001good evening I'd like to call this meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. and announce that the board will meet in close session to address items one and two Mr superintendent do we have any blue cards on these items do not thank you then I will close the public comment and recess into close session thank you e e e all right good evening and welcome everyone I'd like to call this meeting back to order at 6:01 p.m. there we go all right good evening and welcome to the elk unified school districts board meeting live streaming of full in-person board meetings will be available to the public via the zoom platform today's meeting is being video recorded and will be available on the district's YouTube channel we encourage you to attend the meetings and share your feedback
002with the board your active participation is valued and contributes to the decision-making process some information on public comments uh during regular board meetings the public may make public comments on items on the board agenda and 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 3 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
003may be watching you 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 will be grounds for the board president to provide a warning and then to terminate the individual's privilege of addressing the board all right next up our land acknowledgement Miss chin we acknowledge that the Elkgrove Unified School District Administrative facilities in 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 lands since time immemorial they continue to teach their traditional knowledge that comes from in response
004to 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 in these lands may we strive to acknowledge the past for the betterment of our future Generations may we look to our traval partners the Wilton Rancheria the descendants of the original people of this land to assist with the successful education of our community thank you very much all right now for our Pledge of Allegiance uh let's see where is so I have Miss Rona Wilkins well welcome and before you get before you get started leading us we do have some words for you uh montere Trail High School is honored to recognize Miss Rona Wilkins as an outstanding education partner Miss Wilkins is
005the proud mom of yir a 12th grade student at Montery Trail High School who has been not only an amazing student but also a talented marching band and jazz band member while upholding our core values every day on the trail over the years Miss Wilkins has been instrumental in nurturing not only her son's love of Music on the trail but has nurtured the growth of hundreds of our students as well she has volunteered her time at football games marching band competitions concerts and fundraisers not only does she serve in this role but also has spent time on our campus helping to recognize other students by handing out our Mustang gold tickets to those showing respect Integrity confidence and Community she knows the importance of mentoring students and parents to help elevate voices and we truly
006appreciate the effort and time she has spent working with Administration and staff by bringing parent voices as an advocate for all and meeting us at the table for productive conversations to always keep our school moving forward positively while addressing needs the needs of our amazing Mustang students and families we love that she keeps students at the center and has such a positive part is such a positive participant in our school and District Miss Wilkins Monteray Trail High School and the elro Unified School District thank you for your dedication to our students and all of the Mustang Community [Applause] awesome and now anybody who would like to join us please stand take it away please join me as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
007and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you go piure right [Applause] all right next up we have our student Regional report El Grove region take it away [Music] he [Music] at [Music] [Laughter] just good and look watch you wait till everybody comes in okay wait good evening board president Mr Vargas members of the board superintendent Hoffman and miss aalos my name is kly Dyer and I'm the student body president at fiker elementary I'm very excited to be here to introduce the elker region where we will be talking about our school's past present and future at fiker we started the school year welcoming our wonderful new principal Mrs Brink we love having her lead our school we've had a ton of fun events
008already this year we we've had our first ever flag football team and they had an awesome first season they won so many games and we're very proud of them in October we had our famous Fall Festival it was so fun to see all the students and families play games and survive our haunted house Pon Bingo night Pon Bingo night and our Avid family night were so much fun there are so many things that fer that we do all the time we have our kftv news team our monthly Spirit rallies and every week we have where are you going Wednesday which is where we wear career or college shirts student leadership meets each week and we do everything from selling boo grams to making posters for all of our events we also help with our dragon
009scale store our PBIS dragon scale store where students earn dragon scales to win prizes now I'm going to pass it off to Kenzie benani hi I'm Kenzie benatti one of the student council Spirit coordinators at f you may be wondering who who this is this is Spike our school mascot who comes to many of our school events moving on we just finished our basketball season where our team went undefeated in our league and on Friday we had a friendship dance and it was a blast today we had our first day of volleyball tryouts and it should be a great season we are looking forward to our annual ice cream social in April track and running foret open house and our fun end of the year barbecue and field day although it would be very sad
010to leave fer we are very excited for our promotion in may now I'd like to welcome elra of Elementary thank [Music] [Applause] you good evening we are sixth grade leadership students from elkov elementary here to update you on all the great things happening at elov elementary my name is cor Duncan hello my name is Amaya jet good evening my name is Kellen Scruggs my name is Shannon Denning and I'm Arman Gil there are so many things we love about elro elementary our student leadership team is hard at work promoting school spirit with our spirit days making monthly videos for our students to keep them updated with school news and for their entertainment creating posters and acknowledging the many cultures on campus helping at our family activities assisting our principal at assemblies and overall being good
011role models for our students the leadership team is also responsible for our new Eagle mascot we recently ran a contest where all the students and families that had the opportunity to vote for our eagle's name will it be Regal the eagle elky or general eagleson spoiler alert it's General eagleson elkov Elementary School sports team have done an awesome job so far our flag football team and girls and boys basketball teams played great and did well display sportsmanship and respect volleyball trouts are here and we look forward to watching the team at their matches we know that they're going to have fun and learn a lot about volleyball alov Elementary has a huge running for R team with over 60 students participating thank you Mr Smith for organizing and coaching our running forette Team all our
012grade levels have been busy with field trips kindergarten attends the pumpkin patch year our first graders go to the egusd food and nutrition facility second grade enjoyed the wow Museum third graders has a great time visiting the road Schoolhouse fourth gr got to go to the state capital N Native American Museum fifth gr got to go visit the State Assembly and went to the the California history museum to participate in the time of remembrance program and who can forget our incredible week at Sly Park for sixth graders we are always trying to improve our schoolwide PBIS program where students learn the schoolwide expectations of be safe be respectful and be responsible this year we have our new saurin store which is a student store where students can purchase items using Eagle tickets they have earned
013students earn Eagle tickets by following all three schoolwide expectations in all areas of our school we have also enjoyed our monthly and PB assemblies where students are recognized for displaying the monthly character trait and several classes have the opportunity to earn a golden award classes that earn golden awards for following the three schoolwide expectations either earn an extra recess an extra PE time or an extra trip to the computer lab we have our amazing PTA to thank for all the amazing activities they provide for us our Harvest Festival had almost 1,400 people in attendance we we also have our glow-in-the-dark art show coming up where every student has art to display and finally our largest fundraiser the jagathon is coming up in April we also we also have some other fun things going on at
014okro Elementary this year each student has a chance to join the Beam Team the be excited about math team each grade level has certain math requirements that a student needs to meet to be on the beam team once a student meets that grade level requirement they get a purple piece of paper that represents a piece of the purple beam growing in our multi-purpose purpose room the beam has almost reached the ceiling can't you tell our principal is a king's fan our annual March Madness rock paper scissors contest is almost underway each year every class and staff member participate in a March Madness brasket bracket style rock paper scissors contest the brackets help pick one student per grade level and about 10 staff members to compete in a schoolwide rally to determine the overall rock paper
015scissors Champion for the school year there is one Grant there is one overall St student winner and one overall staff member that compete for the grand prize of champion it's a fun and spirited rally that everybody loves EG is a great place to be in the words of our principal work hard be kind Eagles put your wings up in sore thank you and please welcome marof our [Applause] elementary good evening members of the board and super attendent Hoffman thank you for inviting markof our elementary here tonight to share all the exciting events and activities we are enjoying at our site I am Nicole Leon sixth grader president of our student council and member of the Spirit Squad and I am Harper Higgins sixth grader vice president of the student council and member of the basketball
016team we have had so many fun activities this year such as Walk and Roll to school and fall festival one unique opportunity we had as part of the elro region was to have our entire School line elg gr floor and road to watch the elgrove high homecoming parade our very own Mustang cheer squad was even invited to march in the parade at markofer the students have many activities available to them to help grow and give back to our school we have a student council in our mm news crew produces a news program that showcases our exciting events we even have our very own cheer squad which you will have the opportunity to see an action tonight other gate programs include gate classes running for r and girls and boys basketball our school greatly benefits from
017our very dedicated PTO which host many events during the school year our PTO has hosted too many events to list but just recently they held a VIP dance where students and their parents were invited to an 80s dance our PTO gives back to our school by hosting many free events like Mustang Madness and Coco and cookies with Santa our PTO also holds a Mustang store once a month where students can buy incentives with our Mustang cast that we earn for displaying our PBIS traits of kindness safety and responsibility thank you for inviting us to present all we love about markofer please come visit our remarkable school now you'll hear from the students of James [Applause] mcke good evening board President Michael Vargas member of the board superintendent Hoffman and Mrs aalos I'm Eli Turner and
018I am an nhhs member and I'm Trinity gangar a student council member and the mcke Media Group we would like to share some highlights of the James mcke Elementary School for the 2024 through 2025 school year our students participated in many worthwhile events that have happened thus far including Community out Outreach reach events such as our family picnic leather bees fundraiser and Harvest Festival we have had some fun student-based events this year including our third annual snowflake ball and Valentine's dance our winter sing as well inducting new members into our student council and nhhs there have been some fun activities on campus as well as the three screen social emotional assembly Ruby Bridge's Unity walk and a new songs music assembly this year we have made an effort to keep all students and teachers in
019the Lo Loop through our pause assembl is now led by our student council and our bimonthly media broadcast we have also had the pleasure of having aist time young Rembrandts and new songs coming on campus to provide fun enrichment for the whole school we had Megan Ray is the author of the brand new llama Quest series visit our Primary students we had our Scholastics book fair and for the first time fundraising readathon we near we raised nearly $6,000 this Friday we will have our reads across mck day our students have been involved in so many after school activities including art classes choir and drum lessons Good News Club gate Club running for R band and coming soon we have Minecraft Club comic book club and track our new computer resource teacher Mrs barstead has made
020a positively impact on this year's students for the month of January our school earned eighth place for the State of California on Prodigy our current standing is third place we are hoping to earn at least $10,000 for our school some f Fantastic Field Trips this year included Coloma and Setter Fort IMAX theater fog Willow the public library elro unified food and nutrition services California Museum and many more fifth and sixth graders later this year will attend their overnight field trip at the Marin Headlands our open house will H be held in tandem with our annual art show next week then the next day our parents will join us on campus to celebrate with their students at our trimester 2 assembly the other upcoming events include our parent appreciation breakfast talent show pasta fundraiser Royal dance
021club assembly and sixth grade versus staff tennis racket baseball game so in all of this has been a great year for the James M Bears pause [Applause] up I would now like to introduce the speakers for Joseph Kerr Middle School [Applause] first good evening families board members and superintendent Hoffman I'm Jacob and I'm Eli the 2024 to 2025 school year has been full of fun action and learning here at Joseph ker Middle School to kick off the year we had our PBIS kickoff event which was highlighted by our chocolate up Art Gallery competition we then moved into to our glow-in-the-dark dance and our fundraiser which got us enough money to purchase our new electronic Amar qu if you haven't seen it you should come by and check it out in October we had our fall
022festival now called the rocktober celebrated Red Ribbon wink and raised a huge amount of canned food in arcan food drive we were especially motivated this year because when we hit our goal our principal Mr Munos had to wear tutu fairy wings and carry around a wand all day it was great and as we continued the fun into the winter we had our first rally of the year which was a ton of fun followed by our kns in the city dance we have a lot more exciting things planned as the year goes on and there's a lot more to Cur than just our activities in addition to all of the great activities on campus we also had a big year in sports our cross country team had a fantastic showing of The elve Middle School championships
023with seventh grade boys seventh grade girls and eighth grade girls winning Championship band in addition our wrestling team secured the district championship and 12 of our students qualified for the Tournament of Champions finally in basketball our eighth grade girls finished second place in a great season and shoot inor eth grade boys basketball team had a historic run going undefeated and winning the championship this is the second year in a row the boys have won the championship making this the first time in 25 years that Kerr has gone back to back very nice last but certainly not least our amazing Kerr band has had quite the exciting year in the beginning of the year both Jazz and concert bands are in first place at the Franklin High School Band review in addition the band has already
024had eight eight public performances today with several more scheduled this year and while we still have many more exciting events to come we did want to share a schoolwide goal that we were excited to achieve finally we are proud to share that for the first time our school achieved gold status for our PBIS programs and implementation at Kerr and of course now that we're getting closer to to the end of the year we are really looking forward to our e8th grade dance 8th grade field trip and of course promotion we had a great year so far at Joseph Kerr middle school and we are looking forward to continuing ourselves with the Thundering Herd with that being said we'd like to turn it over to our friends at elroi it'll be great [Applause] good evening board
025President Michael Vargas and members of the board it's a pleasure to meet you all I'm JJ Lara the senior class president and I am Brady Clark the ASB vice president sorry and then this is Elway our amazing mascot you probably all know her and we are probably representing elro high school we have prepared an exciting presentation you presentation for all of you this evening we're excited to share what's ahead for the rest rest of the year at alrov high school but first we'd like to highlight some of the amazing moments from our first semester we kicked off the 2024 2025 school year with our annual no backpack days where students participated in activities focused on our core values honor effort respect and determination a big highlight a big highlight of our first semester was fall
026homecoming our school spirit was on full display with a parade featuring floats that each class worked hard to build over two weeks however not to be biased but the senior class float was a standout marking one of the best homecoming celebration in recent years not to mention fiker and elro Elementary particip for the first time this year too the week ended with an unforgettable dance where students enjoyed a night of music and fun our Athletics program has also had a strong year so far our varsity girls cross country team won a league championship for the first time since 199 since the 1990s wrestling also had Stand Out performances with several wrestlers competing at the state tournament this past weekend Beyond Sports elro students have excelled academically our FFA program had an outstanding semester competing at
027the national competition in Indianapolis our marketing plan team won first place and two of our Agro science teams placed in the top 10 nationally their dedication and hard work continue to make us proud as we returned from winter break we jumped right into another exciting semester we recently hosted a successful second food fair where clubs had the opportunity to fundraise and showcase a variety of foods many clubs sold out within minutes just showing how engaged and supportive our student body is February has been packed with the events including the rical madness dance team's annual mainstage performance performance the TDA Academy's black and white ball and our annual prom Expo that brings the community and small businesses together one of our most highly anticipated events is coming up our Multicultural assembly this event is a powerful
028way for students to share their cultural backgrounds through performances fashion and storytelling it's an opportunity for the entire school to come together in celebration of diversity it's also going to be an opportunity for the community to come together with the rehearsal taking place that night that anybody can go to the day before the assembly this school year has already been incredible and we're excited to finish strong it has been an honor to present to you tonight and represent our amazing region next we would like to introduce the markofer cheerleaders and okra cheerleaders for a special performance followed by okro Band [Applause] the Mustang the mighty mighty Mustang stand up and for the mighty mighty the the mighty mighty stand up the mightyy the the mightyy stand andyy [Applause] la [Applause] l a b r w
029[Applause] H good job [Applause] J awesome [Applause] thank you elk grve regen and as they're filing out I want to recognize our principls uh Mr Rudy Ortega El grov High [Applause] School Aaron Munoz uh Joseph Kerr Middle School Jill Jones Elkgrove Elementary School Katherine Brink Ellen fiker Elementary School Dorothy stelan Florence marhoffer Elementary School and Drina Freeman James mcke Elementary School excellent thank you everyone all right looks like we are ready to transition over to our resolutions for the day first up is National nutrition month Miss Drake good afternoon board president margus members of the board uh superintendent Hoffman Miss aalos and the community I'm here this evening to ask or recommend that uh the month of March be designated as National nutrition month sponsored annually by The Academy of nutrition and dietetics and food
030and nutrition services the campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits this year's theme food connects us focuses on the connections that food has for many people food often connects us to our cultures our families and our friends sharing a meal is an opportunity to learn about its preparation who made it and where your food comes from um the foods that we eat also affect our health by taking a closer look at food choices lifelong healthy habits can be established and maintained developing healthful eating habits does not mean undertaking drastic lifestyle changes and the meals provided by elk Gro unified food and nutrition services helps students and families meet their nutritional needs every day with that I ask the Board of Education to adopt
031resolution 65 designating the month of March as National nutrition month thank you very much uh Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on this item board president there's no blue card on this item thank you uh then I will now entertain a motion to adopt resolution number 65 designating the mar the month of March as National nutrition month so moved by Mr Yang seconded by miss ballerini all those in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much and oh you're sticking around for I'm up again school lunch hero day I am so um we are asking that the school board recognize school lunch hero Day celebrated annually um since 2013 um designated by the school nutrition Association and Jared kosasa um the author of the lunch lady graphic
032novel series between preparing healthy meals adhering to strict nutrition standards navigating specialized student needs and offering service with a smile Elkgrove Unified School District's nutrition professionals have a lot on their plate the elro food and nutrition services professionals are on the front lines providing meals to meal service to children in our communities and our school Food Service professionals continue to work extremely hard operate with flexibility and distri dis demonstrate a willingness to gracefully adapt to change their dedication to the children in Elk grve unified is amazing and worthy of sincere recognition we ask that uh we will honor our employees and their teams on May 2nd of 2025 and we asked the board to adopt resolution 66 designating May 2nd 2025 as school lunch hero day thank you very much Mr Yang are there any
033blue cards on this item board president there's no blue card this item thank you then I will entertain a motion to adopt resolution number 66 designating May 2nd 2025 as school lunch hero day so moved moved by Miss ballerini second seconded by miss albiani all those in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much next up is public schools month Dr Collier good evening president of Vargas superintendent Hoffman members of the board Miss aalos colleagues staff and members of the public I'm bringing forth the Board of Education request to adopt resolution number 68 designated April 2025 as public schools month in the El Grove unified school district during the 1920s the free and accepted masons of California initiated the annual recognition of the role that public schools play in
034our communities since then the state of California has designated April as public schools month during this time we acknowledge the contributions our schools play in ensuring the safety and well-being of our students the purpose of the public schools month is to encourage communities to set aside time to honor our public schools and to enlist the community's continued support for public education community members are invited to personally recognize the dedication and commitment of the staff at their neighborhood schools uh we request the board ofation board of educ to adopt resolution number 68 designating April 2025 as public schools month in El Grove UniFi School District thank you very much Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on this item board president there's no blue card on this item thank you then I will entertain a
