001comes out and calls this open session to order. I just want to briefly overview our public comment procedure. If you are here in person and wish to speak during public comment, please submit a green speaker card. They are located on the table in the very back. I will be accepting cards for the next three more minutes. If you are online and wish to participate in public comment, please raise your hand. Now, if you are a student in person or online, please be sure to indicate that either by your name online or on your speaker card so that you may be prioritized accordingly. There will be 30 minutes allotted to public comment. split between inerson and remote speakers. So, please plan your comments accordingly. If you are not called during the first opportunity, there is a
002second and final opportunity at the end of the meeting both in person and online to participate in public comment. We encourage you to take advantage of that opportunity if you are not called during the first time. If your name is called please and you wish to seed your time, please stand up, state your name and the person and the person's name to whom you wish to seat your time. By seating your time, you forego your opportunity to speak. And please note that speaking time cannot be combined. Uh the president will set this evening's speaking time to one or two minutes depending on the amount of folks here present. Thank you. Um, and she will also take into consideration any um any speech needs or any other accommodations necessary per speaker that will determine how much
003time is set. While you are speaking, the light at the lect turn will turn yellow when there is one minute left. When your time has elapsed, you will hear a beep. Please finish your sentence, but try not to speak beyond the allotted time. Um, if you are here to address any complaints about specific district employees, we encourage you to take advantage of our formal complaint process rather than using public comment for that purpose. Um, and lastly, please keep in mind that we have minors present and watching online. And as you speak, please keep that in mind um, and consider that. participant. Also, commentary. Gracias. Okay. Great. You got That little [Music] Everyone I don't know. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hi. Hi. [Applause] Oh my goodness. [Applause] Oh my goodness. [Music] right there. Pardon me. Can I
004ask you one more question? [Music] Can I ask you more questions? Stop. [Music] Come on. [Applause] Let's do it. Thank you. [Music] Hold on. I [Music] will. Thank [Applause] [Music] you. Thank you. I'm talking [Applause] Take off your [Music] [Applause] How you doing? I can open [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Does it I [Applause] love it. I do. [Music] here. Anybody? [Music] Don't See you. [Applause] Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for your patience and thank you for joining us uh tonight at the April 30th meeting of the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education. I'll now call this meeting to order at 7:26 p.m. Uh Miss Cherus, can you please Oh, I'm sorry. Before we call the role, we actually need to approve this evening's agenda. And there are a couple changes
005that need to be made to the agenda. So, we will go through that. The first thing that needs to be changed is item, give me one second to find the number. Okay, I'm going to come back to that one. There is a consent item. Is that what it is? 13. Perfect. Item 13.9 will come to us tonight um as a presentation instead of an item on our consent calendar. So our first change needs to be uh that item 13.9 comes to us as a presentation and that will come to us on the agenda following um ahead of rather the uh physical education presentation. In addition to that, we also need to move item 15.1 before item 14.1. So, we need to make that change as well. Okay. Are there any questions about the changes to
006the agenda? Yes. The second change is that our physical education overview will come after the elementary TWWI literacy curriculum uh position. We did already. Yes. Yeah. It's not fiscal warrants. And the item that we are moving from consent is 13.10, not 13.9. 13.10. So, let me just let the public know. Um, so typically when we have um this approval for the Chromebook rescue program, um it can go on consent, but we are actually going to have a presentation tonight um about that. And so that's what you'll see. You'll see a presentation tonight for um our Chromebook program. And so we'll see that uh during our presentation section. So again, item 13.10 will uh be moved to a presentation. That'll be our first presentation. Then we'll go into a discussion item for elementary TWWI literacy curriculum
007adoption recommendations and then we'll go into our physical education overview and then finally we will have our budget update. Is that clear for everyone on the board? Are there any questions? Okay, hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? I'll move to so. Okay, it's been moved by Director Chang. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Director Kin. All those in favor, please signify with the sign of I. I. Opposers. Extensions. The eyes have it. The motion passes and tonight's a agenda is approved. Um this evening we are very excited uh to welcome Berkeley's Technology Academy who will uh Woo! Yeah, give it up. Give it up for BTA. We are super excited uh to welcome BTA who will come to us uh with a special presentation. As you all know, in
008the beginning of uh my term, I talked about wanting to have these uh many presentations at the beginning of our meetings that really highlight some of the amazing things that are happening in our school district. And there are definitely some amazing things that are happening at Berkeley Technology Academy. And so, if you all could give a warm welcome one more time uh to I believe Sophina Jones, who will lead us in that presentation. Look at that. [Music] Hello all. Oh, I can use the mic. What like um Okay. Hello Ben. Hello all. Um thank you President Cadia Brown for my introduction. I am Sophina Jones and I am here to introduce to some and reintroduce to others our hearts work at Berkeley Community um techn Berkeley Technology Academy. Um I am the academic counselor there
009and not only am I an employee of the district, I am a product of Berkeley schools. Yes, I am. Um is the presentation in? Okay. Okay. Um I have well until the presentation come up. I've been working at Berkeley Technology for six years. I was a dual counselor supporting BIS and BTA and recently over the last two years I've been um supporting just BTA but with our lovely BIS counselor on leave right now. I'm supporting both BIS and BTA. Yeah. For those of you who may be wondering what the pause is for, we are making sure that uh Sophina's presentation can be uploaded so that uh we can see them here on the dis and that you all can see them in the audience as well. And it looks as though we almost have it
010up. So, thank you for being patient. So our mission it runs aligned with our district and BOSD's mission is to enable and inspire our diverse student body to achieve academic excellence and make positive contributions to our world. BTA is a vital part of the mission. We also believe in those four E that our lovely superintendent always reminds us of. Excellence, equity, engagement, and enrichment. BTA's mission is to provide a small and safe, supportive, and functional learning environment with equitable resources that empower students to be valuable and to grow academically, professionally, and personally and socially. Our vision is to empower BTA students holistically to articulate their goals and achieve academic, social, personal, and vocational success both during and after school, after high school. We are committed to a community that supports students who may not have
011found their way at Berkeley High School. So, our small space welcomes them. Next slide. our history were that we were a booming community with over 125 students enrolled um with a cap of 150. We had two teachers um in each of the core subjects, English, math, science, and history and one teacher to support both Spanish and French. Um there was an afterchool program that supported credit recovery. Um students could take barbering, fashion design, and had studio production. our community partners which we used a lot of. Berkeley Council of Pastors with Pastor McBride, healthy black families, Cal Tutors will come after school to support students. Berkeley Technology went on H.B.CU tours and to Washington DC tours. Currently, we have a strong relationship with Berkeley City College dual enrollment courses. We enrolled 11th and 12th graders in
012dual enrollment classes to support not only credit recovery but for their future aspirations. Feed first which is offered in our PE program which brings in mental health into also using physical boxing but not each other to the role. We also highly and strongly use our Berkeley Public Schools grant and use Berkeley High Development Group as they support us with grants. And we have a relationship with the Alama County Office of Education Skills Trade and Career Guide. Um Michelle Chin. Our school dynamics currently we have up to 75 students serving 11th and 12th graders, uh 16 year olds plus. We have an average class size about um 15 students and we hold our wonderful staff with a principal, academic counselor, that's me, school education, so special education case manager, our five teachers that support in the
013core subjects, our office manager, our attendance tech, our amazing student attendance and welfare specialist who make sure she can go to kids' houses if they're not coming to school, our specialist, which is part-time right now, and two safety offic officers and um new this year mental health counselor from Cynica. In our course offer offerings, we offer math one, two and three, world lit, American lit and world of media as our English, Spanish one, two and three, world history and US history, American government and economics for 12th graders, heart fitness with yoga and feet first attached to many days and that um our schedule integrated science and our CTE public health pathway um with rising leaders and support our twice a month pantry um serving the community um with food. Our school day is Monday, Tuesday,
014Thursday, Friday from 8:55 to 3:30 in 85 minute block classes which allows us to continue to have credit recovery as the head of what we offer at Berkeley Technology. Wednesdays we have an early day and we get out at 1:30. All of our classes are A throughG eligible. We have two options for a high school diploma. We have the 130 credit diploma which is a California standard diploma and we have the 220 credit diploma which allows students to leave from Berkeley Technology and go straight into a four-year if they wish. Berkeley Technology um diploma. If you stay and graduate from here, it is on the diploma, but we also share many activities with Berkeley High. We go to graduation, we go to prom, and our students participate in many activities at Berkeley High. Our CTE
015pathways are now where students earn money not only in the program, but support our community through growing leaders. Next slide. And as you can see, one of our kiddos cutting up roast for some of the food preparations that they do for the pantry and serve the community. Next slide. and um returning to college enrollment where we ensure that all of our seniors and in fact we're going to BCC success day tomorrow supporting our um rising graduates to enroll in Peralta Community College classes all BTA graduates are eligible for community college and students who pursue our 220 track are eligible for the four-year universities and um we do not do diplomas uh we do not do certificates we only graduate students with high school diplomas interventions. If students receive two D's or Fs in a progress
016report, our report card period, um we hold many meetings to support the student and the family. We regularly hold SST meetings, student success teams and IEPs to support students and families. If that doesn't work, the student could be asked to return to BHS um and support have supports there. NBTA is a voluntary program with mutual agreement contract. So you can return to Berkeley High. BTA students access additional resources like BHS where we uh participate in sports teams, leadership team um leaderships clubs and prom graduation co college and career where we um have over twice a year our um Miss Navaro from the college and career center at Berkeley High come and present to students. We also still connect students with who they love and adore as adults at Berkeley High. And the we're regular academic
017counselors and college counselors and the CTE programs is where we support our students through the growing leaders program. We just recently opened up a wellness center providing mental health breaks for students of 10 minutes or less monitor to ensure students return to class and that students drink loose leaf tea. They're very bougie. some of our student voices. Students have said, "I like all the teachers I have and I feel like they do a good job of making things feel reasonable, like classwork and no homework. I think it's just an overall good environment of a lot of people." Jack Lewis, who is an 11th grader, BTE is better than BHS because it doesn't have thousands of students, offers jobs to students, and has better teachers, and makes things fun. Jeremiah Adams, 11th grader. And um my
018last student voice comment, I think I have another slide of that. My favorite part about BTA is that we are all a small community, united community. The teachers genuinely care about how I'm doing both in and out of school. I love how the class sizes are small so that teachers can actually sit down with you and explain things in a way that you can understand. I am happy I came to BTA because I've gotten multiple jobs and awards that I would have never been able to get without the help of BTA and that is oh Nina Camarino 11th grader. My um last comment is from our very own I was like like don't get shy now girlfriend our very own student um board member. My favorite part about BTA are the quiet environment, kind teachers,
019and friendly students. It has given me a new opportunity. I am happy I came here because I was able to get one- on-one teacher help. I am comfortable coming to school since all of our staff welcome us. They are encouraged me to introduce myself and others and as a result, I've come close to friends. Evelyn Velasquez, 12th grader of the school student body school board member. Okay. Thank you so much for your time, school board. We definitely appreciate everything that you do and we appreciate you. Come down and see us sometime. You here? Uh thank you Sophina for uh that fabulous presentation going through the history, going through the highlights um and certainly covering the student voices and it was phenomenal to hear from our very own student director in the space. And so we
020appreciate your presentation. And if I could just share a little bit, um when we were talking about uh having presentations and having uh folks come and present to the board, Safina was one of the first people to sign up. Um and so Sophina, I appreciate you. I appreciate your leadership um and all that you do for not just BTA, but for our Berkeley Unified School District community. So, thank you so much for your presentation. All right, we need to uh call the role of the board of uh education. And so, Miss Sharez, at this time, can you please call the role? Director Jennifer Shinowski here. Director um Winter Clark is excused this evening. Director um Mike Chen, Vice President Mike Chen, here. Director Anna Vasadev here. Student director Eveino Cha, I'm sorry, here. and director
021Jennifer Korn here. And President Karishia Brown, I am also here. Thank you so much. All right. Uh at this time, Vice President Chen, can you please report out from close session? Thanks so much. We went into close session honor about 610 with regard to 3.1.1. The district updated the board. Um with regard to 3.2, the district updated the board with regard to 3.3.1. The district updated the board with support of outside counsel and the board provided advisement with regard to 3.3.2. The district provided the uh the board with an update um and a recommendation. Director Shinowski moved to approve. Director Vasadev seconded the board voted unanimously. With regard to 3.4.1 um move the district provided um a recommendation. It was moved by director Vasadev and seconded by director Shinoski and it was unanimously approved with
022regard to 3.4.2. Um also the district provided a recommendation. This was moved by director Korn, seconded by director Vasadev and was unanimously approved with regard to 3.4.3. The district also provided a recommendation. This was moved by director Korn, seconded by director Shinoski and this was unanimously approved. Thank you so much. Thank you, uh, Director Chang. And I do want to note, uh, that we did originally call our meeting to order at 6 o'clock, received some public comments, and then went back to close session. Thank you for, uh, that update. Uh, at this time, we will move to the first opportunity for public comment. We have a lot of public comment cards. There are a lot of people who are here tonight to speak. And so, we will handle public comment in this manner. Uh, with
