001e e recording in progress good evening I'd like to call this meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. and announce that the board will meet in Clos session to address items 1 through three uh Mr superintendent do we have any uh public comment on close session items we do not thank you then I'd like to close the public comment and recess into close session e e e the jobs of today require a new set of [Music] [Applause] [Music] skills e e e [Music] [Applause] [Music] e e e oh okay all right everyone welcome back I'd like to call this meeting back to order at uh 6:03 p.m. um see the board met in Clos session and no action was taken all right so welcome to the Elkgrove Unified School District board meeting live streaming of full
002in-person board meetings will be available to the public via the zoom platform today's meeting is being video recorded and will be available to the district's excuse me will be available on the district's YouTube channel we encourage you to attend the meetings and share your feedback with the board your active participation is valued and contributes to the decision-making process um let's see let's do that [Music] comment all right um so briefly a little bit of information on public comment during regular board meetings the public may make public comments on items on the agenda or items not on the agenda requests to make public comment will be accepted for an item up until the board president announces the item generally members of the public will be given three minutes to address the board if there are 15
003or more comments on a specific item the board will reduce individual comment time to 2 minutes each if there are 30 or more comments on a specific item the board will reduce individual comments to 1 minute each IND individuals may not defer their time to another individual speaker to increase their total speaking time please be mindful that District students may 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 groups may be grounds for the board president to provide a warning and then to terminate the individual's privilege of addressing the board next up
004um Mr Yang would you like to read Our Land acknowledgement yes I can good evening we acknowledge that the El gr UniFi School District Administrative facilities and schools occupy the unseated territory of the miwa the Reginal people of Disguise land and Waters where we work and learn the miw have cared for these lands since the time in Memorial they continue to teach their traditional knowledge that comes from and responds to the needs of the land and people who share it may our daily lives and work teaching learning leadership and Community engagement support the the involving vision of the miwa for their community and these lands may we strive to acknowledge the past for the betterment of our future Generations may we look to our tribal Partners the won ranera the descendants of the original people
005of this land to assist with the successful education of our community excellent thank you very much uh next up is the Pledge of Allegiance I'd like to call down Mr Darren Gregory and Mr Michael LaVine and Levine excuse me um and uh if you'll give us just a minute um Miss ballerini has some words for you yes I do thank you um elgrove charter school is honored to recognize Mi Mr Darren Gregory as an education partner elgrove Unified School District recognizes Mr Gregory for his on contributions to the school's programs staff and most importantly its students Mr Gregory has been involved with elgrove Charter School since 2019 when he enrolled his daughter as a seventh grader she's now a 12th grader over the years Mr Gregory has served on the school's advisory Council and most
006recently as the school's representative on the superintendent parent advisory committee Mr Gregory has always been an advocate for the school school's programs whenever asked while serving The Advisory Council he brings in his own expertise and experience to help with school decisions Mr Gregory's strength is understanding the unique needs of the school community and advocates for the students staff and parents or Guardians most importantly he is an integral part of his daughter's education and supports her as she strives to reach her goals and aspirations we are honored to have Miss Mr Gregory and his family as part of the egcs community and to recognize Mr Gregory for his Support over the years to coin a phrase by a former student we are lucky to call Mr Gregory a falcon for life and appreciate all he has
007done for the schoolk you thank you excellent all right I invite everybody who wishes to do so to join us for the pledge and hand it off to you thank you ready begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you and I have something for you I'll be right down than we even have audience very close you want go over here all right um before we get to our regional report we do have one uh presentation first and so miss ay I'll hand it off to you great thank you good evening board president Vargas members of the board superintendent Hoffman and Miss Avalos I ask the board to reaffirm February
00819th 2025 as an annual day of Remembrance in the Elkgrove Unified School District joining me this evening are some guests from and I see one who may be coming in right now we'll announce her in a bit um that are joining us that have been a part of a Citizens group and just partners with the district that have supported the time of remembrance so it's important to note that this year marks the 83rd anniversary of the executive order signed by President Roosevelt on February 19th 1942 the order proclaimed California Oregon and Washington Military zones and led to the forced removal of 120,000 Japanese Americans to incarceration camps for the duration of World War II After Japan surrendered in 1945 marking the end of World War II the United States began to close the internment camps
009restructuring their lives after World War II was difficult for many Japanese Americans most lost their homes their Farms their businesses and all their properties their education was disrupted and acts of discrimination and violence was commonplace in 1988 President Reagan recognizing that a grave Injustice had occurred he signed hr44 2 into law Which authorized payment and an apology letter to each surviving attorney annually since 1983 elk grve fifth grader students have visited the California Museum's longest running exhibit I think I calculated we're at 42 years with participation with Elkgrove which is really amazing um during this time running exhibit uprooted Japanese Americans during World War II which surveys A Century of Japanese history through the personal stories of formerly interned Californians this exhibit runs from February 12th through April 4th students have the opportunity to learn
010about the Japanese internment and about the rights that were denied to US citizens during World War II and at this time I would like to invite up I don't see Mariel in the room come on down so as our guests make their way to the podium just to give for new board members in our community this has been a long-standing partnership with Elkgrove I was a fifth grade teacher at one time in the district and used to bring students to this boardroom to actually view the museum it now has moved to the California Museum and I think I have with me tonight is Christine umida and I will allow her to introduce her guest and share some words with the board before we asked for the resolution to be approved good evening and I'm with
011here with me today is Shan delizo he is a a education director at the California Museum and you know for many years uh the program actually happened not in this boardroom but one of the boardrooms and when we outgrew that we found a home at the California Museum and I must apologize for some reason Mariel Koto has not arrived and so she's left us to carry the the heavy lifting today and most of you are very familiar with Marielle especially through her mother Mary tabota who was a longtime educator within the Alro school district and who really thought about this as an educational tool not just to talk about what happened to a group of individuals who lost their who really because of the the face of the enemy were incarcerated but to talk about
012the Constitution ISS issues that really arose in terms of how people can be denied their rights and to be a safeguard using this lesson for letting it happen again and so we've tried to bring the students and they have we've had I think maybe three generations of students come since we have begun and so many of them the teachers especially will have seen the evolution of how our story has evolved I'm here today I'm Christine umeda I am a survivor of the incarceration centers I was four years old and my family was incarcerated very much like Marielle she's much more articulate and able to talk about this because of her educational background and I'm and I know she be truly mortified that she has missed this opportunity but um we thank thank you it I
013I guess we can stress enough that the algrove Unified School District is the only board in California and most likely the nation that has made it a point to pass a resolution yearly honoring the time of remembrance and making it a educational partnership to reach out and teach your fifth grade students and through that effort we're able to reach out to so many other Californians and I'm going to let Sean talk a little bit about the actual educational partnership we have with the alcro school district the California state um archives the um the CSUS um collection of the collection that Mary tabona gave regarding the incarceration and the California Museum Sean thanks Christine um and thank you everyone so I'm I'm honored to stand here before you as a representative of the California Museum and
014I want to uh thank the elk grve Unified School District board and administration for your ongoing support of the time of remembrance program at the California Museum we're incredibly grateful that you share our commitment to ensuring that our communities young people not only learn about the incarceration but are also inspired to take action toward securing justice for all today attacks on groups of people based on their ethnicity immigration status and religion are increasing making the importance of programs like this clear the students who experience the time remembrance program better understand the Constitution as that is a pivotal part of this program and realize that the rights it provides can be fragile they leave knowing the importance of standing up for the rights of others whenever they're challenged and knowing that a person of any age
015can make a difference since the start of our historic partnership bringing the this exhibit to the museum 25 years ago over 50,000 elk grov students have participated that number grows every year last year our staff and dedicated dosent were Overjoyed to see so many elro students walk through the California Museum doors to participate in the time remance program although students from all schools all over the state actually uh take part in this program we have always had the highest attendance and even more importantly the most prepared classes from El grve schools it is your support that makes such engagement possible we couldn't do it without you and thank you again for supporting this important program um just for your reference and I brought some additional Flyers to to leave with you you know this year's
016program we have been trying to expand on the whole issue of incarceration and Justice so this year's program is go our program is on February the 8 at the California Museum and our focus is on black reparations reparation Justice you know we are honored to have two members of the California task force that met on the black reparations issue both Don Tamaki who is an attorney in San Francisco very prominent in the redress movement for Japanese American and Dr cherl G uh grills we know that none of these issues can be done alone and we must thank the black community who stood up for us as many other minority other groups did but we wanted to be sure that these issues are becoming more uh in the Forefront we don't know enough about it we
017wanted to use our program this year to share that so I'll leave these with you thank you so much and with that we'll turn it over for the proclamation excellent thank you all right um Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on this item board president no blue card on this item thank you very much uh with that I would invite a motion to adopt resolution number 47 reaffirming the day of remembrance resolution originally introduced by the Elkgrove Unified School District in February 1983 declaring annually a day of remembrance across the Elkgrove Unified School District sure I'll be happy and honor to move the motion wonderful is there a second I'll second it all right um motion motion by Mr Yang seconded by Miss ballerini uh is there any additional discussion right you like
