001Okay. Roll call. >> Trusty >> here. >> Trusty Murphy >> here. >> Trusty Pearson >> here. >> Trusty Mroy >> here. >> Trusty Anderson >> here. >> Trusty Crane >> here. >> Trusty Wagan >> here. >> Dr. Smith >> here. Now we'll move to the adoption of the agenda. >> Do I get a motion? >> So moved. Moved by Trusty Wagan. Second. >> Second by Trusty Pearson. Roll call vote. >> Trusty Sylu. >> Uh yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Mroy? >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson? >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane? >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagan? >> Yes. >> Okay. The vote was 70. Um any community input on close session items? >> No, we don't have any. Okay, we will now move to close session. The items are
002conference with legal counsel, conference with labor negotiator, public employee discipline dismissal release, and we'll return to open session at 6:00, closing at 5:05. Okay, we'll call the meeting to order at 602. And we have um in close session, we have a couple readouts for everyone. In close session, the board of education took action to approve the separation agreement and general release number 202502HR. The roll call vote was as follows. Seven yes, zero nos. In closed session, the board took action to authorize the superintendent superintendent or designate to give notice of non-reelection to certain certificated employees. They are CE 20261, CE 202262, CE 20263, CE 20264, CE 202265, CE 206 who shall be released from their certificated position at the conclusion of the current school year pursuant to education code more numbers 44929.21 21 and 44954.
003Those are not my credit card numbers. The roll call vote was as follows. Seven eyes, zero nos. And now we'll do the opening ceremonies led by um Angie, our student board member. >> Please stand. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Thank you, Angie. Now we'll move to the adoption of the minutes um of the regular meeting 21026 and special meeting 21026. Um >> So moved. was um trustee Crane and second >> second >> was Trusty Wan and roll call vote. Sam, >> Trusty Soil, >> yes. >> Trusty Murphy, >> yes. >> Trusty Pearson, >> yes. >> Trusty Mroy, >> yes.
004>> Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Crane, >> yes. >> Trusty Wagan, >> yes. >> Great. The vote was um 70 unanimous. And now we move to um item 10, recognition. Recognize Newport Mesa's school district's 2026 employee excellence award recipients. >> Good evening everyone. Today we have an extreme honor of celebrating our outstanding Newport Mesa employees who go above and beyond to create positive environments that enhance student success. The winners of our employee excellence awards program exemplify many of the qualities that we value in our district such as student centered, collaborative leadership, professional integrity, and innovation. To begin our uh recognition this evening, I'd like to introduce Newport Wilson Elementary principal Britney Figureroa, who will share a few words about our first nom uh winner. Sorry. >> Hello. Good evening. I would love to invite
005Miss Sarah Aguo to come up and stand. Nice. >> All right. All righty. Alrighty. So, um, it's my honor to introduce and talk a little bit about Miss Sarah Aguo. She supports Wilson Elementary students by addressing both academic needs and overall well-being. She builds strong relationships with students starting each day by welcoming them and ensuring that students have what they need to focus and succeed. Sarah looks at assessment data to understand student needs, applies strategies to get students reading, and creates engaging supports for reading growth. She also enhances student success by teaching a newcomer group through clear and consistent communication. She helps teams stay focused on student goals and move forward together. She also works closely with the reading support team, sharing strategies and supporting small group instruction across campus. Sarah regularly takes on leadership
006roles at Wilson, including serving on the student success team. She also serves as a site representative at the district's DIN data meetings. Sarah brings a positive attitude while holding students to high expectations. During her lessons, she encourages both student, I'm sorry, both learning and good character by recognizing students hard work through sincere praise and thoughtful rewards. We are so lucky to have her as part of our Wilson team. Um, and she truly does make our team better. Thank you, Sarah. >> Sarah. Good evening. I'm Jeff Giles, principal at Costa Mesa Middle and High School. I'd like to invite Colleen Blebagno to join me here at the podium. When a classroom teacher at Kosa Mesa High School unexpectedly left the position, Colleen stepped in without hesitation. Her priority throughout the transition was to ensure that students
007continue to feel supported, understood, and engaged in their learning. Colleen knows students well and pays close attention to behavior behavior or mood. She takes time to listen, check in, and provide individualized support, creating a classroom environment where students feel safe and valued. Her ability to build personal connections strengthen students trust and engagement, especially during times of uncertainty. As a collaborative colleague, Colleen supports her co-workers and helps keep the team moving in the same direction. She comes prepared, follows through, and often steps in to help without being asked. Her positive professional approach creates a calm and supportive environment that benefits both students and staff. She also brings creativity to her work, suggesting hands-on activities and instructional strategies that engage students in meaningful ways. Colleen does all of this quietly and humbly, driven by a commitment to
008meet students needs and ensuring their continued success. On a more personal note, this year I made it a habit to go to our middle school side of campus each morning during the first semester to greet our students when they arrived at school. Colleen was always there waiting for the buses to arrive with her students. It was truly a highlight of my day, chatting and getting to know her better. But the true blessing was seeing the joy and kindness that she exhibited each day to her students as they arrived on the bus. Her warmth towards students is exemplary and is a tremendous honor for me to be able to stand here and celebrate such a wonderful and deserving calling colleague. Thank you, Colleen, for all you do to make Costa Mesa an amazing place. All right,
009president of Soil, members of the board, Dr. Smith. My name is Mike Shaken. the director of secondary education. If I can ask Joy Cordia to come join me up here. Simply put, Joy is amazing. Commonly known around the office as the air's Jedi Master, Joy is the go-to person for many different things. She supports student success by ensuring systems behind academic records are accurate and reliable. When she identifies data discrepancies, Joy looks beyond the numbers to understand how errors might affect student experiences and outcomes. She attacks the root cause of systems in need of change through creativity, targeted training, and clear protocols. Joy brings together staff across many departments and school sites to build shared understanding and consistent practices. Her ability to connect people, break down silos, and align practices are a major part of
010why she being honored here tonight. She is often the person people turn to in navigating complex systems such as our student information database. >> Joy is kind, hardworking, and incredibly smart. And while the results of her work speak volumes of effectiveness, it's what lies in her heart that truly defines her as an exceptional educator. Newport Mesa is lucky to have Joy Cordia as a part of our team. Congratulations, Joy. Thank you. Yay. Um, I'd like to first thank Mr. Giles for normalizing reading glasses at the podium. I really appreciate that. I'd also like to invite Dr. Jose Montano to come up and join me. I'm Sakura Shield's assistant superintendent and I have the great honor and pleasure of working with all of Whittier Elementary and Dr. Mononttoya. He has only spent uh two beginning of
011schools with us. While this is his third year on campus, he's only started two school years at Whittier. In that time, he has created and strengthened the dual immersion program by implementing a shift that prioritizes students home language development while supporting long-term English proficiency and acade academic success, particularly for English learners. He also is amazing at building and supporting other leaders on campus, whether that be teacher leaders or parent leaders. His PTA is soaring with activities that they do on campus and the amount of parents and community that they're able to bring onto the campus. He also is a very collaborative problem solver. He serves kind of as a team captain who brings everyone together, listens to multiple perspectives and find innovative solutions to complex dynamics problems in all of education. He is also incredibly
012approachable. I have watched him both greet every student and parent at the door as they walk on campus as well as greet them as they cross the threshold into the MPR for events and other things. And with that, he is leading the site to ensure that it continues to be a safe learning environment where all students belong and thrive. And with that, Dr. Montana I think it's cute to put the kids >> on the cake. Good evening, President Orylu, trustees, Dr. Smith, cabinet, staff, and community. I'm Lori Hogard, principal of Ray Elementary, and I'd like to welcome up Claudia Ortiz Rodall, our school community facilitator. Claudia plays a key role as a bridge between Ray Elementary and families, connecting families to community resources and helping them navigate our school system. When sixth grade camp approached,
013Claudia stepped in to ensure students had jackets and sleeping bags so every student could participate and enjoy the experience. Her responsiveness and empathy consistently meet students needs while reinforcing a sense of belonging. Claudia helps families understand college and career readiness from the earliest grades. She organizes AVID family nights, supports parents with academic strategies, and encourages students to see themselves as scholars. She also leads Raise Padres Unidos, a group of parent leaders dedicated to fostering family engagement. She mentors new school community facilitators. I think all of them who have been hired, they're all coming through our school for Claudia to train them and connects our families with community partners such as the Melinda Hogue Center and the assistance league to expand access to essential resources. Claudia approaches every situation calmly and respectfully, earning and fostering trust
014across our school community. Through innovative programs like the Latino Family Literacy Project and Graciella's Dream Book Group, Claudia strengthens homeschool connections and builds lasting support systems for students and families. This recognition's very welld deserved. Thank you, Claudia. All right. Good evening. I'm Kim Doyle. I'm a special education coordinator and I would like to um invite Kevin Powers to come to the podium. >> I'm staying with the reading classes theme. Kevin Powers supports adult students with special needs through patience, consistency, and respect. Whether working in his classroom or stepping in to assist other educators, Kevin's calm presence and gentle approach help students feel safe and supported, even even during challenging moments. Colleagues regularly rely on him to fill in when staff are absent or to help debrief behavioral situations on campus. When a student moved from
015his classroom to another set setting, Kevin remained closely involved answering questions, sharing detailed insights, and modeling in effective behavioral strategies for colleagues. His support helped ensure the students transition was successful and gave the receiving team confidence in their approach. Kevin maintains confident confidentiality and consistently implements specialized behavior strategies, adjusts approaches to support students individual needs such as helping students successfully transition to from their drop off at school into the classroom environment. Kevin's steady commitment and problem solving mindset help him make him an valuable team member and a trusted support for students and staff. Thank you, Kevin, for all your hard work. Good evening. My name is Chrissy Flores, director, and it is my honor to welcome Katie Rickio to the front. Katie Rkio has proudly served the students and families of Newport Mesa Unified School
016District for seven years, including the past three as the ELOP admin intern at Killybrook. In this role, Katie plays a vital part in creating a safe, positive, and engaging environment with the expanded learning opportunities program. She works closely with teachers, enrichment providers, and support staff to ensure strong communication and shared expectations. Katie is also a trusted mentor to new team members, helping create a supportive culture where staff feel confident, prepared, and valued. Her ability to anticipate challenges and thoughtfully adjust schedules or staffing keeps the program running smoothly even as it continues to grow to support students. Most importantly, Katie's dedication to students shines through in everything she does. She ensures every child feels seen, heard, supported, and safe. for her leadership commitment and unwavering dedication to students and staff. It is my honor to recognize
017Katie Rickio with the Newport Mesa Unified School District Employee Excellence Award. Please join me in congratulating Katie for the incredible difference she makes every day. It's okay. Okay. And with that, we'll move to student board member reports. Item 11. Trusty Murphy. Yes. Good evening. Um, we are going to talk about Women's History Month. So, um, for our student board members, the question was, oh, wait, I'll wait. McMan Club. Wow. >> Looks like she sees Huh? Yeah. >> All the teachers are showing up to support. I think our teachers. >> Oh yeah. a chance to come out. >> Oh wow. I didn't >> Oh, this All righty. Everyone everyone settled I think. >> Um again welcome to our student board members. Uh the question tonight or this month is March is National Women's History Month. Who
018is a historical female figure you would like to celebrate or a current woman or at your school who you believe should be honored for Women's History Month and why. And first off, we're going to have Angie Ars from Backbay High School. >> Good evening, Newport Mesa board members. I am Angie Galups. I'm vice president at Back Bay High School. Oh, >> and and our student board member representative. Today for International Women's Day, I was asked to honor one woman from our campus. I would love to honor my teacher, Miss Ashley Smith. She's inspired me every day because she always keeps me on track and make sure I'm doing my best in school. She doesn't just focus on our work, she also asks how I'm doing, checks up on me, and make sure I'm okay. that
019shows how much she truly cares about her students and not as not only as learners but as people. Miss Smith miss energy and personality make her someone who is easy to get along with. She is trustworthy and caring and always supporting when I need help or encouragement because of the way she looks out for me and believes in me. She makes me feel like she's like a she makes me feel like a second mother at home or Yeah. Um, on this International Women's Day, I want to say thank you to Miss Smith for being such an an inspiring woman and for always being there for me. Thank you. >> And next we have Jeremy Lure from Early College High School. Good evening, Superintendent Smith, esteemed board members, and members of the community. My name is
020Jeremy Lure, and I am the student board member from Early College High School. In honor of Women's History Month, I was asked to speak tonight about a woman at my high school who has truly benefited our community. However, I reflected and I was thinking about it and I don't think I can pick just one. So, I'm going to be listing a few. The first staff member I would like to recognize is Mrs. Lawrence and she is our AVID coordinator at ECS and she has been so incredibly helpful with our college application process and helping us with scholarships. She meets with all the seniors, she rereads all of our essays many times. She was my sophomore English teacher and it's so easy to either go in and just talk to her, have a conversation, ask her
021for help, and she's always going above and beyond for our students and me. If we have a job interview or a college interview or an interview for a scholarship, she's willing to do a mock interview with us over and over and over and over and over again until we finally feel ready for it. And even then, she'll do it one more time. Next, I would like to recognize our amazing high school counselor, Mrs. Galini. She makes the time to go over each of our Cal State applications, UC applications, and really any college or scholarship application that we would like her to go over. She's always going above and beyond with us and she catches mistakes that even we don't realize. And so if it weren't for her, I'm sure the process would be a lot
022lot harder. And beyond just college applications, she's always there to help every student succeed, not just seniors. She's always available helping students with their schedules or course load and making sure that we're on track with everything with our courses, graduating on time. and it's always easy to ask her for help on different awards or scholarships. As I was saying, the last staff member at ECHS I would like to recognize is Mrs. Gamboa and she is our ASB director. She has had such a profound impact on my life and my aspirations. She encouraged me to apply for ASB my sophomore year and because of that I slowly began stepping out of my comfort zone and becoming more confident leading and taking part in student government. Since then, she has continued to guide me as I grow
023and discover what I would want to pursue in college and beyond. Simply put, if it weren't for her encouragement, I don't think I'd be standing here today. I'd also like to give a last quick shout out to Miss Dwey and Miss Outlaw at the nutritional services department. They were both incredibly helpful in facilitating student feedback at Early College and making sure that the menus were adjusted to meet student needs throughout. They were responsive and took the care to explain the process to us and make sure that we were able to reach the best possible outcomes for all of our students. Back to the three ECS staff members that I mentioned earlier. They have made such a large impact on not only myself but also everyone in our community and I'm so incredibly thankful for all