023the exception of our students. Every student who has a card will get the opportunity to speak tonight. However, there are a number of groups who uh who are speak number of people who are speaking on the same topic speaking within groups and so I'm going to give five minutes or so uh for those groups and I'm going to ask that you organize um yourselves uh in regards to your speaking time who's going to speak within those five minutes so that we can ensure uh that we hear from as many people as possible because we have so many cards uh for our student speakers. We are going to give one minute and again for those groups I consider the groups uh to be uh 10 or more cards that I have uh and I'm sure you
024all know who you are and so if you are not if you are speaking uh for example like we have folks who are speaking in regard adults who are speaking in regards to the schedule I only have five cards for that and so I'm not going to consider that as a group but I will give one minute speaking time for those uh who are speaking in regards to the schedule. Um and then there are also uh adults who are speaking on various topics. And so um again there's going to be a one minute speaking time. Instructors if you can please um set the time limit for 1 minute. We will of course begin with our students. Then we will readjust when we go back to our adults and I'll make another announcement just to remind
025you again of how we will deal with our adult speakers. Hopefully everyone is okay with that and hopefully our student speakers are ready to go first. And so the first student speaker of the night will be um Addis O. [Applause] Hello. Thank you so much. Um, I'm here to talk about language classes at Berkeley High. I was planning to take French one and so I signed up for two electives when we submitted the form and I believe that we should be able to take language classes at Peralta Colleges, Berkeley City College. It's our right to take these classes and get the credit for it. However, I've been told that we are not getting the credit for this and it has been extremely difficult. I have not gotten a signature on the form. I should be
026able to. We are still taking two electives at Berkeley High if we take a language class at BCC. And so that's should not be a concern. And high school is supposed to be a place where we can express creativity, try out new things. Like for me, I was going to take guitar, but with this new rule that I'm not able to take a language class at BCC, I'm not going to be able to do that. So we should be able to give the opportunity for that. Thank you as well. Uh, next we'll have Allaria [Applause] M. Um, hello, I'm Ari. I'm here to talk about um the P requirements and the Berkeley High Bell schedule in regards to that. It's great that we have more time to make decisions about how that is going to
027be handled, but we need to use that time. Um, and it's crucial that we change the bell schedule at Berkeley High because all the other um all the other like districts who have PE have um like a seven period schedule or a block schedule. So, we know it's possible. Um, and we need to preserve the arts and music programs at Berkeley High and allow 9th and tth graders to have elective times. And I don't want to end up in the same situation with the same problems next year having had extra time. I don't want to like end up without a solution at the end of that because that's just going to cause the same problem all over again. and we need we need to make the decision quickly and we need better communication about it
028because people are excited to help make this transition but we need more information to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Next we'll hear from Olivia W. The L and Gabby D. [Applause] Hello, my name is Elle Weinstein. I'm a second grade at Thousand Oaks Elementary and I go to our after school program every day. Well, I came to speak of support of Mr. Dante every day. Mr. Dante supports us in our learning. He's an amazing leader. He makes us feel like I'm being listened and seen. Whenever I'm walking, I really look forward to seeing him. He's really nice. Whenever we have a hard time, he helps us figure out what's going on and makes us feel better about it. He supports us in our learning and comes up with activities what make rock at Rirock
029that makes it so much fun and us smarter. He also teaches us new experiences and culture cultures. He organizes performance nights which are some of my favorite nights at Thousand Oaks. At those nights, we celebrate cultures and different people and diversity. Without Mr. Dante, I don't think we'd celebrate as much as we do because of Mr. Dante makes everything brighter. I know I will remember cherish these nights forever. Thank you. Just to confirm, are you LW? Okay. Thank you so much. [Applause] Um, hello. My name is Thea. My name is Olivia. And my name is Gabby. And we are seventh graders at Longfound Middle School. Um, we are here because we understand that BD is attempting to make a change to metal utensils, but in the interim, we would like to change to something more
030sustainable. And at our school, we use plastic utensils. Plastic utensils are problematic for many reasons. For example, they are nonbiodegradable and damaging to the environment. And when and when they are heated or come in contact with hot food, they can leech microlastics which can cause health problems. Over 10 million plastic utensils are discarded in the US daily. There are multiple brands that offer biodegradable plastic utensils as well as compostable wooden utensils which would solve the issue of the impact on the environment. We do have a petition with over 200 student signatures showing the support of the student body. We would like to request to work with a Berkeley staff member to determine if this is a feasible change to make. Thank you for your time. In closing, the plastic utensils that we so casually discarded
031today will live will live out will outlive us all. Berkeley can do better. Thank you. Thank you. Azus [Applause] centeru. Good evening. My name is Azu Senna and I'm one of the leaders for Sunrise chapter at Berkeley High. We wanted to thank you because last May the school board passed a Green New Deal resolution for all of BSD. Some promises included making sure school infrastructure runs on 100% clean energy and implementation of climate disaster plans and climate justice curriculum. And I am here today to check in on the implementation of these plans and request that the school does everything it can to follow through. The first step we are requesting the school board to take is to conduct a comprehensive environmental assessment for all district facilities and operations in B USD. This would help us
032to quantify the carbon footprint at USD as well as the risk the climate crisis poses on our school. We greatly appreciate everything that you do and we hope that you can take action to fight for our future while we still can. Thank you so much and have a beautiful night. Thank you as well. Now we will have a Giani P. Hello. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Giani. I'm here today as a current student of Miss Polarca, asking that you allow her to continue teaching online. Miss Felarca has made a huge impact on my learning as well as the learning of many students in Berkeley independent study. Her dedication to making sure that I'm making continual progress and understanding the material has made all the difference for me. Even beyond teaching, she
033has a unique ability to connect with her students and show true care for us all while teaching from a distance. I know for me that her presence as a teacher and mentor has been essential to my growth and success. And for her to leave would be a huge loss for us all. When I learned that Miss Farco might have to return to in-person teaching in the fall, it broke my heart. Miss Falarco must be able to continue to teach online and continue serving as a primary caregiver for her mother who depends on her daily for. If she lost the ability to teach remotely, the students of Berkeley Independent Study will have been robbed of a great teacher who actually cares about them and their future simply because she is doing what any of us in
034here would do, put her family first. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we will hear from Zum A. Hello. Um, hello everyone. I am Zam, currently enrolled in Miss Falcoa's lit uh, women's lit class. After undergoing knee surgery, I desperately needed an online teacher. My graduation would have not been possible without this course. I'm really grateful for this course. Miss Farca is an extremely intelligent, compassionate, and helpful teacher who works with students to break down obstacles. She works with them like a partner in a team would. So anyone would be truly lucky to have her as a as their teacher. I would have never had a more passionate teacher and I I had I have never had a more passionate teacher and her approach to teaching and knowledge has been so valuable that I have been
035able to uh apply it to life. Please keep please allow Miss Flara to teach online. Taking care of family is a fund a fundamental right that everyone has. Nobody should have to force consequences. Allowing Miss Falcara to continue to teach online would be tremendous help to her and the community. There are students out there that are in desperate need that Miss Flara because not everyone's circumstances are the same but unique. Please consider everyone's circumstances. Thank you. And Ali [Applause] F. Ali F, are you with us? Student Ali F. Okay. Next we will move on to Crystal G. Is Ali F here with us? Are you Ali F? Yes, I am. You are. Okay. We'd love to hear from you. Okay. Yes. Um I just wanted to share my experience. Um I was only in is
036for um one quarter, but I experienced like an incredibly welcoming community from all the teachers, but every time I had English, I was incredibly excited to see Miss Falcara and she sparked ambition and she made me excited to learn. Um and her passion, like her being online did not restrict that in any way. And to be transparent, I felt her passion for education and her care for me and all of her students in a way that I had just not experienced from a lot of other teachers. Um, and I still think of her as an incredible teacher and one of my favorite English teachers, which just had no restriction due to her being online. And I think pushing her out of situation um and making her teach in person um would take away from that
037and would like our role as a community and being at Berkeley High School where we want to accommodate people. Oh, have time. Thank you. Next, we will hear from uh Crystal G followed by Stella E. Good evening. My name is Crystal Graves and I am I'm here to offer my support and to not upset the apple cart when it when is not necessary in order to save money. From a parents point of view, the Emerson after school programs offers the best program for our students to attend. The program offers consistency, continuity, comfort, and compassion. I have and I've had ch I have been a part of the Emerson uh family. I have been children who've been a part of the Emerson family and yes I call it family which which offers me comfort and confidence.
038One of the number one blessings that a parent has is to know that their child is safe and comfortable when they're at school. It is a true comfort and not to not have to worry. Um I have had that comfort since my first child was in the program from first to fifth grade and my second child from from kindergarten to third grade. Now, from the point from the moment I found out what was going on, my comfort and confidence is now shattered. I am I can only speak for one person who is completely appreciated and that's Mr. Evan and I hope you keep him. Thank you so much for your comments. Um, I'm going to continue to call up student speakers. uh if I call your name and uh although it is marked as a
039student speaker and you're not a student speaker um please give um way for our students to be able to speak and let me know and I'll make sure that you get uh the opportunity to speak on the adult side. Okay. All right. Next we will hear from Stella E followed by Alani and Piper. [Applause] Hi, my name is Stella and I go to Emerson Elementary. One of the reasons I think my after school leader, Mr. Evans, should stay is because he does so many things for my school, like give the students a chance to learn new things like how to play football, dodgeball, volleyball, kickball, and soccer. How to make jewelry, do crafts, and figure out puzzles. For example, if it wasn't for him, I would have never found my love for football or been
040able to contribute to a play during the school year. Not only does it do all that, but he's also an amazing leader. How do you ask? because he is kind, thoughtful, goes beyond the expectation of being a good leader, but is also truly cares about the students and in my opinion that is the most important thing when when a leader at a school I and I would truly truly miss him if he were to leave and that's why I think my after school teacher Mr. Evan should stay. Thank you. Next, we will hear from Alani and Piper. followed by Isabelle M. Hi, I'm Piper. And I'm Alani. And we're from Emerson Elementary School. And today we are here to fight for our coordinator, Mr. Evan, the after school program, also known as Kids World. Mr.
041Evan. Kids World is Mr. Evan. And without Mr. Evan, kids world wouldn't be the same. And no one can replace him. Mr. Evan has very fun activity he always planned. And he very he spoils us very much. He today he even threw water balloons at us. Even kids that graduate from Emerson Elementary School come back because of how fun everyone is and how appreciative they are. If Mr. Evan was not a Kids World coordinator. I cannot imagine Kids World being Kids World anymore. He tries to he tries his best to put everyone in Kids World so so the parents that can't pick their kids up at at 5 can pick them up later than that. Thank you. Next, we will hear from Isabelle M, followed by Ramona B. [Applause] Hi, my name is Isabelle. I
042am in second grade at Thousand Oaks. There are many reasons Mr. Dante makes afterare a better place. For example, he listens to everyone and makes them feel heard. He also sets up all the holiday celebrations and he explains their history. Mr. Ente is always friendly. He's really fun to be around and he makes me smile. So, please let Mr. Dante stay. Thank you. Next, we will hear from Ramona B, followed by Lucas C. [Applause] Hi, my name Hi, my name's Ramona. Hello, my name's Ramona Bossi and I'm a second grader at Emerson Elementary School. I'm here to talk about learns. Mr. Evan is a great Kids World group leader. He makes Kids World fun for us kids. He sets up really fun activities for us and Kids World would not be the same without him.
043I would like to ask the school board to please keep Mr. Evan in the same role he is now. Thank you so much. Next we will receive Lucas C followed by uh Rashman A. My name is Lucas and I go to Sylvia Mendes and I don't think that Miss Anita should get fired because she helps us solve our problems. She gives us special [Music] snacks and she keeps kids from bullying us. She helps us make good decisions and be pandas. Please keep Miss Anita. Thank you, Lucas. Next, we will hear from Rashim uh A followed by Carlos P. [Applause] My name is Rashan and I don't think Mr. and I'm in first grade. My school is Emerson and I don't think Emerson is I mean Mr. Evans should get fired because he feeds us good
044food and helps us learn to read. No, thank you. Thank you. Next, we will hear from Carlos P followed by Vivian B. Nuli. Hello, I am Carlos Padilla. I go to King Middle School. I'm Carlos P. I go to King Middle School. At King Middle School, we should not cut teaching jobs. These cuts won't just hurt classrooms, they'll hurt the heart of our school community and learns. Our vital after school program depends on staff to keep students safe and supported after school hours. And programs like Latino Neil give students a chance to connect, lead, and celebrate their culture. Without teachers and support, these opportunities are at risk. Let's protect our educators, our students, and the programs that make school a place to thrive. [Applause] My name's Vivian. And my name's Ulie. We're from Crankmont Elementary.
045And we're here to talk about Miss Jasmine. [Applause] Miss Jasmine is a great person to run after care. She does fun She does fun activities with us. Um, and we don't have a fence around our school, so teenagers are always getting in and m Miss Jasmine tells them to go away. Without Miss Jasmine, after school wouldn't be the same. Thank you for your time. Thank you uh to all of our incredible student speakers who spoke tonight. Um adults, let's make sure that we take note. When they heard the one minute timer go off, they finished their sentence and um they even actually left some time on the clock and so if we could follow suit and do that, that would be really really amazing. Let's learn from our young people tonight. All right, now listen.