035motion to adopt resolution number 68 designating April 2025 as public schools month in the Elkgrove Unified School District so moved uh moved by Miss Balwin second seconded by Mr Yang all those in favor please say I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much all right next up is transgender day of visibility Lara Feliciano [Music] CJ sorry for the switch up there wor my name is Cory Jones I'm the director of the equity Department here um good evening uh board president VAR board members superintendent uh Hoffman and Miss aalos um the board of education is requested to adopt resolution number 67 20242 recognizing March 31st 2025 as transgender day of visibility each year on March 31st the world observes transgender day of visibility to raise awareness about transgender people it is a day to
036celebrate the lives and contributions of transgender people while also drawing attention to the poverty discrimination and violence the community faces International transgender day of visibility was created in 2009 by trans Advocate Rachel Crandle Crocker transgender day of visibility was created in response to the overwhelming majority of media stories about transgender people being focused on violence this day provides an opportunity to focus on celebrating the lives of transgender people empowering them to live authentically while still acknowledging that due to discrimination not every transperson can or wants to be visible elg grve Unified School District is a district whose goal is to help all students be college career and life ready knowing that mental health and physical safety are key components of success given the state level support of this day it would follow that the district
037would also support a day to highlight marginalized voices and fulfillment of its District goals thank you very much Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on this item Bo President we have a few blue cards on this item good okay good evening first up is Tammy James followed by Katherine y Miller [Music] good evening my name is Tammy James I'm a physician I'm also a mother to three children who are here in the elro Unified School District I am speaking in support of adopting the transgender day of visibility as a doctor I see many children who identify as transgendered who are struggling with their mental health studies repeatedly show that transgendered youth have higher rates of depression suicide physical assault and sexual assault compared to the non-transgender peers and I feel like now is
038a really important time to act we have been seeing headlines with recent political targeting of lgbtq Youth and these negative headlines are further risking our young people's health and safety the suicide crisis hotline reported an almost 50% increase in calls in the days following the recent inauguration and no matter your political or personal beliefs one thing is clear our young people's lives are at risk and we must take action to support our lgbtq youth Suicide Prevention should be utmost importance we should want to create a safe space for all of our children to learn and Thrive and a simple but I think really powerful way to show all of our support for our children but especially our trans children to show them their valued and loved is to come together and adopt the transgendered day
039of visibility this is a chance that we can recognize and celebrate what is unique and special about all of our youth here in El Grove recognizing these day could actually help save lives reduce stigma and be a positive example for other communities to rise up and support all of our youth and the families who love them thank you so much for your time thank you to the podium Katherine we Miller followed by amenda Scott good evening my name is Katherine I'm a senior at Pleasant Grove High School and I'm here tonight to speak in support of the trans day of visibility I have multiple friends who are transgender and gender fluid or questioning we have grown up hearing the cliche be true to yourself the trans day of visibility is the community's way to prove
040that we truly mean it just on Monday one of my trans friends told me on the verge of tears that he was exhausted at having to constantly fight against negativity and explain himself to the community no one should have to fight again have to fight so hard to be themselves transl of visibility would help to alleviate the pressure on trans students to fight for their place in society especially in you of recent political comments it is crucial that we shoulder some of the weight for them and recognize the bravery and strength that takes for them to simply be true to themselves it is essential that as a community we demonstrate to trans students that they are not fighting alone the community must prove that when we are told be true to yourself it isn't a
041lie thank you thank [Applause] you thanks amenda Scot followed by curve Thompson good evening um I'm here as a community member and a mother of students in this District to speak in support of the resolution for transgender day of of visibility I am proud to live in a city and have children that attend schools that care deeply for all members of its Community we must continue to S by our transgender non-binary and gender non-conforming students despite the hateful rhetoric we often hear in this room whenever something is on the agenda about humanizing people that they are attempting to erase I want every child who hears these horrific statements to know that for every one of them there will be dozens more of us showing up to support and love them thank you thank you Thompson
042all by Courtney hi I'm also a parent of children in the school district as well at the June 26 2024 board meeting I told you all about two studies one by the male clinic which show puberty blockers leaded testicular atrophy and sterilization in boys and another out of the Netherlands that showed most kids grow out of their gender confusion by age 25 that study also backed up a finding of a study done 20 years earlier which found 88% of gender disorder kids turn out to just be gay for those of you not on the board last year I emailed you two more studies one by the National Institutes of Health which shows gender affirming surgeries lead to a 12 times High suicide risk and a study by the Journal of sexual medicine that shows these
043surgeries lead to a higher risk of severe several mental health issues such as substance abuse disorders and suicidal ideation these effects were particularly pronounced among the young women who are trying in vain to become men so much for your women's month resolution last month right yet here we are again you're promoting this failing and dangerous political agenda and since you don't care about the science of why this is dangerous let's get down to Brass tax these kinds of resolutions are putting this board very close to being in violation of an executive order signed on January 29th 2025 which prohibits schools from participating in the social transition of any student the presentation later tonight shows this districts receive 60 to70 million from the federal government are you willing to lose $70 million for to please be
044respectful by passing this resolution you are best defining a federal executive order that puts somewhere around $70 million of District funds at risk at worst you're promoting drug use self harm and an increased risk of suicide among our student body and alumni this board continues to be a shiny Beacon of the Road to Hell being paved with good intentions now for anybody in here who disagrees with me and I can appreciate that I don't and nobody does hates trans trans people we want you all to get the mental health services and the education you deserve ve so telling you something that is a lie that you are not that you are not the gender you were born into that's a lie that is not loving that is not compassionate that is evil and I'm not
045here to condone evil thank you thank you as a quick reminder everybody please be respectful of every person who comes up to speak thank you up next courney followed by Tiffany Woods good evening board president Vargas board members superintendent Hoffman and Miss Avalos tonight I'm reading a statement from an egsd parent and employee she's a dear friend and an incredible mother she begins it is my sincere hope as the that the board votes in favor of resolution the resolution for transgender day visibility I wanted to express my feelings as a mother of a transgender child and as as an educator with several students that identify as transgender I feel overwhelmed with the immense weight of discrimination and isolation from those who want transgender eraser I hope that one day our kids can feel safe without
046feeling Danger from others and also without being a danger to themselves I want them to know each day is a day worth having everyone knows or has met someone transgender they just didn't know it transgender students cause cause no harm to anyone but they are under attack and we need to have more protection from the district and Community I don't have any other words other than I'm completely terrified every day I just want the kids to be able to become adults one day I just want my kid to become an adult one day that is the end of her statement thank you thank [Applause] you Tiffany Woods nextn however I want to clarify this you got two blue cards here did do Tiffany wood so you can oh one of them I made a mistake
047okay so you only have I kept it um three minutes just yeah okay go ahead just want to clarify it's a long day the state today all right um superintend superint tenant Hoffman president Vargas trustees and Miss appos thank you for this opportunity to speak in support of resolution number 67 recognizing March 31st 2025 as transgender day of visibility I'm a proud parent of two current high school students in the district and one recent honors graduate who just finished her first semester in college on the dean list thought you'd want to know about that success of our school district um proud parent moment all three support the resolution is supported through their transgender non-binary friends a support of the state level support of the intended goals of transgender day of visibility and aligning with the
048rationale for the resolution as written the California Department of Public Health will be recognizing transgender day of visibility for the fifth consecutive year and uplifting the 22,000 plus transgender gender diverse transgender and gender diverse Californians including students highlighting their contributions and achievements and calling attention to the issues and challenges impacting their lives which are increasing daily in these very challenging times on a personal note on the front wall of my teens's high school caf area there's a large very visible Banner with the words all are welcome here written in vibrant rainbow colors it does not say all are welcome here except for those we don't like and will not support it clearly boldly States all are welcome here and all means all students staff and families and if some need additional support such as this
049resolution to the thrive in schools then it should not be that hard to provide that support and it should not be up to debate and last to all of our teens our trans nonb gender diverse students you are seen supported and valued and will never be erased by any executive orders never let those who refuse to see see you and accept you define you that's about them not you stay strong stay you and thank you for your time and consideration thank you next Kim Coleman Berger followed by Elsie Morse here tonight everyone my name is Kim Coleman Burger I'm the mother four grown kids um and I'm here tonight in support of the resolution to adopt a transgender day of visibility I heard it said earlier the young lady who so eloquently stated that um
050we tell our kids be true to yourself do what you believe and it and that doesn't go except for when it makes other people uncomfortable when we love our kids we love all we love and support all our kids kids and I think that it's important that they have a day to be visible without fear especially in today's political climate like our kids are scared let's give them a day where they feel safe at least one day and then maybe on the other days we'll take care of them too and their fellow students will take care of them I definitely am here in support of the resolution thank you very much thank you next LC moris followed by Jay Carson good evening to you all my name is Elsie Moors a sophomore from pres Pleasant
051Grove High School in regard to your consideration of resolution 67 for recognizing transgender day of visibility I'd like to advocate for the acknowledgement of this important day tdov is a day to celebrate and Empower and recognize transgender people I urge you to accept this resolution it is of the utmost importance to prove to the students and staff of EDD that the place they come to learn grow and Thrive is a safe place and welcoming to all the adoption of this resolution will prove to our community that we care about one another no matter what beliefs we hold it is proof that no person goes unheard no person goes invisible and no person will be under representated please understand being aware of others within the community is a good thing please consider the idea that there
052is no harm in acknowledging people exist as their identity will not be erased I'm not here to threaten or fearmonger our community I'm here as a reminder the education representation and knowledge of others is something we should not be afraid of thank you for your time thank you next Jay Carson call by Jennifer [Music] Colman Mr Hoffman Bor it's nice to see you and nice to see new faces too I am Jess Carlson and I am a mother of two queer my kiddos go to egusd and I want to thank you for creating an environment for them where they can be themselves that is why it's so important for you to say yes to this resolution tonight because without that my kids and all Queer and trans kids will feel a lot less welcome and
053I know that's not what you want fr's day of visib visibility celebrates not just the resilience of the trans Community but the radiant Joy of being who they are trans Joy is not a fleeting moment but a powerful force that propels this amazing Community forward our trans kiddos deserve the same rights as everyone else they deserve to be their authentic selves they deserve our love our support and most importantly our respect let's celebrate the young trans and queer people coming into their own spreading trans joy in spite of the haters our trans Elders deserve to be celebrated as well because they pave the way for our trans kiddos to know that this world welcomes them no matter what thank you too to the trans community that educates and changes the world one day at a
054time because they provide that Safe Harbor for my kids and for all Queer kids the world will be a better place when you allow yourself to feel empathy and to feel love thank you thank you very much thank [Music] you next Jennifer Coleman followed by Sher Mary good evening my name is Jennifer Coleman thank you uh school board members for having me here um I am here tonight to speak in support of the resolution for Transit day of visibility uh last year the Trevor Project did a survey of of 28,000 lgbtq plus students uh aged 13 to 24 half of the transgender and non non-binary students found their school to be gender affirming and those who did reported lower rates of suicide attempts uh the majority of them said they were verbally harassed because the
055school thought that they were lgbtq one and three reported poor mental health most or always due to anti- legislation anti-trans legislation or policies two out of three said potential state or local laws Banning School discussion of lgbtq made their mental health worse uh this is I heard someone say earlier that this is evil that this isn't right um the these kids are not evil they're children these are children who deserve respect they deserve to be recognized they deserve to feel safe at their school at their home in the community uh having a trans day of visibility just says to our children that we support you we love you no matter what that's what we're supposed to say to our children uh getting not having a day of visibility or ignoring that they exist or saying
056that they are evil does not protect the children it leads to dead children thank you thank you [Applause] next Sher Marquee followed by Anam Marie smid next Sher Mar I'm Anam Marie Smith oh well there's a person in front of you okay Sher m okay all right well andna Marie Smith you next thanks very much I'm a cisgender woman who's been part of the LGBT movement since 1980 and I stand here and joyously join those who have spoken before me to endorse the trans day of visibility in elro schools I want to First list a few people who go before us leverne Cox paig Elliot MJ Rodriguez these are the kinds of trans leaders who are wonderful who have contributed so much to our culture and to our society and who deserve to be celebrated
057now to the trans folk who aren't here because a lot of trans folk cannot be in public spaces right now we see you we hear you we recognize you we respect you we love you about the trans youth among 16 to 24 year olds 22% now identify as part of the lgbtq plus community and that's LED primarily by the numbers of trans youth who are coming out we love you be your authentic wonderful beautiful courageous selves be just as you are we will have your back make self-care your priority find your tribe and look forward to being part of the rainbow Community for the long term and right now trans rights we have a a crisis in this country an attack on trans people that's unconscionable that's historical that's a pogram now in that time
058my friends who are part of the trans Community if you need to take a break from bad news now and then we have your back take a break let the lgbtq plus Elders fight the fight while you take a rest now to the school board to the school leaders to the teachers the coaches the wellness staff say no to right-wing lies say no to right-wing attacks on good medical science where we began tonight with the voice of a doctor bringing Medical Science to the four that's where you ought to be California is one of the best of all 50 states with its protrans school policies but those are useless unless they're implemented and we're hearing about too many microaggressions in our schools that are not being met with decent teacher School Leadership School Board leadership
059bullying has to stop and it's up to you to do it that's part of your job we want our trans students to thrive and shine and bullying stops them cold and dead we've got to stop the bullying finally trans allies and here Cynthia Revo Bob the drag queen shapel Rome Lady Gaga wonderful trans allies are out there they should be they should be uh celebrated too miss your time is up thank you very much thank you board president that ends the blue car on this item thank you very much before we go to a motion would any board members like to be heard on this issue Ian please miss Mo yes um so I as mentioned in the resolution I absolutely believe that all students deserve fairness and respect and I believe that all students
060need to be treated with treated with dignity uh I also um absolutely agree that bullying is unacceptable and that we have no place for bullying in our schools however what bothered me about this particular uh resolution is I believe it's a false statement that we value families in regard to our transgender students because I have seen many examples and instruction materials and books previous communication to staff and on our ydeo uh website that indicates we do not value parent involvement regarding our transgender students students regardless of their perceived identity need to have their parents to help support support them during challenging times in their lives counselors teachers and other staff are a temporary part of students lives but parents raise their children from the time they are infants and will be there for their children
061throughout their lives far beyond their high school years on the district's yo page we offer gender support plans and gender affirming products so I'm assuming that means as one example that we offer chest binders which have many potential negative Health implications including skin irritation chest pain difficulty breathing rib fractures and potential damage to breast tissue the fact that our district will socially transition a child is quite alarming socially transitioning leads down a dangerous road to possible premature physical transitioning which includes puberty blockers hormones mastectomies complete genal gen genital mutilation and more many D transitioners are now speaking out sharing that they were not ready to make such decisions as a minor Chloe Cole which I would encourage everyone to research her um she is now an adult and she is one of those transition D
062transition D transitioners um and she Advocates uh now that miners are protected from harmful transition Services drugs and surgeries she was only 15 when both of her breasts were REM moved she had previously started puberty blockers and testosterone she now fully regrets her decision understanding that she was going through a temporary phase she now suffers with deep regret and a physical and physical side effects she doesn't know if she will ever be able to conceive a child and she is heartbroken to know that she will never never be able to breastfeed her child her children she is one of many detransitioners speaking out as I mentioned sharing their stories of regret in hopes to help other young people and their parents navigate these feelings and recognize that minors are not in a position to make
063such a life-altering decision so um those are just a few of the reasons that I will not be able to support this resolution today as it's written and um I believe that um that we need to be very careful um in the messages we send to youth because as I mentioned that can impact their life negativ negatively if we're not careful so thank you Miss bwin yeah I just wanted to acknowledge that um and I'm a strong Advocate and proponent for inclusion and you cannot have full inclusion unless you acknowledge the visibility of someone's authentic [Applause] self and I think that it's so important that we be a district that is very upfront about violence against any children and that this is a good step towards that full inclusion and the road to acceptance Miss
064Chen I want to say that I am absolutely ins support of this resolution I think [Applause] almost exactly a year and a half ago I was a junior in high school this was before I got appointed to the um the school board this year as the student board member um and I was with a group of student Advocates who were both lgbtq plus and also non-lgbtq plus all in support and in solidarity to make our school safe spaces for anybody who attends our schools and I think to this very day and for the rest of my life that is so crucial and so important transgender students transgender Youth and LGBT plus youth the these are the students who make up our student demographics that our districts say that we have to serve that we must
065continue evolving in our vision to serve because if we truly care about the diversity of a community because we are what the second most diverse School District in California sixth most in the nation we have to uphold that we can't just say that we have a diverse population we have to be accountable to that population we have to make sure that we put systems in place programs in place so that our mental health our student body collectively is not facing disparities we have gaps to mend we have gaps to [Music] address I also want to say that it has been really saddening and almost harrowing that the issue of self-expression of visibility and identity has been so politicized that there has been so much fear rooting our communities when simply if we want to put
066it at the most basic definition no child should have to live in fear they deserve to grow resourced lives supported lives and healthy lives and with the constant rise of bullying with the constant rise of Fear what are we teaching our children do we live and and socialize interact with others in fear and hate and misunderstanding or do we Foster our young people in order to understand the lives of others because I think it starts empathy empathy is where where it starts since day one so again absolutely in support this resolution thank [Music] you so one of the downsides of going last is I have to go after our students um uh there not let me say something quick you want to say go for it well I'm coming from um a um minority uh
067EIC group uh as I am um bullying and um other discrimination including racism is something that I face um since I've been here uh 12 and a half years old and uh this school district algro Unified School District is the most seventh uh diverse School District in the nation and we have over 100 different language spoken here so um inclusion and diversity is what elg Gro Unified School District is and uh we go farther than that we celebrate diversity here in ALG gr UniFi School District thank [Music] [Applause] you thank you so this will be our second year doing uh this resolution or considering this resolution and um I I wasn't sure what to say in addition to what I said last year um but I think where I landed and I'm so glad that