024of them. Thank you. And last we have Audrey Solomon from Newport Harbor High School. Hi everyone. My name is Audrey Solomon and I'm a junior at Newport Harbor High School. One woman who I would like to honor for this holiday is Mrs. Ber. Mrs. Ber is my activities director and to put it simply, she is absolutely amazing. Like seriously a superhero. Every day Mrs. Ber manages countless events, countless students, and countless responsibilities. And while she pulls it all off effortlessly, like not even ever breaking a sweat, she always is so put together. I know that is not truly the case. There is no doubt of the hard work and dedication that Mrs. Ber pours into our school and our students. As a former sailor herself, she radiates a sense of sailor pride that is evident
025in each of our activities. Despite being a mom to three young kids, Mrs. Boore has never missed a 9:00 p.m. rally run through or a 6 a.m. grade war setup like tomorrow morning. There is never a task she leaves unfinished, nor a moment she will not devote to her ASV class. So, for these reasons, I think Mrs. Ber deserves to be recognized this month and really every day. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Great. Now, we'll move to Harbor Council PTA report. Good evening, President Oru, Vice President Murphy, uh, Clerk Pearson, Trustees, Superintendent Smith, Cabinet, and community members. My name is Martha Flor, and I am the Harbor Council PTA president for two more months. Happy almost spring. Our current PTA membership stands at 5051 and we welcomed Ry Elementary School into our 100 plus
026club which is terrific. We are c um we are looking forward to celebrating with Sonora Elementary School and principal Mia de uh Dodge at the fourth district's PTA 2026 administrator's dinner tomorrow night at Knottbury Farm. Principal Dodge was selected as the fourth district PTA 2026 administrator outstanding administrator award um as principal. So we are thrilled with that. Um members of the Harbor Council, Newport Harbor, College Park, and trustee Carol Crane attended fourth district's um annual tax safari. I have a handout that I just gave to Samantha um and wanted to talk a little bit about that. The very hot topic of our visit with Assembly uh Diane Dixon was ebikes and the legislation that she has worked to pass and got signed and the legislation that she is also proposing. She is committed with working
027with our PTAs um in the area that she represents in developing and drafting additional legislation that will enhance our ch uh children's uh safety. The items that really um hit home were one um the power of PTA. PTA was established not as a fundraising organization but as an advocacy group way back when 129 years ago. Every child, we talked about safe schools and sa and student protection and every school. Every child deserves to come to school free from fear. Immigration policies are changing and the sensitive location shifts impact schools um and school communities. school funding um and budget realities is another big issue because uh Governor uh Nuome is suggesting to um what do we call that Carol? >> withhold or withhold uh Prop 98 funding or do another maneuver uh which they've been known
028to do in the past. It's not the new thing as uh Dr. Smith knows but this one is pretty significant. Um especially when we there is money there that we are entitled to. Um and also uh the declining enrollment has been an issue. Um policy uh accountability and governance was really and very enforced and wanted to make sure that the state accountability focuses on measurable outcomes not on wishes and dreams and that nonpartisan advocacy remains central. uh to PTA's mission. And finally, we had a wonderful speaker on AI and that children are um accessing technology earlier than ever and the constant concern that that is impacting their mental health. Um we practiced that um advocacy effort at our last PTA meeting which Dr. um Smith was came to. We divided our our our uh PTA
029into the four trustee zones and I asked each of the trust the zones to what was their two issues number the top two issues um regarding whatever was occurring in those issues and I will tell you by and large the number one issue was ebikes and ebike safety and the concerns about ebikes. The second issue which was kind of surprising which got a little bit of attention was the concept that there aren't charging enough charging stations at the schools for laptops and Chromebooks and whatever and some of the kids don't have charging items to take home, chargers to take home. So that was a that was a small issue. And the third issue was a little bit we didn't even discuss it was um AI. We wanted to thank Dr. Smith because we put him
030through the ringer on that. Um they practiced their advocacy skills and talked about their main concerns about ebikes and the need for some some for something to be done. He also was very candid with us about uh the the recent presentation that you all had about um from our auditor and explained to to us as PTA leaders that the $50 million um of infrastructure improvements was the cause for the dip in the the number of teachers. and we were so impressed that $50 million was spent to improve um in in infrastructure throughout our school district. So, we thanked him for that. Um and then he talked about a little bit about the expansion of our summer school program um and to actually talk about offering not only at the in the Costa Mesa the east
031and Costa Mesa the West, but also there's going to be one at Lincoln I believe um for the Newport Chronomar. We really are really grateful for that because all kids need to have an opportunity to have enrichment. Um, I'm going to leave you with uh two quotes. Also, by the way, we had a speaker named uh Dr. Carl Con who is a renowned speaker. He was the superintendent of Long Beach in during the time when they instituted uh dress code and uniforms and he was also in San Diego and he is he is well renowned. Well, he talked about a young whippers snapper that he met um up at in Reading during his superintendent uh classes and it turns out that that is none other than Dr. Smith >> and he talked about how wonderful
032he was and that he considered him a great mentee. So that's it. So I'm going to leave you with two quotes um tonight. The first one is by Wilfr A. Peterson. Decision is sparks uh is the spark that ignites action. Until a decision is made, nothing happens. Decision is the courageous courageous facing of issues knowing that if they're not faced problems will remain forever unanswered. And the second quote is from Ralph Wald uh Waldo Emerson. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you're wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to the end requires courage. I leave you with that. Be courageous. Thank you. Thank you so much, Miss Flor. Next, um,
033anyone from CSEA or NMFT want to make comments? Good evening pre President Ersolu trustees Dr. Smith and Newport Mesa community. For the record, my name is Rosina Telamontis and I am a member of the NMFT executive board and an ELD TOSA for Newport Mesa Unified. In my role, I have the honor of representing our district and our educators as the AFT English language learners on the E AFT English language learners committee. This body is composed of preK through 12th grade adult education and higher education professionals from across the state with a deep interest in research policy and the impact of EL instruction on both students and teachers. I am proud to share with you tonight that I was instrumental in proposing the forthcoming name change of this state level body to the to the multilingual
034learner committee. While our district has already shown leadership by naming our department multilingual programs, bringing this change to the AFT level ensures that our union's advocacy reflects that same visionary philosophy. This alignment is significant for three reasons. First, it shifts us towards an assetbased model while English learner focus on what a student is still acquiring. Multilingual learner honors the linguistic gifts they already possess. It reframes our students and our teaching not by perceived deficit but by the incredible cognitive and cultural strengths brought into our classrooms every single day. Second, it aligns our advocacy to the global California 2030 initiative. California is leading the nation in promoting multilingualism as a critical 21st century skill. By leading this change at the AFT level, we signal that Newport Mesa and our educators are at the forefront of statewide
035policy and professional standards. Finally, reflects the entire K12 educational journey. A student's multilingualism doesn't end when they reclassify. It is a lifelong academic advantage. This name change creates a more inclusive identity and bridges our early childhood programs all the way through to our higher education partners. I would also like to thank the board for providing me with the opportunity to serve as an instructional materials reviewer for the 2026 ELA EL instructional materials follow-up adoption. This appointment reflects expertise and leadership in literacy, language, and mult and support for multilingual learners. And I am proud to represent Newport Mesa Unified in this capacity. Thank you, Dr. Smith, for reaching out to communicate to congratulate me personally. I look forward to keeping you updated on our progress as we work to ensure every student's language is seen as
036a bridge to their future. Thank you for your time and for your continued service to ensuring that all students are seen, heard, supported, and safe. Thank you. Thank you so much for all your work on that. I I've over the years seen the transition from ELLL to DLL to MLL finally seems to be the right one. So, thank you for all you do. Uh, next we have community input on non-aggendaized items. >> This is an opportunity for the public to address the board regarding items not on the regular meeting agenda. Comments on non-aggenda topics are limited to three minutes per comment up to 20 minutes per topic. A speaker may not relinquish his or her time to another person. By order of the Brown Act section 54954.2, the board will take no action nor have
037any discussions on non-aggendaized items. The superintendent may provide clarification during superintendent comments. >> Okay, first up we have Vienna Montano. When do I start? Good evening, members of the board. My name is Vienna and I'm a parent at College Park Elementary. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I have a fourth grader who has been talking about dropping out of school for two years. He's struggling or getting bored in some subjects, but ready to move faster, think deeper, and explore more complex materials in others. It's a frustrating situation for me, but even more for him. I'm here because we need help. He's getting older and his solution to the disconnect is dropping out. Last year, he was tested and placed in GATE. I was hopeful there would be resources available to help him. I
038attended the virtual gate presentation in November, reviewed all the material sent to me, and it described my child to a te. The conference described the traits and needs of gate students, but no solutions, no resources, and no differentiated learning. It was disheartening and we were back to square one. At College Park, one teacher per grade is GATE certified and is supposed to implement modifications to teach Gate students differently. While that might sound great, how practical is it? How often is it happening? How, when, and where is a teacher with 27 students supposed to teach her four gate students differently, let alone the ones in a different classroom whom are also gate identified? I want to address the need for stronger support and expanded opportunities for students in gates during and after school. I have learned
039that gifted students have unique academic and intellectual needs. When those needs aren't met, they can become disengaged and underchallenged. I'm seeing this firsthand. Some schools have implemented great programs already. East Bluff has a small group instruction instruing engagement and participation. Anderson Elementary has Anderson's Dolphin Academy where students work one-on-one with a teacher and get pulled out of class in small groups for support and enrichment. Those examples truly sound like differentiated instruction. These programs will not only benefit Gate students, they could help all students thrive. This year in November, the district offered Gate students the opportunity to participate in a program Odyssey of the Mind, which has been amazing. They utilize creative, creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving while working hands-on student uh on a hands-on student led project. Uh I'm thankful for that, and I'm
040thankful that College Park took part of it, but we need more. There are many talented and motivated students at College Park and with the right support and programs, we can ensure they stay engaged, inspired, and curious. Respectfully, I ask that the board review the offerings in our school and support programs and resources so students can receive the challenge and opportunities they need in each subject. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you so much, Miss um Montano. Now, we have three more from College Park. We have Andrea Torio and Chelsea Cody Waters and then Rudy Romel. So if the three of you want to come up in any order. Hello. Good evening. Um, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to us and for giving us the opportunity to speak today. It
041is an honor to be here in front of you and sincerely thank you for your time and attention. My name is Andrea to Rico and I am from Bolivia and my children attend College Park Elementary School. One of them is in fourth grade and the other is in first grade. And both of them they are in mandarin program at school. And I want to highlight they are part of the ELAC program. They are English learners. One of them has already been reclassified and is proficient in English and we are working so that my other child also reaches that reclassification which is very important to us. Our group of elac moms is very united and strong in the school. In addition, I am representative of the moms in this group of the DAC meetings. I am
042proud to proud to say that the group of elac moms has grown closer and stronger in the school. We work toward one common goal which is the reclassification of our children. We feel supported by the help we receive at the school. We share the same concerns and we want to be heard. Most of us are immigrants and I believe the language should not be a barrier that disconnect us from the school. We are fortunate to have Miss Garin, a very um very nice person that she help us to connect to the school is our mediator between us and the principal because many moms feel hesitant to address issues whether because of language or other reasons. And today I'm the voice of all of them in this moment. I'm fear because serious incidents have happened at
043the school that deeply worry us. I already spoke with the principal but I believe we need more solid and structural support to address these issues. It is vital to provide counseling both for the children adapted to the age and for the parents so that we know how to support them. It is essential to address the issues that sadly are happening not only in the this school but in many others due due to to technology, games and misinformation. We know that our children are exposed to many things outside of our control whether because of work or because different reasons. That is why it is crucial that there is um real support not just saying there's a counselor but having them come into the classroom organizing talks and clarify our children dos and thank you for listening
044to me next Chelsea Cody Waters and then Rudy Roma Hi, my name is Chelsea Cody Waters and I have a daughter in first grade at College Park. As a transplant from Minneapolis, Minnesota, the village that raised me instilled a strong sense of civic responsibility, volunteerism, and community organizing. My family's roots are heavily involved in education. My grandmother was a middle school teacher. My father is a proud product of an entirely public education, is a public university professor, and he was also involved in my elementary school's site council. Love for public education is in my DNA and civic duty in my heart. So I ask today, with no political agenda, is College Park living up to its full potential for every child. The Harbor Council PTA invited me to the Sacramento Safari this year, which was
045an incredible experience in learning about advocacy, listening to our leaders in education, and meeting school leaders from across Orange County. The keynote speaker this year was Carl Conn, and his message was simple. Invite well-intentioned parents into the schools to serve as genuine partners because you can't know if the kids are all right unless you're there to look and listen. We have an incredible community of well-intentioned parents at College Park. Some of them spoke or will speak today. At the last meeting, Rhonda Reid mentioned that if one person is speaking out, there are many who have not. We have come together to speak on a few of the concerns raised within our community with the hope that our voices will carry for many. We have no political agenda or alignment, only a shared purpose to increase
046our students access to quality education and whole child support. We all have a big love for our school district and it's because of that love that we hold high expectations. When we stand here in front of you, we aren't saying there hasn't been tremendous progress already. The progress that was made with a full-time counselor is huge. Thank you. And also maybe not the entire solution for College Park. Policies intended to increase parent engagement and communication like Parent Square have helped certain families but left others behind. Funding TK allows everyone to start their education journey sooner, but what works for a first grader moved back to a kindergartner and now back to a three-year 11-month-old is not the same. It is true that all the boxes are getting checked at College Park, but we're here to
