay. Um, so this week is special because this week we celebrate our BUD teachers. This is teacher appreciation week. Um, we celebrate our educators every day, but particularly during this week, folks kind of kick it up a notch. Our schools have been decorating their walls and sidewalks with signs expressing appreciation and love. Parents and caregivers have been serving delicious meals, dropping off dectible treats, and students have been bringing flowers, probably being on best behavior, making beautiful bouquets in appreciation of their
085educators. Berkeley High has actually been raffling off prizes donated by the school community for staff all week, $100 cards, etc. Um, but we want to just say thank you. We see you. Appreciate you. You should have received a message from me. And a part of that message said that teaching is legacy work. Um that I believe that what you do goes beyond the present moment. Your work is not just about lessons and standards. It's about shaping lives. It's in the knowledge that you share, the relationships that you build, the daily interactions that spark curiosity and trust. It's in the way you create space for our babies to learn, grow, and sometimes for them just to be. You pour into our students with love, high expectations, and deep belief of who they are and who they
086can be. As a result, our schools and classrooms are more than places of just instruction. They are places where confidence is nurtured, potential is realized, and futures begin. They are places that set folks like Wenta, who was going to Howard University, HU, you going to learn how to say that say HU, you know, I'll teach you later. Um, but that set folks like Went on the path to to go and be and realize all of their amazing and potential. So, um, as a result of the hard work that you do every day, educators, um, our students definitely can achieve academic excellence and they do, not just in the future, but in current real time, make positive contributions to our world. So, a round of applause for our educators who are in the room and those
087who are outside the room and those who are in classrooms every day giving to and loving on our babies. I want you all to join me um in welcoming a new educator to the BUSD family. Um Vincent Tone as the new principal of BIS and BTA starting in the fall of [Music] 2026. He's not here. Just you're just joining me. Okay. So, Mr. Tone comes to us from San Francisco where he has been a middle school teacher, an ELD coordinator, an instructional coach, an assistant principal, a principal, and most recently a supervisor in the college and career technical education department. We are excited to welcome him to BUSD and look forward to the leadership that he will provide to our alternate alternative school programs. I also want to recognize that the board voted this evening
088to approve our next interim principal at BTABIS, John Fe. So, let me tell y'all, John's not new to the BUSD family. John just done came on back home. That's right. So, John, we want to say thank you and welcome back to uh BUD. Uh John is with us this evening and we wanted to just give him a special welcome and a shout out. We don't usually acknowledge interim folks but we had to say welcome home friend. So um at our last board meeting, I think the April 9th board meeting, um our staff presented a budget update to the board and identified about $3.7 million of budget balancing solutions from two phases of proposals that we had brought to our superintendent budget advisory committee. Um, at tonight's board meeting, we will hear an additional set of
089budget balancing solutions that were shared with the ESPback as phase three and phase four. After proposals three and four, the district has moved that much closer to our um, over $7 million budget reduction target um, with a difference of about 1.1 million. Our strategies to move towards our budget target are not just about reducing or eliminating expenses, but also have included taking time to find opportunities to increase our revenues. The ESBACK and other advisory groups have shared ideas to increase revenue or introduce new revenue streams to BUSD. And I heard some of the public commenters mention that they had some ideas and we've taken those ideas into consideration as well. In tonight's presentation, you will hear about revenue generating proposals that are under construction. Really just a couple, but you'll also hear about the different
090phases and conversations that our ESPback has been having to get us to that budget balancing target. Um, y'all know this by now. I love being the superintendent of BUSD. I love being here in Berkeley. We are an amazing district that does great and amazing things for our babies. None of us want to be in this situation. We've had another esback again this afternoon before this meeting and they are always really hard conversations for all of us to have. Um we have some difficult um decisions ahead of us, but what I've learned about Berkeley and what I've learned about BUSD is we can do hard and difficult things. I appreciate the work of so many in this room, um, our labor partners and others who have been a part of these conversations and really trying to
091make sure that we move towards that budget target, staying committed to our mission and steadfast in our progress towards equity, excellence, enrichment, and engagement. So, I do this every time, but I'm going to do it again this evening. I'm going to invite y'all to stay. Look around you, cuz the person next to you is probably going to be gone the next five minutes, but I invite you to stay. And I invite you to stay and listen to tonight's presentation. Not just because I like the company and I do like your company, but truly because I do, but truly because I think it provides another opportunity for us to move with transparency. Um, for us to share information with you, for you to get answers to some of your questions and otherwise for you just to
092engage in this important process. It is indeed crucial how we start this process because how we end defines us, Miss Mildred. And I believe that everyone in this room and those who are not in this room, every person who's a part of the B USDC family deserves to not just know the start and not just know the end, but really truly understand the conversation, the passion, the love, and the hard work that goes in between to get us to that end that is definitely going to define us. I believe that this process will define BUSD as a district that is truly committed to excellence, equity, enrichment, and engagement. That's tonight. Let me tell you some other things. We got some things happening next week. On Wednesday, May 14th, we are celebrating Asian-American and Pacific Islander
093History Month at Longfellow Middle School. It will start at 5:00 PM. There's going to be food, books, children's hoola groups, middle and high school API clubs, and much more. We invite not just the folks who are from Longfellow Middle School, but every single member of our BUSD family to celebrate and build community around the theme, what it means to be AA and PI in Berkeley. Community members are invited to visit a job and resource fair hosted by the Berkeley Adult School as well. This event will take place also on Wednesday, May 14th from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Berkeley Adult School located at 1939 Ward Street in Berkeley. That's it. Y'all stay in. I'm That's not believable. We'll see. Thank you, uh, Vice President Chang. That was the end of my comments. Thank
094you so much. Thanks for the reminder of the important month to API heritage month, history month. Um, thank you so much, Superintendent, and uh, President Brown, would you like to continue to move us through the agenda? I will. Thank you so much. You did a phenomenal job. Um, all right. We will continue with our agenda this evening. Moving to our consent calendar. We have uh 15 items on our I'm sorry, we have 19 items on our consent calendar. Is there a motion to approve? I move to do so. Moved by Vice President Changes. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Director Korn. Mr. Charis, can you please call the role? Director Vasv, yes. Director Clark, yes. Vice President Chang, yes. Director Korn, yes. Director Shinowski. President Brown. Uh, it is. Yes. Yes. For me.
095Um, is Director Shinoski still with us? I'm sorry. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All board direct directors voted in favor and this evening's consent calendar uh is approved. We will now move on to our one and only discussion item of tonight uh which is our budget update. Um, so this budget update should have been presented at the April 30th meeting of the board of education. Uh, but it was tabled for tonight to make sure that there is enough time uh for this presentation and that we give it um the time and the attention that it deserves. So, um I want to thank our uh associate superintendent Pauline Fallinsby as well as uh superintendent for Morell for your flexibility uh in being able to move this one tonight as well as the board directors who
096made the decision to table this item to uh this evening's agenda. So, as the superintendent shared earlier, the staff continues to work on uh budget balancing solutions to address the target for the 2025 2026 uh fiscal year for the district's unrestricted general fund uh with a reduction of $7.6 million, almost $8 million. Uh this amount remains unchanged since the first presentation that the board of education received, which was on April 9th. and the amount needed and it is the amount needed to ensure that the district has a positive certification while reducing a structural deficit. This target may change after a later date uh based on revision expenditures based on revenue assumptions and based on uh decisions and recommendations that are made by the board of education. Um it is important to know as we go
097into this budget conversation. There are many comments tonight um about the concerns for our budget, but it is important to know that we are not alone uh in our budgeting challenges and or what I'd like to call a budget crisis across the state of California. Luckily, um we are trying to deal with uh $7.6 million. Uh, and the reason why I say luckily is because when I think about our neighboring districts who who have deficits of 40 and $35 million, uh, we are in not in the best financial position, but we are in a much better position uh, than many of our neighboring districts. However, it doesn't take away that this is al also a difficult time for BUSD. And so, I'd like to invite our staff to come at this time uh, first thanking
098them for um, all of the hard work that they've done and uh, the work that they've done in preparation for this evening. thanking our community partners, specifically our ESPback, um, as well as our other committees who have weighed in on this budget. Um, and thanking our board directors who will hopefully ask thoughtful questions and make thoughtful recommendations so that we can, uh, work together to get to a balanced budget. Uh, with that being said, I will turn it over for this evening's presentation. You may begin whenever you're ready. Thank you, President Brown, and good evening to the members of the board and the members of the audience who are still with us and those who are joining us virtually. Um, we are going to start this presentation as we do um, all others. And that's
099really um, grounding us in our shared mission here in BUSD, which is to enable and inspire our diverse student body to achieve academic excellence and make positive contributions to the world. And I think that that mission statement and starting with that and our four E which are to the right, excellence, equity, enrichment and engagement are important because as our president said, we are facing um some challenging times fiscally. Um but we are committed in B USDC that we continue to hold and move towards this mission statement even as we are required to do so perhaps under uh different resource allocations and under tighter restrictions. And so, um, as we engage you in this conversation this evening, we are going to talk about some possible opportunities to balance. We're going to talk about revenue generators, but
100we're also going to make it clear that we're always talking about our commitment to this mission and that a change in our revenues um, does not at all deter us or make us think that we do not still need to move towards this ambitious mission. So, I wanted to ground us in that. Thank you for that uh introduction, Superintendent Former. Um so that Miss Chavez will be able to um uh follow along and so all of us there will be able to follow along. Can you please tell me how many minutes you all need for this presentation? I believe it was 60 minutes last time, but has that changed? 60 total, but yes. Okay. Miss Travis, can you please put an hour on the clock? No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. No, we had a
101member of our community say go faster. No, no. Oh, please put 60 minutes on the clock. We are ready to continue. Thank you. So, in tonight's presentation, we want to highlight um a few things. We're going to talk about uh remind the the public and the board about the target, which our president has already spoken about. We're going to share some highlights and updates um around our work to move towards that target. We're going to be summarizing some of the proposals that have been considered in our ESBACK and those are both a combination of proposals to reduce or save costs as well as proposals to uh generate revenues. Um I apologize there is an error on this agenda. We were prepared to share um our generation revenue generating ideas for both transportation fees. We will
102speak about that this evening. However, our um ideas to generate revenue via afterchool charges will be uh saved for a separate presentation that will focus um entirely on our afterchool program. And so I wanted to make that note to the board and the public. We're also going to provide a brief update on our March 15th reduction and force notices. You might recall that we did a more detailed presentation um on those notices, what they are, why they are um and how decisions were made around who to notice um a couple weeks back. And so this will be a brief update. And then finally, we're going to share some next steps and then share with our community some ways that they can stay engaged and informed in this budget process beyond tonight's meeting. So, as our
103our president reminded us, we uh do have a budget balancing target of $7.8 million and that is reflective of a target of 7.6 ongoing and then $.2 million additional for 2627. Um again, this target um was the target shared some time ago and it has yet to change. We are still waiting for information from um the state in terms of revenues and ways that that might help us be able to move um more efficiently towards that target. As we engage in these conversations regarding the target, be it with our ESPback, be it amongst ourselves as uh staff members and cabinet members and as well as with our other advisory committees, we're really clear that this is again hard conversations, but that there are no solutions. There are oftentimes just tradeoffs. And so that's what makes
104these conversations really challenging. We do so many amazing things here in Berkeley. We love our programs. We love the services we provide. We love our people. And of course, we love our babies. And as we move towards this balancing target, we have to ask ourselves um some really hard questions about how do we do it? Again, keeping integrity towards our mission statement, but also what are we going to stop doing? What might we start doing or what might what might we do differently? Sorry. As we engage in these conversations, wanted to just highlight for you all um a a a visual of the phases of the development of the budget. Our goal ultimately, my goal is to come before you as the board of education with a balanced budget for your consideration and approval in