046Yeah, clap it up. They were great. All right. Now, we have a number of cards who are speaking um on on some different topics. And so, I'm going to deal with our groups first and then I'll deal with our individual speakers. And I want to just be honest that we are reaching um close to the end of our um our public speaking time. And so, everyone may not be able to get a chance to speak at this first opportunity, but there is a second opportunity for um public comments. Okay. So, here's what we'll do. First, we'll start with our groups. Um, and there are five minutes for uh learns and budget cuts. And so, I'm going to ask all of those who have given um a card if you all hopefully you've taken the time
047uh to organize yourself. Um and so we're going to put those five minutes on the clock. If there is a representative who would like to speak on behalf, that would be great. Um if you are already determined who will be the speakers who will speak within that five-minute period, that would be great as well. Um, but we'll receive you at this time. Miss, can you please put five minutes on the clock? Thank you. Okay, let's do this. You all organize and I'll come back to you. Okay. In the meantime, um there are also a number of uh speaker cards speaking in support um of our online teacher, specifically Miss Falcara. And so if you all would like to take if you're prepared and ready to take your five minutes, we will receive you at this
048time. Are we ready? Yeah. Okay. Hi, I am Tamar Maze and I am a parent. I am speaking on behalf of Iet Fela. I just want to ask um that the school board please consider allowing her to remain online and teaching. I just want um to give just an experience. My son is dyslexic. He came in um to independent study with no confidence in the language arts um as a ninth grader. She worked with him tirelessly, completely online, but she made herself available sometimes 7:00 p.m. our time, 10:00 her time, cuz she's in New York. Um, caring for her mother. And she worked with him tirelessly 9th grade, tirelessly 10th grade. And my son this year is an 11th grader who just passed AP Lang with an A. Um, not to mention that, um, as
049you've seen, these are African-American males who are making connections with her, who are making gains with her, and who are finding a place to learn and to thrive. Please consider that. Thank you. [Applause] Christina. Hello. I'm here to advocate for my colleague Ivet Fela and asked you to retain her. She's a caring and supportive warm demander. She individualizes instruction for her students. She provides flexibility, deep academic language supports and talk routines, and engaging materials. She's trained in the extensive filing of paperwork requirements needed to pass state audits and avoid fines. She's very skillful in the complex scheduling of BI students class times needed to create equitable small groupoup instruction with always on shifting on ongoing and shifting enrollment. Um, as you've heard, many students medically need online classes independent studies. So, I'm not going to
050elaborate on that. I'm going to also share with you that we're incredibly impacted by space. Like in my room, we have four teachers teaching in small groups simultaneously and we don't have the capacity for another in-person teacher and 60 more students. We're serving 180 BIS students in four classrooms. It's loud, very loud. I'm not minim. It's really an issue. So, I just think that the during these time of cuts in our district and instability, we're losing our principal Heidi Weber, our counselor, Lin Lelay, is out on leave. Hiring a new teacher means that we will be training them and uh it will be difficult to start next year um hit the ground running and uh make it a success with a new administrator training a new teacher and not having our counselor there. So please
051please allow us to keep you. She's exceptional. Thank you. We need her. Good evening everyone. I'm Kamala Asher from Berkeley Independent Study BIS. I urge you to retain Ivet Farca um in her online teaching capacity at BIS. She's one of the finest teachers I have ever worked with and it would be a major loss to our students, our school community, and our district if she could not return in this capacity next year. The beauty of an alternative school setting is that options are provided. Iet offers the option that fits some of our students, crucially keeping them engaged and motivated in school. Evette has elevated online teaching to an art form. Her virtual classroom is an outstanding learning environment in which students feel supported, students are challenged, and students are cared for. They engage in meaningful
052academic discussion and debates, and IET utilizes virtual learning tools and digital resources to facilitate all this. She works hard to meet each students particular needs. She cultivates positive and um lasting relationships with students families. She consistently goes above and beyond to support not only her students and families but also her fellow educators. She is always available to collaborate with or to deal with anything that may arise. She has earned deep respect from students, families, her colleagues and admin. An invaluable resource. She's highly qualified secondary English history avid XL ESL EL teacher of many years in our district. We want Evet to keep providing the needed online learning option in Berkeley at BIS. We urge you to make this a reality. Thank you. My name is Tanya Kapner. I teach at Sjourer Truth Independent Studies fully
053online in Oakland. Oakland has maintained an online option for students with learning needs and physical disabilities and families that don't want to be kept out of their public education. Berkeley should keep Miss Farca online and do the same. We should not tail after Trump's forcing people in willy-nilly against ADA and everything. Farelarca is an excellent teacher. She has been an advocate for the young people of this school district. She should be allowed to stay online because this is cutting the rest of the online option for families that want and need it. She is serving students that will not have that opportunity. Do not take away the online programs from Berkeley students. Berkeley is supposed to lead the way for progress. Let the students have their teacher online. Thank you all so much. Uh next we
054will hear from Lucas S followed by Maria M. Are you Lucas? Safina, are you Lucas? I'm Lucas. Well, I'm not Lucas. Lucas had to work tonight. So, he sent his report. Okay. Can I do this? Can I give priority to people who um who are here and then we can receive Lucas's uh report? You can send it directly to us. Okay. Thank you so much. Um, next we will hear from Maria M, followed by Omar I or Emar I. Hi, my name is Maria McGlaughlin. I have an eighth grader and a ninth grader. First, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Superintendent Ford Morell and Associate Superintendent Hooandike and your staff for your efforts in getting and your success in getting an extension on the PE requirement. Thank you also to all the
055administrators, schoolboard members, teachers, parents, and students who raised awareness about the problems caused by the sudden shift to having a PE class requirement. Thank you for listening to us and for advocating for a reprieve. Now, we need to develop a seven period schedule within the regular school day. Can we please form working groups including people from each stakeholder group, including music and arts electives teachers, core subject teachers, etc., parents and students before the end of this school year so that we can get started. Let's take advantage of the work that's already been done in this area. There's been multiple studies about these um seven period or block schedules in the past 10 years including one two years ago I believe that was costneutral. We know that this must be done by December 2025. So please
056let's get started. Thank you. Thank you. Uh next we will hear from Omar I followed by Michelle M. Omar had to leave. Okay, no problem. Okay. Do you have a speaker card? Yes. You have a speaker card, too? Yes. Okay. Um, let me get to your speaker card if that's okay. Okay. Um, next we'll hear from Michelle M, followed by David E. Hi, I'm Michelle Wilson. I'm a parent at Berkeley High School and I'm very excited that the superintendent and her staff has gotten us the gift of more time to implement the PE changes to Berkeley High School. Let's use these seven months by December wisely to make a really good plan. There's um a lot of room in the ed code if it is stutied correctly to not go from way too loose to
057way too overcorrecting. I think there's some room in between where we can meet all of the requirements of the ED code and still meet all of the needs of Berkeley High. It's very important that we do consider a seven period bell schedule change. I think this can be done in a cost neutral way with enough planning time and our our district's working so hard on budget right now. Let's draw the resources of of parents of of Cal School of Education and all the people that have worked on this in the past. There is also room um to finish all of the requirements of the A education P standards within the 9th through 12th. The district has some leeway when if we're going to do some single subject things we can do it um in an
058online course. Thank you. Thank you. Uh next we will hear from David E followed by Amanda C. You're part of the Lawrence group. Okay. Let me put your card in the right place. Okay. Next we will hear from Amanda C. followed by Erica J. Amanda. Yeah. Go ahead, Amanda. [Applause] Thank you. Just wanted to make sure um is it okay that I'm presenting on a student speech? Okay. Wonderful. Wonderful. Good evening to the board. Excuse me. Just getting uh organized here. Um, I'm speaking today on behalf of Kyle Tran Nuen. Um, he is a graduate from the class of 2024 from BTA and he reads, "Going through high school was a roller coaster to me. I started high school at Berkeley High. First, I was behind a screen during my freshman year. Then, sophomore year
059wasn't my best. I was still given chances on trying to recover missing credits from failed classes by being transferred into a credit recovery class at BHS. And still, I chose not to really go to class. I was eventually transferred to Berkeley Technology Academy. Starting there was still very hard for me. I was still very hard-headed. But there was one person who really believed that I could do something great with my future. Sandre Maldonado. She was very liked by my mom. I still had a rough patch with Maldonado. That was until my junior year where I had a traumatic experience. And he ends with Sandre Maldonado uh helped me out and continued to help me apply for college classes and without her I wouldn't have made it. Please don't make any cuts to the program at
060BTA. Thank you. Thank you. Uh next we will hear from Erica J followed by Paul M and then we will go into our learns groups and you all will be the last speakers for this current uh public speaking period. Will I be able to get Omar's one minute? I got one minute. Do I have his one minute? I only got one my one minute. Okay. Don't start it yet. Good evening. I'm Erica. I'm from Berkeley Technology Academy, also Berkeley Independent Study. Today, I'm I am here to raise a ongoing concern about enrollment and district support for Berkeley Technology Academy. It's clear that the unique needs of our students, those who thrive in smaller settings or need recredit recovery, are not being fully considered. I would also like to address layoff notices that were sent to
061our BTA staff. We desperately need all of our staff. We are already small in number, but we do amazing work independently and collectively. Please do not dismantle our BTA team. BTA offers a 130 and 220 credit diploma path, but too often students are referred to us late, sometimes in the second semester of junior year, making it nearly impossible to complete a full 220 credit diploma. If students were referred earlier, they can recover credits effectively and still return to BHS if they choose to. Okay, I'm going to stop because my minute is going to be gone and I listen to the other kids, but I'll come back later. Okay. Thank you very much. We appreciate that so much. All right, start the clock. Um, hello. I am the father of a um rising ninth grader. Um,
062here to talk about the PE um mandate and uh the schedule. Um, I would like to echo everything that Maria said. I think that we have um this precious little bit of time to um come up with a good plan for accommodating the PE mandate and also all of the arts and electives and world language programs and drama and the CTE pathway and everything else that people love about Berkeley schools that makes it special. So, um, strong vote for block schedule. Thank you. [Applause] All right, Miss Charles, can you please set five minutes on the clock for um our next group of parent speakers, adult speakers? Hello. I'm asking you to reconsider the decision to eliminate the learns program coordinator positions and demote them to program specialists. This decision is not just a staffing change.
063and will have serious and immediate impacts on the quality of afterchool care and summer programs that so many families like my own depend on. Currently, program coordinators play a vital role on expanding enrollment, creatively managing studentto staff ratios, supervising staff, managing budgets, and ensuring the smooth, safe operation of programs. Demoting them to specialists removes critical responsibilities and incentives. Without coordinators, staff will no longer have the authority or resources to be flexible with enrollment, resulting in many children, including current and weight listed students, being left without afterchool care next year. At just Emerson alone, this could impact over 40 students, multiplying that across the district. The loss becomes staggering. Site leaders like Evan at Emerson and Miss Jasmine at Craigmont. They have built trust, fostered relationships, and created thriving programs that may be displaced, disrupting the
064environments our students rely on for growth, safety, and learning. Good evening. I am a mom of a second grade uh Craigman student and in addition to what Henrietta just said, I would like to stress that these coordinator roles are also about trust, safety, and connection. Having an after-school coordinator in a permanent role means that they have established relationship with student and parent community. They know our children by name, understand their needs, and handle behavioral challenges with care and consistency. I believe that it is crucial for students well-being to have a permanent, dedicated, and most important trusted coordinator who they respect and listen to. Hi, my name is Jessica Drury and I'm a parent of a Craragmont kindergartener and a second grader. I'm here also to talk about the um the protest the elimination of the
065learn site coordinator position. On the way to school today, I told my kids that we would be coming here tonight to support uh Miss Jasmine because the school board was considering laying her off. She has been our learn site coordinator since we first started at Crowdmont four years ago. They explained, "Why would they do that? We love her." I explained that it wasn't specifically Miss Jasmine her position that was being eliminated due to budget cuts as our already wolffully underfunded schools. Needless to say, the distinction was lost on my five and 8-year-old children. And for good reason. Miss Jasmine is not just a position. She's an amazing person who is excellent at her job. a person who both our children and fellow parents have come to rely on due to her steady and consistent approach
066to running the Craraggmont Learns program as well as the care caring and calm authority presence for our kids who love her. Our schools don't need less. They definitely don't need fewer good people. Please figure out a different way. Our children in our future deserve better. Thank you. Our children deserve competent leadership and supervision at learns programs across BUSD. Without dedicated coordinators running the programs, the guarantee of proper emergency responses for our children fails. Jasmine, our leader at Karmont, has personally checked in with me when either of my kids have shown a change in behavior to provide support and suggest resources if needed. This personal attention and dedication is what makes these leaders indispensable to our students. The coordinators provide critical crisis and safety responses for our kids. They safely redirect students attempting to leave campus
067unsupervised, remove unauthorized individuals from campus, supervise all contracted staff to maintain a safe environment for our kids, and intervene when a child intends to harm themselves. Eliminating these roles would have massive negative consequences for our students. at best removing deeply invested caregivers from our children's lives and at worst allowing dangerous situations to develop unchecked and harm our children. I ask the board to please reconsider the plan to eliminate these positions. Thank you for your time. Hello, I am a mother of three kids who are in the Learns program at Crargmont. Um we understand that BSD is having budget cuts. Learns is probably the only BSD program that has ability to increase its own funding. Let's do that. Currently, the sliding scale for learns maxes out at a family income of 85,000 for a family of
068four. Many families would be very willing to contribute more money to the Learns program. Before cutting our on-site coordinators, please consider expanding the sliding scale with a higher cap and more tiered levels to bring in the additional funding needed. Ensure the quality of our program and the safety of our children by allowing families who are able to contribute more the ability to do so. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. Thank you very much uh to all of those who came to speak to the board of education in person. We will now move on to um our online commenters and there are a lot of online hands tonight. Um, but I am only going to be able to take five. And so I am going to begin the public comment online public comment speaker portion
069with Susan L followed by Lindsay in Hello, President Brown. Can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you. Welcome. Yes. Um, thank you and board members. My name is Susan Lee and I'm the proud parent of a graduate from uh Berkeley Technology Academy and I'm here to sing the praises of not only the program but of Sophina Jones. My son entered uh Berkeley High in 9th grade, did fine but pandemic hit and um had to pivot then to Berkeley Technology Academy and uh we met as a family as the school had promised. uh my child continued to struggle but Sophina Jones her dedication uh threatened him that if he didn't start coming to school she would come to our house and indeed that is exactly what she did. She came to our house and pulled
070my child out of bed. Um I cannot specify and and and just sing the praises of this program enough. not only did to it build uh my child's confidence but uh through the um volunteer program in the pantry my child um uh uh volunteers for the homeless at the St. St. Paul's St. Depal works 32 hours a week at a restaurant and has just been accepted to seven UC schools including Cal. And each one as as he was accepted to each one I texted Miss Sophina and I said look at what you did. Congratulations. Please do not cut anything from BTA. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next we will move on to Lindsay L followed by Amedica H. I'm sorry, Lindsay N followed by Amedica H. Hi, my name is Lindseay Noelt and I'm speaking
