001like to call tonight's uh regular meeting of the Salto School District Board of Trustees to order. Okay. Sorry, I was not ready. All right. A recording andor broadcast of this meeting is being made at the direction of the board which may capture images and sounds of those attending the meeting. I will now call the role. Brian >> present. >> Vladimir >> present. >> Jim >> present. >> Bella >> here. And I shall s also here. Pledge of allegiance. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you everyone. All right. Would any board members like to provide comment on the agenda? >> Okay. May I please
002have a motion to approve the agenda as presented? >> So move. >> Thank you, Vladimir. Do I have a second? >> Yes. I'll second. >> Thank you, Stella. Motion to approve tonight's agenda as presented was made by Vladimir and seconded by Stella. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Thank you. Motion passes unanimously. Closed session report. No action was taken in close session. Superintendent update. >> Yes. A few things. I'll start very briefly just by saying we had an excellent opening to school, but we have a presentation tonight which I will expound a little in more detail at that time. But a really terrific start to the school year. Um, I did want to follow up on some of the comments from our last meeting around um, immigration and supporting
003our families. So, just wanted to follow up to let you know that we did a check-in with secretaries and office clerks. We resent out our training and kind of what we call our one pager of what do we do should ICE or immigration folks come onto school requesting to um, either get information or speak with a student. Um, we updated and made sure that all of our resources on our new website are up todate and the latest and greatest. So, we went through all of those and then emailed families and I think you all got a copy of that email, but emailed our families to remind them that our schools are a safe place >> um and that they have lots of resources if they need support. So, just wanted to share that with you.
004Um, last week I was able challenge team is back up and running. So it was the first meeting last Thursday of the year. Challenge team for those who have not been is a very wide eclectic group of people from the city of Mountain View, city of Los Altos, and some little surrounding neighbors, Stanford. Everybody's concerned about youth within the community. So it's an excellent group. We meet at the Mountain View Police Department um once a month or very early in the morning. Very early. >> They do serve breakfast. Yes, they serve breakfast. Although breakfast was late this round. There was no coffee for quite some time, but we were very happy it finally showed up. But it was great in that they always do a back to school challenge team. So I had a chance
005just to introduce our principles showed up. So, being able to introduce our principles, our new principal, Lisa Tina, um, and then talked a little bit about, you know, our LD student experience and what we want as outcomes for kids, the type of experience we want in our classrooms and just to thank everybody because it's always just such a cool group that comes together and Gay Cross has been doing that forever and um, it's really exceptional. Uh, what else? Um, I was able, that was the 7:30 a.m. and at 7 PM, um, I had a back- tos school update for the LAF board. So, it was nice to welcome back their new board. They only have, I think Heather had said, two new board members, which is great for them. Um, and we're always so appreciative
006of the support of the LA board and the work they do to help us um, provide that type of experience we want for students. Um, this week we have back to school nights. A few of you let me know that you would be able to come. So, this Thursday we have all of our elementary schools except for Oak Avenue. So, Brian, did you see my email? If you want to head out to Santaita and we've got folks coming. So, if you're able to go um Thursday night, please let me know and I will assign you a school. Then next week, Tuesday, we have Oak. Stella's going to be able to go. I will be at Oak. And then next Wednesday night, we have the two junior highs. So, thank you again, Brian, for doing Egan
007and Carrie Bosow is going to head um to Egan and Eric's going to head to Block or vice versa. I can't remember where you guys landed. Something like that. Um but if you're able to get out, it's always a really fun night to just be visible to our families and show your support for our teachers and staff and principles. Um, and lastly, we are starting our school visit. So, just be on the lookout in my weekly updates. I'll give you kind of times and days that we're available. So, um, this Friday morning, Stella, Brian, and I are going to go to Gardener Bolis to visit, walk through some classrooms, take a look at the campus. It will be great. That is me update. >> Thank you. Lots going on. Okay, we are going to move
008on to the consent calendar. Would any board members like to provide comment on tonight's consent calendars? >> Okay, then may I please have a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented? >> So move. >> Thank you, Vladimir. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Stella. Motion to approve tonight's consent calendar as presented was made by Vladimir and seconded by Stella. All in favor, please say I. >> Any oppose? Any abstensions? Thank you. Motion passes unanimously. On to Baldos. Oh, sorry. Employee request to address the board. We will start with Laldos Teachers Association. Allison White, welcome. Welcome. >> Thank you. Yes, we have had a great back back to school time. Um, and I want to start by talking about kind of what's going you're seeing what's going on in classrooms or
