Board Meeting - April 7, 2026

001We good? >> Hi. Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order at 50:01 and announce the board will meet in close session to address items 1 through 4. Are there any public comment on closed session items? >> Madam President, there are no cards. I will close public comment and recess into close session. I matter at Harris Middle School because I help around campus and I put 100% into my schoolwork and my sports. I matter at Harris Middle School because I that acknowledge that the upgrade district occupied the unseated territory. Let me walk this and we work in >> Thank you for your patience. >> Library like to go ahead and get started. Right. >> I'm going to call this meeting back to order at 6:05 p.m. and announce that the board met in

002close session and the following actions were taken. By a vote of 7 to zero. During close session, the board took action pursuant to education code 44944, subdivision D4 to adopt the decision of the commission on professional competence in an OAH case number 2025 as the board's decision and approve the termination of a permanent teacher employee number 144750 effective March 28th, 2026. Also by a vote of 70, the board took action to terminate a permanent custodian 1, employee number 152303 for cause effective immediately. Good evening and welcome to the Elkrove Unified School District's board meeting. Live streaming of full in-person board meetings is available to the public by using the link located on the district website. Today's meeting is being video recorded and will be available on the district's YouTube channel. We encourage you to attend

003the meetings and share your feedback with the board. Your active participation is valued and contributes to the decision-making process. During regular board meetings, the public may make comments for items on the agenda or items not on the agenda. Requests to make public comment will be accepted for an item up until the board president introduces the item. Generally, members of the public will be given three minutes to address the board. If there are 15 or more comments on a specific item, the board will reduce individual comment time to two minutes each. If there are 30 or more comments on a specific item, the board will reduce individual comments to one minute each. Individuals may not defer their time to another individual speaker to increase their total speaking time. Please be mindful that district students are watching.

004You are encouraged to address the board and the public in a respectful manner such that all those observing from children to adults are made to feel welcome, safe, and valued. The board shall not permit any disturbance or willful interruption of board meetings. Persistent disruption by an individual or group shall be ground for the board president to provide a warning and then to terminate the individual's privilege of addressing the board. Like to before prior to the pledge of pledge of allegiance, we'd like to have the Elkrove Unified School District land acknowledgement read by Mr. Jersey. We acknowledge that the Elkrove Unified School District administrative facilities and schools occupy the unseated territory of the Miwok, the original people of the skies, land, and waters where we work and learn. The Miwok have cared for these land since

005time immemorial. They continue to teach their traditional knowledge that comes from and responds to the needs of the land and people who share it. May our daily lives and work, teaching, learning, leadership and community engagement support the evolving vision of the Miwok for their community and these lands. May we strive to acknowledge the past for the betterment of our future generations. May we look to our tribal partners, the Wilton Rancheria, the descendants of the original people of this land to assist with the beautiful educ for to assist with the successful education of our community. Thank you. For our pledge of allegiance tonight, we have Folks Ranch Elementary. Like to call in Miss Ashley Bonnington, Mr. Princip, Mr. Donovan, the principal, and um Miss Bowwin has some comments. >> All right. Good evening. Folks Ranch Elementary

006School is proud to honor Ashley Bonington as our representative for the EGUSD Board of Education flag salute recognition. Ashley is joined by her husband Josh Bonington, second grade daughter, Aubrey, and kindergarten son, Cullen. The Boningtons have been in Elkrove since 2019, and are an extremely supportive and proactive family in the Folks Ranch community. Ashley is a Navy veteran who brings a high level of organizational and motivational skills to our campus, enriching the lives of students and staff. She has been an integral part of our PTO, starting out as a chairperson of events, later serving as vice president and currently as president of Folks Ranch PTO. Through Ashley's leadership, the driving force, the tradition rich Folks Ranch PTO is alive and well. Her passion for creating lasting family memories with creative ideas, endless energy, a can

007do attitude, and an ability to navigate choppy waters is truly appreciated. The countless hours she spends making Folks Ranch the unique and idyllic learning environment we enjoy today are truly remarkable. We are happy to have this opportunity to thank Ashley and the entire Bonington family for their true partnership and integral role in creating the supportive learning environment and tight-knit inclusive family feel we sincerely cherish at Folks Ranch. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> Salute. >> Pledge. >> I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please join me in giving Miss Bonnington another round of applause. Tonight we have our student regional report from Rio Cazera High School and the Monterey

008Trail region which includes Rio Cazera High School, Monterey Trail High School, Edward Harris Junior Middle School, Roy Herburgger Elementary, Barbara Commtock Morris Elementary, and Irene B. West Elementary. Before you start, we did leave off Raymond Case Elementary somehow. Thank you. >> Good evening all. I'm Patricia Lou and I'm Natalie Dong and we're glad to represent Monterey Trail tonight. We would first like to kick off our presentation by performance with Ram and Casease Elementary. Say test test practic. Oh, you're good. Good evening. I am my >> and I am Sara. >> We are in Miss Ulam's third grade class at Raymond Case Elementary School. We would like to thank Mrs. Woolbangs for her work with the Prop 28 VA Grant. We can't wait to be in the Monterey Show marching band someday. We have been learning

009how to play the recorder and music class. Tonight, we are excited to perform for you and show what we've been practicing. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to share our music with you. Time to die. Thank you, Miss Alam's class, for that wonderful performance. As students of Monterey Trail, we would like to highlight some events that make us stronger together as a community. We would first like to start with our multicultural assembly. This is accompanied with a spirit week which encourages students to participate and wear cultural clothing. This is also provides an opportunity for clubs to perform and showcase their culture. With this, we also have a night show where friends and families come and watch. Along with our assemblies, our WAPA program that includes vocal, impulse, theater, and more. Attend the Edward Harris

010Vapa assembly to encourage school involvement. Not only in the middle school, but both our band and color guard. Cheer on students at the surrounding theater schools during events like walk to school day and more. In relation to middle school involvement, Monterey Trail Shadow Day helps the incoming freshman class experience what their life will be on the trail. The day begins with a rally as the mentors help guide the students through different classes for the next year. Similarly, openhouse showcase gives an experience for new MT students to be familiar of what we have to offer at MT. Families and students are able to see different pathways they can take along with directly meeting teachers and fun performances for future school involvement. Most importantly or most recently, both Monterey Trail students and Edward Harris collaborated together to

011put on community carnival. Here, many clubs had the opportunity to sell food, offer games to students along with fun performances viewed in the quad. This event was also welcomed to our feeder schools, which encouraged family and student engagement to strengthen our community. Thank you so much for letting us share what the trail is all about. Now we have Leilani Gardner and Audrey Laney from Irene B West. >> Good evening members of the school board. My name is Audrey Laney >> and I am Leilani Gardner. We're sixth grade students from IronB West Elementary School and we're excited to share how our school brings families and our community together. At IronB West, learning doesn't just happen in the classrooms. It happens when our families, teachers, and community members all work together. One of our favorite events is

012our first day of school orientation where families come to meet the teachers, see the classrooms, and start the school feeling welcomed and ready to learn. We also have our Apex fun run. Families come to cheer us on, volunteer, and support our school. It's fun and exciting to to um to run laps while our parents, teachers, and friends encourage us. Another favorite is our trunk or treat where families decorate their cars, pass out treats, and create a fun and safe event for everyone. It is amazing to see our school filled with costumes, laughter, and community spirit. >> We also have family reading night. Parents come to read and participate in literacy activities. It's fun and shows how reading is important in both school and home. During breakfast with Santa, families gather together in the mornings to

013share a meal and celebrate the holidays. This event helps build strong relationships with each other. Our school also has family dances and family picnics. These events make everyone feel welcome in a fun way. It's special to see students and teachers enjoying a time together. We are also thankful for our parent coaches who volunteer their time for our basketball and volleyball teams. They teach us teamwork, responsibility, and sportsmanship. Community members also come to our school. For example, Mayor Singh from Algo came to read to our students. It's inspiring to see how leaders from our community come and support literacy activities and encourage us to do our best. All of these activities make Irene B West a place where students feel supported, families feel welcomed, and the community feels connected. When families are involved, we feel more

014confident and excited to learn and are proud of our school. Thank you for supporting schools like Ireneb West that bring together our students, families, and community members. Thank you for your time and for supporting Irene B West Elementary School. Go Wild Cats. >> Here are representatives from Barbara Commtock Morse. Good evening everyone. I am Ivana Perez Lazara, a fifth grade leadership at NHS student at Barbara Comtock Morris Elementary. And I am Liam Dichu, a sixth grade NHS student and AVID ambassador. We are so proud to share that BCM has been an AVID school for seven years. Not only that, but we are honored to be one of only three AVID showcase schools in all of Elk Grove. As you can see on the slide, our commitment to AVID advancement via individual determination is a part

015of our incredible results in our CASP testing scores and our PBIS achievements. To me, being an AVID student means staying engaged, learning from our mistakes, and making the right choice even when it is hard. Avid enhances the lesson expectations. It helps me to perform well. For instance, my favorite AVID strategy is a Socratic seminar. The main point of the Socratic seminar is to share ideas while cooperating and listening to the ideas of others. For me, being an AVID student means staying organized, collaborating with my peers to connect and build relationships. Further, to use education as a power to help me reach my personal goals. AVID is preparing us for college and careers by teaching us leadership and determination. By the way, my favorite AVID strategy is the World Cafe. >> Because of AVID, we aren't

016just students. We're the future leaders of Elkrove and ultimately the world. >> Go to BCM. Go to college. It's a great day to be an owl. >> Thank you. Good evening board president Albiani, members of the board, Superintendent Riley and Miss Avalos. >> My name is Jana Gavvara >> and my name is AB Popal >> and we are both Jord we are both juniors at the Rio Kazadero High School. >> Tonight you've heard a lot about collaboration and cooperation in the Monterey Trail region. At Rio Kazadero, students are living that out by working together to improve attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism. >> This year, our school created an attendance leaderboard and challenge students to become a top Raptor. >> The leaderboard helps students see their progress and gives us a goal to work towards. >>

017Students who improve their attendance are recognized and rewarded with things like school swag, >> special events like field trips, and the ever popular quarterly nacho party. Top Raptors earn a lunch from a favorite local restaurant. >> But what makes this special is that it's not really about competing against each other. >> It is about challenging ourselves, supporting one another, and building a culture where students want to come to school. >> At Rio, students encourage each other to show up, stay engaged, and take advantage of opportunities to succeed. >> That support has made a real difference for our school community. Because of this effort, Rio Kazadero has seen improved attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism. >> And when students are in school more consistently, it also helps improve academic progress and student success. >> We are proud

018to be a part of a school community where students are helping lead positive change. >> At Rio Cazadero, attendance is more than showing up. >> It's about showing up for your future. Thank you. And next we have the students from Monisha Regent uh Trail High School. The Monterate Trail Regional Equity Coalition or MTRE is a regional equity focused effort currently integrating eight schools in the region. MTRE began in 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd in the responsive call to action to disrupt disparities that followed. The objective of MRE is to improve racial equity in educational outcomes for black and African-American students within the MT region. MTRE includes regional and sight specific action strategies and collaboration among students, parents, families, faculty, staff, site, and district leaders along with community partners. The updated blueprint

019guiding MTRE work features progress updates and success outcomes. We also recognize this as systems change to work that takes time. While we've made progress, there is still much work to do. Priorities this year were informed by student facilitated listening sessions conducted by our MTHS BSU students in spring 2025. Findings from those sessions uplifted the following. Relationships are central to a sense of belonging and connection to black and African-American students. The need for shared learning and representation for African and black students culture. the need for increased accountability and transparency in addressing racism bias, including the use of the n-word on campus. In addition to students, parents, faculty, and principal leadership, collaborative partners, including district partners like Mrs. Kathy Wilson and the families of Black Students United and EUSD's equity department, as well as community-based partnerships, are

020critical to MTRE progress. Now introducing Edward Harris Junior Middle School animation students in Miss Johnson's class. Good evening. My name is Yuka Robinson and I am a future college graduate at Era Harris Junior Middle School and at all schools in the Monterey region. We strive to acknowledge and celebrate student identities, perspectives, experiences, and future goals. Students in my animation class at Edward Harris used animation and audio production to demonstrate why we matter at school. Enjoy. I matter at Harris Middle School because I help around campus and I put 100% into my schoolwork and my sports. I matter at Edward Harris Middle School because we are all one big group and together we matter as a team. I matter in Edward Harris Junior Middle School because I have really nice friends and I do my best

021to be kind and have good grades. I matter because I am a kind person. I care about other people and I always do my best every time I do my work. >> I matter at Edward Harris because I am the key to building a successful environment for my friends and other fellow students. I matter Ed Harris because I am a helpful and resourceful student. I work well with others and I'm joining conflict mediation which helps others by mentoring them and letting them talk and giving useful advice. >> The reason why I'm matter Edward Harris is because I can be helpful in my own ways. Like for example, the book club for helping with designing the book fair and helping people with homework. >> I matter at Edward Harris Junior Middle School because I try my

022best in everything I do. I've made lots of good friends and I act rich on campus. I matter at EHMS because every student in the education system is the future people in this country. >> I matter at EHMS because I'm a super cool person to hang out with and I am a great leader and I inspire others to be themselves. I matter in Edward Harris because I'm a good role model for the seventh graders. I matter to Edward Harris because I help classmates understand specific topics in class. I enjoy helping others. I enjoy being a good classmate towards students and other teachers. And I plan to be a future engineer in the city of Elk Grove. I matter at Edward Harris because I make sure to include others in everyday activities no matter who they

023are because everybody should be treated equally. I matter at Harris Middle School because I >> All right, let's hear for Roy Herburgger. Good evening members of the board, the president of the board, and the audience for all being present here at this exciting day. My name is Matthew Chen representing Roy Herburgger Elementary. Um, I have never been expected I have never expected to be chosen for such an honorable meeting and it's honored to give a speech for highly respectable and great people. My name is Matthew Chen, age 12, and I have played piano for the past seven years. Four of which I took the certificate of merit exams for the MTA music program, which I received state honors for all of them and um branch honors for two of them. My peers at Roy Herburgger

024have always inspired me to become the person I am. And we always continue to um help each other. And I give special thanks to the staff for um inspiring and um teaching us information we need to learn. Now, I hope you enjoy the video I have pre-recorded. Thank you for your time and respect. And long live the hawk that soarses over the school. Heat. Heat. Heat. Let's go. I didn't look. We appreciate all your continued support and would like to invite you guys to our MTHS home game for Elkrove Unified Sports Basketball versus Floren this upcoming Thursday on the 9th at the MTHS gymnasium at 4:30. And our next MRE meeting will be dur April 30th from 6:00 to 7:30 at MT. >> Thank you so much for listening. Have a great day and go

025Mustangs. >> Thank you to our incredible students and I'd like to thank the principles of these fine schools. Um, Mr. Wendell at Rezer Kaadero, Miss Ricks at Monterey Trail High School, Miss Frey at Edward Harris Jr. Mr. Frey, um Mr. Santene from Raymond Casease, Miss Moore from Roy Herburger, Miss Umei from Barbara Comtock Morris and Miss Sanchez from Irene B. West. Thank you for a wonder, wonderful presentation. everyone is excused to do homework and such. Next, we will have our athletic recognition of winter CIF championships. Mr. Nickerson Good evening, President Albiani, members of the school board, Superintendent Riley, Miss Avalos. Tonight, I am honored to induce introduce to you three very special athletes. Isaiah Gonzaga from Elkrove High School wrestled in the 113 pound weight class. Sky Schneider from Elkrove High School wrestling in the

026115 pound weight class and Jazelle Solano from Franklin High School wrestling in the 105B weight division. Each of these individuals won their weight class at the Sacqua Section Masters Championship at Adventist Health Arena. There are over 200 schools that compete in the Sackwalken sections and these outstanding wrestlers were crowned champions. It was a grueling two days of competition with 32 wrestlers in each weight bracket and all three claimed the top of the podium. I also want to recognize that Sky and Jazelle are back-to-back Masters champions. At this time, I'd like to introduce James Morales and Kyle Baird, the Elgrove High School's wrestling coaches and wrestlers Sky Snider and Isaiah Gonzaga. Sky pinned her first three opponents before pinning Patricia Bay from Pitman High School in the finals. Sky also placed second at the state wrestling

027meet. Isaiah won three of his first four matches by pin or technical fall before before defeating Knox Cruz from Folsam 10 to3 to be crowned the 113 pound weight class Masters champion. Next, I'd like to introduce Franklin wrestling coaches William Calbertt and Gary Efon and wrestler Jazelle Solano. In the Masters tournament, Jazelle pinned her first two opponents and majored decision the next before defeat be defeating Lily Daison from Pitman four to one in the finals. Jazelle also placed fourth in the state meet the following weekend. I present the winners Elkrove Unified winner CIF champions. Congratulations again. Thank you very much. Next we move on to resolutions. We'll start with um the recognition of National Library Week. Mr. Schwitzer. Good evening, President Board President Albioni, members of the board, Superintendent Riley, and Miss Ovalos. We're here

028tonight uh for our national library week. And we I know we have some staff from our libraries here. If you all want to stand and be recognized while um I talk for just a second. Yeah. Thank you. First promoted in 1958, National Library Week is sponsored by the American Library Association and observed in libraries across the country each April. This year, National Library Week is celebrated April 19 through 25, 2026. And libraries host special events to highlight the unique role libraries play in people's lives. This year's theme is find your joy. Celebrations uh occurring across the nation during National Library Week include the Right to Read Day, National Library Workers Day, National Library Outreach Day, and Take Action for Libraries Day. It's essential to continue our acknowledgement of the valuable contribution and recognize all of