071as a member of reading for Berkeley on info item 16.1, the penultimate progress monitor report for the literacy action plan. There is a lot to celebrate this year in Berkeley Unifi's quest to have a better first teach for early readers and more effective support for those who struggle. Because of the sustained work over the past few years, we are on track to help more students learn to read, write, and spell in elementary school. However, there are big hurdles to come which will require continued investments and deserve transparency and the opportunity for community oversight and partnership. We urge the district to continue to monitor and report on items that have yet to be fully addressed from the settlement agreement. We are concerned about supporting teachers and staff during the implementation of new curriculum and new coaching
072models, progress on improving tier one instruction in middle schools, implementing evidence-based routines and curriculum in the upper grades, and ensuring equitable and effective policy updates regarding intervention and support. We urge the continuation of outside monitoring and support as we look to strengthen literacy practices across elementary, middle, and high school. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next, we will have Amedica H followed by Iet F and then uh finally we will have Mr. Good. Um, hello. Um, my name is America and I'm a UC Berkeley student. I came here tonight to speak in full support of Anita, the afterchool psych coordinator for learn at Sylvia Mendes. I met Sylvia Mendes for two hours a day, four days a week. But even in that short window, Anita's impact is unmistakable. I understand that budget cuts are forcing
073difficult decisions, but it is important to recognize where true value lives. Anita's role isn't just about managing logistics from behind a desk. In fact, I've never seen her sitting. She's constantly checking in with students, supporting staff, updating families, and communicating with community school partners like me. She's present, connected, and always doing more than what's expected because that's the kind of leader she is. If someone else were to step into her role, the job description would need to include must give more than what is asked because that's what Anita brings every single day. The kids feel it. The families feel it. We all do. Please protect the people who are truly making a positive difference. Anita is one of them. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, I'm Evette Felca. Um, I first want to stand in solidarity with
074my colleagues at BTA and also everybody who's been advocating against any cuts in the school district. Um, this is my 18th year as a Berkeley teacher and I teach online at Berkeley Independent Studies. I'm a civil rights activist with BAM. I'm a caregiver to my 88-year-old mother. I'm advocating to continue teaching online so I can keep working in a job that I love and caring for my mother who needs me. Most importantly, I'm fighting for the continuation of the online education option for our students in Berkeley. This is an unprecedented time in our nation's history. Trump has brought fascism to America. In this context, more of our students need an online education option now than ever. It's a lifeline. It's sanctuary education for families who are immigrants. It's access for students with physical and mental
075health needs. It's a haven for students who've been bullied or assaulted at schools. Online education is an equity option education and we need to keep it and not cut it first by cutting me but then cutting it altogether. Please allow me to continue this program and continue it and expand it. Thank you. Next we will have M. Argood. Yeah. Hi. Um, yes, I'm um Mark Good. I'm um a teacher in Oakland. I'm a part of Equal Opportunity Now by Any Means Necessary Civil Rights Caucus. I'm speaking for uh the against the proposed elimination of the um online program and and in support of Miss Farca who is a very well-known um fighter for the students of Berkeley. Um she fought for the online program during the height of COVID, has taken on um has has
076defended students at Berkeley High when their families were threatened with ICE attacks, has stood up against the fascists when they were coming to Berkeley in the park right across the street from Berkeley High um and uh threatening Berkeley. And during Trump's first run for president, she's taken on the fascist policies of Donald Trump. Now, I think that Ms. Flar stands for everything that Berkeley purports to stand for the principles of prog, you know, of progressive fight for equality that have been made Berkeley famous throughout the world. And I think that this program uh that of of online education serves students and families who will not be served otherwise. And so I call on this board not to cut that program to maintain it in the interest not only of uh of equality and and uh
077accommodations for students and families who need it but also preservation and and continuing on of Miss Farca who who has the reputation uh at Berkeley and beyond as a fighter for students, families, and and civil rights. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Uh this concludes our public comment peri public comment period. However, what I am going to do is when we get to board comments, there are a number of people um who are in person and actually some people who reached out personally to ask uh if they could speak tonight. So when we get to board member comments, I'm going to seed my board member comments speaking time. For those who filled out cards and who are still in here tonight and who would like to speak, I'll give up my time to
078allow you all uh to do so. if you're still here in the audience. Okay. Um All right. We will now move on to committee comments. Uh we will begin our committee comments period period with our uh AfricanAmerican success framework advisory committee uh commenters. So we will receive you at that time at this time followed by uh comments I believe we have tonight on behalf of PAC. And if there are any other additional committee comments, uh we would like to ask you to please uh form a line at this time so that we may hear from you. Um good evening um board directors, superintendent, and Berkeley community. My name is Nemo Abina and I stand before you tonight as a proud BUSD parent of a long and a longtime advocate for many years at Crargagma Elementary
079and now as a seventh grade parent at at with a seventh grade parent at Longfellow Middle School. I am also an active member of the superintendent's African-American success committee or ASAC and a committed advocate for all BUSD students with a sharp focus on the success of our African-American scholars. April has been a critical month for the AfricanAmerican success framework, not just in planning, but in action. Hopefully, you were able to attend one or both of the recent transition fairs in April 19th and also April 26. These fairs did not happen by accident. They were created as a direct response to the urgent voices that families captured in our community focus um groups during the development of the African-American success framework. Parents and caregivers told us clearly too many students are falling through the cracks during
080this critical transition, especially moving into high school. The transition fairs are not just an event. They are an example of what happens when we listen to our community's voice, turn into turn it into action and builds the kind of district where every student can succeed. We s excuse me, we extend a deep thanks to BUSD site teams, central office staff, community partners who made these fairs possible. Special appreciation goes out to the leadership teams at Berkeley High School, Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School for not only hosting but creating a welcoming, empowering space for families. Here is just a glimpse of a few of the feedbacks we received. When asked, "Is it helpful?" Families shared several yeses. It was a great overview uh for incoming freshmen. It made my daughter feel so much so much
081more comfortable about high school. When asked what worked well, families said everyone introduced themselves at the booths. The setup was excellent. The information was thorough. It felt welcoming to see many teachers, students, program representatives. This kind of impact is what we need more of, not just in this moment, but in this system. As we move into the spring spirit and close out the budget season, it is critical to remember the AfricanAmerican success framework is not an extra. It is essential beyond the transition fairs. This spring spring's work includes wrapping up professional and learning series at Willard Longfellow Middle Schools, completing a targeted student intervention program at Sylvia Mendes Elementary. These efforts are part of a larger vision. A vision that demands that every student, every student, especially African-American students who historically have been underserved, have
082access to a meaningful, measurable, measurable success. As we move beyond year three of implementa implementation, uh the work must go deeper. students. Student intervention must become a permanent wellsupported part of our system focused on grade level achievement across multiple measures like STAR and CASP and beyond. On behalf of the AASC and the families we serve, we thank you for your investment so far. Thank you. Tonight, we also urge you stay committed. We're building traction. Stay courageous. Planted seeds are taking root. Continue to fund this work fully and keep building the district our students deserve. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you, Namote. Uh, next we will receive our pack comments. And if there are any other uh committee comments, you may um form a line at this time. Um hi, my name is Sello.
083I am the co-chair of the LCAP Parent Advisory Committee and I'm here to give an update and comment about our committee's work. I want to start by sharing gratitude for our committee members as well as our district partners, Dr. Lena Sweeney and Dr. Jessica Bonduras with extra thanks to Shamaya for coordinating and connecting with our committee members in advance of each meeting. We appreciate you. Our committee has moved to the part of the year where the where we synthesize our learnings and generate our collective feedback to the board about the LCAP as it relates to the LCFF supplemental funds our district receives to support our focal students. As my co-chair Jesse mentioned in previous board comment, PAC decided to focus on three issues this school year. One, addressing barriers in the schooltoome connection. Two, academic
084intervention. And three, ensuring focal populations are fully supported. These three issues align perfectly with LCAP goals 2, three, and four. We look forward to bringing you the pack's full recommendations next month. But in light of the current budget discussions, I want to preview some of PAC's top priorities. While systemic underfunding continues, our continue our committee wants to reinforce the importance of maintaining or increasing staffing in the programs that directly serve our focal populations in each of our schools. We are living in a timeline where a significant portion of our kids are under actual threat. And we must look at the services that will support our least resourced equitably, particularly our elementary and middle school kids. In service of goal three and four, we have clearly seen the benefit our OI liaison bring to our school
085communities and want to emphasize that this is where we have built and will continue to build our school-to-home connection, particularly for our English learner community. Opie continues to build relational trust through community events and local engagement and remains a lifeline for so many of our families. PAC is happy to hear about the rescending of some OFI pink slips in the recent budget town hall, but we want to emphasize that any reduction in OFI staffing will be detrimental to our students and their caregivers. We want to echo and uplift our DAC committee's ask to have a full-time Oie liazison at each school. This is a place where an investment of supplemental dollars will equitably serve and uplift our kids who need it most at every single school. Uh in service of goal two, we would like
086to also emphasize that we cannot cut any funding for our literacy, RTI, EL, or math coaches. Once our focal students are in the classroom and ready to learn, often thanks to the help of OP staff, these interventionists are a critical resource in helping our students succeed. Given the work Brea and our educators have done this year, providing responsive metrics that our educators can leverage immediately to help our kids, we are concerned the loss of any FTE at any site will set our kids back. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for helping our kids. Um, I appreciate all of you and the hours that you spend. Thank you. Thank you as well. [Applause] You're making committee comments on behalf of No, just myself. I would appreciate you trying to get in for the
087first public, but it wasn't selected. Okay, don't worry about that. We will get to that when we do when I do board comments. I will give you my time um to speak, but right now we're taking committee comments. Are there any other committee comments? Okay, seeing none, we will now move on to union comments. We'll take our union comments in this order. BFT, BCCE, Yuba, and then local 21. Are there any BFT comments this evening? Online. Okay, we will receive our BFT comments um that are online at this time. All right. While we are waiting um for our uh technical difficulties to be handled, we can receive our BCC comments. While we are waiting for our BFT comments, for our technical issues to be handled, we will handle our BCC comments. You're welcome to come
088at this time. TT, come on now. All right. Good evening, everyone. Um, good evening, superintendent and school board uh members. Um, the Berkeley Council of Classified Employees and representing over 600 dedicated and skilled classified professionals within BUSD appreciate the recision of 112 layoff notices for our members. This is a significant step preventing disruption for those individuals, their families and their schools and is something uh we acknowledge with gratitude. However, the work is not yet complete. 54 valued BCCE members, real people with real families, still face uncertainty regarding their employment for the upcoming year. These individuals report to work daily, unsure if their commitment to the district will be recognized or disregarded. Simultaneously, contractors continue their assignments at our school sites. This situation rises uh critical questions. How many contractors are currently working at each school
089and within each uh department? Why do some school sites have more contractors and reported vacancies? Why is a district continuing to outsource work while our own dedicated employees are at risk of losing their jobs? What plan is in place to move forward with replacing overpriced contractors and dedicated permanent employees? This situation is unacceptable and reflects u a conflict with values, not just a budgetary uh concern. Our dedicated BCC frontline classified employees face jobs insecurity while the district maintains contract for roles that could and should be f uh filled by our qualified and permanent staff. We understand the constraints of budget reductions having participated in those discussions. However, we also recognize the importance of priorities. The ongoing reliance of contractors while our employees await decisions sends a clear message. The sta stability of ex of external
090workers are being prioritized for the stability of our own workforce. Our community deserves better. Our school needs consistent, qualified, trained, union represented employees who deeply invested in this district and our students. Before any further classified positions are eliminated, this board must address the true cost of relying on contractors. Specially, we ask how many BCCE jobs could be preserved by reinvesting in our own workforce instead of out uh outsourcing. We urge you to begin this critical calculation. Let us reaffirm our commitment to our employees. Let us make a genuine investment in our schools, our students, our teachers, and our classified staff. Thank you as well for your comments. At this time, are we ready to receive the BFT comments? Okay. All righty then. We're going to go on to our Yuba comments. Is there anyone here
091at commenting on behalf of Yuba? Okay, seeing none, we will go on to local 21. Guys, I like how you guys saved the best for last, by the way. Well, it's just the order that you're in on um on the agenda, but best for last. I agree with you. I'll take what I can get. Hello board. Hello superintendent. I'm Steve Collins with Local 21. I'm going to let a couple of my members speak in a minute. Um we're here to talk about the afterchool program coordinator. Of course, I want to make one comment. At the last schoolboard meeting, there was a comment made by a staff member about uh this coordinator position being a pilot kind of thing. Um that is a complete misrepresentation of what has happened in the last two years. Uh in
092all of our conversations with the district um talking about the plans leading up creating this position, implementing the position the whole time there's never been any discussion, no comment about pilot. So this is a tough enough situation for the 10 people that are being affected by this. So there's no need to to throw smoke in the air. It's it's a it's you know let's just be honest and clear. Um so I am going to invite up uh Anita and Jared to speak a little bit. Uh now Anita is Jared is speaking and Anita is going to speak um and translate to Spanish. So I believe that gives us extra time. So Jer, are you going first or can I actually speak in my native tongue in Spanish and then translate for myself? Um he has
093his own statement. Excuse me. Okay. So you I think that's not To the members of the public watching from home, we're experiencing a fire alarm in the boardroom right now and the board meeting will resume after this is clear. I'm waiting for you. Somebody. Who's watching the TV? No, the lights are off. put it out of school. The principal would have a lot of start orient. I know. Cut the cable. I mean, I'm standing here. I'm here. I know. I feel like I'm Y need a heater. A heater cold. So little girl, get your blanket. Get your baby blanket. Start start. remember. Yeah. Like From their perspective, to the viewing audience at home. Uh we experienced a fire alarm here. We will be resuming shortly as everything is cleared and everyone comes back in. My
094heart is Yes. Thank you so much. How was that? Yasmin, if you could help me get the board directors back in the room, that would be wonderful. So, we can begin. Thank you. I was the same message translate. Okay. It's So powerful. Thank you. All right, we are we are back. Thank you so much. Sorry you all for uh the disruption. We do not yet know the cause of it, but I appreciate your flexibility and we are ready to begin. I believe you gave your spill and we have our uh two commenters who are ready. Yes. To present to the board at this time. Thank you. Sylvia Mendes learns Forein persones. department learns. coaches solo. Extraordin Director program. person.goes. The school board. Thank you. [Applause] I'mma translate that. Um, all right. Uh, greeting board members.