068you know other people particular our students came and said everything so much better than I possibly could have um but the one thing I wanted to add was I read something recently that um kindness an act of kindness spreads out uh Three Degrees of Separation right so you pay for somebody's coffee and they experience that and then they go out and do something and that has a ripple effect every single one of those has a ripple effect and it got me thinking about how important that is how important these small acts of recognition and inclusion and kindness how important they are to everything that we do because they Ripple Out Among our students among our families and so when we are able to do able to pass resolutions like this able to support our students
069in this way it can have an enormous impact because each of our students experiences that and our students then take that into their schools with them that positivity that kindness that support into the school with them and that is that's what we're supposed to be doing right that that is such a core part of our job um because it makes it so much easier for them to then learn and spend time focusing ing on their courses and spend time focusing on their studies instead of being stressed about who they are and whether they'll be accepted uh and so I think I want to challenge all of us to take that uh that kindness that knowledge that one act of kindness can have an enormous impact take that with us into what we do particularly for
070our staff members right what you do matters so much to our kids and and to the extent that we can support you and we can give you the tools to take that kindness into the classroom and into the into our schools we want to do that so thank you very much I will not belabor the vote any further um then I will oh we still need a motion I will entertain a motion to adopt resolution number 67 recognizing March 31st 2025 as transgender day of visibility so move move by Mr Yang second second in by Miss chin all the those in favor please say I I I any opposed nay motion carries thank you very [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] much and thank you very much to our community members who came out and spoke
071your feedback is always very much appreciated all right board members let's move on to uh item number four student expulsion and involuntary transfer recommendations so we have a rest excuse me a request for student expulsion uh is there anyone who wishes to address the board in Clos session regarding a student expulsion seeing none I will entertain a motion to approve the recommendation for student expulsion so moved second moved by Miss ballerini seconded by miss albani all those in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much all right next up is public comment for items not on the agenda Mr Yang are there any blue cards yes board President we got a few let me just quickly count it those to Chris yeah 19 all right because we have
07219 blue cards on this item for our rules uh public comment will be limited to 2 minutes each per person thank you okay good evening let's go ahead and start with the public comment um first off is Kathy Wilson followed by Jessica greetings the incident I reported on Thursday February 24th 27th I'm sorry about the inbu is far bigger than me it is a reflection of the systemic challenges that black students family staff in the broader Community have faced for Generations challenges that date back to when elk grve was a sun downtown growing up in South Sacramento it is was well known that we were not to be caught in El grve after dark this is the third School District in over 30 years of education that I have worked in previously Del Paso Heights
073in Oakland Unified yet this is the first time I have encountered anything like what I have experienced here I have been subjected to off offensive and dismissive treatment called an English learner development Nazi told that as a preschool teacher I was not a real teacher and silenced during staff meetings I have been ra I have even raised concerns about discrimination only to be dismissed by a supervisor who told me that I was exper what I was experiencing was not discrimination at all as a result I was forced to file a workers's comp claim but my experience is not an isolated one far too often black students family and staff within the oakr Unified School District do not feel safe value or heard and this is unacceptable despite these challenges I want to emphasize that I
074love working in El grve I love my job and I I I want to make the intentional decision to work here I do not love however is the way that individuals in this school district continue to treat black folks the way they make us feel unseen unheard and unwelcome and sometimes not make us feel um it's the district is reactionary instead of um proactive thank you when other cultures are harmed it seems like more of a distinctive Collective is band together to oppose it and make sure it doesn't continue to happen an example is the listening sessions that happen when a pleasant growth student um it and Rave it and nothing else has come about that I'm grateful for the allies and anti-racist Advocates with an elro Unified School District but we must acknowledge that
075training sessions and emails are not enough ma'am ma'am please we have to limit ma'am we have to limit public comment I want to be part of a Sol ma'am ma'am please we cannot accept public comment Beyond 2 minutes ma'am all right thank [Applause] you next Jessica [Applause] all by Ryan Carter I'm just I'm sorry you guys I don't need to apologize it's so frustrating take a break I'm just so sad all right let's continue that's got me feeling a little emotional so we'll see how I get through this I'm Jessica Carter I'm here to speak on the same thing that she was just speaking on so beautifully um I was very upset to learn about the appalling racist content that emerged from Katherine albani Middle School I was further upset by the letter we received
076which contained nothing more than a feeble apology good Lord okay while I recognize that this matter is under investigation I have to say unequivocally the material referred to as racially offensive in the letter is without a doubt racist to its core my fear is that the adults who played a role in the situation will skirt accountability and that we won't see the change that we need at our schools incidents like this demand immediate and decisive action our schools should serve as a safe place for every child but we all know this is not the first time that egsd has dealt with something like this and something like this is what caused me to apply for the diversity inclusion commission for the city of El Grove whether the source is a student or a staff member
077there must be established protocols for communicating effectively with families and providing essential support for our students we are at a pivotal moment where there's an opportunity to rebuild trust by addressing the situation with the seriousness it deserves so far we have only seen a vaguely worded letter accompanied by a hollow apology leaving parents confused about what happened while seemingly down playing the gravity of the events I ask that you do do what is right the superintendent Schoolboard principal and staff should loudly and clearly denounce this abor behavior in language this situation Demands a thorough investigation from the computer and printer used to produce these materials to every adult involved in this process who either distributed received or witnessed these materials without saying a word there's no possible way this can be framed as an educational
078Endeavor the bottom line is an deniable this was an act of racism that must be confronted and addressed with the seriousness it warrants thank you thank you next Ryan Carter followed by Anthony uh thank you board members for the opportunity to speak um continuing in the same vein as um my wife and the lady that came before her uh want to address the incident that just happened at Katherine Alani Middle School um I am the parent of two children who are both an outg grow Unified School District One attends um at theba elementary and the other attends camps we moved to El Grove in 2011 in hopes of settling in a community that Champions diversity of culture and character these actions represent neither for a demographic that has been historically marginalized and disenfranchised it's important
079that we emphasize a portion P small portion of the implication of these actions that they have on our children number one this Behavior encourages the reinforcement of racial stereotypes number two this lessens the impact and historical significance of the damage associated with this word by making a parody of an entire demographic and number three it places black students in the crosshairs of Perpetual cultural insensitivity while normalizing racism some of the core values that our community should be striving for or the alignment with including ensuring that our students feel safe and supported at any school anywhere these formative years are crucial for character development and how this instance is addressed will speak volumes to the board of education's commitment to fostering the level of support our black students needed that's it thank you thank you up
080next Anthony followed by Dustin Noble Antonio I should say Antonio thank you Antonio Ferraro I have uh two students one graduated from albiani and one is currently there and look I'm trying to understand educational value of the nword Bucks that were vaguely addressed in a letter from the principal of cams the n-word the images the stereotypes covering the bill um were just crazy I mean look at it it's brings people to tears um I agree with the principal's letter that the material is inappropriate and not condoned and I appreciate that but I'm here to push for a little more and that's my challenge I came here to challenge you to not treat this as an isolated incident to not keep it quiet get some training done and let it ride until the next incident because
081you know there will be a next incident I challenge us to think about making this a teachable moment for students the administration and the community because here's the thing this isn't isolated it happens every single year you hear about it yes each year there's some kind of macroaggression against black students it's brought to your attention they are not isolated they are preceded by daily microaggressions to our children who are forced to navigate it I hear it from my daughter my black daughter around our dinner table when will we say enough is enough and make it so we don't have to have these talks around our table and how freely the nword flies around at cams I'm encouraging you not to let this moment go by as isolated because it is not rather make it a
082moment to change the status quo it was said earlier by a board member right here diversity and inclusion is what elk grve school district is yes that's right yes that's why we are here let's keep making it better take this moment and make it matter thank [Applause] you next Dustin Noble followed by shb sing good evening I'm here tonight to talk about that disgraceful and harmful assignment that was issued to some students at albani middle school with regard to Black History Month it is appalling to me to think that a district educator was allowed to provide these materials to students there was Zero educational value in the assignment with regard to inbu image that was forced on students this was just pure racism at its core in no other line of work or workplace would
083this have been tolerated or handled with an investigation and talk of restorative practice this should have led to immediate dismissal of this teacher we talk a lot about District culture this is also an example of culture and What needs to change these attitudes these stereotypes and these messages must stop filtering to students this is why things never change we hear a lot about harmful materials images in this chamber a lot this is actual harm our district must do better for our black students do something thank you next shabet s followed by Nate Smith good evening board hope everybody's doing great today thank you guys for your guys' time today U my name is shb Singh I am a representative of ducado movement it's a nonprofit organization um that's based out of California I work specifically
084in the Sacramento region working with four of your guys' high schools between like Pleasant Grove Franklin Sheldon just to name a few um essentially what we do is we provide a an opportunity a platform for students to have Community work to build community amongst each other to do Services between things like Highway cleanups get togethers bowling events whatever that may be anything in that Spectrum um essentially we have a large population of six students that attend El Grove schools all over whether it's High School Elementary School Etc so essentially we're just wondering and inquiring to see if maybe we can have April B sick Heritage Month as April is a very dear month to six all over the world it's the formation of the ca the ca represents you know a a Justice that fights
085against tyranny stands against for the defenseless and represents that equality aspect that is very big tenant of siky into six overall um I think this highlight would allow inclusion diversity allow our six students to be highlighted in a way that would be not highlighted before and allow them to embrace these qualities even more on a bigger scale and just promote overall community on our campuses as a whole um yeah just thank you guys for your time and we appreciate you guys thank you thank you can we get his business card okay thank you all right next Nate Smith Follow by Karen [Music] Hall good good evening last fall the parents and staff at Jesse Baker received a letter from the district with some troubling news regarding enrollment at the school and the plan transition away
086from elementary school age students we were assured that this letter was sent an air and this was not the intent of the department the school would return to accept students of all ages and that the department would develop training including a description of the different placement levels I'm here before you this evening to continue to communicate the need for ongoing transparency with the district and the special education department in the past week alone we've heard two conflicting stories from concerned parents and their communication with the Department one parent was told the school was a level three placement and therefore not appropriate for their level four student conversely another parent was told the school was going to be restructured for a level four placement and therefore not appropriate for their level three student anecdotes like these
087continue to demonstrate there is a lack of training on behalf of the department conail Contin failed communication about the school's placement level or intentional misleading of parents and options available to their students with disability at Elkgrove UniFi it's only through special needs community that any knowledge of Baker or progress in enrollment seems to be made I'm therefore requesting again that this issue be put on the agenda so that parents can understand the district's plan for continuing to provide and communicate Jesse Baker as an option for elementary students with special needs in El Grove be accountable for what you've committed to provide training and clear definition of elra unified special education program levels communicate districtwide about offerings at Jessie Baker and remain consistent with providing Jesse Baker as an offering to parents and the IEP team
088there are many small steps that can be taken as an act of Goodwill to show this is a continued priority and not just when the news cameras are turned on or parent groups are active in closing I hope the comments you hear tonight Express How concerned this community continues to be on this matter and not simply falling on deaf ears students with disabilities have some of the most uncertain Futures and as parents it's a constant reminder the world was not built for our kids thank you all right next Karen H followed by Brianna Jordan hi I'm here to um reacquaint the board to our extraordinary Community the Jesse Baker school last fall we were we formed uh to uh protect our school from being dismantled we our mission is to save our school and demand
089transparency for any changes the district is planning we were promised at least for the time being that our elementary school would not be dismantled we were not successful however with our request for a promise that the district would not attempt to dismantle our school in the future our students are unique and rare think one in 100,000 births type of rare they require the support that the Jessie Baker Community offers a dream team of seasoned teachers Paras and staff some of whom have been with Jessy Baker for almost 30 years the one thing everyone will notice when they step foot on our campus is Joy here staff and therapists are all well versed in educating our unique Learners you will find our community of K through 22 blowing the socks off of all the doctors they've
090ever met in any of the ablest that ever encountered this is our least restrictive environment where our students are safe in in venturing through their campus safe and happy to learn alongside their peers and often with their best friends the amazing teachers and therapists are committed to the growth and development of social academic and the physical skills of our kids so that they may reach their greatest potential a potential that is so often dismissed by our greater Society so if Jesse Baker is a model school that families want to attend and where the turnaround of staff is low why does a district want to attempt changing what works we do know that families are still being denied even when there is space available we have information that the district is planning to change Baker into
091a level four School level four programs as I understand uh are for students who need a lot of support for Behavioral issues and eloping this is not the ideal candidate for Jesse Baker as our students are inherently motivated through social relationships they are often medically fragile defenseless and naively trusting of everyone please support times up thank [Music] you next Miss Jordan followed by Gino Rogers good evening um I am here in represent representation of my daughter who also attends albani um the incident that happened yesterday that we were notified about which was so vaguely put in a letter to us um is not the only incident that has been occurring and my daughter has continuously dealt with it with your guys' staff at that school for over a year and a half now and I
092have made multiple complaints to you guys directly and I've received no response so I am just at a loss now as to how I can be heard and how things can be rectified it starts from the top down the behavior that goes on at that school the environment that it builds and the fact that it's being allowed and the staff is just covering it up I mean I submitted a complaint about my daughter literally having to quit basketball because she was being isolated and targeted and discriminated against through the whole 80s District just because of her talents for a failure of a game that you know the staff should have been able to maintain but because my daughter made that last and final shot that c caused an issue rules were even made up for
093her specifically for the next season and then the rules disappeared as soon as she turned in her jersey she's dealt with a lot of mental stress I've had to sit here and go back and forth with this staff at this school that don't seem to care they don't care about black youth all they want to know is have a piece of paper sign it so that we can turn around and use your words against you without talking to the parent without having a conversation my daughter also has mental health issues as far as she has a learning disability with ADHD that's never been addressed at all it's it's just crazy how we can make the complaints to you guys and you're not responding back to us I'm getting a call back from the principal instead
094of who I cannot deal with anymore miss your time's up thank you [Applause] you know Rogers my name is Gino Rogers and I'm the uh college career and guidance technician at Franklin High School I'm the JV head coach for the football team at Franklin High School and I am the co-advisor for the black student union at Franklin High School um this incident that happened on Friday at the middle school um that region for years has been known to discriminate against black students I had two cousins that went to that school and they told me the experiences that they've had and I believe everything they say because I once upon a time was a student in this District at lagona Creek High School and those of you who have been on the board for a long
095time you remember back in the ' 0304 school year there was a Coline plan shooting to happen against black students at lagona Creek and I was a black student at Luna Creek as I am now a black educator and nothing was done after the police caught these three men there was no counselors to come to the school to talk to us the black students or concerns were just swept underneath the rug and it's 20 years later as I'm an adult and I'm growing into my manhood that the same things that were underlining 20 22 years ago is still prevalent right now and it's hard for me to tell my students to tell my black students at Franklin High School that this District cares about them when continuously continuously over the course of years there is
096racist things that happen to black staff black students and nothing is done about it this is something that oh is pending review what is there to review this is a derogatory papers that were put out to students how is this even allowed it goes beyond me the thing is is that something needs to be done because there's always a whole lot of talk about oh we support the black students and the black families of the district but there's never any action and as a educator how am I supposed to tell my BSU and the black students at the school that they're protected when they're not so something needs to be done and it needs to happen soon because everybody cares about all the rest of the stuff going on the black students need to be
097heard as well and enough is enough thank you next sorry can I pronounced his name but it's spelled f xxi thank you sir followed by lorine [Music] prior how you doing sir that was Fox uh uh yes sir um see your clock I work for black youth leadership project uh my email is FXX I I RV i n uh b y lp.org and we have a a group there for boys bbsn black boy support network and I've been pulling up to these schools just like everybody else you know and we've been witnessing the racisms and the and the things that be going on however and being part of the solution I would just like to let this District know that you can send the boys to us you can send the black boys to us
098you can we we we we Mentor these kids we t to them we talk them through these issues and we would just like to remain in partnership with San Juan District whatever schools whatever parents if your boys are going through any issues your girls going through any issues about anything you can contact us at BP uh uh uh on the on the uh on the website and I hope you guys do Embrace some level of some type of change about what's going on here it's hard to continue to come up here and and complain about something and give a a valid solution to something and see it not being invested into ever we do offer some level of solution and if you guys can't offer a level of solution invest in our solution contact me
099I'm a BB I'm BBS in on on black youth leadership project thank you sir how do you pronounce your first name foxy but I pronounce it foxy Fox because fo just fo okay thank you all right thank you sir next line prior followed by Amanda Scott so good evening uh I'm no stranger to this District I am a product of this District proud graduate of Valley High School 1997 um I have been coming before you talking about the way black students have been treated in this district for a number of years um we have presented solutions to you uh but it seems like every time we present a solution the goalpost keeps getting moved um we want a conversation at the table because either it's um benign neglect at this point or you don't see
100the seriousness of the issues uh beforehand um we run a podcast it's called Black versus the Board of Education uh we did Cover the bucks that were given out by your teacher to students um we did talk about that with other students and the parents were Furious now I'm not sure what lesson um is comprised of a piece of paper that says redeemable for liquor big booty hoes and KFC I'm not sure where in fact that was headed I don't know the educational value in that but I can tell you that in 1997 we didn't deal with so many macroaggressions we actually dealt with microaggressions but we had a great time in school what the hell is happening in this District now why do we allow our children to be subjected with such blatant hatred
101and nobody feels the urgency to do anything about it the equity report that you all had presented in 1990 19990 I don't even know what damn year it was there was something on your agenda that talked about an equity report and we were supposed to be coming up with Solutions specifically for black students and that's mysteriously disappeared instead of people doing what they're supposed to do I have people calling about around to other districts asking who if I am who I say I am I assure you I am so when we get serious and ready to do something give me a call thank you next Amanda Scott followed by Shanti green good evening um as many of you know I am an advocate for students with disabilities and um I was also made aware of