105June. In order for us to get there, we start with a really clear vision. And that vision is again rooted in that mission statement and those four E that I shared with you earlier, as well as some core values of resource allocation that I'll share momentarily, as well as some clarity around how we move and what conversations we have to get towards the target. What we do a lot of over the weeks and months after that and what we continue to do even as early as today's ESPback meeting is to really compile and evaluate costs look for evidence of effectiveness do comparative analysis around programs and services and activities um that exist currently in our budget. We also at the same time consider and explore opportunities for cost savings and revenue generators that are aligned
106to our priorities and our mission. And then we always make a point to discuss any type of impacts on our communities. After we've done that and that that the analysis and the proposal options are again ongoing over weeks and months, we move into making recommendations. The ESPback in fact makes recommendations and the ESBACK is comprised of representatives and leaders from various advisory committees, various community members as well as our labor partners and staff and together they make recommendations uh for myself and the cabinet around which of these proposals they think we should advance to be included in our final budget. I want to stress that the ESPback does not make the decision or put together the final budget, but they are our thought partners and our accountability partners as we move to do so. Finally,
107again, we um have a goal of bringing to you, the board of education, our balance budget proposal for the 2526 school year in the month of June. Um I talked about the first part of this uh phases of development is really establishing a vision for the work and and getting some parameters if you will around how we're going to engage in the work. And so sharing with you all publicly our B USD core values of resource allocation. These core values are the values that ESPback uses um to engage in conversations around how we're going to move towards our target. And these values are important. They um highlight the need for equity, transparency, excellence, engagement, sustainability, and stability. Additionally, we want to be aligned in our thinking around how to move towards the target. Aware that
108the work that we do here in service of our babies, in service of that mission statement that you all have heard now repeatedly um in these board presentations that there are um a lot of different aspects and components that go into making that real and true. Of course, we understand the value of direct service. Examples of direct service might be a classroom teacher or a wellness staff, interventionists, and bus drivers. We also recognize there's a value and a need for indirect services to realize our mission as well. Examples might include professional development for teachers and wellness staff, computer science program coordinators. Again, these folks might not directly and regularly work with students, but they do provide important services either to the teachers themselves, work with our students, or sometimes to the students themselves. We got
109to keep the lights on. So operations is often something that folks forget about um but is necessary when you're thinking about balancing a budget and also necessary to move again in service of a mission. Examples of um operations are technology, student transportation, student nutrition, facilities, and custodial services. And then finally, this committee is always thinking about and this cabinet is always thinking about um what else goes into um realizing our mission and we recognize that administration is important as well. That's our customer service aspects, our systems, our structures. Examples can include human resources and business services. So, as you engage and hear us talk about proposals, please know that our ESBACK not only thinks about core values of resource allocation, but also recognizes the complexity and the interconnectedness of the various parts of a system
110that are required to really serve our babies and move us towards our mission. The last thing I want to highlight um similarly in that vision area of the phases of development is that we do have um a blueprint if you will or um um some steps that we take to balance our our budget. Um we oftentimes start with evaluating and removing vacant positions. In fact, that's the first thing we did this year as well as the first thing we did last year. We made a very similar significant set of reductions um and balancing acts to our budget. The very last thing we want to do and the very last thing that you will see that we do here um in these conversations is consolidate and reduce positions and programs. In between those two um are
111another set of steps, but they are in no particular order. We definitely take time to look at and evaluate our program costs and make sure that our allocation the the numbers that we've encumbered actually match what we are spending. We call that trueing up the cost. We look and see where we can eliminate expenses that are covered in other funding sources. We evaluate annual unexpended funds. We look for inefficiencies in our system, identify examples of programs, positions, services, etc. where we are duplicating efforts and can be more efficient. And then we also see if there's places where we can transfer expenses to other funding sources. That particular step makes me pause and note that the presentation that you're going to hear this evening is really focused on our unrestricted general fund and that is the
112fund with which we're trying to make um we're trying to balance by 7.8 8. Of course, the district has a number of other funding sources um that feed into and that support programs, people, and services that we provide. However, this night's we're only going to focus on our unrestricted general fund. With that, I'm going to pass it to our assistant soup of business services, Pauline Lansby, who's going to speak more about the target and our work to move towards the target, highlighting proposals um from our superintendent's budget advisory committee. Thanks, Ana. Um um we will be um I'll be focusing on the target and trying to um share with you um steps we've taken to actually meet the target. So on this slide um we're looking at where we actually ended after looking at phases
113one and two. So the board has already received this information and we'll be going back over this um with in more detail in subsequent slides. So um the target was shown here at 7.6 um 7.6 6 million and then in phase one we initially presented that to ESB back on February 26th and at that point we thought we had $1.3 million in budget balancing solutions. However, we had to revise some of the um numbers that we had come up with by $211,000. So phase one ended up being $1.1 million. We also presented phase two at the February 28th meeting. And after looking at the both of those phases, our target that we needed to close a gap was $3.8 million. See, I told you I could never do it. Sorry. So, um, with that, um,
114I've actually given the board a handout. Um these slides are very small and kind of difficult to read. So if you look at the handout that I shared with you, um it goes into the detail of the $1.1 million that I referred to in phase one. And we need to also note that after this meeting actually it was at our um SBA meeting we had to revise this based on some of the recision um the positions that were re were rescended but right now this is the um the information before recisions. So um for those I think you can kind of see it but um we mentioned the different balancing solutions that we um that we um focus on. So we look at closing and removing vacant positions. So the first three solutions um on
115in phase one actually did exactly that. We looked at um evaluating and and closing the equity and belonging director the director of equity and belonging um and that was vacant also an RTI TSA and we also reduced um the 1.0 tech position HR tech position to a 0.5 position. So I'm not going to read each of these but they're listed here um for your review. Um and then we also um looked at various programs and eliminating expenses that we thought we could um we could we could remove from the program without an impact. Um other other um approaches that we took, we consolidated and removed positions and then we also eva um transferred expenses as in the case of the last item um above the summary for the executive assistant. We reduced it um to
116a 0.5 um funding and that in that case we actually transferred expenses. Also to note on this um on this slide um we have considerations and then we list the impact not only to the unrestricted general fund but also to the um ongoing to the to the general fund one time to the unrestricted general fund. We also looked at BP other programs BP um and bearer and other funds. So for full transparency, some of these approaches did not impact the general fund, but it's listed here for full transparency and we're focusing on the $1.1 million that impacted the general fund, whereas we're actually listed 1.3 $3 million. So if you look in the consideration columns that totaled 1.3 million but the impact to the general fund um was unrestricted general fund was 1.1 million. So
117that actually counted towards our target um below on the same slide and it's kind of difficult to see um is it on that slide? No. So let's go to the next slide. So um before we get to phase two actually there were there were various items that we um we shared phase one with ESPback and they had some questions and some things they wanted us to bring back and that had to do with three positions that we had proposed. So that was um a part of phase one. Phase two was a more straightforward approach. In this one, we're looking at the impact of the change in enrollment and attendance and the impact that it had on our teacher template as well as the staffing for our classroom teachers. So, when we looked at the teacher
118template and this was in addition to the increase in enrollment, we also changed the formula and this is this was all shared earlier. Um, we were buying down the share from 34 to1. we increased it to 36 to1. So we got an additional $1.4 million um as a result of this tweak in the teacher template as well as a change in enrollment. And along with that we had to um provide staffing for additional teachers. So the net impact of that was 1.1 million. And then because of the increased enrollment we could actually look at the impact on ADA which is how we're funded with LCFF. So that actually gave the local control funding formula. So that actually gave us another $1.6 million. So phase two with those three um proposals actually gave us $2.7 million.
119So that's the summary of phase phases one and two. So before going to phase three again, phase one and phase two was uh highlighted to the board some meetings ago. wanted to make sure that we are transparent around um how these proposals come into the various phases. Um and so one way that that happens is that again we're clear on the target. We also are clear on those strategies and staff has conversations around which and how we might implement those strategies and we bring those to ESPback as a proposal. At the same time, it's important to know that many proposals also come from ESPback themselves, ESPback members themselves, and that they are also looking at the various strategies that we use to move towards our budget balancing target and they make suggestions. We then as
120staff explore those suggestions and bring back information for all of these proposals. Um, we bring them back, we bring them to our ESBAT committee and we engage them in questions. We share information. We share data that they might request so that when it is time for them to make a recommendation on whether or not that particular proposal should be advanced, they feel efficacious in doing so and feel like they have the information they need. But wanted to make sure it's clear that these recommendations or these proposals, sorry, um are coming from a number of sources. And we've even taken proposals for folks who are not quote unquote official ESPback voting members, but send us things they would like us to explore through other advisory committees and even more recently through our budget balancing survey that
121we sent out to the entire Berkeley community. Okay. So um so this takes us to phase three and phase three was presented um to at ESPback um on April 16th and with that we actually um scored $1.3 million in ongoing budget balancing solutions for the unrestricted general fund but we also scored $500,000 um for one-time solutions. Obviously, our goal is to focus on ongoing solutions and to the extent we're looking at one-time solutions, we have to revisit that um in the following year. So, we're basically kicking the can down the road for one-time solutions. So, after phase three, we actually ended up with $2.1 million in budget balancing solutions. And on the next slide, um we could look at some of the proposals that were included in phase three. So in phase three, we introduced
122um the furlow days for employees earning over $125,000 per year. And at that point, we looked at um a savings. This is where we're starting to see the one-time um budget balancing solutions. Um we we the total impact that we considered was $61,000, but you can see only $350,000 um actually impacted our unrestricted general fund and that was on a one-time basis. Um, some of the other things that we looked at, um, we started to look at our programs in a little bit more detail and we looked at our college readiness programs and we also looked at our targeted groups. And with both of those proposals, we're looking at about $500,000 in savings. and we continue to work through um both of these proposals and bringing additional um additional detail to ESBAC um and um
123that was done at our meeting this evening. So we also looked at um revenue generators. So I'm just highlighting a few of the things on this um on in phase three. So the superintendent has mentioned um that ESBAC members actually um bring suggestions to the um bring suggestions um at ESPback that we will continue that we work on and we explore. Transportation was actually floated as an idea pretty earlier on in the meeting and we're now revisiting that. No, this was actually no sorry this was actually field trips. So, this was a proposal that was shared earlier and we were looking at um increasing field trips, the rates charge for field trips by $60,000. And then we're actually also looking at increasing the district rental rates. Um and we thought that would give us a
124$47,000. So, um those were those three proposals. um the expenses as well as revenues, we're looking at $1.3 million and that was for the unrestricted general fund. Um so the next slide um kind of focuses on the nonrestricted general fund. Next one we split that one in two. Sorry. And this I'm just following along and you guys can follow along on the sheets that we shared with you as well. So, the non non um unrestricted general fund, those proposals totaled 9 $920,000 and they're listed here. Um some of the things that we could do um would be uh no, that's the curriculum adoption. Sorry, I'm looking at everything. But, um we're looking at the various positions. is the vice president of the ECE that's vacant that we were thinking of closing and removing that position.