095My name is Jared Sanders, the King Learns Coordinator. Um, we want to speak to inaccurate, uh, narratives that have been expressed recently. Um, one, that the coordinator position was a pilot program. Two, coordinators don't count towards staff ratios. Three, coordinators are not direct service providers. And there seems to be an unhappiness with the results of the programs. Uh there's also a proposed resolution that would replace on-site direct service coordinators and supervisors with an another off-site and hands-off learns department manager. Response one to the first pilot program. It has never been stated to us or anyone else that coordinators were a temporary pilot test. Uh coordinators were selected because we were the most qualified. We were thoroughly vetted by interview and test process and a 12-month probationary period with the most deserving being promoted to permanent
096employees. Second, our second point coordinators are included staff ratios. They provide every service that our staff, coaches, and one-on-one aids do at their sites. This year alone, our coordinators have total have a total enrollment of 170 new families into the program that otherwise would have been without child care because of our ability to be creative in getting kids in the program. We exceed expectations for creativity, work ethic, and personal responsibility to meet the high demand for quality child care in our schools. Three, the idea that the coordinators are not direct service providers, but managers tied to a desk is completely false. Families and students have testified to the board and coordinators that coordinators are boots on the ground every day. When children are in the building, we are working shoulder-to-shoulder with our staff. We directly
097handle behavioral issues, sub for absent staff, speak to parents and step in to provide enrichment and academic support directly to the students. The fourth one is lastly the district has stated that they were unhappy with the results of the pilot test. However, the last 23 months in the last 23 months we have passed every test overcome every challenge to raise the bar for excellence. We have received no such feedback. What is the criteria for this assessment? We would like to invite all the board members and all the district hire-ups to come visit our programs and see the work we do. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you so much for your comments. Uh we will now move on to board member comments. Um and oh BFT, does the video work now? I think so. Okay, let's see.
098Hello, Superintendent Ford Morel and the Berkeley School Board Directors. I am Matt Meyer, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. I want to recognize that this is a unique and challenging time to be in public education where every other day our profession, our community, and our resources are under attack by the federal government. It is hard to keep up with it all. That doesn't mean that we will sit still and watch it happen. Our national union, the American Federation of Teachers, sued the Trump administration over withholding public school funding for DEI programs and recently won. AFT continues to file lawsuits slowing down the Trump administration's attempted dismantling of public education. Statewide, the California Federation of Teachers, our statewide union, is helping get an important Senate bill passed that will provide guidance to school districts to
099not let ice on campus without a judicial warrant. This is already B USD policy but unfortunately not the policy of many districts across the state. Amongst all this until recently many of our educators were facing job insecurity. Thankfully some of these layoff notices have been rescended but there are still classified certificated and administrative positions that do not have clear answers on what will happen with their positions next year. One of these that I want to highlight is our preschool program. two preschool teachers and the instructional assistants that support them are still at risk of losing their jobs. We have a proposal that would create a lower class size average for our preschool classes. Currently, all that exists is a statewide max of 24 students. Our teachers cannot be expected to have the same number of
100students in a class when the students have gotten younger, their needs have increased, and the number of four-year-olds has dropped significantly. A lower closed class size average means more attention for our students, better learning outcomes, and will stop the reduction of this important program. BFT and BCC members will be rallying at every school site tomorrow morning before school, highlighting three main points. Our schools need to be fully staffed. Our educators need to be fairly compensated and our students deserve stability. We all know the challenges facing our schools and educators are big ones. from teacher and staff shortages for special education to high health insurance costs, but they are solvable. We have presented the district with 15 proposals with more coming to help stabilize our schools. Having safe and stable schools for our educators, students, and
101families is crucial. We urge BUD to join us with the urgency needed to get this deal done as this is what educators, students, and families need and deserve. Thank you. [Applause] All right, we will now move on to uh board member comments. Uh board directors, if you'd allow me to go first so that I can seed my time. Um so first I'll call up Nadia T, are you still in the audience with us? Okay, we definitely can. Thank you. Uh and next I'll call up Kyle T. Okay. And Katie K. Hi. Um, I will be speaking on behalf of Ashley Garcia, a BTA parent. She says, "I'm writing to you not just as a concerned parent, but as a mother who has witnessed a transformation in her child that I honestly didn't think was possible.
102Just two years ago, my daughter, then 15, was a completely different person. She had always been bright, talkative, and full of life. But slowly, I watched that light dim. Her social anxiety took hold in a way I had never seen before. She stopped smiling. She stopped engaging. Getting her to school or even to leave the house felt like an impossible task. As a parent, it's heartbreaking to feel helpless watching her child disappear into themselves. When she turned 16, Miss Sophina recommended BTA to us. I don't know what to I didn't know what to expect, but it felt like a last hope. And what happened next changed not just her life, but mine as well. From the very first day, BTA welcomed her in a way that made her feel seen, valued, and safe. For the
103first time in a long time, I saw her smile, not a forced one, but a real genuine smile. She started talking again. She started dreaming again. She found purpose, motivation, and a renewed confidence in herself. Um, the people at BTA, the teachers, the staff, the program partners, they are more than educators. They are mentors, cheerleaders, and compassionate adults who care deeply about every student who walks through their doors. What BTA offers isn't just an education. It's a lifeline. It's a community that meets kids where they are and lifts them up to where they can go. Thank you, Peter T. Hi, I'm Peter Toma, a PhD student from Berkeley. I'm here to speak against the pink slips and uh and layoffs being considered by BUSD. Uh I I know that the school district is facing trying
104times, but if there is a budget shortfall, I think they should be looking to trim from the top from the administrative bloat that that has affected basically every school district in the country. They should not be looking at laying off essential workers such as classifies and teachers who keep our who keep the school running and who are under attack by the federal government right now. Thank you. Thank you, Peter. William B, no longer here. And Paula P, no longer here. Okay. Thank you so much, board directors. Um, student uh board director, are you ready to speak? Okay, you may go first. Good evening board members, superintendent, district leaders, and the Berkeley Unified community. My name is Evelyn and I am proud to serve as a student represent on this board and even prouder to represent
105Berkeley Technology Academy. You might think you know BTA from a description on the district website, but that's most important is understand who we really are, what we offer, and why it's important. BTA is a place where students are seen for their strength, where learning is hands-on, culturally relevant, sorry, and connected for real futures. It's a place where credit recovery, career, and technical uh education, and STEM learning come together in a way that meets students where they are and help them build forward. Our staffs show up every day with hard with a heart, skills, and deep commitment to our success. And even with their effort, it's clear that BTA doesn't even receive the same attention, resource, or recognition as other schools across the district. This is not about, you know, it's like bl like about um
106taking blame, assessing blame. It's about calling for awareness, equality, and action. As a student representative, I will continue to using my voice, not just tonight, but throughout the rest of this academic year, to lift up BTI strength, speaking honestly about our challenges, and make sure we stay invisible in this conversation and decision that shapes our district future. BTA doesn't need temporary support. We need real lasting investments. Because when BTA thrives, Berkeley Unified thrives. We are not just the sideline. We are a viable demandic part of this district and we deserve to be v valued, supported, and celebrated as such. Thank you. [Music] Thank you as well. Port directors, are you ready? Is there anyone who'd like to volunteer to go first? I'm ready. Okay, go ahead. I'll keep it brief since we're so delayed. First,
107I'd like to wish our board president a happy belated birthday. Birthday month is almost over. Um, so happy birthday, Cada. Uh, I also want to point out that tomorrow is Mayday. Um, also known as International Workers Day. Uh, there will be uh actions around the country and around the area. And if you don't know where to find one, you can come with me. Um, I'll be at Sprawl Plaza at noon. Um and to all the workers um who are here and also those who have left and all of us are workers really. Um I just want you to take a moment tomorrow and think about all the the work um that goes into every day. All right. Um office hours next week. I have office hours from 3:00 to 5:00 next week at Kasalatina. So
108um please join me. And I also just want to give a shout out um to our board president for arranging for the BTA presentation. So when I first became a board member, I went over to BTA and I've been there a few times and I do feel like we often um forget that our high school includes BTA and BIS and that all of our kids are B USD kids. And so um thank you. And I and I also want to give a shout out to Miss Sophina as well because when I was there visiting once for a meeting, all these kids came through that office and she knew every single one. She gave them all food and school supplies and just showed the kind of care that I think all of our kids deserve and
109need. Um, and it was just so transparent to me. So, thanks. Who'd like to volunteer to go next? Go ahead. I'll uh piggyback on that by saying that I've known Miss Sophina for a long time. When she was getting her counseling credential, she came and interned with me when I was the principal of Oxford a million years ago. Um and Miss Sophina, it was such a delight to hear you present about BTA tonight. I too got the opportunity to visit BTA this fall and um was really impressed by the students ideas and questions and it was a great conversation and um it's awesome to hear from your students. Um I'm going to keep it brief. Also, I we're going to announce some new employees tonight and I want to say welcome to them, but I'm
110going to leave it to the superintendent. I don't want to steal her thunder. Um, I want to encourage people, we're not going to have a presentation about the literacy action plan tonight, but it's there's some really great news in there and I want to encourage people to read it. Um, I too have office hours coming up this Friday from 3:00 to 5:00 at Sweet Bites on San Pablo. And I'm going to end by inviting everybody to come tomorrow night and join me at Berkeley High for the band and orchestra final concert. Not just because my son's playing a solo concerto, but also because Karen Wells, who has been at Berkeley High for at least 27 years, I'm not exactly sure how many, but I'm told at least 27, will be retiring. And this she's an
111amazing music educator. And I invite you all to come join me in celebrating her tomorrow night. Hi, good evening everyone. I'll try to be brief as well. I wanted to thank our students who came to fight for better uh environmental conditions on our campuses, improved course offerings at BHS, students who advocated for specific staffing positions. Thank you so much. And for the students who advocated tonight, including our own uh board director for more resources for BTA. We're here to make sure you have a high quality education, and I thank you so much for your advocacy this evening. I also want to thank uh the parent speakers who came uh to advocate for the seventh period period block schedule at BHS and continued concerns around the PE requirement. I know that our associate superintendent and superintendent
112have been working hard on the FAQs and will continue to engage families and so will our middle school principles on this issue. I just want to give a shout out to the amazing Willard Springplay, Wild Flowers on Rose Street and a special shout out to Mr. George Rose for his nearly 30 years of service to our schools. So, um it's a beautiful play. There's still um different shows available if you haven't seen it, but uh please give Mr. Rose a big hug if you see it. And then I am also really excited for this weekend's middle school robotics competition this weekend. And I'd love to thank our CTE staff and also the parent volunteers at the different middle schools who made a robotics program happen. so well this year. So, thank you so much to
113all the volunteers. To Miss Lent in the audience, I see you and I thank you. And um I also wanted to announce that that um some colleagues at AC Transit wanted me to share that the Youth Innovation Challenge is open. It's a unique opportunity for young people as young as 18 to jumpst start a career in transit and to compete for a chance to win up to $1,000. So, I'll be sharing that with our high school. And also really excited. May is one of my favorite months because it's bike month. I'm very excited for bike to school day on May 15th. 11 of our campuses will be participating. So I hope to see you in the bike lane on that day. That's it. Uh thank you so much. I'm going to uh follow suit with
114the president and seed time given the late hour, but thanks again for coming out with your hearts and minds. Thanks. Thank you. Uh this ends our board comments. We'll move to our superintendent comment. Thank you, President Brown. Um, good evening, B USD family. Evening. Good evening. Good evening, B USD family. Good evening. You guys should know by now how to do this. Anyway, these last couple of days have been really busy in BUSD with many opportunities for community engagement. Um, recent events include our fifth to sixth grade and our eighth to 9th grade transition fairs that you likely heard about uh during the ASAT comments. Both of those events were uh created in partnership with the African-American Success Framework and both were a tremendous success. Willard Middle School hosted an amazing night market event featuring
115fabulous food, lots of fun and entertainment all organized through the school's Asian and Pacific Islander Club. Then B USD's climate fair was held last weekend showcasing student projects with many hand-on learning opportunities. And last night, y'all tired? I'm tired just talking about it. Last night we had our 10th annual Battle of the Books. That's a special thing here in Berkeley. It features all three of our middle schools and they compete with each other to answer questions about content and books that students have been reading all year. Some of you all have not even read a book all year, but our babies been reading books all year and they come together and they compete and they answer questions about it's really kind of cool. So, who won a special B USD recognition to King sixth and
116seventh grade teams and Willard's eighth grade team, eighth grade team who took away the first prize in their respective grade levels. Can y'all clap for the babies? They were reading. So, those were all the days prior to this evening. Let me tell you about tomorrow. Tomorrow is principal appreciation day. Tomorrow is Thank you. And what better time than at tonight's meeting to recognize all of our BUSD principles from our preschool through our adult school principles for their tireless work on behalf of our babies, for tireless work on behalf of our students and the work they do with our staff members as well. We see you and we appreciate you tonight, tomorrow, and always. But tonight in particular, I want to recognize two B USD principles who will actually be leaving our district at the end
117of the year. A you guys, the sound effect. We work on the sound effects. Okay, so here they are. In J No, it's not a gay. You go ahead and stand up now. Stand up, Candy. So in June, you see how that is? We're like sad and she's like throw a party. In June, Craig, my principal, Candace Cannon, will complete her 41st and final year with our district. [Applause] Candy 41 years. 41 more. Some of us up here are not even 41 years old. So Candi began teaching at BUSD as a sixth grade teacher at Malcolm X in September of 1984. After teaching there in four in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classrooms, she started a kindergarten class at Malcolm X and would go on to teach kindergarten, K1, and first grade classes. Miss Cannon
118served on many district committees over the years and served as a served a stint as a TK teacher leader as well. She then spent three years as a vice principal at Malcolm X before becoming the proud principal of Craigmont Elementary School during distance learning. She led the school through the CO 19 pandemic to its in-person reopening and was instrumental in rebuilding the school community post pandemic. We honor you, Miss Cannon, for your four plus decades of service to our community and wish you a happy, fun-filled and relaxing retirement. And please know that if you're looking for 41 more, we're here for you. Can we get a round of applause for Miss Canon, please? Another one of our um amazing leaders in BUSD who will be transitioning at the end of the year who is not
119present but likely joining online is Suzanne Reid. Um she's been an educator for B US been educator for 26 years including 17 years teaching and nine years in administration. Before coming to BUSD, she taught fourth grade, third grade, and was a response to intervention teacher at Fremont Unified. In 2011, we were lucky because she joined the BUSD family as a first grade teacher at Ruth Acti. She would go on to serve as a vice principal at Malcolm X and then as a coordinator of professional development for the district. In 2022, Miss Reed became the principal at Rosa Parks. Miss Reed says her favorite part of the BUSD is the people, mine, too. colleagues, families, and children, the babies, of course. She feels lucky to have been part of so many different beautiful lives, and we
120feel lucky to have had her um in our family. Miss Reed will head to Havens Elementary and Pedmont Unified to serve as principal in fall 2025. We thank her for her service and wish her the best. She's not physically here, but can give her a round of applause, please. Now, as we say goodbye to Miss Canon and Miss Reed, we are also super excited to welcome new leaders for the fall of 2025 approved by our board education in tonight's close session. So, join me in welcoming Miss Holen Robbie. Did I say that right? Holland. Miss Holland Robbie as the next principal of Rosa Parks Elementary School. Miss Robbie has deep roots in the Berkeley community, working at Emerson for 16 year 16 years. Wow. As a classroom teacher and the multilingual learners coach, Miss Robbie