009you will be soon. Um, but I want to tie that back into something that um, is so key at this time of the year, especially when we're heading toward deeper learning experiences. Deeper learning experiences can happen when we have amazing classroom communities that are built on academic, intellectual trust, um, emotional trust, being able to really take risks in in learning. And so right now in classrooms see uh in classrooms all over teachers are working to build classroom communities that foster emotional, academic and physical safety because students need to feel safe and trust their teachers and peers as an optimum condition for learning. Managing students and behaviors has become more challenging um in recent years for many reasons. And that's the top and the topic of student behavior surfaced as a high priority at last year's
010um teacher advisory group. um and teachers and administrators will need to continue that work in order to make sure conditions for all students to learn and teachers to teach in a way that prioritizes the well-being of both. Um additionally, um LATA is looking the executive board um is looking forward to uh the training next week with um management and board members um the IBB training that will all be at next week. So, we're excited to work with you and further that uh collaboration to build trust and transparency in our interactions. And then finally, um a big piece of the work this year for the union is the Prop 55 extension. the initiative that is coming. Um, and I was at a a CTA conference recently and that is a significant focus of the communication is
011getting that initiative to ensure that funding which I think and Eric has better of details but it's around I think 950,000 I believe is what we talked about last year but you'll get more details but we are um organizing so that we can do our part to um ensure that um initiative gets on the ballot for next November. So, thank you. Any >> I I just have a quick comment. >> Sorry. >> I have more to say about this later in our board comments, but I was telling Sandra earlier today that um I've noticed that like staff and students are just more prepared and more excited to be at school this year than I think they have been in re and it's just a great to see on campus with teachers and students. >> That's
012great. Thank you for graduating. >> Thank you. I will pass on. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you for the California School Employee Association. Kim Clutch has >> Oh, hello. here to talk to you about our amazing office clerks. These I wanted to highlight because a lot of families actually don't know our clerks very well because they work in the middle of the school day. So, a lot of kids do and they come home and tell their parents, "Oh, Miss so and so, help me." And parents go, "I don't know who that is. I've never met them because they're not there at the beginning of the school year." But they're so worth highlighting because they're who buys all of our stuff. And so none of the things in the office, none of the other
013supplies, all of the POS are all done through our office clerks. And they do such a big lift quietly in the background, sending things back and forth in the business office, calling Eric a thousand times, calling Elizabeth a thousand times, making sure everything's ready to go while being interrupted with a million other things in the office. because they're also the people who don't know all the things. They're not our secretaries. We're there all day and yet they are still jumping in constantly with the our we always joke that at the beginning of the first day of school year, we always have something in the office that's very silly that we have to do. I mean, we've seen having to try to fix a piece of a brace to get them through until the end of
014the school day because there was no opening. We just need this kid not to be bleeding. We've had to make belts. We've had to make shoelaces before because it's their first day of school and we're gonna get this kid through the school day. And so, you know, there's a lot of things that come up and you never know what it's going to be. And our office clerks just do an amazing job of just rolling with it, jumping in and just really being kind of a quiet backbone that a lot of our families don't know, but are really worth getting to know uh because they're just doing such great work. So, we appreciate them very much. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for calling our attention to our office clerks. I will say we have
015amazing teachers and staff who work at LSD. >> I'm very pleased that thank you. >> Right. To provide public comment for uh 12 on an agenda item. Speaker cards are to be submitted to the superintendent. Speaker cards will not be accepted once public comment begins. Your name will be announced when it is your turn to speak. This time now 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-aggenda 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. And it looks like we have
