001Good evening, everyone, and thank you for your patience. Welcome to the regular board meeting of the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees. Calling the meeting to order. A recording and our broadcast of this meeting is being made at the direction of the board, which may capture images and sounds of those attending the meeting. If technical difficulties occur or persist, the meeting will continue without broadcasting. I'll now take roll. Stella? Here. Brian? Present. Jim? Here. And I Shelly Skelton here as well. Forum. And I understand Eason will lead us in the pledge. 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. Would any board members like to provide comment
002on tonight's agenda? Nothing? All right. This may have a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So moved. Thank you, Stella. Second. Thank you, Brian. All right. Motion to approve tonight's agenda as presented was made by Stella, seconded by Brian. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Thank you. The motion passes unanimously. Closed session report, no action was taken in closed session tonight. Superintendent's up. Hello. Uh just a few things tonight. I wanted to um thank our amazing team. Carrie and Eric, you know I've been in and out because of a family emergency, and I'm so appreciative that you've been covering in all sorts of ways, big and small. So, thank you so much. I hope to be back more regularly. Um uh this past week, Shelly, you may be talking
003about this too, but we had our monthly meeting with the PTA presidents, which is always one of my favorite um meetings uh to really get a sense of what's happening across our schools. Um one thing we are working on internally that we got some feedback from the PTA presidents is around a volunteer authorization process to expand the um the number of folks who are officially authorized to volunteer. So, we're working through a process, trying to make it doable for our families. We don't want to reduce volunteerism at our schools. We rely so much on it, but we also want to make sure that we have the safest schools possible. Um so, be on the lookout for that. We're talking with um principals tomorrow, and then we will be reaching out to secretaries and clerks to
004talk about that as well. Um also wanted to let you know that last week our staffs were trained for the upcoming CASP testing. Um happens every April. Uh so, our folks will be um doing their standardized tests. We ask families, of course, to try to limit vacations and what have you, so we can get through that standardized testing, but that is coming up in April. Um and really just wanted to remind everyone that this Thursday at 9:00 a.m., you all have a special meeting um where we will be filling the trustee vacancy by provisional appointment. Here tonight, we have a couple of the um applicants. So, we are hopeful that meeting will be um it's already online, so everybody can look at the applications. Um the meeting will take place roughly from 9:00 to noon,
005but we'll see how long it really happens. Um and we will be zooming the meeting just like we do. So, if folks want to tune in from home, they can. They're welcome to come in person as well. Exciting times. Um and then Eric, did you want to introduce Henry? Sure. Uh with us tonight is Henry Aviana. Hello. And he's our new director of maintenance and operations, and he's made a huge impact in his three and a half weeks here. Uh we're really excited to have to have him on our team. Uh he's really trying to get everything organized, and he's doing a great job, and we're very happy to have him. He's also a parent of one of our students at Almond. So, we're very excited to have Henry. I told Henry he didn't have
006to say the whole thing. Uh thanks for having me. Yeah. Looking forward Looking forward to working with everyone, everyone in the room, and just uh continuing to support everyone and grow, you know, grow together. Great. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. That's it for me. Um I just wanted to thank you since you brought up the special meeting. Yeah. Uh for being so transparent about um posting it and just like it's been posted and posted and posted, and we've mentioned it every meeting, so it should not come as a surprise or shock to anybody that we are having a special meeting um on Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. So, thank you sincerely for all of your efforts and getting it out the word out to the community. I've learned a whole lot. I
007will tell you that about the process, but it's been great. We're excited to have you select our fifth trustee. I keep working over here. I know. Like nobody's listening to this. Um all right. Now, we're going to move on to quite honestly the best part of this meeting, and that's our school presentations. And tonight, we have Egan School. So, I will turn it over to you. >> I'm happy Lisa's here. First of all, thank you. Let me just say um I'm really excited to be here. I was kind of having a flashback moment sitting in my car. I think it was a year ago this month. Jim's shaking his head. That it was my very first board meeting where I was introduced as the new principal. And so, this is my first official board presentation.
008So, it feels different to be up here at the podium, and I'm really excited. Um I wanted to say thank you to the board and to EC for your support um this past year. I'm here to highlight with my team something that I think is really special and unique to our Egan community. Um one of the things that I think uh if I'm thinking about my year thus far, there's a lot of memorable things about Egan, but this definitely is one of those highlights that truly has brought pure joy and excitement for just genuine learning and exchanging of cultural values and education and experience that we provided our students. So, I had the privilege of just kind of inheriting this wonderful partnership, and that is that is our Lincoln or Linkou Junior High uh partnership
009with um a sister school in Taiwan, New Tai New Taipei, Taiwan. And um this is our technically our second year in this partnership. And I think All right. All right. I just kind of wanted to highlight this special moment because it was very formal. And one of the students later said um our students observing and kind of was capturing the moment, going, like, "Wow, Mrs. Tarmina, that was really special. It was pretty formal." I want to thank the board for being there. I think Jen, Jim, Shelly, and Stella, you guys all came and supported me in this kind of memorializing of this friendship and the significance of this partnership that we have with this school. And then also for Dr. Bosco, just her continued support and just um connecting me with the right people and
010building those friendships. I think what this MOU stands for, and it's not new. Uh the previous administration had signed an MOU. Um I had the privilege of re-signing the MOU just um to solidify our commitment and our partnership to this ongoing relationship. Both for the um students in Taiwan and also our Egan students. And I look forward to years of just expanding and deepening what this experience looks like for looks like for our students. So, this was a very, very special moment. I have this actually framed and sitting on my um bookcase in my office. So, this is us formally, officially making it known that I, Lisa Tarmina, the principal, am in agreement to this partnership as we move forward. So, let's talk a little bit about this partnership, and then we're going to introduce
011my students, and they'll kind of highlight what it is that they learned and experienced. Like I said, this is year two. Um I think last year was the very first year that Linkou came to Egan, the very first year, I think, in the fall. And then in the spring, we had the privilege, and I think the board heard a presentation on um some of our staff members and students got to go experience school um Taiwan. And I think for me, um just understanding that um the word that Miss Patino and I talked about was we really wanted to make sure that this visit made sure that we were paying it forward to all that they had learned when they went and exchanged and saw what school was like for them. We wanted to really make