029our library workers, including teacher librarians and library media techs, who make library services possible for all of our students. Libraries are many things to many people and continue to evolve to meet the needs of the communities that they serve. This evening, the board is requested to approve resolution number 74 to recognize April 19 through 25, 2026 as National Library Week. >> Thank you. Are there any blue cards related to this item? >> Yes, Madame President. I have uh four blue cards on this item. So I'm going to start with Bethany Payne and after her Joan Streers if you could be over here to the side. This side. There we go. Thank you. Good evening members of the board. My name is Bethany Payne. I have been a library tech at Dillard Elementary for about 11

030years now. And I think I've been working as a library tech in the uh district for about 14 years. And I'd like to thank you for recognizing our work in the district. It's really important work. Um today I read stories to first graders. We shared lessons on poetry month because April is National Poetry Month. Um, we did lessons on reading novels in verse to broaden our horizons and the things that we read. Um, I also prep lessons for jazz history month because April's got a lot of stuff going on. I'm looking forward to doing that next week. Um, I spent my lunchtime coloring with students, uh, helping a student do research on blackfooted cats for his endangered species report. Um, we found new books because my students get to come in and choose a new

031book every day if they want to. Um, I also processed some new books in between and I helped a teacher repair a manual that is falling apart. Um, my door is never shut. It is constantly opening. Um, I am taking the manual home tonight because I'm not quite finished with that. And she can't be without it. She was like, "This is my lifeline. It's my Heerty manual. I need this. I can't be without it." So, I've got it home tonight and I'm going to go home after that and finish that work. The library is the heart of the school. It's the center of everything. I serve every student and every teacher on my campus. I'm fortunate enough to be able to do that every day because my campus allocates a little bit of extra money

032for me. Not every school does that. And I think that that's a real equity issue in our district. And I think that that's a really important thing that we need to address. Um, the library is math because our math curriculum is reading heavy. The library is social studies. We read historical fiction. We study texts from the Constitution, um, like all the way to the Declaration of Independence to just our history. Um, the library is science. I had students coming in all week to ask me about the moon, which was so exciting and so great. Um, the library is the arts, music, drama, poetry. Um, the library, it's reading. It's the heart of everything that we do. And this is where it starts. And at the elementary level, we're building those foundations. We're s serving every

033student and and this is where it begins. We talked to a lot of students who were progressing through all the way up to high school, but elementary is is the heart of it all. And I know that budgets are tight, but when we consider one place that we could put money that really meets the core of all our missions, funding the elementary library is one place where we can make every dollar count. Thank you. All right. And we've got Joan Streeters and after her Stacy the librarian. Good evening, Superintendent Riley, members of the board, and Miss Avalos. My name is Joanie Streers. I'm from Cassumn's River Elementary. I have done I have been a library tech for over 30 years. I once knew all the elementary library techs, but now I'm lucky if I know

034one-third of them. The reason is the big turnover of techs these days. The reason we have such a big turnover is the library techs don't have enough hours to get their job done. And it seems like every year we are given more duties. This job can be very stressful in an already stressful world. The experienced techs are also spending time, usually unpaid, to train new techs. I once trained a new tech who had library experience at my former principal's yearround school. After one week, she walked into the office, threw her keys on the desk, and said, "I can't handle this." And walked out. The only thing that saved the school was I had trained my former principal to do library and textbooks during the 2010 year when all library texts were laid off. We also

035trained his vice principal and the school was able to handle library and textbooks until a new tech was hired a couple of months later. The textbook piece is so important because students are always coming and going and the textbooks need to be tracked. Our texts want to give each student a wonderful experience in the library. Some students need more help in finding what is right for them and some students are exploring new interest. It is also nice to be able to read to students, but time is so limited that many of these things are either rushed or non-existent. We have been asking for more hours for over 10 years. You keep telling us how great we are and how special we are and how we are appreciated. library texts. Uh without library text, the schools

036would not be able to function, especially with textbooks. Isn't it time you recognized our value and helped us out? Thank you very much. Okay, we have Stacy and after her, Maria How. Hi, my name is Stacy and I'm a librarian in this district. It is my favorite job I've held in education. Even though despite what some may think, librarians do not in fact get to sit around and read all day. It is my favorite job because librarians get to foster a love for reading in an increasingly digital age. This shows students what true rest and positive mental health actually looks like. We also encourage persistence when texts are difficult, which teaches students to persevere in future problems, too. We provide a safe space for students to grow into their best selves. And we connect students

037with places and people outside what they encounter on a daily basis. This is called learning empathy. However, when a librarian's time is taken away from these important tasks to do other things like manage and troubleshoot Chromebooks, the students suffer. As you have noticed, my colleagues are setting up samples of broken and damaged Chromebooks. Each Chromebook costs $350 and our district charges students for repairs or Chromebook insurance the low low price of nothing. It's free despite our being the fourth largest district in our state and many of our surrounding districts right here in sack requiring a minimal repair cost. This practice of distributing Chromebook after Chromebook to the same student, regardless of how many they've had before or the damage they have incurred, this goes against our district's mission of imploring our students to be quote

038ethical participants in society or how we want to be known as an organization that quote finds solutions. Not to mention that $350 cost is the physical cost of the Chromebook itself, not the time or the employee cost to identify, troubleshoot, and repair if possible. Half of the ones that come in are unrepable, like these 20 that you see here. This equates to a $3,500 loss per week per site. Now, multiply that by 66 schools in our district, and that grand total comes to $231,000 per week. And if my number is high, let's just cut that in half. That's still $115,000 every five days. That is more than the average librarian gets paid all year long. As a taxpayer, I find it ludicrous that we are laying employees off while not charging at least a nominal

039fee for Chromebook damage. We are hemorrhaging money and being financially irresponsible with my taxpayer money. As an educator, I wonder what lesson are we teaching the students who damage something that does not belong to them over and over again. Will they be the same future driver who hits my car and leaves the scene? How will they fair at a job when they think they can mishandle equipment over and over? Finally, because I like offering solutions, imagine the revenue if we started holding students accountable for their intentional Chromebook damage. We could in fact do the following. Hire library technicians for full-time hours at each elementary and middle school. We could fund a district librarian. Raise the book to student ratio. Or maybe teach our students responsibility. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. And we have

040Maria is next. Good evening, board president Albiani, members of the board, superintendent Riley and Miss Avalos. My name is Maria How and I'm the teacher librarian at Cassun Miss Oaks High School which serve students at CO and Pinkerton alongside my co-branian at Pinkerton, Emilina Zimco. I'd like to share what strong middle and high school libraries and credentialed teachers librarians make possible for students across our district. School libraries are one of the few places on campus where students have both access and choice. Independent reading, when students are able to choose books that reflect their interests, identities, and lived experiences, is one of the most powerful ways to build lifelong readers. During academic visits, we build in time for students to explore our library, receive personalized recommendations, and find books that genuinely interest them. Helping a student

041find the right book can change how they see reading. When students have choice and support, they read more. And that increased reading strengthens their vocabulary, comprehension, and writing across all subject areas. And that growth is measurable. Last school year at our site, our joint 712 library had 9,558 checkouts. This year, we are already over 10,370 checkouts with 7 weeks still to go. We are on track to reach approximately 11,000 checkouts. That's an increase of over 15% in our circulation this year. Out of that, the high school checkouts at CO alone make up 57%. That shows our high schoolers are reading. This growth is not accidental. It reflects our intentional collaborative work to increase access, build relationships, and create a culture of reading across both our campuses. And additionally, we are instructional spaces and teacher librarians

042are teachers. This year, our high school classes at CO have visited the library over 260 times across three quarters. Those visits include research instruction, independent reading, co-taught units with our teachers, and also weekly support for our level students in our sped classes. Through this work, students learn how to evaluate sources, navigate information, and think critically. These are skills essential for high school success and beyond. And finally, student connection and belonging. We serve approximately 3,300 students across our two campuses. Almost 400 voluntarily come to our library a day, not with their classes. They are choosing a space where they feel safe, supported, and welcome. We intentionally build that environment through inclusive programming and community centered activities. We want our students to feel a place where they feel connected and safe. And that sense of belonging directly

043supports their ability to learn. And that doesn't happen without support. So I want to publicly say I'm grateful for the support of my principal Zachary Cheney whose advocacy, funding, and trust in me make this work possible. Additionally, also for my vice principal, Matthew McCracken, who's been an incredible mentor, advocate, and support. We also are thankful for our outstanding library texts, Melanie Hovitzell and Ratique Johnson. They are essential to our work. school libraries and our teacher librarians who lead them are a direct investment in literacy, academic success, and well-being. So, thank you for your time and continued support of our students and libraries. >> Thank you. That is all the speakers on this on this topic. >> Thank you. I would like to call for a motion to adopt resolution 74 recognizing April 19th through 25th,

0442026 is National Library Week. So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Moved by Miss Ballerini, seconded by Mr. Yang. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. It passes unanimously. Thank you to our librarians. Our next item is recognition of California Adult Education Week and I'd like to call on Angela Rodriguez. Hello. Good evening, President Albani, members of the board, Superintendent Riley and Miss Alvarez. My name is Angela Rodriguez and I'm the principal of Elgroveve Adult and Community Education. So, adult education week is an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the vital role adult education plays in strengthening communities. across California. Adult education provides pathways for adults to complete their secondary education, earn high earn a high school diploma or or an equivalent at their own pace and successfully transition to post-secary education, career training or

045sustainable employment. These programs also create critical opportunities to re-engage recent dropouts and support lifelong learning and economic stability. Elkrove Adult and Community Education proudly serves Elkrove and surrounding communities through a broad range of highquality programs serving more than 4,000 adults annually. EGA is focused on providing education and workforce development programs that advance economic stability and promote upward mobility by equipping individuals with the skills and credentials needed to for employment and self-sufficiency. EG strengthens not only the individual outcome but also supports the well-being of families and the broader community. Our offerings include adult basic education, high school diploma, equivalency, um English as a second language or ESL, citizenship, citizenship instruction, job preparation, and career technical education. Our CTE programs include medical assisting, phabbotomy, pharmacy tech, and um EMT. Ease works closely with the district's family, family

046family and community engagement and multilingual departments as well as district elementary schools to provide education and workforce training opportunities for parents throughout the district. These collaborative efforts strengthen family engagement, support student success, and empower parents with the tools needed to achieve education and economic goals. Through partnerships with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, Ease provides comprehensive and educational services to increase adult to incarcerated adults, sorry, at the Rio Cassminus Correctional Center and the Sacramento County main jail. These programs include adult basic education, high school equivalency, career technical education, pathways in culinary arts, automotive, automotive technician, welding, ornamental horiculture, and custodial services. Courses lead to recognized education and technical certificates and are designed to prepare individuals for successful re-entry into the workforce, supporting broad efforts to reduce recidivism and improve community outcomes. In addition, EGASE is home

047to um an America's job center for California or an AJC operating in partnership with Sacramento Employment and Training Agency or SEA. Through multiple grants, EGAS delivers targeted workforce um for out of school targeted workforce services for out of school youth, refu refugee populations, individuals receiving direct community services, and adults seeking employment or career advancement. EGAS partners with Los Rios Community College, the Department of Human Assistance, Child Action, and other JCC's, AJCC's across the region to provide integrated support services for students and job seekers. Beyond training and placement services, job center grants provide critical stabilizing supports, including eviction avoidance, utility assistance, gas cards, food, bus passes, and access to laptops or technology, helping participants remain focused on employment goals. The job center serves more than 600 participants a year, promoting economic stability and upward mobility for

048individuals and families. In recognition of the impact and importance of adult education, the governing board of Elkrove Unified School District is requested to approve resolution number 76, 202526 and declare April 6th through 10th, 2026 um as adult education week. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Rodriguez. Are there any blue cards on this item? Madame President, there are no blue cards on this item. >> All right. Then I would like to call for a motion to adopt resolution number 76 recognizing April 6th through 10th, 2026 as California Adult Education Week. >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> Moved by Miss Bowwin, seconded by Mr. Vargas. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. It passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you. Oh yeah, Miss Bow. I just wanted to um extend my gratitude to um our principal

049um over at EGACE. I got an opportunity to go and visit both sites at Gerber and over at um Rio RCCCC. I always forget the whole acronym. Um but there's really some amazing work that's being done over there. um in in doing it with very very meager means. Um particularly over at RCCC um there was a group of students um in the culinary program who were they made amazing desserts. So which was like a big perk of going and they were so proud to share like what they made and um just their plans for you know that next phase of their life. And I think one of the things that's really powerful to know about our adult ed program is that um it it's that next chance that our families need. And I'm really just

050so excited for the work that's being done there. Um and uh I can't express enough my gratitude for um welcoming me and um showing me around. And today there was a multicultural um like day essentially, not really assembly, but it was really awesome to go and see it. So, I think you guys would like it. Um, for fellow board members, if you wanted to go and check it out, I know that the students there are really proud of the work that they're doing. Um, and it's really just a fun time to really see another side of our district. So, thank you again. Um, and I'm really happy to see that we are acknowledging our adult ed program this week. >> Thank you, Miss Ba. All right. Um, our third resolution is high school voter education

051week. Mr. Schwitzer. >> All right. Good evening again. I'm back up tonight to share information on high school voter education weeks. California Education Code 49040 designates the last two weeks each September and April as high school voter education weeks. Voter education weeks provide an opportunity for students to become actively engaged participants in our democracy and put these students on a path to a lifetime of civic engagement and voting opportunities. We strongly encourage our high schools and students to participate in high school voter education weeks and engage students in pre-registration, voter registration, mock election, and mock trial activities. This evening, the board of education has requested to approve resolution number 75, 202526 and declare April 13 through 24, 2026 as high school voter education weeks. >> Thank you. Are there any blue cards on this item?

052>> Madam President, there are no blue cards on this item. Then I'd like to call for a motion to adopt resolution number 75, which proclaims the period from April 13 through 24th, 2026 as high school voter education week. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Mr. Vargas, seconded by Miss Bowwin. All in favor? >> I. >> Opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you. Our fourth and final resolution is school bus driver's day. Mr. Black. Hey, good evening, President Albiani, members of the board, Superintendent Riley, and Miss Avalos. I'm happy to be here tonight to read this resolution regarding school bus drivers. The board of education is asked to adopt resolution number 78, designating April 28th, 2026 as school bus drivers day. School bus drivers day celebrated annually since 2009 was designated by the state assembly to

053recognize and draw attention to school bus drivers for their continued and excellent services to the pupils in California. Annually on the fourth Tuesday of April, the people of California officially recognize all school bus drivers for their continued and excellent services to the youth of the state. The safety and of our students rests in the hands of trained school bus drivers for up to six or seven hours each school day as they expend personal time and energy in their initial training, maintaining a current license, perfecting their driving skills, and acrewing added knowledge of school bus laws through continuing education classes. School bus drivers can also face natural and unexpected hazards in the performance of their duties while exhibiting patience and kindness towards pupils, parents, and school staff in the performance of their duties. As such, the

054governing board is asked to adopt a resolution to designate April 28, 2026 as school bus drivers day in Elgrove Unified School District in order to draw special public attention to school bus drivers for their continued and excellent services to the pupils in Elgroveve Unified School District. >> Thank you. Are there any blue cards on this item? >> Yes, Madame President, we have one blue card on this item and that is Kirk Thompson. Hi, I didn't actually plan to speak today. I just saw school bus drivers and I didn't see any of the usual suspects for school bus driver show up. So, as someone who can not remember a time between ages 3 and 16 of not getting to school by a school bus and considering the parent situation at home, if I missed the bus,

055I didn't go to school. And so, I really wanted to make sure somebody talked about our school bus drivers. Um, I can't think of a I probably the most uh underappreciated job in the whole school. I think maybe the librarians earlier might have something to say about that, but um it's the uh it gets so many kids to school. It also um the the kind of stuff that the school bus drivers have to deal with, namely uh kids like me. Um but it's one of the few places where I was never a big a big person in high school or junior high. It's one of the few places where I actually have been physically assaulted is on a school bus and the school bus driver was there to figure that out for me. So um

056and just the uh the level of patience that's required. I think any parent who has has gone on a road trip with their kids um can just imagine one person being responsible for dozens of kids on a uh on just a uh a maybe a rainy morning or a rainy afternoon having to drive them. So I didn't want this to pass without showing some sort of appreciation um to the school bus drivers. If any of you are listening, you guys are doing God's work and keep it up. Thank you. >> You I'd like to call for a motion to adopt resolution number 78 designating April 28th, 2026 as school bus driver's day. >> So move. >> Second. >> Moved by Mr. Yang, seconded by Mr. Vargas. All in favor? >> I oppose. Same sign. It

057passes unanimously. Mr. Mr. Yang, you want to speak? >> Yeah. Good evening. I wanted to uh comment on this uh resolution. I just also wanted to thank um all the bus driver and all the folks that are in that department. And you know, I have a uh special need child that uh rely on uh school bus on a daily school um each week. So there are time that uh the bus uh may be um facing challenges and so forth, but um you know they they work their way to make sure they get there and if if they don't get there on time, they let us know. Um but I appreciate um you know all the effort that go into it uh on the daily basis from Monday to um Friday. So I I just wanted

058to express that I really appreciate it and to provide that safe environment for my kid and our kids and the whole school district on the uh daily school days for all of our kids. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next item is student expulsion involuntary transfer recommendations. Would anyone like to address the board in close session regarding a student expulsion? Seeing none, I will call for a motion to approve the recommendations for student expulsion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Mr. Vargas, seconded by Miss Ballerini. All in favor? I >> opposed. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Request for student return from expulsion. like to call for a motion to approve the recommendations for students seeking readmission from expulsion to the Elkrove Unified School District. >> Move. Second. >> Moved by Mr. Yang, seconded by