016one person for public comment tonight, Pat Broadkeath. Welcome, Pat. Thank you, K. Appreciate it. So, yes, I am Pat Broadkey. I am a community volunteer and I help our Latino families with tutoring and support. Uh, this summer I helped six students. Four of them I helped four times a week all summer. They all made significant progress. While there's many lessons learned from this, I want to focus for a minute on the parents. But first of all, a quick context. Who are these families? They are classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged. They are in this category not because of poverty but because they were not given access to high school and in many cases middle school education in their countries of origin. Just not very accessible. Um, second, only 36% of their children are performing at or above
017grade level within LSD. And even more surprisingly, by middle school, only 20% are at grade level for math. So, the LSD performance with these students is about the same as the entire state of California. Um, yeah, we need to do much better. So, I'm convinced the only way we can really be successful in helping these kids get to grade level is to establish a partnership with their parents. They need our help. The parents feel invisible. They are intimidated. They encounter continuing challenges in working with our staff. It's not easy. So, I I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Boss today, which I really appreciated, and I learned what she's been working on, as well as additional ideas she has for future implementation to help these families. And what I'd like to ask is that
018we support her in this important work. Um, we need to prioritize the goal that nearly every student achieve at grade level. And this this school's very distant today. So we need to innovate and and not rest until we succeed. So thank you very much. >> Other question? >> Yes. >> Um I'm not disputing at all that we need to do better for our Italian students, but of the 36% how many of them are uh not performing at grade level because of language difficulties? >> Um what I can tell you >> I'd like to take that group out. of the the 36%. >> Um, yeah, Brian might have some data, but what here's what I do know, right? And I'm not a district employee, but that data is across K through eight. And while I I
019mean, I have my data from working with this community for the last six years. Um, I I am called upon to help some kids who are recent immigrants. Um, and I'm called upon to help them because I'm one of the few volunteer tutors who can bumble her way through Spanish. The almost every other child I've worked with has been in LSD since kindergarten. So that's not a statistical sample. And they all speak everyday English, you know, very early in the process. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So um >> you're you're feeling that it's just a small number. >> That that is that is my impression. Okay. That that is my impression. Yeah. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to action and discussion items. Our first item is the opening of the
020202526 school year. Superintendent McConnell. >> Yes. So, this is going to be a collaborative uh slide deck. I'll be I'll start and click and then hand it over when the time comes. So, we wanted to share a little bit about the start of the school year. I will tell you well, you can see there what we're going to cover. Um, but I will tell you the day before school started, the day school started, I made it to all nine schools and probably 95% of our classrooms. Some teachers were on prep or kids might have been in an assembly. So, I didn't quite get into everywhere, but uh there was such a fabulous feel on our campuses. To echo what um Tim was saying, just such a great feel. I saw teachers who just care about
021kids and want to make sure that kids feel welcomed and successful in school. Parents seemed happy. Thrilled. Thrilled with it. So, great. Um, so a little enrollment update for you. Um, when I pulled this number last Wednesday or what have you, 3367 on the 13th, it was the exact same number of the same date one year prior. It was a little crazy because, you know, I keep I send you guys little enrollment updates and I keep those numbers. It was the exact to the to the student. Um, that number has dropped a little bit since school actually began. So, as always, we have lots of in-n-outs over the first week and a half of school. Um, I'm hoping when we hit seabeds that we'll be flat. That's the goal. Um, for sure. And of course,
022our TK and kinder combined help us offset those larger 8th grade classes that graduate out right now. Um, but our kinder class is a little bit lower than what we've seen in the past by about 25 students. So, we didn't quite get the kinder numbers, but we have strong TK numbers. So, as you can see up there, our TK numbers, we've increased by two classes each year. And I will tell as Lupe knows, and maybe our secretaries know, our our TK classes are full. We are at 19 20 in two of our classes. We're actually at I think 22 and 23. And anytime we go over 20 students, it's allowable by the the state to go no higher than 24, but once you hit 21, we need a third adult in the room. So, we
023have two of our classes that have an extra um assistant in for the full day TK program. So, we have 10 classes. They're thriving. They are the most exciting. You know, as I check in on the first day of school, we did not have a whole lot of tears, which is terrific. Really terrific because >> this actually it is both. And sometimes sometimes the principles and the teachers work together to like shoe the parents out because it's not helping. Um, but it was it was really sweet and they're excited and they do silly things. They like, you know, we had one little one who had just flown in. Um, I think this was over at Almond. He had just flown in from Japan the night before. He was fast asleep on the floor by by