012sure that we kind of broadened and deepened that experience for Egan. The first year that they came, they did um shadowing in the classrooms. And I think they were there pretty much typically through the bell day, from 8:00 to 3:00. Um again, just with the supportive Dr. Bosco and of course the business department and my Egan team, we kind of took it a little deeper and expanded that to be outside of the school day. So, we um wanted to provide these really rich cultural experiences that were really authentic, where our students not only can have conversation and learn about school, but also just build those social connections and have really authentic, genuine conversations. And I think when you take it outside of school, and it's more relaxed, certainly it's more joyful. They engage a little
013bit more. It's of high interest. And so, I really we did that the first day and Miss Patting is going to kind of talk about our schedule but I think that was the kickoff that needed to happen to really just support our students in developing that relationship and that connection with them. That was huge. Um this is them officially getting off the bus. It was kind of cute because my students I think they kind of looked at me like really Miss Carmela we're going to do this. We created an aisle. And we kind of created two aisles and they walked down and we just clapped and cheered for them like welcome. You are here as our guest. We're super excited for you and then we received them and took them in the library and did
014some fun things. Um so yeah this was kind of that special moment. They're poor kids. They're probably deer in the headlights you know. But we we really wanted to make sure that our experience just expanded their learning beyond the school day here at at this trip. So um oh I'm not going to steal this cuz this is Miss Chang's part. Not yet. Hold on. I'm going to just I wanted to share though that one of the things that I think our students really took away and you'll hear them speak about this is these lifelong friendships and this connection that they have um in learning about another culture and I think it's easy to say when you sit in a social studies or a history um presentation or instruction it's you're going to learn about the
015culture and I think all of that's wonderful and great but what our students got to experience was learning about the culture more so it was learning with the culture. It was that side by side partnership I think that we really value and just deepen their understanding of what it meant to be just kind of that global citizen. So now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Chang. She's our Mandarin teacher and this is where I say Eagan is a little special because we are unique in the fact that we offer Mandarin language as one of our electives. We're the only school at this time that does that. A little shout out to Eagan. But Miss Chang has developed this partnership and works with our students and so she's going to talk a little bit
016about kind of how she selected her students and what she pictured this event to look like. So Miss Chang. First I want to I'm going to say thank you to all of you to providing this experience for my students and me. So we have learned so much together. So when Miss Carmela asked me hey Charlene how about that can you please think about a special activity for students that both sides that work together. I'm thinking oh you know what? Okay. This is the first the bottom picture is that um our students are making a Taiwanese bear for the for the Taiwan students as a souvenir and the Taiwanese students make our the greeting bear for our flag and so they have exchanged this this their clay as a souvenir so they they shared with each
017other. Before we did this activity I also I also talked about the information about different bears with my students they said now they know the history and why I choose a Taiwanese bear because that's the only native bear in Taiwan and the Taiwan government really protect this kind of bear. So because of this this experience it does help my students to build a positive developmental relationship. So you can see that when they they welcome those students with at the beginning when I asked my students I say okay we are going to host the people the students from Taiwan they're like what? Why? >> [laughter] >> Okay so now we're going to present our school our our class and our school district as well as our community and our country and they say oh okay so
018what are we going to do? So they are very brave. Yeah my students very brave and they take initiative and they they when the student came here they they created a very welcoming environment for them. Of course I know my students so nervous because they don't know what to say. And however they still navigate school life and share our cultures and and the school life with the students from Taiwan. I'm from Taiwan too so I know the huge difference Taiwan school school schedule and also share. So they talk about that. And also this experience give my students very rich and authentic experience. I always told them that when they learn a language actually I know Mandarin is really hard especially for American kids to learn. However they tried really hard but they in the classroom
019you do not see actually language learning is a tool to communicate with each other but because of this experience they see and they know that oh Miss Chang now I need to make sure my tones are correct because if I say that wrong people won't understand. I think they mean only me can understand. Yeah. They know the importance of learning this language. So that's very this really really foster rich because of this one because of this experience they also connect to the real world. I think this is very valuable experience for my students. Also they build a skills and mindset like leadership. So the leadership and confidence. I see before like when they when I push them to speak Mandarin they're like no I my Mandarin is not good. So they are like shy but
020right now they can they gain the confidence because they they they know that oh yeah they can use this to connect people around the world. Um so that's a part that really help my students become mature. I believe they become more mature after this experience. And last one is the um my students um created very very the strong sense of belonging for the Taiwanese students and Taiwanese students even wrote a card to me and said that oh your students are really good. They are very respectful and they really welcome them to come here and even though there's a like a little bit language barrier they still they still don't mind sharing everything about America and Taiwan with each other. And some they still um the other day my student asked me one a Mandarin I
021said where where did you learn the vocabulary? And he told me oh I learned it from my my my the the Taiwanese student. Oh okay so then you can see they really build their genuine friendship and relationship. So I really hope that um can we can we can keep discovering our experience of our the tradition so I we can keep going on and keep doing this for our students and our community. Thank you. So I'm going to have Jen come up. Come on up Jen. And she's going to talk a little bit about just the planning process and what that week looked like. Again like I said we were kind of very intentional about broadening that experience beyond the school day cuz I think we wanted that social interaction and those authentic conversations to happen
022with our students. So Jen go ahead. Here. Yeah so I mean the real brain of this was was Lisa. She kind of proposed a plan and I said okay I can work with this and then we kind of I mean kind of tweaked a little bit. So [clears throat] yeah she was right. I mean this this experience is really personal to me too. I went with with Carrie to Taiwan last year. Crazy to think that was just last year but um it to reiterate what Lisa said it really was all about paying it forward. I mean I had no idea what to expect when I went there and they treated us like royalty so it's only fair to you know treat them with the same respect. So we really wanted to make sure that we