059Mr. Vargas. All in favor? >> I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Next, we have public comment. Are there any blue cards for items not on the agenda, Miss Balerie? Yes, I have 10 blue cards for items not on the agenda. Uh so I'm going to call the first two and we'll move on from there. Um first one is Heather Wert and Matthew Beaslland I think or Beaston if you could. There we go. Thank you. my bracelet. Good evening. My name is Heather Wert. I'm a parent of four students in Elgroveve Unified School District. I was inspired to come to tonight's board meeting after um completing the current parent perspective survey. I want you to hear my experiences with family engagement, especially when it comes to providing meaningful dis input on decision-making. My experience is

060this. The district has invited me to dinner, but when I show up, there's no seat at the table for me. Our elementary school had a new principal this year. During the hiring process, parents were asked to join the interview and provide input. Sounds great, right? In reality, a few parents were invited to ask one predetermined question and one candidate was interviewed. Let that sink in. That's not meaningful participation. That's a rubber stamp, a check off the list so the district can say parents were given the opportunity to participate. Honestly, it was insulting. How many of you parents out here, well, there's a few left, um, have been asked to vote a fellow parent representative to elect you on a student site council. But the ballot you get, it's just a list of names. Parents, you

061don't know. There's no three sentence bio, just the names of strangers. I've been on elementary and middle school site councils. Site councils are another rubber stamp to say the district is involving parents. At the secondary level, Pleasant Grove High School has made it clear they don't value parent engagement. Opportunities for have felt like an after um thought this school year. For example, this winter they hosted Night at the Nest, which is an important event in intended for family engagement. The Save the Date flyer was emailed to families the day before the event. When I emailed the principal to express my concern that it's poor etiquette to email out a save the date 24 hours before an event, there was no response to my concern. Another rubber stamp. I have a a freshman at this school

062at Pleasant Grove High School. She's an exceptional student, exceptional human, straight A's, mature, humble, the whole package. Just last week, my husband and I met with the principal at Pleasant Grove High School to discuss a serious concern that was initiated by my student over five months ago. Although the pre Although the principal never met my student, never attempted to speak to her, he was dismissive and showed us no intent to hear us. Another rubber stamp. A message to principal Karion. Use your authority for the good. Common practice is not always or the only approach. As a parent, I'm sorry. That means your time is up. >> All right. Thank you. I'm >> sorry. So, we have Matthew next and then Neon. Hello. Uh, President Alviani, members of the board, Supervisor Riley, Superintendent, sorry. Uh, my

063name is Matthew Beaston. Um, I am an alumni of the Elkrove Unified School District, Elgroveve High School. Uh, bought my first house here. uh owned a business in Elgrove for a short period of time. So, this is actually the first time I've ever been in this building though, so this is kind of cool. Um, currently I represent the Carpenters Union and today we are here to stand up against negotiation without representation. Recently, the Building Trades Council has approached your board uh and proposed the idea of a district-wide project labor agreement, a PLA. The building trades council does not rep or does not represent the carpenters union. Okay. Uh building trades council they are uh simply an organization that does represent some construction trades but they do not represent the carpenters union. The carpenters union represents

06411 different apprenticipal crafts. Our membership are skilled members. We build 70% at least of everything that gets built. 70% foundations, framing, drywall, insulation, exterior envelope, interior finishes, 70%. The building, the building trades council has gone on record many times stating that they will not include the carpenters in PLA negotiations, negotiation without representation. The assumption that the carpenters union will simply sign a PLA that we did not have a hand in crafting from the onset is false. This message has been delivered to multiple awarding bodies throughout Northern California recently. Some public agencies unfortunately have succumbed to pre-existing financial affiliations, political pressures, and that has resulted in public protests as well as in some instances job site picketing. Some have heard our message and acted on this message of negotiation without representation and they have required that

065the carpenters union be included in all PLA negotiations. There is no good reason for to exclude the single largest construction trade from PLA negotiations. Your district has a fantastic history of utilizing our signatory contractors, our members on a lot of projects. you put it in a in a context, you know, uh relatable, right? I mean, you would not exclude, say, the science teachers from a negotiation of a contract with all the rest of your teacher or faculty staff. So, please do not exclude the carpenters from the project labor negotiations. The Carpenters Union stands against negotiation without representation and we respectfully request that you um require that we be included in all PLA negotiations from the very beginning. Uh very quickly, thank you so much to the board members that we did meet with individually. Um

066I will be sending follow-up emails. I would love to expand provide some more clarity on these points if you have any questions. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Okay, we have Neielen and after that we have Mary Ford. Good evening, trustees. My name is Neil John Charles and I'm a representative of the north north coast carpenters union. My wife and I have have uh lived in Elgrove for 16 years and we currently have students who enrolled in Elgrove Unified School District. As elected officials, voters like us have entrusted you with many responsibilities. One of those responsibilities is to dictate the terms of a project labor agreement particularly who will participate in the negotiations. This is your responsibility. You have the power not the billing rates and not staff. Elgrove parents like me and my

067wife elected you to have those responsibilities. And if the negotiation negoti if and if the negotiated PLA does not achieve labor harmony, if it results in bad actors committing crimes against workers on Elgroveve unified construction projects, that responsibility lies on you. So you have the power to ensure labor harmony. You have the power to demand that the carpenters are included in the negotiations of the PLA. We are trusting in you to make the right decision. Thank you for your time to listen into what I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. We have Mary Ford and after Mary I have Nicole Strange. Is Mary here? I don't see her. We can wait a second till the dust clears. All right, Nicole, if you'd like to go ahead and take the podium and we'll call

068Mary again later. I don't know if I'm tall enough. All right. Good afternoon or good evening, Miss Almani, other board members, the official superintendent, Mr. Riley and Miss Avalos. Um, I was here or I'm here to talk about the hopefully it's not too late to talk about the future raises of our ABSME members. Um because I'm hoping to get ahead of the 2627 budget. Um um I know recently you guys are voted for your guys' raises. So kudos to you guys. Um and it was a a substantial raise. Um and with that subst substantial raise, I think it was roughly around like 300%. um that puts you guys in like a monthly realm with my ask me people for like custodians and S SOAs and like my library technicians that were talking earlier today. Um

069and they work really really hard for their their income, their monthly income. And so with that being said, I feel like because you guys gave yourselves substantial rais raises and you know, no shade, um I'm hoping that we can funnel some some money in our future budget towards our people um across the board because it's not just our, you know, 381s and whatnotss that need the fund, need the monies. Um but I was just thinking, you know, money to money or whatever. um keep us in mind um with those raises. So that's really all I want to talk about. Thank you. All right. So the next person I have is Michael Gayent and after that Tanner Joseph. Is Michael here? Good evening and thank you for having me. First, I want to say that I'm

070new I'm new to this forum, but I'm here because I've I've been hearing many things um in regards to the what I consider inferior education of our black students in in El Grove School District. Um, I have two sons that have gone through the Elco school district, actually they went to Valley High School. I have three granddaughters who went through Valley High School as well. I know that they while they appear to be, you know, very intelligent, they are very intelligent. However, they do have disparities when it comes to reading and writing. You if you talk to them, they they speak very well. But if you ask them to to to write an essay, they they have problems with that. Um they they even have some issues when it comes to mathematics. So I'm I'm

071concerned about that because what's going to happen to our future children if they're not getting a a better education? I have myself had problems when I was coming up and I had to I had to learn how to teach myself um English and and mathematics when I was when I felt that I was cast cast aside because I wasn't excelling with a lot of my contemporaries. But not everybody will will take will take the responsibility to try to ensure that they they educate themselves the best m in the best ways that they can. I did that through nice school. I did that through joining the army and I did that through reading. So I can read, I can write, but I had I had to take it upon myself to to make this happen. Everybody's

072not going to do that. We need to get we need our kids to be able to go through school, keep up with their contemporaries, and and shine. And um that's all really I have to say. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right, we have Tanner Joseph and after that I believe it's Johnny Smith. Board of members, thank you for the opportunity. What I find interesting tonight is that you got or had the carpenters, the librarians all in inform you that they are in need of your assistance. Now the librarians, which is interesting because we represent, we the organization that I represent, we all represent folks, which puts you in those chairs. So why is the librarians consistently asking a board like this and principles like this for support when all of us are

073college graduates, and I'm assuming everybody here is a college graduate. So each one of us has been in a library. Why are we denying the children here in El Grove the opportunity? that young lady that just spoke and the librarian that stood here a moment ago stating that she has been here before you before with no action. Everybody's got blank stairs on their faces but nobody seems to make a move as far as the children are concerned. Number two, those carpenters that contract that is supposedly being negotiated with you uh and not with them is going to cause a problem. What really shocks me as a taxpayer is when the superintendent stands up and makes it the public comment that the law gave him the opportunity to raise your $750 to $3,000 a siphon. That's

074that's interesting because I look for the law. Haven't found it yet. Uh but what I do find is discrepancies within this system. Uh, no, it is not SAK city, but this is uh there are some problems here that need to be corrected. Now, I'll get about I'll leave the mic in a moment, but I've got to say this. How long are we going to continue the elephant in the room to stay alive and to deny children? How long are we going to keep doing this? Each one of the adults, including myself, how long are we going to keep doing this? Everybody here on this road, everybody up here has a paycheck. So there's nobody that's here that wants or is in need. But our children are that's white, black, brown, Asian are in need. I

075I leave with this. The SRO's Yes, I know a little bit about it. The I'm from San Francisco. However, the SRO's are they trying to get back within after the lawsuit took place which took them out of the schools? Are they trying to come back by any means that they can to put an officer back in the hallway? There's several questions that need to be answered. Does this board have the fortitude to answer any of those types of questions? I yield at this moment. >> Okay, we have Johnny Smith and then Marll Wilson. Yes, thank you for having me. My name is Johnny Smith. Um, I'm a retired substance abuse counselor, but you know, when I was coming up as a kid, I was coming up in Los Angeles. And, uh, I'm very thankful that

076my mother moved us out of Los Angeles after the sixth grade because I couldn't read. Went to a small town called Pastor Robas, California, and that's where I learned to read and write, you know. But in that in that city, I couldn't. And I'm hearing now it's like 24% uh of the children now is is uh 24% of the the kids in school right now. 24%. Is that is that a reading level? you know, and most kids, if there's not someone in there that's really on them, especially the minority kids that's really on them, you know, uh they're going to fall to the side and they going to find something else because they're too got too much dang pride to say, "I need help. They got too much, man." And what they turn to, drugs

077and alcohol, just like I did. But thank God I I I made it. But my main concern now is the children. I have a I have a great grandson that goes to school here in Elk Grove and thank God he's making it. You know, when he when he first started out, my granddaughter called me and said, "Grandpa, you need to go to the school and see Lil Wesley." And so I got permission and I went into the school. And all I had to do was just sit there, just sit in the classroom, not say a word. And that kid and all the other minority kids was straight. When I got up to leave, they all got up and gave me a hug. They need that figure in there, you guys, to help us raise our

078children the right way, you know. So, I'm just asking that uh you know, you guys uh look at this. Look at what's happening. Let's save the children. Thank you. Okay, we have Marll Wilson and John Taylor is after that. >> Hi, good evening Marll Wilson. I'm here to represent uh a group of men who are very concerned about the status and the state of affairs with our youth and their reading ability. Uh have some statistics I think I don't know if anybody's going to bring them. So uh I must say that uh my experience here in this format has been very pleasant. I love your facility and it contradicts the statistics that I'm bringing to you now because I saw eloquently delivered uh speeches by young folks of of all that nationality but in this

079status report here there are 24% what my brother just mentioned at reading level whereas 34% are above which is a of us. However, 6 66% are not really grasping the teaching and then we don't have a good receptivity in computation. Meaning that 76% are not taught to compute whatever that means. I don't know if you're talking about a computer or if you're talking about critical thinking. I don't know. But these are the statistic that I'm reporting and uh they're very contradictory to my experience here and I'm just wondering if we brought this to the to your to your attention um could we get to the point where you have one of those um put to the floor get it second and have a have a unanimous vote to for for our recommendation to have people

080available in the classroom to help assist our youth because that's one of the proposals that we have. As a matter of fact, it's not just a suggestion. We have um put together our our strategy and we have recommendations not just for Elk Grove, but for the school system at large because we are noticing that the disparity is far greater elsewhere than it is here. But it's not that good to report what's happening here. So, I just want to make sure that when we leave here, you understand that we're going to be uh pouring in on this as much as necessary until we can get this thing considered closely because everything that I'm experiencing here contradicts these statistics. All right, we have John Taylor and I've got Mary Ford. If she was out and has come

081back in, she'll be next. Thank you. >> Good. Good evening, board uh superintendent. My name is John Taylor. I've been here for over 20 years. I was here when Dave Gordon was a superintendent, when Steve Lad was a superintendent. I'm still here addressing this same incredibly, incredibly painful disparity with black children cannot read and write and comprehend English at grade level and can't do math. I mean, come on, you guys. At some point, somebody has to stop and say, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. How is it possible that these children are spending thousands of hours in classrooms with people and they're not learning how to read? There only 26 letters in the alphabet. And you got kids in kindergarten that don't even know their letters when they get to the first grade or the

082second grade. And nobody is trying to stop this train from going down the track. And now you got thousands of people graduating high school and they're illiterate. What kind of job? When you say these kids are going to be career and college ready, they're not going to be career and college ready. They might be ready for criminal ality or crime because if you can't read and you can't write, what kind of job are you going to get? So, yes, I'm involved with the uh concerned African-American parents. I am involved with the Alpha File Fraternity Incorporated. I am involved with the Sacramento County Education Coalition. We are going to continue to come to these board meetings and at some point we're going to actually be outside with signs protesting not just here in El Grove at

083nois Twin Rivers San Juan Folam Cordova and Skoey. This is ridiculous. There are over 30,000 black children in the Sacramento County and they're telling us that only 20% of these children can read and write and comprehend English at grade level and only 10% can do math and you guys are sitting here like he said looking at me like deer in the headlights getting increased pay. How is it possible that you can justify giving yourselves more money and children are continuing to fail? This doesn't make any sense. Let's do something about it and we got to move the needle. Like I said, when the No Child Left Behind law came out after George Bush passed it, we got that's when we first got wind of this so-called disparity in this academic achievement gap. That was in

0842003. So, for 23 years, people like myself and others have been trying to figure out what is going on. So, come on you guys. Let's work together. Let's figure something out. and uh we'll continue to be here and hopefully we can get together and sit down and talk about some solutions because I think we've got plenty that we can make happen. Thank you so much. >> Okay. Is Mary Ford here? I'm going to say public comment seems to be over. All right. Thank you. Our next item is the consent agenda. Are there any blue cards related to the consent agenda? Madame President, there are no blue cards related to the consent agenda. >> Okay. Miss Moore has asked to pull item one and four off the consent agenda. So, I would like to ask for

085a motion to approve items 1 through 36 minus item 1 and four on the consent agenda. >> So, move second >> by Mr. First by Mr. Yang, second by Mr. Vargas. All in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Uh, passes unanimously. Miss Moore, you asked to speak. Um what let's take them one at a time. Number one. >> Yes. Um regarding item number one, um one of the policy updates under item number one is student use of technology. And this weekend a parent emailed a detailed list of concerns regarding student technology and parental involvement and controls with district students issued Chromebooks. Um the parent is also an IT specialist and I would like to share just a portion of his concern. Um he said, "I am writing as both a parent in the district and

086an IT professional to request prompt review and action regarding parent visibility and parental control limitations on districts issued student Chromebooks, which also relates to the need to update technology policies and administrative regulations. This is a student safety issue, a a parent rights issue, and a policy consistency issue. The district's current policy places responsibility on parents to monitor and govern their children's use of schoolisssued devices. That is a reasonable expectation only if parents are given meaningful visibility into how the those devices are being used and some practical ability to respond when concerns arise. At present, that does not appear to be the case. As I understand the current setup, parents may be able to supervise device use to some extent at home and through their own household network and rules, but they have little or no

087visibility into student browsing activity on schoolisssued devices while students are at school on other networks or otherwise outside uh direct parental supervision. Parents also do not appear to have a district support supported way to receive activity summaries, identify concerning patterns, or apply supplemental restrictions appropriate to their own child. That creates a serious gap between the district policy and reality. Parents are told they are responsible for monitoring usage while the system is structured in a way that prevents them from doing so in any meaningful informed way. I want to be clear, this is not a theoretical concern. Children are regularly exposed to material online that parents would reasonably want to know about, including inappropriate content, harmful social media trends, unsafe interactions, and searches that may indicate emotional distress or other serious issues. In some cases, a

088parent's awareness of that activity could be the difference between early intervention and a missed warning sign. Even when district filtering is in place, filters are not perfect and they do not remove the need for parental awareness. That's the end of the com um the end of the comments that I'm sharing from um the parent. But I would just like to say that um this parents concern is a concern that many parents have shared with me. They worry about their children having a device that cannot be monitored or where where parental controls cannot be implemented as they would be on a device purchased by a parent. Even if a family chooses not to use the district issued device at home, some students have accessed inappropriate materials during class or been subjected to inappropriate materials or websites

089from other students during school hours via Chromebooks. Um, and when I previously asked about this concern in the topic of technology under safety, I was told that parents must help their students practice internet um, safety at home. However, I believe that this parent brings up valid concerns that should be considered when we look at student use of technology and that is the end of my comments. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Taliani. May I may I also speak? >> Of course, Mr. Vargas. >> Um, since since the item got pulled, um, I think it's worth just having a quick conversation or, you know, speaking quickly about the artificial intelligence policy. Um and also as it and along with that the employee use of technology policy. Um I think I would have liked to have more