0249:15 in the morning. I mean, it hadn't even been 30 minutes. >> So tired. Called parents like, "Come get him. Let's try again tomorrow." Right? like so just you know we meet them where they are. I had the fun of spending a little bit of time in Allison's room and her kids were singing songs already on day two and we're so happy to be discovering all the really fun things that she has in her classroom. So our kids are doing great especially our little TK ones. um and just put in that's just a screenshot from um our website but we are still enrolling every day even though school just started every day Luz is getting a handful of new enrollments people who are have just moved in and you know miss the first days and
025so working want to thank Lupe our registar want to thank our nurses and the health team because it takes a lot of people and our office secretaries and principles and then teachers ultimately, but it takes a lot of people to get one student enrolled, approved, immunization checked, placed into a class, make sure it's the right class, and then communicated with families and go. So, it takes a lot of effort and it's been um a big turnaround this year. I think we've had more ins and outs than we typically have. So, our Lupe um processed a whole lot of ins and outs, which is exciting. Um I'm gonna hand it off to Dr. B. So, uh this summer we've been busy in the HR department with hiring and I'm proud to report that this class with
026hiring is fantastic. >> So good. >> Just one of the best. We've got folks it's their first day teaching all the way up to very experienced teachers and classified positions. So you can see we hired 23 in the certificated group. So that that's our teacher group as well as 25 in classified positions. I think today we might have shored up our last two openings in classified which is our food assistant over at gardener and services coordinator part-time position. And then this year we have seven resident teachers. So those are teachers who are um aspiring to be a credential teachers who are with mentors here in the district. So you'll see two of them by their their classroom. So in total 55 and Eric wanted me put this little note on there with the aster about
027all necessary positions within the right position. Thank you for the ask. Um, yeah, it's been a very busy summer for the for the team. Um, this is the Garden Bullet parking lot and you can see that's what it looks like when it was dirt and that that's all the base Brock. Um, when we were bidding this project out last winter, we talked about there just wasn't a lot of interest in in the bids and we and then the bids, the one two bids we got were over the bid limit. We had to rebid the project. So, we decided, hey, the whole parking lot is actually in pretty bad condition. So, we redid the entire parking lot. Um, they finished it actually before school started and then this weekend they had come out and do some
028extra striping. Uh, the new crosswalk was installed this over the weekend. Uh, the contractor did a nice job. It was very clean. The site is completed. Um, I think Kim said the parents were very happy. So, if we can just make sure they go down the right lane, we'll be okay. Um, but I think it turned out to be a nice project. Uh we're going to have the inspector come out this week and do the inspection and then once the DSA signs off then we have to get the vendor to come back out and deal with the lunch canopy that needs to be reinstalled. But we're hoping that we'll get DSA approval uh get the project sign off and then we can kind of move to the next one. U but I want to thank
029um really the team because there was a lot of work that had to happen and we just felt the contractor did a nice job. They listened to us. um Lo uh and Lewis, our groundskeepers, they actually met them out there and there were a couple of the planters that did not have irrigation to it. So, we actually the contractor uh they ran pipe under the under the asphalt and now we can get irrigation to those planters. So, it was great that we kind of partner with our own staff and said, "Hey, since they're out there and the parking lot torn up, can you do that?" So, thanks to our team. Uh next slide. Uh this is um over at Alman. It was kind of interesting that it's hard to tell in the photos, but there
030was two portals at the end. Uh, and we did an audible and remember Pton Man's very famous for saying Omaha and they did an audible. Well, we uh Raquel was working on getting her sixth grade teachers and she kind of did a um a last minute, can you change and move this different portable? We said, yeah, we can do that. So, we work with the contractors. We moved the portables. Uh, and then we moved a different portable. And then she put her sixth grade team out and the new area out there. And you can kind of see on the photos, that's the new sixth grade hangout area. And they were over by the multi-purpose room. And now the sixth graders have their own little area. The two new sixth grade teachers at Almond are right
031next to each other in that area. So, it's a nice little setup. Very good thinking by our principal over there at Almond. Uh, and so this project is closed out. um some of the things on the appeal report and warrant report or some of those purchase orders for those vendors. Um and this project is closed out completed. Uh the the contractors did a nice job. I think we have to reinstall like a little speaker bell thing, but most of the most of the work is pretty much done. Um and the next item, uh I I do love show and tell and I love bringing the pine cone at the last meeting. Uh but you can see that one of the pines that we talked about is the culter pine on the left. That was in