023did that. Um day one was kind of easing our way into it. You know we did the shadowing and then after school they went bowling. They had like endless supply of french fries. That was so that was exciting to see how how many french fries that like a 13 year old boy can actually eat. It's a lot. They ate a lot. Uh so that was day one. Day two we kind of curated this um loosely called STEM experience. We had some um aluminum foil mosaic. We did the the bear the clay animals. We did some friendship bracelets. We did some photography. It was kind of just a whole hodgepodge of a bunch of fun activities. And then on day three we were out in San beautiful San Francisco. Did some the Exploratorium a picnic and
024we kind of did a closing circle of just to kind of you know reflect on what we've been doing so far. Day four was really kind of the final day where they shadowed but then we also had this kind of downtime where we did just some ice cream socializing and you could really kind of see the difference between what happened on the first day versus the last day because they just became so much closer as as friends and as students and we said our goodbyes. So that's kind of like the overall timeline of it but what really fascinated me as as someone who really cares about what LASD brings to the table is how it connects to deeper learning and you know the the communication the critical thinking the the citizenship. I mean just seeing
025all these students be able to represent themselves not only as American citizens but also as citizens of Eagan citizens of LASD. Like they they were really the most amazing examples of people in our community and that made me very proud. Um even to see on the other side like some of these kids some of the Taiwanese kids just kind of felt like celebrities because they would be cheered and and they kind of like blended in with the group super super easily and they just felt right at home and that's a testament to how the students treated them and and kind of brought them in brought them under their wing. Seeing how the communication was so important like just not only the language but even like how how the body language of of you know teenagers
026how how that is kind of the same throughout you know the whole world. So, just all these different aspects of kind of what makes this experience so amazing. I consider it a huge success. I think there were so many people involved, and I thank everyone that was involved because it truly does take a village, but this experience was something that I'm going to hold near and dear to my heart. I'm so excited to do it again because it's it's only going to get better. So, this it was an incredible experience. Say my name and you can speak too. Which one's who's next? And I will introduce Cali, our first speaker. So, hi. My name is Cali, and I participated in the exchange program between Lincoln Junior High and the LAUSD. And I think serving as
027a buddy in this program was a really big privilege, but also a huge responsibility because these kids are coming from Taiwan, and it's this whole new environment, and it really differentiates in culture, daily life, and also language. And because of this, I really wanted to ensure that they were really comfortable and included in the school. And throughout the visit, I tried to help my partner feel included through both simple, but also really meaningful gestures. Um for example, I invited her to sit with my friends and I during lunch, and I also accompanied her during the lunch line to help her get her food more easily. I also showed her a lot of important places around the school, like the restrooms, in hopes that she would feel maybe a bit more confident navigating the school. And
028in class, on the shadowing days especially, I made an effort to talk to her and check in with her so that instead of feeling isolated, she could feel a bit more like an active part of the classroom. And one really big moment that still stands out to me today was when we went bowling. I think it was on the first day. And despite us being from different countries and not really speaking the same language primarily, um bowling was actually an activity that allowed everyone to participate and connect without really involving much communication cuz you're like throwing a ball. And we were really able to laugh and encourage each other and enjoy the experience. I think it was a really meaningful moment that brought our schools together and taught me that despite our cultural and language
029barriers, we could still enjoy a really exciting moment together. And yeah, so even Ms. Termini mentioned about the bonds, I still keep in touch with my buddy today. We actually have a lot in common. And I think I added her on Instagram, so we sometimes talk over that. So, yeah, I really feel like this exchange was super important, and I hope that our schools' bond can continue to grow and thrive. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. Hi, everyone. I'm Olivia Chen. You can probably like hear from my last name that I am Chinese. So, I'm pretty fluent in speaking to other people. However, with students coming from Taiwan, though I know the language, it's really difficult to kind of like know the slang, know how to talk to people properly, how to introduce myself, and how
030to understand other people as well. So, with the communication beyond just the language of Mandarin, all of us are teenagers, and though the languages that we speak are completely different, as I said before, our body language, the way we express ourselves, the way we carry ourselves in our day-to-day lives, are all pretty similar, and that helps all of us bond together. Next, on to respect, curiosity, and confidence. Everyone here was so, so respectful. The Taiwanese students were so, so infatuated like they were so interested in like how our school worked, how we do different things from them, how our math is like really easy for them. But, through everything, everyone was so curious, and they were so, so respectful in asking us questions, wanting to know more about us. And our students were also incredibly
031respectful to them as well, questioning about why their school day is so long, how long do they study each night, and what did they do after they come home from school? Video games, of course. And what surprised me the most would be the way that everyone just communicates in a way that we can all tell that beyond our language barriers, you can tell that deep in your heart that everyone is now friends through this incredible, incredible journey. Though it was only 3 days, the way that everyone has bonded together and created friendships is just incredible, and I hope that for the years to come, we'll continue to have this bond between our schools. Thank you. And oh, sorry. Hi, my name's Hubert, and I was another student which was part of the transfer exchange. And
032I felt like over the course of the week, our connection with the students really grew after we slowly helped them feel welcome. And like during the first 2 days, we really made them we really got our first impressions in, and they we helped them learn about our school schedules, and as they shadowed as they shadowed around as they shadowed us around the school, like you could really just tell how different they were and like how the students really treated them, and they really treated them like royalty. As as soon as you walked into the classroom, you'd be greeted everywhere, and they felt like just really excited and felt really comfortable as they settled in. And each day, we did really special activities, and it was mainly just all fun. And it helped us exchange cultural
033experiences and just like what they did at home and what their school schedules like. And even with a language barrier, and I'm not really the best Mandarin speaker, but I still managed to be really good friends with my buddy even though he was a shy kid. And really, it helped create like really special moments that nobody would ever forget. And even just a couple days ago, he called me at 7:00 in the morning and to show me his pets in China. So, I'm really proud that Egan is providing us with these opportunities to have these students come over and share their experiences and have cultural exchanges. Not only that, but I'm proud that um the school feels that we're responsible enough to take on this challenge of just having these students come over. Cuz not