090of a you know board level conversation about these policies. Um but I don't see anything particularly controversial in here. So I I think that's fine. Um but I do want to highlight a couple of things. Um in part because I think people misunderstand AI and misunderstand how we use technology. Um, and there is this assumption out there that things you put on the internet can stay private. Um, and I think that that is a deeply mistaken and deeply misguided assumption. And I think it's important for us to call that out as we're approving this policy. Um, and to highlight for people, particularly employees, that and and students, this applies equally to students. um that these are tools that we use, but we have to be extremely careful with them. Um artificial intelligence in particular, it

091is incredibly tempting to put things into our put a question into chat GPT or to put information into chat GPT and have it spit out something for you. Um, and it is so so easy to put in information that is confidential. Um, or to put in information, personal information into those and want to believe that that will stay private and it's not. The minute you put it in there, it is public information. Um, and for those of us who have a responsibility to keep certain information confidential, that is extremely problematic. Um, and so I, you know, part of the reason why I wanted to raise this is I'm an attorney. Um, you know, I have the same impulses as everybody else to want to use chat GPT to make my life easier. Um, I do

092use chat GBT to make my life easier, but it is you have to be so careful. Um, and so I want to call that out as we're doing this because we're not having as big of a discussion around this. I think it's still important to put that out there. still important to remind people from this deis that when you're using AI when you're using online tools be very very careful about what you're doing um and it's especially for employees uh you know read the policy right if you when you are using technology you are responsible for reviewing it and you're responsible for the final product that comes out and that's important right we've you know we don't want to get into a situation where someone puts something into chat GBT, it spits something out and

093they don't review it first and then suddenly something happens. Suddenly we discover there's a problem and then they are responsible for that. Right? We want to make sure that everybody knows this. Don't share confidential records. This is incredibly important. We have to we have certain responsibilities and this is a big no no. And so if you put any kind of confidential information in there into the prompt, that is a problem. That alone is a problem. Um, and then just the last the the last thing I wanted to pull out of this policy just to highlight is this is for employees and students is again it is so easy to accidentally put in private information into these things. And it is important for us to remember and highlight that you have no expectation of privacy in

094this. Right? These Chromebooks are district property. They're district Chromebooks. We tell you ahead of time when you're using our devices, when you're using our property, you don't have an expectation of privacy in these things. So when you put, you know, what you search is, we're going to know, right? What comes out of these, you know, chat GPT and your Google searches, what comes out of those, we're going to know. You don't have an expectation of privacy in these things. So please, please, please, as we are doing this, we are approving this now. going forward, please be very careful about how you use these tools. They are important tools. They are fantastic tools. They're going to help us in the long run uh in our in our mission of educating students and in how we interact

095with each other. But please, please, please be very very careful. >> Thank you, Mr. Vargas. And I think um your point is well made. And I also believe getting this passed will allow us to start educating people and that that's the first step. President Alviani, can I make comments? >> You want to speak to it, Mr. >> Yeah. I just uh want to thank um Trusty Moore for highlighting the parents concerns. Um I think these are valid concerns for many parents out there. Um this is a new era of um vulnerability in in in this digital world. Um and just assure that we're going to engage with this parent and other parents. Um this policy that's for your consideration this evening is a first step. Um staff has been working very hard over the last

0966 months. Um it presents a number of complex questions relative to confidentiality and furpa obviously but also um child development and academic integrity. Um it raises a number of questions for our our our workforce and such and the responsibilities the to to Mr. Argus' comments, the additional responsibility is to be good guardians of our confidential uh information. Um, but this this policy will enable us to begin conversations and trainings with our staff, with our parents. I think it's going to bring a heightened awareness to the vulnerabilities out there um and and the potential consequences of this. But it's also a technology. Again, to Mr. Vargas' point, it is a tool and it is a tool that's being becoming more and more ubiquitous in our society and there is a responsibility to teach our students and

097our community how to use this new technology responsibly. So this is just the first step and I think as we continue to engage in these conversations, these policies will likely come back in short order for updating as we learn and we use. Um, but I did want to highlight um to one of Mr. Vargas' point, the the board will have an opportunity uh to engage and have some discussion on May 5th because uh Mr. Barber and his technology team will uh we have um slated an artificial intelligence presentation um that will kind of bring uh highlight these policies, take the whole community through it, give you an opportunity to engage, express concerns. It'll give a staff an opportunity to re react and respond and it'll inform our training uh going forward. So, uh, we're just

098kind of getting started in this work and it's, uh, it's it's quite a wilderness to explore. So, we'll do it together and we'll do it responsibly. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, now I'd like to call for a motion to pass item number one on the consent agenda. >> So, move. >> Second. >> Moved by Mr. Yang, seconded by Miss Ballerini. All in favor? >> Opposed? Passes unanimously. Item number four, Miss Moore. >> Yes. Um, as that we're considering the um our new calendar for the upcoming year uh for our scheduled board meetings, I would like to ask that um if we continue to schedule daytime um special board meetings that we do not include action items, especially action items of considerable interest um or consequence to our staff, parents, and community members. And

099I would also like to ask that we carefully consider discussions and presentations of particular interest to community parents and staff. Um >> what was the second part? I I I think we do do the first part and and I agree and I didn't understand the second part. >> Also presentations and discussion items that would be of particular interest to the community um parents and staff. And for example, last year we discussed the possibility of converting an elementary school to a year- round schedule at a daytime board meeting. And um that really upset a lot of parents. Um the the daytime board meeting, which starts at 9:00 a.m., makes it difficult or impossible for most parents, community members, and our staff to attend these meetings to share their feedback on important topics of interest. >> Okay.

100Oh. Um, I think there's a little bit of I'm just gonna personally tell you from experience, there's a little bit of a debtor there. Um, I get not possibly not voting on those at a at a daytime meeting and so parents can watch it on video and see the discussion and come make a public comment before we vote on it. That would make sense to me, Miss Moore. But the reason we've done and started doing those were because those are kind of deep, meaty, big learning experiences. And so we don't want to eliminate that kind of discussion. So I I hear what you're saying and um Thank you. And and I just wanted to tell you that's how they started. Finish with my >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Apologize. >> Thanks. Um so I was

101trying to say that at 9:00 a.m. many parents are finishing dropping off at school, working, or otherwise fulfilling important daily obligations. Um, so I ask that if we must continue the special board meetings during working hours that we carefully consider the agenda items so that all stakeholders can fully engage on items of important interest to them. And as another example, I know that um this school year we've had to have staff members uh use vacation time to come and attend our board meetings. So, I just think it's important to be mindful of um topics that we're discussing at those meetings so that because yes, people can watch them um you know online, but I I know a lot of people especially on the facilities discussions and things that we seem to always have at our

102special daytime board meetings, they they would like to be part of that conversation. So, I just think that's important to be mindful of. >> Thank you. Anyone else? All right. I would like to call for a motion to approve item number four on the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Miss Ballerini, second in by Mr. Vargas. All in favor? >> I opposed. All right. I'd like to take a um five minute break. 10-minute break. Let's come back when you can, please. Less than 10 minutes. All right, if we can get everybody to the front, I'd appreciate it and get started again. Thank you. Do any of our bargaining units wish to address the board? >> Yes. Oh, thank you. Come on in, Miss Campbell. >> Uh, thank you so very much.

103My name is Diane Campbell. I am president of Ask Me Local 258. Good evening, President Alviani, uh, trustees, superintendent Riley, Miss Avalos, cabinet, and those of us that are still hanging strong. Um, I just wanted to get up and support, uh, the librarian technicians and the school librarians that came up and spoke. Um, as a leader, you always want to empower your members to have their voice and use it. So I am so very proud as president of local 258 representing the library and technicians that they came up here um while we are doing the recognition of our uh library week uh in what next two weeks from now. Um but and also bringing the audio vis audio visuals have to um applaud that. Thank you so very much because that has been a topic

104that we have had in past uh discussions uh with ASME members with our past superintendent uh Hoff Mr. Hoffman um about the cost of the Chromebooks, what are we doing to recoup that cost, the time that that involves of our librarian and librarian technicians taking them away from the students and also just in general when they're talking about how the library is the art, it is the science, it is the mouth math, it is the safe place for students. And that's why there is such a need even for the elementary level for those students to have a safe and secure spot at the elementary school where they can go and feel comfortable and be able to read a book, be able just to sit and do their homework or whatever it may be. And that's

105why there is such a need to extend those library hours at the elementary school level. Let the library technicians do the work they enjoy. let them be compensated for the extra time that they are pitting in there because again not every school has title one funds or other uh PTOs PTAs that are uh helping to fund those extra hours because these librarian technicians are in nonbenefited positions but they are giving more than eight hours a day to their schools because of the love and the dedication that they have to those students and their well-being and making them wellrounded. So I am just so very proud that the library technicians showed up. I fully support them and I just wanted to say thank you and they did a wonderful job. Um and then but also for

106the trustees please take that into consideration about what the librarian and the library and the library technicians mean to our students and to our schools and they deserve so much more. So thank you. >> Thank you. Are there any other role? Sounds great. Thanks. Um, good evening, Superintendent Riley, President Albiani, trustees, and Miss Avalos. Um, first I want to thank you guys for your response to the email we sent on March 3rd. Um, Trustee Yang and Trustee Vargas, please check your spam folders. CSEA hasn't gotten a response from you, so if you can please do that. Um, as the president of CSEA 831, um, I'm also a program educator supporting early childhood education at multiple sites throughout our district. I'm here tonight to invite encourage each of you to spend a day or several days

107in our shoes. Classified employees serve in many roles across the district. We are here before the teachers arrive and after students leave. We make sure children are fed. We support children with disabilities, translate for families, troubleshoot classroom and playground challenges, and maintain the physical spaces that make learning possible. And we do all of this in many cases for wages that do not reflect the true value of that work. Come spend a day with our PAR educators, classified staff as they support classrooms with students who have multiple and complex needs. Walk with the class through the lunch line and witness how hundreds of children are fed in under 30 minutes. And how the care and presence of PAR educators and health assistants help every child enjoy that meal alongside with their peers. visit the parking lot

108and see how staff calmly support parents and children who arrive daily in distress. Then in your day, standing alongside with our par educators as they wait for children, making sure every single one of them gets safely onto their bus. We extend this invitation with respect and with hope. We believe that by experiencing firsthand the dedication, the complexity, and the daily challenges our members navigate, you will be better equipped in understanding the work being done. We look forward to seeing all of you come visit our sites and experience the work we're doing on a daily basis. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Campbell and Miss Galvan. Are there any else? All right, we're going to move to reports and discussion items. Our first item is measure N and community facilities district number one bond sale results.

109Dr. Coats. All right, Madame President, uh members of the board, Superintendent Riley, Miss Avalos, uh staff and public, excited to be here tonight. Um this is anformational presentation on a recent bond sale. As just a reminder, we've come a couple different times to talk about um Measure N and bond financing on March 3rd. um you approved a um a resolution that we could go uh to market for a bond sale. We did that on March 24th. And Lori Reeri um president of government financial services is here tonight to share all the good news so we can do good work. Lori, >> good evening. Thank you for having us. And um I want to start by sharing with you uh I appreciate your membership in GFSJPA and as you know you've committed to uh be guided

110by finance best practices, ethics and transparency but as a reminder Miss Coats and Miss Watkins are your representatives and alternates to our board and they're doing a great job. you know, we now are well over 60 members and um and Millie and I do a lot of travel. So, I think she's going to take this opportunity to rest a little bit because of all those members, but we're growing. We're doing really well and uh we really appreciate their contribution as uh leading our board. So, tonight uh we we really saw the benefits of the best practices that the district has committed to. So, I want to talk about the bond sale process because we sold bonds during a very tumultuous time and um as I was sharing with Dr. Coats before the sale, we used

111to say, well, we do all these things. This Millie does not want to sleep. Um, we do all these things to protect the district in case there's a pandemic, there's a war. We always say these things not thinking that we'll really experience them, but we did and the market of course reacts and the district was able to stay the course and I'm going to describe exactly what happened, but it really was a phenomenal result and we uh as I mentioned, the district has committed to be guided by best practices. We refer to the government finance officers uh best practices that are published and online. Anybody can read them. And here's a list of just some of the the main ones that were part of our process. In addition, the district obtained a credit rating and

112from Moody's Investor Service, one of the main credit rating firms and it's a double A2. And the following reasons were cited. We have a large and growing local economy projected student enrollment growth. And while the budget is challenging, there was a lot of optimism about being able to outperform projections and improve. So, we sold 136 million of bonds on March 24th. That was also during spring break time. Um, I've learned that spring break is actually a six-w weekek period throughout the United States. So, when you work nationally, you find that all kinds of people are just absent and it's spring break for them, but it's not spring break for you. And that's an interesting postcoid uh paradigm which is people really do take vacations and they're not available during those vacation that we needed to

113reach that we were in fact able to reach was Dr. Coats. Uh she was on vacation but she participated in the sale remotely and we were very appreciative of that. So, we had a competitive sale which meant that we took bidding bids from any qualified firm across the United States. We used an internet bidding platform called parody which is kind of a ironic name because parody means that things are equal and the whole idea of the bidding is that they're not. Um, but it also allows um potential bidders to be notified and to have an easy format online to submit their bids. Uh, it's also posted in the bomb buyer industry newspaper. Um, I don't think anyone is even able to get that in paper anymore. It's called newspaper, but it's online. And um, any

114bank or underwriter in the United States could bid and we one of the things we do is we allow a lot of flexibility within our bidding parameters. And it we're able to do that because we use a lot of mathematics to even all the bids out for evaluation. But that allows each bidder to be really excited about bidding because they can do things that maybe they couldn't do in another sale. And our goal on the day of sale is to get as many bids as possible because not only do we believe that more competition equals better results. That's what the academic evidence supports. Now, what was happening as we went into the sale? Well, this is the big picture from back when we were planning Measure N in February 24. Um, and you can see

115that interest rates were lower. And you might not think that 3.10 is a lot lower than 4%, but we do. And uh, it doesn't seem that different, but it it is when you're borrowing 138 million. But one of the things you can see is um, as we were getting closer to the sale, the rates were rising in response to what was going on in the market. Um and so on the day of sale um lots of headlines and of course headlines kind of lag what people are actually doing. But um one of the interesting things is because we try and make it easy for people to bid. Some people sign up to bid but people can literally sign up at the very last minute and and still get a bid in. So we're watching all

116of these headlines. We're talking to all our biders trying to make sure that people stay with us. But here was the key. We were the only California competitive offering of the day. Now you think why does that matter? Because people think that the firms are making a decision because they love Elkrove and that a lot of decisions are made on that basis. But one of the things that happens in the markets when other people go away and are not offering bonds for sale, the firms only make money when they buy and sell. So, we were able to capture their attention because and why does it matter that it's California and why does it matter that it's competitive and why does it matter that it's a general obligation bond? First of all, general obligation bond very

117good credit, very secure even if the economy falters in some way. GEO bonds are perceived as very high credit. California, it's double taxfree in California and we have a lot of investors in California. Now, why do we have a lot of investors? Well, we have a lot of wealthy people that can benefit from the tax exemption, but we also have a lot of businesses that invest in tax exempt bonds. And a really good example is insurance companies. Um, you know, we're all everybody pretty much has some form of insurance. Well, they're taking our money and they need to invest it to um be able to buy whatever or pay us off if we make a claim, whatever it is. So, there's a lot of people who live in California. That means there's a lot of

118insurance companies doiciled here, which means they're big investors. also banks, etc. So, there's just a lot of types of businesses that are here as well as individuals who can buy them. Now, the next thing is our sale was at 8:35 a.m. Why at 8:35 a.m. That's kind of a little tradition of our team, which is years and years ago. We decided we don't want to say 8:30 and have somebody be a minute late. So, we verbally tell them 8:30, but it's actually 8:35. Of course, the computer tells them now that it's exactly 8:35, but the more fun we make it, the more we get participation. Um, and and people have a lot to do, so you've got to break through that. So, what happened? Well, one of the things that's interesting is it looks like

119the whole map is tilting to the east here. We had six firms bid, four of them from New York. Um, Baird is a big firm and they kind of carry the whole state of Wisconsin on their shoulders because we often see bids from Baird and they're located in Wisconsin. They're they're growing firm. Wells Fargo used to be a California firm, they've relocated to North Carolina and four biders from New York and nobody from California. Yet, all of these firms when they bid to buy a California bond, they're intending to sell back into California. So the the bidder may be sitting in one of these other places, but they're selling to California investors predominantly because they benefit from the double tax exemption. So here's our bids. Now, I mentioned bar big firm in Wisconsin, but they

120were they were worse than our first place bidder by $7 million. Now, that's really an important thing to note because if we had said, "Oh, let's just go with bar. It's a tough market and they always bid. They're a good bidder." We would have not I don't believe we would have paid just $7 million more. I think we would have paid even more because every bidder knew there it was a bid. Nobody had the business locked up. We they didn't they weren't telling us a story about the pricing. They just gave us the pricing. Wells Fargo was our second to the last. And Morgan Stanley, you probably have heard of them. They were our winning bidder. And right behind them, a firm you may not have heard of, Jeff. And look how close. 4.665% 665%

121was the true interest cost from Morgan Stanley and just um one and a half basis points higher from Jeffrey. So that's really close um on a on a big deal. $264,000 difference there. Um and um our budgeted true interest cost was 5.32. So we beat our budget. Now you might say, did we overbudget? Interestingly enough, the way we budget is based on applying the historical volatility to the future. So when we think that times are really bad, at least by the numbers, they're not any worse than they've been in the past because that is what we actually use to model this. Um our budget to actual on the cost of issuance budget um came out also very well. We had a lower underwriters discount, lower cost of issuance, more premium benefiting taxpayers and more funds