047tell you it isn't working for everyone. It may look like that from the outside or from a quick school visit, but day in day out, parents are working double time to advocate for their children's needs, which means families that cannot do that are left behind. I encourage your teams to see qualitative data and not just quantitative data. Go into our campus, talk to more than just our school and parent leaders. Get to know as many of us as you can. Ask open-ended questions and listen. Plan to act and communicate your plan. Policies were enacted to achieve a goal. Help us make College Park work the way our well-intentioned board, staff, and policies intended it to. Thank you. >> Thank you. And last, Mr. Rudy Romel from College Parks. Anybody other eyes? First, let me say
048thank you uh for funding a full day of school uh that makes a difference for me and my family. I'm talking about the CARES program. It's free at College Park. Uh I'm Rudy RML, father of twins at College Park. Each of my kids is in a different TK class. Before starting public school, our twins attended preschool for two years. And during that time, we were very used to being a big part of their uh daily school experience. We would drop them off and pick them up at the classroom, which allowed for brief face-to-face time with the teacher and a small glimpse into what they had been doing for the day. We would also hear about upcoming activities and classroom themes. Those small interactions were incredibly helpful. Knowing the weekly topics, events, or themes gave us
049something to talk about at home and helped us build excitement around school. It allowed us as parents to reinforce what our kids were learning. Um, so TK is transitional not only for kids, but also for parents. As a parent experiencing public school for the first time, I still have a lot of questions. I feel like I'm swimming. Um, about how the system works. Yeah, I have a lot of questions about how the system works. At this age, my kids aren't always able to clearly tell me what they did during the day. So, communication from the school and teachers become especially important. Because of that, the current drop off experience can feel abrupt. Dropping off young children behind a locked gate where they quickly disappear around a corner with unfamiliar adults can be an adjustment for
050both kids and for parents. I'd like to offer a few ideas that might help the transition smoother for uh families in TK. One idea is creating a drop off point where parents have a clear line of sight towards TK classrooms. Even a small visual reassur can make a big difference during the early during these early weeks. Another idea would be allowing parents to walk their TK students to class for the first week or two of school as this short transition period could help children learn campus, recognize staff, and feel more confident about where they're going each morning. Like when young adults go to college for the first time, it might also help to offer a short orientation for new families within a couple of weeks of when school starts. This can include instruction uh introductions
051to teachers and staff, contact information, an overview of what typical TK day looks like, and what kinds of activities like music or other programs students will experience. Finally, um consistent communication from teachers can make a big difference. Something as simple as a short weekly newsletter with few bullet points can help keep parents up to speed about what's going on. and I share my ideas with a lot of respect for the work uh school and teachers are already doing and my goal is to strengthen partnership between families and school. Thank you for your time and everything that you do for the kids. Thank you so much. Uh next we have Angelie Andrade um Verta from Costa Mesa. Hi, good evening members. I am also uh from College Park. My name is Angelie Andre Vayerta uh PTA
052uh parent and I'm here today to respectfully to ask the school district to consider implementing a structured health education scope for fourth and fifth grade students with clear optin options for parents. Fourth and fifth grade, as you know, are critical transition years. Many students begin experiencing early physical and emotional changes before the standard sexed that happens in middle and high school. So providing age appropriate health education during this stage can help students understand their bodies um develop manage their emotion, develop healthy boundaries and respect for others. This type of instruction can also play an important role in preventing bullying, protecting students from harm, and helping them recognize when to seek help from trusted adults. Currently, as you may be familiar, in our elementary school, there are students that are practicing self harm that are having
053gender gender affirming um questions about how how to affiliate um and obviously the bullying is a clear issue. California law already supports this approach. Under California Health Youth Act, the state explicitly allows districts to teach age appropriate health and development topics in elementary schools. The law states that comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education may be taught in grades K through six, inclusive, as long as it's age appropriate. Many school districts across California already introduce health foundations in upper elementary grades. for example, San Jose Unified School District, um Irvine School District, Garden Grove as well. These lessons are focused on healthy habits, hygiene, decision-making, and social emotional wellness through programs like the Great Body Shop. These districts demonstrate that elementary health educ education can be implemented responsibly, transparently, and in partnership with families. Creating an
054opt-in program in Newport Mesa can rep respect parental choice while still providing families who want it the opportunity for their children to receive age appropriate guidance before the challenges of adolescence begin. Our goal is simple, safer students, informed families, and healthier transition into the pre-teen years. So, thank you so much for your time and commitment and well-being to our students. And last, we have Valerie and Valerie and Brown Parker. >> Good evening. Thank you for your willingness to hear my concerns. Okay. So, dear members of the board, um my name is Valerie Annie Brown, formerly Valerie Annie Pker. I have worked as a substitute teacher in the Newport Mesa Unified School District and I pre previously served the district as a full-time ESL teacher at T-winkle Junior High School during the 1989 1990 school year
055under principal Scott Pollson. I returned to California less than 15 months ago after living in Idaho for several years in order to be closer to my children, extended family, and longtime church community at Mariners. I am writing because I was recently removed from the substitute teacher list, and I believe that decision was made in error based on allegations that were not fully verified before that action was taken. Throughout more than three decades of working with students, student safety and responsible classroom supervision have always been my highest priorities. The three incidents that led to this decision occurred over the past year. One incident involved a special education assignment at Harper Day School. I've obtained a written witness statement from a staff member who is present confirming that I followed the directions given by the aids and
056assisted the students until they boarded their buses. That statement contradicts the report that I abandoned the students. A second allegation involves Mariners's Elementary School where it was reported that I left students unattended for approximately 30 minutes. During a call with HR, I was told that I had worked at Mariners's Elementary 3 days in February. However, when I reviewed my frontline records, I saw only one assignment on February 26th, during which I worked alongside the classroom teacher for the entire day. A third allegation occurred over a year ago at Ria Elementary School where AIDS reported that I had been sleeping in the classroom. I denied this allegation. My access to frontline was blocked without notice and nearly a month passed before I was able to meet with HR to learn the details of the report. A
057determination was made by HR that this allegation was not to be held against me. Public schools are publicly funded institutions and therefore extensions of government. Because of this, I believe that basic principles of fairness should guide how allegations against educators are handled. When concerns are raised, the individual should be informed of the complaint within a reasonable time and whenever possible at the school site. The educator should then be given the opportunity to respond and present their understanding of the situation and any relevant evidence. I have provided documentation supporting my statements today, including an email message from a classroom teacher at Whittier Elementary School who appreciated my work in her class during a three-day assignment from February 23rd through the 25th. Jennifer Marin, the site administ administrator at Whittier Elementary, personally observed my classroom during those
058days, checking in periodically and later comment commenting to me that I was managing the class well. I've submitted a character reference letter from Patty Duncan, education director for the Vooks Literacy Foundation. In my work supporting children's literacy, I write under the name Annie Winston, have worked with Miss Duncan for more than seven years. I respectfully ask that the documentation I've submitted be reviewed. I have the packets there for you. Thank you so much for hearing me on this one. Thank you. >> And next up, we have superintendent comments. want to first off thank the parents from um College Park for continuing to come in and keep those important issues in front of us. Um we've had presentations on gate and the the district's direction um the researchbased direction to get more and more of our
059teachers and they're leaning into it trained in GATE strategies. I was glad that they brought up um because I want to compliment the board for this because it was newly implemented this year. More attention for advanced students funded by the school district like Battle the Books which they didn't mention but a very very popular activity. And then Odyssey of the Minds which is a great one. Uh these are the first two that we're bringing on board. We look to bring in a couple more next year. Uh probably around a math concept or something like that. So we're continue to build those and we're excited to do so. was also really um happy that um the parent mentioned that we have great school community facilitators in the district that do a great job of bridging sometimes
060that language gap that can be difficult. Certainly our our our schools themselves are committed to um reaching out welcoming families, but it helps to have that and that is something this district prioritized years and years ago and I'm so uh grateful and blessed to work in a district where they have that. Um, we heard about a successful one tonight who won an award. Truly, they're amazing. Um, and you know, the question was, you know, are we doing everything we can for every kid? And I would say rhetorical question, but I would always say never, right? Because we can always do more and we're always going to be committed to doing better and better at serving each and every one of our kids. It's never enough. And so I I'm grateful that the parents challenge us
061to get better each day because that's what every parent should do. Um, we're never good enough. We have to get better every single day. When I look at the comment about, you know, the FCFs and just want to mention that they did a survey recently at College Park and um you know, while not every parent took it and we can always do better in that regard, 87% of the parents there felt welcomed uh on campus and I believe that has a lot to do with how um our folks are reaching out in involving them to be in. Um and so that was encouraging. Again, that's not 100%. So, we can do better. They mentioned also counseling and what an important investment this district has made in elementary counselors. Uh, find me a district in the
062state that has the resources that this board has prioritized. Um, I challenge you to do that. These are amazing resources and and I think the parent said this, while counseling is great, there's more we need to do in the way of parent education. That's something that this board continues to challenge us to do is how do we do a better job of uh helping inform our parents, educate our parents, help them. Heck, I was a parent and man, I was always looking for help from our teachers. You how can I teach the new math? And heck, I had a doctorate struggle with the new math. So, we can do a better job of that. This board certainly challenged us to continue to be better in that regard. Um, you know, they mentioned the Carl Con
063and his statement about bringing uh parents in that that is the smartest strategy these days and I couldn't agree more and it's something that Carl and I have actually presented on before and I think this is a good example here of us trying to do that and again can we do better? What's my answer? Always, right? Um, but what are we doing in this regard? I can say that um I don't know of a school in our school district where my team has listened more than in this scenario. Um I myself met with the PTA president two weeks ago to talk about College Park and how things are going. Uh how are the the PTA parents there feel about the school? She happens to be a longtime resident of the district. Went to all of
064our schools. Her her mom was involved in schools. her dad was a board member and had just a lot to share about what we're doing well and what we can do better. I'm meeting with Cole next week uh I think it is to talk about those perceptions. Miss Cody Waters, I think has met with my team maybe more than any parent that we've had so far. And so we we lean into what Carl said. We want to listen to parents, as she said, well-intended parents. And I believe these parents are very well intended. Uh and we have an opportunity to learn from them and with them and we'll continue to do that work. Um the issue of comprehensive health education is it's a policy issue. Uh those of you that want to stay around tonight,
065a lot of conversations about policy, something that the board takes up regularly. Um it is within the California law. It can be done uh at or around fifth grade. Um there's a framework for it. Uh and this district used to do that back in the day. And so these opt-in opportunities exist. um we don't have to create a new mousetrap so to speak. But again, that's a policy decision and not for me to comment on uh tonight. And then finally, I would just say that as it relates to personnel matters, we never comment on personnel matters in a public meeting. So I have no comment on that. >> Great. Next, we have community input on agendaized items. Um so trustee Pearson, >> this is an opportunity for the public to address the board regarding items
066on the regular meeting agenda. Comments on agenda items are limited to three minutes per comment up to 20 minutes per topic. A speaker may not relinquish his or her time to another person. Speaker cards for items on the discussion action calendar may be held until that item is considered by the board if the speaker prefers. >> Okay. Um Okay. We have um many speakers. Oh, 15. Um for the looks like the bike bike bike issue. Um so you all can choose to speak now or to speak right before the item comes up. The item is item 20 C. Right now we're at 17. So if you want to speak now, you each have um a minute and 20 seconds divide the 15 folks um divvied up. So, I can read each of your names and
067then you can decide to speak right now or you can speak before the item. It's your choice. Um, so I'll just go name by name and then either come up or don't and I'll put you in a different pile for later. Um, Lauren Sparks. Lauren Sp speak speaks. >> Yes, >> perfect. try to go as fast as I can. My name is Lauren Speaks. I'm a parent in College Park. I'm also a physical therapist at Hogue. I treat patients recovering from brain injury, and I really appreciate the board's movement to create some new policy related to ebikes. However, I'm disappointed to see the inclusion of a grade level requirement for biking on a standard bicycle grouped into the language for the updated policy. My son and I participate in the College Park Elementary School bike
068bus Tuesday mornings. This morning, our group had 15 parents, 25 students, and of these, 50% of these participants would have been excluded the day the policy takes effect. Our neighborhood has worked so hard to build community to keep our local families in College Park at our local elementary school. And it's it's disheartening to see that that could be really affected by the language of the policy. As a safety-minded parent, a medical professional, I'm here to testify that we have several TK and kindergarten students that are wearing their helmets. They're riding with parent supervision, and they are doing it safely. I really hope you can reconsider the language of the policy so that our families can continue to have the opportunity to make choices for our own children that are appropriate for them developmentally and for
069their own safety. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Next, Colin Cody Waters. Colin Cody Waters, would you like to go now? >> Later. Okay, thank you. Um, Michael Moses Snoff, would you like to go now? >> Hello. My name is Michael Moses Nol and I've been a member of this community since 2003. I am the vice chair of the active transportation committee in Costa Mesa, but I'm not here on official business. I'm here as a parent of a student in Newport Mesa. Uh, when approaching conflict, I usually try to assume best intentions of everyone. Um, and want to believe that you care about our students just as much as I do and these other people in the community do. But given the case it's of how this is set up, it's really hard to
070do that. your misguided emotional reaction to this issue, especially how some of you tried to hide this um agenda item at the end of the agenda with the most vague name possible without public or sufficient public notice um doesn't show best intentions and that's some pretty dirty shady stuff. I know you can do better. So, I just urge you to take a step back, do the proper process, let the community there's I have so many friends and neighbors that would like to be here tonight but didn't know about it because it wasn't agendaized with the proper name and it was such last minute. So, do better. I know you can do better. Thank you. >> Great. Russell Toller. >> Good evening, board. My name is Russell Toller. I have um two kids in the district.