034I know that not many schools really have a sister school or even have a chance for transfer students to come over. So, to have that this responsibility, it makes me feel like how proud I am to like really just be there at the moment when the transfer students came. And I really feel like that this matters for our school as it really demonstrates like what our school and us as students are really capable of as by hosting the transfer the had by hosting the transfer students from Taiwan, we learned about their cultures and cultural exchanges and just their experiences in general, and it allows our school to become a more welcoming and inclusive community. And it was really important that our school was teaching us us these important skills that would help us throughout our
035lives and help students see the world from different perspectives even if they're on the other side of the world. Thank you. Well, that kind of wraps it up. Again, the kids say it best. I I had no idea about the phone call. I think that's so cute. They didn't share this, but I think prior to the kids coming, we asked or we got word, I think, from Catherine, what was the one thing that kids really wanted to experience, and I think I shared this with some of the trustees is an In-N-Out Burger was >> [laughter] >> the one thing they wanted, ironically. And so, we actually partnered with our PTA in making sure this experience was like deep and rich. And obviously, there were some logistical challenges, financial challenges, but I just want to thank
036the board. I want to thank EC, and then also the Egan PTA because I think it without their support, the a lot of this couldn't have happened. As Jen she said it really well, it took a village to make this happen. And yes, I had a vision, and Jen kind of looked at me and thought I was a little crazy when I had this vision and presented it to her, and she was like, okay then I'm all we're going to make this happen. We can do this. So, thinking ahead, next year, what's to come? Um I think Egan obviously has been invited. They'd love for us to come this year. I just think there was a lot going on this year, my first year at Egan, but for next year, we will be planning a
037trip to go visit and exchange again and bring some of our students and staff over to um Lincoln Junior High. And then I think it again, they have expressed um an interest in coming back obviously to Egan. Whether that's going to be year to year, that remains to be seen, but um we are looking forward to that. And so, again, I just I want to thank everybody. And I don't know if you guys saw, I have yet to see the article, but I do know that we were highlighted in the Los Altos Town Crier. Yes, the Crier. Yeah, [clears throat] so I haven't seen it. So, somebody has a copy, I'd love to get a copy of that. But yeah, it was really special, and it was just again, like I said, probably of all
038my experiences so far here at Egan, this is one that will stick with me forever. So, thank you guys so much for having us tonight. Any questions for my amazing students and my team? >> Well, first can you give them a round of applause? Speaking tonight but for the whole thing, board members? Well, I wanted to thank Oh, I want to thank Ms. Hermina and Ms. Bettina and Ms. Jared Jack. Thank you for including the board. You know, it's um it's our pleasure to support this but it's also you don't really get to see it like when we like support things. And so, you were very gracious in welcoming us and letting us be a part of it. I thought that it was so cool to see the difference on day one. Remember like you
039and I have gone on day one and two and it's like everyone's a little bit like um I don't know uneasy. I don't know. It's shy. Shy, you know, like Yeah. But then when we came back for the closing like they're all sitting together and it's just high five-ing. and cutting up and just you know, teenagers are the same all over the world. That's what my takeaway from that. Um and then for you guys with three and your classmates, you know, I don't I don't know if you understand the deepness of what you did because you truly are the best of what this country has to offer and you really embody that and I know that in speaking to Catherine saying, you know, some of the parents were like we're sending our kids, you know,
040from Thailand to here and there are certain perceptions but let's be honest about the US. And you kind of broke down those perceptions and showed them like this is what Americans truly are like. Not all that crazy stuff you see on the news. So, um thank you so much. You guys, I am so proud of you and how you conducted yourselves and it's just it makes supporting programs like this so easy when we see like what the kids get out of it. So, thank you. Thank you, guys. If you would like to keep we will not be in session. Speaking up like that. Good night. Good night. >> Thank you. These, I think I have a copy of the paper. So, I will drop it off. Uh with the article? Oh, good. Wait, I'd love
041to I've asked around and I haven't been able to get a copy of it. Thank you. >> You're welcome. That was so good. That was truly truly Okay, under the consent calendar are there any questions from the board on any of the items on the consent calendar tonight? Okay. Are there any Are we going to pull? Yeah. We have to pull one section. Oh, we do. Right, right, right. Do you want to talk or do you want me to talk about item 13? I propose pulling comprehensive school safety plans evening. There was an update to the template that I would like to revise and things of that. I sent some stuff but I can send corrected copies. Um proposed that we remove item 13. Okay. Anything else? All righty. Um were there any requests for
042public comment? Public comment is now closed. Any further comment board members? Okay. Then I would like a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented with the exception of item 13, comprehensive school safety plans, which we will pull. So moved. Thank you, Stella. Do we have a second? Second. Thank you, Jim. Motion to approve the consent calendar as presented with the exception of item 13, which we are pulling, was made by Stella, seconded by Jim. All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Thank you. Motion passes unanimously. Employee request to address the board. We don't have anyone from LA Unified. And from the California School Employees Association, Kim Butcher. Hello. Hello. Well, hard to believe but now that we're in March, I thought I would talk about our literacy aides because we
043have report cards coming out for spring and this is one of those times where parents get to see a lot of the growth that their child has made and our literacy aides are particularly part of that for ELA for grades one and two. But because they're there for in each classroom for about an hour each day, a lot of parents don't even realize they're there doing this work. If you're on our campuses in the middle of the day, you might just see one or random person sitting with a small group outside doing something and you don't even realize it but what they're doing is they are supporting our teachers in those lower primary grades because one teacher cannot get to reading every single child's writing in every single day. And so, having one more person
044really makes a difference and so, they're there reading, what are the next steps, going over and repeating that mini lesson that the teacher went over. They're getting to know kids' writing and really encouraging them to take those next literacy steps but they're also working in small groups with some of those kids that just need that extra little push or maybe need a quiet space outside because it is chaos in the classroom and those people know them. In all honesty, this is a job that I really thought I wanted and I will tell you they are few and far between. Our staff stay in these jobs for many, many years. This is actually a really beloved job and so, also these kids, it is one more staff person that when they go from first grade to