121has taught a ve v variety of different elementary school grade levels and is very excited to return to Berkeley. Currently, Miss Robbie is an elementary school principal in Oregon where she moved with her family six years ago. And we are so happy to have Miss Robbie here as the principal, the new principal at Rosa Parks for the 2526 school year. Come on. It was a fire drill and everything. Act like I also would appreciate you all joining me in welcoming Rachel Porzig as the new principal at Craigmont Elementary School for the fall of 2026. Miss Porzig come uh say standing. You going to have to stand up as a principal. Come on. Miss Porzic comes to us from West Contracasta where she has been an elementary school teacher, vice principal, and district leader in the
122social emotional learning of students. We are fortunate and excited that you have decided to make BUSD and Craigmont your home. Welcome. I'm not done yet. Tonight, our board of education also confirmed Willard Principal, Mr. Alex Billet, stand up to become BUSD's next director of human resources. Alex will begin the position on July 1st, 2025. He is a beloved, he's currently the beloved principal and has become a pillar of the Willard School community and we congratulate him on his new role and we thank him for all the amazing things he has done for the babies and the folks here at Willard Community in the role of principal. Um, we will begin the process of hiring the next Willard principal soon, so stay tuned for that. We will make sure that we have another amazing person to
123take Mr. Billet's place. A round of applause, Mr. Billet, please. Tomorrow we kick off our celebration of both Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month at BUSD. Um, please watch your emails tomorrow for messages about both of these important months and our work to uplift our Jewish American and AAPI communities and recognize their many accomplishments and contributions to our lives and to be USD specifically. Please visit our AAPI and Jewish American Heritage Month resources web page where you will find family guides, teaching guides, staff posters, reading lists, and a whole lot of more information including upcoming events. Speaking of upcoming events, on May 4th from 11 to 4, BUSD invites all families to the Jewish Arts Bookfest at the Magnus Collection of Jewish Art and Life location, 2121 Austin Way. This is
124going to be an amazing event where authors come together and artists do panel discussions, workshops, readings, team programs, and performances that showcase the Jewish experience through art, culture, and storytelling. Still not done. You guys have sat here for a really long time, and you even endured a fire drill, so you might as well stay for till the end of the meeting. We got some great things on our agenda, including a presentation regarding the physical education requirements that you heard many folks comment on uh this this evening. And we also have a budget update that includes information about our budget process, the conversations that we've been having in our superintendent's budget advisory committee and an update on our March 15th reduction and force notices. Um, so with that, I'm going to pass it. Huh. Oh, we
125Sorry. And we're also going to have a presentation on our TWWI curriculum as well. So don't Nuhuh. Don't grab those purses or those bags. Stay a little bit longer. In fact, stay and move to the front. Thank you, Madam President. That's the end of my comments. All right. With that, we will move uh to the consent calendar. Uh as a reminder, item 13.10 has been moved to uh presentation. And so with that being said, is there a motion to approve this evening's consent calendar? I'll move. Moved by Director Shinowski. Is there a second? I'll second. Seconded by Director Chang. All those in favor, please signify with a sign of I. I. I. Opposed? Abstensions. The eyes have it. The motion passes and the consent calendar is approved. We will now move into our presentations and
126we will begin with our first presentation item 13.10 approval of Chromebook rescue program. Hi, welcome everyone. I just want to say that we always ground our work in the four E of excellence, equity, enrichment and engagement. even if the slide didn't make it into the slide deck. Thank you for that, Max. Good evening. Do you want to make sure that microphone is on? Is it on now? Yeah. Perfect. Great. All right. Well, good evening and thanks for having us here tonight to talk about the Chromebook Rescue Program. Uh this is an exciting new initiative to take district Chromebooks that are too old or worn for the classroom and transform them into laptops for community members. Uh this has been a highly collaborative effort across both B USD departments and outside partner agencies. Um as you
127can see by our uh project team listed here. So, I'm Ellen McClure and I'm the BSD uh climate literacy teacher on special assignment. Um, and this evening you'll be hearing more about the program from um each of the project team collaborators. One too far. Okay, good evening. My name is Debbie Lens and I'm a coordinator of the middle school maker spaces and I am a teacher at the one at Willard. We were introduced to the idea of alternative uses for our expiring Chromebooks when a few of us met Peter Muie from the Fix It Clinic at one of their community repair events. He has worked with other districts to find better uses for the older devices as an alternative to e-wasting them. Our B USD Chromebook rescue team then formed across many departments within the
128district including technology offy curriculum and instruction and the schools fund. We've been planning out how to make this work in Berkeley and we are working towards these four goals to repurpose our outdated devices to provide hands-on learning to our students to improve digital access to our community members and to promote sustainability through waste reduction. Good evening everyone. My name is Sophia Peltz and I serve as the sustainability program coordinator for the district. Um, this project aligns directly with the district's broader sustainability goals by repurposing hundreds of Chromebooks. We are taking a meaningful step to reduce electronic waste, one of the fastest growing waist streams actually in the world. Um, so without intervention, some of these outdated devices can potentially end up in the landfill and this leads to toxic materials like lead and mercury leeching
129into soil and water, posing serious health risks to both humans and the environment. By keeping these Chromebooks in circulation in our own community, we are not only saving resources, but also actively preventing long-term environmental harm. Next slide, please. This initiative not only supports our sustainability goals, but also highlights the district's commitment to equity and community engagement. By repurposing Chromebooks, we raise awareness about the digital divide and emphasize the importance of equitable access to technology, helping ensure all students and families have the tools they need to succeed. At the same time, we're modeling sustainable behavior by showing that older devices still hold value. This encourages students to think critically about consumption and recognize the environmental impact of electronic waste. Looking ahead, this project also opens the door for hands-on learning opportunities such as tech repair workshops
130um that can empower students and families with the valuable skills um and reinforcing our shared responsibility to conserve resources and support one another. Hi everyone, Maxler, can you hear me? Max is director of technology. I I was very excited when the team approached us about uh the prospect of collaborating to uh repurpose uh surplus obsolete Chromebooks as laptops that could be uh used by members of our community in need. What currently happens with Chromebooks when they've reached the end of their useful life in the classroom is the board uh proves them as surplus and then they're sold off in lots at auction. We generally get about five to$15. Uh but you have to weigh that against the staff time which can be significant in prepping them for sale and and can be a wash in
131the end. And we don't really know what happens with the Chromebooks once the buyers have them. Um we do know that some buyers of used Chromebooks will take them and ship them off to countries that have uh cheaper labor rates where they will strip them for chips and then just the majority of the bulk of that Chromebook will go into the waist stream whereas Sophia said it might leech chemicals into the environment. So Bradley is going to tell you a little bit about what we want to do. All right, so there are four key parts to the Chromebook rescue pilot. Um as our Chromebooks are refreshed, the retired Chromebooks are deprovisioned. uh and this process unties them from our management system and this is already part of the practice when we surplus Chromebooks. Um after
132deprovisioning uh new software would be installed on these laptops that allows them to be used without a Google account and offline without an internet connection. Um, we'll engage students in the maker programs, uh, community volunteers and partner with City of Berkeley Youthworks to reconfigure these laptops. The laptops will be distributed to families and members of our community in partnership with OFI school supply giveaways and fix it fests held in the fall and spring. An important part of this program is ensuring access to support for these computers. Recipients will be able to get support at events like fixit clinics and self-help resources. While supplies are available, these laptops can be traded in for a working laptop in the event that one stops working. Hello, I'm Sally McLaclin from the Berkeley Public Schools Fund. The schools fund
133is plays a role in the distribution of these Chromebooks in two ways. Uh one is which we we are will be the nonprofit to which the Chromebooks will be donated in accordance with board policy that assets not be given directly to other entities and community members but are donated to a charitable appropriate charitable organization. In addition, our Berkeley schools volunteers will be enlisted to support the work in both the refurbishment, as Bradley had mentioned, and the distribution of the school supply giveaway and the staffing for the follow-up tech support events. Hi everyone. Uh my name is Lydia Gabriette and I am the supervisor of the Office of Family Engagement and Equity or OFI. Um OPI plans to partner with these efforts in a couple of different ways. Um the first is by supporting the distribution
134of these computers at our annual school supply giveaway as has been mentioned which happens every year in August in preparation for the first day of school. This is an opportunity for families uh to receive computers and tech support. Last year we had over 650 families uh and approxend um at the event. So it's a great way to uh to reach families. The second way that Opie plans to partner with these efforts is by supporting workshops that teach students and caregivers about uh technology and about how to navigate the computers and fix them when needed um and so much more. So this all comes together to support our goals of both promoting successful outcomes for students and empowering families. This past school year, Climate Literacy in the Maker spaces brought three Fix ItFest events for the
135first time to the Berkeley community. They were incredibly successful events with over 100 participants bringing items to be fixed. One really amazing aspect of this kind of event is that participants both watch and assist with the repair, often leaving with a better understanding of how things work and feeling more confident in their ability to use tools and maybe try fixing something on their own. In addition, students in the makerpace classes had a week-long repair unit and they learned how to sew a button onto fabric and how to patch a bicycle t bicycle tube and also saw our district techs how they do the Chromebook repairs on our own devices. This the fixit fest naturally led to this Chromebook rescue project which is a collaborative venture involving students, education and technology working together to address sustainability
136and access in our district. So the final project uh will be a laptop that runs a currently supported web browser and a suite of office office applications uh that are compatible with Microsoft Office. Uh these are functional without an active internet connection. Uh and these devices will be usable by parents as well as students and they do not require a Berkeley Berkeley.net email account. Um, graduating students would also be eligible for one of these computers after they leave B USD. And we'll indicate the conversion of the laptop by adding a sticker with a picture of the globe as a symbol of sustainability. I have one here. So, that's our plan. Uh, there's no approval needed by the board tonight. Approval will come next week in the form of a consent calendar item. uh for donation
137of uh 500 surplus Chromebooks to the Berkeley schools fund. Uh after that, we will be working throughout the summer with uh workers from the city of Berkeley youth works program and possibly some volunteers and students to uh convert the Chromebooks to the laptops and they will be distributed at the school supply giveaway in August. Uh in conclusion, we hope that the uh project and its uh implementation with collaboration of multiple departments in the school district becomes a model of uh district-wide uh sustainability. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you all uh as well for your presentation. Uh as a reminder to the audience and to the board, uh the board doesn't ask questions for presentations, but we thank you so much for your work and for taking the time out tonight uh to present to the board
138of education and to the greater Berkeley community. Uh next, we will move into our presentation uh for the actually we'll move into our um discussion item for elementary TWWI literacy curriculum adoption and then we'll move into our uh presentation for physical education. [Music] All right. Good evening board, members of the audience. Um, we're happy to come before you today um to provide uh to share our recommendation for our elementary TWWI Spanish language arts curriculum recommendation. Um, as we shared at the time of the English language arts arts curriculum adoption, uh, we would be coming back to you shortly. This is coming back to you shortly. We'll be sharing that recommendation with you this evening and then, um, take bringing it back to the board for a vote at our next board meeting. Um, so I
139know uh Max did a very nice job articulating um the four E, but we do want to make sure that we are grounding in our district's mission because we know that in order for our students to achieve academic excellence, we have to have um a literacy system in place and part of that literacy system includes the curriculum and instructional materials. For tonight's presentation, we're going to share um with you and members of our audience um the curriculum adoption recommendation for the Spanish language arts adoption. Um we are going to share rationale, community engagement and then implic implications for implementation. Um, this curriculum adoption is in alignment with both our LCAP goals and our our strategic plan pillars, namely goal one, providing high quality instruction. And goal two, academic interventions. We want to make sure that
140any curriculum we do adopt also includes any of those additional supports for students who may be struggling. In the center there, you see the steps that we have outlined for each curriculum adoption. um starting uh with engagement and uh we are at the stage of deciding. Um and with that I'm going to turn it over to Miss Rose James and also with us this evening is director Chris Albeck. Uh good evening board of education and superintendent. So as you see on the slide before you is our instructional vision. Uh we carried out this work with an amazing team of Sylvia Mendes teachers, support providers, and leaders who are deeply committed to bilingual education. Together, we developed a shared vision and framework for what highquality literacy instruction should look like at our elementary TWWI classrooms. This
141vision grounded the decisions that we made from selecting the pilot materials to evaluating their impact. Our goal has always been to ensure that all of our students not only reach grade level proficiency, but are empowered to think critically, act justly, and thrive in all of the languages that they have. This curriculum adoption reaffirms our district's commitment to providing rigorous research-based instruction in both English and in Spanish so that every student in our two-way immersion pathway can fully participate in civic life and shape their own futures. With that shared vision in place, grounded in equity, empowerment, and biiteracy, we turn to the practical questions of how and when language instruction is delivered across grids. The Sylvia Mendes language allocation model that you see before you was foundational in that work. In elementary in elementary TWWI program,
142each grade level has clearly defined times and content areas for instruction in English and in Spanish. Our team was intentional in ensuring that the materials that we piloted and are recommending for you adoption tonight were able to meet the needs of this allocation model. We wanted to ensure that Spanish literacy instruction was not only robust but aligned with when and how students are engaging with Spanish throughout the school day. This structure supports consistent language development, avoids fragmentation, and ensures there's fidelity throughout the instructional program. While the allocation model helped us determine when Spanish is taught, we also needed to be clear about the outcomes we're aiming for in a dual language education classroom. We use this research-based framework for Spanish literacy to assess how and well each curriculum supports foundational skills, language transfer and ma
143meaning making. Spanish has unique linguistic features including transparent orographic orthography and rich morphology that require different instructional approaches than in English. A strong Spanish language arts curriculum must be intentionally designed with these principles in mind. And both programs we piloted and evaluated with this lens with a clear instructional framework in place. We also know that successful adoption requires more than strong materials. We know you've seen this slide before you. Um but we do love it. So we'll share it again. Uh curriculum adoption is not just a pedagogical decision. It is a systems change approach. To succeed, we must align materials, professional development, coaching, and assessments. This systems approach will support us to ensure a smooth roll out and make sure that all of our Mendes teachers feel supported and prepared when they begin teaching these
144instructional materials in the 2526 school year. We've applied change management principles to prepare for a three-year implementation plan focused on learning, deepening, and sustaining effective Spanish literacy instruction across our school district. Before passing it over to coordinator of literacy, Miss James, to discuss our curriculum recommendation, we want to reiterate the importance we have placed on community engagement throughout both of our Englishonly and our TWWI processes. Over the past year, we've engaged families in multiple ways through specific Sylvia Mendes community listening and learning sessions, affinity- based input groups, feedback on each pilot cycle. We specifically reached out to African-American families, families of multilingual learners, and families of students with learning differences to ensure this adoption reflects our entire school community. This input directly shaped both the pilot structure and our final recommendation to you this evening.