122for facilities. the premium is the bidder can choose to offer to give us some cash upfront that goes right into the tax payment fund at the county. So that means then there's a little bit less taxing because there's already some cash in the fund. And our estimated measure and tax levies are um maximum tax levy estimated at the time of the election was $34. We are now projecting a maximum of 33, an average of 32, and the same term of of 29 years. And it looks so flat because when you do a projection, you can make it that flat. Reality will settle in on a projection soon enough. Um, so what's our next steps? Well, just in case I forgot to say congratulations. We put it right here on the slide. Congratulations. This was a

123great result and the funds were received today. Our next measure and bond sale is spring 2000 2028. And I'll be glad to answer questions. And I thank you. so interested. I wasn't ready. Thank you very much. Are there any blue cards related to this item? Madame President, there are no blue cards related to this item. >> Thank you. Um questions or comments? U Miss Davis? >> Thank you, Miss Moore. No, Miss Bowwin. While I'm doing that, >> no worries. Um no questions. I just wanted to thank you for the presentation and acknowledge Dr. Coats. Thank you for being available for the bond sale during your vacation. >> Great, Miss Moore. >> Uh, I would also like to thank you for the presentation and I certainly appreciate your expertise um to help us all better understand

124this and um to share the good news. So, thank you. >> Mr. Vargas, >> just want to say thank you as well. Appreciate it. >> Mr. Zong, >> no questions. Miss Bellerini, >> I appreciate how you can make it fun kind of and when we're talking about all that money. Um, and hi Millie. Hopefully you had a nice time, >> Mr. Yang. >> No question, but thank you. Appreciate you as always. >> Thank you. Um, I had one quick question. We were rated AA2. Were we AA1 last time? >> Not a change. >> Yeah. Yeah. Affirmation of our rating. >> Yeah. >> And one of the funny things about this is this this a little tidbit because you said I make it fun. A lot of people think that California school district general obligation bonds

125should all be rated AAA because once we issue the bonds, the county taxes and pays them off. And California, although a lot of people think that California is a high property tax or I'm sorry, a high tax state, not for everybody. If your main form of paying taxes is through your property, it's actually pretty low compared to other states. And because of that, people rarely lose property in a tax sale. And taxes, the the rate of taxpaying is very high on property taxes. So, a lot of people think they should be rated AAA, but we have to remember the rating agencies are a business. And if everything is the same, then why are we paying them for anything, right? And if you read the financial information online like Yahoo Finance, you see the rating agency

126really promotes the value of their ratings. So they think that double A2 means something different than AAA. But our biders in the midst of rising interest rates and all that was happening in the market, we captured their attention. I we don't believe we would have done better if we had a higher rating because we had all the markets attention on that day. >> Excellent. And I just want to reinforce the fiscal responsibility of this district also allows us to keep that. So it's it's just such an important part that sometimes you don't see all the ways that it it affects things and this is huge. So because we now have more money we have more money to spend even more than we were approved by. So already being very good with our money. >> We

127have more money to spend and costing taxpayers less. >> Yeah. It's it's awesome. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it as always. Our next item is special education services update and west ed study. Mr. Singh, good evening madame president, members of the board, superintendent Riley, Mavlo's community and colleagues. Uh today is a very exciting day for us. uh it is going to be a start of a series of presentations because it's a almost the culmination of a work we've been doing in special education and partnering with our friends from Westad. So before I pass the baton over to uh Miss Regali and Miss Donna Minders, I just want to thank my colleague uh an for all her hard work and all her dedication to to the students and the families of uh who received

128special education services in our district and tremendous work to to lead the department. I just want to take moment and acknowledge that. And I also want to say thank you to Donna for all her partnership that we've had over the last couple of months. Yeah. Many, many months. So I want to say thank you to Donna for her partnership we've had. And with that, I'll pass it over to an >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Singh. Um, good evening, Chairperson Albiani, members of the board, Superintendent Riley, and Miss Avalos. Um, as uh Mr. Singh said, we're pleased tonight to present part one of a series focused on special education services in Elkrove, including an overview of our partnership with West Ed and the findings from their recent study. We will begin with a brief overview

129of the ED code that guides our work, followed by both statewide and Elkrove data to provide important context around trends in special education. From there, we will transition into the West study, reviewing the process used, highlighting key successes and sharing important discoveries that emerged through this work. We will conclude with initial recommendations with a deeper dive into Elkro special education programming. coming in our next presentation. This series is designed to provide a comprehensive and transparent look at our system with a focus on continuous improvement and ensuring that we meet the needs of every student we serve. Thank you and I'm looking forward to sharing this information with you. We begin with our uh learning vision. A lot of work's gone into this. I know you've participated and um a lot of us have as well.

130Uh, every student will learn in every classroom in every subject every day. Preparing college, career and life ready graduates with an innovative, fiscally stable system that ensures safe environments, highquality curriculum and instruction, a strong workforce. Grounded in equity, we commit to delivering targeted, culturally responsive programs and services that affirm student identities, engage families and communities, and close in achievement opportunity and relationship gaps so all students thrive. Our mission in uh special education is to provide an appropriate highquality service in the least restrictive environment. You hear that often, LRE. This evening's agenda, I think Mr. Singh shared a little bit of state and Elkrove data in special ed and then um Miss Miners will share a study. We begin with ed code. In uh 2022, Senate passed a bill that in essence uh declared all students

131are general education students first and such as such should be educated alongside their non-disabled peers. And here we have some statewide data that shows uh number of students receiving education um special education services has increased. You can see we were at about a little under 11% in uh 2010 and you can see the total enrollment in in the yellow bar there. And then uh fa fast forward up to 2024 um we went up to 15.9%. That's the state data. Here we have Elkrove comparison. And if you look at the second red bar on the right, 2024, uh we were at about 15.5%, not far from this 2024 statewide data. But then you look at 2026 and it's jumped to 17%. um number of reasons. Uh possibly schools are better at identifying earlier and more accurately.

132So we're especially in preK and early elementary. Another um possibility or reason is less stigma from families. More parents are requesting evaluations and agreeing to services. Um it reflects the rising student need especially in mental health and autism and of course the long-term effects of the pandemic. Um and then California overall has fewer total students but more are qualifying. And of course that comes with the cost. Special education annual expenditures statewide um are increasing because we are serving more students with greater needs. And while the cost of providing those services, especially in staffing, specialized supports and contracted services continues to rise. And at the same time, the funding has not kept pace, requiring districts to invest more of their general funds to meet legally mandated surf services. While we often hear from families moving into

133Elkrove, it's exciting. They move here because of the excellent reputation of our special education services. But similar to the state, Elkrove special education expenditures have also grown over the years. As you can see, special education is approximately 22% of our district budget. Here, I'd like to share a little bit of our um state special education data and the categories of primary disabilities of our students here in Elkrove. Elkrob's disability profile largely mirrors the state. However, we serve a higher proportion of students with autism and low incidence disabilities, both of which require more intensive, specialized and costly supports. We do also um have an memo a memo of understanding ane with local districts where we serve students who are deaf and heart of hearing. So that increases our low incidence numbers. Um and at the same

134time we identify fewer students in some lower incidence categories reflecting differences in student needs and service models. As far as the the subgroups of the students we are serving, there are currently just about close to 11,000 students with special education services in Elgroveve. Our population is highly diverse, includes significant numbers of students facing additional challenges. 66% are socially economically disadvantaged, 22% English learners, 4% experiencing homelessness with our largest groups being Hispanic, Latino, Asian, and African-American students. This highlights the need for equitable, culturally responsive, and comprehensive systems of support. Special education pro uh programs offered in Elkrove include our level one resource self-contained classes 2, three, and four, TAC and pathways. Um, our district provides a full continuum of special education services from targeted supports to specialized programs and adult transition services, ensuring each student's unique

135academic, behavioral, and communication needs are met to support successful post-secondary outcomes. We will be covering these supports and services in more detail further along in the series of the special education updates. And I'm pleased to welcome Donna Minders, project director with West Ed, who's partnered with Elkrove to conduct this in-depth study. She'll now be carrying uh sharing some key findings and insights to help our ongoing efforts to strengthen services and outcomes for all students. Great. >> I am Donna Minders from Weststead. Um, Superintendent Albiani, uh, board members, uh, uh, super, I'm sorry, board chair Albiani, uh, board members and superintendent Riley. Um, very happy to be here and very happy to be sharing some preliminary results from our findings. Uh, our our report will be out at the end of the month and we will

136be able to share some more. So, we will be sharing some some overarching preliminary findings today. Um, one of the things that I wanted to uh start off with is uh why did Elkrove engage in the study? Um, and I think one of the things that we were asked a lot of questions by folks that uh participated in focus groups and and surveys and interviews and so forth as to why the study was being done. So, we've listed here uh a number of reasons that really felt like this was a time an appropriate time for uh Elkrove to be able to engage and really look more deeply into how their students that were receiving special education services were doing. Um it's it's a a time of change. You've seen as as sharing um a number

137of growth areas of growth in special education services. Um, but it's also a time of of change within your district and it's a time for for really digging deeply into looking at the data. So, we will be sharing that in the report as we as it comes out. Um, but we uh had many conversations shared with my Wested team um all heavy expertise in special education and participated in in great um um many different aspects of the of the report. Um but we had um engaged with the cabinet on on numerous occasions to kind of talk through what is our process like we have been doing uh reviews of special education across the country for the last 20 years or so. And because of that we've been able to develop a a process I think

138that has been not only um um um improved over the years as we've done it, but it's also one that's become very collaborative with the districts that we work with. And so this is seen as not something that we come in and monitor, but it's something that we come in and really engage with the district and and work in partnership to be able to really dig deeply into how services are going. Um the board then asked us to be able to provide a really comprehensive review with a a deep understanding of the status of special education in your district and then be able to provide some clear um datadriven pictures of what the current system looks like. So it's kind of a snapshot. Um but also then to be able to to provide you with

139some re researchbased recommendations to be able to strengthen the services. Um we also in Westad is um a national um education training technical assistance and research firm. We have a deep brand bench of folks that provide uh many years of of um not only support to education at all levels of the system from from schools to districts to state level to the federal level but also years and years of expertise with with um research. And so being able to bring research to practice is something that we as a team were were uh engaged uh in your district for. Um part of that engagement as I said was a really uh collaborative effort on the part of your uh leadership team. So we came in um and um with the with the help of district leads

140many of whom are sitting over here um worked with us on an extensive basis met weekly uh to be able to not only plan the study but to be able to really deeply engage in areas that um that they could help us have access to. um engaging with a lot of your constituents throughout the district throughout the district as well as being able to access many um policies, procedural documents um things that the district has produced. And so I think that working relationship was really really helpful. Um one of the first things that we did though as we sat with the with the leads team was to be able to develop the study questions. So we come in with some recommendations around things that most districts want to look at um with your district. Then

141we came up and developed these uh three study questions that really were the guiding force of the study and helped to not only um identify the things that your district is was interested in finding out but also the areas of impact that were really critical to you as a district. Um so you can see here and I'm just going to quickly quickly read over these. Uh the the um first question was are the programs and services of the district appropriately designed to maximize outcomes for students receiving special education services including duly identified students who are multilingual learners. Uh the second question was are the district's processes and organizational structures designed for effectiveness, efficiency and fiscal stability in improving results for students receiving special education and related services. And the third is then are the district's

142staffing and fiscal management structures designed for effectiveness, efficiency and financial stability for improving results for the students receiving those services. So these were the driving force behind our development of all the protocols, the questions, the focus groups, the surveys and all those various instruments that we were using um to ensure that we were really focusing in on the on the things that you as a district wanted to know. Um this is just briefly the process that we used. We have a a three-phase system that took u multiple months. Um engaging with the with the district team to really uh develop the goals, the expectations, the timelines and so forth. Um was a a first priority but also a really engaging experience with your district that was really your your leads that your district folks were

143really engaged in that process with us. The second part was the CESRB. CESRA stands for special education uh systemic review assessment. Uh and and the B is brief. It's our brief assessment that we put together over the years that we um had uh the district team help us to select a um cons a a constituency group that represented um administrators, special and general education, special and general ed education educators, uh related service providers, parents um and various other staff um that engaged in our CESB which was a survey. Um, we ask that we do this at the beginning of the process to be able to really deeply engage it where where you and district your district folks um see the level of implementation and these key um essential elements of special education. So that's kind

144of a pre-est um in terms of looking at u where are you as a district engaging and then um it also tells us areas that we may want to investigate more as as they are providing us evidence as to why they rated things the way they did. Um and then we come back at the end with the data that we've collected and use that same set of of questions uh to be able to determine where we where the data is telling us that your district is functioning these in these key areas. Um then beyond that, our second phase was really the data collection phase. So we engaged in a lot of processes with um various constituency groups throughout the district. Um and then the data analysis piece and the themes and recommendations. And then we're

145in our final phase right now, our phase three, where we're developing and finalizing the the written report, which we expect to have out by the end of the month. And then we'll work with the with the leads team on developing an action plan and being able to then share the results um out with all of you. Um these are our theme areas. So over the last 20 years or so, we've engaged with um really looking at um um kind of special education implementation in districts all over the country of various sizes and and makeup. Um we've been able to develop these five areas as areas where uh we see as the essential elements of effective uh special education systems. And so these are the areas that we use as our theme areas, but they're also

146the areas that help us to be able to um write the uh various sections of the report and to be able to look at what we consider the essential elements. So this was kind of our our guiding um u um force force behind the um study. We had many opportunities for input and had an awful lot of input from all all a number of folks across the district. Uh we had uh three surveys that we put out. So, we had a a survey that went all to out to all staff um on on campuses. Um we had a district administrator survey that went out to district administrators um um across the district and then parent survey both in English and in Spanish. Um we also then held focus groups and focus groups with rollalike groups.

147So, we had um people participate in um about a 45m minute focus group. um some of them had followup to that and so forth, but a lot of of input from those groups and then interviews um number of interviews both um over the phone people that would catch us as we were out walking around the district um in the classroom observations and so forth, emails and and just a lot of input and a lot of data that came across to us and then u um did um IEP reviews um individualized education program reviews and district provided us a number of documents to review as well. And then we looked at publicly available data such as data that um the California Department of Education has and that other districts and districts across the state are monitored

148in terms of are they meeting the targets that the state sets. Um in addition to that then we also worked with the district leads team to select four additional districts that were similar to you in size uh demographics um and and so forth and then use those comparisons of of a lot of the publicly available data so you can kind of see where you fit. So all of these all of this data will not be shared tonight. We're going to share just some overarching um themes but will be in the report and um more data than you can possibly want. Um, and the reports are very deep, but what we want to be engage in today is just really some some introduce you to some of the the discoveries that we've been able to find.

149Um, it goes without saying and and it was a joy to be able to here be here tonight to hear all these wonderful presentations that went on. Um, you have a lot of successes in your district and we just mentioned a few of them here, but many of the things that we came across, people are very happy to be working in your district. Um, parents are very happy. uh we we found that um in particular that you have dedicated resources uh to the implementation of a multi-tered system of supports MTSS that you'll hear me talk about a lot um and that many staff recognize the value in that and that's a system that we do recognize and utilize um in our recommendations uh we also felt that you as a district are dedicated to continuous

150improvement and utilized a lot and utilize a lot of database decisionm which is really critical in terms of that um that effectiveness of being able to ensure that what you're doing is as um as a district is helping to to get to the most critical outcomes. Um staff and parents as well were were um repeatedly talked about your staff as being dedicated, caring, going above and beyond to support students and just doing what it what needed to be done no matter what. And so there was just high praise of your district folks. Um and then the district leadership and a lot of staff really articulated a deep commitment to inclusive education and supporting diverse learners. Uh and then we also heard from a number of parents that really report a deep understanding of the IEP

151process and express satisfaction of the responsiveness from school personnel. So just a few of the successes that we want to put out there and we'll have more in the report. Um because what you'll see is that the discoveries that we'll be talking about are really looking at those areas that are challenges to you because those are the areas that you really want to be able to to focus on improvement efforts. And so you'll be hearing a lot more of those issues and challenges from me um as we go through this. And not to diminish any of those wonderful um successes that you have. Okay. So the first uh and I'm just going to kind of quickly go through these. So if there's any clarification or or um questions that you have, please feel free to

152to stop me or we can talk at the end. Um the first is our systems integration. So this is really looking at how does your system work together um as components. really looking at um the MTSS process, how you how you are implementing that um looking at the uh alignment across the district of how your various departments and systems work together. Um, we did find that there was there are, as I was saying, there are a number of of folks in your district that are really touting MTSS as had really having a a positive impact on their referral process on being able to deal more immediately with students as they struggle and they've really been able to feel mentioned that they've really been able to become more um uh more focused and be able to

153identify students that were in need of extra services and referral for special education. um in a in a much more timely fashion, but we saw variability in that across the district. And so really being able to look at that in terms of the um not not only the MTSS, the tiered interventions that exist um but also looking at the pre-referral processes and that fidelity to those um being inconsistent across the sites really is something to focus on and and an area that you really want to continue to work on and build. Um, we also, um, as as Ann was pointing out, um, the the vision and the mission of your district is critical and being able to look at that in terms of how it's operationalized with, uh, in the special education proc programs and

154services was something that we looked at. Um, we didn't feel like there was a really unified vision of special education as a central support system and that reduces the fidelity of the implementation and it does negatively impact student outcomes. So, it's an it's an area that you as a district really need to focus on and and really develop that what does it mean to Elkrove to to um talk about our vision of special education and how we fit that and operationalize that within our district vision. Um we also heard a lot of mention of the collaboration and collaborative planning time uh being insufficient and that that in uh particularly in in uh planning time between general and special educators really limited limits that um joint instructional design and the coordinated supports that students need to