125But in total, we were looking at um $920,000 of proposals. And again, this does not directly impact the unrestricted general fund target, but again, it's shown here for um for transparency. Um then we can take and if there no should we take questions or we take them after? You can take them after, right? You might. Yeah. Last place. Okay. So then um then we looked at phase four and at phase four that was presented at the April 23rd meeting and we looked at sorry an additional one $1 million in budget balancing solutions. Um and at uh after phases one through four where we needed a $1.1 million to close the gap. Next slide. So again um looking at phase 4 in a little bit more detail, you can see some of the things that we
126were looking at. Um we explored reducing our investment in our partnership um by about um $35,000. Um we were eliminating the program supervising sped and this was done after discussing this with the sped supervisor and that would score about $198,000. And then we're thinking about um reducing our and monitoring and tracking discretionary budgets. We usually have a significant balance at the end of the year. So we're thinking we could score $225,000 in monitoring that um particular um budget um across um various departments. Um on the next slide and this is on your same page so it's kind of um difficult. This is where we actually started to look at other revenue generating ideas including the transportation charging a fee for hometoschool transportation and for nonB USD after school programs and that fee would be um
127we're looking at a dollar a day initially and that would be for our non unduplicated students. So, it's it's very important that we realize we would not be charging our unduplicated students this um transportation fee and that would be our English language learners, our students that are eligible for free and reduced as well as our foster youth. So this these um two proposals would actually require additional staffing probably a 0.5 to monitor and um and um tra track track the administrative costs. So the net impact of those are actually shown as new revenue ideas. Um we also talked about introducing an SDC class um hiring a new teaching position and this is as a result of um the additional students that are coming in to our SDC classes um between TK and two and that
128would be a cost because we'd have to hire an additional teacher. So the the um the impact of that is 1 million20776 and that's for the unrestricted general fund. And we also um looked at nonrestricted general fund um proposals and that had to do with increasing the fees um for the afterchool program but we will not be going into that into deta in detail tonight and it does not impact the unrestricted general fund. Next slide. So as we move towards the target, you can see that we have um the various approaches um and the the different dollar amounts that we actually scored. So when we're looking at closing and removing vacancies, we looked at $1.3 million. Same thing when we were trueing up um program costs, eliminating expenses gave us.5 million. um evaluating annual unspent
129funds. 2. Um when we're looking at programs on trying to reduce inefficiencies, we scored a 0.1 million. Transferring expenses 4 and consolidating and removing positions was.7. And of course, our revenue um which is in this box by itself would score an additional $2 million. Next slide. So this is summarizing our strategies and what we did actually in various phases. Um in the four phases um this is like a um a um a representation by in just um a slide deck in terms of not a graphic representation which the for the previous one was. This is just a chart that shows you the different um approaches. So um it's basically a repetition of what we did before and on the next page. So that's the summary of phases one through four along with our strategies and
130we have discussed those on earlier slides. I think something else that's important to note is again we we keep saying the word proposals and we keep saying phases and we're wanting to be really clear that there's been no uh final decisions. the final decisions will be reflected in the balance budget that we bring before you in June. Um want to also stress that you heard uh Pauline mention that for phase one we had anticipated um a certain um number in terms of our our move our progress towards the balancing of the budget and then that number has since changed and that again is because as we go through this process thinking about those developmental phases those phases of development that I showed you on the slide earlier on the analysis and the proposal options is
131the place that you stay in for some time. And so what that means is that we submitted a set of proposals for phase one um that we discuss with ESPback but we don't just stop after the discussion happens or that phase is uh passed and we go to another phase. We're always analyzing we're always looking at data. We're always considering impact and in doing so we might then come back and make a change to a proposal or might actually remove something from one of the phases altogether. And so I want to put an asterk um with that comment because when we come to you all um for future updates again you might notice you might say hey we saw that in phase two you all scored or you allocated 2.3 towards the target and now
132it's saying it's only two again we stay in this um analysis phase um throughout the process until we're ready to finalize the budget. I think that is some good news in that it does allow us to then continue to be reflective, continue to think about impacts, not just um immediately when we first propose it, but also later down the line when we get more information and more input from stakeholders. And it also gives us a chance again to be really mindful and thoughtful um around the decisions that we're making because we know these are hard decisions that inevitably will have an impact on our work um towards our mission. want to do the next steps. Um yeah. So um so as um with phases one through four, we've actually um done the straw polls with
133ESPback. So they have not voted finally on these. We just kind of um did a straw poll to determine which proposals they wanted to move forward and some of the things that they um that they needed additional information on before voting on moving it forward or not. Um they wanted additional information on our college readiness targeted groups office of family engagement restructure as well as the afterchool program reorg some of these do not impact the unrestricted general fund and in our meeting um today's meeting just before the board meeting we actually provided additional information and our goal is to actually have ESPback vote on these proposals as also do a ranking in terms of if we um receive additional funding, which of these proposals would they um not want to move forward or which ones
134would they remove? Um so we are now going to move to discuss uh some of those revenue generators that we mentioned. Again, as Pauline said, um initially some of these actually came from our ESBACK members and then we as staff also brought uh these ideas, addition additional ideas as well. Um we are again tonight only going to speak about the opportunities to generate revenue via transportation. We know that folks are interested in and the original agenda had us providing updates or information around how we might generate revenues via after school program costs. We are ready to engage in that conversation, but we've decided to not do it in this presentation as it does not have a direct um impact on the general fund, which again is the focus of tonight's presentation, but we will be
135coming back with another um afterchool presentation that includes this information as well. But wanted to make sure the public knows that we we've heard that feedback and we took that idea and actually have some really exciting news to share about how we what we've learned as we've further developed it. Yeah. So um looking at our transportation program what we have on this slide is actually um information from ED code in terms of the justification for charging transportation. So um it lists why do we charge fees? We may charge fees to help offset the cost of transportation as a source of revenue and actually if we believe if we believe transportation is necessary, practical and economical. On the next slide, um we actually took looked at data and this was 23 24 data. We looked at
136how many um students were riding the bus, whether they were gen ed or sped and we got a grand total and then we looked at um we we we removed the non-ele students and then we applied um a 30% rate for up which is a which is our factor. So we reduce those students. So after deducting the 464 from the 1545, we're looking at about um 1,081 students that would be charged the dollar a day um for transportation. And when looking at that and the um the length of this the school year, we're estimating that we would um receive $195,000752. So um and we have to reiterate that it's not for unduplicated students. It's not for our students that receive um free and reduced meals or English learners or foster youth. Next slide. And then
137we also got some data from our transportation department um in terms of students who participate in our non Berkeley after school program and that number um being that was what was that um and then after reducing the non-ele students and again doing the upp percentage um oh I'm on the wrong side that's what you were saying thank you sorry So, um, we're looking at 535, um, nonB USD programs, and we estimated, um, at a dollar a day, we would get 96,835. Next slide. So, um, looking at the dollar a day, we looked at a potential revenue of $291,000. Of course, if we increase the amount to $2 a day, that would actually generate $582,000, but we have to deduct the impact of the additional staffing. So, we wouldn't see the increase in revenue of 482.
138It will be 482 less the cost of the um of the FTE. Um I will also add that again B USD sent out a survey to um members of the community includ inclusive of staff um our our secondary students as well as families and caregivers in our elementary um and middle schools. Um this was this particular proposal was um on the survey um both for the proposal to charge money for afterchool transportation as well as the proposal for daily uh transportation costs. Um, I will say that the the more popular of the two was the charging for nonBUSD after school transportation. Um, that said that the the folks who responded regarding just the daily transportation, there was over 25% who supported that idea. Um, but that again was without them having the information that we're
139hoping to clarify here. Um, that it's not going to be a charge that's assigned to all students. Um, but specifically those students who do not qualify or do not are not identified as undup unduplicated pupils. And so Pauline has already explained uh who those students are. Finally, so that we can get to you all's questions, we wanted to provide a brief update regarding our March 15th notices. Um we've we've shared in a previous uh presentation um that one of the issues in education is that the budgeting timeline does not match up with the timeline or the respectfulness to let folks know in advance and give them enough time to find alternate employment should they have to because of budget changes in the district. Um, as you all know, we are still very much in the
140thick of understanding our budget. And that's not just because we and B USD are trying to figure things out, but it's also because we, like other districts, are waiting for the governor's final uh decision to tell us how much revenue, how much money we'll be receiving. Um, absent of that, we've been proceeding with the information that we have. Um, we do have uh what's called a governor's update, I'm sorry, the May revise, which is coming up in the month of May. And so we are hoping to be able to come back with more information and hopefully better news um with where we are budget-wise. We did share again at a previous meeting that um there was a potential of BUSD receiving a block grant um to the tune of $3 million, but we were asked
141to not at all include that in our budget target. And so we haven't done so. And we are aware that even if we receive that grant, it might not be for that full three million. And so um we are still waiting to get a lot more information. We cannot have our employees and our staff wait until May or until June when you approve the budget to know um if they're uh going to have a position in BUD or even what the FTE of that position will be. And so by law again, we are required to notify staff of the potential um in what's called March 15th notices. Again, we shared with you all at the last presentation, these notices are not just for folks who might be um getting a layoff or reduction in their
142FTE. Um, a number of these notices specifically for our certificated staff um identify the fact that they might be reassigned. So, they still have a position but might be um serving the babies in BUSD in a different capacity or at a different location. This particular slide is just because there's a lot of interest in understanding the breakdown of the entirety of staff here in BUSD. And so this slide lets you know um what percent we have that are administrators at our sites as well as our administrators at our central office classified management certificated sitebased management etc. So this is just a information slide for those who might be curious about um our resource allocation and particularly our staff makeup. Reminding you all that about 80% of our budget goes to people goes to positions. This
143is people business. Um so with all of that in mind wanted to provide you an update. We did uh give out 182 March 15th notices to our classified personnel. Um for classified March 15th notices, the only option is a layoff notice. And as you've heard in previous comments and even in our previous presentations, that is typically for lack of work or lack of funds. For our certificated staff, we noticed 191 um of those people and those were combinations of different types of notices and those are outlined in that second line there. Again, the majority, 133 were about reassignment notification. Um, 36 of them were for folks who are temporary or non-reelect. Many of those being people who knew they were on a termed contract and expected that that contract would end at the end of
144the year. And us just being gracious to remind them of such by using the March 15th um as a tool. And then 22 of those notices were certificated uh PKS, which I just forgot what it meant, particular kinds of services. Thank you. Um, also wanting to note that both for those classified and certificated notices, those were across all of our bargaining units. Um, as well as representative unrepresented employees as well. And so those are our folks who many of whom are in central office who do not uh who are not a part of any labor group. our update this afternoon and some folks during public comments kind of stole our thunder, but um what I said during our last presentation on this on this topic is that we were committed to rescending as many uh
145notices as we could as soon as we could and doing so in real time. So since that last presentation as of today for the 182 classified notices that were uh sent out, 147 of them have been rescended. There are some that are still outstanding and I want to be clear that five of those are outstanding um because we are still waiting for confirmation as those uh positions are on what we call soft dollars and you might recall that we explain what soft dollars um are at a previous presentation. That presentation is on our budget website if you are curious of what those are. But essentially it means that those are dollars that BUSD does not have direct jurisdiction over. And so we need to wait for those folks who do have jurisdiction over those dollars
146to confirm and approve they're going to use those dollars for those positions and then also make sure that they give us the funds to do so. Um, of the 22 particular kind of service notices that we gave out to our certificated staff, we've already rescended 19 of those. Um, and we are again working hard to rescend more both in both categories. Um, per education code, we must issue final notices prior to May 15th. And a part of that is us coming to you all this evening as we have um with that much reduced list of positions for you to vote on. That said, even after today's action or even after you vote on um those those layoffs, it doesn't mean that it's over. we still have the opportunity to do what we've been doing which
147is the analysis and the iteration phase and we can still resend notices after the issuance even of the May 15th final notice. So I wanted to make sure that the the public and the board is aware of that as well. Finally, again our president called out this to be the season of transparency which very much resonates with our core values of resource allocation and so I want to conclude by reminding folks of different ways that you can stay informed and engaged. We have created at the request of many community members a more simplified uh budget web page. We call it the B USD budget business web page. It has a a wealth of information for you that should be um user friendly and really accessible. I make video uh presentation or video announcements if you
148will to our staff giving them updates periodically. Those first go to staff and then they are added to our BUSD budget web page so our community members can see those as well. We also have an ESPback web page for our superintendent's budget advisory committee. That page not only has the presentation decks and artifacts from each of the ESPback meetings, but it actually has the recording of those meetings as well, as well as the information of how you can join those meetings live and provide public comments and or just listen in. Um, of course, these meetings are an excellent place for the uh community to stay engaged and informed. And for our staff, we also put regular updates in our staff bulletin. I also want to draw folks attention to our um business services web page.