145You quit for me? Okay. Um so um our adoption process consisted of two pilot cycles similar to the English one so that our teachers could spend more time with each of the curriculums we piloted. So cycle one uh took us from October to January. We piloted benchmark um adelante which is the sort of Spanish sister program to benchmark benchmark advance. And then our second cycle was um H Hotton Mifflin Aribba Laura um but it was paired with Esperansa which is a structured literacy program in Spanish similar to Orton Gillingham. Um so the adoption committee consisted of three pilot teachers um our amazing principal director Garedo um and some support staff but five teachers total piloted both curricula. Um we collected both quantitative and qualitative data from stakeholders through stu and student interview uh surveys as
146well as interviews. Um our Menddees literacy community event where we shared about each curriculum was had very high participation um with over 43 families in attendance. Um and our pilot began in October and and ended at the end of March although they're still teaching the second uh pilot curriculum. So through all of that, we are very excited to recommend the pairing of Aria Laura and Esparansa for adoption. Um I'm going to share uh the four key strengths of this program pairing that the committee um that made it stand out to the committee. um and I'll speak to them on the following slides, but they are strengths in engagement, alignment with best practices in language and literacy development, um especially in a biiteracy setting and usability, um potential for differentiation and alignment to standards and and
147rigor. Can you Oh, okay. Um both programs um speaking about Adiva and Esperansa allowed for strong engagement. Um students found the materials very fun uh and relevant and being in those pilot classrooms you could really see the engagement levels especially working with the multiensory materials that are included in Esparansa. Um as well as the shared texts in Ariibba. So, similar to um some of the curriculums that we talked to you about with our English program, we're moving from a workshop model where all the kids are reading their own books independently to reading shared grade level texts. Um, also the digital aspect of the resources in AIBA were especially helpful for teachers um and engaging for students. They were able to annotate texts um in a way that was very exciting. Um, one teacher said that
148they were the able to make lots of connections with their students lives either because of cultural connections or other personal connections. Um, and seeing those lessons in classrooms that was evident. Um, another strength in this pairing was characterized by many opportunities for students to engage um with texts and topics and multiple learning modalities. So, Adiba provided a lot of opportunities for oral language um for students to make sense of what they were reading or listening to and write about it. Um the curriculum also provided opportunities for students to write about something that they were reading and discuss it and um cite evidence from text. Um in foundational skills, Espiransa was very multi-ensory. So, in this photo here, you can see one routine for kindergarten students where they put letters in order in an article edis.
149Um, and it's just an an example of how the program uses tactile learning um for to build students automaticity and familiarity with the letter forms. And this is just an example of how engaging the program is. Um, so ease of use. teachers found the digital materials very um useful and they were able to as you see this teacher doing like mark up the texts on their Prometheian board um and students were also annotating and it allowed teachers to make a lot of just in time instructional decisions um because the materials were so easy for them to navigate. Um finally the grade level alignment um there were a lot of built-in opportunities in the program AIBA um for differentiation and the rigor u made these programs stand out and the texts were at or above grade
150level. There were many opportunities for students to grapple with concepts through reading and writing. Um and here you can see a student in first grade is proud of their learning. This is from a student survey um about sufios, prefigos, and derivos. So, prefixes, suffixes, and derivatives. Um, another teacher said in their comments, uh, the prompts often ask students to think beyond the yes or no answers and also required them to back up their responses with text evidence. So, lots of examples of the ways in which these programs both challenged our students um, and provided paths for teachers to differentiate. So similar to our English only, we have a three-year implementation plan. Uh year one is around learning and initial implementation. Year two is around deepening and strengthening implementation and making those twe tweaks that we
151learned from the first year and year three is full integration and continuous improvement. Um similar to our Englishonly program. Uh the last piece of information that we have for you tonight is the financial or fiscal impact of the program. Uh for Ariba Lakura, there is around $150,000 of materials for an official launch, $50,000 professional learning, and then a $17,000 license for 202 $217,000 for year 1. There will be an ongoing materials cost of $12,000. Um licenses is for five years that is included above. And then for Esparonza, we have initial cost as well. So we have a a total cost of $263,000 as a fiscal impact for a adoption of these instructional materials. So with that said, we are recommendation is for us as a as a district to adopt Aria Laura and Esparonza for
152our TWWI Spanish language arts for elementary at Sylvia Mendes beginning in 2526. Our next steps is these curriculum materials will be on display at 2020 beginning tomorrow and also materials will be online. Uh we will agendaize this for next week's uh board meeting back to back. Um and then we are currently planning for our launch PD uh already. Uh so with that said, we thank you for your time and we open it up for questions. Thank you for your time as well and for your presentation. Are there questions from the board of education at this time? Director Korn, thanks so much. As a former TWWI teacher, um it's just really lovely to see this level of thoughtfulness put into the adoption of curriculum for our dual language program. Um my question relates to the language
153allocation model and the fact that at third, fourth, and fifth grade kids are getting language arts in both English and Spanish. So I'm wondering if those third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers are going to be beginning next year teaching fish tank, functional morphology, arrival elector, and Esparansa. And how are we supporting those teachers to learn all of those new curricula all at once? That is a great question. Um, and one that right, as a former fourth grade TWWI teacher, it immediately jumped out at me. Yeah. Even before we we had decided between AIBA and and benchmark, we were really trying to think about the language allocation. Um there was a lot of dedicated kind of thought and and um discussion that happened between our CNI group and um Gloria um Munoz Hughes who's the TWWI
154coordinator there, their literacy coach, amazing literacy coach Liliana Aguas um and the principal and then the upper grade teachers as well both that were participating in the English pilot and the concurrent Spanish pilot. So there was a lot of decision-making that went on. we had some design principles around capacity, right, that we really needed to consider. Um, and we also know that unfortunately the Spanish language program market has not caught up to where it should be. Um, so we really were thinking, you know, trying to center our students first and making sure that our students that are coming from Sylvia Mendes going to Longfellow have had access to the same knowledge building and rigor in the upper grades. Um, so ultimately what we decided to do is that we're going to use um, Aria and
155Esparansa K3. Um third grade will use Aribiba lectura and also take advantage of into reading which is the English counterpart to Ariibal lectura from HMH. And fourth and fifth grade teachers are going to be trained and be implementing fish tank and functional morphology. However, there's also going to be an effort um to translate some of the materials in fish tank um and look for Spanish texts in in for a fish tank. Um the morphology curriculum also has a lot of very natural um transfer opportunities because you're studying roots and aixes, Latin ones in particular. So, so at fourth and fifth grade, we're essentially kind of creating our own Spanish curriculum kind of aligned to fish tank. Yes. I have a few questions. Uh the first is around cost comparison of the programs. Um, thank you
156for giving us the breakdown um of uh the recommended program and can you tell me a little bit about uh the cost for Adilante if you have it? It was I don't have it exactly offhand. The two programs were pretty similar. Um the one thing that stood out in addition to the quality of the of the instructional materials was the quality of the training. So anytime that we are working with different organizations, as much as it is about the teaching and learning, we're also thinking about how are we going to support our educators to feel as most prepared uh as possible. Um and we did have a much more positive experience in working with the professional development side um with Aribba. So although the cost comparison was was was similar, we feel very confident that
157the professional learning that's coming with this package is better suited for our educators. Thank you. And the the cost was comparable even with the additional add-on to the recommended program. Yeah, included. So um the first one is a comprehensive. It has both the foundational skills and knowledge building. Um whereas this one we're pairing um but it was similar. No comfortable. Okay. Thank you. Um and in addition to that, can you talk to me a little bit about um outcomes that you saw uh for the first of all, I just want to say I'm really excited that our our teachers are excited about it and um that they had the opportunity to practice and to model uh both programs and that the students were engaged. So, thank you for sharing those exciting pictures. Um, but can
158you talk to us a little bit about uh some of the outcomes that you researched um or learned about from uh other school districts who used either of these uh models and specifically with the one that you're recommending? Yeah. And when I say outcomes, I'm really interested to know um classroom outcomes, local assessment outcomes, state assessment outcomes um that were supported by these programs. So, I can I can't speak to Aria Laura, but I can tell you that it just was adopted by SFUSD um recently and they have a a pretty large dual immersion program in Spanish. Um there I am not aware of the research on AIBA specifically. Um but I will say that Esparansa is very very well researched and it really is like the only structured literacy program available in Spanish. We
159did a lot of research about what programs were out there. Um, and during our our sort of uh narrowing process, we looked at a few different ones that had very high efficacy and had been part of some research studies and Espansa was one of those. Um, I don't have the the numbers handy, but yeah, I will tell you that um, in general, these were the programs we narrowed it down to to six before we decided which ones we were going to pilot. Um, and for all of those we were really looking at alignment with research. Um, yeah. Did you either of you want to add on to that? I could jump on to that a little bit. Um, so throughout our process, we did try to research districts that were had a similar context to
160us in that districts that had a loan or a few immersion sites um in a district that that did not have others. Um, so one thing that came out of our community listening and learning session is someone that was there from the Mendes community um was a bilingual educator and connected us with uh Davis Joint Unified who has a similar demographic to us, a similar size to us and they also have a TWWI program that's similar to us. So we were able to have conversations with other districts around what their implementation has been. Um like Rose said, Adiva is something that is being commonly um adopted in many districts right now. Um the Espiranza is something that we have been using as as relates to tier 2. So for that systematic and explicit phonics instruction.
161Uh so we do feel confident that these are um very good programs for our districts. Um and we feel like we did our due diligence in regards to researching other districts who have been in positions similar to us. Thank you for both of those responses. Um, and then when it came to making the final decision to make a recommendation, um, can you unpack that for us a little bit? I know you received teacher uh, feedback and it was great to hear their voices brought into the space. Um, but when you reached the final decision, was it done through a voting process uh, by the teachers or was it just taken from um, their uh, anecdotal experiences and recommendations? So we had an evaluation instrument that was built off of from our framework and our vision
162and then the identified look fors that we were looking at as it relates to both pilot cycles. Um and then we were able to compare both cycles apples to apples. So they compared the both both of their experiences on the same set of criteria and then we were able to take the data and look at it side by side and look at strengths and look at um potential implications of implementation and then have a consensus conversation throughout the committee and the consensus was these two as a pair. Um can I ask a little bit about the criteria? So our our criteria is based off of if we go oh it's it's gone now. Um but our criteria is based off of our four buckets which were cultural relevance and joy uh by literacy the four
163from the beginning from the framework. Yep. And then for each of those there were specific look fors that we are looking for in in the set of grids in the curriculums. Okay. Thank you so much. Are there any other questions from the board? Okay. hearing none. Uh at this time, this is just a discussion item uh for the board of education and we will see this uh come back to us again as an action item for approval. Um so, thank you so much for your presentation. We appreciate your work. Um and thank you to all of our uh teachers and our students who are part of the pilot program uh who helped us to get to this decision. Thank you. We will now move on to our physical education overview presentation. All right. Good evening
164board. Miss Yasmina is going to join me here at the at the um front table and then Principal Regosa is going to be joining us online. Yes, I believe he is already on Zoom if we can promote him. Perfect. Hello Principal Regosa. Welcome. Hi, thank you so much. Um so tonight for this presentation um we are going to provide just some base level information about uh the physical education requirements specifically for the high school. Um we there's been a lot of communication with some subsets of our high school population, but we did want to take the opportunity to make sure that everybody had shared information and also just want to acknowledge upfront that there are still questions we are working to find accu to I to come to accurate responses for um and I think
165it's really important for the board and members of the public to know we are receiving a number of questions. We do have an FAQ that we will be updating, but we really are focused on accuracy over speed, recognizing that lots of people want answers to a number of different questions. Some of those might be answered in tonight's presentation. Um, but we do hope to give you a sense of what are the requirements um what is the federal program monitoring process that we have been hearing about and where we are in terms of next steps. All right. So with that um I am going to anchor us in uh I can't look. You want to have like can't do it. You're not anchored. You I'm not anchored. All right. No, that's too much. There we go.