032front of block. That tree was removed. Um and then we did some other work at block. Uh we did some trees at oak. Um we're very mindful of trees around kids and we think trees are wonderful but they have to be the right tree, the right location and they have to be maintained. So we're really working hard. We have an arborist. He went around did a risk assessment of all the trees. Um and over at Oak at Alson um but at Oak they expressed hey we're worried about some of these redwood trees and so we had some some work done in those. So, uh, continuous improvements and I want to acknowledge CSEA, uh, and Kim being here. Uh, our schools open up on time. All the custodial staff, the maintenance and operation staff, the groundskeepers
033really worked hard over the summer. Uh, we tried to, we even hired, uh, some food services staff, so they're off during the summer, so we gave them some extra work. And one of um, we had a teacher uh, who's a teacher over at Santaita, he actually worked all summer, and one of our custodians uh, here at Coington said, "I can't keep up with them." So, um, but it was great for our teacher who was off for this summer. He learned how to do waxing floors and we have one of our teachers. So, it's really a nice team effort. But I do want to acknowledge all the CSE staff like Kim mentioned. Um, a lot of people are on vacation and the custod are really working year round to get our schools ready and you know,
034we have a short turnaround and they got the school ready. We're really thankful for our staff. >> We're happy to answer any questions you might have about the start of the school year. >> All right. Are there any clarifying questions from the board? Any clarification? Yes. Um, are there any requests for public comment? Seeing none, public comment is closed. The board discussion. Um, would any board members like to provide further any comment on this agenda item? >> I don't see any. I think your asterisk actually answered our question for me that I have a chance to answer. So, thank you very much. It's a really exciting start to the school year. I'm super excited about our new website. >> Yeah. >> I hope all put that in. Yes. >> Well, all of our parents should
035check it out. >> Okay. All right. Oh, next one. Professional development update. Oh, yes. So, we're really excited to come with an annual update about our professional development. Greg and Sarah both here to present and talk um about our professional development that occurred this summer as well and for the youth. >> Welcome. Thanks for being here. >> Thanks for having us. Um we we want every student to leave our schools with a sense that if they want to do something and act with intention, they can do that. that they can create the story for their lives that they and we know that in order to empower kids in that way, we need to empower teachers to empower kids. And our thoughts, our preparations for this summer's professional development started in the spring. We started talking
036about what are the needs and we started to coordinate all of the things that were going to happen and planning for the for the different events. And it's been such a um fun experience to see teachers that are showing up of their own accord to get the great professional development that they're they get in our in our sessions. Um and for the excitement around making changes in classrooms that are benefiting kids every day. um we have when we think about professional development, we have kind of these four different purposes for different events. One of them is about developing our shared vision. Um when we have a shared sense of what classroom should look like and feel like, we're more likely to get there. And so developing a shared vision for teaching and learning is one
037of the big goals of professional development. Um, a little bit different that than that is sometimes teachers just need training about a particular thing and so we provide training which is a little different than developing a vision. It's like how do you use this particular tool? Um, we also another goal in our professional development is to take things that are really working well for kids and teachers and spread them. So scaling those practices and another purpose is just to offer individualized support and and all of the those things have happened this summer and will continue to happen as we as we move through the year. This calendar just shows what happened in the weeks leading up to school. Um we launched our professional development with our leadership team. um brought them all together for a
038day at the community center and uh really dove into uh our continued shared vision for what for what classrooms look like and how our instructional leadership really supports teachers to do that for kids. Uh we then moved into two days of new teacher orientation uh where we brought all of our new certificate employees. They were they learned all about deeper learning and the LD student experience and learned about our expectations for them in our classrooms. Um they also got some breakout individualized um depending on their position training and support that they needed to get launched in in their roles. Um an exciting uh thing that happened on August 4th this year was the launch of our new practitioner co-work. This is a group of teachers who have opted into some intensive coaching and ongoing u