071I wrote a letter, a strongly worded letter early this morning. I hope you had a chance to read it. I won't summarize the whole thing. Uh but it really covered the process by which this was advanced and the content of the draft policy that has descended upon us and in seemingly final form uh for a vote tonight. But my main concern is the spirit behind this draft policy. So rather than looking at the issue holistically, how we raise healthy, independent kids and keep them safe on our streets, the policy reads like it begrudgingly allows uh or tolerates kids on our street riding bikes. It reads as if it accepts the status quo of our dangerous streets, something that's not really mentioned at all in the the policy. and it reads as a policy that would
072ultimately be fine with fewer kids riding, which is what I think would result if this policy were to be implemented effectively as intended. I personally would love to see more regular bikes, analog bikes, and the share of that go up and the share of ebikes go down. And I'd love to see more uh education if it's empowering and dignifying and positive and fun. We know it's typically not like that. Um, but this process so far, the way it's gone, uh, erodess my confidence in the ability of this this district to put forth such a policy. >> Thank you. >> Next, we have Eric Eagle. >> Engel. Sorry, I can't read. Eric Engel. >> He'll go later. Perfect. Thank you. Uh, Flo Martin. My son started walking to College Park School before most of you were
073born. They biked or walked to Davis Middle School and Costa Mesa High School. Their mom is currently a member of the active transportation committee with the city as well as a founding board member of Costa Mace Alliance for better streets. I urge you to think of mother earth and to encourage active transportation. Not car, not diesel, not gas, not fumes, but fresh air. encourage students in all at all levels of this school district and I was a a certified school uh teacher in this district for many years as well before you guys were born. Encourage students for active transportation and give mother earth a chance to breathe. Thank you. >> Thank you, Flo. Next, um Jennifer Tanaka. Jennifer Tanaka. >> Oh, wait. >> Wait. Okay. Uh, next Alli Cotton. >> Good evening board members. My
074name is Ally Cotton and I'm a parent of three in Newport Mesa Unified, including one who will be entering ENE in the fall. I'm here tonight because ebikes have introduced a level of speed and risk around our youngest children. at our elementary and junior high campuses that simply did not exist just a few years ago. Ebikes are not toys. They are motorized vehicles capable of speeds 20 mph or more. Yet, many young students lack the judgment and reaction time to operate them safely in crowded environments. What many of us are witnessing in our community is now being reflected in medical data. At Children's Hospital of Orange County, pediatric trauma cases from ebike crashes rose from just seven in 2019 to 116 in 2024. That's more than a 1,500% increase in just 5 years. The 2025
075total annual total has not yet been reported, but physicians say these numbers continue to rise. In a recent study involving chalk physicians, ebike injuries became the number one cause of pediatric trauma visits, surpassing falls and motor vehicle collisions. There is also growing social pressure among younger students to have ebikes. Many parents now feel compelled to buy one so their child is not the only student riding a traditional bicycle. NMUSD has strong anti-bullying policies. Yet, introducing expense expensive motorized ebikes onto elementary and junior high campuses creates a new kind of social pressure where students who cannot or should not ride them can easily become the ones left out. >> Thank you. >> And beyond safety and social pressure, we should think about what we want child to look like. >> When a risk to children is
076clear and growing, the responsibility of leadership tragedy. >> Okay. Next, Dave >> Paglia. >> Dave Paglia, you'll go later. the next section. Yes. >> Um, Corey Hass. >> Good evening. My name is Corey Hass. I'm a parent of three kids at Kaiser and Woodland. The safe routes to school survey shows many campuses have 10 to 25% of students biking to school. Enson Intermediate is well over a third. In a district of about 18,000 students, that's roughly 4,000 kids relying on bikes as transportation. This policy change doesn't just make those students disappear. It just pushes them back into cars. At the same time, the city of Costa Mesa has spent years investing in safer streets, bike lanes, and safe routes to school, even adding a bike lane in front of Kaiser Elementary, which has been phenomenal.
077It's hard to understand why the district would move backwards while the city is investing millions to make biking safer. This proposal doesn't just target ebikes. It bans biking to school before third grade. Under this policy, a child cannot ride a bike. they can ride a bike in their neighborhood or park, but not to school. How do I tell my second grade daughter who's ridden to school since kindergarten that she can't ride to school anymore? How do I tell her that? Meanwhile, the biggest safety issue I see as a parent on an ebike picking up my kids from Woodland is distracted parents in parked cars in bike lanes on sidewalks and families picking up their kids in bikes. We're the ones treated like we're the problem. I I don't understand. It doesn't make sense. Policies that
078discourage biking don't eliminate transportation needs. They simply replace bikes with more cars. >> Thank you. Um Bethany, next is Bethany Simson. Simson. >> Hi. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Bethany Simson and I'm the parent of a first grader at Woodland Elementary um who loves to bike to school safely with a helmet. We do it together. We have so much fun. Um I don't mind and honestly and and in favor of certain restrictions on ebikes. Um but I respectfully ask the board to just completely reconsider and remove the language banning the use of regular bikes for kindergarten through 2 graders. Um, Principal Maxwell at Woodland is so diligent reminding all families of safe biking habits to school. Our crossing guards watch out and keep our kids safe. They remind them to walk
079their bikes in the crosswalk. And I see all these kids complying. They're eager for responsibility and they love the independence. Um, so many families I know are personally committed to raising kids who are confident and safe on the roads. And taking biking away at this early age creates a huge roadblock for safe bikers in late elementary and middle school. Banning regular bikes for younger students is unnecessary and would be detrimental to our kids and our community. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next is Michelle Feldman. Michelle Feldman after. Okay. Thank you. Next is Anelie um Verta. Y'all had such a great agenda today. I couldn't help it. But my name again is Angela De Vayerta. I am a member of the community parent college park parent as well as a commissioner for the city of Costa
080Mesa. So I'm speaking to you about this proposed biking u restriction. For many families on the west side of Costa Mesa, biking is not a recreational activity. It is the primary form of transportation. Students ride every day to school like Enson Intermediate, Neper Harbor High, Estansi High School. And for some families, biking is the most reliable, affordable, and practical way for their children to get to school. So instead of ab banning bikes, we should focus on teaching safe riding and creating a culture of responsibilities. There are many great examples by school districts like Brea, Alinda, Tmacula, San Marcos Unified, and I share these examples so that we don't have to start from scratch. And finally, as a College Park parent, my 9-year-old finally got the courage to ride a bike because of the bike bus.
081Um, taking this away would take away her eagerness to go to school every day. And now, not only does she bike on Tuesday, but she bikes to school with dad, giving mom some relief every day to and from. So, please keep us um keep this program open and just come up with creative solutions. Thank you. >> Great. Um >> Brad Brad Newsen. >> Brad Nelson. >> Yes, that can be you. Thank you. >> Good evening that up here. Good evening. I'm Brad Nelson. I have two daughters. One goes to Kaiser. Uh I'm a son of a former superintendent, lifelong cyclist, amateur bike racer, and a student who rode his bike to school all the way through college. Uh we can all agree that a safe route to school is important. We can also agree that
082fostering safe independence is also critical for strong children. I ask that this language be revised to exclude or at least identify pedal bikes differently than ebikes. Let's set appropriate age restrictions for ebikes and require school supported training. Let's ban the class 3 and the emotos that are the serious problem. And let's not take away the freedoms of our young children and responsible families in favor of more vehicle traffic. Thank you. >> Thank you. And last but not least, David Siennus Ciennis. >> Hello. Uh my name is David Samnus, a parent of three children and M NMUSD, two at Kaiser, one at Enen. Found out about this about an hour ago. Um come on, it's it's again hiding it in in let's read it specifically on here. We have first reading of modifications to board policy.
083What is board policy? Unknown from uh piece of paper there. So, it just seems hasty. Um, that requires more community engagement. I think we want to have safe safe streets. It's really important. Um, I know that there's accidents happening out there. I have an enson student who's seen them. But, um, I say engage with Woodland Kaiser PFO, all the PFOs, PTAs, uh, the Enen Fund. Those are discussions need to be happening, not a top- down decision by whoever made the decision. Thank you. Great. And do we have another? >> Oh, okay. And now is the moment I've recused myself um for a conflict of interest on the next item. So, you're going to do some more public commenting um but on a different topic and then I will come back in several minutes after this
084item is done. >> All righty. Thank you everyone. And now we're moving on to agenda topic around our surplus land and banning ranch 21c. I have uh Olivia Stockdale from Costa Mesa. First, do you want to speak now or before the agenda item? >> Before the agenda, >> it's okay. Uh next we have Terry Welsh from Costa Mesa. Now or >> I will speak later too, please. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, Angelie Barerv now or before? >> Later. >> Colin Carbo. >> Zorbo. >> I'll speak later, please. >> Okay. And Jenny Callahan. >> Okay. Thanks you all. All righty. Thank you everyone. Our next item number 17, the midyear report on accelerated learner opportunities. Dr. Torres and don't don't fall in the chair. >> We have a team approach tonight so that you'll hear the
085span from elementary to secondary of all the things that are offered for our students and accelerated learning. >> Welcome Keith Carmona and Dr. Lori Hernandez, our two directors of teaching and learning. Good evening, President Osylu, members of the board, and Superintendent Smith. Uh, tonight, Lori and I are glad to share an update on the wide range of advanced learning opportunities available to our students across Newport Mesa. Um, beginning with our youngest learners in elementary school and all the way through our high, excuse me, our high school programs. Um, before we get into specifics, um, it's worth grounding ourselves in the why. Uh advanced coursework expands access to rigorous academic opportunity for all students. It strengthens college readiness and persistence. It reduces college costs through earned credit. And critically, it aligns with our district goals around
086achievement and ensuring every student, regardless of their background, has a pathway to that opportunity. And that commitment runs through everything that you'll see tonight. So, I'm going to turn it over to Lori. is going to talk about our elementary programs. >> All right. So, while we of course differentiate and meet students where they're at, starting with our youngest learners in pre-K and TK, we do officially start our programming in fourth grade. And so, we've added some great programs this year as as you know. So, our gate program has existed for many years. And after the pandemic, we did have a little reboot where we um brought the training in house and restarted our certification program. And then this year, we've added Battle of the Books districtwide. We know we've had Battle of the Books. This
087will be the 10th anniversary of the East Bluff competition, but that does not cover all of our schools. So this year we have three additional battles happening. So all 20 of our schools that have upper grade will be participating in Battle of the Books. We have Odyssey of the Mind, which is a new addition to our GATE program, and that program was offered to all of our gate identified students across the 20 sites that have upper grade. And then VEX IQ Robotics. So, we now have a robotics opportunity at every site. So, across our elementary schools this year, that equates to 60 new student clubs. And some of those are happening during the school day, some are happening before or after school, but 60 new clubs across the 20 schools that have upper grade. So
088our gate program, we know we screen students in third grade and then students who are identified based on the assessment and the criteria that we use are then put into a gate cluster classroom meaning students are grouped together so they can work together and be given um opportunities to learn um in different ways. The teacher certification initially they take four classes of six hours each. So teachers are on different progressions of that and then we require a renewal every year. So even if you got certified several years ago, we do require ongoing training and that's the um what we've been working for the last about four years to revise to bring in house to consult with experts to um find new ways to approach this in the classroom. And then each site has a designated
089gate coordinator and that's um a liaison that supports with the gate testing um and communication things like that. So this is the data right now where we stand. This year we assessed over a thousand kids 1,327 and that was 96% of third graders. Parents do have an opportunity to opt out of the assessment um if they would like. So that and then this spring those families of those third third graders it's also um includes some fourth fifth and sixth grade retesting they will be notified in the spring of their qualification and so our current gate identified right now um you can see fourth fifth and sixth grade eight about 18% of our fourth graders are identified 16% of our fifth graders and 14.63% 63% of our sixth graders are are considered to be gate identified.
090And some events coming up. So, Battle of the Books, uh, as I mentioned, it's the 10th anniversary of the East Bluff competition. And then we've added battles 2, three, and four. And those are coming up at the end of this month, um, up until April 1st. We're really excited uh, to welcome the community to those events. And then we are hosting Ignite the Night on May 11th at Estansia High School. And this is going to be our district-wide robotics competition and Odyssey of the Mind Showcase. So, we're doing um some competitions. We're It's a three-hour event, but we'll invite schools to come for maybe an hour or two. They won't be have to be there the whole 3 hours, but we have 20 schools to get through. So, we'll have like a a schedule. So,
091families from certain schools will be told what time their Odyssey and their VEX competition is. And then, um for Odyssey of the Mind, it can be done as a competition. We're doing it as a showcase for year 1 um just to get used to the program and and get into things. >> At the secondary level, students have several pathways into college level work. Um AP advanced placement offered at our four comprehensive high schools and Monavista is a flexible course by course model designed by the College Board. Students can take one or many courses um each with a standardized um end of course exam scored on a scale of 1 to five. Um IB is our international balora program offered at Newport Harbor High School. That is a comprehensive diploma based program with an internationally designed
092curriculum emphasizing research, writing and global engagement. Um, diploma candidates complete both exams and an extended research project. Together, we offer 33 AP courses and IB course or excuse me, AP courses districtwide and 13 IB courses spanning English, math, science, social science, world languages, and visual and performing arts. And uh there these are all real options for students with uh diverse interests and diverse backgrounds and diverse strengths. Uh so advanced coursework um is not just a niche program for us. Um it's scaled. Last year uh we had um you know over 2,000 students enrolled in AP and IB courses and 1700 over 1,700 of them. um 82% earned a passing score on at least one AP exam, which is absolutely incredible. That's a number worth sitting with. Um here's the number that we really want to
093kind of draw to your attention. There's two in the next couple of slides. Um this is over the last three years. Um our AP enrollment has grown from um 2,278 students a couple years ago to this year um 2,641. So, we're consistently adding to the number of students who are taking the opportunity to really engage in advance coursework. Um, but the real good news um comes when we look at the numbers with this slide and that is as enrollment is going up um what's really worth celebrating is that as more students are enrolled the pass rate didn't drop, it climbed um from 75% to 78% and now above 82%. That means that we're not just opening the door wider for students. Those students are walking through it and they're succeeding. More access and higher performance
094is exactly the combination of what we're aiming for and we're really really proud of that. Now, we talk about access. Looking at access and opportunity for all students. Um, we're tracking AP participation across specific student groups, Hispanic, Latino, students with disabilities, socioeconomically disadvantaged students, and English learners. You'll see participation has held steady or grown amongst these group over the three years. But there is definitely there are these are areas that we seek to improve in and we'll talk a little bit more about that. On the right you'll see um the AP honor role designation referred to. Um all four of our comprehensive high schools have received the AP honor role distinctions. Um and that is connected to the piece about expanding access for students. Um all in all there's still more work to do here
095and we'll share a little bit more about our plans in that arena in just a minute. On the international balorate side um Newport Harbor administered 123 IB exams last year um with a pass rate of 90% which is above um the global average. Um, Newport Harbor's IB program, um, has many students participating in individual IB classes without necessarily accessing or really pursuing the full diploma, which is what kind of points to the smaller diploma number that you see. Um, that being said, we do see that as an opportunity to grow uh those numbers of full diplomas, and that's something that we're going to intentionally work on going forward. Um so as we talk about broadening pathways into those advanced learning opportunities in secondary um we're really focused on three levers to expand uh access further.