045second grade, they ultimately know this person. So, this person already can say to the teacher, "Oh, actually last year when we were ending, we were really working on remembering that capitalization. These are the tips we gave them. Oh, this pencil worked really well for them. These are the tips." And so, it's one more person who kind of already knows those kids cuz teachers are amazing but every year they're starting fresh and so, it's really lovely having a staff person who really loves all these children, knows them by name, is waving to them on campus, following up and just really making sure that our work also progresses with the student each year and that they have familiar people and it's just so exciting that we're in March. I just walked out and it really reminded me
046this morning. I saw our literacy unit Gardner working away but then I saw Springers the other week. She was checking in on my kids who haven't been there. My oldest hasn't been there in with her [clears throat] for six years since he was in second grade and she still wanted to know how Nick was doing and if he still loved writing. And so, we really have some wonderful literacy aides that just really support our children and our staff so they can just become the best writers and readers that they can be. Thank you. Thank you so much, Kim. Really appreciate your insight into the literacy aid and thank you so much. All right. To provide public comment on an agenda item speaker cards are to be submitted to the superintendent. Speaker cards will not be
047accepted once public comment begins. Your name will be announced when it is your turn to speak. Community comments. This time is reserved for members of the public and employees to address the board on items that are not on the agenda. The board is not permitted to discuss or take action on non-agenda items except to instruct the superintendent to review the matter further, report back to the board at a subsequent meeting or place the matter on a future agenda. The board may make a brief comment or ask clarifying questions. It looks like we have one for public comments. So, um you're going to have three minutes. Will fiscally responsible parent please come to the podium. Hello. I am fiscally responsible parent. And um I just want to I'm coming here. I want to provide some clarifications
048for a recent article um in the Mountain View Sorry, in the Palo Alto Town Crier where one of the former trustee um former president mentioned that, you know, um LASD pay BCS, you know, per state figure amount for $1.8 million and kind of what what I wanted to um clarify here is that he omit the figure part of it. So, just while for the state fund law on funding, LASD might pay full list per um the state for people for for all the student in including the out of um district student but then the state reimburse the district for the cost of the out of district student through the basic aid supplement funding, the charter school adjustment. So, LASD might have technically paid million extra but the state reimbursed um LASD nearly $1.6 million last
049year and this piece was omitted in that um opinion piece in the newspaper, which I just want to come up here and clarify that piece. And then he brought up the piece about LAS uh BCS having more than 8% out you know, um 8% of out of district student. Well, I think that what probably communicated with um the LASD board because that public information. So, I mean LASD could have just, you know, um refused that agreement and and then, you know, exercise prop 39 because currently all the students at BCS are getting like probably half the amount of land that the LASD students are getting. So, I just want to bring up that clarification. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. I have a question for Eric. Yes. Have we received any reimbursement from the state
050for charter students? We only get 70% of the ADA from LCAP districts. So, last year for an example, received about $30,000. Thanks, Eric. That's it. Far cry from over a million. Correct. Thank you. Um any other comments board members? Thank you. On to action and discussion items. Second interim financial report, Eric. Good evening, everyone. It's my pleasure to present you the second interim and this is the time where the district will reconcile any changes in the budget assumptions from July 1st through the end of uh January and we're already in the middle of March, so things have changed since since then. And so tonight is our is our update and we're required to update the board twice a year. First interim was December 15 and tonight at March 16. No advance. There you go. So,
051since the budget was adopted and revised at first interim in December, the following changes have been made. Uh very slight uh increase in secured property tax growth. Uh our in-lieu transfer to BCS actually went up uh because these this is now based on our P1 ADA numbers, so the ADA numbers from CBEDS has come in and which are certified by the state. And then the local revenue increased at 400,000. Uh the expenditures, we decreased salary and benefits by 219,000. It's mostly unfilled vacant positions that we did not fill. And then supplies and services is a slight increase. Most of that from PTA donations as we get uh supplies and things are purchased uh that's how that goes. And then there's the transfer to deferred maintenance. Uh we received a $200,000 check from the Bay Area
052Air Quality Management District where they we're hunting them down and they finally paid us. Yeah. Um and then we deposit that to deferred maintenance so that can be used for maintenance projects and also for any uh repairs or things that are needed throughout the district. So, that's a good place to put the those funds. Uh unexpected but always good news. Uh general fund revenue assumptions is secured local property tax growth. Uh very slight increase. I have a number that I wrote down this time last year. I wrote down 5.37 and we're very close to that. But that's like a year ago, so um we're pretty close. But right now that's the the latest number that we got from the county assessor's office and we received that number early in February. So, uh we're hoping that
053number holds and then if there are corrections uh there there could be money that that we don't receive. So, this is the number that we're going with at this time. Our parcel tax is $10.6 million. Uh that includes the 4% cola career. Uh guaranteed state aid is 654,000 and then all the other uh items and I always point out this one is the prop 30. It does expire in 2030 which is not that far away. Uh and that's 650,000. You heard Alex came and talked about uh a lot of uh bargaining groups up and down the state are really advocating to have the legislature to renew this, so we're hoping that happens. Um and then lottery people always say, "Well, the schools get so much money from lottery." No, we do not. And that lottery
054number does change per year based on how much the lottery correct collects. Um and then the due to charter schools 11.6 million. And I always like showing the pie charts um because really breaking down what our district receives in revenue. The bulk of our revenue is local. That local number is all the property taxes and the parcel tax. Uh and in the local also includes uh Laine's as well cuz sometimes you all will be tracking all and I'll point out Laine's on another slide. But you can see the federal revenue is a a very small percentage of our of our budget and state revenue as well. Um and that number changes from year to year based on funding and what happens in the state and then the federal numbers have been pretty consistent for the
055last couple of years. Secured property tax growth you can see from first interim to second interim very slight change of unsecured. Uh unsecured property taxes are things that are not tied to property. It could be airplanes, boats, equipment, machinery, things that are not secured to real property. And the last one is called homeowner exemptions. We get backfilled by the state for homeowners. It's a very small part of this the the property tax bucket in our budget. Three year summary. This is really showing the last three years of actual property tax we received. 5.94, slight decrease, slight decrease. So, our property tax is growing but not at that robust state that we had and that's very reflective of almost everyone in our county. Um property taxes are slowing for everyone. I highlight this is a new