155be able to be successful um in their learning environments. And then finally uh leadership and communication. There was a perception that district administ administration is not always providing adequate visible leadership and guidance out to the sites. Uh we heard a lot of comments from staff being able to see say that they felt like there were limited opportunities for them to be able to provide input and there was some inconsistent messaging from leadership and that contributes to some of that confusion and reduced buyin and uneven practices across the district. And so, um, a lot of comments around, um, I, um, I don't see our district administrators enough. They don't know what we're going through. And so, I think some of those are things to pay attention to as you're, as you're looking to, um, improve your

156your practice across the district. The second area we looked at was policies and procedures. Um, policies and procedures, as you know, are um, a key uh, force in special education. And there are a lot of regulations, there are a lot of timelines, a lot of of different procedures that have to be met. Um, and you as a district are held accountable for that in a number of different ways. Um, you also as a district have a number of different programs and services available for students. And we felt that the the guidance that's provided in terms of of um entry and exit into those programs and services was unclear and that there was inconsistent placement decisions being made across the schools and that was reported to us that that the um lack of really using data

157in decision-m as a part of that process um was something that needed to be improved. Um we also felt that while you have procedural guidance um that being able to have procedural guidance with updates and creating that common u understanding of what the what's expected and as those things change as those those policies and procedures change being able to get that information out to folks to be able to use it on an on an ongoing basis. Um we also felt that staff roles and responsibilities needed clarity. um staff roles in particular areas like um program specialists and classroom staff um pair educators that that really being able to have the clarity in how how support is being provided. what's the ownership and responsibility for for all staff in terms of providing those supports to students

158um with receiving special education services and that the accountability structures were unclear and that causes variability in in practice in some overreiance that we saw on key individuals or key staff positions. Um and then finally in in this area communication gaps exist with families and staff. We heard a lot of reports from from staff and from parents um about confusion in policies, inconsistent follow-through, and limited transparency around decision-m and implementation. So again, um some areas to really strengthen as you're um as you're going through and and looking at at increasing some of the um outcomes in these areas. Um the fourth area that we looked at, the third area that we looked at was learning environments. um we really saw limited and inconsistent inclusion across your district. It's been a while since you was a

159district. I've really um broached the uh the the vision of what inclusion looks like in Elkrove. Um and we found that the access to inclusion uh was across your sites was uneven and it wasn't universally viewed as a goal for all students. You have students that are in various level programs that that's not considered an outcome for them. And so really being able to to spend some time with your constituents and figure out what is what does inclusion look like in Elkrove is going to be critical in terms of moving forward and really being able to see what that looks like under your MTSS process. Um we felt that in in particular as we did classroom observations that there are strong routines there. Um classrooms had solid management, good use of technology, but there was

160a lack of of deeper engagement and higher order thinking and that um that form for formative data application. And so really looking at not only how are people spending their time, but are they really utilizing data to help drive those instructional practices. Um and then we looked at your outcomes as compared to your your peer districts. Um and that even despite inclusion opportunities, you have low lower outcomes. So really looking at your um state assessments and so forth, um lower outcomes for your student with disabilities compared to uh your the other districts, your partner districts. And so it's really telling us that the inclusion that is happening perhaps is is not sufficient in terms of providing the instructional supports that were needed. Um and finally, we saw the PAR educators um issue come up a

161lot. We heard that a lot um in all of our discussions, focus groups, surveys, and so forth. It was a persistent issue regarding what is their role. There's a lot of ambiguity in what the role is. There are shortages. Um there's high turnover. There's over reliance. There's lack of training for PAR educators. So this is an area that as you really dive deeper into what support looks like um the use of PAR educators and how that um how that plays out and how you train and use PAR educators as the support in the in the whole process really needs to be um identified and engaged. Um the fourth area was looking at human and fiscal resources. Again a lot of overlap in these areas. you do have recruitment and retention challenges as all districts do

162across the country uh since COVID. Uh being able to fill uh special education positions has been a challenge. you have done um better than a lot of districts that we've seen, but there's still once you get people in, there's turnover and that means that people are not being supported appropriately to be able to stay in those positions or they're not giving a um a satisfactory training to be able to and on boarding to be able to really feel like they can do their job well. That's created what we saw as a kind of a culture of crisis undermining the stability and the the morale of the staff. Um and then um PAR educators as I said came up a lot. Um some of the evidence that we looked at really indicated that some of the

163staffing ratios in your various programs was insufficient. But the many um requests for additional PAR educators came up as that kind of more of a band-aid solution that we'll just hire more PAR educators and that will help with this. And so really it's a it's a deeper focus and deeper dive in terms of how is support provided and who's providing that that's needed. Um we also looked at onboarding and professional development and found some gaps in that. So the onboarding of new staff, mentoring, you know, job embedded coaching, um, we felt were not sufficient to meet the demand. And that's really critical in this in this market where, um, staff have a have a choice in where they can work. And so being able to have a culture that supports the uh, the folks sufficiently

164um, provides training and provides the ability to be able to provide input on their on their job is really critical. So being able to look at what does that training and support look like that adequately helps people feel like they're prepared to support the the diversity the the diverse uh students needs that the students have. And then um again pair educators uh inconsistent um unevenly assigned. There was limited training or no training on on fading or building independence for students which is critical u when you're putting another adult up with a child. being able to really look at how do you fade that support is critical in terms of building independence. Um and then evidence-based practices um were not consistently used uh with PAR educators or um across a lot of your programs. Uh and

165then finally the final area family and community engagement. So we had u a lot of input from parents. Um, and again, I highlight that that the the critical factor that parents um mentioned a great deal was that really wanting to have one-on-one support, feeling like they needed to have their one-on-one pair educator be able to provide adequate support for their student. Um, and that indicates that there's a lack of trust that the system will be able to provide adequate support. So um really um some real deep conversations around that as well as really looking at what is the role that the PAR educator should be providing and who else should be providing support. Um we heard parents say that what they really wanted was consistent and transparent support um and being able to look at

166that being a comprehensive for their students. And so um those two kind of go together. They also talked about parents and staff also talked about the need for more training and particularly for our general educators around inclusive support. So really helping to um parents really wanted to see more access to inclusion but really felt like that they needed to have staff that were more appropriately trained to support diverse learners. Um and then we also looked in this area at uh prek um supports. um some really nice programs going on in your early ed, but you've got three programs, preschool, transitional kindergarten, and kindergarten programs that are basically siloed. They function differently. They have different requirements, different regulations. Um and it makes transitioning between these programs difficult. And so there's a need to really be able

167to build up that early childhood aspect of that early intervention so that you can give the these um students the most um that they the most that they can get as they are are beginning the education system. It's a critical time period in terms of their learning. So really being able to figure out how do these programs work together and how do they support each other um is critical in that. Okay. Um I've talked through this really quickly, but some overarching recommendations that um we uh that I'll cover today um and we'll have a lot more detail on these in the report, but what we looked at with the overarching recommendations was really being able to build on the strengths that you have and develop alignment and clarity across the system. Um so uh our

168our first recommendation is looking at continuing the MTS at work with a focus on consistency and alignment across the system. How do all of these various um supports work together? And how do you as a district define that? And then how do you find define that in terms of the support that's needed from staff? Um the second one, building a district-wide vision for inclusive education. And then the programs that are designed to support students all under that umbrella of MTSS to be able to look at how do all of these, as I just said, all of these systems work together to increase the support for students um in all levels of the programs. um further develop and implement protocols for special education programs and for adult support. There needs a lot more clarity on that.

169There needs a lot more training on how to do that so folks feel like they really have the tools necessary uh to be able to uh provide the supports needed. Um and then developing additional supports at the district level for sites, looking at multi-directional communication opportunities so folks can weigh in on um areas where they're seeing critical need. um we heard a lot of really good recommendations from staff in terms of ways that things could change. They didn't feel like they really had a place to be able to share that. And so it was um kind of nice to be able to think about that, but be able to think about ways that you as a district can can do that better. Um both from from staff and from parents and then building a um

170a more um robust system of onboarding and training of all of your staff so they feel like they've got supports um necessary. So that was really really quick. Um our as I said our next steps we'll be finishing up the report by the end of the month. Um the report is is very deep has a lot of uh data in it. Um what we also will be providing recommendations with um evidence-based practices, research based practices as well as um some action planning and we'll work with the district leads team to be able to talk about what are some next steps because when you get a report that's this deep being able to look at how do we how do we begin to implement this? We look at all of this as being a longer term

171process, a three to five year process. But we talk about what are some early wins and some ways that you can begin to get folks on board and and been develop a lot of these really deeper systemic kinds of processes that um we're recommending and see are needed. So, I'm going to stop there um and um see if there are questions or or comments. >> Thank you very much. Um we'll uh are there any blue cards on this item? Madame President, there are no blue cards on this item. >> Thank you. We'll start with Miss Bowwin. Did you have any questions or comments, Miss Bowwin? >> Yes, thank you. Um I did uh I really appreciate this. Thank you so much. Uh thank you to the cabinet for engaging in this process, this study to,

172you know, essentially help us better understand where we're at and where we need to go. Um I'm really excited to see what our action plan is going to be based on the results. um a lot I have a child in um special education so the things that you mention in here they're they're relevant um I know there are things that I've experienced um and uh particularly around the confusion because you know you have the team and as a parent we're all we're not always clear about like okay well whose role is what on the team because it's really hard to remember like who's doing what it's easy when you know like the practitioners and the teacher but then you have you you know it. You might have the SEPA there, you might have a coordinator

173there, program coordinator, you might have a program specialist there, and then your principal's there. And sometimes it's hard to know, you know, it's like who do I like directly work with um on specific things. Um and so it is a complex team, but it's a team nonetheless that's there to support the students. And um you know going back to ed code and really drilling back to a special ed student isn't a special ed student first. They are a gen ed student and >> they may have needs that are higher than other students. So that's why we build the individualized plan to to make sure that we are meeting them where they're at and we're getting them to where they need to be. And so I think that piece around us not being unified on that

174piece and the vision for special ed, that's that's a big component that we absolutely have to tackle. Um once we all get on the same page of this is how we recognize inclusive education with students that have specific needs that we're going to differentiate in in very creative ways. Um, I think it really will get us moving in a right in the right direction um to make the improvements that we need to make. Um, we're a district that's doing a lot of great things, but there's always room for improvement and I believe this the study is helping us really kind of um peel back those layers to to better understand where we need to go. So, I appreciate that. Um, MTSS um it is something the district has been working on. We've been getting lots

175of presentations on I think in our last presentation it was very illuminating to me that I didn't realize that our sites have not like rolled out MTSS um as as um how some other sites have. So there that there's a disparity there. Um it would be I think having this information and then also maybe having a board communication that somehow captures where are we um at our school sites with MTSS in terms of the progress and and full implementation that I think would be very helpful. Um so if that's something that we can get I would really appreciate that. Um I know we're going to continue to have presentations. This is one of probably a few to come for the Westad and where we're at with special education, but in particularly I know we do

176MTSS as well, but I think we need to really be clear about where are where are our schools with this process because that's where we're going to make the biggest movement in terms of improving our systems. Um, also I know that like in terms kind of getting back to um confusion and sometimes not having I think from a parent perspective it you know we our son utilizes the support of an additional adult a para educator and it's been like huge for him this year. he's um fully transitioned into gen ed with the support of his parah and and we are really excited to see like him get to a point where he's not going to need that parah. Um, but I think that I'm in a place because to to know that and to have

177that trust. But it is hard because oftent times I think um our our families, they feel really good about knowing, oh, there's this most dedicated person that's going to work with my kid and be there for them. But ultimately what it comes down to is like we want our kids to show us who they are. And um they don't always want someone right above them, hovering over them. And so those strategies and training that we could provide for the fading I think is going to be essential for our students. Um and it's something like that we're really looking forward to as our son's going to continue into gened. Um and so I really feel like that is an area where we need to make sure that this is a good start because by putting this

178out there saying acknowledging this is where we're at. Um we need we know we have trust issues. We need to build that trust because if the system is working, our processes are in place and we're have appropriate procedures, then I think we won't have um such a high issue of the of trust lacking right around um >> you know families want need feeling like they need to have a parah for their kiddo. Um I do think that our paras are very essential and oftent times what I well I don't think we do it at all but um I have heard from families that they would like the paras to be a part of the IEP meeting they don't necessarily have to be a part of developing the goals but to give the feedback and it's

179something I think that we should explore and maybe be a little bit more open because oftentimes they have a lot of really great qualitative data um our para she we didn't even know this but she was like keeping a whole journal on our son and I was like I need to see what that says cuz it would be so helpful I think when we're trying to figure out well what was the anticedent for this behavior and all that kind of stuff right and um it's just amazing I think the work that our parents do and and um supporting them in feeling really really confident to do the good work that they're doing and to have um a voice in those very critical meetings I think is essential and so it's something I think that we

180really should take a look at um and find a way to incorporate because there oftent times families are building a lot of trust with the para educators and I think that's a great way for us to incorporate that very essential um member of the team you know into the conversations that go into building the individualized um education plans. So, I think that's something I would like us to maybe be thinking about um particularly as a lot of the things that you've brought up here um are relevant to those things. Um and yeah, I'm really excited to see what our action plan's going to be and where we go from here. Um but this is a great wonderful start. Appreciate the presentation. Thank you, Miss Moore. Uh, I would also like to thank you for the

181presentation. I think this is really valuable to have an outside party um, you know, evaluate our our special education program and um, you our process um, and and the way that we're implementing everything. So, I really appreciate this. Um on page 16 it said um it said the purpose is to develop a clear data-driven picture of current systems and practices and to produce research-based recommendations to strengthen outcomes for students receiving special education services. And I I'm really excited about this because I think it's really important to use um you know data to drive um our systems and our practices and then also to use researchbased um recommendations to to strengthen outcomes and to help our students. And so I'm really excited about that. Um, on page 17, I I'm excited about these study questions and

182really excited to um hear the results. Um, >> back to >> and I can't remember where you said it, but you talked about utilizing um >> I guess kind of already I mentioned, but using data to drive instructional practices. And again, I just think that that's really important. So, um, on page 24, um, I I thought it was interesting, uh, that you said that our district has low outcomes um, compared to neighbor, is it neighboring districts or comparable districts? >> So, that was a little concerning to me. Uh so I'm and I think another good reason that we're um you know involved in this study and this process to see what we can do better for our students. So I think um I think that's really important that we get to the bottom of um

183you know what what we can do better so um so we can improve outcomes for these students. And I appreciate the conversation on page 25 about um our PAR educators um the recruitment and the retention uh challenges. I that's something that I've um you know been vocal about that I'm concerned about. Um and and you know it seems like we can do better. Um so uh I think that's important that we can that we look at how we can support our par educators um and properly train them so that they can feel supported and feel prepared um to support our students. So I appreciate that. Um, and you know, that's in conclusion, I would just like to again say that I'm really excited um to hear the the final report and um just to see

184the plan and I think this is a very positive thing um that process that we are um engaging in. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Vargas. I appreciate the presentation. Um I think you know my first thought as I was uh sort of taking my notes is there's not a whole lot of surprises in here. >> Um usually isn't >> it's all things we've heard before. Um you know but it's nice to have them consolidated in one place. Um you know and and to have some you know what I anticipate will be a considerable amount of data backing them up. Um, and so I think, you know, one of the I appreciate one of the pieces that I really appreciate about this is that we're doing this in the first place. >> Um, you

185know, I think that it goes to show that we as a district, you know, I think any other district getting bombarded by all of the, you know, issues around special education. I mean, most of our neighboring districts don't even bother funding special education anymore, uh, much less trying to improve what they what little they have. And so, I think it says a lot about us that we are actively trying to improve what we're doing. Um, and that we're not afraid of what we might find um because we're going to find a lot of issues uh because we know we know that they're there and it's important to have them pulled to the surface and highlighted so that we can put, you know, put together a plan to fix them. Um, and so I appreciate that

186we're doing that. I appreciate that we're not afraid of that, of taking responsibility and being held accountable on it. Um, I think that that's incredibly important to what we do. Um, I also I think it's important to highlight and I I feel like I do this every time we talk about special education is to highlight this these enrollment numbers and the funding numbers. Um because it is you know educating a student uh you know who is in special needs uh or who has special needs is a 50% higher cost to us. Um and we have more of them than you know most districts do. Um we spend 22% of our budget on this. Uh and yet you know we are not getting what we are supposed to be getting. Um, you know, the federal government

187is supposed to be covering about 40% of our costs related to special education and last time I checked they were covering about 8% and that was on a good year. Um, I can only imagine what that looks like, you know, this year and next year. Um, and that if they covered if they actually covered 40% of our costs, that would cover the additional costs for to us. Um, we would be spending exactly the same for every student. uh if they actually covered that cost. The reason why it costs us so much more to educate a student with special needs is because we are not getting the funding we are supposed to get from the federal government right now. Um and that is a problem that is something I keep harping on. Um, and it's one

188of the reasons why I think it's incredibly important for us as board members and for us as a district to engage um, you know, with our representatives at the federal level about this issue because it is not okay. Um, we're legally they are legally required to give us this money and they don't. Um, and so it is incredibly important that we keep harping on this over and over and over again. We keep talking to our representatives about this over and over and over again. Um, because that's the only way we're going to get this money. Uh and so I want to keep bringing that to the surface because it's so important. Um and then you know getting talking about the findings um you know like I said they're not there were not surprises but what