149There are a number of folks who want the quick and easy which is what you can find if you go to our B USD budget business web page. But there are a lot of folks who also want to get into the details and the nitty-gritty. So, I want to direct you to our business services web page that has each of our budgets for the last several years going even fur as far back as 18/19 line by line where you can see our expenses and our revenues and just again how we're prioritizing um our dollars and allocating our resources. Um we also had a town hall, budget town hall a few weeks ago and that is also on our budget business web page. With that, directors, we are done with our update and are ready to
150engage you all in questions or hear your comments. Uh thank you all so much for your presentation. Um I know that I have a number of questions and I'm sure uh that the board of education um does as well. So we will um quickly go through those. Um uh so I'll begin. My first um question is around um the phase 4 uh revenue generator. Um so transportation the uh cost of transportation comes back again um after it was first presented I want to say maybe five or six years ago um associate superintendent clind um and this time perfect that's per uh we can go to the uh next next slide maybe one more because I my question is really around this. Yeah, perfect. Um, it comes to us, uh, it originally came to us five
151or six years ago and I know the board really grappled with this idea. Um, but this time it's coming back to us, um, without an impact to our unduplicated scholars. So, first I want to give an appreciation uh, for the thoughtful thoughtfulness around that. Um, and then second, I want to ask about um the decision that was made to propose um a dollar per day versus $2 per day or even something in between um a dollar and $2, specifically a $1.50. Um so maybe you can address that one first and then I'll go into my next question. this proposal. Um, we were just looking at various um, scenarios. We started off with a dollar a day and we only um, mentioned the $2 a day to just demonstrate that um, whatever factor we increased the
152dollar a day by um, obviously our revenue would be impacted. Um we haven't actually finalized whether we're going to be charging a dollar a day or $2 a day, but um this is really for information at this point. Um and we will land on a final amount um at a later date. Right now what I'm showing is the impact of a dollar a day and um the $2 a day um just showing it on this slide. But um to the extent that we change that amount um daily amount it will be impacted in our revenue. So what we have scored right now is a dollar a day because we think that's something that could be um easily um affordable by um parents who are not parents of unduplicated um students. And um I think when
153we brought this to you first um like five or 6 years ago, we were struggling to come up with a rate of what would be equitable. We're trying to look at it from a cost point of view. But what um doing this dollar a day is just um an item that we are exploring just in terms of the impact on revenue and I think other districts have been known to start at at least a dollar a day. So that's what we're looking at and I think a lot of the members of ESPback, President Brown recall that five or six years ago um conversation. So actually again this came from some ESBACK members and there's others like oh wait a minute and I think with them holding that lens of equity they were really cautious to
154think about um for sure our un unduplicated pupils but also just our families and of students who are not unduplicated and just the impact financially that you know this what might look like an insignificant cost might have. And so they wanted to kind of start low and and dollar was the low that we started with, but they are clear that and we're open to the idea that we might actually go above that and and quite honestly we could even go below that, but we started at this dollar just to have a a shared and common um talking point. Yeah, thank thank you both for your response to that. Um, I remember that conversation six years ago and I remember um, you know, how impactful it was and the decision we made uh, to pivot away
155from the recommendation. Um, but glad to see again that it's coming back with a little bit more um, thoughtfulness and I do think that a dollar a day um, is affordable. Um, but knowing the the situation that we are in, if we can or if we have families who have the ability to move to $2 a day to help us to generate more money so that we don't have to have as much cuts, uh, that would be much cuts specifically to positions. Um, that would be great. And when we remove um our unduplicated students, how many students are we thinking about who are receiving transportation to after school programs? Um and if you don't know that number today, maybe you can get it back to me at another time. In this slides, we actually showed
156that um we Oh, sorry. Um so in this slide, um for home to school, we're looking at 464 um students would be we we estimated 30% because that's our unduplicated um pupil percentage. And on the following slide, um we estimated um we did the 30% as well. Um and we looked at about um 535 students. Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Um I do have uh I wish that we were I understand you know we're not ready to discuss it yet but I wish that we were ready to discuss plans around increasing um costs for after school program participants um especially when we talk about um the elimination of um you know our beloved site coordinators. I wish that we were we were ready to have that conversation um tonight, but I hear you, superintendent,
157that it will come back to us uh with all of its plans and ideas. And so I just want to ask um will that come back to us at our June 7th meeting or the May 21st meeting? We are going back to the to the May 27th meeting. And again, we we purposely removed it here. I'm sorry, what? May 21st. 21st. May and we purposely removed it just to not cause confusion as to how generating the revenue in that area would impact the 7 um $6 million target that we're talking about this evening, but we're prepared to engage fully. Okay. So, we'll look forward to hearing that at the next meeting. Um I do want to ask a couple of questions. Um specifically, these are coming from phase one about um reductions. Um, so if
158we could go all the way back to phase [Music] one. Thank you. I wanted to ask specifically about the administrative assistant 2 position for equity and belonging assistant. Um, it says to uh consolidate or reduce. Is that it? Is that not a reduction to that position? Um, and I'm asking, you know, especially with the elimination of the director of equity, achievement, and belonging. I just, um, want to understand the justifiable reason for, uh, categorizing that position in that way. Um uh President Brown is categorized as a reduction because um that position was created um the year after we created the department or during the year the year the year that we created the department of the equity the department was uh equity access I know the position you're speaking of. Go ahead. Thank you. Equity
159achievement and belonging. Um yes. So um that department was responsible for a number of bodies of work that have now been redistributed when we made the decision to freeze um the hire the freeze the vac freeze the position because it was vacant coming into the school year. Um because the department now we're making the recommendation not to replace the director and remove that as part of the savings. there effectively is not the department. So that work is being redistributed across other departments that have administrative assistant support that should be able to absorb uh the work of that department. Okay, thank you. That makes makes a lot of sense. Um can we go to the next page of phase one? Thank you. Um so I want to ask a question about something that is incredibly confusing
160to me. Um tonight after this presentation we will look at the um resolution and on the resolution um there are a number of positions that are brought up for eliminations and a number uh that are brought up for reductions. So um in every conversation that we've had um around budget or um every you know thing that has pres been presented to us um as it relates to a position elimination reductions um the uh classified professional development coordinator position has come up as a reduction um a 0.5 reduction but when I look at the um when I look at the uh the proposed uh resolution tonight, it no longer comes up as a reduction, but comes up as an elimination uh all together. Um which is a bit confusing to me um why we would make
161that um decision if all along we've been talking about a reduction. So I need to better understand that. I need to also understand um what you mentioned around soft dollars and I'm wondering if this is one of the position that falls under that category specifically because this position is not coming from the general fund but it is um it is uh being supported under so um I I need some clarity around that. Um so thank you for those questions. Um, Barah is not considered soft funds. Um, that is not one of those positions. The positions that are considered on the soft funds um are positions that are actually in the BEP um site discretionary um funds that are voted on by our SSC's. And so we're waiting for our SSC's to vote before we can
162rescend those notices. Those are the only soft funds that we have currently on our list. Um and there are only five positions currently. Uh there were many more before that were PTA, but luckily all of our PTAs um met our timeline and we were able to rescend um any notices that were sent to um those employees. And then we've had some BEP site funds that have come through, but we still have five positions um that have not. Um, in terms of why the position is on for full elimination tonight versus the reduction, um, it is a piece of the legislation that created this change in ED code around classified um, layoffs. So, the ED code no longer defines a reduction as a layoff. Um, and so layoffs, we do not have to negotiate the actual
163layoff. We only negotiate the impacts. But for a reduction, it since it doesn't qualify as a layoff, we have to have a signed negotiated document with the union that agrees to be um reduction. And so we do not have that with local 21 at the moment. We have been working with them and are continuing to work with them, but that is why it had to be listed the way it is on the agenda. um item that's following this for the action is that we um could not list it as a reduction without that pre previously negotiated um agreement with local 21. So, if I'm an employee of the district, putting myself just trying to put myself in the shoes of of our employees, um I would then question why the district didn't move to making
164that agreement or or or trying to um come up with that agreement with the union versus moving the position to an elimination. Um it putting myself in the shoes of our employees, that doesn't feel good. And so I I agree completely. I need to understand why we did that. Yeah, I agree completely. Um part of it is the timeline. So the hearings were last week. Um this person did request a hearing, had their hearing, and we were waiting for the outcome of that hearing before uh local 21 and us um fully negotiated out the issue. We did not get the outcome of the hearing until yesterday afternoon. Um and so um as soon as we got that, we um planned to um talk to local 21 um but unfortunately due to timing we were not
165able to um schedule something to be able to get that agreement um prior to needing to post and um agendaize this item. But we needed to know that before the hearing. So, no, the um the hearing was to decide whether or not we had properly noticed the employee and whether or not we had um done everything correctly at that point. The Let me be specific. We needed to know that we um from we needed to know that based off of ED code that we needed the agreement prior to the hearing is what I'm asking. No, the the agreement would be after the judge decides whether or not we can still move forward with with any kind of reduction or layoff. That's why we didn't agree. We did settle with BCCE separately that um we actually
166signed an agreement this morning um with BCCE regarding their um reductions um but we were not able to do it with local 21. So um the hearing has to happen first before we can negotiate because otherwise we are taking away the hearing rights of that employee. Sure. Okay, that makes sense. Can you answer my Well, it doesn't make sense, but thank you for explaining it. Um can you answer my question as it relates to um its funding source? It it in regards to beer. I'm sorry. Could you like explain the question to me again? And I thought I had already answered that. I apologize. No, you you didn't answer it. You answered uh the question around the the soft funds and you explained to me the five positions that were coming out of the soft
167funds and that this was not one of the positions that were or soft dollars. This was not one of the positions uh that was in the soft dollars. Um but my original question was um it is recommended to uh be an eliminated position um based on the reasons that you just explained, but this position is um pay actually funded by by not by the general fund. And so does that make so what difference does that make? Um so the main difference in terms of it being funded by Barah is that it has some added steps. Um so we do have to go through the um planning and oversight committee um in terms of approving a plan. Um and then that comes to the board um for the board to approve. Um, and so when we
168met with PNO in April, we kept it as a full position in the original first reading of the plan. And when we go back to the PNO in next week, um, we will be, um, suggesting that we would be, um, reducing the position to the PNO. Um but the PNO only says whether or not we are um choosing to use the funds in the manner that is described in the measure. They don't um get they don't have the same authority as the board in terms of deciding whether what positions we keep or don't keep um and all of that. So um it's all these pieces working together. Um this is not a reduction due to a lack of funds. this is a reduction due to lack of work. Um and so um because it does
169not impact um unrestricted general fund. Thank you for your response to that. Um I think what I still am trying to uh best understand is how we uh make it an elimination without going through the proper process. first of then talking to PNO who determines um the use of this the use of the who determines uh funding this specific um position and if we have not yet talked to PNO about the use of this position how did we then come up with the determination of the lack of work? So the determination of the lack of work was is based on um understanding what the tasks are that are within the job description and what those tasks have looked at like. Um when this job was created um we were creating a brand new position that
170did not exist in this district to try to address a need and we created it as a 1.0 thinking that that was the appropriate size for the position. Um we since then have um analyzed the work of that position and um realized that it does not need to be a 1.0 um that a.5 FTE um would be sufficient to get the work done um that is required by this position. So uh that was the analysis in terms of that. Um the reason that things are done weren't taken to the PNO is that it was the order of things um in terms of trying to meet all of these timelines. So when we went in April, we had yet to present to the board any type of plan or decision as to eliminating a position. So
171we would not go to the PNO and ask them to vote on whether or not we should eliminate or reduce a position before we had that discussion with the board. And so that's the reason why the PNO has not voted on it. But again, the PNO makes recommendations not and the board is the one who makes the voting on [Music] positions. Okay. Well, ultimately it will be the board's decision. So, thank you for answering those questions, but I'll go ahead and move on. Um, I wanted to also ask about um the elimination of the coordinator um positions and if we've I mean it's really it's kind of difficult to have that conversation without um the conversation that we're going to have on the 21st, but maybe we can attempt to have it um either attempt
172to have it anyway. Have we thought more about um reduction instead of elimination? And if so, what are our thoughts? And then if not, um, can you help us under help the community understand why the purpose for standing firm in that decision? So you are right that it is most appropriate to have that conversation when we do the afterchool presentation as because there's a lot of context that will be hard to to add or share here. Um our current thinking is um as we've presented to you um in the the list that you'll take action on this evening which is to eliminate the coordinated position um those positions will then become specialist um continuing to serve the number of them continuing to serve at the current sites that they are serving in. There have been
173some conversations in in collaboration with our labor partners um exploring some other ways to structure the afterchool program to be able to support the work that um we know was needed when we discovered and developed the coordinator positions. Um we've explored ideas like uh adding an additional supervisor. Um there have also been some ideas around thinking about re reconstructing re restructuring of just the the afterchool program itself and thinking about how do we divvy up the work across school uh clusters. But at this moment we are still proposing and recommending to eliminate those positions. Again those folks will continue to be able to be of service to the students and communities that they currently serve now but they would be in the role of specialist. We also understand um and this is the work with
174the labor partners which is also why it makes it a little bit hard to have this conversation publicly um that is about thinking about the impacts and figuring out how we can mitigate those impacts for those uh seven or 10 staff members who are impacted. So, I I don't know if I'm being too vague or and I'm worried to be too specific because again, a lot of this is around conversations with our labor partners. Um but we do have some ideas and strategies around how we can take care of those folks, make sure they continue to provide service to our after school program without impacting um or reducing the number of students served actually with some ideas of how to continue to enhance the quality and leverage the the the skills and times they've brought
175while also mitigating the impacts that we understand that they are um concerned about as well. Again, I think it'll be clearer when we come and do the entirety of the presentation around after school. Um, but I'm happy to to try to reiterate or have my team help us reexlain that if that was not clear. I think that was crystal clear. Um, and so I'll wait until the 21st to ask my additional questions as it relates to those positions. Thank you for the clarity. Board directors, do you have any questions? We'll start with Director Chang. Do you have questions? Yes. Um uh thank you for the presentation. It's uh really helpful and I appreciate your responses and the uh the data provided as well was extremely helpful. Just a quick question on the the revenue generators
176um that President Brown had opened up the conversation regarding um has there been consideration of in terms of considering $1 versus $2? Um a potential payment hierarchy based upon income of one versus two and potentially having one and two with some form of uh differential hierarchy of payment based on income. Um so no we have not explored that. um we had just used the dollar as a um starting point and we haven't um explored that particular avenue. Okay. My suggestion is just to have that conversation with ESPback. Um there I know this is for a later conversation but um some parents have suggested that with regard to the learns issue which we'll be uh returning to um they would certainly be willing to pay more and uh there's been suggestions of a form of like
177a for lack of a better term it doesn't sound great but a hierarchy of fees based upon income as well. Um Vice President Chang um I believe they said they're going to come back to us on the 21st with that presentation. Yeah, absolutely. So that's just to kind of put something there in in in in the um as a suggestion to consider as a potential. Okay. Thank you. But with regard to the the busing, same same thing. We'll come back in the 21st as well. Um and just one quick quick question just for myself to understand the process with the block grant. um if I know it's uh not um guaranteed at all and it could be anywhere up to 3 million or could be zero. Yeah. Um so uh with regard to just understanding
178how that works, if some money comes in from the block grant, whether it be a million or less or $5, how would those funds be utilized towards the recisions? Um well I don't know that they'll they'll first be utilized towards recisions. They'll be utilized to um align to the the tiers that ESPback has identified. So again when you're looking at these proposals you're looking at uh various line items and when Pauline mentioned the ESBAC does a straw poll. What that straw paw straw pole means is that they've they've evaluated that particular proposal and they've advanced some um for us to consider um as we prepare a balanced budget. Now we can still bring to you as the board proposals at the ESBAC has not advanced but we we we want to and try our best
179to be collaborative and as as thoughtful as possible in the process and so they say yeah yeah we we agree with this one. If when it's time for you to create the budget you can consider this. What we'll do next after they've moved as many as they um are in agreement with is that then we'll tier those particular um proposals. And um the tiers are kind of tricky to explain, but we'd say if we need to make the entire 7.8, then of course all of those recommendations might be advanced into the final budget. However, if we only have to make 6.8, um which ones do you want us to remove from the list first is probably the easiest way to talk about it. Um and then if we have to make 5.8 it again, what's
180that next chunk? And so it it's a tiered approach where ESPback helps us prioritize and identify um the things that they want us to remove from the budget balancing strategy first should we have additional funds and and it'll be aligned to the amount of the additional funds once we know what those are. And and so just sorry to that point because as you see on the slides um our strategies include a number of things including programs and positions. I don't want to be disingenuous to make you think that if we get more of the first thing that would be addressed u might be a position though positions and programs are the the the last thing we want to touch and so it is it is not unlikely that that might be where those dollars are
181allocated. And I would just add that um we are also not sure if we get block grant money what shape form or size it will come in. um the state and the state and the federal government uh often uh provide parameters for how those funds can be used. So there might be restrictions for using it for particular types of services or supports. It doesn't always come as an unrestricted uh unrestricted fund source. Thank you. It's clear there's a lot of structure there and a lot of engagement through ESPback with folks who are on that committee who are I believe almost all of them if not all are parents in the district as well. Not all but many not all but many parents on us back from the district. Thank you. Those are my questions. Okay.