056slide that we want to highlight. If we're looking at what is in that local revenue bucket and if you see the parcel tax is um 60% of local revenue of the four categories. Uh you've got PTA donations, some grants, some of them are experimental highlight, the interdistrict transfers, uh some leases and rentals and then Laine's is 15%. So, and then the miscellaneous local revenue are some different types of uh you could say like small donations and things like that. But it's not a huge number. Some of them are grants and MOUs with other school districts for different uh students as well. Cafeteria fund, we always want to highlight this fund. Uh this is one of our uh newer thing for the universal meals and we want to highlight this every year. The bottom number is
057the one that hits our general fund and that's how much we have to contribute to the general fund from the general fund to make this fund solvent. Um state revenue is slight increase which is good. Um and then the federal revenue uh we're always cautious about federal revenue cuz we don't know what the federal government can and cannot cut every year. So, that's the number we're get we're getting from the really the free and reduced lunch students national school lunch program. Um special education is a large percent of our budget. Uh but we have a reduction in salary and benefits that are combined together. Anytime we reduce salaries, the benefits that are associated with them go with it as well. Um and that's mostly vacancies as staff um come and go throughout the year. If
058we choose to not fill those vacancies, then that's a savings. So, any unfilled vacancies is where we're getting that savings um at this time. So, you can see a slight decrease in our general fund contribution. It's still over $12 million but at first interim it was 12.8. So, we feel pretty good about reducing our contribution. We have 12.6 at this time. So, not only do we have to budget in the current year but we also have to look in the after two out years and that's required. Um so, our property tax growth at this time is 5.29%. Um the number we have and people say, "Well, how do you get that number?" Well, the number we get it from the the tax assessor's office and that's the number we get every month. Uh it's usually
059the first day of the month depending if it's on the week or not. We'll get a number from the tax assessor and say, "This is what your estimated roll growth is for 26-27." And the last number we got March 1st was about 4.01%. So, right now at second interim, we're going to go with 4% and then in 27-28 we do not know that number, so we're going to budget very conservatively. And we know historically our property tax numbers have been around five or greater. But at this time, the number we're going to go with is three. And then as we get closer to adopting our budget, these numbers will change. And then uh hopefully by we adopt the budget, we we're hoping and we're projecting and we'll see how the tax assessor if they agree
060with us. But we'll get the data that they provide to us and we'll build and build that into our adopted budget. Parcel tax is at $10.6 million this year. But in the two out years, you can see the increase and that increases the cola. Our guaranteed state aid number is a flat number. The Bookman-Brady block grant fluctuates. There's a slight cola in that but then if you have a slight decline in your ADA, so at the multi-year we're we're keeping that number flat. And then the other numbers out there are also flat. The one thing though is we're showing is um the due to the charter school, it's a it's a we pay the local charter school every year but it's actually a reduction in revenue. So, if you look in the tax forms in
061our budget documents, the revenue actually is a decrease. It's a big number every year. And then that number next year cola is 2.41%. And then in the out years, we're also showing in our locals there's decreases of one-time local state grants. Blair Crandall working really hard to secure some additional funding. She asked El Camino uh uh for the El Camino Hospital grant but one of our capacity grants uh Valley Health grants 316,000. When that grant goes away, the funding that there's less revenue for the district. So, I'll show that to you in the multi-year what that looks like. Staffing column uh because we've been giving significant pay uh salary increases the last couple of years, that staffing column was about 500,000. Now it's about about 565,000 per year for staffing column every year. And then
062the staffing changes from last year to this year, we reduced by eight. And then uh we don't really know yet. We we did have a meeting this morning. We'll be working next several weeks on budget adoption looking at what our staffing levels are needed. And we also are going to um Sandra and I kind of joke. We think we we made this statement and all these other districts across the state are copying us. But we call it right-size staffing cuz that really has been something we've been talking about and we've been very deliberate about using that term cuz it is really matching your staffing to your enrollment. As our enrollment has declined, um we've actually been doing really we've been very thoughtful on how we've done it. And then I also want to point out
063that um if you really think about it, our staffing would be much lower but we actually increased a whole grade level. We added TK. What TK is tens. We have 10 TK classes, and then we have every TK class has aids, and then we have our cafeteria program, which has a food service program, which has every school has a lead, and then we also have an assistant. So, you can you can imagine our all the great staff that we have that helps support our schools has actually increased, and then those programs, none of them are funded for the our district. So, that all does hit our general fund. The the cafeteria fund is an unfunded mandate, and also TK. And we talk about you know, the cost of a TK class is about $250,000 if
064you include the teacher and the aid and the facilities and equipment. So, every TK class is about a quarter of a million dollars. Uh the multi-year revenue, and this is what I I highlighted. Um I usually don't put yellow circles around things, but this year I want to highlight [clears throat] where the state revenue is this year. We received a one-time uh block grant. And but next year we're not going to receive that. We There was talk in the the governor's proposal that there there will be another block grant, but until that is adopted, and then most likely what we do is we budget considerably at at budget adoption, and then in December we'll make the change in first interim, and that's where we will actually know when the state adopts their budget. So, we're
065showing that number to drop off, and then the other local is going from 7.1 to 5.4. You can see the increase is the parcel tax, and the other local is a lot of one-time grants. Also, we do not budget for PTA donations. Our interest is another thing that you know, we budget conservatively for interest, and then but our interest we added an extra $200,000 for interest extra revenue from first interim to second interim as well. Multi-year expenditures, you can see salary and benefits going up. That other financing uses, that's the transfer out to the cafeteria fund to make that fund solvent, which is fund 13, and you can see our expenditures going up. Really going down now, this is I want to point this out. When we received the one-time funds, we have to book
066book it as an as a revenue and expenditure. So, if you look at next year, the district expenditures is only going down by a little bit, and that's because that one-time funds that the expenditures that we budget for are not going to be in the budget for next year. And then if you look at our multi-year projections, this is our beginning fund balance, which I highlighted a lot at the at first interim about um um the reason that we need the fund balances and we need cash to make payroll. It's very important for basic aid school districts. So, at this time we're we're projecting a reduction in fund balance, which is a deficit of 2.6 million, and then the next 2 years 2.3 2.5. Fund 17 sits outside of the general fund, but that can