189I hope that this will do is give us a sense of urgency on all of them. >> Um you know in particular I was looking at the MTSS the recommendations related to MTSS. Um, we've gotten presentations on MTSS. We've been doing MTSS pretty, you know, um, you know, pretty routinely, uh, since I got here. Um, we're now at, we're at least at the point of implementing everything that we're trying to do with MTSS. I know that we've had some staggered, uh, implementation, but at least the point where we're trying to implement everything. Um, and I think one of the things I talked about the last time we we had an MTSS pres presentation and what I want to reiterate now is that I think what I'm looking for now is a sense of urgency in

190that these things need to be implemented, right? I should be able to go to a school, walk into a classroom and see implementation, right? We know what that implementation is supposed to look like, what the instructional framework is supposed to look like. I should be able to go into any classroom and start to see those things. Um, and there are a lot of schools where I walk in and I'm like, I see that. I see that. Great. This is amazing. Right? But there's still a lot of schools where I don't where I walk into a classroom and I'm looking for those things. I'm looking for those indicators. Um, so sense of urgency is one thing I want to see around that. Um, I think the what I appreciate about the unified vision. Um, is that

191I see the pieces of that starting to fall into place, right? I see that we are committed to um you know the that students are general education first. Um I have heard that over and over and over again as we have transitioned uh our special education program since you know literally since I got here. Uh that was one of the first things we did uh on my first meeting uh you know was we started talking about how we're transitioning our special education program and this was the vision. Um and I I am glad that what we are seeing is those pieces starting to fall into place, right? We are actually talking about this, you know, grant bigger vision around, you know, how we educate students, how we educate every student, um you know, how we

192are ensuring that every student is a general education student and how every teacher um is taking some responsibility for every student um and is being trained so that they understand these things. um that is incredibly important to me and I and I want to continue to see that and I'm glad that we are starting to see that and I'm glad that this is being highlighted in this uh in this report because I think that will continue to push us forward. Um and then the last thing I will mention is I want to echo what my colleagues have said on uh on our par educators. I think um I think it's you know it's one of those things that again there's no surprise in this right we we've known that these are issues um we've known

193that we uh that we are struggling to hire this the pair of educators that we need to hire um we are struggling to uh you know fill the positions when we can't hire the people we need to hire um I think one of the you know just looking at the numbers that we've gotten um you know we are making progress right we have hired you um just 140 paras in the past year and I think that's a great place to start but we still only have about 60% of what we need right the other 40% we are is either vacant or we are filling it with agency pairs um and I think that this is again something where what I'm looking for is a sense of urgency and I'm seeing it but I want to

194keep pushing that forward right this needs to be something that continues to come up every time we have this conversation is how are are we filling these positions? How are we looking to fill these positions? And are we actually doing it in the time frame that we need to do it right? There needs to be a sense of urgency around, you know, filling these positions. Um because we can't be asking people to do the work of, you know, we can't be asking one pair to do the work of three or two or whatever the vacancy rate is on any particular campus. Um, and you know, I think that this is this is just something that I need to see more urgency around. Um, so other than that, I think, you know, I'll just end by

195reiterating what I said. These are no surprises. We've known that these things are issues. Um, and you know, what I'm looking for now is the plan and a sense of urgency in implementing it. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Z. I would just like to start off by saying thank you for the presentation. Um, as a student from Floren High School, I was at Floren High School, I believe that there is we have one of the largest enrollments of um um students with IEPs where they are involved with um different um tiered layer interventions. So from as a student of Floren, I was able to see how um these um practices were implemented. So is it's kind of um eye opening for me to see that there's disparities in how MTSS is being um

196implemented across the district where I feel that um well MTSS it's it doesn't it MTS is it sorry MTSS is very broad it's it doesn't just cover um students in the strategies department it also covers um our I believe our on-site counselors I believe for support >> which I have personally gone to seek support during finals. finals is a little stressful, but um so I think it's a it's a little bit alarming to see that some other sites aren't implementing it to the level where it needs to be implemented because I believe that it's very important. >> Otherwise, I have no other. >> Thank you, Miss Berini. >> And once again, the reason we have a student on the board because we need his voice. I'm so proud of him being able to speak up

197because we do we need his voice. Um, so one of the main things I noticed on here on page 27, build consistent onboarding systems and training. And I always like to point out a positive when I can. Um, last week I was here for another meeting. I think it was Thursday. Um, and I walked by the boardroom and there were all these people in here and I was like, "Oh, what are we doing?" I was so excited to see that we had a classified employees new hire orientation in person in the boardroom from everybody that was hire well everybody that was hired from last July is what I understand. The union representation was there. There was there were people from payroll, all the different departments to discuss with them. Thank goodness somebody left the packet

198by mistake because I was I was thrilled to look at it afterwards because I got there right when it was over and I was like, "Well, what did you cover?" It's amazing. Um when I was when I was actually president, we would meet with the new people coming in and discuss with them everything, talking about health benefits, talking about just everything you need, how to read your paycheck, all of these kinds of things. And then you know co hit and it stopped and I am thrilled that we are doing it again because they when people understand all of these things they are more bought in they're going to stick around. They're not going to run off when they realize oh my goodness look at I have vacation. They don't know all these things just coming

199in. They half of them don't even know there's a contract. They don't even know that they're part of any bargaining unit. All of those things. It's it's this is amazing. And I'm I'm gonna props out to HR, whoever from HR started this. Good job. There she is back there. And thank you to the the bargaining units for having people there. Um it's amazing. And that's what we need to to get more PAR educators is to educate them. That sounds funny to educate the para educators, but they need to understand that as um as as agency paras I always hear they make more money. So why would I want to be a school district? Well, because the district pays 27% of your salary towards your Kalpers's retirement and you're not going to get that from an

200agency. So things like that that will help them understand that it is important to be a part of a big system of Elkrove Unified School District and they can they also get our training because they are our employees not an agency. All of these things are important and um I'm just thrilled to see this here and yes, I agree with my co colleagues down there that you know there are some things to be worried about here. But again, I like to focus on a positive and I'm going to throw that one out there because we got to hold on to something. I I look forward to hearing what the overarching plan is going to be for how we're going to fix things, you know. Again, money like like Michael said is is is hard because

201we only have a certain amount and if 22% is already going towards special education, it it just makes things difficult. But um I'm not going to go over the same things that they did, but this is this is gold people. This is really it's awesome. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Ballerini. Mr. Yang. >> Yeah. Um thank you for the presentation as well. I uh yeah heard a lot of good things from my colleagues already and from my perspective um you know as as uh as I see we are putting um intentionality into the issue at hand. Um this is something that you know is uh is is a u group of students that you know um needs a lot of help and we deeply care for um because they are the

202most vulnerable students in our school district. um they're not they're not the most students in terms of number but um they need the most care for and the most attention and we do care and a lot of time the work that we done it it may not show to some of their parents um because it is pretty challenging at times. Um me and my wife do have two um uh special need kids as well. You know, one half uh came from um um special program to the general ed. So which is very positive in our um life and uh we are very thrilled on that regard and one's still going through that journey. and she's, you know, still pretty young and then we with the staff working really hard to make sure that she comes

203out of the program into general education as well. With that said, um you know, I like to keep it really simple and clear in my mind and hopefully it will be the same to um the folks here that are listening. So for me, you know, we are identifying the the issues, right? And we we want to put into plan right of action so that we could resolve the issues or issues and then you know um give the resolution to it and and that is three steps and you know I I try to keep it very simple. So that um those are really kind of the steps and the fact of the matter is that to get those things done uh we definitely need funding right and and then know the funding is really for manpower

204and other um areas in in that regard in terms of training that we heard about it we seen on this presentation um but to me I think we need to go that extra mile, go a little deeper, right? Deep dive it. You know, there's a lot of vacancies um on all areas in our school district, right? And to me um you know, I'm just really um very concerned that we have such a high turnovers. you know, retention is very difficult to achieve and uh and it it just it's a continuous um issue that we have and and continue to having and you folks um yeah identify here it it's not surprising to see and hear you um list them and I think that we we have to really um deep dive and say hey you

205Do we have the funding? And if we do have the funding, you know, instead of doing what we have done, maybe we need to change a little bit, right? Um to one, you know, um have higher, you know, applicants. Two, you know, making sure that they're well trained uh when they're hired. Three, make sure they don't want to go nowhere. here in El Gro Unified School District. And um typically those fall into a couple things, you know, u one is good working environment, right? Two is, you know, u the benefit has to be good, right? You know, and um I work at Kaiser as my day job and Kaiser, you know, they they done pretty good job in that regards and and so so most of their um employees, you know, stays with them. And

206I think that that kind of model we we have to establish here as a largest school district in Northern California, four largest school district in California. And we are budget over $1 billion. That's a lot of money, you know. And um but we do have a lot of um bills to pay. I get it. Right. But at the end of the day, I think we really have to deep dive and see what is real. And it was not real, right? You know, all those vacancy. So I would rather let's I'm going to give a quick example like if we need like uh 600 more position right maybe why don't we budget to like 300 but make sure that those new employees or the employees that we already have they going to want to stay right

207because they they are going to get better benefit here than somewhere else you versus we have 600 plus vacancy and if we hire you know whoever that comes in or we we let's just say we fill all of the vacancy positions but because of what we not providing those two areas in terms of you know benefits and you know good working environment they're going to leave anyway right so it's it's that process of continuously you know high turnover and and have to hire and so forth for so that leads to you know lack of manpower you know we saw that on here so I hear that all the time being here 5 years and it's something that we have to change our way of doing it right so I'd rather have like I said you

208know half of what we have vacant but then when we hire them on they going to stay right because a lot of our kids you know including my two kids you know they they have this um sense of uh comfortability, you know, when they get used to certain staff, certain pair educators, they kind of want to stay with them, you know, and um I personally dealt with, you know, many cases uh with other parents, other students that came to me and within my own experience with my kids and sometimes it's a lot of surprises, you know, and and really rock their world, right? and and the the difficult time that they have to adapt to, you know, new pair educators. It's very difficult, you know, and for folks that have kids, you know, we know

209how difficult that is, you know, and for someone who doesn't have it, you know, they may see from outside in, but you know, outside in never equal to the folks that are living in that world, you know, living dealing with that kind of issue, you know, on a daily basis, you know, your your day could change instantly, you know, like within seconds or minutes, right? you know, when when uh you know, tantrums being thrown at you right there, you know, rather it's at home right before the school bus is picking up your child or wherever it may be, you know, and and so those are real stuff that um a lot of us who have kids, you know, in that space understand it deeply, right? And so, so for me, I think that we we

210have to do better. Um and we are trying to do better and this um this initiative is is very positive you know I'm very thankful right and a lot of things that we have done already for this school district for our parents for our students you know is to me I'm very grateful for it but there's room for improvement and we are a very big school district and um you know with the new leadership from Mr. rally as a superintendent. You know, I know that he's um gonna going to do anything that he can to to empower us. And this is one of the one of that. Uh and I'm happy to see this. And again, you know, I want to see again real simple. Make sure that we um we identify our issue action

211plan and the resolution. Just make sure that we have that funding, the manpower and the procedure of you know that make sure it's effective. Right. So for me, you know, you could write, you know, gazillion things, but very keeping it plain and simple too, right? Because when you put in plain and simple, I think a lot of people could understand easier and could follow easier, you know, when you keep things too complex, you know, people get lost uh in the process. And I think that that will you know um instead of um being effective it it could be the reverse of that right. So just want to remind us that hey you know as we get into deep and very detail also keep it real simple you know issue action resolution right and and the

212intentionality that I heard from one of my peers is that the timeline we got to put the timeline in there right say okay let's put the time timeline there and if we don't meet that timeline then okay then we we record it to you know extend that but then we have those data say okay this timeline might not be enough. So we might change that. Right? So that intentionality of that is that hey we being real with our um our our timeline our process and we record it right so that's come back to that simplexity that is very transparent for people to understand it so that we could use the data and move forward and forward but I appreciate it. Uh good to see this stuff and uh I look forward to working with the

213team. Thank you very much. I appreciate you. Thank you, Miss Davis. >> Okay, I guess I get to go last. Um, and I'm a little over all over the place on this one. Um, what surprised me was hearing that 22% of our budget is sped and 80% of our budget is people, which puts us already over 100% budget-wise. So, we're really going to need to do some deep diving into budget to figure out where we can um pull extra monies. I I don't know where we're going to get that. Um the disparity of it being different at different schools didn't surprise me. Our schools do tend to act as islands rather than as a district. I I know we give them the autonomy to try to develop their own school cultures, but I think we

214need to be more on top of when they go off their onto their own path because it should be seamless. A student should be able to move from school to school to school. um the special ed program at each school should be the same so so that we don't have that disparity. So I think we do need to develop better oversight over that. Um special ed has been an amazing place in this district. I I had a son that was special ed. We moved to this district specifically 33 years ago to access the program and I know it can be amazing and I know the people who are working in it are amazing and we've just got to pull it all together. Um, see I know we need to I come with the view from

215the school site. Um, I know we need to support our gened teachers. They're overwhelmed by the amount of the students that are being placed in their classroom. I talk to them daily. They're they don't know what to do. They're just overwhelmed. They don't have the help. So, we do need to help them and give them training, give them guidance, do what we can do. Support at the sites is basically putting out the fires every day, >> right? >> Um it there's no room for growth if all you're doing is putting out fires. So we're housing a lot of these students in the office then with people who have no training which leads to my mantra that I'm always we need to be teaching our classified staff also on how to deal with these students. They

216come to us with special things that need to be done or things that we shouldn't be doing and we don't know because we're not included in that training. We're not included in the meetings. we're not privy to that information. So, we're kind of they're out there flying free. Um the fading in independence training for Paris, I think also we need to think about educating our parents also >> because the parents who want the one-on-one, >> that's our safe place for our kids is with the one-on-one. We're afraid to let them go, but I think we need to educate them on the benefits of letting them go and letting them be independent. And it's not going to happen with this just telling them right >> that we need to educate them on that piece. The Paris,

217we need to do something for our Paris. I I have sat there as a secretary and seen vacancy, vacancy, vacancy, vacancy. Jobs not picked up and everybody's scrambling to pull someone to cover someone else and someone's supposed to have a one-on-one, but today they've got three or four or we can't pull this one because their IP says we can't pull them. It it's there's no consistency and there's no guidance for the schools on how to handle the daytoday issues. Um, see, we do need to find a way to make the job more financially appealing, but like I said, we're over the 100% already of our budget. We've got to do a deep dive to figure out what we're going to do there. Um, but the one good thing out of this is is hearing that

218we are doing a lot of good things and I'm really looking forward to what our superintendent is going to do with this information and his vision for SPED has really made me excited for what we can do. Um, so I'm really looking forward to that and I thank you for the information. >> I I just want to add one more thing. Um, I appreciate you guys doing interviews and uh including the parents and I I want to be specific because I heard from parents um including my wife and myself. We we have seen different schools the way that they uh perform um within the PAR educator um special needs program. Some schools are doing better than other schools. So, so for us to deep dive it, um I think that we need to really ask

219those questions um especially for parents that uh had gone to different schools. >> Um to to let us know, right? And and so one is find out which you know school have done better job and why you know why, right? why one school is doing better than other so that we could deep dive and find out what our staff are doing better and the school that are ranked higher or doing better and then I think that will differentiate you know um you know the the the >> the support deficiency or the support that is positive so that we could use the school that has very good program to really use that and teach other uh school uh program and I think that that sounds very simple but I know that it takes a lot of

220effort into finding out those kind of information but I think that that's one that we must do right because we do have you know schools that provide very good uh service and um a lot of parents and are very happy and then they're because their kids are benefit from it right and then when they move to a different school they their experience is completely different >> right >> so so for me that is one out of the few that it's a must be done and I just want to mention that thank you >> thank you um had a lot of comments um I think um and we are all profoundly aware up here that um parents of student special ed kids are are special people and they have a lot on their plate and they

221entrust their students to us and and I I just you entrust your students to us and then you entrust your students that need more and we want to give that more to them. So I I just there's such a deep appreciation of that trust and and we need to build continue to build that trust. Um and I appreciate especially the people who have it directly had that happen and and have that experience here on the board. I think those are important important um insights they can share with us. Um MTSS can be general and done and set but every sped student is separate and and and we just can't ignore that. That's such a challenge >> because every person is so individual but really if we think about it every child in our classroom is

222individual. I have four kids and they are not the same people and and some of them need a little more and a little less and a little type different type of motivation and and so um accepting those those children as people and then moving on with what those people need is is such a a wonderful experience. And this has been, I imagine, a this is a very hard presentation to watch as an employee because I I have no doubt we are doing the very best we can at this point. And I can't appreciate enough the willingness to put ourselves out there to have somebody come in and tell us where we're failing. And then to accept this these comments, these critiques and make them public and bring them here is is makes me very proud

223of where we are and what we're willing to do and what our goals are and and I think as a board we appreciate that you're willing to do that work and willing to look at it in that critical way because that's we want to do our best and I know you want to do your best and this isn't an easy process. So, I I appreciate how you said it was cooperative and it's positive and I think sometimes when you're in it, it's very hard to see. It's always a third uh a third person looking in is very helpful and the value in that. So, I appreciate the work that your company has done with ours. I appreciate our acceptance of these things to look at them and re-evaluate what we're doing ourselves and and I

224just think it's very it's needed and and it's where we are. It's it's the expectation of this group. Um we've always said training adults to be better and I believe that will will build camaraderie as well and um I I hope this will give us focus. Um people have talked about urgency but even um a priority of focus is really going to be helpful as well because when things are overwhelming it you you I always tell my kids make a list what's the most important you know you start going down the list and as those things happen when we focused on reading our math scores went up because we focused on reading they could read their math problems and our math store scores went up as well. So this is a boat we're all in