182Uh director Korn or Director Vasadev are you ready to go next? Director. Thanks Director Vasadev. Um my first question is about the office of family engagement and equity. Um in the budget spreadsheet that you showed us I believe it says that three reduction by three specialists um is being proposed or being suggested. Um but on the layoff notice that we are being asked to approve tonight there are six um of specialists being reduced. Can you explain that discrepancy? Uh, I would say the quick explanation and this is also why we removed again after school is is to not conflate and confuse. This presentation is specifically around um reductions or or balancing acts that we are doing to move towards our target for general funds for unrestricted general funds. But as I said earlier in the
183presentation um we have other funding sources as well and some positions are funded on those other funding sources. the March 15th notices and the and the action that you're taking this evening um again is not uh specific to positions that are on the unrestricted general fund but are inclusive of any position that might see a change or reduction or a reassignment. And so that is why um when you look at the proposals and the phases here in this presentation for ESPback, who again has purview over unrestricted general funds, you'll see three, but on the the list that you're looking to vote on this evening, you'll see more as those um other positions are also f um funded from from resources like um our LCAP funds. I don't know if if Jill or Sam want to
184add to that, but that's a quick answer. Grant, they're on. They're Yeah. So, uh, uh, Director K, uh, last year around this time, um, we, uh, were in the process of generating our next new three-year LCAP. Um, there was strong recommendations coming from our advisory groups to keep and maintain a lot of our services. Um, on our LCFF, um, funding source, um, it's almost entirely staff. Um and at the time we were moving toward approval of the new LCAP. Um there was a deficit between the actions that we were charging to LCFF and our expected revenue. Um we did benefit from COVID recovery funds. We had about a $745,000 gap. Um and we had some carryover and COVID funds that were able to cover about $500,000 of those expenses. And then we requested um permission
185from the board to use um what Berkeley calls um the LCFF reserve um which is not something that most other districts have. So the board did approve us to use that LCFF reserve um which enabled us to carry forward the actions. Since that time, uh, like everything else in our budget, there has been increasing costs and not an increase in revenue. Um, and so those expenses have now grown from that $745,000 to about $1.1 million. And so we're trying to resolve where we might be able to preserve a lot of those LCAP actions again based on some of the grant funding that we have, but we will we will still have a gap. Can I ask a follow-up question to that? Sorry, Director Korn to take take away from you, but you know, I I'm
186having a hard time with the recommendations tonight in the budget presentation and also in the action item because as you say that, associate superintendent, I noticed that the only position in the district doing familywide Spanish language engagement for the Latin X resolution is is on the cut list. So, I'd like to know before I take that vote tonight, following up from your statement right now, you know, for keeping equity at the forefront, is that position, right? Is that work going to be funded by our LCAP? Um, so right now, some of that work is funded by the LCAP based on what we have. Um the the the bilingual position is a little tricky because we do have family enga engagement specialists who are bilingual but there is only one formal position um I'm not sure
187that the PC has approved with the bilingual cla class is that the right term the bilingual requirement so um you know our aim is to ensure that we can provide vide uh services to our families which is inclusive of the language needs of our families. Um but that one position is also our newest hire. So that's so we are aiming to to preserve the bilingual uh bilingual capacity. Um but we also have to recognize that we have um a seniority list that is included as part of our O staff. When you say preserve, it's preserve bilingual capacity for districtwide Spanish language engage instrument as part of the resolution. So remember if we we have uh I'm trying to figure out how to appropriate answer. Uh so we want to make sure that we can prioritize
188this. If we have a reduction in the O of staff, we're going to need to look at a restructure for how we're providing those services. But we do want to make sure that we can maintain um that bilingual capacity at the district office. um even though there might need need to be a new way to look at that depending on where we land with our other funding sources. Thank you. I have more questions, but Director Kin, go back. I'm sorry. I don't mind going back and forth if you want. Um I think I have just two more questions. So, one of them is that as you were reviewing this um budget document, many of the reductions and eliminations of positions are showing up on the layoff notices that we're being asked to approve tonight, but
189some are not. For example, reduction of two secondary level counselors, restructuring the admin structure at the high school, eliminating a program supervisor in sped. These are reductions in positions, but they're not on the layoff lists. Can you can you explain a little bit about that? So, some of it has been because there's been recisions. So in terms of counselors, we were able to um find vacancies that we can reduce in as opposed to filled positions. Um and so we did not need to uh lay off any um counselors. Um in terms of the Sorry, I'm blinking. Um there's a sped uh program. Oh, the sped program supervisor that is also a vacancy. Um it is not a filled position at this time. And so, um, it would not be on the layoff list because there's
190no human to lay off. In general, I noticed that at the beginning of this process, what was Mildred's quote about the beginning of the process and the end of the process? We noticed a lot of administrators at the beginning of this process, but at this point in the process, I'm not taking a vote tonight on any administrative positions. Can you explain what happened during that time? So the um the administrators are given notices that are notices of reassignment. Um so it's based on the ED code. They don't get layoff notices. Um so in terms of reassignment um we have evaluated we are um looking at um still the process and we are looking at making eliminations but um a lot of it is coming out of vacancies rather than filled positions. So, we are still
191looking at eliminating a number of administrative positions. They're just not showing up on tonight's layoff list. Correct. Okay. Um, the last question I have, and I know we're trying not to talk very much about after school tonight, but we do have this big decision to make about after school tonight. Um, is about this question about the learns coordinators and ratios, which seems to be something that there's there's some confusion or disagreement about. Um and I'm wondering if um someone could speak to the ratios issue. Um yes, when we are looking at the ratios, I I fully appreciate and respect the work that our learns coordinators have been doing. Um they are often interacting and engaging with our uh students um and provide that direct service. when you're considered an administrative position um that ends up
192hitting up against other parameters, not the least of which is we have a maximum amount of a grant fund. So in some cases it could be 10% no more than 10% of the grant funds can be used for administrative purposes. So anybody that is in that classification would count toward that um that target and we wouldn't be able to go over it. The same is true for how they serve in their capacity to work and engage with students. They can work and engage with students, but there's a certain percentage of their work that we have to be able to calculate in order to determine whether or not they could meet um they could count toward that staffing ratio. Yeah. Does that answer your question, Director Korn? Yes, I think so. Um, Director Vasidv, if you
193want to ask any questions. Well, it excuse me. Go ahead, Director Vasadev. Hi. Um, well, yeah, I just had some questions about the the transportation recommendations. So, one, for $200,000, I feel like the impact is big in terms of not just I think when you start charging for for transportation, you're going to have families say, "Well, I'm just going to drive." Right? And the environmental impact that that has, not only on our schools, but also on our city and on our greenhouse gas emissions is huge. So, I just want to point that out that the impact that that's going to have um generally in our community is much bigger. So, I I personally don't support that. And also, the cost of field trips is already really high for a lot of our teachers. Like, I
194remember being an elementary school parent at Craragmont and being the one to fill out the grants from the public school funds to fund that. Then, when the public schools fund stopped funding the field trip program, trying to hustle to get parents to donate, it's it's already pretty high for teachers. And so increasing the rates of field trips, I think we should definitely get creative on talking to our transportation partners like AC Transit to see how they can support um and also to talk to the Berkeley public schools fund to see how they can support it with that. So I'm just concerned about that. And I I would say um let me see the you know this back to this $200 $200,000 impact on the increase in transportation. That's an administrative position. I mean, that's one
195top level position there. I the I just feel like I can't in good conscious support our students having to pay for transportation. So, it's kind of where I'm at on that. I appreciate the creative thinking. I know we're in a hard position. This is not fun. This is probably my hardest budget cycle since I've served on the board. So, all of that to say, um, but I don't think this is it. I don't think that's the the solution. So, that's where I'm at. Thank you. Right. So, I just want to say whatever is taken off the list, it would be helpful if something else was proposed because we do have a gap that we actually have to meet. So, I just want the board to be aware that if things come off the list, we're
196open to other suggestions that can take that place so that we do have a balanced budget and that we have a positive certification. So, mine would be an administrative position. I mean, that's that would be my proposal, right? So, appreciate that proposal and I just want to just reiterate that the one of the purposes of us doing this presentation at this point. Um, and and as well as including for you all and different communications information about where we are in budget as well as including videos of the ESPback and the rigorous conversation is because again we do believe this needs to be a very collaborative process and we wanted to share with you the thinking. Nothing is final. We did want to share with you the thinking and the conversations that have happened in ESPback
197to get your thinking as well. And so I appreciate dire assistant s philanthropy for saying if we take something off please offer us something to consider to put on it is easy to say don't do this do this instead. But even when we talk about the phases of development in our budget and we talk about the iteration and the analysis part that we do when we when we look at the impact yes we can talk about an administrator but what we do with that then is to go back and say which administrator and then what again are the ramifications known and probably those not even considered um on the district on the work that we're trying to do which is why again we show those circles around direct support operations indirect and administrators and so
198offering that to say that these are the hard conversations that happen in ESPback espack is a public meeting. Um, folks do send us emails with ideas and suggestions. Folks do come to public comments and we listen. But for us to really move towards this target, we really have to not oversimplify the process, but really be willing to dig in. We have been trying to be creative. If there are other creative ideas, please send them our way. And that's just not to the board, that's to the public who's listening and to those who are behind me as well. Every single person in our district makes a difference and does different levels and different types of work in support of our babies. And I don't want anyone to take that for granted. These are hard decisions that
199we have to make and we're open to engaging you in them. We're open to finding data to support, you know, decisions or ideas or suggestions that we've made, but we're going to need that same uh level of effort and those same idea generator generators as well. And I'm appreciative of the opportunity to present to you all in this stage. It's tricky because we're having to say nothing's final. We're just, you know, exploring, etc. And it's a chance for you all to push back and tell us what you're thinking. So, that data point is heard and received. director of ASD. We actually have heard that from a a couple of other folks in terms of just the the ways that it might unintentionally incentivize um more more traffic thereby leading to more pollution and we hear
200that and so we say now what else what else can we explore because as the slide says there's really no easy solution there are always tradeoffs and so something will have to give and something will likely have to go. Um, and so, um, I'm really just appreciative of this time and appreciative that of that idea because this is why it takes a village because I never thought about the cars. I was like, I'll just pay the dollar. Can I respond just really quickly to superintendent? I do like the idea of charging private after school programs, right? There's a variety of different after school programs. So, if parents are shelling out money to go to private providers and we've been providing free transportation, that's not a bad idea to charge for that, right? But then there's
201the city of Berkeley programs and then there's a scholarship, right? There's a lot of nuance to that, too. So I want to make sure that like for our city partners and for our you know community- based orgs that we're not you know cause like we shouldn't be hurting little orgs like baya right and like other orgs but the the big private organizations that are very expensive. Yeah. So there there is nuance in that recommendation. Um and um forgot I was going to say something else, but anyways I yes some of it is not ter it's not terrible when it comes to very expensive after school providers but when it's going to incentivize parents to drive and then make the drop off zones worse and make the mazoo for you know teachers and principles that are
202already having a hard time manage them that's what's going to end up happening on the congestion front and that's that's the unintended consequence that affects us too. Thank you. Thank you, Director Vasidv, for um bringing up uh the unintended consequences and helping us to look at the big picture. Did you want to uh respond to the superintendent's um recommendation around uh specificity for uh places where we then um would generate some revenue or places where we would cut? I know you said an administrator position, but did you want to provide um some specifics around that? you know, I trust the work of our committee members and our staff and so turn it back on you. But I would say, you know, obviously my gut feeling superintendent is cut from look further at the top and
203then also look at some of these more expensive afterchool providers. Um, and then you know I think when it comes to something like this being really clear with the community like you know why. And there's other districts if you really want to get really creative, right? Like when San Francisco redid the kindergarten assignment, I know you and associate superintendent Hogan probably pulled into that work that you know for a long time because of equity purposes. We were San Francisco, you know, I was a kid group and the mission had to go to school in the sunset, right? Similar assignment system as us um for an equity in from an equity perspective. But then San Francisco redid its assignment system and people went, you know, students were starting to go to school closer and found out
204that on the diversity demographics that the num that the percentages kind of panned out. And I don't know when we did the last study to look at our, you know, our assignment model, but if we did, right, if we moved in the direction that San Francisco has moved and if the data showed that we were still having diverse schools by sending kids to neighborhood schools, you cut down a lot of your transportation costs, right? So, that's a pie in the sky dream that we're not going to solve between now and June. But that but that is, you know, that's the work to look at that long-term transportation cost. If we've been spending and burning tons of money in transportation for a long time in B USD, maybe it's time for us to think of something
205a little bit more radical like SFUSD has done. Um, I just want to mention that the transportation program also provides about $1.5 million in a reimbursement program and we also get funding through LCFF. So, um, it is a cost but it also provides revenue. So, just want to share that. Thanks. Yeah. And I was going to add to that, our conversation for this specifically is about generating revenue um not about eliminating um transportation costs. And so um I I'd love to hear more about ways that we can generate revenue. Um I know that I'm in support of the the recommendation. Uh but I will definitely entertain um whatever other ideas that my board colleagues have specifically around generating revenue revenue generating ideas. Um Director Kor I'm sorry Director Shinoski I know that you had comments
206you wanted to make. Yeah thanks. Um, so I I'm not one given to speeches often, but I'm going to kind of make comments in a speech way with a few questions embedded if that's okay. Um, before I start, I really do want to thank our staff for working for all the work they've put into this presentation and months and months of engagement with with our community. Um, we've had so many presentations in so many different places. Um, and I just really appreciate it. Um, I'm not generally inclined to defer to authority, but I I really do see the commitment I know the comm commitment that this particular administration um, led by our superintendent um, has to transparency and engagement with families, community members, students, the board um, and staff. Um, so thank you for that.