102the materials that were distributed at alion middle school this last week and I was it shook me to my core and I can't imagine um how that made members of that Community feel and I just want everyone to know that there are so many people that stand with you and will not tolerate this hate in our community at all um I'm seeing a common theme is that some of our most vulnerable students have been left completely ignored and I don't think that that is something that any person on this board wants I I've spoken to some of you individually I know some of you individually and that you care deeply about this work um and I think that ELR Unified School District has made a lot of really strong statements about diversity inclusion Equity acceptance
103but this is like someone else said it's an opportunity and with this issue and many others of the folks that spoke up about Jesse Baker we're in crisis disabled students are in crisis our black youth are in crisis we really really need as much attention on these issues as possible and please be willing to communicate and work with these communities these are the voices of the communities that are seeing what's happening on a day-to-day basis it's harder you know I understand you guys aren't there day-to-day you're not on the school campuses you're not seeing the culture but we see it the parents see it the children see it you need to come and work with us so please when members of this community are coming and asking for or calling on you to come to
104the table thank you thank [Applause] you up next Shanti green I mispronounce your name please correct me shereé shereé green thank you I am here to share my feelings and concerns regarding the Buck lesson taught at albani middle school when I heard about this lesson yesterday I was shocked Ed speechless angry and hurt not just for myself but for the students and Community who were traumatized by such a lesson a simple second thought on this lesson and how it impacts students and is all that was needed to confirm I chat GPT it buuck and this is what came back this content may violate our usess policies then I asked teaching about buck in middle school and this came back it's it's important to approach teaching sensitive topics with respect care and an awareness of the
105impact on students using derogatory language or showing inappropriate or offensive imagery especially in a school setting is generally harmful and not conducive to a positive learning environment teachers should be aimed to Foster understanding empathy and inclusivity when addressing sensitive issues if the goal is to discuss historical or cultural topics involving race it's crucial to do so in a respectful and educational way focusing on promoting understanding and critical thinking always strive for creating a safe and respectful environment for all students if you have any specific goals or topics in mind feel free to share and I can help guide the discussion in a positive direction as Educators we have all types of resources at our fingertips we are provided with a plethora of professional development opportunities there is no excuse for this lesson we have to
106be better for our black students for all of our students and for our community now and in the future if you have not please review and study the the state of black education California report 70 years after Brown V Board of Education 2024 published by the ACL ow action it is consistent unchecked moments of trauma and disconnect like this lesson that our black students remain in danger in public schools we must do all we must all do better okay silence is compliance still waiting [Music] UniFi thank you next Siri Siri followed by Nicole my name is servy I have two kids in the district one goes to cams I'm here to discuss the racist lesson that took place at albani middle school first the community letter the school was that the school sent was vague
107and disappointing it left us with more questions than answers I learned about the actual racist event from a friend and was of course appalled I could not imagine any context in which lesson this lesson could be appropriate I think the school probably agrees that that was a racist lesson and hence the vague apology letter but I keep attending board meetings where parents report these regrettable racist events that have happened when I mentioned the community letter left us with more questions and answers here are some of those questions what is proactively being done to prevent these racist incidents is there teacher training for areas involving civil rights is curriculum vetted before a teacher proceeds if so what happened here if not why not also if the offending teacher is on paid leave pending a hearing has
108that hearing been expedited so that we are not wasting taxpayer dollars in further employing this teacher is there an anti-racism committee or commission that is addressing systematic racism in the district if not why not because we keep coming to the board meetings for these kind of issues I would like for the board to opt to address these questions rather than employ the usual policy not to respond last I would like to say that if I had a friend who was in a relationship where someone kept hurting them and then apologized and then kept hurting them and apologized that would be identified in as abusive relationship and I think the school board should be ashamed thank you next Nicole for KN followed by Amanda Sheldon Park hello good evening everyone um my name is Nicole Broadneck
109I am the proud mommy of two girls within um the Pleasant Grove um region I have a senior at Pleasant Grove and an eighth grader at albani I'm I'm here to speak about the abiani um incident that occurred and I had this long notes of what and talking points I was going to say um I think it's one of those things where we get the call to assist at schools I've been a part of the I was a PTA president at adriani um I've been a part at um albiani when it's even time to bring the backpacks when it's time for the school dances I've been that Mommy to like bring the backpacks um a part of fundraising when it's time for Pleasant Grove to fund raise for sober grad nights um so I've answered
110that call when our district ask for help and parent participation and what I want back for not only for my girls because they're on the way out but for the rest of our African-American Community is that we we want the same level of Grace and compassion that is given to other community groups here in elgrove Unified School District specifically in the Pleasant Grove regon our black families we want the same we just want the same Grace at the end of the day everything that every I agree 100% what everybody else has been saying to add that additional bullet of it comes down to all we want is that same Grace and fortitude and that same level of love that has given to other community groups we just want that as well we get the call
111to come and help and support our schools um and we do that and all we're asking within those letters when we get the letters that say we will do more I just want the actual action besides the words of do more I just want to actually for us to do more um and to be there for our I'm a part of the parent advisory committee um Mr hoffen we've talked about um um the Steelers ghost Steelers we've talked we've had those conversations so just wanted to be able to do that and support that thank you thank you next Amanda Sheldon Park followed by Charlotte hi there my name is Pastor Amanda Sheldon Park I'm the pastor of field of Hope United Church of Christ here in El grve I came initially to speak about the
112transgender day of visibility and um in our church we believe every person is made in the image of God and we believe that when children and all people are denied the dignity that they are made in the image of God that that violates our deepest held religious beliefs um I have a wonderful babysitter for my two children who came out to me as trans after a few months of babysitting and I didn't think twice about saying is it okay for me to talk to your parents about this because I didn't want to put them in a position of being unsafe at home and when I worked as a hospital chaplain mmore we talked a lot about uh children that are born with u multiple sex organs that have different hormones and those children are provided
113hormonal therapy and it's not unsafe for them it seems to just be unsafe when adults don't like the decision that's being made so that's not a medical perspective I also as I was waiting um I have two uh biracial children that will be in this District at some point point and [Music] um I share my horror at what I've heard tonight and what I hear both in the comments about transgender children and what is happening with black people in general not just kids in Elk grve is a matter of trust do we trust people when they tell us what's happening to them do we trust that people know there's a serious problem or do we think we're the experts and I just want to say that my and my congregation trusts black people's assessment of
114how they're being treated in this city thank [Applause] you next Charlotte followed by Red Fel wow I think the district needs to be working on something so I came across this newsletter I'm sure everybody receives it in their mail and wow the first page is El El Grove youth speak up what do you know says the elk grve commission recently wrapped up its youth needs assessment and the results are in input from 447 middle and high school students offered valuable insights about the issues that matter most to elro youth the elro youth commission will use feedback to shape future events in progress or programs so wow their top concerns mental health second one drug prevention third one bullying wow and other concern student voice concerns about racism violence safety and sexual abuse and harassment they
115expressed a desire to learn more about job opportunities education and underage drinking and driving wow these are your youth that are complaining about this and I don't believe you all are inclusive to all inclusive means all everybody and I think you all need to read this and listen to the students that are out there thank you thank you last Miss finel sorry I'm a little slow I had cancer surgery 10 days ago so I'm moving a little slow um once again I'm back here talking about bullying at has not changed the grade school still is buling nothing's happening and I see it every day I have been going to school every day for the past three months helping a teacher and nothing has changed the grade school I have four out three four grandchildren that
116attended the Middle School Harriet Eddie that is just it's the pits because three of my grandchildren had serious bullying problems and got beat up and stuff and nothing's changed the oldest it's been 10 years since the oldest and nothing changes it's just getting worse and worse and um my one grandson got hurt went to the nurse's office I want to know what what's the nurse supposed to be doing he had no Band-Aids nothing they called us to come and get him we had to take him home put Band-Aids is that just she in their name only what does she do so find a nurse that really is a nurse and the other thing I talk about is about kids they're individuals teachers need more help get some more money people up here cut their wages
117and send it to the teachers so they can get help because kids are getting left behind and it makes me so angry because I go there every day and I help those kids that can't read can't uh spell can't do a lot of things I spend my time working there and I go every day to help this third grade teacher because I do not want those children Left Behind they're going to drop out of school and it is not the teacher's fault but kids are individuals not Clump them together because that is not fair or right thank you board president that ends our blue car on this item thank you very much and to all the members of the public who spoke today thank you for the feedback we appreciate it as always we take
118these matters very very seriously and appropriate District staff will follow up with concerns presented during public comment all right board members stick with me for a few more items before we take a quick Break um let's see if we can get through the consent agenda Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on the consent agenda board president there's no blue car on this item thank you very much would any board members like to pull an item from the consent agenda sounds good then I will entertain a motion to approve items 1 through 20 on the consent agenda so move move by move by Mr Yang seconded by miss albani all those in favor please say I I any opposed osed motion carries unanimously let's see if we can get through bargaining units would any
119bargaining units like to speak to the board seeing none all right then board members before we get into reports and discussion let's take a quick 5 10 minute break uh and we will be back at 8:10 e e e all right board members let's all come back to the deis and get ready to start again I'll catch you all right let's bring this back to order uh our first report is food and nutrition services annual report Miss Drake welcome back good all right so um president Vargas board members um I look at Mr Hoffman and go wait who am I supposed to say next uh superintendent Hoffman Miss Avalos and members of the public I'm Michelle Drake and I'm here to give you the annual update for food and nutrition services so just quicker we'll
120do this so food and nutrition services falls under the district strategic goal of Wellness as we help build healthy bodies um we in our department have our own strategic goals so that we can provide fresh quality meals to help our students achieve first we're focused on freshly prepared scratch cooking by incorporating locally grown ingredients and developing culturally responsive student friend friendly recipes um in order for us to Freshly prepare meals we need to have staff that are able to do so so we are focused on increasing skill sets and then also creating opportunities of professional development for our staff and then obviously in order to move us forward we have to have the facilities and the equipment to do all of that and so we've been focused on modernizing our facilities facilities and upgrading our
121equipment we currently operate four federally funded meal programs the new national school lunch program the school breakfast program the seamless summer option and our child and adult care food program all of these are reimbursable programs under the United States Department of a or USDA in the 2223 school year the California legislators um created AB 130 which is also known as the California Universal meal program what this program does is allows us to provide free meals to all students in our district but we're required to also offer breakfast and lunch this program in order to get that state reimbursement we have to follow all of the requirements of the federal meal program and we have to maximize Federal funding by utilizing a provision in our district we follow Community eligibility which is also known as C
122you may ask why is it important for us to provide free meals to all children there's a number of reasons one it ends the stigma of free or reduced status um it provides access to an increased consumption of nutrient dense foods that many families cannot afford to purchase it helps reduce food insecurity and extend a family's budget as we all know in the state of California it costs more for us to live but yet we are um held by the same eligibility standards as all other states so many families here in California that may be food insecure or um have a strained budget may not receive um free meals uh oh did I do something okay um may not be eligible simply because internet is down say that again it looks like the internet's down
123but we've still got it so please continue um and so the other piece to that is unpaid there is no unpaid meal debt when all children have meals for free that brings us to our total meal count we finally broke 9 million meals in the 23 24 school year we served 9.3 million meals the reason I get so excited about that is prior to covid we kept we were stagnant at like 8.2 million 8.3 million and so since we've returned from covid we've increased by a million meals so I'm very proud of that um we are projected for 2425 to break N9 and a half million meals um and so for all the new board members I just wanted to highlight that there's asterisk on 2021 and 2122 because we were operating under covid protocols
124and we had a number of waivers from the federal government um and so our meal counts are just tracked a little bit differently then and we also had like for instance if you look at 2021 you'll notice that breakfast and lunch are almost ident I mean they're very very similar and that's because at some parts of that year we were sending breakfast and lunch home with students so they were getting both whereas once they're in person they don't always come and consume both so you can just see that um sometimes it's hard to kind of understand what 90 9.3 million meals looks like and so I wanted to kind of share it in a a different breakdown every day we serve about 47,000 meals that's breakfast lunch snack and supper and this is the partition
125participation percentage that we serve so at our elementary schools we serve about 20% of our attending students breakfast and 67% of them lunch at Middle School we serve 177% breakfast and 59% lunch and at high school 17% breakfast and 51% so we do know there is still room for opportunity at every level and as we continue to provide free meals we're working on ways to increase those percentages but I will say they're pretty good for the industry average we're doing pretty well how are we doing that so um we are focused on freshly prepared scratch cooked at our high school or our Middle School schools we have kitchens that allow us to do that onsite we have what we call cooking kitchens so we focus on scratch cooking and freshly prepared items on the campus
126our elementary sites when the district determined in the in the early 90s to build a Central Kitchen um it was so that we could minimize the footprint of our elementary kitchens and we could do the majority of the scratch cooking from the Central Kitchen So currently we do not have cooking kitchens basically what happens is we prepare food the Central Kitchen it gets moved to the school sites they heat it there and then served to students but a big part of making sure that everyone um or all of our students have a freshly prepared meal is that one we want to have choice we want to offer enough items that their a child will find something that they would like to consume um at elementary we offer four choices daily one of them a plant-based
127items to to meet other dietary needs and it's secondary we're anywhere from 12 to 15 entree choices daily um we feel that we need to have a diverse menu for as it's been said a number of times tonight we have an extremely diverse school district and so creating diverse recipes that children want to consume um is very important to us and then we live in California and we have a great abundance of Agriculture so making sure we're offering a rainbow and a large variety of fresh fruits and vegetables so at our our Central Kitchen we have an a full industrial size Central Kitchen and if you haven't had an opportunity to to come visit please do um there three pictures I'll show here the first is of our cook chill facility what that is is
128three 200 galon kettles where we make sauces baked beans reff fried beans pasta what you see here in the picture is making pasta in a large scale um we have a full Bakery so on the far side you see muffins we make muffins cinnamon rolls cookies we cook hogi rolls we make dinner rolls pizza Toppers You Name It We Fresh bake it and then in the middle that picture signifies both our cold food and our packaging environment our cold food environment brings in items like the zucchini there that they slice so we bring that in whole from the farm they slice it it moves over to packaging packaging then um packages it the tomatoes local Tomatoes wash locally I mean washed in cold food and then they go to packaging packaged we throw a little
129taheen in to kind to appetize that zucchini and tomato and then off it goes to the school site I want to show a quick video I promise it's very quick let's see if I can get it to work [Music] so as I said it was very quick it's really just to give you um the scale of what we do at the central kitchen so with that we talked about produces we have a very strong Farm to school program in our district we use a four tiered approach number one is hyperlocal within 25 miles of our school district the second layer is 100 to 50 miles third layer is 250 to 300 miles and then fourth is the state of California we do try to procure as much produce from California as possible and we have
130started to um go into other ingredients not just uh produce um with that we have started to track very closely our produce so from July 24 to June um I'm sorry from July to December of 2024 72% of our produce purchases were for from here in California I'm always very excited um to talk about our cdfa grant um it is what keeps me going is the fun parts of my job and the cdfa grant is a grant that helps support local if you see the bottom picture at the bottom where it has that sticker of lettuce we have students in the a the a Academy at Floren High School who grow lettuce through at different times throughout the year for our students at Floren the sticker was created the art workor was created by our
131students at Floren High they created um posters and information about it we create and print the sticker and then every item that has Floren grown lettuce in it gets a sticker that shows that the students at Floren grew the lettuce for that meal so the other piece that that supports that cdfa Grant supports is local purchases right here in Elk Grove unified so we work directly with Davis Ranch in sloh house we purchased 69,90 lbs of fresh produce directly from within our district um boundaries you can see of the picture of the Cucumbers there that's how they come in from the farm to our Central Kitchen we wash slice and then send them out in salads and as a a vegetable option this last year from July to the end of October we purchased 55,000
132lbs of watermelon 5100 lbs of C of cucumbers 5400 pounds of zucchini and 4,200 lbs of cantaloupe all from Davis Ranch that went to the students in our district we also receive funds from USDA under local foods for schools and school food best practices which is California funds to continue to help our um Farmers we've also started to expand all of our rice that we use is brown rice from the Sacramento region and we this the past two years have had beef that we has been um raised in Northern California so our farm to school program continues to grow along with our farm to school we're very proud of our nutrition education programs in our district we provide opportunities for nutrition education from 1 to sixth grade with um shape teachers shape teachers are teachers
133who have decided that they want to incorporate nutrition education curriculum into their um lessons we currently have 404 teacher elementary teachers in the district which reaches about 10,000 students um I have to thank the board for your continued support in providing um the funds to support the transportation of these students onto field trips I was very excited this afternoon when I was standing over there during the El Grove area presentation I think three schools talked about the field trip coming to the nutrition center so it does make an impact especially when it's harder to get on field trips to be able to come and do one of the nutrition services field trips first and third graders come to the Central Kitchen they get a tour the Central Kitchen they get a nutrition nutrition lesson and
134they get to taste test foods that we are looking to put on our menu second grade gets a School site tour at their own School site how food gets made at their site and how it gets distributed and a taste test fourth graders we send to a farm tour fifth graders get to go to the grocery store and learn how to walk a grocery store without just going straight to Captain Crunch and then uh sixth graders get to go to the El Gro food bank to see community and the importance of food in our community and to learn about food um scarcity and insecurity we also have other opportunities for nutrition education where we do Harvest of the month we have teachers throughout the district who get um samples each month of a harvest that
135we bring in they either get a taste test or they get a make a recipe out of and then there's quite a few schools in the district that sixth graders get to participate in junior Chef where they actually do Hands-On knife knife skills and cooking and that recipe they can go home and cook with Mom and Dad or parents and family that brings us to Federal program so in order to do all of this we have to meet federal guidelines all of our meals have to be whole grain we are required to have fruit and vegetables on our menus and in order for a meal to be reimbursable a child must take a half a cup of fruit or vegetable in the vegetable Arena we have to meet subgroups throughout the week we monitor calories