018to say well I would like to say thank you for um all your efforts uh from the start till now um it's only a imagine effort that I could only imagine how hard it is to um establish it and continue to exhibit um the hardship from the beginning to now and continue to uh showcase um the the right of the people um based on our constitution um to our kids and to the people in our community so thank you for your effort thank you very much any other discussion seeing none uh all those in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much so much all right with that we move to our student Regional report Valley region take it away good evening board President Michael Vargas members of
019the board superintendent Hoffman and miss aalos my name is Shiana Lee and I'm Anthony Lozano and we represent the valley region where all students learn through diverse opportunities and experiences at Valley High School we learn in the classroom through our amazing Pathways fire tech entrepreneurship htech engineering and graphic designs programs like Avid interactive electives and after school tutoring and field trips enhance our learning I myself have been part of htech Academy for 3 years htech is a community health worker and training program where we get exposed to many different experiences by offering community service and internships and through these offers I was able to get more than 80 hours of community service and Hands-On experiences like performing screenings like blood pressure BMI body fat and many more we also serve in the community by giving
020health education about nutrition diabetes heart disease Fitness and many more this helps me build on communication and build knowledge and health in general I have been working in the clinic that htech opened a while ago for about a year and a half and I can say that through this experience I have gained a lot I was able to rely and trust with those that I worked with and build connections with the members that I served I learned how to think critically and how to better serve my community and I am also confident in myself and in my skills but learning doesn't just happen in the classroom it also happens when students Join one of our 24 clubs ASB link crew band or choir theater and Athletics students interact with each other and grow in collaboration
021and communication skills build confidence and we learned to take pride and ownership of our campus for me being at Valley has shown me that many of the opportunities given are from my own peers up until last spring our math leads team had been dormant for years when one of our students was able to revive it and un less than a year bring it up to over 30 consistent members myself included all looking to challenge ourselves in a way that we had in before furthermore for the past 2 years I've been serving as the president of Key Club a community service based Club built on student leadership it's given me a place to hone my own leadership skills while also being able to serve my community showing me the value of cooperation and teamwork and what
022can be accomplished through that collaboration and of course one of my biggest learning opportunities has been ASB still building my leadership skills ASB has also offered me the chance to grow uh skills I didn't think I'd ever have public speaking was something i' been scared of for most of my life until recently pushing through that fear after some nudging from our ASB director Miss is Pierce it's become a skill that I can actually be proud of driving me to become one of the main hosts for our weekly News videos and to speak to all of you today and now we would like to introduce students from each of our Valley Schools to highlight the learning happening on our campuses my name is Harold booth and I attend per Elementary School I am in sixth grade
023I am a future leader because I collaborate with others I am also a future leader leader because I help people in class when they don't understand something my learning would lead me to college my learning could also lead me to success in the future learning is important because it could get you somewhere in life and help me reach my future goals good good evening my name is Valentine M and I attend per Elementary I'm in sixth grade and I attended since preschool I'm good evening my name Valentine MOS and I attend PR Elementary I'm in six grade and I attended since preschool I'm a future leader because I like to work with others Inspire them to reach the goals and dreams my learning will lead me to understand others and all the different ways I
024can make the world a better place learning is important because with knowledge we can become the best verion of ourselves Perry has been helping me l so I can become every B every day thank you good evening members of the board my name is Dominic lemis I'm a third grade student at Union house Elementary my learning will hopefully lead me to become a active member of the US Army I would like to become a high ranking officer so I can help protect my country Union host helps me reach my goals because I will need a lot of math and Leadership skills Military Officers need these skills to guide others I've had the opportunity to be in the leadership program at Union house where I was able to represent my second grade class I feel I'm
025a positive role model for all the younger students and my peers this year I was a team leader for a program called running for red I was the first student out of the Union house team to finish the 5K I left Union house because we have great staff and they want to see all students succeed they may be be a little strict at times but I know it's to help me grow as a person and be a successful adult thank you good evening members of the board my name is zavon Bryson and I'm a fourth grade student at Union house Elementary my learning will lead me to a great future and a chance to go to a really good college like sax state or UCLA Union house prepares me for my future by getting me
026ready for Middle School unit house teaches us kindness towards others it's important to be kind because when I grow up it'll be easier to get a job or accepted where I want to be my learning is important to me because I want to be a successful entrepreneur when I grow up I want to start a business where I design clothes and shoes Union house prepares me for this because my class has R every Friday I get a chance to practice my artistic skills and designs for my Debo clothes and shoes math will help me know the prices and profits of that I make I love Union house because of all the kind staff and how much they help me over the years even if they're a little strict they're just holding up their high standards
027thank you [Applause] good evening my name is VI Blanco at Charles ma Elementary I am a future leader because I am kind respectful and I put a lot of effort into school my learning will lead me to be successful and someday I'll be a future leader and keep people safe by being a mechanic and working carefully on automobiles learning is important because if you don't learn it will be difficult to be a future leader and you will never have room to grow I have a bright future [Applause] [Music] good evening my name is Kaja Ahmed at Charles Mack Elementary I'm a future leader because I am a strong Communicator a critical thinker and I possess the ability to inspire and motivate others my learning would lead me to my goal of having a successful in
028career that allows me to accomplish my own personal goals professional goals and improving confidence competence and self self-esteem team learning is important because it teaches us how to connect with others it share our knowledge and create a great future learning is also important because it produces long lasting experiences that is Meaningful and can change your learner thinking I have a bright [Applause] future hello my name is Anthony n this and I am coming from Herman Lok Elementary School Learning is important because if you never learn you won't grow growing is an amazing thing it helps you handle all kinds of situations in life one of the most important things I've learned this year is to have a growth mindset it means to have a positive mind and not think negatively my fourth grade teacher taught
029me to always have a a growth mindset it I think it helped me because when people told me to give up I didn't she encouraged me to do things that were outside of my comfort zone for instance she pushed me to do a school announcement in front of the whole school another reason why learning is important is because you can learn to be a better leader being a leader means to bring up the week and be understandable one of the reasons I want to be a leader is because my fourth grade teacher said she saw something with me she was the only teacher who ever said that from the next day on I changed my perspective and never gave up after that then I got an amazing teacher in sixth grade he yes pushed me
030to be a better leader that is why I'm a leader and I think um learning is important thank you all for [Applause] listening hello everyone my name is Alonzo Hy and I am here representing Herman linebach Elementary School Learning is important because you get to learn new things while having fun one of the most important things I learned was to have good self-esteem and believe in yourself the reason I bring that up is because in third grade I had this teacher that said I was never going to make it life because of my behavior and lacked of respect from that day on I wanted to prove her wrong I tried my hardest to get better and got a 3.0 GPA in fourth grade I flunked because of my behavior in grades in fifth grade I
031had this wonderful teacher that brought me up and told me that she believed in me from that day on I am now an honorable student if I could keep this up I could go to any college I want that's why I think learning is important [Applause] hi my name is catala Lopez and I go to John reath Elementary learning about wicker and whim is helping me achieve success wicker stands for writing inquiry collaboration organization and reading and these helped me create a strong academic foundation for Success whim which stands for writing in the margins helps me understand reading in a deeper and more meaningful way these tools are helping me grow as a student by impr proving my critical thinking organization and how to share my ideas they will lead me to achieve my goals
032and prepare me for success in the future thank [Applause] you hi my name is Roman Sila from John reath Elementary learning is important because it teaches you the foundations to be successful in the world one strategy I like to use is AVID Avid stands for advancement via individual determination um hold on um this will this Aid has helped me become a better learning learner um by using classes levels of questioning and using wicker wicker which stands for uh wicker stands for writing inquiry collaboration organization and reading this will this has be helped me become a better reader and writer thank you good afternoon everyone I am Muhammad bar alal a student athlete that attends Samuel Jackman middle school as a student who attends Middle School I am very serious about my grades and like to
033maintain a 4.0 GPA at all times as it will help me in the future by being consistent since I am a student athlete having good grades is very beneficial my friends and I compete to see as the best grades and my teachers are very understanding of my demanding schedule this support keeps me motivated to maintain my grades things I enjoy doing at Jackman or Sports including volleyball basketball cross country and track being a competitive person Sports sue me very well as the captain for the basketball and volleyball team I take responsibility for being the best teammate I can be so I can create great relationships my coaches inspire me to be respectful honorable humble this year at Jackman I am looking forward to different field trips such as acetra ra Fields Sunsplash that I contend
034with my friends most importantly I am looking forward to graduating from middle school my most memorable moments of seventh and eighth grade are meeting new people such as my friend teachers and coaches because they have contributed a lot to making me a better person thank you for listening and have a great [Applause] afternoon good afternoon elgrove board members I am yysa Gonzalez I attend Samuel Jackman middle school I transferred from TR Smedberg Middle School Midway through my seventh grade year I was nervous to attend Jackman and to be honest I didn't want to however to my surprise the transition position was easy I made lots of friends because of the positive environment the teachers communicated well making it easy to learn I wanted to make a beneficial impact in my middle school duration so I