225and and doing this work will raise it for everybody. It will raise it for GenEd students. It will raise it for sped students. It will raise it for everybody and taking the care of our employees and that will make us a better district as well as as it always does. We do that work well. So, thank you for the for the presentation. I'm excited this is happening. Thank you very much. Um, our next item, we have a public hearing action item, new agreements for nonrepresented employees. Miss Beckmaster Good evening, President Albiani, board members, Superintendent Riley. Thank you. My colleague always looking out for me. All right, we're here to do the new agreements for non-represented employees. So, California government code section 54953C3 requires that a verbal summary of the proposed compensation and French benefits be

226given to the public prior to board discussion and final board action on certain employment agreements. The employment agreements rep presented for board consideration are for the following positions. one chief labor relations officer, one executive director of human resources, and two executive directors of school supports. Approval of these four employment agreements require board action in open session. Each of the proposed employment agreements contain the following material terms. The term of the proposed employment agreements are as follows. For the executive director human resources, Amri Singh, the term shall be effective beginning April 8th, 2026 through and including June 30th, 2029. For the executive director of school supports, Corey Buckmaster, the term shall be effective beginning April 8th, 2026 through and including June 30th, 2029. for the executive director of school supports, Lindseay Lily. The term shall be

227effective beginning April 8th, 2026 through and including June 30th, 2029. And for the executive or excuse me, for the chief labor relations officer, Mark Vieira, the term shall be effective retroactive to February 9th, 2026 through and including June 30th, 2029. As described, the term of the proposed four employment agreement shall expire on June 30th, 2029, unless terminated on an earlier date by the parties or extended by the parties. The salary for these unrepresented employees shall align with the step increments and the salary schedules attached to their rep respective employee agreements as attachment A and any new board adopted applicable salary schedules including but not limited to subsequent salary schedules which may include implementation of contingency provisions as follows. The executive director of human resources, Amri Singh, shall be on step 13 of the executive director

228of human resources salary schedule and shall be paid an annual salary of $219,616. The executive director of school supports, Corey Buckmaster, shall be on step 11 of the executive director of school support salary schedule and shall be paid an annual salary of $215,393. The executive director of school supports, Lindseay Lily, shall be on step two of the executive director of school support salary schedule and shall be paid an annual salary of $173,4740. The chief labor relations officer, Mark Fierra, shall be on step 13 of the chief labor relations officer salary schedule and shall be paid an annual salary of $26,912. For the 2025 2026 school year, all four positions shall be afforded the same compensation contingency provisions as other certificated employees. Effective on July 1, 2027, consistent with the terms of each of the agreements,

229the four employees shall be eligible for step movement on their respective salary schedule if the specific employee is not on the top step of their salary schedule. All four employees shall receive the same district contribution towards health and welfare benefits and shall pay the same co-pays, premiums, deductibles, and other costs as the district certificated employees as those costs and contributions may change from time to time. All four employees may be entitled to retire retirey health benefits consistent with the Elkrove Benefits Employee Retirement Trust rules and regulations. All four employees shall receive $100 per month for travel within the district's boundaries. And this concludes the summary of the following cabinet employment agreements. Executive Director Human Resources Emmeri Singh. Executive Director of School Supports Corey Buckmaster. Executive Director of School Supports Lindseay Lily. Chief Labor Relations Officer

230Mark Vieira. Copies of the employment agreements will be available upon request. Okay. Thank you very much for that. And it says that I need to open the public hearing and ask if there are any blue cards related to the item. I'm asking myself. There are no blue cards on the item. So, we're good there. Um, does So, nobody has any comments to make. So, I'm going actually wait. So, open the public hearing. I've opened the public hearing. Anybody have anything to say? Okay. Then I'd like to close the public hearing and um call for a motion to approve the new employment agreements for the following non-represented employees. Number one, executive director human resources. Number two, executive director of school supports. Number three, executive director of school supports. And number four, chief labor relations officer. So

231moved. Second. >> Moved by Mr. Vargas, seconded by Mr. Yang, and um all those in favor? >> I >> Okay, motion is carried. Thank you. All right. Now, do you want me to read the next one? >> I'm here. >> You're here. Okay. Here we go. All right. Um, our action item, a recommendation for the name of the future elementary school in the south area, Elk Grove area. Dr. Coats. I had a little worse time. All right. Well, good evening again. I'm happy to be here on behalf of the school names committee bringing forward a couple recommendations for um the new school in the Arbor Ranch um uh South Elkrove area. talk briefly about process and um bring forward two recommendations. Um this is all rooted in our learning vision uh and our core values

232and um the purpose of the presentation is to bring forward these recommendations. Um the schools located at 8140 Spoonwood Avenue in El Grove. Here is a map you have seen before when we uh discussed schools committee. I back in the I don't know earlier this year. And so the red star in the um uh left uh left hand side is our branch elementary school by general area, not the name of it. And that's the school that we are talking about today. So we do have board policy that um governs how we name schools. Names for new schools shall be selected by the board of education from a list of not more than three uh submitted by a citizens advisory committee whose members will be selected by the board. So we have that committee we've been

233active um and I wanted to highlight in particular our administrative regulation 7511 that focuses on um just the elementary portion because that's the only thing we're talking about tonight. Elementary schools shall be named to reflect the cultural diversity of the district after persons or places prominent in the history of the area which is now the district or after persons who have made contributions to education in the district. When we first talked about this um a while back, we um the committee really thought through what the board had shared about process and and what the intent was. And so we went back um we reviewed the names um added some names and really focused on um if it was a person um someone who made a specific contribution in education to this district. So um just

234want to clarify we got good feedback and guidance from the board and we're able to take that back with the committee and think through um just some meeting dates for reference and um uh we did survey the committee. We have a lot of really wonderful names to think through and choose from as we continue to build schools um here in Elkrove. Um I I will plug this more than once tonight, but we do have a groundbreaking for this school tomorrow morning. I'll share more information about that at the end, but um it'd be really great to have a name for it tomorrow. Um uh just no pressure. So want to bring forward the first recommendation. Um, and I and I'll say this before I get there. Um, we were really challenged to um have have

235maybe two options. one that that represented a person who made a specific contribution and then one that really represented the cultural geographic area as there was um there's some split both on the committee and it seemed to be that way on the board as well on whether we go for for names of persons or we go for names of of geography and that was just those are just the facts. So here's the name the committee has um has moved forward. It's David W. Gordon. Some of you um may know him personally. David W. Gordon is the current superintendent um soon to be outgoing of Sacramento County Office of Education, which directly serves over 30,000 students and supports 13 districts, educating more than 235,000 students. He previously led Elgroveve Unified School District from 1995 to 2004

236during a period of major growth and also served as deputy state superintendent at the California Department of Education. A graduate graduate of Brandis uh University and Harvard University. He's held significant national and state leadership roles including appointments to the national assessment governing board and the president's commission on excellence in special education. His service on state commissions and local boards such as the Sierra Health Foundation and Sacramento First 5 reflects his longstanding commitment to education, public service, and community impact. That is consideration one. The second consideration is Poppy Ridge Elementary School. Um, and named after the state flower. The California Poppy became the state flower for good reason. Its vivid orange blooms often blanket the landscape each spring. Even as rural areas change, poppies still appear in unexpected places along roadsides, in vacant lots, and across

237open fields. Poppy Ridge Road connecting Bruceville Road to West Stockton Boulevard near Highway 99 takes its name from the early 1900s. Poppy Ridge Dairy owned by the Newman family. The dairy also has a link to Elkrove Schools. Harriet Eddie, namesake of Harriet Eddie Middle School, was the sister of Mrs. Newman. When Eddie arrived in 1908 to serve as principal of Elkrove Union High School, she lived with the New Newmans. Um, this is paraphrased from the writings of Elizabeth Pinkerton, who's been pretty instrumental as a guide on the school names committee. So, I'm going to let you noodle um for just a bit. Um, I'm hoping tonight that we can select a name. I can get a plug again that tomorrow we are going to um host a groundbreaking at 10:00 a.m. Um and then we'll

238start the typical steps. We'll um select we'll work with our schools and select site administration and the very exciting selection of a mascot. Um and then as we um have new schools that come online, the new schools we did a lot of input. We have a lot of great suggestions. We'll start with the existing names that we have um that came from the community and the school names committee. Hopefully that was enough think time because I'm going to ask staff to um I'm asking the board to consider uh naming Arbor Ranch one of the two names, either David W. Gordon Elementary School or Poppy Ridge Elementary School. >> All right. Um, we'll go ahead and take comments or um, go ahead and go down the list here. Um, Miss Moore, you have any comments, questions?

239>> Uh, I appreciate the work that this the the school naming committee does. I am very appreciative of their time and research and input. Uh, looking at the two names, I I'm drawn more toward Poppy Ridge Elementary School. I like how it aligns with the, you know, the geographical location and um and also the, you know, the connection to the Poppy Ridge Dairy, um, which has a connection to our district. Uh, I'm personally more drawn to names that, um, help the community kind of, um, you know, feel more connected to the name of their school. And I feel that this name um seems to be more of that, you know, um fulfill that purpose. Um I would I would also like to hear though what Miss Ballerini has to say um as I believe this

240is her area. So that that's all I have to say. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Vargas. >> Uh I'm generally in agreement with my colleague. Um, I think my preference would be for Poppy Ridge, um, for some of the same reasons. Um, I also think I'm I tend to lean away from, uh, naming schools after individuals just because like we we know so much about their history, but there are still things we just don't know. Um, and we've seen even as recently as the past few months where things come up and suddenly things need to get changed and we don't want to be in those uncomfortable situations. That being said, this was the one name when I saw it come across uh in one of our um in one of our board communications where I

241said, "Okay, that one." Yeah. like I could I if my colleagues want to name this school after David Gordon, I am I would be 100% fine with that. Um so I will say my preference would be Poppy Ridge. Uh I think I I do want to echo what my colleague Miss Moore said. I think a name like that and something that is relatively neutral gives the community an opportunity to build around it to build something new and something different. they're not really attached to a legacy or something else. It gives them the the ability to build their own universe around it. Um, and I kind of I kind of like that idea. Um, so, uh, that is my preference. Um, if my colleagues would like to go a different direction, I am happy to provide

242one more vote to a unanimous vote for, uh, you know, for David Gordon Elementary as well. So, >> thank you, Mr. Z. I'm also well first I have to say thank you to the committee for putting in so much detail into researching the background where the school is being built but I also like to say that um I'm drawn more towards Poppy Ridge for the reasons that um Mr. Vargas and Miss Moore have said, but also I I tend to gravitate more towards names where it's more specifically more I guess closer to the community versus a bigger more broad name where um also Poppy Ridge has connections like rooted historically within it which I think is really cool. But overall, I think I'm just more gravitated I'm gravit more I'm more drawn to Poppy Ridge,

243but I also would understand um why we would want to name it after David Gordon. >> Thank you, Miss Ballerini. >> Okay, as Miss Moore said, it it is my area, area 6, so I've been thinking a lot about it, driving by, not daily, but a lot. Um, and I actually happened to be working here um, when Mr. Gordon was our superintendent. And as previously noted, he was our superintendent for quite a number of years, and he is going to be retiring next year. He has actually worked in education for over 57 years. 57. Some of you here aren't even that old. So there, some of us are, but some of us, some of you aren't. Um he basically began his career as an elementary school teacher in 1968 in the South Bronx, New York.

244Then he worked for 17 years in the California Department of Education. After that, he served as the assistant superintendent of elementary education here in Elgroveve from 1991 to 1995. Then from 95 to 2004, he was our superintendent. Um since leaving Elgrove School District, he has continued to serve on numerous boards and commissions, as was previously said. Um, when I think of someone who has put their heart and soul into education, I think of Mr. David W. Gordon. I can't think of anyone that deserves this honor more than he does for the contributions he has made to the education in this district. I personally feel that Mr. Gordon would be the perfect person for this specific school. something that wasn't here, but when I I've spoken to him when we've gone to events at Skoey is

245actually two of his granddaughters graduated from Franklin High, which is in that area as well. Um, and one of the reasons Poppy Ridge is not my choice is because there's actually a school on Poppy Ridge. Miwok Elementary is Poppy Ridge and Lassuda. And I think what you're gonna have if you name this Poppy Ridge, you people are going to be so confused um as to whether it's on Poppy Ridge or named Poppy Ridge. And it's it's already crazy enough with David Reese and David Reese. So, I just I just really think that Mr. Gordon um deserves a school named after him after his contributions in our district as well as the state of California. And I'm hoping that that's what my additional board members will agree with as well. Mr. Yang, thank you. >> From

246the reason that Jennifer has stated, I second to name this elementary David W. Gordon. Thank you. >> All right, Miss Davis. Well, when I go back and look at the regulations of the school naming for elementary schools that you pulled up, it said that elementary schools should be named to reflect the cultural diversity of the district after persons or places prominent in history of the area which is now the district or after people who made contributions. Poppies are all over California. They don't necessarily reflect our district or our diversity. um having been a person who came to work for the district under David Gordon, um he steered us through a lot of tough times and I have a lot of respect for him. Um the amount of years he's put in has been amazing also

247and I I would support the David Gordon. >> Thank you, Miss Bowen. >> Uh the arguments for David Gordon um definitely are very compelling. Um, I have had the privilege to meet Mr. Gordon. Um, and he definitely is, um, someone who has done a lot in this community, for the state of California, and education in general. Um, I do gravitate to Poppy Ridge. um not for the reasons that I think we have um have here in the presentation mainly because um the California poppy yes it's our state flower but the poppy what it means to indigenous communities is it's medicine it has a much bigger um representation of what the indigenous peoples of California this particular area um represents and I do believe that it would be very fitting to see more of our schools

248represent um a part of that history so that it would encourage more of that um understanding and learning about our community right here and the indigenous peoples and the indigenous um landscapes and the poppy. Um, and so I do like Poppy Ridge Elementary School. Uh, but I am compelled um to support the name of uh naming be David W. Gordon Elementary School. Um, perhaps we might be able to consider the California Poppy as the mascot for the school. >> Thank you. Um, I appreciate the education I just received. always learning and um I would be hopeful we can leave Poppy Ridge as um a name on the list. We've talked about leaving the names on the list and as the fact it is a California flower, I don't think it's specific to this school and

249so it still can be on the list and um and for more than the reason that it's just such a cool flower, it really has these other meanings I just learned. So, thank you. Um I Dave Gordon has done a ton for education. And Dave Gordon has is just an amazing person and man and and I the things he did for this district um happens to be when my mother-in-law was on this district and um how he took our first bonds to New York to finance here and um just made some really transformative change. Started the cafeteria so we fed our own kids and we quit bringing in food from all these other places. um just some really cool stuff and I I feel very um strongly I agree with um naming it the David

250W. Gordon Elementary School. Um so thank you for everybody's input. Um I feel as um this is Miss um Ballerini's um area. Would you like to make a motion, Miss Valerie? >> I would love to make a motion. Um, I'd like to make a motion to name the new elementary school in the Arbor Ranch community of Elk Grove David W. Gordon Elementary School. >> Second that. >> Okay. Moved by Miss Ball and seconded by Mr. Yang. Um, do we feel the need for a roll call? Okay. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? >> No. It's unanimous. Thank you very much. >> Yay. Thank you. >> Um, are there any board member or superintendent reports? >> Yes. All right. Let's start with Miss Ballerin. Anybody else? Okay. Um, we're supposed to talk about things we've

251been to, etc. And I wanted to let um all of you know here that um CSBA had a legislative action week um the week of March 17th and um three of us uh were on the calls to uh Assembly Member Stephanie W, uh Senator Angie Lee Ashby, and Assemblyman Josh Hoover. Um, and when we were on those call, we had to go, we had a training first to know what we're supposed to say, um, as far as what what CSBA would like us to support, which are all things we would support here. Um, one of them was to protect the Proposition 98 guarantee uh to fully fund the COLA and to protect the LEA solveny with um to address the impacts of AB28 from 2019. Um, as well as there are uh there's a four

252bill package that CSBA is putting forward. Um, Assembly Bill 2225, it's a state plan to close the achievement gaps. Assembly Bill 2514, State of the Achievement Gap Dashboard, Assembly Bill 2149, Annual Report on the State's Progress Closing Achievement Gaps, and Assembly Bill 2202 to establish a state board of education advisory commission on closing achievement gaps. Um and um also to talk about AB 2008 limitations on reporting requirements and AB 2490 um the 60-day substitute bill that that's being put forward. Um we all got to have um our say and talking to them and um people are telling us we need to go and find the money and do the things and so we have so um that was Mrs. Albiani, Mrs. Moore and myself were on this and the truth is we could only have

253three of us on there because it would have been a Brown Act valilation if more of us had been on. So in I'm not disparaging anyone else for not being on there. What I'm saying is we we had three and it was it was wonderful to have and all those of you out there may want to look at those and see um see what they're about so that you know when they're coming up. Um the other thing is um Mrs. Davis and I were on our first PI meeting that um we've had and how long Mr. Riley, since we've had a PI meeting >> since co >> it it's been a while. I know >> it's been a while and and um we looked at um what we're what we want to do with the

254PI group, what's coming forward, all the things, all the excitement that was there. And those of us that are OGs, yes, Maggie, I'm talking about you and Susan and I were there when we formed the PI group. And it felt really good to be looking at at that again as a group of representatives from all of the bargaining units. It's called PI PI, partners in education. Um, and it it felt really good to have that coming back again. And so there we go. I think that's it. >> Okay. I think Oh, sorry, Mr. Riley. Is you're good? >> Oh, no. I was just going to share there's no pie served at the pi me so don't >> and you don't only meet on pi day. >> All right, sounds great. I'm going to adjourn this

255meeting at 10:09 p.m. Have a good night.