067be that's our extra layer of protection. So, our per pupil reserves, as you can see a slight drawdown on that. Growing concerns, um a lot has changed since first interim about global things. Um inflation and tariffs is still out there. We're still seeing suppliers. Uh some of the supplies that we buy things from have have increased. Utilities always comes up, it seems like. Um the geopolitical instability in the world right now is a concern. Um obviously the rising utility costs that are associated with that. Um when we start doing construction, when we start doing any work, gasoline is very expensive. Diesel fuel is very expensive. Tractors, equipment, um anything we buy from our suppliers, it comes to us on a truck. When we buy new Chromebooks, it comes to us on a truck. Um we
068work very closely with Bao and Donna and Carrie and her and her team to order Chromebooks because the the Chromebooks have gone up by I think somebody told me $100 a Chromebook. So, we ordered as many as we could get our hands on. We did this last year, and um last year cuz anytime there was a talk of a trade or tariff that and the people who are buying these Pentium chips and things, they raised their prices. So, we were very Last year were we able to buy a lot of Chromebooks before the prices went up. This year, prices are going up, and so So, it's hard to you're almost like always chasing the suppliers. Um rising health care premiums, we don't know the impact of the government's uh ceasing the subsidies if that's going
069to cause impacts to other health care providers. Um when we on average health care rates for us go up 10%. Some plans more, some plans less, depending on what you have. Um when we adopt our budget in June, we don't know what our health care rates are until July. So, we have So, we adopt very conservatively, then when first interim comes in December, then we adjust our budget, and then uh CalPERS, who we is kind of our broker, our plan is through CalPERS. Well, the CalPERS rates go from January to December, where our budget is July to June. So, there's always a a lag of when we adopt our budget until our rates right now. We'll budget conservatively in December, and then once we get the rates from CalPERS in July, we'll adjust at first
070interim. Uh Bullis Charter School has a tremendous financial impact and facility impact. The portables, the traffic. I didn't add traffic. It would have been another another bullet point. And then there's a lot of concern in the state about the AI bubble. As much as everyone loves AI, they are worried about the overinvestment in AI, and that that it could have a little bit of a bubble in our local economy, and then also in the state economy. And we know personal income tax is the one biggest driver for revenue for the state, and so if there's this overinvestment or loss of stock stock volatility, we just don't know how that's going to impact our economy. Um And these are the key budget deadlines. Uh today we're here at the second interim, and we'll be bringing this
071back. Um hard to believe we're like 2 and 1/2 months away from budget adoption. It'll sneak up on us before you know it. And then I have great news. We can certify and meet our financial obligations for the current year and two subsequent years, and we're asking tonight for um approval of the next item to approve second interim. Thank you so much, Eric. Thank you for going into so much detail. Ready. Would anyone like to Oh, is there any public comments? Any questions for the board? All righty. Uh any further board discussion? You explain things so well, we don't have any questions. I um I want to kind of um from Stella's previous question, in our SACS forms, there's a section about the basic aid charter's supplement, and I can point it out to any
072community members that want to know where it's at. Thank you. All right. Well, may I have a motion to approve the 2025-26 second interim financial report as presented? So moved. Thank you, Stella. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Brian. Is there any further board discussion? No. All right. Motion to approve the 2025-26 second interim financial report was made by Stella, seconded by Brian. All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Any abstentions? Thank you. Motion passes unanimously. Next item is resolution number 25/26-14, authorization to increase/decrease income and expenditures. I believe it's Fluhrer. This is this is a routine item that we do every year. In fact, when we adopt our budget, the board gives the uh the district and staff authorization to make any budget transfers periodically throughout the year, but then
073when we go to first interim, then we bring this resolution back to you. Uh so, tonight we're asking you to approve uh resolution 25-26-14 to increase and decrease uh income and expenditures in all the different funds, and then we list the chart on support of the resolution to show the changes uh in revenue and expenditures in each in each fund. And this is an action item as well. Thank you. Um any clarifying questions? Any requests for public comment? Public comment is now closed. Um any further board discussion? No. Okay. Uh may I have a motion to approve resolution number 25/26-14, authorization to increase/decrease income and expenditures? So moved. Thank you, Stella. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Brian. Is there any no further board discussion? All right. Motion to approve resolution number 25/26-14,
074authorization to increase/decrease income and expenditures was made by Stella, seconded by Brian. As this is a resolution, now we'll take roll call. Jim? Yes. Brian? Yes. Stella? Yes. I two vote yes. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, everyone. Board policy updates. All right. We have two slightly out of our typical cycle updates for discussion tonight and then approval at our last meeting. The first one, board policy 3100 has an update to um the budget to now include a section on reserves after our discussion after the CAC um um presentation at a previous meeting. So, that's something for you to look at, and that we'll come back next time. And the next one, um 4113, gives us some flexibility. The state right now has um how do I want to say cracked down a little bit on
075misassignments. Um so, it's something we are and they're publicizing misassignments. so we're paying a little bit more attention to misassignments, teacher misassignments, than we have in the past, in particular at the junior high school when we want to a lot offer robust electives, and we have a science certificated teacher teaching a drama class or something different. This gives us a little bit of flexibility to look at their college units, to look at their experience, to be able to essentially wave them for some of these courses so we don't get that misassignment. Did I do that well? Very well. Thank you, Valerie. Valerie's been doing a lot of work on this. >> [laughter] >> So, that will come back at the next meeting for approval, we hope, as well. Thank you. Yeah. Um is there any
076public comment on this? Wait, public comment is closed. Any questions or comments? Okay. Then, that is not an action item, so we will move on to board and administration comments. Eric, do you want to kick us off? Sure, thank you. Um I understand the LACES had a a successful meeting with membership to explain our tentative agreement, so we're looking forward to hopefully bringing you a FTA for approval in our April meeting. Also, to continue the partnership with our sister schools in Hsinchu City. Uh Raquel Madrigal, principal of Almond, who also went to Taiwan with us to visit, will be hosting a small delegation of younger students over at Almond if you have interest in popping by on March 30th April 1st. I'm putting the schedule together. They will welcome them. They're going to visit. Okay.