035decided to join leadership my eighth grade year it has been a great experience so far I learned how to advocate for myself and others as well as learned how to communicate effectively with my peers and teachers how to resolve conflict and be a leader some of the exciting things I've done in leadership was presenting in rallies speaking at John wreath Elementary about my Middle School experience planning events at school this has helped me be be comfortable with my public speaking and give me lots of leadership and collaborative experiences my time at Jackman has been nothing short of amazing and I am proud to be a riverhawk thank you for your time there really is some pretty cool learning happening in the valley region so I would like to start by saying hi my name is
036Grace longm a junior at Valley High School the valley Prides itself for being one of the most diverse schools in the district every student in the valley region serves a purpose whether it's through academic programs or extracurriculars everyone is encouraged to be the best possible scholar they can be a good example of this is ASB the sole purpose of ASB is to provide a positive outlet for students on campus through active engagement collaboration and development I know this person first hand because I'm an ASB student and have been for the past 3 years when I came to Valley I knew I had a passion to serve but I just didn't know what to do with it I was scared of starting high school and I didn't know where or how to start my journey then
037I met our activities director and student government teacher Miss Pierce her class gave me the confidence to speak out communicate and Trust while also having to balance grades and learn time management it's te sorry it's teachers like her that make this region so special I have taken these skills and applied them to my everyday life at Valley like in AP classes in cheer and our Advent program clubs and much more over these years in ASB I've taken on a sum of responsibilities like class president rally commissioner and I participate in extracurriculars like BSU cheer community service and much more I have been inspired by my school staff teachers and even my peers to be a part of something bigger than myself although I'm still on my journey through High School I've learned valuable life skills
038connected and made friendships that will last a lifetime thank you for not just supporting me but all the students in the valley region so we put together a video to show you the learning and fun in action we hope you enjoy [Music] [Applause] [Music] welcome to perryy Aid in [Music] action I got chose for writing on Wicker Wednesday because I had great details I take notes to help me with my [Music] writing when participating in philosophical chairs I have to research about the topic and PR evidence I have to listen to the other side's idea to provide new information back when I collaborate with my classmates I get ideas for my assignments and it's fun me to learn as a girl I highlight with my notebook e like [Music] a when reading we are quiet
039and listening to the teacher we also highlight the vocabulary [Music] words thank you for visiting Perry we are Perry strong [Applause] [Music] and welcome to John reath home to the Jaguars come on in come check out our high quality instruction at John Reed I missed up tonight I lost another fight to myself but I'll just start again I keep falling down I keep on hitting the ground but I always getar up n to see what's next birds don't just fly they fall down and get up no by your Larn without getting it wrong I won't give up no I won't give until I reach the end and then I'll start again no I won't be I want to try everything I want to try even [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay my name is Anthony I've
040been here since third grade and I speak Spanish and English uh I think it's important uh the English program because it's inspiring for other students to keep on going and to not get [Music] [Applause] [Music] up welcome to Union house we have a lot of great cultures I'm there go and at Union house Elementary School we have a really cool black excellent parent group it's creating that Community you know and that's where it starts [Music] that India China Cambodia Pakistan [Music] Wonder forever India Nicaragua and Fiji mental [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Vikings stand up Valley High oh yeah we got the silver yeah we got the the blue say your B High there's nothing we can do yeah we got the silver yeah we got the blue say your B High there's
041nothing we can't do oh no you messing with the wrong crew oh no you messing with the wrong crew watch out for the fleet we coming for you b a l l e y you can see the power every time we St b a l l e y headed at the Battle not afraid to fight Vikings on the left Viking on the right viiking at the back everywhere [Applause] [Music] [Applause] now I would like to show how we are united as a region with the help of some of our Valley region Spirit leaders thank you e we are the valley for all students learn we are the valy region for all learn we are the Val for all students learn [Applause] D's do b h [Applause] thank you students before we move on I want
042to recognize uh the principles for the valley region we have here um first up uh Bridget Kemp Bell Valley High School Natasha Lewis Jones Samuel Jackman Middle School AB Abelardo Cordova uh Herman limbach Elementary School Samantha moer Charles Mack Elementary School Laura Anderson Prairie Elementary School Katie hric uh John wath Elementary School and Paul Cordo Union house elementary school thank you very much and thank you to our students you're now dismissed you that was awesome thank you so much we'll pause for one minute to let people file in and out than you for sure ially say all right so next up we're moving on to our resolutions for the day um so to kick us off uh Dr Collier good evening uh Mr President Vargas members of the board superintendent Hoffman and Miss Avalos uh
043I am here today to bring forth a resolution to designate February 2025 as black African-American history month as part of the board of education's legacy of advocacy for equity and the value of diversity within our school district members of the Board of Education have an opportunity to recognize February as Black africanamerican History Month this observance encourages Society at large and schools and particular to celebrate the achievements of black African-Americans and and also to reexamine society's role in preserving the civil rights of all and of its citizens although the study of of the contributions in literature about and authored by black African-Americans as part of the curriculum throughout the year this designation is February as special emphasis El Gro schools have many special events during black African-American history month in addition to activities and classwork that
044occur throughout the year in accordance with with sites and Department student unity and diversity goals at the elementary level the black African-American history activities are integrated into classroom discussions art projects social studies and language arts examples from our adopted curriculum include a great American teacher a biography about Mary McLoud help many black African-Americans get an education as well as delivering Justice about iography about how One Man became a civil rights leader in his community all elementary schools include the study of influential men became uh all elementary schools include study of influential black African-Americans at the secondary level some specific pieces of black African-American literature incl include beloved black boy I know why the cage bir sings Native Sun raising in the Sun and Their Eyes Were Watching God history social science teachers engag students in
045discussing and learning about the history and contributions of black African-Americans in the United States and the world in support of this resolution the curriculum and professional learning department will provide resources to teachers to recognize and celebrate Black African-American history month furthermore the educational Equity department has posted additional resources on their Department website for district Personnel I put forth this resolution to the board thank you 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 excellent uh then I would like to uh invite a motion to adopt resolution number 42 designated February 2025 as black African-American history month Mr Vargas I do have a comment yes we'll get to that after the motion thank you move the motion moved by Mr Yang
046seconded seconded by Miss ballerini uh with that would any board members like to be recognized on this item there more thank you so much for the presentation and I will be voting in favor of this resolution uh I just had a question uh that I brought forth to Mr Hoffman before um this meeting regarding the book belovin because it does have depictions of um beastiality in it and so my question was how specifically will that be integrated and to what grade level will that be presented sure um that that book is primarily used for uh advanced placement 12th grade however it is available in the libraries and in the in the classroom but primarily is used in the AP 12th grade class okay thank you uh I I appreciate that it is taught uh in
04712th grade as it is certainly um I think a sensitive topic and I I also think that shows that at some level we're recognizing that it um there's not an age it's not necessarily age appropriate for all students and so that's something that's important to me is that we are recognizing um appropriateness of materials and also communicating with parents if possible um before the curriculum is introduced to students so thank you very much you're welcome thank you would any other board members like to speak on this hearing none uh I will uh all those in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much all right next up uh Miss hubard for Career Technical Education Month hello good evening president Vargas members of the board superintendent Hoffman and Miss
048aalos February is recognized as Career Technical education month a time to celebrate the valuable role CTE plays in preparing students for college career and life CTE helps students develop the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in a rapidly changing Workforce and to kick off I'd like to start with the video some of you have seen it before but I'd like to show it to people who are new and we get to see it on the big screen right so it's right here if I do this right oh you have to click thank you the jobs of today require a new set of skills employers want people who can communicate collaborate and think critically but what's equally important is being able to apply practical skills and experience to the workplace our students too want to feel
049confident that the classes they're taking now have purpose and we'll prepare them for both College and Career options after high school at El of Unified School District we're meeting these demands because we know that high school education can't stand still with Career Technical education or CTE we've designed Pathways that combine both highlevel academics along with Technical Training to make High School relevant real and Hands-On every student in our district has the opportunity to participate in a pathway and explore potential careers that interest them we offer over 6 CTE Pathways in 13 industry sectors taught across our comprehensive and alternative high schools through a series of courses students progressively build skills through real world projects and Hands-On experiences they work together and are surrounded by a community of friends and mentors and as part of their
050pathway students have the opportunity to develop leadership skills earn college credits and certifications and interact with local industry through guest speakers field trips internships and more throughout our high schools our data consistently shows when students complete a CTE pathway they're far more likely to have success in high school college and Beyond and it's all because they're on a path that's connected to their goals CTE students are getting the exposure experience and opportunities they need to know what they want to do and understand the education they'll need to achieve it we've also made sure every CTE pathway leads directly to college and career opportunities the professional workplace skills their learning easily translate to any job and with a resume full of Real World skills and certifications students have a head start for finding work after high
051school with Career Technical education we're helping every student in our district find success and have a competitive advantage in college career and life it's easier than ever for students to start on their path right now visit our website to learn more about CTE Pathways at Elk grve Unified School [Music] District there we go all right well thank you it looks really good on the new screens so thank you for letting me do that again and the Elkgrove Unified School District we offer a wide range of CTE opportunities starting with exploratory progr programs in middle school and continuing through introductory intermediate and advanced courses in high school in recent years we've expanded CTE offerings in Middle School through a course called future Quest this Hands-On interactive program allows students to explore various careers while also enhancing