096First um it's the open and flexible math pathways. Um we recently restructured our math course sequencing to create more acceleration points and more entry opportunities for kids in middle and high school. And so we believe that the those opportunities are going to lead to more students having access to those upper division advanced placement math classes that kids can take when they're in high school. Um secondly, there's been a big emphasis about AVID. You've seen me up here the last couple of years talking about growing AVID districtwide. Um AVID's entire mission is built around preparing students for college success. A cornerstone of that program is the expectation that they take AP classes. Um, so as we grow AVID sections, we're um directly growing the pipeline of students that can access AP uh coursework and are going
097to be supported through it. And then the last piece is what we referred to a couple slides ago, acknowledging the um ongoing work with student group monitoring. Um analyzing participation by student group and doing targeted outreach to those students and making sure that we're um looking at where those gaps exist and how we can fill them. Um so taken together um those three levers are really kind of how we seek to continue to build upon the success that we're seeing in Newport Mesa. With that we say thank you and we would be happy to answer any questions. >> Great trustees. Any questions, comments? Um Trusty Wan, then trusty Anderson. >> Yes. Hi, thank you. Thank you for all of this um great information about uh what we're doing with our advanced students. I just want
098to clarif uh there's a lot of people in the in the audience today. So I want to clarify that the programs in elementary school, they're not just for gate identified students. Correct. >> The Odyssey of the Mind is part of our gate program for gate identified students and then the robotics and battle of the books are open to both. >> Great. Um and then the um and so then another thing on the AP courses um with the 2600 students that are taking them are they uh unique students? So there's 2600 unique students and not just you know one kids taking six classes so you count them six times kind of thing. >> I want to make sure I give you the correct answer on that data. So uh which slide are you looking at? Um
099>> um uh slide 10. Okay. So, those are 2600 students taking AP courses. >> And how many students are in secondary? >> I'm testing your knowledge now. >> Secondary meaning >> 9th through 12th, sorry. >> Oh, in 9th through 12th of AP >> or just of all like what percentage of our students take AP classes is what I'm trying to figure out. >> Okay. The total percentage of students taking AP overall. >> Uhu. >> I will get you that number. >> Okay. Yeah. because we have about 7,000ish. Um, and so when you think about all of our, um, high schools, early college, Monav Vista, like everybody, um, there's quite a few. So, we can do the quick math for you. >> The overall percentages. Yeah, we can we can provide that number to the board.
100>> Quarter or something. >> Yeah. >> 37% according to my calculator. >> Great. >> Trusty Crane has already done the math. >> That That's a really That's awesome to see. Um, and to see that the the growth and that we're um, you know, the pass rate is so high. I mean, and it's it's great and I love how we're um, really putting an emphasis on the other stu the the student groups um, to get them to take those AP tests that they might not have even thought. Um, and then I guess one other question is what are some of your plans to increase IB um, participation? Yes. So, IB um can become challenging because our students, as you may know, um are very very competitive and they're very busy students and um we have students
101who take sixth, seventh, and eighth periods, but a lot of the students um are in advanced placement course work already. Um and so sometimes we have to double them up while they're taking, you know, a uh AP biology class and they're taking um IB bio at the same time. So, what we need to do is really focus work in talking with our students at Newport Harbor to show them the different ways and avenues that we can blend those programs together so that they can sit for both. Um, and there's always um opportunity as well for us to continue to evaluate the course catalog for IB to make sure that the courses that we continue to offer are the most relevant, engaging for our students today. Um, because that catalog of coursework does change over time.
102It's an international coursework um, you know, catalog. Um so sometimes students are less interested in those courses and so we need to continue to look at that library. >> Awesome. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Thank you. Um mine is an extension on that. Um as there are many um IB programs globally that are TK kindergarten all the way up to 12. I know at different points we've considered or discussed the possibility of having it at the feeder elementary schools for Newport Harbor. So Whittier, Newport, L Heights, are we can still considering that? Has that been >> Adams? >> Yeah. So we have talked um briefly through strategic planning and some other initiatives um to talk about where we could place IB in the zones. Um we've talked about actually even potentially
103looking at other school sites and other zones to be able to build some capacity outside of the harbor zone. Um, most recently our efforts have been dedicated towards the AVID program and expanding that in the harbor zone with harbor being one of our flagship programs. With AVID, we wanted to be able to expand that. Um, so that's been our focus. Um, but to get back to your question, we haven't specifically spoken recently about the harbor zone in terms of IB, but it is something um that our team in terms of Kurt and Sakura have talked about where it could be in elementary. >> Thank you. Yeah, I think it would be an amazing opportunity to have since it funnels up for Enson and Newport Harbor. Um, and then I also was wondering if a student
104moves to our district in fourth grade, um, and they've missed that third grade screening, are they allowed to be tested and integrated for the rest of their elementary years? And how do we ensure that all families are informed about that option? So every year um upper graders that have either a teacher recommendation, parent recommendation or principal recommendation can be tested in the upper grades. We just do the initial screening in third grade. So if a teacher sees those characteristics in a student, we often get recommendations. We sometimes have parents if they come from another district and they're already gate identified, we look at that paperwork and then we usually just accept them in as a gate identified student because most public school districts use similar criteria. And so we we typically would honor that crit
105that um identification or we would we would allow them to be screened in fourth, fifth or sixth. >> So do you think it's like 100% or is it maybe like 60% of kids that come from other districts? So I just I know we've done a lot of work recently. So I just wonder if every district has been as intentional about making sure that all third graders are getting screened. >> Every district determines the screening in individually. Every every local district can decide. So some might screen in second grade. Some might not test at all. Some might do it in third. There's no requirement that you do it at a certain point. Um what is most typical at elementary is about third grade. And so um we but we we wouldn't like necessarily say every child
106that transfers into our district in upper grade, let's screen them. We would rely on teachers and parents to basically initiate that process if they see those characteristics. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Next we have Trustee Murphy. Then Trustee Crane. >> Yes. Thank you you guys. This all is um very exciting. Uh and you know to uh my College Park parents that were here uh this is obviously a great topic for the evening. Um so it's good to know we're expanding our our programs and our opportunities it looks like. Um but so to this one parent's point, so if there's four students identified in the classroom and um and the teacher is sitting there with 20some kids and uh and conceivably one or two might have an IEP. Um so how how are you thinking about
107realistically addressing this in each classroom? So we have in elementary obviously very diverse needs in every classroom and we do believe that's the best learning environment for all the kids. So what we do is we have a designated time of day for differentiation. Some schools call it like a walk to learn or a shark tank or a wind time what I need time. So we are on in plans to have the TOSAs support having that time also support the students that are working above level in certain areas or students that might be already identified gifted. So we're working on some revisions to that to make kind of more of a presence of the explicit you know gate instruction that the parents want during the day in addition to these additional opportunities because you know as
108was pointed out like battle of the books is for everyone. So you know we we do want to have both opportunities for acceleration that are open to everyone. We don't want to exclude students but we also have unique needs with gate identified students that we're trying to address. So, you know, it's a it's a balance because we also want everyone exposed to their core curriculum for their grade level. So, it's the magic of the teacher, right, to say like, okay, I'm going to challenge this student in this way. I'm going to meet this student's needs. But that designated differentiation time in the day is really the time that we're going to move toward having that instruction happen. >> Okay. So if the like the parent was saying their student is in the class and supposedly
109is supposed to have differentiated learning time and >> yeah I think >> seem to be enough. >> Yeah I I think that is the hardest part is that you know it's not always as obvious and you know teachers might be doing it and people might be unaware. So some of it is really us telling our story of what is actually happening as part of our program. What are those strategies parents would see in in the classroom? what are those, you know, types of tasks that would be happening for those students? And then also supporting our teachers with our core program, saying in our math program, here are the the opportunities for acceleration project-based learning in our in language arts and writing. Here's how you can challenge students that are writing above grade level. And so
110some of it is a mix of like teacher training for that differentiation and and maybe parents won't always know exactly what that looks like, but then also having a designated time where maybe there are students who are getting some intervention for a certain area. Maybe they're struggling to learn to read and they need a phonics intervention. Having kids who are gate identified also get something that's differentiated during that block. So we make sure it happens every day. >> And so that's what's happening now or that's what we're working >> that's what we're moving towards. So some schools already have a system where they're using that wind time for that type of acceleration in addition to intervention and and we're moving toward toward that. >> And the time frame you think for that full implementation would
111be >> I mean I I I think it's in place at a lot of our schools and I think we're we're going to be working with our principles on their site master schedules coming up in the near future and and also we now have our TOSAs. So this is the first year with our teachers on special assignment that are focused on as you know we have our four innovation TOSAs that's a part of our program this year that's never been before. So they focused a lot of their efforts in this first part of the year on getting those 60 new clubs up and running. It's been a huge task to get the robotics going to train people to get battle of the books up and running to plan these events. But the next phase for
112those innovation toas is supporting the classroom teachers in their instruction for students who need acceleration or who need to be challenged. So that is going to be the focus of those four teachers, one per zone is to actually support those gate cluster classrooms. >> Okay. And then sometimes what I hear a lot and I understand for us parents it's you know there's a lot of a lot of things coming at us all at once and it's hard to keep track of all the communication coming at you but do we have a plan for making sure the parents know all about all of these clubs are wellversed in how their student can join can get you know be part of these clubs how important they are that that this club would be better for their student
113this club would be better for I mean, are we >> I haven't seen that myself. So, >> yeah. Sure. This is the first year we've had them. So, they sort of rolled out one at a time and we've been we've kind of had different strategies for different So, we started with Battle of the Books. We had flyers. We communicated out to school communities, join our Battle of the Books. It's, you know, this day at this time. Um, we did not have a problem. Kids were just jumping for that opportunity. So, Battle of the Books is pretty full at all sites. And then we layered in a when we did Odyssey of the mind and robotics that was the next phase. And so with Odyssey of the mind we sent specific communication through parent square to
114gate identified families. So if your child is gate identified you received a communication through that and we also gave that same information to the teachers so that they could join. Now the barrier which we're we're working on resolving right is that there's no right way whether we do it in the school day or we do it after school like some kids have other activities after school. We have some schools with robust enrichment programs after school. So we acknowledge that, you know, not every student who's gate identified joined. Some were not interested. That's fine, right? But we did put the invite out to every gate identified student through parent square. And we can see that they received it. It was in all the languages. And then with robotics, same thing. So the robotics was different by
115site. Some sites already had a robotics club going. Some sites are doing it with maybe their science specialists doing it on Friday afternoons or, you know, a lunch club. So it it varies. We we let the site have that autonomy about when that robotics club would happen because some of it was dependent upon which staff stepped up to do it. So it had to kind of work with if there's a fifth grade teacher doing it, they had to work it into their schedule. So it that that opportunity varied by sites, >> but yes, there was. So the recommendation then to a parent could be if you're interested in something and you're not, you know, robotics or what have you and you're not seeing it on your campus site, maybe it's some it's something you bring
116up to your principal, something you work through. >> Absolutely. And and people can also contact, you know, the teaching and learning office if they have any questions and they're feel like they're not getting the answers at their site. But every every one of those programs had district created flyers in all three languages that went out. So, we know that it existed, but now as a parent, I know I don't always get all the flyers. I know that I I'm guilty of not opening my parent square communications. So, you know, we we want to reach as every child who wants that opportunity. So, we also had teachers publicizing it. But there's no perfect system and we're going to only get better after this year. This was like our just trial, let's just do it year. And
117so, we're we're taking feedback. We're going to be surveying all the coaches and the teachers involved to see how we can get better for next year. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Trusty Murphy, one of the questions you asked I really appreciated in that um you were curious about how can we make it so that the practices uh in regards to dedicated time when we do differentiation is across all of our schools. So like Dr. Dr. Hernandez was saying, one of the things we have coming up with our elementary principles is really having our site principles who have very very uh intricate master schedules at their school with dedicated times showcasing the work that they're doing and we're all going to be collaborating so that kicking off the beginning of next school year, we collectively have
118some very detailed master schedules. Something that is interesting about master scheduling is in the secondary world you have experts because the schedule you have to put together is is just very very detailed. You need brilliant people. We're doing some very deep work in elementary to also have some very masterful master schedules if you will and I appreciate the work Dr. Hernandez is doing with our principles so that we can collectively get better and better as Dr. Smith had mentioned. >> Thank you. Can you do that for my schedule too? >> Sure. Come on over. was super helpful. Thank you. >> Great. Trusty Crane, then Trusty Pearson. >> Yeah, I I wanted to thank staff for the launch because I know that the board was very dedicated to providing high achieving students across the district, not
119just zones, certain zones, uh with this. So, thank you for launching it. And um using my high level math, 60 new student clubs across the our 22 elementary schools. That's an average of 2.7. So >> So it's actually um there's 20 schools because two of our schools don't have grades four through six. >> Okay. So >> So that's why >> So it's about three >> three per school. So every school has a battle of the books, the robotics, and the Odyssey. We made sure every school has that. >> So thank you. And let's keep it going because obviously it's evolving and we don't master something in the first year. We launch, we test, we see where the need is, parents become more aware of the programs and so we do the messaging and all that.