136saturated fats and sodium and I will tell you when I talk to students the biggest feedback I get is we need more salt I always have to tell them I can't give you more salt and it's going to get even less soon um the new requirements USDA is going to start implementing sugar requirements in July of this year we will have to meet the high sugar products we're already almost there our me our flavored milk already meets the sugar requirement our yogurt already meets the sugar requirement cereal is the one and we don't currently use any really High uh sugar cereals but the level that they want to get us to um we're still working on cereal um by 20127 we will have to have a weekly um limit for added sugar in our menu
137and that is added sugar not natural sugar um and then the other one is like I just said about sodium they are USDA is going to reduce sodium again which is very difficult sometimes because in retail where our children consume a lot of their food they're used to a specific flavor profile or um flavor so we are working hard behind the scenes to come up with seasonings and other Alternatives not artificial Alternatives but using fresh herbs and or different seasoning profiles that can maybe give a pop of flavor without the sodium to kind of mask that that doesn't have salt okay my biggest thing is that it's not nutrition unless it's eaten I can have the most beautiful food and they don't eat it and they throw it away then it's not really doing anyone
138any good and so how do we get children to consume our food when we have some things that they're not accustomed to eating like whole grains low sodium fruits and vegetables they're not experienced with and that is through student engagement um taste tests opening them up to new ideas I talked about nutrition education at elementary we also do nutrition nutrition education at secondary just not in the same level level um here are some pictures at Floren High we did a collective action day we bring number of Partners in to communicate about healthy eating sustainability environmental friendliness all of those things the other thing is bringing Stu bringing things to students that they want you see two pictures here we just opened our first barbecue at Floren High School and we're looking at this to see
139if this is something we can expand to other schools and then when elk grve high was going through the full modernization we needed new points of service so getting an EV unit that we can move around campus and take the meals to where the kids are the other part is just having fresh quality products in front of them so whether it's Garden bars salsa bars salad bars it's having those fresh ingredients and then our focus on plant-based so that we can reach many students in their dietary needs and how do we get it done well I always come here and talk about my staff I obviously not feed 47,000 people a day on my own it is all to my staff I have an entire team of school lunch Heroes um and they are the
140ones on the front lines who go every morning early in the morning to make sure breakfast is ready for all the students who are coming through and who work all during the day in hot environments to make sure that Lunch is ready or supper is ready for the students when they come through little bit about Labor and how Labor Works in school food Serv service so all of the labor and benefit costs are paid for out of the cafeteria fund which is also referred to as fund 13 and those are restricted dollars that can only be used for school Food Service the cafeteria fund has the same costs for health and benefits and pers rate increases is the general fund and our big Focus right now is building staff capacity and addressing staffing needs as
141we see an increase in meal counts we want to make sure that we can continue to move fresh um scratch cooking forward but we need to make sure that we're training our staff we have the right number of Staff um and still make sure that we are paying close attention to cost we look at all of our positions as they open up anytime we have an open position we determine if it's still necessary if we need to move it around how we're going to fill it how we make it stronger or and then my employee flexibility as I've always said I have a great great team and they'll do whatever we need to do to make sure that kids are fed couple other things I talked about one of our other strategic goals is we
142need to move our department forward into the next 30 Years um our Central Kitchen opened in 1994 95 I'm sorry so we're at the 30-year Mark and I need to make sure it works for the next 30 years as we in start adding more schools on and so I thank the board for the funds that you provided to help us with our modernization um we are almost done with the modernization we have one last component um but currently we've added two new additional fullscale Bakery Ovens that gives us a total of four we've upgraded all the large systems in our on in our facility we've created an old space and turned it into a new training and Test Kitchen and then we were able to fund new bakery equipment at our school sites we are
143not forgetting them we've replaced eight walk-in refrigerators we're adding new equ ovens reachin U melt coolers we've been able to do the barbecue and the e point of service and then the little things as well like the small Wares the robus those skill tools that our staff need to do scratch cooking I can't do it all with just my staff either we also have Partnerships um four big partners that we're currently working with number one is Brigade um they are a chef uh program that is going to come in and do a culinary assessment so that we can continue to move forward and then they're going to place a chef in our facility for the next two years to help us with rest recipe development um and taste testing with students to really and training
144our staff chefan Foundation they provide professional development and SK uh skill training to my staff and then I also Mentor new um people who want to get into school food service so junior college students community members um that we that have an interest in school Food Service they'll come and work with us for uh an 11 to 12 week time period and learn about school Food Service the dairy Council has has been a partner for longer than I've been with the district they are a great nutrition education resource professional development and very involved in our District's wellness policy and our newest one is eat real we will be going through a K12 certification program to determine all the great things that we currently do and maybe some potential opportunities for improvement um above and beyond
145what we do for USDA already um I talked just briefly about Wellness under the national school lunch program we are required to have wellness policy this district has always taken that very seriously and not just laid it on the shoulders of Food Services we've always made it a collective um so in this District you may recognize the wellness tree from our district website the district recognizes that healthy bodies and healthy Minds increase academic performance approved attendance and uh positive behaviors and Food Services supports that as well in the things that we do um our wellness policy is board policy 5030 and that wellness policy just has to be guidance on staff and um student and staff Wellness in our district we incorporate everything the whole gamut all eight areas um and it is to help
146Foster both at the site and from a district level every three years we are required as a district to do an assessment of that wellness policy and we're currently in the process of a trianal assessment what that does is we need to look at how we're um messaging and managing our wellness policy with through our collaborative and we need to compare it to a model wellness policy so at this point we have we've assessed it we've taken it to our Wellness collaborative which I forgot to tell you what that is our Wellness collaborative is internal District staff as well as outside external Partners teachers students a board members anyone who wants to participate is welcome to participate anything that we're doing as a district from a Health and Wellness persp perspective we take to the
147collaborative we get feedback from them so the trianal assessment is in that process right now we've had outside members analyze our assess I mean our policy against the model then we took it back to the wellness collaborative on the areas where there's potential um opportunity and got feedback about what the community thinks on that and now we're tying that back together so we'll move that forward to the board at some point um so what we're doing moving forward we're continuing to develop new recipes um refresh we have a lot more refreshing to do as schools are aging it doesn't seem like schools in the 90s are that old but really and truly it is that time as we all know um continuing to build the skills of our staff and figuring out what additional skills
148we need um program assessments and then continuing to implement creative ways to get our children and our parents to understand the great work that the um Food Service staff do on a daily basis and with that I'll open it up to comments or questions thank you very much uh Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on this item Bo president there's no Blue C on this item thank you very much then I will open it to board member questions and we'll start down here with Miss Davis questions Miss Alani thank you for the report I have no questions okay yeah thank you for the presentation I do have um couple questions um and well I start with comment I really like the fact that we are implementing um diverse uh food into our menu
149I do want to dive in a little bit on that regard so can you kind of give me or us a little bit of that uh diverse menu sure so um as we've gone into plant-base we've started we do uh tofu so we do tofu we include Ed Mame we're doing shaa Masala is I heard today from a student it's one of their favorites they eat it as often as it's on the menu um we make our own hummus from scratch we try to change up the menu on a quarterly basis we taste test all of them with students trying to get their feedback um obviously we have a large Asian demographic and that is a popular um food demographic as well um so we do rice bowls we we um with tofu with uh
150edamame we offer one of one of our most popular is the burrito bowl so kids come down almost like a Chipotle Style um and then they get to go down a salsa bar and add their own toppings to it um so there's a variety of different things that we're doing a couple new ones that we're doing when I say diverse that could be any we're doing egg bites that we just taste tested we're doing a plant-based thae product that we're working through right now um we tasted it with the superintendent student advisory I think it was about a week ago um and it's completely plant-based um and then um the newest pizza so I know um superintendent Hoffman got to taste our barbecue Pizza that we did last we're changing it we're going to now
151have hot honey Hawaiian so it'll be ham and pineapple with a hot honey drizzle on it so we are constantly trying to find that flavor profile that's popular in the retail Marketplace and then do it in a healthier more nutrition nutritional dense or nutrient dense I'm sorry more nutrient dense so they don't know they're getting so like all the whole grains you know they don't realize that all of our rice is brown rice well they may because sometimes they tell us it has a funny it's a different taste so we try to educate that because most families aren't eating brown rice at home they're not eating whole grain tortillas um they're not always eating whole wheat Breads and so we're trying to Ed educate that piece as well so yeah I appreciate that I I
152just want to throw uh I'm not an expert but just coming back from Thailand um and ate whole bunch of food there you know the most popular dish was compound okay I will write it down stir stir fry with rice and it's like doesn't matter where you go that dish is always there and uh I think with the diverse student population here um I think would love that so but I appreciate the the um increase of uh diverse food on our menu appreciate it thank you thank you Miss chin um I have no questions just thank you for showing all the incredible work that food and nutrition services does I was at the taste test last week um and I remember the elementary fuel trips to the factory and the grocery store and it they
153were great experiences so I'm glad that we're still doing that and yeah thank you so much thank you Miss ballerini Michelle I just want to say I never got to say thank you for all the hard work that you did during the pandemic you're your team was phenomenal I could always you were out there smoke you know fires everything I'm like oh my goodness and I and as as president of the Union before and I'm sure Diane can attest you are so good at your point this and point that and and making a full FTE any any chance you could get and I just I just think that's wonderful and um and uh I do have a question um how does if there's teachers out there listening that want to get involved with the shape
154program how do they sign up for that we send out information during uh probably towards the end of the school year okay so there are orientations that they need to attend if they're interested um and then from there if they're a new teacher once they do the orientation then they come in to do a class and we go from there okay if they really want to know they can reach out to me and I'll direct them all right and um for the field trips you were saying specific age levels or grade levels actually um what if you're pretty sure that a certain school's not doing them on like like the years you're saying um how how can I get that started um we have a a good participation rate on field trips but if there
155was a concern like I I'll use fourth grade for right now the farm that we were using for fourth grade we've had to hold um because the federal Finance the federal funding got pulled with the recent Administration and so that farm is not getting their grant funding and so we can't send students there because they can't pay staff to do them so when things like that happen we'll work through and try to find a new alternative option for them we' had a couple of times where that kind of stuff has happened if it's just that a school doesn't have a high participation rate um we we could reach out to that school and see if there's teachers who just you know we get busy every day and that doesn't isn't a priority that we can
156help make it a priority or the board member could go and ask the question and that's maybe what will happen um but the farm one I went I went on that field trip and that was a really great field I learned a lot yep uh just craziness um it it was great and they had not only were it was a dairy farm but it was also they were growing all kinds of of vegetables and fruits and stuff and it was interesting because there were a lot of retired teachers that actually worked the farm I recognized a few of them one from Franklin and and a couple other schools it was it was interesting I'm like I know you is that the one on Franklin boulev yeah so that's a little bit of a different one
157they I don't want to confuse that they have funding but that is a great tour not through Food Services but yes oh so that's not through Food Services no that one is not we go to fiery Ginger Farms but that is a great tour um they can't accommodate us we're too big they were having trouble well they're very limited on their their dosin and how much they can do we have partnered with them um to try and get field trips to their for food and nutrition services but we have too many teachers to send through and they can't accommodate but we'll continue to work on that one because that is a great field trip as well okay all right um and last one you you converted the cafe at Gerber to do Test Kitchen what's
158happening with our Cafe I don't have an answer for that right now do you have I mean have has any discussion happened that that um any ideas about it we're still in conversation as to the use of the facility okay I get it okay all right I just was wondering yeah and I Miss Nina so there's that we all do all right that's all I have thank you for all your hard work and all you FNS workers out there it's amazing oh wait one more thing when I when I was out walking in the campaign in the Miwok area yep I don't know if you remember Donna Neely uhhuh there's a street named after her out there oh very cool it was very very cool I knew her very cool just so you know I
159didn't know that there you go very nice thank you thank you Miss uh I just wanted to thank you for the presentation so that I I learned a lot and I really appreciate all the work you do and uh you know I love to learn that we are providing local produce to our um to our students and all those good things um and I would definitely be interested in taking a tour of your central kitchen so I'll be in touch thank you so much thank you Miss bwin I sentiment shared here amazing I love this presentation it's um I have so much to share with my children when I get home um but I do I do love that all knowing this information because I have very picky eaters at home and often times I
160find that when they're at school they're more you know you know adventurous and willing to try Foods because they see their peers and it's a community um activity and so I just love the work that um your area is doing I do have a couple questions um I love the your connection here to Wellness and I'm curious um cuz I know my daughter's school she has mentioned that um it's very difficult to get in to get food and so often times the students will just not you know attempt to go through the lunch lines because it's just not enough time during the Lunch Period and then it takes forever to get your she says that they're literally standing in lying basically until the Lunch Period ends and then they're trying to scarf their food down
161so not that I think that you can address that issue but I'm curious in terms of Wellness like how are we looking at that because I think it's really important like I agree with you it's not nutrition unless the kids are eating it and if they're able to eat it so we we I have not done one recently but we've done line studies where we'll monitor how long it takes a student to get through line it's like Disneyland you know when you go and you're like oh that line it's going to take forever but it really takes 8 to 10 minutes sometimes and so often times it's the perception of oh do I have to get in that line and our our children My Two children went through lagona Creek I understand completely um that
162that vision of the line or I don't want to walk all the way across campus so what we are trying to do is expand so the next thing we're working on is carts so um lagona is actually one of them that we're looking at the pleasant grow lagona we're looking at all the high schools on how we can move food out to a place that they're closer to so if they don't want to get in line um opening more points of service so that's as we see meal counts continue to increase um having to put staff there so that we can serve and open more points of service so I'll use Co because it's fresh in my head um prior to the pandemic we were serving 650 to 700 students at lunch and now we're
163serving a, to 1100 every day and so that requires more hands to be able to provide that Pro that product and then as we do fresh product it also requires hands to serve it um and so it's constantly looking at those things and saying how do we what opportunities do we have to do better so carts is one we're looking at right now um so whether it's the EV cart we're looking at vending machines potentially um we're looking at a school to possibly pilot vending machines when they only have one lunch um I would say for my own two cents is that we don't do one lunch as much as possible um because when we have so many kids at one time it is difficult to get them through as quickly as we would like
164um but but looking at vending machines and what those options are that would be a reimbursable meal they would type in their ID number the full meal would come out they could get it when they're across campus instead of having to come all the way to the cafeteria spread students out those kinds of things so we are looking at some of those things right now thank you and then um you don't have to answer this now but it would be interested to hear and learn a little bit more about um what food and nutrition is doing regarding the waste um I didn't see that in today's presentation and not that it supposed to be here but it would just be good to kind of have an understanding about that and um I think it would
165be really educational I think for the community to know as well so I'll give you some what we're doing to some extent so at elementary along with the organic waste sort that is going on um we have started recovering waste so children have to take a full meal they have to take three components of those three we offer five of those three one of them has to be a half cup of fruit or vegetable what I see mainly on our share carts we have share carts in the MP room that if a student doesn't want to eat something they're welcome to put it on the share cart for someone else what we find and I hate to see this is just piles of fresh fruits and vegetables I know what it took to get that
166fruit here whether it was growing that fresh peach to get it all the way we try to Market to students to save that and eat it later but if you're going to put it on the share cart and so now we're recovering that and tracking that um and putting it back into the into our system we are also piloting um share cart equipment that looks nicer that is more presentable hoping just to continue to you know give it a there is some amount of waste that just comes from being in food service when it comes to offering choice and so with my teams we do monitor waste we work with our staff to understand that with you you know you wanted to have some choices left at the towards the end of lunch and if
167you had 10 of something how did you make that adjustment the next day so that you're not throwing away 10 again or how are there items that we can hold back or we batch cook for instance cook in between lunches when that's an opportunity so we're always constantly looking at ways to reduce waste I will say the biggest thing I see on share carts though is milk and fresh fruits and vegetables and so again us also looking at how we Market what a meal is and start incorporating more fruits and vegetables into the meal that we can account for it so we currently we I'll give an example we may do a beautiful salad right but we don't account for that lettuce as that towards the half cup um we have them take the salad
168and then take another because it's it's better for our cashiers but it might be um that we start counting things like that so they don't have to take another fruit and vegetable and that doesn't end up as waste so we we are constantly looking at ways to improve improve waste we do know that's an issue thank you very much I have nothing to add I appreciate it as always all right have a great evening all right next up is our facilities planning and operational update Dr coats all right right well good evening before I get started I just want to say Michelle Drake is known as the OG in Northern California for food services and that is why uh districts seek her out for information how she process it not just for the technical skills
169that she has running a central kitchen or Food Service program but just the natural leadership style that she has so [Music] [Applause] she's got what 15 20 more years 30 30 gotcha almost 24 in so you too yeah um well we have another exciting presentation um facilities uh planning operational update tonight uh subel or chief facilities officer unfortunately could not be with us tonight however we do have Hannah Dayton you've seen her her once before she is our relatively new director of planning so I wanted to officially introduce her um we also have Bill Haron who's hiding in the back uh in a suit by the way and um and so this is a different facilities presentation than we've done in the fast in the past typically we talked strictly about facilities and projects but
170we wanted to share a little bit about um like first facilities and then also the maintenance of those facilities and so those two things work really closely together but they're not exactly the same thing um and then we're going to cap off this presentation with our financial advisers we've got Keith Weaver and Lori reneer in the back they're going to come up here uh towards the end and talk to us all about measure end so we'll go ahead and get started uh so school facilities and school maintenance what it takes to not just create facilities but maintain them once we have them the uh numerous Department partners and agencies we're going to walk through uh compliance example uh remind everyone of the longrange facility master plan that we went through last year um some key
171findings from it that are still guiding our work and then Hannah's going to talk to us about exciting um accomplishments for measure M which we're still wrapping up in this calendar year and then summer projects as we look ahead um new develop velopment and planning we do have four new schools that we're working on actively in the next uh 10 years and then again we'll have um our partners with government financial services up talking about measure n and what our next steps are so just really basic I'm not going to read everything but what our school facilities they truly are the infrastructure and spaces that support our education including all of our buildings our classrooms our restrooms parking lots playgrounds Etc um they Encompass what we call the building envelope our HVAC our electrical our