052their literacy skills CTE provides a clear pathway to Future careers and our mission is to ensure all students are ready for college career and Life by combining rigorous academics with technical skills and career Readiness training CTE engages students in meaning meaningful learning and helps them understand how education connects to Future opportunities students who can Envision their future are Mo are more motivated to achieve it in 2024 we focused on enhancing our CTE programs and increasing increasing Student Success as defined by the California Department of Education dashboard through initiatives like dual enrollment pathway completion and work-based learning earning or wbl as a result 3,361 students earned early college credit in 4,568 sections 32% of our 2024 graduates completed CTE Pathways which is up from 26% in 2023 and almost every student in a pathway participates in
053some form of work-based learning work-based learning experiences start with the introduction to industry through guest speakers industry tours to ultimately prepare students for internship opportunities all aimed at ensuring that students receive practical real world learning as part of their education currently the District offers 66 CTE Pathways throughout our nine comprehensive and alternative Ed um locations and for the 2526 cool year we are adding two new Pathways we're adding an education pathway at Laguna Creek and a business um Academy at Franklin High School all in line with regional needs this resolution affirms our commitment to providing students with valuable education and workplace experiences beyond what traditional instructional models offer preparing them for success in a wide range of career thank you thank you very much Mr Yang do we have any blue cards on this item
054board president no blue card on this item thank you then I will entertain a motion to adopt resolution number 46 designating uh February 2025 as Career Technical education month so moved moved by Miss Alani seconded seconded by Miss ballerini and would any board members like to speak on this item seeing none we'll move to a vote uh all those in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries unanimously cool thank you thank you all right right moving to uh student expulsion and involuntary transfer uh first on our request for student expulsion um would anybody like to address the board in closed session regarding a student expulsion seeing none I will entertain a motion to approve the recommendations for student expulsion moved by Miss Alani second seconded by Mr Yang all those in favor
055please say I I I I any opposed motion carries unanimously uh request for return from expulsion I will entertain a motion to approve the request for return from student expulsion so moved moved by Miss ballerini second seconded by Mr Yang all those in favor please say I I any opposed motion carries unanimously all right moving on to public comment for items not on the agenda Mr Yang are there any public comments yes board presidents we got a few all right let's get the ball rolling first up is uh Reed red pel allowing by Maria King my name is red Hello board members um I volunteer at a school and I've been volunteering for about five years or more off and on in different grades with my grandchildren I have no more grandchildren there but I
056do volunteer and I'm saddened and appalled by some of the education there at the school that I go to and right now I've worked with some of the kids that are a little behind some of them are way behind right now I'm working with the third grader and how he got to third grade I have no idea he can't spell he can't read I mean he can but he's very he's having a very difficult time so the teacher that I'm volunteering with um I take him aside and I work with him they had a spelling test today he couldn't even keep up with it how he got past the third grade I have no clue cuz he never should have but yet it says no kid Left Behind the kid's going to get left behind
057we don't they don't have a PA in the class so I come four to five days a week and I volunteer for the teacher I'm retired so I have no problem I could make my own hours but this has happened many times I go to volunteer and there are kids that need help so I work with them and work with them but somebody's doing something wrong because they shouldn't be that far behind never and especially with this no kid Left Behind that's excuse my language that's crap there our kids and he's going to be left behind I'm sorry which makes me sad he's not stupid he's not dumb he's very smart because when I work with him he can work but they're they don't have a paa personally I think we're spending too much money
058up here and not enough down here to help the kids and something needs to be done about that this is our future and if the kid keeps up the way he is he's going to be a Dropout that is our future look at our world today we' these kids are our future we have to help them you know to me that's being rude mean unkind don't do that to them I worked with my grandchildren when they went to school and I helped them and I've been volunteering in classes and I do whatever I tell the teacher whatever you need help with if there's kids I'm there for them I want children to succeed and right now I think a lot of the curriculum is too fast and too hard we're not taking into account every
059child every child is different and I want you to think about it I don't think anybody's going to care but whatever that's my two cents thank you up next Maria King followed by [Music] Charlotte okay hello everybody in the fall of 2024 my son was expelled from school for over a year he endured constant bullying from a group of students who took his food items yelled profanities and made fun of his mother with cancer this is all documented I was in the hospital when I was notified that the bully once again pressed my ctif fight and they engaged in an undetected altercation of the locker room two days later immediately across the school my son was attacked by three people who were related to the bully including two adults the following day I met with
060the vice principal K on and notified him of these unsupervised incidents despite evidence of past aggressive behavior from this group of boys the hearing coordinator Don Gordon decided to expel my son because the bully experienced a nose fracture I reached out to my school board representative Beth albani I spoke to our superintendent Chris Hoffman I even met with the mother of the bully and discovered the father passed away four years ago I learned he loved animals and has friends who also lacks a father at home after three months of home suspension where he focused on multiple therapy sessions achieving High online grades and receiving a text from the other mother agreeing to a non no contact contract after we we requested to return to his original School the district denied him I felt so much
061pain for him as I was also bullied in the elg Grove School District when you experience hate from a group of people they victimize you to believe that you lack choice in your life they taunt you and you you're put into a mental prison where you want to change schools change your appearance change your persona even commit suicide because of the psychic attacks I would never know what it means to walk in my son's shoes a young teen who experienced divorce the death of his uncle and the stage four diagnosis of cancer of his mother all in the same year I can't imagine what it felt to not react after being caught another foul name after he was forced to walk to school 45 minutes after calling 911 for me I can imagine the courage
062it took to avoid conflict for over a year and feel you had no choice but to fight back when all your protectors weren't protecting you the moment he stood up for himself was the same moment he lost his friends his team sports his education and his high school experience and now here we are my son wasn't just bullied by a young boy who lost his father he was bullied by a group of grown adults that despite his mental health challenges and steps to improve himself removed his ability to choose to go back to the school he never wanted to leave we learned three essential lessons being part of the elk Ro Unified School District we learned when you speak up you get in trouble if I didn't tell the vice principal about the altercations my
063son would still be in his school Miss he we learned that bullies attacking vulnerable people isn't limited to students that this behavior is topped down your 's up and with more leadership bullies come please we become victims we have to limit public comment to three minutes but this is very passionate because I had cancer and I was bullied District I understand but we have to limit public comment to three minutes me and everyone here everyone on Zoom will hold what is what who should be held accountable for what happened not to my son but for every child thank you very much thank you thank you next Charlotte all by syvia Garcia first of all I want to congratulate the new board members welcome you and the members of new offices officers I'm coming before you
064tonight to talk about my children's 504 Pro plans one had major back surgery half a million dollars the other one was diagnosed with leukemia he's better now but I go to update my 504 plan and find out it was altered without my permission um the district nurse had talked to me last year and you know what her first question to me was does your little boy still have cancer how heartless is that yes the district nurse I don't know what her name is but she's a jerk so I'm coming to you because in my 504 plan my son's especially he is supposed to have excused absences yes they were excused while he was on chemo but they're not excused now that he's been in remission and I feel that I'm trying to be forced out
065of take or forced of taking him off his 504 which is not fair we don't know the long-term reactions my son is a very smart boy Mr Hoffman has met him he won the every student succeeds Regional award Mr Hoffman knows his story actually Jennifer and and Heidi know his story also so I am coming to you to get whoever's in charge of 504s these children are medically protected and people are trying to get rid of the 504s my daughter who had major back surgery is told that oh she can't be in pain from standing and walking all day when she has rods on each side of her spine from her neck to her lower back I find it repulsive these kids need to be recognized and helped out more their absences should be excused
066because I already know there's many children in this District that get excused absences but the ones that have medical background medical issues background do not thank you thank you next s Garcia followed by Nico gas so some of you might remember me I'm Sylvia Lopez Garcia I'm a school bus driver now for a little over eight years this is my partner here an attendant who helps me and without him I would not be able to transport most of these kids that we transport I'm going to be covering a couple things we need to fix some things that are going on with our budget obviously some of you making well over 400,000 a year you guys are not putting money back into the schools not into Transportation not into our retirement we got a pay raise
067and now our benefits have gone up we are paying anywhere from 400 to over $700 a month out of our own paycheck to pay for our own Children's medical bills benefits and that's just the drivers that's not even including the tenants that don't make enough for what they're what they do or the mechanics the mechanics are we can't keep average diesel mechanic makes $40 an hour they don't make that starting is 20 how are we going to get someone with $20 an hour when Min when minimum wage is what now I mean come on now our benefits are need to be worked on and not you guys walking away from the table and having a one word change on the contract we're a team here we're here for the kids we want to be here
068to work we don't want to leave we're losing people to other school districts that are offering better and they're smaller than ours we cover everywhere go to G when I tell people I go to Davis I go to Ranch of Cordova for one child because that child needs to go to speech therapy guess who's there to help me Nico and he can't even pay his own bills he has to work multiple jobs like most of them attendants do we lose people people to other school districts that are so much smaller than ours we lose mechanics we lose teachers we lose it's ridiculous our school district is makes too much money for us to be not having the things that we need just to survive I'm sure you guys can pay your medical bills and have