120So, thank you. Um, I just had a quick quick question. I was over at the CTA CTE um symposium last about two weeks ago and we had talked about the um pathways and so slide number eight which lists all the like 33 um advanced placement courses that one >> um did that include um the the AP cyber security or is that coming up next year? that's included. >> That one is included. It It started as a pilot and is coming on formally. So, that one would would be included in that number. >> Okay. Because I that was like, wow. AP cyber security. That's that's next level. And I'm so excited that you're providing that for our through our CTE program. >> Thank you. >> It's my turn. I'm I'll just go quickly. You know how
121excited this makes me and I am. I mean, thank you. I mean, last year we had zero clubs on our team, so you guys said you were going to start off slow. I don't think this is slow. I think that you guys jumped in and went crazy. Um, >> we did. >> I mean, I was just I was just at Newport Coast the other day and I had three little kids come up to me saying, "I'm going to be in. Are you going to be there to watch?" I think Carol and I go every year. >> I just It's so great that that these opportunities are coming to our kids and that you're going to continue with it. Um, I love the idea of the tostas going out. I mean, I would even love for
122them to be, you know, that the other thing I love is that them being housed at the schools with a lot of the things so that they can um, you know, really pull those kids out and help with that that extra for the gate kids. But this is absolutely amazing. Um, I know uh, Dr. Smith said something about next year maybe adding math. I know math olympiate is is a very popular um activity that a lot of our elementary school kids love and parents love. So, thank you. >> I just want to emphasize too that Dr. Hernandez has really taken on a herculean effort with the four news and that these really exist because of her drive and vision for making them come alive and she's been very adept at problem solving with resources and
123people. This is a lot of people and a lot of time. So kudos to the whole team. >> Okay. >> And Keith's okay, too. >> Thanks, Carl. >> Okay. With that, thank you so much. And as someone that did Odyssey of the Mind like 40 years ago, I appreciate that you guys are doing it because it really changed my life. It's awesome. Thank you. >> So, thank you. >> All right. Um, report from the Citizens Oversight Committee. Yes. Thank you. I'm hoping Despina is here. >> Yes, she is. >> Sorry. I've never met her in person. >> I'll introduce our president of the Citizens Oversight Committee. >> This is Despina Cassa. Now, we have spoken several times on the phone and many Zooms, but this is our first time in person. So, I just wanted
124to shake her hand. So, thank you for allowing me to do that. And with that, I'll turn it over to Spina. >> I was seeing in the back. I was wondering if that was you. I was like, "God, I hope you say something so I can put a face the name." Um, so good evening members of the NMUSD board and Superintendent Dr. Smith. My name is Despina Cassa and I'm the chair of the citizens oversight committee. This will be my last year as chairperson of this committee finally. Um, but also because now the theater is open, our mission is being wrapped up. So tonight I'm here to present on behalf of the committee the following report to the board of education as required by resolution 14-10-16. The COC is charge charged with ensuring to the
125community that the expenditure of bond monies authorized by the voters is consistent with the purposes approved by the voters in November 2005. So oversight means just that reviewing what the district is doing with the measure fb bond proceeds to make sure what is being done is what was specified. So over the past year, the committee has met quarterly to review expenditures and this is all with reference to the Estansi theater project. Sorry, I should have mentioned that before. And we have reviewed the measure of financial and performance audits ending June 30th, 2025 with Christy White, the district's independent auditor. The associate the associated audit documents are attached to this board agenda item. The auditor expressed an unmodified opinion of the financial statements and issued no findings. In addition, internal controls over financial reporting and compliance
126with laws were tested. The auditor determined through inquiry of management and evaluation of district processes that no significant deficiencies were noted. The auditor also conducted a performance audit to determine the district's compliance with Proposition 39 and the audit included the testing of facility project expenditures, personnel expenditures, contract bidding procedures, and contract change order procedures. There were no findings or recommendations related to this audit. So, in summary, I'm happy to report the Measure F audits were without any findings and/or recommendations. Having said all of that, I do need to add a footnote. Um, whilst this does fall outside of our mission, I would be remiss if I did not represent all of the opinions and views that my fellow board members had expressed during our meetings and that they were concerned with the change orders and
127the magnitude of the costs that escalated during the build. I did remind them that that was not our mission. Our mission was the bond fund money and how it was spent. But I wouldn't be fair and just if I didn't make known that I sit on a committee with a bunch of other people and these were their opinions. So all that being said, I also do have one more footnote. I want to thank Mr. Dixon and Miss Gomez because the transition period with Mr. Trader exiting was um a little bumpy and they handled it with such grace and and uh took all of our phone calls which some lasted a very very long time. So I do thank you for trudging through all of that. the committee has and they're looking forward to it one
128and um one meeting left and it will be our final meeting on March 16th. So we do express our appreciation for the opportunity to serve the board in this capacity. Um and we are just wowed by what was accomplished because it's a beautiful building that we should all be proud of. So uh with that I bet everyone good night and thank you so much for having me. Trustees, any questions on this? >> Wanted to say thank you to Dispena and all of the Measure F committee members for their years and years and years of dedication. Um, thank you so much for all of that. I know that is a completely volunteered thing that took a lot of time. So, just thank you so much. >> Great. Thank you. Now, we'll move to consent calendar. >>
129Um, do I have a motion to approve? >> So, move. Trusty Wagan. >> Secondy Wan and second by Peterson. A roll call vote. >> Trustee. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Mroy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagan. >> Yes. >> Okay. unanimous approval of the consent calendar. Now we'll move to discussion action calendar. Item 20A, approve the 202526 second period interim report of district's financial status. Mr. Dixon. >> Thank you, Madam President. Let me pull up the report. Okay, good evening everyone. Thank you so much for the opportunity to present this. Uh we've had a lot of different discussions just in the past couple of months on budget. So I appreciate the board taking interest and all the
130feedback we've been getting. I found the budget study shop last month uh very important and valuable for us as we work through our interim reports you see tonight with second interim but more importantly for our budget adoption that's coming in June. So I'll be brief tonight as the report it it not a lot of changes from first interim. So in the second interim report we'll talk about kind of what the themes are. There's four real big themes I think you can you can lean in from the uh the report itself. We'll look at the changes in revenue and expenditures. Uh both are falling into a consistent category of reasons why they both increased. We'll have a multi-year outlook and then we'll end with our um fiscal indicator slides. And this time we're going to show
131it based on second interim next year and the following year. So we'll look at our multi-year and where our financial indicators are following for our three-year look ahead. Let me get rid of that. Okay. So, as far as the themes, what we've known now and and we have heard a recent update as far as a state revenue picture looks, but we remember the January governor's budget proposal for the state generally good for Cal California public education. We talked earlier this meeting about the potential maneuver or um not funding the full amount of Proposition 98 and that's still an issue. So, until we get to the May revision and see if that works itself out, we won't know. But overall, the state budget proposal was good as presented. Um, given the volatility and uncertainty that the
132that our economy still shows, we have very slight changes in revenues and expenditures and I'll give it away now. I had mostly to do with our restricted funding sources on both the revenue side and expenditure side and I'll get more into that on that slide itself. Um, we have a steady reserve which still meets the uh allowable and we'll get to that in our financial indicators, but we have more work we can do. We talked about that at the budget study session. We know we heard loud and clear from you as a board where we want to focus our efficiencies and building our internal capacity. So, from my perspective, I think this is just our current snapshot in time and we're going to platform to get better and better year-over-year. And that's a goal across
133the district, but specifically with our financials. Um, we heard that loud and clear last month. So again, thank you for the study session. And then as far as fiscal health, we still are in strong fiscal health. You'll see that tonight. We're able to meet all of our financial obligations, have a positive certification, um, and we have great opportunities to further improve our reserves, and we know we are not looking at any reductions for student services or classrooms or supports. We're going to find ways to do that and I believe there are multiple ways where we can find building our internal capacity and accomplishing efficiencies to help us with saving up our reserves and being able to invest that money in future programs and priorities of the board. One thing I do want to bring up,
134we haven't faced this in many years. Um but because we spent down the bulk at all of our facilities funding um doing a lot of that work this summer and the previous previous summer actually with the planning work uh there's a good chance we're going to need to do a short-term borrowing um in late summer early fall very short term and it is a very common practice because a lot of districts don't have tens of million dollars sitting aside that they can borrow from themselves. We will again but this year we're not looking like we'll have that. So, we'll have to do probably a short-term borrowing and we'll talk more about that as we get to it, but I want to start planting that seed now because I don't want it to be a surprise.
135It's not a negative thing by any means. Um, most of the districts around us have had to do it and it has to do with mostly cash flow, not necessarily total budget, right? Because as you know, our largest two cash receipts that we receive in the year, mid December and mid April. So, outside of those months, it becomes tough managing your cash flow in particular September through November. So, prior to that first big property tax aortionment in December, that's not really a theme. I just want to use as an opportunity to kind of plant that seed early for you. Okay. So, when we look at the revenue and expenditure changes at second interim, you can see revenue changes. Revenues increased by almost $3.5 million. Again, if you look at that top row, mostly having to
136do with restricted resources. I will tell you that the bulk of that, if not all of that, is because of other state revenue. So that would be our categor categorical programs or grants that we receive from the state of California. So we don't until we receive an updated source documentation on a grant award or an allocation from the state for a categorical, we do not budget for it. But then there are often times where we receive an updated allocation award notice from the state. A good example of that would be like the extended learning opportunity program where they provide initial allocations to school districts. Well, not every school district accesses all those funds. So, they come back later in the year and say, "Okay, districts, we still have this much money. We're going to allocate
137this now to those districts that are using the ELOT program. So, you're going to get a little bit more." And that's happened to us for the past two years now. So, as far as expenditures, same story, increased by about 4.8 million, uh, mostly having to do with restricted expenditures. And you'll see that as a common trend when you look at budgets. When you have an increase in restricted resources as far as revenues go, you're often going to see a coinciding increase in restricted expenditures. And that's because you have to spend that money. And for us, we want to spend restricted funding sources first and leave our unrestricted as as uh untouched as we possibly can. So again, I know we're this is these are big dollar amounts, but for us, this is less than 1%.
138And both revenue growth or expenditure growth for our budget. still something to keep an eye on but this is a snapshot in time again taking us through the end of January is where this financial data falls. So given that I wanted to look at where are we looking as far as our expenditure trends for the year. Uh this is straight from our accounting system where it looks at I looked at by major object code. So you have salaries and benefits, material supplies, services and operating that covers a large array of different things such as legal, transportation costs, professional services, you know, we talk consultants, um, utilities, capital improvements, and then other outgo. I'll note that on other outgo indirect, that's a 427% increase. That is not a static budget line item. The bulk of that
139has to do with a transfer that we took from general fund back to fund 40 as as I mentioned earlier where I might have to borrow short term. We borrowed from fund 40 so we were able to pay ourselves back and that's what that reflects and that's why it's it's an anomaly but it's something that even with that or we're trending that about 69% of our budget has been spent or is encumbered which means it's planned to be spent this fiscal year. um which is right on track with what you'd expect to see from the school district is between 65 and 70% by this time of year. Do we anticipate all encumbered funds will be spent? No. Um some we may go over, some will come in less. But the goal being that this gives
140us a good snapshot that percentage- wise we as a as a community and you as a board can feel comfortable that there's nothing anomalous about where we're trending as far as our expenditure data. And that's why I wanted to present this slide to you. When you look at our multi-year, you can see in the 2024 25 are actuals. So this doesn't relate second interim to first interim. So that's a little different from the other slides, but you can see the ending balance at the actuals from last year. We had an ending balance of just over 99 million. At second interim, we have an ending balance of 64.6 million. That is very similar to what you saw at first interim. So very little change there. That's resulting a little over 13% total reserves. And then we
141maintain that level in the outy years. So at 58.6 million in 2026 27 and 73.8 million in 2728. Both of those ending balances translate to a little over 13% as far as our reserves. So, when we look at all this data and how it applies to this multi-year as far as our financial indicators, here's a reminder slide of how we categorize um what those indicators mean. Green being we're in a favorable position, blue, light blue being acceptable and light red being we need to evaluate or we're going to evaluate. And when you pair those those metrics up with our multi-year projection, you can see that yeah, we have uh evaluate for unrestricted general fund balance change in 2526 and 2627. This is one of the main reasons we had the theme of our budget study
142session that we did as though this isn't a problem because you can see that third year out. We're going to rightsize, but we can do better. And I think I heard that loud and clear from you and we're committed to doing better and it's going to start with our budget for for next year. Actually, it's starting now. We've had a lot of conversations internally with our staff of where opportunities are. Um, everyone's excited about looking for those opportunities, but I can tell you everyone's a lot more excited about building our own internal capacity. That represents professional growth. That represents new challenge. That represents new opportunities. So, um, we're excited to go forward with all of our changes that we can to help with setting our our financials to give you the opportunity to set those
143investments and priorities for us. Um, but we we have we have work to do. So you could see property tax revenue change positive uh conservatively that third year out it's acceptable but it's really hard to predict with property tax I can tell you even with the best forecasts the second and third year out the variance just gets a little more and more versus that first year out um it's usually very accurate reserves as I mentioned previous slide hanging right over 13%. routine restricted maintenance. We we heard loud and clear. We we don't want to cut that investment. We know that the minimum amount per the state rules is 3% of total expenditures for your year. We know that this district, this board has committed to 4% being the minimum. So already going over uh the
144state minimum. But even when I mentioned just briefly we could go to 5% or below 5% at the study session, I didn't get a very good response. So we're not gonna we're not changing that. It's going to stay in the green. And we know we have the need, right? Average building is 65 years old. We have a lot of work and our students deserve it. Bathrooms are on top of my mind. I assure you. Um I've heard that loud and clear. >> And then of course our workers comp and then our Moody's credit rating is unchanged. So, with that, uh, staff does recommend a positive certification for our second interim report as we're able to meet all of our financial obligations. And of course, I'm happy to take any questions now, um, or after the
145meeting anytime. >> Thank you, trustees. Any questions? >> Um, Trusty Anderson, >> thank you. Um I just had one one kind of um on the multi-year outlook when I was talking about 2627 um and our revenue is 53 or 531 million and but our expenditure is 535. If we know that going into 2627, is that a continuation of our very large permanent building renovation that we have been dedicated to doing or what is why is the expenditure $4 million over still? But then on the financial indicators, there's only 1.3. >> So one on the financial indicators that is specific to the unrestricted revenue >> and so that would be just unrestricted. This is a combination of unrestricted and restricted on the multi-year slide. What I also would like to say because I think you bring
146up a really good point is when you look at budgets versus what we're actually experiencing over time, but remember this is just a snapshot in time of all of our financial data and trends through the end of January this year. So this isn't setting the stage necessarily that that's going to be our proposed expenditure budget for the budget adoption in June for 2627. This is just based on what we're seeing at this point in time for this year's budget and how that would uh intersect with the multi-year with next year and the following year if nothing were to change with status quo >> is that the with our recommendation from the budget study session to really cut back on like some of the like consulting expenditure >> does not reflect that. No, because we actually
147had to prepare most of this data at the same time we were doing the budget study session. So it doesn't reflect those yet. Um, oh, >> which is partially why I get excited thinking about it because you will see that and we'll be able to call that out in our future budgets. >> Okay, great. And then I just one more thing I I think it's great to note. Um, I think this is the first time that I've seen the OPED go down. The fact that we're paying that down I think is really important from um 0.5 to 0.1 for 26 27 27 28. I I really don't remember seeing that any other time. So that is really wonderful news. >> Y thank you. And that was give full credit to where credit is due. That
148was prior to me arriving when there was a separate trust set up in fund 71. And so um it's I think it's just been a forethought of of the district and the leadership here that recognized the liability associated with that even though it is just a paper liability. Um it does affect your rating so it's important. >> Thank you. >> Great. Next. Trusty Crane. >> Yes. Hi. Thank you. Uh, so when I hear borrowing, I kind of get the kind of the heebie-jebies. Uh, what can you tell us what you're considering at the amount of the short-term loan and and at what interest or do we know? Is it too soon? >> Too to be determined. Uh, obviously we're going to look for the most competitive, lowest interest, shortest, smallest amount we need. >> Okay.