077I've got great news to share. Yes. So, on March 4th, Sandra and I uh attended a rating uh meeting with Standard & Poor's, and we gave them our whole financial uh outlook for the district and how things were doing the last several years. Um and 2 years ago, we were upgraded to triple A plus, and then we were hoping it was going to go, you know, I always say on Friday the 13th, you don't want bad news, but we actually got it on Thursday night, and so Standard & Poor's affirmed our rating for triple A. Um I said, "Can we go higher?" That's the highest rating you can get. Um and I I did some data crunching. Uh Standard & Poor's uh had has ranked school districts out in the state, and only 29 are
078triple A, and we're one of the 29. It's actually only 4.5% of the districts. And what what triple A means, it's your credit rating, it means we have strong reserves, we have strong financial position and outlook. They like that we haven't done a TRAN the last 2 years, then we talked about the cash flow that needs for that. And so, uh it's really great news for our taxpayers and for our district. And so, I I love to do this, this is my favorite thing to talk about, more than the second interim, um because I think I I just really shows a commitment to our team, and I think Sandra's awesome at presenting to the rating agency. Um they see me before, so they don't really, you know, but it was great to have Sandra on
079the team on the rating agency, so it was great. It's great. Good job, Eric. It's exciting. Also want to thank uh our CSD ground staff. You can see they've been very busy with all the rain and sunshine, now all the weeds are going crazy. Um so, the ground staff has been really working very hard at our schools. Um I want to thank Elisabetta, our fiscal director, who's been outstanding. She has been working many, many hours, um and not just during uh the interims and the reporting periods, but she has a lot of annual reports and things that you don't really see. We have to submit so many things to the state and all the agencies, so she really works kind of behind the scenes, and we really want to thank her. And then, um there's
080a lot of items on consent, and I sometimes I apologize, there's a lot of items, but there's so many things that we're working on. And Sandra Bush and and Marcy work very closely together, so I want to thank Marcy, cuz her and Sandra Bush are a great team. Um Sandra goes, "Okay, Eric's working on this." And they go back and forth, and they call me get me in line, because I get I have we have a lot of things we're juggling, so I want to thank Marcy and Sandra Bush for helping us get the agenda ready for every meeting, because um uh whether we're ready or not, the agenda has to be posted, and so I want to thank Marcy and Sandra Bush for really helping get all that work Andrew, um Andrew? I'll go
081with something. Brian? Um attended the legislative brunch held by County School Boards Association on Saturday morning. Um and I think it was the sort of most thorough array of other elected officials that they've ever had. It was everybody from our county um representatives all the way up to several congresspeople. So, it was interesting to get an overall perspective on what they think is changing now that we're going to have a new guy a new governor and everything else going on. So. And most of them showed up in person. So, the thing that which Eric already sort of alluded to, but the thing that gave me the most pause is that um Senator Laird, who is um head I think he's chair of the budget committee. For those of you who don't know about California politics,
082the budget committee is where all of the actual budget work happens. So, he's chair of the budget committee, and he expressed his opinion even though the state's finances this year unexpectedly rosy, he still thinks that next year is going to be a huge multi tens of millions of dollars deficit tens of billions of dollars, sorry, deficit in the state finances. So, um I sort of second Eric's sense that a lot will change between now and the final final state budget. Okay. It was sobering. So, oh well, like Brian, I also attended the legislative brunch, and I must say I think maybe the attendance this year was due to the charms of the school board assistant. She convinced everybody to come. Um and I attended Sam Liccardo's town hall and my first curriculum council meeting. Excellent.
083Excellent. Jim? Um I went to the Gardner Bullis auction, because I am a parent at that school. Not because I was favoring them, but it was just good to see parents supporting the school. Having a good time. Otherwise, I haven't done anything substantial, but Well, I have something to But I do want to follow up and thank my fellow board members, trustees, for going really above and beyond the call of this role, and taking the time to educate yourself even further about the budgets and all that kind of stuff, and um and just showing up to school functions. I mean, that it makes a difference. I I think it's good that families see that our board is so engaged, that we're out there. So, um everything I went to has been mentioned already, with the
084PTA leadership meeting, the ledge brunch. Thank you for your time, folks. And uh with that, I guess we'll see everybody at the special meeting this Thursday. Be there or be square. Okay, thank you.