069no problem paying your part part of the benefits but we can't I go to some of these schools and these schools don't have the stuff either we're struggling just to find seat belt locks equipment because some of the kids we have we have multiple vests zipper vests we have kids with severe disabilities that we transport and we do it all the time that's not even including our training we do active shooting training we do hijacking training CPR medical first aid now we're doing the DEA the de eii training too all this training we're doing we should have a college degree and then you guys don't want to pay us most of us were raised in this area I came from markofer I graduated from B thank you next ni Gomez followed by Crystal Le hello
070my name is Nico Gomez and as a bus attendant we Face a lot of challenges that have to do with kids behaviors and unpredictability of what they may have going on mentally depending on how their day goes we have to deal with many different challenges whether it's how they want to physically Express themselves like hitting or grabbing spitting all of the above and there are many cases where we have to clean up after them if they have incidents that happen whether it's either the school needs to change them or the kid has issues with going to the bathroom at specific times going on the bus things like that we have to take care of that so it's safe to transport other students because if there's urine if there's maneuver on the bus then we have
071to make sure that everything's all right before we transport other students so that they don't breathe that in so that they don't have problems with being able to sit cl to that area we have to make sure that it's clean we have to make sure that we help our bus drivers and let them know that we have their back because it's just us two on the bus and it's hard sometimes depending on how many students you have there could be one student that could be the equivalent to the difficulty of handling like four or five and if you don't have the proper equipment if we don't have the right tools to be able to help with our job then we have to sit and be able to stand by them and while all the other
072kids are having the problems that they have we have to focus more on other students that have severe issues and there could be medical emergencies going on and if a student's acting up and we don't have the right equipment to secure them we we can only be in so many places at one time and we can only make so many different stops we have very tight schedules and it's a lot to deal with for what I started out making about 16 an hour and now I make about 18 and I try to work as much as I can every day I go to school at the same time and I try to I try to work for however much I can get and most of the time I'm able to get something but you have
073to I'm very low in seniority I've been working for over a year here and I enjoy it I I enjoy being able to learn and being able to see how the kids are be able to understand that there's more problems than anybody can ever imagine working firsthand with kids with special needs and being able to understand that the world's bigger than we see it in working with kids with the severity of their disabilities I understand that people need to know and recognize that there is a lot of problems with what goes on with kids with special needs but as as long as we work together up sir thank you for your time next chryst [Applause] Le which one is which items have okay so I'll will be is that okay Chris yes all right last
074one edar BTO Doo if I pronounce your name wrong please uh correct me thank you good evening everyone to the board thank you we value the opportunity that our community and our margeting units as well as our brothers and sisters today are able to join us and you can hear us my name is Edgard I'm a driver with Transportation at the El grve as well as a steward to local ATU 256 it's an honor to address you all today as a steward it's not just our responsibility but our privilege to stand up to those who may not have a voice with certain matters we have uh we have been entrusted to uphold our contract ensure that no laws are being overlooked and advocating for well uh for well-being and experience of our members because the
075heart of the people is where it's at now that we stepped into the 20 25 uh 25 I want to say happy new years's right we have a lot of excitement opportunity ahead of us a lot of change Build a Better Stronger Community together however we have overlooked a few items it's crucial that we take this time to really listen to our members to see the back row and really understand why we're here we have 68 schools and growing we have about 5 to seven more schools in the next 5 to 10 years shop takes care of not only 150 plus buses maintenance some of CDE CHP it's a staff of nine under staffed okay two are about to retire this year here we at staff of seven recruitment has been a top priority we
076work with the district we've emailed back and forth we have yet to meet even close to where we need to get they also need training we have a program but it's kind of hard to get in it okay and we get new buses there's no proper training we use warranty as a backup they're under warranty send them to the company bring it back shop is asking for more training more development more growth they're asking for support from its District there's also the need for more training and support for our drivers and attendance as you heard today particularly when it comes to managing Behavior within the bus even the support to special our needs this will Foster a positive outcome we know that but we lack certain training we have been working with the district we
077have yet to see Improvement in there our staff members deserve more hours better benefits and opportunities they definitely do we stay about 12 to 14 hours every day average contract six hours the rest we try to get here and there pick and choose wherever we can right at 150 that's just drivers then you have 50 attendance 200 people goes by seniority so we do our best we budget our best looking at the financials we know there's an opportunity there we can do better we can do way better finally our facility we have grown it our parking lots we're just parking anywhere at this point we're just making spots we're in the Reds blocking fire hydrants I hope with the new facilities program we highlight these issues we cover these issues I think together we can
078change and work together make it better but it starts with listening it starts with listening to those people more than your directors more than your management thank you for your time I thank [Applause] you for president that ends our blue car on public comment thank you very much all right next up is the consent agenda uh Mr Yang are there any blue cards card s on the consent agenda well president there's no blue card in this item excellent um start out with any board members like to pull an item from the consent agenda motion right then I will entertain a motion to approve items 1 through 18 on the consent agenda so move Mr Yang is moved Miss albiani seconds all those in favor please say I hi I any opposed motion carries unanimously all
079right now we will move on to our bargaining units are there any bargaining units who wish to address the board and we can start with Miss Lee good evening board president vice president board members superintendent Hoffman ATU local 256 and my distinguished bargaining unit Partners my name is Crystal mcely and I come before you again because I said I made a promise to you I said Happy New Year and I said I was going to come before you to you know talk to you and speak with you and as you can see some of my members have already shared with you and I want to talk to you about good orderly Direction and the reason I say that is we need good orderly Direction and usually good orderly Direction when that comes to term my
080mind meaning as in safety of our children if we don't have the correct safety things or uh tools necessary then that's not good orderly Direction all of us need that in businesses um another thing comes to mind is if someone has a issue and they get in trouble and you have what we call Progressive discipline I told you I was going to come and be transparent with you if you look in some of the contract there's no Progressive discipline so in my mind that's not good orderly Direction because good orderly directions means you know they put the perfect person on a cross everyone makes the mistakes so you can't go from making a mistake to termination or making mistakes to 3day suspension that's not good orderly Direction good orderly Direction it means a command chain
081of command in my mind if you have a attendant needs something they don't know where to go it's not it's not transparent one person says one thing another person says another the reason I'm bringing you these issues is because I'm a first-term president which is three years so in the three years some of these things I've brought to the attention of these these distinguished gentlemen and ladies on on your board so now I'm bringing it to you so that I could be transparent like I said I'm not going to be before you long but the one thing that I I noticed that I feel like you want me to keep coming back because every time I come back Valley High School is up here on the podium and you having some kind of award to
082VHS so I appreciate that but another thing about good orderly Direction a lot of our attendants as you heard that one attendant because we have special Iz you you specialize kids and children we need certain tools to facilitate a safe transfer and so I know before you're going to come you're going to hear some other things later on down the line but good orderly direction is what I think business need and that allows things to be equal but where I come from too good orderly Direction means god so if you're a Christian 1 Corinthians 12:13 says all Christians regardless of their back ground and social status are united as one body through the Holy Spirit signifying that everyone is equally equally part of the C Church of Christ and share the same Spirit making them
083one body we are all one body we are all El Grove School District unified this and that and with that being said some Spirit making them one body with diverse functions and Gifts you have many gifts back there that aren't being acknowledged just like different parts of the human body working together as a unit so I'm not here to disparage or down or uh uh ridicule I want us all to work as partners that is my goal so that is why I'm here tonight that is why they're standing back there to let you know we want to be team players and we're asking for you to be team players with us thank you for your time I appreciate you thank you Miss Lee are there any other bargaining units who'd like to address the board
084right seeing none we will move on to reports and discussion items uh Miss Watkins for the annual audit good evening president Vargas trustees superintendent Hoffman Miss Avalos colleagues and members of the public i' uh we are here to present the results of our annual financial and compliance audit Education Code requires us to provide for an audit of the district's finances every year and so without further Ado I'd like to present Moran Murphy with the audit firm Crow LLP who's a manager and she will be presenting the results of our audit this evening yeah this works um thank you Omari hi everyone my name is Maran Murphy I'm an audit manager with Crow your external audit firm and I am here to present your audit results for the year ended June 30 2024 so as Amari
085scrolling to the page 101 yeah um I'll just let you guys know that we perform our audits under government auditing standards and we also utilize generally accepted Accounting Standards we express opinions over your financial statements your federal Awards and your state Awards so we have all of our uh results if you will on one page here condensed so I'll just go ahead and get into it so first section is the financial statements um we were able to issue an unmodified report so that is the highest level of assurance we can provide it's it's the results that you want to see um in accounting terms if there was something very wrong with the report or M material things that had gone on we would modify the opinion so happy to report here that this is an
086unmodified opinion um going down into the internal control section we did have one significant deficiency and we did have a chance to discuss the results with the audit committee a few hours ago so um we have gone into detail about that but this is related to your uh refunding of debt that occurred during the 24 years so it essentially got double booked um but there was no impact to your bottom line um so that's why we were able to do a significant deficiency on that one okay moving on to the federal Awards happy to report again another unmodified opinion so we are required to audit programs based on your dollar threshold so because you guys receive so much money from the federal government any program over $3 million that hasn't been audited in the past