149>> Um, but that's still under evaluation. And a lot of that's going to fall as we get into our estimated actuals work at the end of the year. we start closing down the purchase order system, >> we'll see where the money is aligning because the last thing we want to do >> is borrow millions more than we need because even though we can pay it back and it will be a competitive interest rate on whatever mode that we use or medium um it's still unnecessary interest to pay on money that we know we're going to get. You get about let's say 33 to 35 million in November. So a smaller property tax payment and the December we get our first large installment. So really just bridging that gap from September to November. >> Okay. >>
150So that's where we're going to focus in on, but we'll have more information on that as we get closer. >> So by the time we we um approve our budget in June, would we have a better chance of that picture? >> Yeah, every month we'll have a better and better picture. >> Okay, great. And then uh as far as the reserves, again, since I've been a trustee, I was used to um the 17% or more reserve amount. Um are we looking into past years beyond 28? Um are you seeing are we dedicated to growing our reserves? >> Yes. Uh you won't see that reflected at the interim report because again this is just the trend data based on current status quo. >> But based on the feedback we got from the budget study session workshop
151and I even was talking to our fiscal team today about some of the things that we can do to improve our credit rating. uh giving them some tips based on my last interview with S&P. I don't want to share that out loud publicly. Uh but we do have a strategy going forward and it will it does involve expanding multi-year projections and improving our reserve um position >> and I I remember we mentioned exploring revenue based um options as well. >> Yes, all of that is those are all options >> to be explored. You know, that's the last thing we ever want to do is judge options. >> Yeah. >> You just look at them, you explore them, do they align with interest, and then we can move forward. >> Thank you, Jeff. >> Great. Anyone
152else >> with that? Um, motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second and second by and roll call votes. >> Student board member Angie Arie. Yes. >> All right. >> Trusty. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Maroy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagan. >> Yes. >> Great. And with that, now we can move to item 20B. Approve the CSBA delegate assembly election for 2026. Dr. Smith. >> Yeah. California School Boards Association has a legislative body they call the delegate assembly and they have their members elected by the regions. We're in region 15. Our region currently has seven vacancies. These vacancies once filled up to seven um will serve for two years. Uh the trustees have been given biographical sketches
153um the writeins typically board members who know these trustees who serve and we've had the great fortune of having leadership on our board for CSBA make a recommendation for the board's consideration. >> Okay. So um yeah CSBA is basically our professional association and uh we are region 15 which is one of the top largest in the state. There are 24 delegates, 17 that are elected and seven that are appointed. And so tonight we are recommending a slate for the election of the following delegates from this region. Carrie Buck from Placentia Yor Belinda. Carol Crane, Newport Mesa. Katie Mchune, Irvine Unified. Deanna Miller, Brea Olinda, Jonathan Stone, who is a writing candidate from Tustin Unified, Ann Marie Randall Tjo from Anaheim Unified, and she's also a writing candidate, and lastly, Barbara Schulman from Saddleback Valley. And
154I move that we approve this candidate list and vote on it. >> Second. >> Thank you. Okay. Is there a motion to approve that slate? >> Okay. >> Trusty Crane. Sorry. And >> second. >> Oh, and the second was either Wand or Anderson. >> Okay. Anderson >> and roll call vote. >> Oh, any more discussion? >> Questions? Um >> questions on the slate discussion? >> Nope. Okay. Student board member Angie Arce. >> Yes. >> Trusty. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Moro. >> No. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane? >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagon? >> Yes. >> Great. Um, can I clarify this is for this list right here on the back that we just voted in. the one she Yeah, I'm sticking with my
155vote. >> Okay. All right. So, with that, we can move to item 20 C, the first reading of modifications to board policy >> before we uh pass it over to Deputy Superintendent Torres. Just wanted to do a clarification. The writeup was incorrect, and that's my bad. Um the CSBA recommended procedure is for boards to bring something through in a first read, bring it back for a second read and potential adoption with revisions. Um it does provide the law and CSBA's recommendation that boards can wave that second read for extenduating circumstances. This item was written unclear and it seems like the recommendation from staff was to wave all second readings tonight. I want to clarify that staff's intended recommendation was relative to two policies on immigration because it's a requirement of the state to have them
156adopted by March 1st. Um, and one of them is no longer legally valid, which Carrie will uh describe to you. So, just to be clear, the only recommendation and it's purely that it's a recommendation for waving a second reading was with regard to those two immigration policies. Thank you for the clarification. And then with that, we'll go to um Dr. >> Torres. So, yes. >> All right. Just kidding. We're not going to Dr. Torres yet. We're going to the second set of the public comment for those of you that wanted to wait on. Um so now we have this um group of folks primarily on the bike issue and each one will be about um a minute and 20 seconds just like your your friends earlier in the meeting were. So first up Jennifer Tanaka
157uh sorry I'm short. Um, good evening um, board of education members. My name is Jen Tanaka. I really appreciate the opportunity to come talk to you guys tonight. I also appreciate you bringing this item forward because I think as you can see there's a lot of people who are very interested in doing something about ebikes for kids. I think that's a great idea. Um, the uh, Costa Basa for alliance for better streets where I am the vice president sent in a letter uh, to all of you. So I hope you guys take a look at that kind of just laying out a general approach. And then I also just wanted to bring to your attention another email that I sent you regarding my concerns regarding the notice to this meeting. What I find striking is
158that there's clearly a lot of support for doing something bold, but you're probably not going to see that tonight because I think this item was very poorly noticed. So, um, what I would recommend is that I think that this policy that you have in front of you, while bold, if you if it's done improperly, will not have the kind of support that I think you would really want to have for such a bold stroke. Um, I think there's some material issues with the policy that you guys have put forward, mostly around the fact it doesn't have any definitions in it. Um, it also doesn't directly address class 2 ebikes, which have been identified as a significant safety risk because of the throttle mechanism. Um, and I think that you're seeing that the bicycle regulations for
159very young children may be a little overkill. So, I would recommend actually coming back with a second first reading of this after it's been revised. um and that way you can clean up the notice and you can actually get a lot more people in the room who want to speak on this topic. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Next up we have um David Martinez. >> Good evening, Madame President, members of the board. My name is David Martinez. I'm a CAMABS board member, an NMUSD graduate, and someone who works in bike policy in Sacramento. Hence uh as such I know good ebike policy from bad ebike policy and this is quite simply bad ebike policy. The restrictions on K to2 the discouragement of biking for the middle schoolers and elementary schoolers the failure to even
160address the problem products which are the e- motorcycles. This is bad and doesn't address the actual problems. I would instead recommend a different approach, which I emailed to all of you, and I'll just outline it. For all of our schools, requiring helmets for students makes sense. That's state law. Uh to park in designated areas, and to ban the e- motorcycles, the motorized cycles. These are the more powerful devices that can go above 28 miles per hour, that can go above 750 watts. These are the devices that we must target. we shouldn't be targeting the electric bicycles for our high school students. Uh for uh all of our other uh grades, I've emailed you the list of our policy framework and I hope that you uh oppose the policy as written tonight and you can come
161back with an actual good ebike policy. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um next is Colin Cody Waters. Hey there. Uh, I'm Colin Cody Waters. I'm a College Park dad to a four-year-old in daycare and a six-year-old in first grade at College Park Elementary. And we biked to school together almost every day. Uh, our youngest has been biking to his daycare on a Spider-Man bike since he was three. And over winter, uh, we over the winter break, we took off his training wheels, and he needed little more than an encouraging word and a shove, and he was off and running. Um, so our four-year-old parks his bike inside the fence at Kids Castle, his daycare, and our first grader parks her bike inside the gate at College Park Elementary. Uh, and our first our first grader
162needed a little help walking her biking, uh, walking her bike or taking it over to the storage rack at school, but after a week or so, she was more than capable of handling it herself. These kids are so proud of riding their bikes and so proud to be part of their community in a way that wouldn't be possible if we had to drive. And that's what we're trying to do, right? As a community of parents and educators, our goal is to help these kids be independent and responsible and teach them to be responsible members of society. I'm as concerned as anybody about the numerous safety issues posed by ebikes. But restricting bike parking at schools punishes kids who are doing exactly what we want them to be doing and punishes parents who bring their kids
163to school on ebikes. I share all your concerns, but the school district, whose jurisdiction ends at the school gate, isn't who needs to be taking action here. Ban the motorized operation of ebikes on the premises unless otherwise allowed. And that's all that can and should be done. Thank you. >> Great. Um, Eric Engel. >> Is there an Eric Engel? >> Good morning board members. And um of course I'm Eric Engel and I'm here to speak on behalf of uh everyone who so far is kind of in the disagreement of how it's being handled in terms of the uh overall um what's it called you know ebike policy thing and in general just biking in general. Um yeah so that's it. >> Thank you. Um Dave Paglia. Dave Dave Paglia. >> No. Okay. Um Michelle Felman.
164>> Hello. I'm going to be really quick. I'm not prepared. Um but I'm going to liven up this meeting a little bit by going off the cuff. My name is Michelle Feldman. I'm a parent of three students in Newport Mesa. Um I want to just share some observations. I definitely think we can all agree that children TK and second grade are not terrorizing the streets of our community. Um they are typically being riding safely to school with a parent. Great. Okay, let's not waste our time with that. What I want to talk about is our middle school students who are terrorizing the streets of our community. And I want to just share. So I had a freshman, eighth grader, and fourth grader last year. And all I did was drive to and from each school,
165okay? Because I was a full-time mom and my kids did not have ebikes. So, I would take my freshman, come back. I would take my my eighth grader, come back. I would take my fifth my fifth my fourth grader who's now a fifth grader, come back. Anyway, I just drove in circles all over the community. And I observed a lot of these kids on ebikes. And I noticed my eighth graders age group because I would recognize a lot of these kids because we've been in school since kindergarten with the same kids. And I'm noticing what they do and I see none of that anymore because they are freshmen and they don't show off anymore. It's not cool to show off. So that's all I wanted to say. Just think about that age group. Thank you.
166>> Thank you. Um, next is Curtis Curtis Johnston. How you doing? I'm Chris Johnston. I have two daughters that attend Kaiser Elementary. And I just wanted to ask by show of hands, how many on the school board here have ridden bikes in and around these schools that we're talking about? All right. Very good. I would encourage each of you to specifically see the issues that are at hand, these emotos, these faster ebikes, and stop penalizing these kids who are just commuting to school on these slower ebikes, right? It's just a simple commuting tool. I think that these bikes build community. There's camaraderie. You see these kids meet in at parks, at different people's homes, and they commute together to school. And what a wonderful opportunity that is to build community here. And I just want
167to say that I think that it is a fantastic opportunity that we have to help our children understand these safe bike lanes that we have in our city and the ways in which we can teach them how to navigate roads. And without this with banning all of these bikes, I think we miss an opportunity to help these kids as they grow from elementary school to middle school and to high school. So please reconsider this ban. >> So Dr. Torres. >> Okay. Thank you so much. Um we have couple policies here in front of us this evening. And so I think we're going to go ahead and start with our um immigration policy. Um and so for background um the state of California passed new legislation uh AB699 which required us to update our immigration policies.