166Okay. Uh just want to make sure that we set a foundation that the board's policy recognizes that there are positive benefits for physical uh activity on students mental well health and well-being on academic achievement etc. Um we want to make sure that our students um achieve academic excellence and make positive contributions to the world and we do that because we are growing strong healthy um citizens of Berkeley. Um the policy links um both to the board policy and the administrative regulations are there. Um those policies have been through re they were we were aligning to um the state requirements earlier this year. Um, and I think that was January 2025 um, that we brought them um, before the board for approval. All right, with that I'm going to turn it over to Principal Regos. Hi
167everyone. Uh, good evening. I'm I'm glad to be a part of tonight's presentation on physical education at BHS. Uh, so as associate superintendent Hugenandike just mentioned, our physical education requirements are outlined by California Education Code. On this slide number four, you can see the ed code that is relevant. First, all students are required to complete two years or 20 credits of physical education in order to be eligible to graduate from high school. Additionally, all students in grades 7 through 12 must receive a minimum of 400 minutes of physical education instruction every 10 days. Secondly, each LEA must ensure that it is offering its students in grades 9 through 12 a course of study in PE that includes a developmentally appropriate sequence of instruction. This means that over the span of the PE classes we offer
168at Berkeley High School, we must ensure we are covering the eight required content areas. And here towards the bottom of this slide, you'll see some you'll see those eight content areas which include for example mechanics of body movement, aquatics, gymnastics, rhythm and dance and combives. In addition to requirements of how many years of physical education students must complete in order to graduate from high school and the scope and sequence of our PE course of study. Ed code also outlines testing requirements. More specifically, districts are required to administer the physical fitness test also referred to as fitness grant to students in grade five and grades five, seven, and nine. This test is composed of five fitness areas. Aerobic capacity, abdominal strength, and endurance, trunk strength and flexibility, upper body strength, and endurance and flexibility. The main
169goal of the fitness gram is to help students in starting lifelong habits of regular physical activity. Participation data on fitness gram is already publicly reported in our annual school accountability record cards or SARC. All right. Okay. So, the California Education Code also allows our governing board, you guys, uh, to exempt students from taking physical education courses. And there is four types of exemptions that our students can be granted. Now when we talk about exemptions, it is important to note that these are not exemptions that can be given to an entire class of students or to an entire grade of students, but they have to be individualized exemp exceptions for um exemptions for all students meeting specific criteria. So of the exemptions that are available of the four types, one is a temporary exemption and this
170would be for students that are ill or injured and where a modified program cannot meet the needs for of the student. Right? So this is like a temporary injury, broken leg, right? All our students that are enrolled in a part-time program, which we do not have a lot, could also be exempt from physical education. The board is also allowed to give a two-year exemption to students um any time during the grades 10 through 12 if the student has successfully met at least five of the six standards of the physical performance test administered in 9th grade. So only grades 10 to 12. There is also a permanent exemption to students which can be given to students that are 16 years or older and have been enrolled in 10th grade for one year or more. So this
171would be our juniors and our seniors. And then our other exemption which is the most popular one where we did have one finding that I will go over is the exemption from courses in physical education if the pupil is engaged in a regular school sponsored intercolastic athletic program carried on wholly or partially after regular school hours. And so one of the findings that we received from the federal monitoring program is that our PE athletic exemptions were approved where pupils were not engaged in a regular school sponsored intercolastic program. um that was carried out either after school or partially or fully after school, but rather we were approving P exemptions for athletic programs that were not associated with Berkeley Unified School District, but rather private club sports or YMCA. And the clarity that came from the
172California Department of Education on this type of exemption basically stated that these type of exemptions can be applied to students who are in grades 10 through 12 who have completed the 9th grade PE class and have passed the fitness gram test. And so what we as a school district will and should be doing is for all of the students that meet this requirement in grades 11th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, you will be receiving a list as a board three times a year closely after at the end of each athletic season uh to approve their exemptions. So, we're going to provide a quick overview of this mysterious federal program monitoring report. Uh, so federal program monitoring or FPM um is is requi is a required function um that uh the California Department of Education executes. Its
173intention is to monitor the implementation of categorical programs that are operated by what we call LEAs, otherwise known as school districts. Um, and this uh process consists of either an on-site or an online review uh data and document review um and for as stakeholder interviews, classroom observations of categorical programs or other areas. Um our in our case B USD participated in an on-site review. This was a week-long review um in March. Um and the intention behind the review is to ensure that school districts are meeting any of the fiscal and program requirements of federal categorical programs and any mandated areas of state responsibility. So while PE is not a federal program, it is a state responsibility to ensure that students are receiving physical education. Um so this was one of nine different areas that were
174reviewed. Um so you can see there everything from adult ed, early education, etc. Um but physical education um was one of those areas that were reviewed. In the context of that review, we received four findings in the area of physical education. Uh one was regarding the fitness. Um there were questions about um our low participation rate and what we were doing to ensure that all ninth graders were completing the physical fitness gram and then what our actions are going to be to ensure that moving forward all ninth graders will participate in the physical fitness gram. Similar to the CASP testing, there's an expectation that 95% of students complete that um complete the physical fitness sometime in the spring of each year. The second area um was in this area of other exemptions. As you heard
175from Miss Yasimina, um what they had uh what they discovered based on the documentation that we submitted was that we had a number of students um who were receiving exemptions. We've been calling them waivers. The state language is exemptions. Um but they were we were receiving um waivers slashexemptions um for participating in activities that were not BUSD school sponsored intercolastic sports. Um the third finding was relative to teaching and evaluation of high school. Um basically this was around the scope and sequence documentation that was provided by our physical education teachers. Um those the scope and sequence that we have been currently executing are not in alignment with what the state calls course one and course two that meet the eight state requirements that principal Regosa outlined earlier. Um and the final finding in PE was
176around teacher credentiing. Um we had some um not updated documentation from some of our teachers and we need to make sure that all of our teachers who are teaching PE are credentialed to do so if students are receiving credit for those classes. All right, turn it back to Principal Regosa. Thank you. Um, so we want to take this opportunity to explain where we are right now. On April 17th, our community received an update from our superintendent which provided detailed information on changes we are required to make in order to be compliance with physical education requirements as per the California Department of Education or CDE. In that message, we also shared that after much effort, the CDE granted BUSD additional time to more thoughtfully engage in this transition with full implementation now targeted for the 2627
177school year. Specifically, here's what this additional time will allow us to do. B USD is allowed to pause the requirement for 9th and 10th graders to be enrolled in a PE class for the 2526 school year. BHS is already in the middle of building its master schedule and will use the course request information that we collected back in January and February from students to schedule students into their electives for 2526 school year. B USD and BHS will begin planning now to implement the 9th and 10th grade physical education requirements in the 2026 27 school year. We also know that in the upcoming 2526 school year, all 9th graders will be required to take the physical fitness test in the spring of 26. Students enrolled in a physical education course at BHS will take the fitness
178in their course during the allowable window of February to May. and we will communicate with families and students how students not enrolled in a physical education course will take that same test. So, as you can see, there's a lot of work ahead of us and we're excited to engage in it. In these next few weeks, we will be working to clarify and resolve any provisions or policy options to recognize that there are current BHS students who have been utilizing the PE waiver option. Additionally, we are already working with our physical education department teachers to build out this scope and sequence for the PE course of study, which we previously explained must cover eight content areas. We want to recognize that we're trying to address a complex shift and need to take the time to be
179able to provide accurate information to our community. We are targeting May 9th as the next update to our PE FAQ. We remain in constant communication with the CDE and will be submitting to them our timeline to address PE requirements in the 2627 school year. our plan to ensure that all ninth graders take the fitness gram in the spring of 2026 and our PE course descriptions that include the scope and sequence that cover the required standards. And I just want to note the giant asterisk on this slide because again we really are working through a lot of complex issues and before we start putting information out we want to make sure that's accurate recognizing that people are um are anxious to receive responses. So um if that uh we there have been a number of themes
180coming in um on the questions that have been submitted um and even if that means that we don't have uh answers we'll be indicating that on the FAQ just so that people who have been submitting those questions understand that those have been received. Um so just want to share with um the public where they can find updates and information. the physical fitness uh the physical education FAQ is hyperl on the quick links uh website of our main district website page, but it's also on the top bar of the Berkeley High School website page. Um so you can see a visual of that there. Um if there are additional questions, we have set up the BHSP berkeley.net. Um and for people who are interested in the state requirements um I've linked there uh to the CDE
181website and that will conclude our presentation. Thank you very much again for the board. This is a presentation and so we are not taking questions at this time but thank you all for your work on this and for your presentation. Uh the board will take about a fiveinut break uh and then we'll go into our budget presentation which is our last agenda item for this evening. This is why I get confused. Are you coming? Is it all these creases? Hello. Heat. Is Director Korn here? She is. Uh, I'd like to entertain a motion from the board of education to table item 15.2 to the next board meeting. Is there a motion? I'll move. I'll second. It's been moved by Director Shinowski, seconded by Director Chang. All those in favor, please signify with the sign of
182I. I. Opposers, abstensions. The eyes have it and the motion passes. We have information items on tonight's agenda. Please, uh, board members, read them and govern yourselves accordingly. Is there anyone here for extended public comment? Yes. Can you please come at this time? You have two minutes. [Music] Um I'm just uh going to beg for my job. Um so right now um in addition to I I'm a clerical assistant three. Um, mostly what I do is filing, which we still do with paper. We may eventually go paperless, but that hasn't happened yet. Um, and it's not going to happen by June. I file for the uh accounts payable department. Oh, I should introduce myself. I'm I'm Dan Brownson. Um, I file for accounts payable. So everything that we purchase or services we purchase, I file
183those things, I file for payroll, I file for benefits. And then in addition to putting things away which before I put them away I especially for accounts payable I check that all the POS are correct and matching so that when it comes audit time which it it has now um that it's easy to find those things so that uh we can get them to the auditors in a timely fashion. Um and so that we don't get in trouble with the auditors. Um my position is one of those uh on the list for elimination and um I'm not sure who's going to do that. Like fetching all this stuff for auditing takes a lot of time because I have to find all the things. They're not in alphabetical order or anything when the auditors send them
184the send us the requests. So to organize them and you know pull out all the staples, make sure there's none left when I scan them in, label them all so for the fiscal director so that you know they don't just say you know scanned from the uh office um Xerox and um I'm just I'm not sure who's going to do this. Uh, if I'm gone. Um, Pauline has an entire business services department. She's she can't be just fetching files for the auditors. Uh, Richard and Sadie already have full-time jobs as the accounting technicians. You can't add more work to to their jobs. Who Who's going to do all this? Um, so, uh, please, uh, reconsider, um, my my position. I really was hoping to eventually retire from B USD, um, like like Candy Cannon uh,
185is doing. I was really thank hoping for that one day. Thank you. That's Thank you as well. Are there any public commenters online who have their hands raised? Okay. Can you please call them uh in according to the order that their hands are raised? Okay. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Eliza No. I'm commenting on the literacy action plan. Um I applaud the um progress that the district has made. I'm commenting on the progress within the middle schools. In the literacy action plan, you state that you h are developing uh an MTSS model and that you've shared this with key stakeholders. Um, please share this with families because we still have a lot of families who are not understanding what is available for their students. They're not familiar with the MTSS model as well.
186The the teachers, the special education case managers and teachers um have been inconsistently trained. Some have received training of certain kinds of programs and and not other kinds of programs. And so there needs to be consistency across the board. And the middle school listening session that the district hosted stated that one of the things they wanted to avoid was um having evidence-based interventions but not schedules that allow them to be implemented with fidelity. And there's still a situation at least in the middle schools where um interventions are provided based on um whether or not it can be um administratively scheduled. So it's more based on convenience of administration and whether or not that special education um provider um has had that particular training. So it's still not consistently implemented um with fidelity and it seems
187to be more based on availability of scheduling. So please work on that. And um because middle schools is still pretty much very spotty and uneven, I strongly suggest that the court monitor be extended for an additional year. Thank you as well, Eliza. We'll go to the next commenter. Miss Williams will be our last commenter. You can unmute yourself. Miss Williams, whenever you are ready, you can unmute yourself and we'll receive your public comment. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. Welcome. Thank you. Hi, my name is Nolut Williams and I'm one of the um BTA teachers. I teach the the uh science and the public health class with our CTE public health pathway. Um I'm really grateful for this program. It's been so powerful to um see how it's impacted our students
188to get to learn the skills for wellness while they're learning about taking care of, you know, themselves in the community and and what the broader global implications of public policy, public health policy, public health um you know, programs are. and they they look at really complicated, you know, curriculum, I mean, really complicated articles from the NI National Institute of Health, from, you know, UCLA and UC Berkeley, and they're able to break this down. These are BTA students, right? They they're getting to use their minds. They're getting to rediscover their own greatness, and it's really been a a pleasure and an honor to witness this. I'm I'm here to ask that you please keep the program in its full capacity. Um, I think it's really important. It's we stand on the shoulders of those people who
189actually did the community organizing at BTA, Dr. Q in the past, um, you know, Ayanna Presley with with uh, with with healthy black families as well as teachers and staff and parents and students from before that chose it. Every time I get to see their brilliance in choosing this, right, we're supposed to be the ER of the district. When we get the students and they get to have for their science curriculum, they get to study public health, there is an empowerment that happens, there is a healing process that happens in them truly. It's very affirming, you know, we we cover um it's world wellness science. So, we get to look at Was that the be? Okay. So, we get to look at it. So, please please keep it and thank you to our community partners.
190Thank you to the to the board president and to our our esteemed superintendent. Thank you. Thank you as well. Um, are there any additional board member comments this evening? Okay, hearing none, we will join our meeting at 10:54 p.m. Thank you all. Have a good evening.