0873 years were required to audit so this year we looked at the education stabilization fund so that's the Esser and gear money that's coming to an end here uh we also looked at Title One and title four so again happy to report another unmodified opinion on that one okay moving on to the last sections the state Awards this one I really want to point out because this is a really Stellar job by the district not just the the fiscal Services team but also at the site level there is a lot of State compliance that we look at again various site levels so it does it does take a lot of effort to um you know have good audit results here so no State compliance findings this year and again another unmodified opinion so those are
088the results um I do just want to point out one more finding that we typically don't report here um but we do at the discretion of the district is related to your vacation acral so overacre your vac liabilities um if you guys have seen these reports before this this finding has been in there for a number of years now and superintendent Hoffman noted earlier that your acral is actually going down so definitely some some progress there as you guys work with your bargaining units on that one okay that is it for the results I do just want to go through a few things um that I'm required to disclose so we had no difficulties with the management team um there were no events that would require your attention before I present the audit results um
089there was no consultations with other accounting firms so that would mean if management disagreed with something we said they would go you know ask one of our competitors so none of that occurred um we had no instances where our Independence was impaired there was a new accounting standard during the year um it didn't really impact your District much at all so we can just kind of gloss over that one um and I just want to close out by thanking Amari and her team Adena everyone who helps you know do the audits it's it's a lot of work we ask for a lot of information it's almost feels like a year- round process sometimes so just want to extend our gratitude to fiscal services and everyone at the site level who helps for another smooth successful
090audit that's all I have but I can take any questions all right thank you very much so we will uh go down the line for any board questions Mr superintendent unless you have anything to add on this yet okay sweet um then let's start Miss Alani would you like to start I would um I've been on the um audit committee for I don't know how long it's got to be over five years um and I just want to say in the past we had some ASB issues with their funding and if you have children in school now you know that's very strict where you have to turn that in and so we've gotten that under control um and I think there's two other things that were brought out today and our we we met prior
091and went into it a little deeper um we have an unmodified and we have for many years which allows us to be audited at a 20% versus a 40% of all our transactions so due to the good work of our finance department they save us half half of the time that our Auditors would have to spend so their work pays off for us because we don't have to pay for more of an audit and it's quite a compliment to our to our staff and then I want to thank all the school secretary Aries and the people working on the sites our attendance had no issues this year and truly last year we had one and and it's insane I we have over 63,000 students that come to school and come to every single period and
092it is spot checked and and we passed with zero this year so thank you so much to our staff on sites it it just it's very very impressive and I don't think it's very easy to see this report and not understand the how broad and how much money we we spend more money than the city of El grve we are the largest people we're the largest employer in our town this is just it's amazingly good work and so um thank you very much to all of you excellent thank you very much I'm realizing we neglected a a quick Point uh Mr Yang are there any blue cards on this item or president there's no blue card this item thank you very much all right are there other um Miss Davis any questions no questions but
093um thank you for the report and I appreciate the comments about the School site staff being a former school secretary I know the work that our school office assistants put into ensuring that we have those forms everything te's crossed eyes dotted so I appreciate that and I know at the district level they have just as much too so thank you yeah of course thank you Mr yang yeah thank you for the report and I too want to thank you for all the hard work uh behind the doors that shows us this uh report so thank you very much for all the efforts thank you Miss Chen no comments thank you so much thank you Miss ballerini since she's shouting out her people I'd like to shout out to um all of the school site controllers
094all the people that work in those fields it's it's a lot of work you've got your ASB people out there you've got your activities directors there's money all over the place and it's it's a lot of work to keep track of it I I appreciate the finance department doing such a great job and um I know that vacation acrs have been a problem for many years and I was very excited to see that we're getting that a little bit better under control people need to take their vacations so that you can retire someday please take your vacations all right that's all I have to say thank you thank you Miss ballerini Miss Moore uh I don't have much to add but I do appreciate the um the positive feedback you have about the District staff
095that's encouraging and um thank you for your work excellent and for me just uh thank you very much for everything this is my um first time on the audit committee and uh the amount of information and the uh thoroughness and depth of the Pres presentation was excellent so I very much appreciate it thank you I think that's it so thank you all right all right next up we are at action items uh first up consideration of approval of resolution confirming cert uh certification of election results and upon and entry upon minutes of favorable vote uh Dr coats please good evening Mr President members of the board superintendent Hoffman Miss avalo staff and and the community who's watching I am excited to present this item tonight this resolution um and would start with a thank you
096to uh the voters of the El Grove Community and School boundary so on uh as a recap on the November 5th election uh the district voters approved measure n author ring the district to issue up to 542 million in principal amount of General obligation Bonds in order to finance necessary facility projects of the district as outlined in the measure uh we are now in position after receiving the certified results from the county to bring it before you tonight to certify um once we do that just as a reminder that uh uh measure needed or sorry I'm sorry this resolution needs to um pass with a majority of the board um and once we have that we will pass that on to the county superintendent of schools where we can then move on to the next
097phases of and the planning and the issuance of measure and funds so with that um the recommendation of the staff is to approve the uh the resolution tonight thank you Dr coats uh Mr Yang any public comment on this item board President we do have a couple blue cards on this item on this one or is it two wait just 10 two that's the next okay sorry it's 10 two that's the next one all right so no blue cards on this item then uh excellent uh let's see where was I okay um I don't think we need a lot of discussion on this item so we'll start with I will entertain a motion to adopt resolution number 45 certifying the results of the November 5th 2024 election with respect to the district's measure n do
098have a motion yes Mo so move so moved by Miss ballerini seconded by Mr Yang at any additional discussion all right seeing none uh we'll move to a vote all those in favor please say I I I any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you Dr coats all right so next action item we have a board vacancy that needs to be filled uh so Dr coat would you get us started all right I am here again um thank you very much so uh as we know that we do have a board vacancy and tonight um uh we'll go pro and provide the process for filling uh the vacancy there are a couple of options so with the recent resignation of uh truste Jamerson an area for we do need the board to take some action and
099provide some direction on how we're going to move forward to fill her vacant seat um so the timeline and the process to the fill the vacancy is that within 60 days of a vacancy arising the board can either make a provisional appointment or order a special election uh per Ed code to fill that vacancy and so tonight we're going to walk through those two processes and then ask for direction um so we'll go through the special election first so um the one option is to uh have a special election um and this would be in lie of a provisional appointment which we'll talk about next the special election would be held at the next established election date pursuant to Ed code 1000 which would be in November of 2025 so to be eligible for any
100special election or appointment the successor on the board must reside in trustee area 4 and um and so any person appointed or elected must uh live in that area we'll show a map to reference that at the end um the voter pool for a special election is also limited to trustee area 4 um so only of those voters would vote and the estimated cost for the special election is approximately $324,000 the second option is a provisional appointee and so you as a board have the authority to um to make a provisional appointment um under Ed code section 5091 a provisional appointee holds the office only until the next regularly scheduled Board election after that board meeting is certified that would be December of 2026 uh governed by board bylaw 9223 it sets forth the requirements
101for the district's provisional appointment selection process as follows uh the board shall advertise in the local media to solicit candidate applications or nominations a committee consisting of less than a quorum of the board shall ensure that applicants are eligible for board membership and announce the name uh and names of the eligible candidates and then um the board shall interview the candidates at a public meeting in Open Session um except oral and written public input and select the provision appointee by a majority of the vote so if we were to go through a provisional appointment this would be the timeline so uh If This Were the direction tomorrow uh we would advertise the vacancy uh the appointment process and candid candidates could start making and submitting applications on January 29th a subcommittee of the board would
102review and Screen the applications on February 7th we'd post the names of the candidates to be interviewed on February 13th we would have a special board meeting to interview the candidates in person in an open session and then the board would vote the provisional appointee and that new appointee will be sworn in and then by February of 20 uh 23rd within 10 days of the provisional appointment the district will post notices of the vacancy and the provisional appointment in three public places in The District in a newspaper of General circulation within the district and on the district's internet website and within 30 days of the appointment registered voters May file a petition for special election with the county superintendent of schools in the manner specified in Ed code section 5091 so the next steps are
103to discuss and approve one or the other uh special election and resolution to conduct a special election that's resolution uh number 48 that's attached to the item or resolution number 49 the provisional appointment process and resolution uh the timeline of the governing board adopting a process for the provisional appointment to fill a board vacancy and for reference this is the area specific spefically that we're talking about so any um anyone running for a special election or being considered for as a provisional appointment would need to reside and again if if we go a special election um it would only be the voters of this area and with that we'll take any questions thank you very much uh Mr Yang blue cards on this item yeah board President we do have a couple cards calling Kurt
104Thon to the podium followed by [Music] charotte hi I uh I don't really Envy the situation you all are in here um let me tell you why um now when it comes to having the uh special election it's obviously the best way to promote democratic values and ensure that the people have a say in who represents them uh but that election if it's not going to happen till November I know why it's going to cost a lot of money and trying to do it earlier would just cost more money I couple out with the fact that California election officials notoriously take forever to count votes um we could realistically not be able to fill that seat until this time next year and since that election would only be for the remainder of Miss Jameson's term