039learning to bring uh deeper learning practices into their classroom uh and become the the front runners in our district for for doing this work with kids. Sarah's leading that group and um we have 19 teachers enrolled in that um and we're really excited about the possibilities there. Then there were three days, and I'm not going to talk too much about this because Sarah's going to, you know, review the whole the whole thing for us, but we had three days of deeper learning training for teachers broken up by grade level band. So K2 had a day and three, three, six, and seven, eight had a day. We also did some co-eing training. I'm just looking up there. We had uh training for uh our reading screener, Dibbles. And then um you may remember from last year
040we are doing a math pilot this year in anticipation of adopting a a Kpipe math curriculum and so our teachers who are participating in that pilot also got training in the first uh curriculum that they're piloting this year. Um I miss anything on that list? I'm going to turn over to to Sarah now. She's going to go into some detail about the deeper learning training that that happened those first few days. I'm incredibly lucky that I got to this skin is going to sound like a lot, but I got to facilitate seven consecutive days professional learning at LC. And I'm smiling saying that because we work with the best people and all different audiences from our leadership team to our brand new people trying to make sense of their new context to um extremely seasoned
041experienced teachers who are saying yes to furthering their practice as our practitioners to the incredible work of collaborating around brilliant around deeper learning and the brilliance that's in the room when we do that. It's it's truly the best work to do this. I am going to zoom in on August 5th, 6th and 7th um which was our hopeful launch for deeper learning this year. So I want to bring this forward for everyone. All of these are visuals or models we could say for deeper learning that we've shown or looked at or explored at at some point together over the last year. On the left we have what I would consider the what behind deeper learning. Those are the principles for deeper learning that tell us things like in deeper learning, we're talking about kids learning
042through inquiry. You get the idea. All the way on the other end, you have the why. We think of those as our indicators for deeper learning. If deeper learning is happening, what does it look like? What does it feel like for students? And so, we've really isolated um these these key indicators, purpose, agency, community, and learning by doing. How do you get there? What what happens? What does it take to do this? That's the work of teaching, the brilliant craft of the teacher. And so we have moves for deeper learning. The tricky thing about this model here is that it's all of it working together. It's an integrated model. It's it's never one thing um before the other. It's all of it. Um and so that's important to think about. It's also tricky to think
043about. Um it's complex work. So this is the work that we're doing and still doing. It's not new work. Um, we're continuing to go deeper into intools and thinking we started together last year. So, our work in August really it truly was a hopeful launch. It wasn't prerequisite knowledge for anything that anyone's going to do this year. It was we've been thinking and learning around these things. Let's put some heads together and think about how we can design for for those outcomes on that far right side. So, um, I got to work with three different groups of teachers. we organized by grade level band um which is really special and um the first thing that I really wanted to offer was a provocation. So when we um learn about deeper learning we engage as deeper
044learners and so our provocation that I put forward is this model that we've seen before in here the learning pit and really it's a model that describes what we call the zone of proximal development. And it really describes the kind of challenge that's necessary in learning and the way every learner needs to experience some kind of stretch in order to grow. And we offer it as as a provocation um because it's there's an entry point for every teacher. Every single teacher thinks about this all the time. They're constantly thinking about supporting their students in navigating the pit and ensuring everyone has access to to learning that that fits for them that all kids have the right kind of stretch. That's really complex to do. So this became our provocation and we engaged um around it
045with a questioning protocol and with each group it was it was really incredible um seeing the kinds of questions educators generated thinking about this and the kinds of thinking that it sparked and the purpose of bringing this visual forward for us first in our work on that day um was really to think deeply about what we mean when we say learning really understanding learning and learners and that was really central to our work. So from here we we brought this forward and that's really why everyone turned up on that day. They had kids coming, you know, soon, right? This this is PD and the kids are going to be coming a week later. They're thinking about this. How can I build a community of curious learners from day one? And so when you actually put