207Um, whoop, sorry. Um, we always talk about how we're grounded in our mission. And when I think about our fiduciary responsibility as a board member, I really think about the budget being grounded in our values and my values as an elected board member. So, there's just a couple of things I I've brought these up in different spaces before that I want to sort of bring up in this space. So, one is about our college readiness programs. So, last year at Berkeley High School, fewer than 20% of our African-American kids graduated with A throughG requirements. So, that is fewer than one in five of our graduates ready to go to a UC or CSU. But our bridge students, our African-American bridge students, 100% of them graduated college ready, A throughG ready. But our budget, the budget
208we're looking at includes cuts to college readiness programs, including a cut to bridge. At Berkeley High, we offer zeroth period classes and um those include high school AP science lab pullouts, um incredible music offerings, so many great programs and I really, you know, I know that our community loves them and I support them 100%. I've campaigned to keep funding for them, but we never discuss those programs. We never talk about the cost of those science pullouts, those music programs, the various specialty art programs that we have. So I am confused year well year after year, two years after two years um about why we talk about the funding for bridge and programs like that. um every single year it's on the chopping block and those are programs that really support our our most struggling students
209but we never even engage in the costs of these other enrichment programs. So I think that that is a piece of this budget discussion that we're really missing. Um I also you know um am troubled by the learns coordinators um discussion and budget savings. So we as a district about 5 years ago decided that we needed to change the learn structure by adding these additional employees. We encouraged many of our BCCA staff to apply for those programs, to get promotions, and we put a lot of um money and resources into those new roles. And now we're making cuts. And so there's this quote unquote restructuring again that includes eliminating those added positions. But we haven't really restructured the program that I have seen. And so it doesn't make sense to me that these programs that
210are supposed to be prioritizing um our most vulnerable students are on the chopping blocks block in this way. So, we as a as a board are being asked to demote these employees to give them significant pay reductions, but we're not, in my opinion, or to my knowledge, making it super clear about how their jobs will significantly change. And that to me is really problematic. Um, sorry, my speech is long. Um, we provide we provide raises like just as a rule. um across the board percentages, right? So, we we sort of prioritize those on the top with our raises because across the board percentages give the most dollars to those at the top. And then when we're cutting and we look at the list of people that we're cutting, we're cutting those who make the least.
211And so we're cutting almost entirely BCCE employees. I don't actually believe in like a chop from the top model. I I think that that's an easy tagline for somebody like me um who's aligned with labor can say. But that to me is problematic, too. I'm really like hoping that we can approach things like this in a more holistic way that really looks at programs and services and people. um collectively um for the for the mission and the and the goals that we have as a district together. Um I do realize it's super hard to make cuts and we as a board get um feedback all the time about how individuals, individual families, individual students, individual programs will be impacted. And I know that it is it's not my job to sit here as a union
212person and make decisions from that vantage point. It's my job as I sit here to make fiduciary responsible fiduciary decisions that are rooted in those values. But I don't always feel like when we're looking at these budgets that we have the whole picture and that we're really able to do that. So I will ask just once again that we take the time as a board to really do the deep dives that we need to do to understand the budget more and more deeply. So, more broadly and more deeply so that we're able to do these cuts in a way that supports our staff, supports our community, supports our kids, and um makes the hard decisions that we have to make in this kind of um difficult budgetary environment. Thank you. Sorry, Cadia, that was long.
213No, it was it was perfect. It was fine. It gave me um an opportunity to do something I need to do. So, that was really great. Um, I will respond. You weren't hanging on my every word. Um, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Carry on. I was gonna say I'm having breakfast in the hick, so I'm doing the best that I can. Um, but I and I was hanging on uh to to every word and so I'll give staff an opportunity to um respond. But in terms of your request to um to have um some training or some a deeper dive into the budget for the board of education, um I will work with Miss Chavez to um ensure that we schedule that before um the vote uh that will happen in June. So, thank
214you again for that recommendation. I know you've been recommending that um for a little bit and so we will work to make sure we get that scheduled. Um there in in your comments there were a couple of questions mostly statements but a couple of questions and so um I'll give staff the opportunity to respond. So yeah, thank you Director Shinoski. Um I'm going to kind of go out of order. Um starting with the uh afterchool program and this is again why we made the decision to separate that the few slides that were a part of this uh presentation about after school and make it its own uh presentation in entirety. Um because what we understand is aside from in addition to the coordinator positions there is an interest in understanding the restructure of after school
215there are um there's interest on behalf of our families in terms of communication of after school and what will we offer and the waiting list etc. There are questions about uh the contract that we have with outside organizations to staff after school to make sure that we're able to open in the fall and o and offer uh enough placement and seats for our students. And there are questions around how do we address the uh the weight list that exists um in the schools in the places where it does exist. So because of that we wanted after school to be separate. We have been deeply engaged with our PTA council that has its own afterchool uh working group if you will um to to to help be thought partners around this. We just recently made a
216presentation as you know director Shinowski at the 2 by two providing some level of clarity around how after school is funded. Again another reason why we didn't conflate. So my ask is that the board does truly and I your rece your feedback is received um allow us to come back and and have a full afterchool conversation that includes conversations about the restructure and that will also include the coordinator positions and our thinking around that um aware of the fact that we do and we did and we must bring you names today um to be in alignment and compliance with the March 15th or May 15th final notice. Um, as you know, Director Shinoski, you and I have had a number of conversations particularly about not just after school, but these positions um, specifically um, and
217we, meaning myself and my team in collaboration with some of our labor partners have been trying to be really creative to think about the restructure and again to be really clear on the impacts and to minimize those impacts. I am not at liberty at this time in this meeting in open session to share with you the different ideas that we've explored because they're not all fully baked and I think it would be irresponsible to share anything that's not fully baked and get folks excited or to get folks some some missed or incomplete information that then might later on cause folks to be disappointed again. And so my hope and my ask is that you not trust us um but that you um allow us the time to come back and make the presentation and share
218with you what we've been thinking. hopefully share with you um some more some things that are closer to being real decisions, but also know that we are not haphazard. Though we are yes recommending that those positions um be removed and that they go back to being specialists, we are again very mindful of the real impacts that this has not just on the program. We have we have plans for that that we will be happy to share, but on those coordinators themselves whose work and whose talent and skills and time in this role we actually value. So, um, Sam, I don't know if if have if have if have if have if have if have if have if have if have if have if I said too much already or if there's more that you want
219to say. Um, but but there there are conversations actively happening um that are not at this point public conversations because folks are not always ready for public conversations to be had and I prefer to be respectful of folks expectations and their lived experiences to not share things prematurely but just to ask that we can come back and give you more information. But your feedback around those positions in particular, we've discussed at length. Um, and in fact, you were actually a part of a little bit of what helped us as we think about some other ways to to to go about um the restructuring of after school. Um, in terms of the BCCE, um, you are right. We have the we had 182 folks that we noticed um that are part of BCCE and we've gotten
220that down to 147. Um but we still have another uh if my math is correct about 35 uh outstanding. So just to clarify there was only 166 of the 182 that were actually BCCE members and there are 25 BCCE that are remaining on the list. Thank you very much for that clarification because we have classified folks who are not a part of BCCE. Thank you for that. That's why I looked over it to Sam. Um, so I hear you in terms of uh the perception or perhaps the reality in numbers that BCCE is um is most directly impacted and again um we we try to be as thoughtful as possible um and and have to make some hard decisions but also try to make decisions that are really mindful of the people that are being
221impacted and not at all that we when we set out to do this work and as we made this list or even as ESPback is having conversations I I want folks to know that the idea is never and never has it been nor will it be let's start with BCCE or let's think about how we can impact those to your point, director Shinoski, who um might not be at the higher ends of the pay scale. And that is why um in our in our brainstorm, we came with ideas like furloss. Furloss came up and initially was was an idea that was um explored as a district-wide um idea, which is what many districts do. They just say five furlow days or 10 fur days to the entire district. But again thinking about or at least
222thinking in the ways that you're speaking director Shinoski and and and please allow me to make some assumptions about how you're speaking we were aware that there are folks who are at different levels of the salary scale and that would be impacted more by furls which is why we then said no we're going to scale back and not explore furloss for everyone but specifically um explore furls for those who are at a certain salary level and so you know not that that it you know alleviates all the the pressures or not that that removes everyone from the list but it is an example of how we are very much aware that people are not sitting in the same exact place. So every single person in our district is important and has a role to play
223towards our mission and in service of our babies directly or indirectly. Those are the conversations that we're having conversations you just kind of challenged us to have are happening not just at ESPback but also in our cabinet meetings. again of the 25 uh BCE BCCE employees that are still on the list, some of those are still are on the list because we are waiting for confirmation um around soft dollars that those positions will again be funded and then off also waiting for the confirmation of those funds. I do not want to be irresponsible and offer someone work without knowing for sure that I can pay them each month and make sure I can take care of their benefits and all the other things that folks are over here talking about. So, I get it how
224it's upsetting, but to be responsible means that I'm not only able to tell you in word um that you have a position or take your name off of a list, but I'm able to say we actually have and have confirmed the funds to do so. So, some of those 25 are for those reasons. And again, as I said to you all when I presented last, we are committed to doing as much as we can, as soon as we can to reduce the list. And even though today is May 7th and you have to take action, we are still committed even after you take the action, hence the slide that we put in this deck to continue to rescend once we have more information and more data that allows us to do so. Um, much respect,
225mad respect for our classified team and our BCC members and the work that they do. I know many of them personally. I work with them directly. Um and so please do not take the fact that we are in really hard times and have to make hard decisions to be any indication of the work that you do, the ways in which we value you. Um and we have been in again in a lot of deep conversations with our labor partners to figure out how do we do this? Um because we got to do it. We cannot be irresponsible and not be um you know responsible stewards of our district's dollars. that's a part of the the role of the of the board and I heard you say that director Shinoski and that is why we engage
226in these conversations but that's also why to the point of the question that you asked earlier on director um Korin why you might have seen some proposals um in these phases and then you don't see those folks getting noticed because again in real time as we're analyzing getting more information including thinking about impact we've made some changes to those recommendations and to those decisions so the proposals that you see here are not final again they are iterations the list that you have in front of you or that you will see in front of you later this evening. We still are actively working to address those those uh those layoffs and to resend them once we have secured and identified funds that can allow those people to not just do the work but actually get paid
227for the work. So just wanted to respond to the BCC part and the fact that those those equity conversations we have on a regular basis. Also you mentioned the equity conversations around um the programs and why certain programs like bridge also want to add collegebound and rise right have been in conversations from ESPback some of those are of a conversation in ESPback because ESPback again brings us proposals or ask us questions and we try to be responsive and transform and um transparent to bring them back answers to those things and so some of those programs just because they want them to know all the different college readiness programs that we fund and and and what they're doing and how they're doing and who they're serving. Some of those though like bridge, like rise and like