172plumbing in our security and those really come first when we do facilities projects we make sure that we have the B everything tight on the envelope of the building the outside of the building so then we can go in the classrooms and and Spruce those up they include planning construction renovation um of the school buildings and then maintenance once those buildings and those spaces are are built then we have maintenance focusing on the upkeep and repair of the school to make sure that they are safe functional and clean um they include routine tasks like cleaning leaks um the HVAC systems of course Landscaping um and it really is to make sure that we extend the life of any of these facilities for as long as possible so it's not just these two departments that really
173make everything happen it is a robust team and everyone's involved so uh in El Grove we have facility and planning we have maintenance and operations technology Services is involved in almost every single new construction modernization uh site modification project that we're doing purchasing and Warehouse risk management fiscal Services we can't do any of this if they if the funding isn't there and then we do a lot with our College and Career departments and special education because of the Specialties that uh exist with the types of buildings and spaces that they need to serve um a particular population we also have external partners and this is something that's unique to facilities departments in school districts so we have kind of a smaller internal team but we have a wide group of Partners so uh legal council
174specific two facilities uh Financial Services you'll meet this um great team tonight environmental Consultants Architects contractors Engineers testing Labs inspection services and hazardous materials it wouldn't be prudent for us to have all of these people like directly on our staff and so we contract out we go through competitive process and we do that about every 3 to five years depending on what that is so um I won't list all of these These are many of the agencies not all it's not comprehensive of who provides oversight when we build facilities so naturally it's schools and hospitals that have more oversight and regulation than really any other type of construction it's our most precious commodity and so it makes sense that that uh is so and so why is that Safety and Security of regulations we've got
175strict fire codes earthquake standards here living in California emergency evacuation plans uh we have accessibility requirements or ADA compliance um particular environment mental and health standards uh and because of all of the multiple agencies I showed up on the previous slide we have a longer approval and inspection process so really it's 18 months of planning uh for an elementary school often it's longer than that for a middle school or a high school and then um and then there's the build so just to get through all of those agencies in those process um and then we work with all of our departments our tech services and our maintenance to ensure that we have long-term durability and uh maintenance planning and so um all of these go into consideration kind of slow down the process of school
176facilities when it takes it feels like it takes forever sometimes you don't get to always know what's going on behind the scenes okay so we are going to dive deep into a uh an example of code just um what often comes up and understandably so is the experience students have on campus with restrooms we have um uh short but compliant passing periods and so there's not a whole lot of time and we have um uh many students and many staff on campuses and so um this has come up but it's a great example for people to understand how the compliance aspect works and it's different than once the building is is made then maintenance maintains it and then and those are the easy Parts the hard part is actually like the implementation of it on
177a day-to-day basis uh and we'll get into that uh at an upcoming board meeting not as much tonight but let's talk about toilet ratios um for just a minute thank you for obliging me the ratio count for to toilets is outlined in California plumbing code it's a comp code uh that uh really needs to be read by a plumber contractors people who really know this and it's enforced by the California Department of Education or CDE and so what they're looking at and what CDE has attempted to do is simplify the very complicated plumbing code into a userfriendly web page with ratios and so what that what that tells us is how many toilets how many lab atories or sinks um and how many drinking fountains uh a school building must have to maintain a ratio
178of fixtures to people when building a school and so that is the general kind of rule of like the toilet ratio a school cannot be built CDE will not will not allow us to build a school if we do not meet those ratios outlined in plumbing code and plumbing code changes over time so what you're see seeing on the slide in the table is the codes that are incorporating 2013 16 and 19 editions but you can see in the top right corner 2022 is also there so we can't change the ratio every single time the plumbing code is updated but and so schools are are examined based on the code at the time the school was built um so you can see the ratios um for toilets and urinal so those get combined for um
179males and then you can see for females so California code of regulations Title Five a a different code um actually requires toilets for our youngest students kindergarten students uh Pro be provided either in the classroom or within the complex for the line of vision when you're supervising and they should be mounted at a varying height that's appropriate for student use so just big picture there's a lot of codes and compliance that come into um how do bathrooms get situated in a school and we have to look at the the size of the bodies from high school to um to our youngest Learners on campus our preschoolers and our transitional kindergarten students so um what I will say is when we're looking at the design of where uh uh toilets or fixtures are going to go
180uh that is first Guided by our education specifications which we're going to get into in just a minute um we take a look at student growth over time to make sure that we still have um bathrooms as we add programs so for example uh we've had schools that have added a CTE program and when that happened we added bathrooms to go along with that knowing that that population was going to increase um when we are in the planning of building a school we are looking and having conversations with our um our Architects and we're looking at traffic flow what's the passing that students are going to be walking by in class and where are they going to be so so bathroom placement is intentional and thoughtful as we go through that so there is a
181superior court case uh famously known as the Williams case and we'll come and Report we'll report on instructional materials and we'll report on um our school facility conditions that's an annual basis um designed to provide all students equal access to uh instructional materials quality teachers and safe schools so so in the guise I wanted to bring the Williams case up because when we're talking about safe schools through this lens we're talking about the adequacy of school facilities including any needed maintenance to ensure good repair so once we get the facility built and we have students on it it's when bill and his team come in and they are the ones that are helping us and responsible for um the repair of school facilities and making sure that we are compliant with the Williams Act and
182while only certain select schools are um technically Williams we really consider all of our schools Williams Because all of them should have the the basic space but you can see the areas reviewed annually um restrooms becomes one of that and this is a tool on the right it's developed by the state of California and this is covered by the um Sacramento County Office of Education so we have between all of the state agents agencies we have Education Code we have various building and plumbing codes we have the county office uh and we have places like Department of General services and division of State architect that are really telling us and dictating how we do and how we build when we're talking about facilities so continuing on with the Williams example um part of the fit
183the facility inspection tool developed Again by the state of California um you can see on the right with those bullets the examples of compliance from their form say Okay restrooms are maintained and cleaned regularly they're fully operational restrooms are stocked with toilet paper menstrual products soap and paper towels and that they're open during school hours so we do have assembly bills and Senate bills that um that dictate and require that we are stocking menstrual products um in all of our bathrooms and so the team as these have come into law has made sure that in our bathrooms and I I want we're human right so we're not perfect but we have put processes and protocols in place to make sure that we're compliant with any law or code um so that's one and then to
184create a safe space for students and so these are just examples of what you would see walking into one of our student bathrooms there's signage that's required through assembly Bill 367 um and that's an example off of one of our signs and then what you see at the bottom which I don't expect you to read those are all of the items that the custodians should be going in every single day to to stock and and just like if you were at a fast food restaurant you see it on the back of the of the door has that been done when has that been done so um so again um these are the checklists that we've uh implemented to try to implement the compliance pieces that come our way other factors um that we consider with
185facilities really come from The Voice here of the community and um the board so I want to share a brief reminder of our facility master plan I won't go into the full process we got a lot of that last year um we also and the facility process is our our facility master plan is our 10-year road map of what's to come and it really takes um facilities that are current uh we did a facility condition assessment and that really kind of is like the white glove it looks at everything um and then we did a lot of input surveys um uh night forums um uh committee meetings to understand what um um what do people need and want uh to create a better um a safe warm dry and good teaching environment uh we do
186have uh design standards that um our facilities team works with our maintenance and landscaping or grounds teams to so when we build a school we're making sure that our plants are maintainable um drought resistant that um the flooring is easy to maintain if there's a stain um everyone got their Lids on their cups okay just checking um but really those are for durability and then the ease of M maintenance and then in 2019 uh the team went through a comprehensive process for Education specifications and that is the first thing that we go to um because it really outlines what our what the vision is um um for what an elementary school is what a middle school is what does um what does a CTE classroom look like so um those are great documents that're available
187on our website I will say 2019 doesn't feel that far away but so much has changed since 2019 so so I think that's maybe something that we'll look into the future do those Ed specifications um still meet the needs and and we'll show an example of an opportunity that's coming up to take a look at those um I talked about this mostly and so um I think the the idea is that in this um facility's master plan it really should Encompass what the vision for um for our school facilities are for the next 10 years um as a recap uh so good reason why we talk about um uh toilets as code it comes up quite a bit and it was the number one um identified Improvement need in the uh facility master plan um
188you also see restrooms um drop off areas reducing overcrowding and adding Performing Art Center so as we take a look at the needs in the master plan soon we're going to get into measure n and how we work through the I needs identified in the new master plan and how those start to turn into projects aligned to um the voice and the um conditions of our current facilities for now I'm going to turn it over to Hannah she's going to talk about some upcoming projects uh measure M and then we'll get into development and planning good evening thank you Bor it's only been a few months but I feel like so much is going on in elgrove and I'm really excited because I get to be the one reporting it out to you all um
189so just to cap on what Kristen said the planning and development piece of any sort of construction project it is an 18mon to two-year time frame so although we're going to report out on current and upcoming projects I kid you not we have done a lot of things behind the scenes before we're even putting shovels in the ground so just to highlight some of them our facilities team is currently working on the elk grve High School they've done the completion of the CTE a facilities the waight room the qua the removal of Portables parking area and Valley Oak Street Frontage that's all actually getting completed this coming summer we have lagona Creek in Sheldon high school they're doing elevator improvements and classroom upgrades some of the classroom upgrades include paint carpet miscellaneous interior finishes we
190have Kerr Middle School construction of new classrooms for math art wood shop and special ed forign High School we've done two um we we started on the envelope lope of floring high school with the exterior we've done HVAC Roofing skylights paint and parking lot improvements and now we're going to begin the interior work which is the carpet the paint the ceiling tiles and miscellaneous finishes as well we have elementary school classroom upgrades which include those interior upgrades the carpet the finishes the ceiling tiles the paint we also have portable building placement happening um this summer as well we have Valley High School welcome center and some parking improvements and then we also have thanks to the expanded learning opportunities program we have Portables going on at a couple of our elementary school sites as well
191okay measure M accomplishments thanks to the community um measure M allowed us to modernize facilities at 24 elementary schools three middle schools four high schools adult education and the trig Center we've also installed 2,200 plus cameras at all schools throughout the district and installed sheet structures at all the schools throughout the district we've also done improvements on the turf and tracks by practice fields with lights and scoreboards resurface Stadium fields and tracks and upgraded to LED lighting we've also done exterior painting for 35 schools and we've done roofing for 2,700,000 square fet of roofing installed if you can imagine that's about 47 football fields so that's a lot of area that we've touched continuing to work through measure M we have a lot of upcoming projects still um and I'm just going to highlight a
192few of them because there's a lot going on we have fire alarm Replacements Paving Replacements tennis court Replacements lighting upgrades from fluorescent to LEDs and I can't go without mentioning the vapa funded Grant um which also encompasses lighting upgrades AV upgrades dance floors stage curtain replac ments kils and other improvements at elementary schools middle schools and high schools in addition to all of this work going on throughout your District we also are planning for two new elementary schools so to help with the capacity going on right now over in the Sunrise Elementary School and the current development going on we have Grant Lane 208 breaking ground next week so that is um you guys are going to get invitation if you haven't already March 12th is when we're actually starting which is around the corner
193and we are planning to open that July of 2026 so that's going to help with the sunrise um growth and it's going to help with all that development that's going on as well in addition we have a second elementary school already in the works of planning um South El Elk Grove also known known as Arbor Ranch um that is due to the development going on over at Arbor Ranch and Believe It or Not Miwok is already filling that load with a capacity from all that growth and development so we're going to help release some of that growth over there once we open up Arbor Ranch now like uh Kristen said it takes a long time to plan a school and to build a school but we have an amazing facility staff here at El Grove
194and we are just overachievers and we are going to accelerate that construction and planning schedule the best that we can and try to open it July of 2027 but most likely probably July of 2028 depending on how our timeline basically Falls okay and then in addition to the elementary schools we also have a wonderful Middle School and High School planning in the works as well so we are still in the planning process with moving forward on the development of sun Creek Middle School and High School our assumption on the timeline shown up there on the graph is based on our current data so as you can see we're starting the planning for 25 26 school year so this coming um summer we're going to start hopefully reaching out to the community and we can start
195planning stakeholder meetings and continue programming for sun Creek middle school and high school and if that wasn't enough thanks to the community we passed measure in and so I'm going to have pass it back over to Kristen to talk about up upcoming projects for measure n great thank you I'm going to go back uh to the Middle High School just briefly um because we are because the Middle High School takes a little bit longer and this is where we want to take a look at our Ed specifications that I had mentioned earlier before we break ground and really get all of our school plans into the division of State architect we want to make sure that um that those plans are still conducive to what we want those schools to be and so um as
196we've said multiple times um we we build the school when the kids are there we do believe we are on time with the timeline that's presented here this is the same timeline that was presented last March it would be a phased approach uh with this targeting transition grades right so students that are coming from sixth grade and going into seventh grade to to make it as minimally disruptive to students who um might already be in another school so potentially looking at 7 8th and 9th uh tentatively and just like Hannah said um we are getting ready for measure n um really diving deep into that facility master plan reacquainting uh even though it was not that long ago reacquainting with all of the um the projects and the identified needs and we really take a
197look at schools um with with uh health and safety issues first and schools that are eligible for modernization dollars so money that's coming um from the state to maximize our our dollars and so that is the project prioritization process it's an ongoing process um and then Cash Cash matters um and so making sure that we have as many of those dollars to match in what we call Braid funds bring sour different sources together um to make the dollars go further before I bring our financial advisors up because that presentation is quite different and it does get into um interest rates and assess valuation we'll pause here on any of the happenings uh any of the reportings um from kind of facilities and maintenance um the team projects pausing now for questions okay you want to
198take all questions on this particular presentation now and then okay so board members this is your shot on this presentation so I'm going to start over here Miss Davis uh yeah let's do that hold on Miss Davis hold on one second um Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on this item board President we have do we do have one blue card right then let's um who's the calling Charlotte Charlotte did you want to speak on this part of the presentation or the next part okay come on up a great presentation I learned a lot um so to the toilet ratios are those all opened are they supposed to be open during school hours you you as You're Building there's supposed to be so many um so I have I have taken a survey
199from high school students at Elk grve High School old bathrooms have minimal privacy the gaps are large the St stalls and they latch on the doors are broken they don't stay closed um many high schools only one or two bathrooms are open at lunch so it's very overcrowded bathrooms are extremely crowded during passing period so 15 to 25 people are in the bathrooms that needs to be looked at and teachers are getting upset at the students because they don't use the bathroom during passing period but they can't because there's so many kids in there um bathrooms are used for Vaping smoking and students making out in the Stalls what's going to be done about that uh the new build one of the new buildings at elgrove high all the bathrooms were closed on the second
200floor that's a little disgusting and it's usually only the open bathrooms are open across the campus and they only have 10 minutes and so with this lovely app that you all have um the kids have to check out to go to the restroom but yet their phones are in in the pockets and then they have to run to the bathroom and then come back and turn off their phone that's the five star app that I really think you guys need to look at so again just talking to all of those students oh El grve High has mice in the locker rooms I think that needs to be helped bats in some of the bathrooms at elro high I think that needs to be looked at that's a health issue um just many of these parents
201are complaining about the vaping the smoking of weed the students are complaining because they go into the bathrooms and they can't breathe because all of this is happening and it's usually because there's only one or two bathrooms open on campus so I challenge the district let's close all the bathrooms upstairs and see how you guys feel thanks thank you board president that ends the blue card on this item excellent thank you uh Miss Davis sorry to interrupt well I'd like to thank um the maintenance department because as a secretary when I would call for help they always showed up really quickly and we needed that um I do have a couple questions didn't realize I had this much interest in bathrooms but your presentation um it did come up that the TK kindergarten bathrooms are
202always located or supposed to be located in the kindergarten area or close with appropriate size but we do have schools where kindergarteners and TKS are sharing bathrooms with fifth and sixth graders I'm wondering are we addressing that or relocating um to accommodate that because that is a pretty wide age Gap to send Littles to bathrooms with bigger kids so we we will look at that if that's happening I um the the rapid expansion of TK has been interesting and um and and you'll hear in the upcoming presentation our fiscal presentation about potential ongoing dollars to um fully fund the implementation of transitional kindergarten because we have not been fully funded for that um there's a a staffing cost and there's a facility cost so um I would need more information to better respond to your
203question okay um also our school hours including the after school programs because I know at a lot of the elementary schools they start cleaning the bathrooms right after school's dismissed and they do lock those bathrooms once they're cleaned do what is the definition of school hours is it when school's dismissed or when all the children leave the campus I I I would say that what is I'm going to speculate and then I think we can follow up um next time when we talk about kind of the supervision and address a lot of the comments that come up um but I suspect after school just to make sure that our custodian can run the routes they do have to lock particular areas uh of the campus that really aren't occupied or being used and it that's
204different depending on if you're at an elementary campus versus a high school and so we would have to take a look at what programs are are currently in use and where the restrooms are After School dismissal Bell okay thank you and I do know the answer to this but I I don't know if everybody does how often do custodians check the bathroom during the day every two hours and I don't know if people realize that they're checked that often and cleaned and restocked so I wanted to bring attention to that I I do have one um issue that was brought to my attent well I experienced it myself while I was visiting a school and that's at Floren Elementary um during the rain and the drainage I was walking I had to walk through puddles
205that I left with wet socks so I can't imagine the kids going through that every day and uh teachers holding umbrellas to stop the Overflow rain from soaking the kids is that something that we have on our list because I didn't see Flor and Elementary on the list for any upgrades or improvements so the list that we saw today were ones that are going to be active this summer with the final measure M dollars and what we'll do is we'll take the once we figure out the timing of measure n we'll take a look at those needs so um globally restrooms came up so the modernization of current restrooms to increase privacy accessibility those will definitely be looked at and planned as we go forward with measure n and then site by site our facility