046the the words together in blue there, it's really powerful. Um community of learners communicate so much about what we actually want to happen for kids. Um it is it it is built upon the foundation of safety and belonging but it's really the big work that we're doing together as learners. And then we we also centered curiosity in that. We went about it by breaking down three different understandings. One was thinking about learning. What does that mean? Um then we really do dove into let's think about the community of learners. Why why those three words? what's the intentionality in bringing learning forward when we pair it with community. And then we wanted to add another component of cultivating curiosity because that's this is really what we want to happen for kids. And so we had a
047great morning together where we kind of dug into some different resources, some models, some ways of thinking and collaborating around these understandings which led everyone to an opportunity to actually collaborate and design for well how am I going to do that? I have kids coming in a week and and from day one, what what kinds of things am I going to do to make this happen? The really exciting thing about professional development and the kind of access and opportunity I have in classrooms is I get to then go out and see it. And so these are some actual pictures from the first day of school from some people who had attended professional development. Um, this was a complete V-frame of a first day of school launch and um, this looks like it is fifth grade
048at Santaita. I hope I just thought that right. I think it is. Um, but instead of really um, maybe a more narrow opportunity for these are the norms that I want us to engage in, it was a really powerful opportunity for co-construction that really challenged kids to think about the kind of learners um, we're trying to become. And so they engaged in some study of some different texts. They noticed some things and then they had different ways of thinking about um different angles of learning. And it was just really powerful to see something like this happening on the first day of school. And then we had um another experience uh very similar one. I think this is also one of them, one of them's almond. But in here we see that we're looking at cultivating
049curiosity using routines for questioning, thinking and reflection on the first day of school. So actually, you know, if we if there are really worthwhile routines and moves we can use to promote questioning and the kind of thinking that we want kids to engage in, start from day one. What does that look like? Tie it to building the community. Tie it to understanding the classroom environment. And it really empowered kids to see the space in new ways. So, it's exciting to engage with teachers and design around, you know, particular learning experiences and then actually go out and see them try things that are completely different and brand new for them and to see the way kids feel and are interacting in these kinds of learning experiences. Um, and so, you know, we have a lot in
050store like that's a very hopeful launch. We're very excited about the kinds of things we're seeing. And you're going to talk about this a little. So we next we have two professional development days coming up for the school year. We're going to build on the work we've done with feed for learning here this summer um to continue to just give teachers opportunities to um build themselves uh the experiences that they want to have with the kids that are in their classroom and collaborate with each other to to ensure that that's what we're doing for kids. We we are committed to this work. We have teachers who are incredibly committed to the work, who believe so strongly that this is the pathway to equity for kids. And we're just so excited. You're talking about the energy
051that we're seeing in schools. We share it. It's it's what is in the air right now and we're thrilled about it. So, we're happy to answer any questions you have about professional development. >> Great. That was awesome. Um, would anyone like to provide public comment on this item? Do we have please submit a speech? It's card. No speech is correct. Correct. Okay, I'm closing public comment. Uh, are there any clarifying questions from board members? No. All right. Oh, now I can take public comment. But seeing none, I'm posting it. Um, would any board members like to provide further comment on this agenda item? >> Mr. Question. Um what are other districts doing in this in the area? I don't >> in our area. >> Yeah. Are are any of them doing something similar? >> We
052neighbor we have neighboring school districts who are also working on developing a portrait of a learner like we we have and aligning instruction so it matches the idea of developing learners not just giving kids academic success but helping them develop as full people. That's something that a lot of people review on. But I will say I think we're doing it very well. >> Um we um I we go we've seen what people are doing. We've gone to conferences and there's a lot of great work happening and one of the things that we've done is pulled from the very best resources out there to really construct something that fits our context and we know our people so well um and where we're headed. So we feel really good about where we're headed. >> We're good. Thank
053you. >> Any more comments? Right. >> I'm I'm wondering if you want because I was able to attend the teacher orientation uh a little bit over the two days and what is striking a little bit related to your conversation Vladimir is we did have a a good number of veteran teachers come to us from other places and I think in day one and two they notice that something's different here. Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. Cuz we came to the lunch, the teachers that I talked to, that's what you they said. I mean, the couple that we talked to, they said that and then I mean, >> I don't know what's different about this year, but I think everybody's more prepared or something. I don't know. But it's different. So, kudos. I mean, I think people hear