105that member would most almost immediately go back into election mode for 2026 um and as was discussed at the last meeting this dist district is going to have to make some tough decisions over the next few months regarding spending and avoiding spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a special election wouldn't necessarily be the wrong decision even if it is a far less Democratic option however I have spent almost two years venting my frustration with this board uh this last election produced Some solid turnover in your membership but that also means I don't really know what to expect from this from the majority of this board now I know at least two of you including the new board president have openly and proudly defended spending District money on pornographic material for our school libraries at
106a 30% markup over the Amazon listen price those two members have continued to hide behind inclusion to justify this ridiculous stance as though porn being gay porn somehow makes it better and more appropriate for 12-year-olds don't even get me started on the secret sexuality clubs you all defended in elementary schools three of you are part of the last board that helped create the financial last year will be dealing with in the coming months and failed to consider the possibility that certain funding sources might eventually dry up so I guess my questions are will you be voting to add an additional board member who will make the same mistakes of the past which is a culture of Reckless spending and a disrespect of parent parental rights and basic decency or will you be voting for a
107new member who actually cares about the rights of parents and taxpayers who will not actively promote a culture of division and degener and who will prioritize student achievement over a personal political agenda if a majority of you are willing to do that then I trust you to appoint somebody as a parent I expect my kids' academic success to be the top priority of every member of this board and the last thing this Board needs is another member who views parents and taxpayers as a hindrance to their private agenda if a majority of you cannot commit to prioritizing academic success and demanding that mindset from all candidates then I'd rather just put it to a vote and risk the seat remaining vacant for the next 12 months thank you thank you next charot so I am
108with Kirk also so I'm hoping if we're going to do the provisional appointment I'm hoping you'll be a person who will accept all children and will honor their rights and we'll accept um we listen to teachers and parents and have full transparency again unfortunately some of the previous board members are not transparent and that worries me also um with their we've seen and witnessed the actions we have seen um three board seats well two board seats totally turn so I too think I'm on the side of let's do the election because I believe the constituents need to pick not the Board needs to pick thank you thank you that ends our blue card on this item board president thank you very much all right so now we get to discuss um so I think probably
109the most effective thing to do would be to have every board member um this is your opportunity to ask questions and we'll just kind of go down the line but I do want to start with um our board members who have done this before who have been in this situation before um and give them an opportunity to give us perspective in their thoughts um you know from from that experience um so miss Alani do you want to start us off was without warning um sure I've done this twice um we had um Miss Nancy cheris Espinosa came to us as a result and Miss Jamerson came to us as a result when um the mayor left so um we've done it twice um I I lean highly towards resolution number 49 because I believe um
110our Board needs to have representation I don't want to leave a district without representation for a year and whether you um no matter your relationship with your board member at least you have a relationship and you have a board member to go to so I I think that um to me that that wins from leaving a vacant seat for a year basically um the process it's it's interesting it's incred it's long it's meticulous uh the people that come I cannot have enough respect for um they really put themselves out here and I don't believe that anybody would come in this room and go through this process without having a true passion and um commitment to doing what's best for children I I just I don't think you put yourself through that um it's in public
111all of it's public our debate is public um so it takes a lot of Grace it takes a lot of um I mean you need to have a lot of respect for the people that bring themselves here and put themselves out and we will the committee will come up with a set of questions everybody will be asked the same questions so we're we're starting from the same point I will say I personally um and I I guess I would encourage you and I I don't tell anybody what to do by any means but I don't speak with people that I know are going to come ahead of time because I don't think that's correct I I think we are all should have the same opportunity to see them and I shouldn't have met with somebody
112for minutes at Starbucks and told them everything I think they need to know um I don't feel that's fair as a person so that's my moral ground on this um you'll see me learn the same things you learn about him we'll have a resume we'll have some things um part of you feels like that's not enough but um I I think in the process the process has worked twice I think very well and a lot of things you do have to trust the process so is that what you were hoping for okay excellent um Mr Yang your thoughts yeah um thanks Bo president um I uh did have experience um with uh Miss jimon as well as uh um we chose to uh do the appointment process um I thought it was interesting and um
113it was fair we had some awesome candidates present um before us and uh I thought we make the right decision um she turned out to be a great um Trustees for A4 um just unfortunate that she resigns and uh we have to do this again um so um with that said um I think for me personally um if the length of time it's a little bit more as far as Miss jamson's um uh term um it's longer uh we literally uh well as mentioned it uh the the appointee process will not take place until this November um and then go into 2026 right we that that area it's going to be running U for general election again um and for me to the fact that we are lacking funding and have to spend over 300,000
114on this um to me it makes more sense for um seeking appointment that's where I stand thank you very much um then we'll just go down the line from now on so uh Miss Davis I did have one question is the appointee approved and sworn in at the same meeting on the 13th yes okay um I I think for such a short period of time it it's fiscally irresponsible to spend that much money and turn around a year later and spend almost equally the same amount um and also leaving that area without a representative is irresponsible on our part also um so I I would be leaning towards supporting 49 thank you Miss Jen no comments on this issue and listening to the discussion thank you uh Miss ballerini um I actually was here in
1152015 when Miss chariz Espinosa was chosen and I spoke at that time he reminded of that I was like whoa you're right I did um so I I I went ahead and watched the whole the whole meeting and realized it it is a lot for somebody to apply just like running for the position itself um we've just recently finished an election there it's there's things to do the whole time it's more than you probably thought it was when you decided to run um and you're on the spot answering questions all the the time that's pretty much what it's going to be like here I did like it better in person than on Zoom because on Zoom it just it just didn't have the same feeling I liked them coming in one at a time we
116asked the questions there was a time limit Etc is that the way we're planning on doing it as far as we know part of it will depend on you which way the the direction the board gives us there will I don't anticipate having to do it virtually but something could change tomorrow so I can't so I can't promise that that won't be the case but but I think the plan would be for it to be in person um I think the number of candidates um will be um part of what we would when the subcommittee meets and we we plan it out if we had four candidates for example it might make sense to have the four of them here and like we did in the zoom meeting do the questions round robin so we
117don't we don't have people in and out and we get so we could do it all together if we had you know significantly more than that then it probably makes sense to um and we can't require this but ask people to um wait outside the room one candidate come in we ask the questions just knowing someone in the audience who's a friend might be texting the questions ahead so one of the things we want to do is make sure that the the uh process is as Fair as possible so we just so we'll have to consider based on the number of people but I I can't imagine it not being in person um but crazier things have happened so okay that's that's what I was hoping for and I have a question for you Dr
118coats the map I found when I was out canvasing sometimes it was hard to tell what street was what on there and there may be more new streets maybe not necessarily in that area um that are on there if anybody has a question as to whether they're or not they live in area 4 should they contact your department or they can they can contact our office and we'll get them with um we'll look at the address and make sure that they have some want about the option on the website cuz we do have a we do have an ability to put an address yeah so we have a School Lake locator option it's not really for board candidates but you can figure you put your address in it'll it'll show you where you are so
119there's there's a couple of options okay okay just want to make sure it's as transparent as we can for everybody and and we so we could do that if we were to post the application we'll work with the communication department so that's clear oh okay yeah great great um like I said I was here for that the the 2015 um and I thought that they did a really good job looking at every every Point everybody made and going back and forth with what the decision should be um and I think Nancy was a a wonderful board member so I think you did a good job there um I would vote for a resolution 49 because I to me it's fiscally irresponsible to spend that much money $324,000 my head starts thinking how many hours of
120custodial is that how many hours of Library Tech how many hours of of teachers is that of academic after schools all those kind of things it's just so much money that I just can't see putting it towards an election that won't even happen for a year so there's already that one year that's not being covered by uh a board member although I've already been out there and and helped at a Boy Scout troop in area 4 so don't worry we're not going to leave them uncovered we we'll we'll take care of you guys out there um I just think that that's the only way that that I could vote because our budget is always so tight as it is and I I can't see spending the money on that but that's me thank you Miss
121ballerini Miss Moore thank you I have some questions uh just for clarification for the public that I think are important um so first um we mentioned that the board must interview candidates during a public meeting but the subcommittee meeting will not be public is that correct that's correct okay and so besides eliminating candidates based on the basic requirements um that have been outlined to be a board member um do subcommittee members have the power to eliminate or reduce the number of candidates to lat be interviewed publicly by all board members yes okay um and then so the public is aware how were how are subcommittee members chosen so board president and uh superintendent uh we actually asked all the members that were interested U we got that information we got their availabilities um and then
122U president and I identified three members um for the committee and we have identified a fourth person in case one of the three couldn't um couldn't fill the the date that they said they were available okay and um regarding if an appointment is decided um it says in the presentation that we will um well it say We'll Post in three public places once the appointment is made but how will we be posting about this um this board opening how will we be communicating that to the public so T so our typical it's all governed by education codes so we'll Post in uh the local newspaper um we would do that as soon as tomorrow it would be up on our website we would post it typically we push it out to school websites and I'm