228collegebound um all or part of their funding comes from the unrestricted general fund and that again is the fund that we're that we that we consider um first as we're trying to make that 7 um $8 million of budget balancing. Um your point around, you know, the other programs that exist in our district is a point well taken and you know, when we have that retreat, it would likely be helpful for us to share with you all and the public. um just just the complexity of a district budget and that there are a number of different funding sources and to the point that I believe associate superintendent Hoganike was trying to make. Sometimes those funding sources are discretionary and we get decide but other times those those uh funding sources um have restrictions or some
229really clear parameters as to how it can be spent and who it can be spent on. Um, I think I shared with you, Director Shinoski, that we are um ready to to think more broadly and to really engage our school sites, our school site councils and our PTAs in thinking about how and where they allocate their dollars. We're looking at the the dollars, the architecture general funds that we have purview over as district staff, but of course there's the BEP dollars and other dollars that are happening that are being used at the sites for different reasons. So, we did receive that feedback and we are thinking about how to explore that. again aware that we have some constraints around how those dollars um can be spent. Um I also directly and personally work with and
230speak to organizations like Berkeley public schools funds who are very close partners. Two years ago when I started we talked about equity and defined it together and there was a shift in how they are assigning their grants for example to to really focus on equity and to focus on data around the impact of those particular initiatives that they're funding. And even still just the other day I had a meeting with Berkeley Public Schools Fund and the Berkeley High School Foundation. I'm going to say that wrong. Is that the development group? I always want to make them a foundation. The development group where again some of the resources in terms of programs um happen at Berkeley High School. And when we were going through the list of priorities, I did name and call out the equity
231issue and the fact that we have uh many black and brown students, many students who are first-time graduates, etc. who are receiving programs from the district to general funds, but really encourage them to think about how they can allocate their funds in support of those students and those programs as well. And all that to say that nothing is solved. We still have big equity gaps that we need to address. But the conversations that you're asking us to have. Um we are having them and and hopefully you know me by now we probably would have had them even if you didn't ask. But I'm happy to be a part of a board that does ask those type of those type of hard questions and push us to be more equity focused and think broader than um
232the the small little budget of of pie that we're looking at um right now. And so more um follow up on those conversations to come. specifically again after school at the next meeting. Hopefully coming back with you with an update of more BCCE and other notices rescended with confirmed funding sources and information about how we are trying to advance equity in innovative and creative ways. I don't know if I missed something. If I missed another one of your statements or if my team wants to respond, please do. Thank you. If I could, I wanted to just add one thing. We are also working towards um with BCCE. Um as I mentioned earlier, we did reach an agreement with them. um a big part of that agreement um which I'm not able to share the details
233about at this moment in public um session but we were working towards um figuring out how to um keep the people who are displaced um by these layoffs employed um at a very similar level if not the same level of salary and benefits and everything. Um and so we've been working very much in partnership with BCCE in terms of doing that and trying to make sure that we are um finding things and ways and um thinking creativity about how to um help these employ people so that we have very few that will end up actually being truly laid off um or having any true reduction um to their salary or benefits. Um and so we are working pretty closely on that. Um, in fact, we have at this point, if the positions that are on
234soft monies get rescended, there would only be six people who would potentially um not have a position. Um, and those six we're still working on to try to figure out if there's some other solutions for those six because we understand that one too many Um, Director Shinowski, does that answer all of your questions? Yeah, thank you. Okay, great. Are there any other uh questions from the board regarding this item? Yes. Can I just ask a a general budget question? Sure. So, I'm not saying that I'm proposing this. I'm asking it as a hypothetical so we understand the parameters around uh our budget and making those cuts. Okay. Um know we there's been some conversation about um and and I appreciate the responses and the nuance and the multi-layered aspect of this. Um, we just had
235a conversation about the concern of cutting from the bottom. I'm not saying that's exactly what we're doing, but there has been a concern raised about this. So is there a process or an outcome in districts that you can imagine including our own where there is significant budget tightness where a policy a budget based policy a short-term policy has been put in place similarly kind of in the framing of a furlow for example but in a more direct fashion and again I'm just raising this as a way for us to understand the parameters around budgeting in this type of cycle. As uh director Shinowski has raised um as being one of the new directors including Mr. Miss Chinowski, director Shinowski, I'm interested in understanding what has been considered as a possibility to say like the top
2365% of administrator pay could be reduced by like.5%. has there been thoughts about that in the broader context and line and again I'm not saying I'm asserting that I'm saying I need to understand um what type of rubrics have been considered in a considerably tight budget scenario and what potentially has been done in other districts or in other institutions and entities. Thanks. So thank you for that question. I think um I as you know I've been in at least three other districts uh prior to coming to Berkeley and um the last actually all three of those have had significant budget cuts every time that I was there. The last one being San Francisco Unified. Um I don't know of any examples and and we are happy to research that where uh response to budget balancing
237was to um make any unilateral reduction in the salaries of of folks at the central office or folks who are in administrator administration. Um in part here want to be clear that some of our administrators are actually um represented in a in a in labor unions including local 21 as well as Uba. And so um those type of unilateral decisions um are more challenging to happen for that reason. Um in the case that the board would want to consider that uh for those of us who are unrepresented staff um is something we can explore but nothing that I know in terms of precedent being set. Um an example though is our furlow days when you even before that if you look at that visual breakdown that we gave you all of um the our staff
238and the percent of who's unrepresented who's admin central um there's probably not as many of us as as folks think when we were exploring the furlows as an example um we initially looked at just folks who made 125,000 or more and when we started to to narrow you know taken out the unions for example all of our administrators who were in unions and just landed on the unrepres represented staff at Centrum. I'm trying to look at the visual now. Um the the savings was significantly less than what we anticipated. I'm going to let Pauline pull it up so that she could explain it to you when we get there. Um but just a quick answer to your question. I don't know that that's been something that's been that's happened. Happy to explore it. Our closest,
239you know, move towards that again was the recommendation of furlow days. and we recommended furlow days as low as one and we even explored as far as 10 for all of us who are um unrepresented. Um I was going to say something else but I can't remember so I'll let Pauline explain the furlow example and then I'll come back if I if I remember what I was going to say. Thank you. So um one of the things that we looked at um we looked at salaries over 125 and once we identified who those were we then looked at the impact um including benefits. So we didn't look at salary and benefits with 125. We looked at salaries only. And when we looked at the um population, we looked at the impact of the different funding
240sources. So we looked at the impact on the unrestricted general fund for all employees earning over $125,000 gross. And for one day that would result in $42,000 in savings. 5 days 211,000 and in 10 days that was 422. We had scored 350. So if we had given um 8.28 days we would realize um the the target that we had actually scored um in our budget balancing solutions. um when we removed um the the unions because this would have to be negotiated um the 10 days instead of us getting $422,000 it would only give us $129,000. So the UN the Yuba and local 21 obviously impacts um the impact on the unrestricted general fund and when we when we added in local 21 10 days would give us um 165,000 which is a far cry from
241the 350 that we originally scored. And then um we landed on um looking at Yuba, probably 5 days for Yuba and 10 days for everybody else. And that combination gave us a total of $31,000. Um but then um what we had also looked at were um the 12 month salary schedules. And when I discussed this further with Sam, um Yuba members, even though they're on a 12 month salary schedule, they don't actually work 10 months. So when we look at um Yuba for the for the staff that work um 12 months, there are only two employees. So when we factor that in and looked at 10 days, the number that we're getting from the two Yubo members and everybody else was like 188,000. So we would have to re um re to adjust the 350
242that we had proposed. I think it was in phase three or phase 4. So we'll be bringing that back because we did a deeper dive and that's the impact. Um so I think that demonstrated in terms of what we were thinking and what we can also do director Chang is again um on in this tonight's slide presentation there is that pie chart that shows the percent of employees by type and location. That's where we show um the sitebased um administrators, district level administrators. Um and for example on that chart, it says administrators who are central office administrators. Um that would be inclusive of some of us sitting here in this table. That's 2% of all the employees in the district. And then when you look at classified um employees that are at the sorry classified
243management um that is at the central uh office that's another 2% but those both of those groups are inclusive of represented um management and not just unrepresented. So, I feel like a data point that might be helpful to the board as you either make recommendations or want us to further explore um some of the things that you're alluding to and we will want to come back to you to tell you the percent of central staff that are unrepresented. And so, again, about 4% is um represented and unrepresented, classified and certificated. It's a much smaller percentage when you just look at those of us who are unrepresented. Um I think also just to just to go back to your question um previous life um has definitely um and I appreciate the director Shinoski called out that
244the chop for the top chop from the top is a thing that folks say we're always thinking about the impact. We have thought about the impact and tried to make some adjustments at all levels of the organization which is why we didn't just freeze the director of equity for example but we actually are now eliminating that position. ESBAC is really keen on these things and so they because they're the ones who have babies in the schools they get that all those different levels of service matter and what soon as we said we're going to for example eliminate the director of direct diversity equity no of that position what's it called Jill diversity achievement and equity achievement and belonging that one as soon as we said it ESPback's response was the the families in particular is
245who's going to do the because there's work that comes under that particular position. Um, and they wanted to, that was their question like, well, we've been diving it up. And they were like, yeah, but you're div it up and you're doing more of it, which means there's something else that you're not doing. Similarly, when we offered up the sped supervisor, which is also an unrepresented um, I'm sorry, a supervisor reposition, an admin position. That again, that again was the response to ESPback. So, we are happy to explore admin positions, but we have to be willing and able to answer who will do the work. And what I've noticed of boards in my previous life is we do that and I see director Kin nodding. She's been in some districts too. We do that quickly without
246then following up by saying what work will stop as a result of these positions being gone or answer who will do the work. And oftent times again we are a small and mighty crew about 2% of us I would say are unrepresented. when you remove those positions or those responsibilities, it trickles down to the school sites because oftentimes the work that we have to do is work that's legally required to be done or work that you all want us to do as the directors um of the of our governing board. So, we are happy to engage in those conversations, but ESPback has been good about asking that question and we want to make sure that our board is good about asking that question and answering it too. And if there's work that's you're okay stopping,
247then that's fine. And if we are clear about the impacts on our other labor partners, then that's fine as well. But just want to again offer that nuance to that conversation that oftentimes is missed when folks are trying to make some fast budget decisions and want to appreciate our sback because we're doing the exact opposite. We're not trying to go fast and it may be frustrating for some but we're trying to be as thoughtful and intentional as possible and think about the impacts at all levels of the organization on our babies. Thank thank you so much. Can I follow up with a quick ask and that's excuse me Vice President Ch before you do that we need to extend the meeting. Um it's almost 11 o'clock and so can we please extend the meeting um
248until 11:15? Was there a motion? Yeah, I move to do so. Is there a second? I'll second. Miss Charles, can you call the role? Director Vasv, yes. Uh Vice President Chang, yes. Director Shinowski, yes. Director Korn, yes. President Brown, yes. Thank you. you go ahead with your followup and please keep in mind um that we do have one other agenda item and need to go into the second opportunity for public comment. Okay, I'm going to ask this really quickly. So as a followup and again understanding the market factors and not trying to decapitate um important compliance-based leadership um I think as an exercise given the questions raised and the challenges here while recognizing the um deep level of granularity you've provided and the various types of alternative options we're considering including um revenue builders etc.