054about LMD, right, being different, but when you're actually here and experiencing it, I think it's a whole other thing. And I think that the stuff like this that we do is incredible. And I would really love to hear from teachers as they go through this process like the impact on them because the impact on them is the impact on our students, right? >> Great idea for another end of the year. >> I love it when you do. >> Well, yeah. Like we hear from students all year, which is awesome, and I presume we will hear from them again, but this new program, it would be good to hear from them. >> And you both have such passion for >> Oh, yeah. >> It's awesome. >> Thank you so much for all of this. [Music] board
055policy absence. >> I was sorry. >> I was going to make a comment to that effect, but thank you for snoring. >> Um, if anyone would like to provide public comment on this agenda item, please submit a speaker card. And I see that we have one. So um says introduction by superintendent. Are you going to >> to introduce the item first? Yes. So tonight you have before you five new andor updated um board policies uh or board bylaws in the last one in particular. um and that if you have any questions, reach out and it'll come to you September 8th for approval. >> Thank you. Any clarifying questions? >> No. >> Uh we have one request for public comment. Pat Broadkey. Um Eric, let's give three minutes. >> Won't take that one. Um, my comments
056are about the updated IEP procedure and these comments aren't actually about an area of change, an area where I recommend we change. So, last week I met with a mom who was deeply distraught about what happened at her child's IEP meeting in the spring. She felt intimidated in the meeting and had zero absolutely zero understanding of her parental rights and believed she had no option other than signing the plan on the spot. So, um, what I here's what I recommend we do is there's a legally required notice of parental rights, and it's lengthy. It's difficult to read, especially if you don't have a degree in law. And so, what I recommend is that we develop a supplement that is written in simple everyday language so that it can be accessible to many parents and that
057it be given to parents in advance of the meeting. um you know that it it be of course bilingual and that um ideally someone should contact the parent before the meeting, answer their questions, try to bring down the anxiety level and give the document again at the beginning of the meeting. So um I shared with Dr. Bosow a draft I prepared after, you know, looking at the policy. I do not have a law degree and I hope I'm not misrepresenting you when I say you think it's an idea worth pursuing. Is that fair comment? Okay. >> And so, you know, to my opening comments, this is an example of a simple step, very simple, we can take to help us earn the trust of our Latino families and in fact all families and help them
058understand that they they do have a voice in their children's education. Thank you. Yes. >> I have a question. Was this parents uh issue with the process or the content of the IP >> or both? >> People. >> Okay. Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Um would any board members like to provide any further comment on this agenda item? Since it's a first read, it's discussion only. So, no action. Seeing none, I'm gonna move us along to board and administration comments. Uh Carrie, >> Eric, >> I just want to acknowledge Elizabeth was here with Prince Baglay. He's with Sedexo. So earlier tonight, the board approved a contract Sedexo. They're a food services consultant. Many districts use Sedexo for their services. Uh so he was here on consent, but they they screwed out. Um but
059so but you'll hear you'll hear more about Sedexo. They're very good working with this group, make sure we're in compliance, following all the nutrition guidelines. Um, and then also want to acknowledge again all the great work by our CC staff. Um, and then Elizabetha and Lonnie and I were working over the weekend. So, we're excited to bring you the unodudited actuals the next meeting. So, we we have our staff closing the books. We should be ready to go by the September 8th meeting. So, it's been a very busy summer, but um yeah, we're excited to bring them on out at the actual next meeting. >> Thank you. Sandra, >> no. >> Stella, >> I was able to attend the staff welcome back. Um, and I was very inspired by Sandra's speech at the event and
060I also felt the energy in the room and teachers were cheering >> which is great. >> Some with pom poms have their pom poms. >> Great. >> You said it twice. So, >> okay, >> Ryan. Um I the only thing I was going to mention is that I attended the um KCI Proud Center for Innovation, their 25th anniversary celebration. I only mentioned that because we mentioned Gate Krauss and challenge team and um you know they have free resources for teachers uh up there at Foothill College. Wonderful organization. >> Um and then I wasn't sure if I should mention this or not because it's indirectly related to students, right? But uh on Saturday I did attend a training by the victory institute which um trains encourages uh builds the pipeline uh for LGBTQ plus individuals to
061run for public office. And I mention it because school board, right? And I mention it because I don't believe matters. And that's it for me. Thank you. I'm going to join us.