206master plan has top priorities we have Priority One and priority two for each of those schools and so we would take a look at Floren to say where are they with PRI um with their priorities and then where are they with the eligibility for modernization dollars and and and plan the projects accordingly okay if I could get more information on that out at a different time that would be great thank you thank you though and thank you Bill for all the hard work you guys do thank you Miss Alani thank you for the presentation I don't have any questions thank you miss anything um thank you for the presentation as well I just um want to touch on the fact that um we paint a whole bunch of school facility that's great so thank you
207um a paint job could really shine um a building or the whole school um I do have a question regarding Valley High um you guys mentioned about it will um the parking lot will get renovated um I'm just curious if we are going to do anything with the uh entr way as far as uh making it more welcoming um I don't know the details of that we can look into that but yeah the team will look into that I usually that it's pretty comprehensive of what they take a look you're talking about the curb appeal yeah yeah yeah and for the safety as well I I don't know um if you guys um uh drove to valleyin but uh yeah the the entrance to the school it it's not safe and it's it's not welcoming
208um so I have spoke um on this item before and also spoke to uh valide principal um but I just haven't got the latest so okay yeah I'll be I'll be interested to hear back from you um see what's uh in the plan okay we've talked about it too and you know one of the things he's talking about is the main entrance the way you go into the main entrance and then it's it's kind of an odd with whether you go left whether you go right and um and Floren High School parking lot was was similar and so we we've done a a significant upgrade there so the the flow of the parking lot is part of what they'll be looking at when they when they do that upgrade it's not it's not just repaving
209it exactly the way it is it's actually looking at flow and how it works yeah and my apologies I misunderstood your question not the curb appeal but yes and if Sue Bell were here she'd give you the full detail uh it actually slowed the project down a little bit because we had to get um architects in to take a look at removing some of the structures that are at Valley and so yes that is definitely part of the design yeah I would like to hear uh detail about that so I appreciate a phone call or something thank you appreciate it thank you Miss chin I have no questions thank you for the presentation thank you Miss ballerini okay I guess I want to know a lot about bathrooms too um the question I have is
210I see that it says all GR and staff so how do they figure out how many staff that are male and female to get these numbers it's confusing to me know they make assumptions okay right so um typically when they're building out of school they'll do a 50/50 split and um and then they'll tailor that sorry yeah we we'll plan so codes and compliance with the state would go off a square footage so they will estimate a number of bathrooms that we'll use and we'll also have to comply with the California Department of Education so we are making our best judgment and assumptions based on the enrollment and growth that we're going to put into that School site but knowing that um there might be a potential or need for restrooms we always plan and
211design for bigger um enrollment growth even though we're not at the max basically even though we're not going to hit that cap until later on or years to come so that's kind of it's kind of your best guess and that's why the planning process takes such a long amount of time because we are going through all those wh ifs in order to try to accommodate you know a couple years from now after we open the school M ballerini just checking was your question related to staff using restrooms kind of how did they know with one thing with staff is we they're often individual so both genders can use the use the same restroom um so there so there's there's opportunities there they're not um so there's there's that's another way to be able to um
212address the the so how many staff for each individual like staff restroom because or is because it doesn't make sense that it's included in this number when they're a separate Standalone restroom for the staff I won't say that the code always makes sense so I'll I'll name that but but superintendent Hoffman's absolutely right most of the staff um it's not every building I'm going to defer to bill here in just a minute knowing that it's not he he's not building it he's maintaining it and knows our campuses pretty well but there's typically a single use staff restroom pretty like frequently throughout the building like every building yeah Bill's GNA come on up and oh good I get to say hi to Bill yeah see you didn't put that suit on for nothing good evening everybody
213um I'm not sure I'm I was trying to follow the question most staff restrooms are single use so how do they know how many staff restrooms to put in at a school when they're building a new school like is it it's just based on the staff number the amount of classrooms the enrollment you know it's kind of like Amari is going to present on the budget and it's like building the budget it's based on the best assumptions at the time so if we look at our education specifications and we say a typical high school has 2200 students some have more some have less depending on uh the year or the area or what's going on in that development and then the facilities and planning team will make assumptions based on that and have that conversation
214in the design process okay and as far as staff are they including classified and certificated yes in the staff okay all right and the next one is how many handicapped or I don't know the what what the term is dis disabled abled access what is it accessible accessible how many accessible like stalls are are they supposed to have at any of the schools I I would have to we would have to get back to you with that but is is that something that's part of this specs okay the single use uh staff restroom should be Ada accessible they should but if you have a student that's you know correct differently abled then that might be an issue okay all right that's that's all I have don't go too far Bill okay thanks thank you Miss
215Moore thank you I do have some questions and comments first I wanted to comment on the facilities piece on um page 20 when you are 19 and 20 I think um see uh you mentioned that we you might be building the new Elementary School in Elo in um 2027 but you might push it back till until 2028 um I I would like to see all of our schools um pushed forward as much as possible um in my own area I just want to share some of the things we're experiencing because we in my opinion we've delayed building schools far too long um I just visited sunrise Elementary this week and um the principal there is amazing first of all but he he is um he's on a year round school robing classrooms trying to make
216do everything he can to make the situation work I believe he has either 1 12200 to 1400 students something crazy and um he is now at the point where he is putting students in his staff break room um so his staff currently do not have a break room and so and and next year um the situation we were so the neighboring school macgarvey is going to take I think 200 students from him um so we're going to have to bust them there um and then the next year is when we're going to have the Grant Line the new Grant Line Elementary School but to me that that's just an example of you know we we need to make sure that we're addressing these needs in time um and then as far as the sun Creek
217Middle School High School um everyone out there wants to know is that school being built on time let me tell you about what's happening right now at Al or I mean uh abani parents are upset about the um traffic situation there um if you they parents are saying if you have a doctor's appointment don't schedule it um within two hours of school getting out because you will not be able to access your child um that's how bad the wait waiting line is there um and then at um our high school there um if you are a sophomore you are not even eligible to get a parking pass and there are 50 almost 50 kids on the wait list um to get a parking pass and just for other board members who don't understand the demographic
218of the students coming to Pleasant Grove High School it's kids out in Rancho Marietta Wilton Rancho Cordova and other surrounding areas so when kids can get a driver's license parents parents are waiting for the day that their kids can get a driver's license so they don't have to send them on the bus so they don't have to carple them so they don't have to drive an hour each way to get their kid to and from school so please do not delay building the schools we need to remember that there are people that our decisions affect and you know we it's it's easy to look at numbers but we need to remember that we serve people and they are they deal with our decisions so I just want to put that out there please and thank
219you um um okay and then one specific concern a parent had I believe um when you were talking about the phased approach for that new school the new middle school high school um I believe in a community meeting I attended last year that we had talked about starting with phasing in grades N9 and 10 here it says grades nine um one parent that's been involved in those conversations wants to push for 9 10 11 and then I know that Miss coat has said that we might possibly open all at once um so I just I just do want to put that out there that I think we should at least push for grades nine and 10 because of the situation that we have where um with our with our neighborhoods being so far away excuse
220me so far away from um you know from that campus from um cams and uh pghs so um that's what that's that's what I'd like to say about facilities I do have a lot to say a lot of questions about restrooms um so I I'll ask my questions first um why do we have closed restrooms at many of our secondary campuses that's no secret so this is where um it's not going to be super helpful um the ratios and the the way we approached the the toilets and the codee compliance this evening is really just that it is about it's a math problem and its numbers and it's based on assumptions and it's a lot easier it's not very perfect but it's a lot easier to build the building and walk away from it and
221let the owners take over and and kind of work through how it is it's like any construction or modernization you might do in your own house like you think it's this and it might be something so I personally can't speak to the opening and closing of bathrooms during the day but I know that's something that um collaboratively as a team we're looking into and will be coming back soon with that'll be that'll be part of the presentation when we do the safety presentation um at the March 11th board meeting we'll be talking about how how we staff and and do do the day-to-day operation of the restrooms um the facility component is specific to the numbers of restrooms and the and the the maintenance work that we're doing but how the how the staff actually
222U um I what the term is right now how they um supervise them and how and how they're actually operational during the day that will be part of the the second part of the presentation okay well I'll be asking that then and also um you know what are the specific reasons which I know what I've been told but I'd love for the public to learn more um so what do you want me to ask this question later too what are the punishments for individuals who Vape in restrooms or vandalized restrooms yes okay um okay why have we converted one student restroom per gender to staff restrooms at Pleasant Grove High School so again I can't speak to the how the daily operations of that but but what we will say is we do we we
223are compliant with every school that we've built and um when there's a bathroom that's been converted uh from a a student to a staff or from a staff to a student that we would go and we'll have to work with our education partners and the site to realign so we remain in compliance with um the code okay because that is one of our most overcrowded schools and so taking away a whole set of restrooms I uh I mean I counted the toilets when I was there and we're not in compliance so that's assuming that we're opening all of them that that we are in compliance who checks that for us we do well I I mean I'll share the toilet counts um but we didn't have enough for our we only have one per 50
224for our female students so that's really concerning to me so we want to share information that you have we can take a look at it but but the but the school wouldn't have been built without having the proper ratios in place but but we can look at information that you have we're happy to take a look at it yes I I understand but the school was built assuming that we would use those bathrooms for students um so we do have they have been converted to staff bathrooms so we need to figure that out um do PE toilets count in your toilet count yes they do okay I just want to point out so that people understand that if students aren't taking PE which I believe is most Junior and senior students they don't have access
225to those toilets and then the other students only have access during their PE time um okay so I would like to encourage all community members and all board members to research the California Department of Education K through2 toilet requirements because within that document there's actually several notes several detailed notes and I would also encourage you to research Education Code 35 292.50 which has requirements related to restrooms one of those requirements says the school shall keep all restrooms open during school hours when pupils are not in classes and shall keep a sufficient number of restrooms open during school hours when peoples are in classes um so if all restrooms are supposed to be open during school hours when pupils are not in classes that means all restrooms should be open when students arrive during their passing
226periods and during lunchtime at a minimum um restrooms have been a concern to me for a long time and I'm not alone uh the survey indic tonight indicated that I've heard concerns from dozens of parents and students in my community staff community members at the board meetings and student board members um in the past that this is an issue and I've recently visited four uh Secondary School and I just want to tell you some of the things that I found there and that I've heard from community members at Smedberg middle school the principal stated that only one set of restrooms is open throughout the day but at lunch he opens the second set of restrooms at Katherine L Alani the principal stated it's challenging for him to keep all bathrooms open with limited campus supervisors
227stating he only has two campus supervisors for his Campus of approximately 1,400 students he stated he requested a third campus supervisor from secondary educ tion but that request has not been fulfilled students parents and staff have reported to me that throughout the day there is only one restroom open per gender and that the other two sets of restrooms are closed throughout the day one teacher even stated that sometimes that there aren't any student restrooms open first thing in the morning which is quite concerning considering the current transportation system requires dropping students off sometimes up to an hour early to wait before the morning classes start at Pleasant Grove High School as I mentioned one set of restrooms has been converted to staff restrooms as we all know pghs is overcrowded yet we have taken away
228six toilets from the female students there and three toilets and three journals for from our male students Additionally the principal stated that only one set of restrooms is open firstly in the morning due to campus supervisor availability um and then many students and parents have reported random closures of restrooms throughout the campus making it difficult to know which restroom is open during their limited 5 minute passing period um and if they do find the magic open restroom there will be a line sometimes so long that students must choose either to be late to class or to delay using the restroom which becomes a student health and safety issue um and as I mentioned I did a toilet count um I'm happy to provide that um to Mr Hoffman and he can do with it what
229he'd like um at Sheldon the principal mentioned that there's issues with congregating which I believe was mentioned in a public comment and she said that makes uh kids feel uncomfortable so they often don't use the bathroom um so when we are closing restrooms around campus not only are we in violation of CDE toilet requirements but we are also not in compliance with the notes within those requirements that I mentioned that indicate restrooms must be dispersed throughout campus to ensure access it says in applying the schedule of facilities considerations shall be given to the accessibility of the fixtures Conformity purely on a numerical basis may not result in installation suited to the needs of the individual establishment for example school should be provided with toilet facilities on each floor having classrooms um so it doesn't make
230sense on huge campuses to only have one restroom open and kids have a f- minute passing period to try to run to one location um and then the limited um restroom availability also causes issues with restrooms being clean and properly supplied as you can imagine this is a natural result from hundreds of students trying to share one restroom this causes a violation of Education Code 35 292.50 which states every restroom shall at all times be maintained and cleaned regularly fully operational and stocked at all times with toilet paper soap and paper towels or functioning hand dryers um additional notes say Please be aware these are minimum requirements more fixtures or toilet rooms may be required to adequately serve students and staff in some facility layouts toilets are to be provided based on the population of
231each gender at each School site as new facilities with additional students and staff are added including Portables additional toilet facilities should be added to meet building code requirements it does say a school May temporarily close a restroom as necessary for three reasons uh for a documented pupil safety concern for an immediate threat to pupil safety or to repair the facility and Education Code 35292 States the governing board of any District shall visit each School in its District at least once each term and examine carefully into the management needs and conditions of schools um so I that's what I that's what I'm doing and that's why I counted the toilets at pghs um and so I fully intend to examine to do that to examine their needs and I hope that the District staff can be
232honest with us because this is not a this is clearly not a new issue as I mentioned um we have students checking out of school to go to the restroom uh I've heard that from multiple parents uh I've also heard that girls are leaking through their pants menstrating girls um because of this issue and other issues I'm going to be discussing in safety that are related and that is not okay um girls should never be put in that situation because we don't provide adequate facilities to them having Camp bathrooms on campus is one thing but if they are not open they we violate all sorts of Education codes and requirements and it is becomes a huge health and safety issue it's a basic right for students to be able to access the bathroom and it's
233something that we need to address and um and at the end of the day these are these are students they Des like I said they deserve to have access to um the restrooms and it's our job to provide them with the proper facilities that are open accessible and clean and so I hope that the other board members will join me in holding our superintendent and District staff to a higher standard regarding this matter thank you thank you Miss bwin yeah I was just curious to learn um and you can totally provide this later if you don't have it available it's just um uh so to the same effect that we are required to provide like sanitary napkins for our females um and then I'm curious about like changing facilities for ES particularly in our elementary
234schools where um our some of our students with special needs do require support with toileting um and so I'm just like curious to know um how are we accommodating that and just making a available space so that um you know the the AIDS can support our students that have those needs and maybe making it really like useful like in in course of our more modern buildings I know our older buildings are harder um to accommodate that but um I it's definitely seen those cases where the the AIDS are trying to carry a handful of diapers and wipes and gloves and they can't get to the sink fast enough to wash their hands and the kids' hands and so those are just things I kind of would like to learn more about yeah and we we
235can certainly provide more information but just a couple examples so um uh so those come up Case by case and we work really closely with the special education department and we do have amazing people that are supporting the students they'll often use a single use facility if that's appropriate um the facilities team has also helped um uh make adjustments to to bathrooms and stalls on some of our older campuses to provide a Hoyer lift when necessary things of that nature but it really is um uh kind of school by school and Case by case when those situations come up thank you very much um I have two two quick questions um one on slide 20 when we're talking about uh find it um when we are talking about uh Sun Creek reaching full capacity by
236full capacity I assume you mean that we are just serving all of our students from 7th to 12th grade right we're not thinking we're going to stuff 2500 kids in by that point all grade levels should be functioning by 23 uh 203 132 perfect that's just the clarification I needed there um and then when we were talking about uh single occupancy uh restrooms do we include um or when we are constructing new schools um are the single occupancy restrooms only available to staff or are do we also have single occupancy restrooms that are available to students so both yes yes and um SB so Senate Bill 760 um which requires us to have one gender neutral bathroom available by July of 2026 for students that they don't have to ask permission um so so some
237schools are already there because um they had a bathroom available to make that happen and some we need to do more planning around that okay wonderful thank you very much thank you uh I think that's it further questions on this one so we're ready for the next presentation all right thank you I'll bring up um Miss rer and Mr Weaver before she starts I'd like to make a motion to extend our meeting till 10:30 yes good call um all right so for our new board members who don't uh who haven't done this before so technically we are we do end all of our meetings at 10:00 so if we need to go a little longer we do need a motion to extend it so uh I have a motion on the floor to extend the
238meeting till 10:30 do I have a second second second motion by Miss alvani seconded by Mr Yang all those in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much good evening I'm Lori rener I'm the CEO of GFS jpa we want to thank you for your membership in the jpa and as you know by joining the jpa you committed to being Guided by Finance best practices ethics and transparency in your financing work so we appreciate that I also want to introduce you to those of you who don't know this is Keith Weaver he's our director of member services and he's been working a long time behind the scenes but now he's joining me here with you so glad to be with you and just for those of you who are
239wondering I also have Millie my service dog with me and she's just waking up from a good nap so it's very very late we're going to go as quickly as possible if there's a point at which you want to stop us and ask a question please do I don't want you to not be with us as we move through but we'll also have an opportunity for questions at the end so um I think everybody remembers this wonderful day when measure n passed with a 60% yes vote last November and I won't read it to you but these words that are listed here as measure n is what was right above where people voted yes or no or next to depending on how they voted they they they had to vote yes or no on this
240and so as we Implement measure n this is something we'll go back to there was a longer resolution you'll recall the full text of the measure that explains more but this is what people saw right before they voted so we treat these words very very importantly um as a reminder of measure M's success um we are very conservative with our planning and that allows us to deal with things that happen that are unforeseen and we also try to leave room for upside and in in measure M we had a lot of upside we ended up with over $14 million more for facilities than budgeted we received the funds faster and we were able to accelerate projects not only getting those projects sooner but at a lower cost because we're working against inflation and then a