249and the pointing out that the the the numbers may be lower. I think as a trust builder, a trust builder and a public engagement builder, um to have a data point on not just the unrepresented but the represented of the top 5% um pay across the district uh with a variance of um reduction of 0.5% and 1%. So would would that be possible to provide that type of data point? I want to clarify what you're asking. Yeah. Um you're we're being recorded. Um excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm not in the boardroom and so I can't hear if it is our staff or if it's the board directors who are speaking. Um but if you are uh can you make sure you're speaking into the mic and if you are neither of those people, can we
250make sure that we uh remain quiet so that we can finish this process? Thank you. Thank you, Director Chang. Clarifying that the ask is that staff comes back to you um having identified um both represented and unrepresented management that is as you term um salary and benefits within the top 5% of of the district and then to consider making a reduction in salary to those not to consider making a reduction in the salary but to provide a data point. So again, it's not a a consideration or assertion for an action. Yes. But a request for data um in conjunction with holistically as director Janowski has raised a holistic approach. This can somewhat help um and to build some trust. bank. Uh what would the cost savings be to the top 5% um earners? Mhm. Uh
251in the district with a reduction of 0.5% and 1%. That's what I'm asking. That's I'm sorry. I'm clarifying. I'm not recommending it. I just want to be clear. I understand. I'm not saying that recommended as a data point. Yeah. Yes. Thank you for clarifying that. You're wanting us to come back and show you what would be the impacts of reducing the salaries of both represented and unrepresented staff members in the top 5% by.5% as well as 1.0%. That's right. And again understanding the broader context of market factors the necessity of having a high functioning team etc. But for the purpose given much of the conversation today of transparency and and building trust. Thank you. Thanks. Can I make sure I understand this? So, Vice President Chang, you're not making this recommendation, but you just want
252the the data point. Yeah, I'm not making a recommendation. So, I want to be clear. I'm not making a recommendation that we uh at this point go down the route of saying that the top 5% earners, you're either going to get a 0.5% or a 1% reduction in your income. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that we should have that as a data point as an exercise in uh trust and engagement with the public to ensure that they understand as I've been hearing that all different types of options are being considered and are on the table and that we're seriously considering the whole scope of including revenue generation um and including shifting folks who are currently in coordinator positions into specialist positions which my understanding could uh result in a reduction of pay um
253uh across the board um numbers that include administrators particularly the top 5%. So, okay. Vice President Chang, the reason why I'm asking for clarification is because if this is coming to you, coming back to us from you as a recommendation um in the future, then I can absolutely understand asking for that data point. But if this is not going to come back as a a a true or authentic recommendation, I'm worried about um asking our staff to do that work um if we're not going to seriously consider it. So, if we are going to seriously consider it, then then yeah, let's let's go for it. Let's get the information. But if you're not recommending it, let's think about other things that we can ask our staff to spend their time on to help us to
254get to what we want to get to as as it relates to reducing the amount of people that we position uh that we red elimination reducing the amount of positions that we reduce and eliminate and also not taking from the top. So, like I want I just want us to be serious about a recommendation. So, I'm going to ask you and that doesn't mean it's going to happen necessarily. Obviously, it goes through a vote and it probably sounds pretty far-fetched at this time. I'm going to reframe my request then. I am now asking you to provide that data for the purpose of potentially making those cuts. Okay. Thank you. Not a problem. Thanks. [Music] Are there any other questions from the board on this one? All right. Thank you all so much for your presentation.
255Uh let's now move on to item 15.1 uh which is an action item for the approval of resolution 25-044 to eliminate reduce classified positions. um which is the final notice uh for this one. Um I am going to ask first are there any questions from the board of education? Any recommendations from the board? Okay. Um I have a recommendation. I'm recommending that from this resolution we pull the 1.0 O FTE position for the classified per uh professional development coordinator, the L21 um from this uh recommended resolution. Are there any other questions or recommendations? I have my hand up. Go ahead, Director Shinoski. Yeah. Um, I would like to pull all of the uh learns coordinators from this uh resolution as well because I don't uh understand the holistic reimagining of learns and how um how
256these positions fit into that um shift entirely. Thank you. I second and support that uh recommendation. Are there any other questions or recommendations? I have a recommendation to pull off the O of central office staff member supporting the family engagement for the letter next resolution. Okay. Thank you. I also second and support that recommendation. Is there anything else? Okay. Hearing none, is there a motion to approve uh this resolution with the three positions that have been pulled by myself, Director Schnowski, and Director Vasuv? I'll move to do so. Move by Vice President Chang. Is there a second? I'll second. Who's that? Anna Vasadev. Thank you. Seconded by Director Vasud. Sorry, they turned the camera to m Vice President Chang, so I couldn't see who that was. Seconded by Director Vasuv. All those in favor will
257be able to respond to the role. Director Vasadev. Yes. Director Shinoski. I have Jane. Can Can I call for the um Denin's next. Yeah, sure. I just didn't know what to say there. Yeah. No, you're fine. You're fine. Director K, what am I supposed to say if I don't want to vote? Yes. Well, then let's just do this. Go ahead and we'll do the roll call vote. And so, Liz, you can mark Director Shinoski as an abstension and director Korn, however you want to vote, you can uh notify us right now. I vote no. Okay. Happy. Vice President Chang, I'm voting yes with the removals for the motion. Thank you, President Brown. Yes. Motion carries to approve the agenda, I mean the um resolution as amended. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll now move
258on to for the purposes of staff clarification. Um, I heard you say three positions, but I understand there's more than three that were just removed. Um, we don't have to say it out loud unless you all choose to, but we we will need to be clear. Staff needs to be clear on what notices you've removed because we will have to rescend um those notices. Yeah, if if you if you count more than three um different positions, then let me know. I know that the first position was the classified professional development coordinator. The second group of positions were the afterchool program site coordinators. Um and then the third position uh and you can be a specific director. Bas your third position was for the family engagement and equity um specialist or the family engagement and equity
259supervisor. I believe you said position the one that's.5 district office and five mendes of position. So those when when I say three, I mean those three. Um although we know that specifically uh in category two for the um after school site after school program site coordinator there are many people in that position but when I say three I meant those three categories. Does that make sense? Wanted to have that clarification. Thank you for doing so. Uhhuh. No problem. President Brown, do you mind if we do the roll call once again just for clarity? Um I I think we are pretty clear. I don't anticipate anyone's vote changing. um she just needed clarity to understand the positions and we had already stated the positions before the beginning of the vote. So no, we will not revisit
260that vote. Thank you. Uh at this time we only have five minutes left for the rest of our meeting. Um so we will take four minutes for public comment and then use the last minute for board member comments and for our process for adjournment. Is there anyone here who would like to make a public comment? Yes. Yes. There's someone coming up. Okay. Is there just one person who's making a public comment? Um there looks to be three people. Three persons. Beautiful. Each person can have one minute. Can we please begin now? Um thank you. Uh Miss Chz has to start to clock. I can start it up. Yeah. We're going to do the uh three. We have four minutes. Okay. Greetings. My name is Rebecca Torres. I'm the family engagement equity bilingual specialist at Lonfellow
261Middle School and I stand here today to respectfully ask that you keep OFI fully staff. Ofi has been a vital part of this district since I was a student in Berkeley education system. My family sought support and resources from Ofi and that support made a meaningful difference in our lives. I returned to Berkeley with the intention of giving back to my community. I now serve as the bilingual specialist at Longfellow, the same middle school I attended as a student. Longfellow is a dual immersion school that serves a population that is approximately 40 40% Latinx. Providing families with services, translation, and resources is an essential part of the work my colleagues and I do through OFI. By eliminating or reducing OFI, you will be cutting off vital support for families who rely on us for access,
262equity, and connection to their schools. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. I would like to finish my statement that I was making earlier. So uh I stopped at you know why cut the people the coordinators who can help stabilize and grow this program. We have a plan that is actually really good about how we are going to or how we can gain a bunch of revenue from summer and we presented that multiple times and it's been either not looked at or not considered which is disappointing. Um, even more frustrating, the district has afforded Alvo, an outside contractor, five years and millions of dollars to prove that they are not a solution. While coordinators, internal, long-term, dedicated after school staff and classified have been given less than two years to prove our value and vision without all
263of the things that we were promised. Where is the equity in that? Let's let's also talk about the toll this has taken on staff morale, student stability, and parent trust. Your decision have real consequences. When you get rid of coordinators, enrollment will drop, ratios will suffer, and staff will leave. Programs will lose quality, structure, and more importantly, safety. And when this happens, I want this board to remember something very clearly. We didn't break the system. We just cleaned up the mess. And now you want to cut us out the picture entirely. It's not acceptable. Thanks. We have one last speaker and we're at um 11:13. Good evening. I just want to say thank you schoolboard members for that thoughtful consideration to pull my position, the classified PD coordinator, from the resolution. I also want to
264say that during my layoff hearing, your attorney and the HR superintendent presented my position to the ALJ as if the district has the sole discretion to eliminate my position. and how the bare funds are used. During my hearing, I also want to add that during my hearing, I informed the ALJ that I was not noticed properly according to the law, as the law reads, either by personal service or by certified mail. The certified mail went to my Florida address. I was told during the hearing that there were other staff who was delivered whose layoff notices were delivered by personal service. I was working in California at the time that the notices were delivered. I did not receive one via personal service. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you very much. Are there any additional uh board member
265comments at this time? Kenny, I I do have some uh comments. Number one, I want to just remind our community um that this our superintendent, I think, said it best earlier um that this is a process. And so um this is just one day, but you'll see many other presentations, many other conversations uh both in the board meeting and outside of the board meeting as it relates to budget. Um, I do want to thank our staff for the hard work that they've put in and the thoughtfulness that they've put in uh in regards to trying their best to reinstate some folks. And we know that we are still going through the reinstation uh process uh as we sh up some more funding and as we make um some some other decisions. I want to push
266on my board colleagues um to think about other recommendations as it was requested for us to do tonight. thoughtful recogni recommendations that we will actually consider um and move forward with um so that we can do what is best for our district. Of course, in service of our young people, but also in service of the people who serve them. And so um we wanted this entire budgeting process to be transparent. Um and we are being as transparent as we possibly can, but know that this is not the end and we still have so much more work to do. So, thank you all so much for your continued advocacy, for your emails, and for um coming out to speak during our board meeting. Are there any other board member comments at this time? Hearing none. President
267Brown, uh we will need to redo the vote for the resolution. Um um Superintendent um Samantha, excuse me. Um, so the issue is that um, uh, director Vasadev identified a specific position and I cannot resend a position because they're all considered districtwide. Um, so there's not that position doesn't actually exist for me to resend. Um, so we would need to redo the vote because I can't resend based on the description that she gave. It is my understanding that the position or the the description that she gave identified an FTE. She did say a specific position, but she also said an FTE number. And so, um, does that then support the vote if she gave an FTE? So, all of the positions are 1.0 and all of the positions are districtwide, um, is how they're identified.
268and I have to go by seniority in terms of determining who gets rescended and who doesn't. And so in terms of the I the way she identified it um I understand I believe her goal um which is to to save the position that helps support the um Latinx resolution, but it's not identified in that way in a way that I can actually resend it that way. So then that means that the only options would be to Well, Director Vasadev, do you want I'm I'm talking all over your um recommendation. Do you want to take it from here or do you want me to continue? No. So what what if you recommend 2.0, it will save position. If I recommend 2.0, it'll save that position. Okay. Then that then can I modify my recommendation to two
2692.0 FD to 2.0 FD 2.0 FD and then we can recall call the vote again. Um, President Brown, that would save that's what needs to happen to save that position. Okay. Okay. So, what we will do is um Can I just ask a question? You may. So, are we saving a position or a person? I I'm just I'm a little confused cuz I'm like so in order to save the pos the position um they're all equal. So in or in in terms of saving the position um in order to reach the goal of having someone who is able to be in that role of serving as the Latinx representative and being bilingual and doing that work, we would need to um we need to consider the person as a in addition to the the position.
270And so we would need to Can I ask can I ask you Sam? Is that because the position itself doesn't have that particular requirement? Is that right? Correct. Sorry, I'm a little slow tonight. Okay, thank you. Correct. Did Did you need to finish your sentence, Sam? Um, I that's why I recommended to um Director Vasadev to that if she was to recommend that we reduce by 2.0 um the recisions then we are um making the impact that you I believe desired. Okay. Um here here's the issue that we're at. We're now at 11:20. Um and we unfortunately only extended the meeting to 11:15 and we can extend a second time. So the uh my concern is how we do this for it to count. Um but we can't we can't take action on it um
271right now because we're over time. Potentially what we could do is we could see this come back to us at a special meeting. But Liz, I'm gonna ask you. Um, does that then negate the vote? I don't believe it already. It does because we've already voted. So, um, the record, give me give me one second. Go ahead, Liz. The record can reflect the amended um motion. Um, and then I think we should just record it on the record and I think it should be okay. But we can't take action. Correct. That is that is what should happen. The record should reflect the amendment um to the motion, but we cannot take action on this because we are after the time of the board meeting technically. Yes, you're correct. And so what we will have to
272do is we'll have to schedule a special meeting to then vote on this. preferably a special meeting tomorrow to uh well, we can't do it tomorrow because it has to be within 24 hours. So, a special meeting before the end of the week to deal with the uh amendment at hand because we can't take action on any other item because our board meeting is already over. Uh I think that because the original motion took place within the time um before 11:15, we should be okay to make the amendment and move forward with it. We've done that in the past. So, but it's I defer to you, President Brown. Thank you for deferring to me. I've been on the board seven years. We haven't done it in the seven years that I've been here, but you've
273also been in the district longer than me. So maybe you've seen it before, but I haven't seen it in the seven years that I've been here. And so what we will do is we'll call a special meeting to deal with this item just because I want to make sure we do everything above board and fall within our Brown Act policies. So that's what we're going to have to do. The the record will reflect that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Meeting adjourned. that you'll have to notice it and