123looking at Miss leaster to see if we would post it anywhere else no that is exactly you mentioned all three great so it will be posted in three separate places as well yes okay that's what I was wondering uh so thank you for answering those questions um so this is a really important decision that I do not take lightly um and I wait out the pros and cons to both decisions as has been mentioned the um the downside of course to the special election is it's very costly and we do leave the seat open for a long time which I do not think is good because I do believe that area 4 needs representation and someone to visit the schools so I definitely agree with my colleagues on that point but I would also like
124to say that the Democrat democratic process is very important to me and I believe that citizens deserve the opportunity for to vote for leaders who best represent their interests um as Miss ballerini referenced her campaign during my campaign I personally spoke to thousands of my constituents I worked very hard and listen with an open mind to understand Community needs concerns Community member perspectives and heard both positive and negative experiences with the district that experience was certainly rewarding and humbling and shape the way I will work to represent my constituents I do believe that an appointed member of the board does not gain the same experience as someone who is elected by the voice of the people because they are appointed by their peers and not by their constituents who they are intended to represent and
125I think that that makes them less accountable and sometimes less aware of their um area needs um and furthermore um another problem with that is that sometimes these um trustees can gain political power from an appointment um and then I would just like to mention so people understand the history of the area 4 seat if I'm correct Bobby Singh Allen was appointed to the seat in 2012 and held that seat until she resigned and then at that point Gina Jamerson was appointed in 2021 so this this seat has been appointed twice and so I mean it does again I understand the unfortunate timing of this you know the long period of time that the seat will be open but I also think it's unfortunate that the area for residents are once again not having the
126opportunity to choose their own uh trusty more just just just one point just said you're you're absolutely right but there were opportunities where um missing Allen and Miss Jamerson actually won elections too so so in in in between they they filled the short time until the election and both of them did actually um get confirmed by their by the constituents of area 4 just just as a point of clarification okay yes thank you I I was trying to point out that when those seats were vacated both times that an appointment was made I just wanted to make the public aware but thank you you're correct um thank you for pointing that out um so all of that being said my main concern with an appointment is that we as a board of six voices are
127making a choice that is intended for the constituents of area 4 and the subcommittee um made of only three voices or three board members has the power to eliminate qualified candidates before the other board members have a chance to interview them in a public process and that is a part that I don't like because I believe that transparency is very important and that piece is not transparent um and it further limits this process um further limits you know the voices in this process um and um so that those are my thoughts I would prefer to have a special election but um I can see that my colleagues do not um necessarily agree with that and because again because of the long uh long time that the seat would be open I do believe that the
128the the residents uh the constituents in area 4 deserve to have representation thank you uh one of the perks of going last is that the uh sort of um the vibe uh is already there so um but I did have one quick question which you or Miss Lasser can answer um so seems like our bylaws are a little old um you know it's great to have it in a newspaper I I distinctly remember the last time I opened a newspaper because it was from three months ago um and very very old like looking at things news from three months ago was not particularly helpful um so what what are we doing to put it out there in more uh immediate and approachable and modern uh Technologies it's it's um it'll be covered by the digital
129circulation of the citizen and so I think that's the um that is the key so it's going to be widely available on the internet but we are required to have it as part of a newspaper and so as newspapers go into online um platforms we um we will have it both in print and um digital yeah the public notice piece is actually the requirement in can we actually in the timing in working with the with the elro citizen we want to make sure it's ready for tomorrow if the board had made that decision um and so what if about online they said well then they helped us they said it has to be in the print you can it can be online as well but it has to show in um in print so I
130definitely appreciate that part um you know but more of my question question was around the what else like where else are we pushing this out on social media are we using any other you know mechanisms other than just slapping it on our website and slapping it in newspaper I'll let Miss leaster speak to that so yes so we're going to put it on the district website we'll put it on all the schools and area 4 and their website and we can absolutely push it out to all of area 4's different social media platforms okay I think that would be helpful um otherwise I don't think I have any additional questions um like my colleagues uh I am also uh leaning heavily towards an appointment I think for all of the same reasons that have been
131um you know pointed out I don't take that lightly um and I think that it will be incumbent upon that person to do all of the things that are required uh of them next year uh when they are up for election so um I think that is my position but uh other board members have additional comments yes Mr yang yeah um I just have a a question to clarify so um in the process of the subcommittee uh reviewing the potential candidates so is there a number that uh needs to be uh meet in terms of number of candidates for for example let you say 20 applicants there's no specific there's no minimum requirement maximum so yeah so if there's 20 Africans we could choose 20 yeah if you know if you just just as an
132FYI um so uh we've never actually eliminated a candidate um uh for any reason other than they didn't meet the criteria they didn't live in the area or for whatever reason so in the subcommittees that's never happened um we don't we we want to be clear that that the subcommittee does have the authority to do that um and if we if we had 25 or 30 or more applicants when we did the interviews in 2015 um I have to I have to go back it was 12 or 15 and it was a 6 hour and 45 minute um you know so so it's it's it's a it's it's big so I think the the main piece is let's see the application see how many we have and um that's going to have an impact on
133how we structure the actual meeting that day um and I appreciate the board um in Communications let me know that U they're available the day that we're we're doing the meeting and I also gave you the you know regular start time is a 6:00 meeting is when we traditionally start Open Session uh but if we have an extended number of people uh we may want to move that to an earlier start time to uh allow for us to do a longer session to um interview more candidates um and you know to the potential candidates I just want to say it's an odd duck um yeah so we so ahead of time we will make you as comfortable as we can but you are literally doing a job interview um in public um andan so it's
134a it is a little bit of a an interesting concept and for all those folks that are willing to put themselves out there we'll do everything U we can to make sure you have what you need so you're comfortable for that day uh but it is it's a it's a running running I've never run a campaign except for a you know a measure so I can't I know that's a lot of work too but we got to give folks some uh their guts if they're willing to uh come in and uh and sit before you folks you you guys are intimidating um and uh ask answering your question so it's going it's going to be it's an interesting process if we go that way that's excellent feedback Chris to clarify that uh in the history
135of the subcommittee there wasn't any eliminating or or I say unpick um due to sounds like there's no discrimination except the fact that the Africans did not meet the queria as a requirement so I'm very happy to hear that and I'm sure this next um selection will be the same um so I'm very happy to hear that and looking forward to uh the applicant so thank you thank you all right any other board discussion I have something to add really quickly I I appreciate what Beth said about not meeting with candidates ahead of time I've already been contacted by some people and I've let them know that I want it to be clean I want it to be here at this place is where we meet and we all have the same experience that's my
136personal thing but I just wanted to be transparent about that right up front I also I I always say I'll I'll appoint you I'll get you to the right person to help you do whatever you want to do if I'm the only person you know to contact you know you can contact me and I'll get you to Chris's office or Kristen's office I'll get you to the right person because I want you here but I don't need to have that conversation there more did you thank you uh I would also just like I appreciate what Mr bang said or sorry Mr Yang said um regarding um the the subcommittee that is really important to me and I think it's an important responsibility because um you are in that position to as you know um uh
137three committee me three committees uh three members on the committee um and it's not a transparent process and so I appreciate um you know I hope that we can accept um all qualified candidates if possible um and I think that doing that gives the board uh a wide variety of people to hear from um and I think that's kind of the least that we can do if we don't have an election so that we um have a you know a transparent uh process that involves the public and gives um them an opportunity to participate that would be my preference so and I agree with Chris that there's things we can do to if we have more people uh more applicants there's things we can do to kind of give ourselves the time to do it
138and um it's also incumbent upon all of you uh let me you know Wrangle you as needed uh you know when we actually get into the discussions um you know and stay on task but I think we've all I think we're all good in that area so um any other board comments uh to move resolution 49 all right I have a motion to that motion on uh to to approve resolution 49 which would adopt procedures and timelines for a provisional appointment uh by Miss albani and I have a second by Mr Yang any additional board discussion before we move on all right then we will move on to a vote all in favor please say I I I opposed motion carries unanimously we are doing an appointment that's great and one thing is it's a
139lot more work for staff but we'll get we'll be we'll be on it we're going to contact the citizen right now so we we'll work so thank you I know I know it's a challenging um decision and and you all value the Democratic process but this is part of the democratic process it's just a different version of it so thank you yes and thank you and thank you to staff for all the work you've done so far and all the work you are going to do for us uh in the next month we we deeply appreciate it and I'm sure we will thank you again uh after the process is concluded because we know that's going to be a thing um all right right so with that we are on to our last item uh
140board member and superintendent reports uh Mr superintendent just one very quick uh I'm going to ask a gentleman to come out of the the dark back room or open the window uh back there is uh Mr Barber Mr Barber calling Mr Barber ah so Mr Todd barber um and he is uh serving as the interim uh uh Chief uh technology officer um we are very appreciative of them of stepping into that space uh with the uh leaving of Steve mate and he is highly qualified um and just came back from a cruise ship um so he actually got his vacation before we were putting him to work so um to just want to say thank you for accepting the position and congratulations thank you very much for the recognition appreciate congratulations and thank you Mr
141superintendent board members any reports from board related duties all right seeing none then we are adjourned at 8:22 p.m. thank you how's it going [Music] have a good night everyone all right here we go we're going to work