241lower Debt Service of 200 over 232 million those are direct taxpayer savings over budget so we had a great track record with measure M and I'd like to say we hope for the same with measure n but the financial markets are a little volatile right now and we'll discuss that um so next I want to talk about how tax rates are determined we say they're approximately Debt Service divide by The District's assessed value and we say approximately because there's different kinds of assessed value there's secured there's unsecured there's utility there's unitary there's a lot of different kinds of property and it's treated differently in this formula we use precisely the Sacramento County's formula in our model and every county has the right to do it differently so we model according to the county we're in
242in this case um Sacramento county is is the county so every property will pay its its Prat share based on its individual assessed value not market value and many people are not aware of what their assessed value is and if if you're with somebody and they say GE I don't know my assess value you can show them right on your phone or their phone you can look it up right now um it's on the treasure Tax Collector's website and if they know their address they can find out what their assessed value is that is if they have an owned property if they're a renter if it's a single family home they could also find out if it's an apartment there's the it be the whole complex that would have an assessed value but um if
243you have any questions or um somebody that you're talking to says I don't really understand how this works um you know just just let Dr coats know and she'll let us know we'll be glad to write up a an explanation we've done that many times and um you might think well how come people don't know um I look at my tax bill now I will say I do look at my tax bill when I see it in the mailbox no November I'm very excited oh great the tax bill is here I don't see anybody else on the street standed very happily at their ta at their post box opening their tax bill but I like it now most people um I shouldn't say the majority of people how much I don't know if it's more
244than 50% for sure people pay their taxes through their mortgage the mortgage company pays their taxes so they may never have even looked at their tax bill so I don't find it unusual at all that people don't understand it or haven't ever seen it so if somebody has a question we'll be glad to help them understand better we're happy to do that okay um the next thing is talking back from the big macro level we look at the tax base as a whole and we care a lot about how it changes from year to year because we're going to pay these bonds over time and it's the future tax base that's going to pay it back and you can see on the blue line here we can see um how it uh declined um a
245after a rapid increase and then the recession hit and and the values actually declined which you know isn't that common but it does often happen after we see a big runup like that because there's kind of a stabilizing thing in the market now in El Grove we actually do something unique we act we project the um existing property to go up based on the Constitutional requirement that the assess value not go up at more than 2% a year based on last year's California consumer price index unless it's transferred or improved and then we also have a projection of new homes so we have um development being added into our model and we do that at the median assessed value so and that um Housing Development is the same Housing Development that the facilities Department uses
246to project facilities so we're trying to be consistent there in our data and you can see the light blue uh the line gets lighter blue that's just to indicate that's our um um history since our measure and then um you can also see um the bars at at below the green and the pink that is showing you when the California Consumer Price Index has been above 2% it it or 2% or above it just stops right at that line you can't go more than 2% but you can see that many times the assessed value growth that applies to everybody in the state that has not sold or transferred their property um can be less than 2% and you can see in 2010 it was even negative and I was alive in 2010 and I don't
247remember anybody saying hey everybody's property tax is lower but you know what it was and that's why I know that most people don't look at their tax bill so people don't notice again please let us know if anybody you know would like a question answered now one of the things when we issue bonds we're borrowing money and we look at interest rates and the blue line is showing us the where the bond buyer index has been that's just a market a benchmark uh in the market we use and you can see that interest rates have gone up since we were preparing our bond plan but they have not gone up more than we estimated and this we actually have a more detailed way of estimating interest rates at every maturity but this is just giving
248you an idea um it's it's illustrative but what we do is we actually add an increase on today's interest rates to account for volatility and the further out we plan to issue the bonds the more volatility so if we were going to sell bonds tomorrow you know we have a belief that the volatility will be what has historically been experienced in one day right but if it's in two years there's a lot more potential volatility to happen so these are pretty detailed models and not just giving you an idea we'll go to the next page for measure n we're planning four series of bonds and well measure n was a total of 542 million to be issued we have costs of issuance to pay for and that that's similar to other borrowings that we've done
249and we are currently estimating 533 120,000 of net proceeds and it will come over this time frame so we're basically planning um budgets that are two-year budgets and starting in 2526 so it's 2425 we're not planning on ISS these bonds before the end of the fiscal year because we still have measure M funds available to fund projects now I mentioned earlier about how we assume that interest rates um will increase in the future and we make these adjustments not only for timing based on historical volatility but we also make an adjustment for the district's credit rating um we get daily information called MMD AAA rates it shows us that every maturity for one year two year three year and all the way out to 30 years what the current interest rates are so we we
250monitor that and then when we do our modeling we're assuming that interest rates will be higher than that when we sell bonds now the obvious question is well how do you know interest rates will be higher and my answer is I have no idea they might be lower but if they're lower that's an easy problem to solve if they're higher that's what I have to plan for we have to have room for interest rates to rise if they're lower that's great and if they are we will take advantage of that and we did that the reason that we had such great results with measure M was we shortened the terms we paid off principal faster and we issued less series got all the bonds issued faster because we had lower interest rates than budgeted and
251that's why we we try to have a conservative approach now this all of this work is limited by our commitment to the voters and our commitment is really a moral commitment we told the voters what we thought the tax rate would be now the reason I say it's a moral commitment we don't set the tax rate the county auditor controller makes a determination and a recommendation of the County Board of Supervisors and they set the tax rate now this is a historical thing going all the way back to when California became a state in our original 1850 Constitution there are these certain functions that are delegated to the county and back then schools were actually part of the County government so there's historical reasons and if you're from another state you might say hey I
252was in a school district in Ohio they set their own tax rates right that's how they do it in Ohio in California the county sets the tax rate and so one of the things we do is we work very closely with the auditor Controllers Office the treasure tax collector's office and the assessor's office on our modeling because we're trying to give you an idea of what will happen but it is other agencies and those uh positions change and things change we try to keep up anyway the statutory limit is is $60 now the tax rate can go above that you could not issue any more General obligation bonds if you were above 60 once you've hit that from this measure it's $60 per measure now where does the moral part come in we told the
253voters what our estimate was that was $34 so we have modeled everything we want to optimize the 34 we don't want to go over but we don't want to be under by too much and the reason is because we want to when we borrow the money we want to pay it back as fast as possible why do we want to pay it back as fast as possible well first of all the faster we pay it back the less interest that the the voters are going to pay and if you think about that $34 there's kind of an inherent budget in it the less of that $34 that goes to interest the more of it goes to principal and we want it to be at the shorter end of the yield curve and we want it
254to be outstanding for a lower amount of time that all helps us reduce the interest that is within that $34 so we want to optimize we want to collect as close to that 34 as we can and um you can see that as you look at the colors here it's representing the different Series this is all an optimization that each time we issue we're leaving room for the subsequent issues and we're trying to take advantage of how the yield curve is and each once we structure Each Bond and we sell it that debt service is fixed it won't change unless we we refinance so each time on on the one hand we're reducing risk because we know what that series is out at but then we also have something set already that we have to
255deal with so that's what you're seeing here so we're going to go to talk about how we Implement measure n and uh Keith is going to talk for a few minutes oh sorry Keith thank you so I think just to sort of summarize Lor's discussion we're very much on track to issue measure n as planned because so far our assess value and our interest rates are all doing better than what we budgeted for so just to share some thoughts about how we go about implementing measure n a little bit of background there's two methods to sell bonds one's a competitive process where we go out to bid we invite Banks and lenders and Underwriters to submit us a bid and we award the winner of that bid process based on the lowcost bid the second
256what's called The Negotiator process where we select the bank or underwriting firm up front and then negotiate with them on terms like what's the cost what's the interest rate what's the fees and to help guide our decision we look to best practices as published by the government Finance Officers Association our recommendation is to have a competitive bid process that is based on the criteria as published in best practices it's also based on the district's history and you can see here the district has had a lot of success with bid processes for both measure M as well as for other types of financings where we've we gotten many numbers of bids we've had different winning biders and the savings has been a million to about $5 million um for each bid and in cumulative it's over
257$17 million in savings just from conducting a bid process so again a lot of success here in the past and so we're recommending the same approach with measure n okay citizens oversight committee Laurer so you'll be asked at a future meeting not tonight that was a typo um to appoint the citizens oversight committee and one of the things I want everyone to be aware of particularly our volunteers who will be serving on the oversight committee is that the statute that calls for the oversight committee it's called the strict accountability and local school construction bonds Act of 2000 actually has five accountability measures and the reason that I like people to know that everything is not on their shoulders they're they need to as Citizens do the best job they can in fulfilling the function but
258there are other accountability methods that come into play and their function as the citizens oversight committee is to review and report on the proper expenditures of taxpayer money for school construction now one of the challenges is it's not uncommon for citizens to think that they're going to determine what gets built and the the what's gets built has already been determined by the project list approved by the voters and their role will be to compare what is built against that project list and so um I I love auditing so I think that's a great volunteer role um some people think that it's um boring or frustrating and they don't like it but hopefully we'll find exactly the right people who will enjoy that and do what is a very important role and who are we looking
259for well we need at least according to the statute seven members and five five of them must meet spec specified criteria um active one needs to be active in a business organiz organization of the community um one who's active in a senior citizens organization one who's active in a Bonafide taxpayers organization one who is a parent guardian of a child enrolled in the district and one who is both a parent guardian of a child enrolled in the district and active in a parent teacher organization and a School site Council now one of the things about those factors they need to be currently true they don't need to be historically true so sometimes we have trouble with some of these categories someone could become active in the business community in a senior citizens organization in the
260PTA we welcome that the other thing to note is that these are diversity categories they're not Representatives they don't need to go check with someone else they're not representing a group they're just bringing a perspective um from having that activity in their life okay and then just to wrap us up with some next steps so tonight's just information and our planned timing of measure and issuance of bonds we're estimating a window sometime between fall of 2025 and spring of 2026 and that's in part because we're still wrapping up the final set of measure M projects and then also thinking about what's our cash flow needs for upcoming measure n and so as we uh narrow narrow down our window here and find that cash flow will be coming back to you with measure n bonds
261um at an upcoming board meeting we'll ask for approval of a resolution for your consideration to authorize an estimated Debt Service schedule for fiscal year 2526 the reason for this is because we're planning to issue measure and bonds in fiscal year 2526 and so we want to make sure that the schedule gets to the county so the county can start leving taxes to help pay these bonds back the county has a deadline of June 15th so the idea is we'd ask for your consideration ahead of this deadline and then um following that as we get closer to the time frame when we're uh going to be selling measure and bonds we'd ask for your consideration to approve a resolution to authorize the selling of those bonds and then of course after the bond sale I
262we'll certainly be back here to share with you how the results of that Bond sale turned out so thank you and happy to answer any questions thank you very much um let's start on the other end this time uh Miss Ballwin any questions questions okay Miss Moore I don't have any questions thank you very much thank you Miss ballerini no questions thank you Miss chin no questions M Yang thank you no question Miss Alani thank you it is easier the second time it makes a little more sense Miss Davis all right and I have no questions either thank you both very much and thank Millie for us all right Dr coats anything else on this are we good oh you're good okay just wanted to make sure all right next up we have one action
263item this evening approval of our 2425 second interim financial report Miss Watkins good evening president Vargas fellow trustees um superintendent Hoffman Miss Avalos Community colleagues um I will try to make this brief and succinct at this hour so we do not have to extend um I am here to present our second interim report for 20242 I uh share this slide to remind everybody of the board has set some foundational principles when prioritizing our budget decisions decisions must first ensure that we remain fiscally sound then we look to maintain what we are currently doing next um we'll want to ensure that we retain and attract the best employees who reflect our students and it's only after considering these pre three principles that we'll consider building upon existing programs and services before considering anything new each year
264we report on three fiscal years as shown in our financial reporting life cycle our second interim report builds off of December 2024 25 first interim report and the January Governor's budget proposal for next year provided updated assumptions that we are using in tonight's report so I will review our second interim total general fund revenue and expenditures the general fund changes from first to second interim budget revisions multi-year projections for the next two fiscal years components of our unrestricted general fund ending balance and our next steps for accountability our total general fund revenues for unrestricted and restricted exceed $1 billion 72% of our total general fund Revenue comes from the state's local control funding formula 7% from federal sources 177% from other state sources and 4% from other local sources our total general fund expenditures unrestricted
265and restricted are approaching $1.2 billion 74% of our total General fund expenditures are spent on salary and benefits with 26% spent on supplies Services capital outlay and transfers there are several general fund Revenue changes included in our second interim budget report lcff Revenue increased as a result of January's final certified seabeds reporting of enrollment and our unduplicated pupil percentage so this resulted in increased supplemental and concentration funding we also recognized additional unrestricted local Revenue uh reflecting our lease revenues Charter oversight fees and interest earnings to date as well as restricted local grants increased by $28 million and specifically some of those grants are our Cal shape HVAC grants our electric vehicle bus grants our medical reimbursements and property loss reimbursements general fund expenditure changes in our second interim report include reallocation of our operating budgets
266between supplies services and capital outlay accounts to align with our discretionary operational needs expenditures were budgeted for the increased restricted local grants such as the electric buses and we moved existing LVN contract expenditures to maximize The increased medical reimbursements the indirect cost transfer was reduced as a result of increased infrastructure and EV bus expenditures since we cannot charge indirect for any Capital expenditures and contributions from our unrestricted general fund increased by $28 million to support special education contract increases and $1.3 million for routine restricted maintenance 3% calculation the 2024-25 second interim budget multi-year projections were updated based on the latest available information using School Services of California's dart board as of the 2526 Governor's budget proposal what this meant for us is that our Cola decreased by point or 5% in 2526 that's roughly $4
267million impact to the district's bottom line as well as in 2627 we saw an increase of 44% in the cola our multi-year U projection assumptions are included in the complete report uh PDF at page 113 but those include our and column increases for movement across the salary schedule for existing employees our stir and purs retirement rates um stirs does not change it's static at 19.1% but we do see just under a half a percent increase um in the out years for our Pur rates we also budget um increased health benefit costs and um we in increase our operating expenditures by the Consumer Price Index one thing we did want to note that this budget does include include a 2 and a half% reduction in our supplies and services for central office departments starting in 2526
268ongoing we also are maximizing our one-time funds um and continuing to maximize our learning recovery emergency block grant and our Arts and Music instructional materials block grants as well as our proposition 28 Visual and Performing Arts funds and our budget maintains our minimum required reserve of 2% for uh our reserve for economic uncertainties now one thing did I go ahead too many slides here nope okay we do um what is different in um or what we've included additionally in our multi-year um projection assumptions into um our oute are the potential new Revenue sources that were included in my presentation on the governor's proposed budget um at that time we did not have trailer Bill language we do now have proposed language on how um those revenues can be estimated so to be conservative we only
269included 50% of the value recognizing that um something could change between now and the enacted trailer Bill and so we have included the new one-time discretionary block grant at 50% of our estimated revenue and that will be approximately $9.5 million one time um additionally uh we're expecting ongoing uh transitional kindergarten Staffing ratio Revenue as um um Dr coat mentioned in previous U we're getting additional funding uh we are budgeting that at 50% of the estimated Revenue per the trailer Bill and that's $3.2 million ongoing so this slide illustrates the multi-year projections and the assumptions um that I just shared um that we are basing this on um we know that multi-year projections assumptions are as good as what we know right now and they will change and So within this this is our unrestricted General
270fund and um note that the 50% um estimated trailer bill for the ongoing TK funding is the second line and we call that out just to make that aware that we know that those amounts may change um by the time we get to June also we uh realize an unrestricted general fund Surplus in our third budget year in 2627 this slide um reflects the components of our ending fund balance um to remind the board uh you have previously acted to commit funds by resolution in our December 1 interim report we ask the board approve the amended resolution that's attended excuse me attached to tonight's item um this includes a revision to the $10 million commitment of ending fund balance to support retention Recruitment and continuity strategies to address Rising costs and aligns with trailer Bill
271language surrounding the use of the proposed new one-time block grant the budget also also includes the assignment of ending fund balance for future textbook adoptions and maintains the minimum required 2% Reserve this is our multi-year projection for our restricted general fund deficit spending is expected as we plan to spend down our one-time restricted funding such as the aforementioned learning recovery emergency block grant Arts music and instructional materials discretionary block grants that we have received in Prior years note also the inclusion of the estimated $9.5 million in potential one-time discretionary block grant Revenue um that we introduced on previous slide 10 um while this is uh reflected in our restricted General funds the terms of the funding are um at this point discretionary and unrestricted for districts but by nature of how we receive the funds
272outside of our predominant our local control funding formula anything we receive um even though it's discretionary it gets defined as restricted and that's why you'll see it on this slide our next steps um include review and approval by the Sacramento County Office of Education they then submit the report to the California Department of Education in may we will receive the governor's May revision um with updates to the governor's January proposal um and what we anticipate for next year we build our budget with the May revision information recognizing that we will not have a final uh State enacted budget until after we the board takes action on our proposed budget for next year but expect in June in uh in over the course of two meetings we'll present our June proposed adopted budget excuse me in
273June we'll the proposed adopted budget for 2526 along with our local control accountability plan as well as the estimated actuals for the current year before I conclude I would like to recognize um fiscal Services director Aden andris and our team Aden is hanging out with us tonight um and this is a collaborative process that incorporates the work of many staff under her leadership and I want to acknowledge um those efforts and thank you excellent thank you very much thank you for the presentation and thank you for all the work that you all are doing um all right let's see we got to do uh Mr Yang are there any blue cards on this item board president there's no blue card on this item thank you very much board members do we have any questions uh
274I'll start at this end Miss Davis any questions Miss Alani Miss Yang no questions all right Miss chin Miss ballerini Miss Moore no questions Miss Ballwin all right we're all tired um so again appreciate the presentation as always very informative and very helpful thank you oh oh wait we need to approve this um I'm getting there all right um I will now entertain a a motion to approve the 2425 second interim financial report so move moved by Mr Yang second seconded by Miss Balwin all those in favor please say I hi any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much last item of business uh board member and superintendent reports Mr superintendent anything to report no sir okay and board members anything seeing none uh we are adjourned at 10:23 p.m. thank you very much
275and everybody please drive safe