168So, in front of you tonight, the first one I'd like to address um is board policy 5145.13. Uh that is an old policy um that we are uh requesting that the board delete. >> Any questions? Board members, >> do you want us to vote on each individually? >> Okay. >> Yes. For this one? >> Yes, please. Yeah, we would vote to wave the second reading and just vote on the immigration policy at hand. >> So I move that we eliminate policy 1445 response to immigration enforcement uh and wave the second reading and just make it a final. Is that right? >> And that was it's 5145.13. >> Where is it? >> Oh, it's the red one. >> Yep. >> Okay. That's what one we're deleting. >> I would like to restate my motion. >> I'd
169like to delete policy 5145.13 response to immigration enforcement. Uh wave the final reading. Wave the second reading and just do a final vote. >> We have a second. >> Second. Why again? Okay. >> And with that, um do we do a roll call vote on each one? Right. Okay. Student board member Angie Arson. >> Yes. >> Trustee. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Mroy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagen. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um and then as I mentioned um AB699 required this new legislation and um our effective date which I think you heard Dr. Smith uh mentioned when he opened the item which would have been we should have had this adopted by March 1st. Um but
170our March board meeting was a little bit later so here we are this evening. Um that is board policy 1445. Um this policy that's in front of you um was revised by our state of California to ensure some additional protections for our students as it relates to immigration. uh particular things to call out is just to ensure that um to reiterate I should say that no student information that is related to immigration is called out in any of the policies. We don't we don't collect that information. Um it makes sure that we have protections for discrimination um and um non and other non-discrimination statements. >> Great. Um any discussion questions? Hi. >> Yes. >> I just wanted to make a quick comment. Um I was up in SE Safari with um with um other trustees
171and we're not the only ones not to adopt it by March 1st. Just so you know. >> Thank you for that. >> Well, I think because we had an existing policy. Um I would like to make a motion to approve policy 1445 response to immigration enforcement. >> Great. Is there a second? >> Second. Anderson and second um Murphy and roll call. >> Student board member Angie Ar. >> Yes. >> Trusty Soil. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Mroy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty White. >> Yes. >> All right. With that, we can go to the the concepts and roles as well. >> Yes. So in front of you this evening um and this one is not necessarily urgent
172and does not re need to be required um you know to be passed by March 1. So if the board so felt they could take this back for a second read. Um this is board policy 4000 concepts and roles. This policy is just a revision to an existing policy um to clarify the role the board has in collective bargaining. >> Great. Um discussion. Um sorry, questions. Uh Trusty Crane. >> Oh, I don't have a question. >> Oh, I just didn't push my button. >> Oh, okay. >> I'd like to move. >> Motion. A second. >> Second. >> Motion to approve. >> Yeah. Motion to approve um policy 4,000 concepts and rules the way it is amended. >> Sorry. Did you want to wave the second reading? >> And wave the second reading. Yes, please. >>
173Okay. Trusty W. hands. >> Second by Trusty Murphy. And roll call. >> Student board member Angie Arc. >> Yes. >> Trusty. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Morik. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wagan. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. And our final policy for this evening is our um proposed um safe routes to school policy um number 5142.2. Um once again, just to remind the board that you have an option to bring this back. This is a draft policy that's being presented to you tonight. Um back in December, our board um had a board study session that introduced the con conversation around bike safety. From that meeting, um we were charged, staff was charged, uh with coming
174back and looking at options and um to modify policies and to look at best practices across the county. And so in front of you tonight, you have the safe routes to school um policy where we incorporated new bike safety suggestions um by grade level bands. So in this policy this evening um you will see that we have some uh declarative statements that open the open the policy and then you'll also see there is a section for elementary, a section for middle and a section for high school. Um, this policy is in draft form. Your feedback can be taken this evening and we can uh go back and revise based upon any comments that you'd like to share this evening. Um, I will also comment that bike safety looks different around the county in terms of
175our school districts. We have 27 school districts in Orange County. We do not have a lot of districts who have created um policy and for those that have um it's very sporadic. Um it's inconsistent. It lives in different board policy numbers. Um so several had asked several of our trustees had asked for that information. I just wanted to reiterate that tonight. Additionally, I just want to share one last thing before you discuss. Uh we chose to place it in safe routes to schools. it doesn't have to stay there. Um, we could request another uh bike safety number from CSBA because right now CSBA does not have a policy for bike safety. So, school boards like yourself and districts are placing it in their policies where they see fit. But if tonight you felt like 5142
176isn't the place that you see it living, we could make adjustments to that. So prepared to hear your comments and feedback. >> Thank you for that clarification. Um, okay. >> Uh, questions. >> Um, >> yeah, >> I just wanted to take the elephant out of the room. I believe we should not ban uh bikes for elementary school students, the actual, you know, noneike, the regular manual bikes. Um, I don't think that we should do that at all. And I would um have a proposal to modify the elementary school um policy to say um students in elementary school are strictly prohibited from riding ebikes um electric scooters. So I would add in an electric scooters or motorized bicycles or vehicles to or on school property including the periphery of campus. And then I would strike out
177beginning with paragraphs. >> Oh, sorry. I'm in the elementary school section where it's bolded and it says elementary school. It's on the back. >> Um and then in the second sentence, >> we don't have we don't have it quite yet. I think there are copies in the back of the room. There have been >> we can produce >> basically she's saying no ban for >> elementary school for regular bikes >> for regular bikes. And then I'm just trying to modify the wording so we can get that down. Um and then in the second um uh sentence in that um after it said including the periphery of campus, I would strike out beginning with grades three, I would say elementary students may ride bicycles and are required to participate in bike safety training, which we do
178at all of our schools. Um bike safety training program provided by the school district and not modify anything else. So that the elementary school section reads that we cannot have ele ebikes or electric scooters or anything electric for our kids to ride in elementary school. Um and then um say that elementary students may ride bicycles. So I think that kind of clarifies a lot of the issues that people spoke about today. Um because we don't want to I mean we're all about active transportation. Exactly. Um and that's why um we want people to ride bikes to school and ride with their students to school. >> I'm in favor of that language. >> And then the u middle intermediate students, I I'm I want to um ban ebikes. I'm fine with that from K through 8th
179because of all the concerns and things that have happened. We have a uh and I think this is what some people haven't seen is that we have um been called by the police uh department or we have an accident probably every other day on all of our campuses or around our campuses and um and most of them have to go to the par uh go to the hospital. So, it's something that I mean, not to mention um the death that occurred of one of our students, um students jaw being broken, missing school, all of those things that I'm sure everyone has heard about. Um so, that's why I believe in the in a ban from K through 8th. And so those that would be the modification I would say for elementary schools and then in
180the high school they can ride but I would like to have strict regulations where and these could be in the ARS um which is administrative regulations where it's how we would um work on um implementing those restrictions for high school students and it would be involve say a parent training on the weekend um and then tie the privilege to ride your ebike to high school to discipline actions on campus and off campus as well as a one strike you're out. So if you cause bad issu, you know, if you have a disciplinary issue on campus, you're no longer able to park your bike on campus um just like we would do for cars um in high school. And then I also want to figure out a way that we can tie high school um riding
181an ebike with grades. Um because we are in here for education and I would hate to have a student that's like well I can ride my bike but I've got terrible grades and you know we you just like participation in sports we require a certain GPA. So I think that that would be acceptable on on the high school side. >> So just yeah go ahead. So that yeah so that sorry that's that's my modification for the wording of it's really just modification for the wording on the elementary students and then for the high school it would be to add in um information that might be part of the AR. >> Thank you for that. And I think because this is such a complicated discussion and we have all these sheets and notes in front of
182all of us. I'm just going to ask everyone to just remain calm, be curious, not furious and we're going to get through this discussion. I promise. Um, but I think just to follow up, Trusty Wagan, so what you're saying is elementary students, all of them can ride bikes, all bikes, just not ebike, scooters, motorized, >> right? >> Um, and so then I would just also suggest one word smithing item for that. >> Students in elementary school are strictly prohibited from operating ebikes, scooters, or motorized bicycles. Right now it says from riding, but if they get a ride to school with their parents, we want them to be able to ride on an ebike. If mom or dad is driving them to school on the ebike and then they hop off, I know we took my
183daughter when she was in first through third grade. We would bike her um to school on the tandem bike, you know, back their ebikes weren't as cool 15 years ago, but now um so the parents can still get the child to school. So we just don't want the elementary student operating the electric vehicle. So, if that is clarified for that. Okay. >> Um, while we're on elementary school, could I clarify? Are we still committed to uh to the sentence that says required to participate in a bike safety training program provided by the school district, which we already do, right? Are we Does that mean the rodeos? Does that includes the rodeos? Because that's kind of TK to six, >> correct? So right now we use walk and rollers to provide training across across the district.
184That's been a standing practice. >> Um when we get together after this policy, whatever it looks like is approved. Okay. >> Uh we would work through the administrative regulations to flesh that out. But I see us continuing the bike rodeos and the work with walk-in rollers in both cities to provide bike training, bicycle training. >> Okay, great. And then and I think the way we're going to do this, we're going to go through section by section because that's going to be cleaner for everyone to weigh in on their elementary stuff. Then we'll everyone weigh in on their middle school and then everyone weigh in on their high school just so we don't have to go back and forth through the document. >> I have a point of order. >> Do So it's it seems I
185just wanted to make sure it's a point of order. So are we just giving edits because to me it seems like there's quite a lot. So we're not approving this tonight. Correct. or we because like I don't understand if that means all of these every single one of these bullets if we go through every single point we're going to be here till midnight and we have a second really important item. So I just point of word I wanted to know what we're doing. Yes, I think the plan is to go through and like you for instance the next item would be those four bullets to check if everyone is okay with those four bullets or are there any that you want removed and the bullet points they refer to everyone wears a helmet everyone parks
186in a designated area >> um the parents guardians sign a waiver and the parents guardians consent um for the riding to school which is already the current practice if I'm not correct >> correct >> yeah so those are the four items that are already in practice helmets are are you with the state law. >> We have not done it at the elementary level before. So that would be an addition. That's why it's in the policy. But we have maintained that practice in 7 through 12. >> So ask a second point of order. So this is for fall next fall or >> correct. >> Okay. >> Dr. Torres, um will this be like the parent the parent um guardian consent form? Is that going to be in a registration packet that goes out in July or
187August? It will be as part of the handbook. It can be at registration and they will get it again when they go through a bike safety training program. >> Okay. >> So, next I think there's a lot of lights. Do we want to just go up from the row? Trusty Anderson, do you have comments on the elementary >> um section? Just trying to go section by section. >> Sure. To me, this isn't an effective way to do this. To me, I think it would be really um best to discuss it broadly and then do what we've done in the past with the policy committee, which is send in ideas and suggestions and then we come back for a second reading with all of those. So, it's much cleaner and people have a lot more understanding
188of the process. Um, for me, it's I we're creating barriers to students free public education. So to put in something that we're insisting upon consent to ride your bike to school to me is a barrier that we I don't want to be creating and I I don't I think it's a little strange. Um I I also think for elementary and for a variety of things um the safe routes to schools program is a separate entity. Having been on the Orange County Transportation Authority Safe Routes to School Advisory since 2021, it's a completely separate entity than ebike safety or protocols, which is separate from biking. So to me, again, I think there's fundamental pieces to this that I really struggle with even just from a practical standpoint. So for me, I would love to see us
189have a safe routes to school board policy that it's independent with ARS that correspond. It took the reason why I was on that advisory was because principles weren't responding to emails from the county. It was a really hard process. And so if with the AR, then the staff knows, oh, this is an expectation. Here is what we need to do. Additionally, the city of Costa Mesa is putting together a safe routes to school plan which will not be completed until July of this year. So, if this all of this is for fall, I to me I don't I feel a little rushed. I don't understand what the rush is when there seems to be be some ideas about like pushing this through. So, to me, I just want to, no pun intended, put on the
190brakes. So we have time to discuss this not all with our divergent ideas and to rely upon all of the data and all of the work that the city of Costa Mesa has put into that plan. So that's one piece. But then also ebike safety is its own entity. A variety of groups have been working to increase. We've been doing walk to school days. We've been doing bike to school days. So, uh, again, I just I really struggle with the the rationale. I I I don't I don't want ebikes for elementary. I don't think it's appropriate. That's one piece of this, though. So if for elementary for that bullet to me um requiring parent consent for a child to ride their bike to school if it goes in the 85 other pieces that we do
191at the beginning of the year. Okay. Is that what we're saying or it just it just to me we have the parent handbook which again currently is a free-for-all and allows class 2 and class three for elementary which is how we got here. So the parent handbook again is something that I think is a a different consideration and also should be a part of decision making which is what I think the study session kind of I had hoped for. >> Okay. Can can I can I speak? Sorry. Next up we have um Trusty Crane did her button first and then Trusty >> okay Mckelroy. >> So um being a member of the policy committee I think the intent of tonight was not to adopt this this policy because obviously given the public comments the interest
192from the families and also our trustees. Uh we we need to get the feedback and because of the Brown Act we can only have discussion as a governing board in public. So tonight's value would be the input from all of the trustees so that the policy committee can go back and work on a draft that um encompasses all the feedback. So and then it then it comes back out at another time. So as Trusty Anderson mentioned, we do have some time. There is no rush in my opinion regarding this because we need to be thoughtful because if you want policy to work, we need the discussion and um the depth. So that's where I'm coming from. >> Thank you, Trusty Crane, for that. And I think just so that the public is aware, this is
193exactly why we're doing this discussion in public, so everyone here can hear all of our different points on elementary, middle school, high school, and then we can get the policy committee to recraft. Again, this was a draft that was created. Now, you're going to hear from all of us about our different perspectives of elementary, middle school, high school. And frankly, from my vantage point, I liked the suggestion that came from one of the groups. We've gotten dozens of emails. Um, one of the groups that had a separate policy number, they put it 54 5143 for ebike safety as its own policy separate from safe routes to school because in my mind, the first page of this is the safe routes to school policy. And then another policy would be what begins at use of ebikes.
194That to me is a second policy. So that's something that I am suggesting tonight our our folks consider here. But I think tonight's point is to hear and again to Trusty Anderson's point, we're going to time limit this. We're not going to go on forever, but it's important for everyone to say their opinions in public on the three different sections, elementary, middle school, high school, and then we go back and we bring a final second read at a next um next meeting. But I think I don't want to rush the conversation because I think everyone has very interesting points about the bike issue. Some of us have biked our kids to school for years. Some of us haven't. Some of us haven't bought our kids ebikes. Some of us have friends who have. It's a
195very complicated conversation. So um with that, we'll go down the road to um Trusty Maroy. >> Okay. First of all, I want to say it um we're sounding like we've just started this conversation policy committee four days ago. We had a meeting that the public was invited to I think four months ago. >> It's December 10th. >> December which was a study session on ebikes. And one guy who was here was at that meeting. >> Um I think he was here. And so this is not something that we just randomly came up with or hid from anybody. >> It was on the agenda. We posted the agenda the way the agenda is always posted and it had the policy on it. So we're not hiding anything from anybody. We invited the public in December to
196come to our study session and that is where we came up with a lot of these ideas. So it's not like we just randomly came up. And you're speaking that let me say one other thing. When we had deaths, car accident, I mean accidents day after day after day. I live right near Enson. It is so dangerous. We were bombarded by hundreds of parents going, "When are you going to do something? When are you going to do something? When are you going to do something?" And we couldn't and we um had to wait till the new elections for people on the policy committee to do anything. So the minute we got to that in December, we started working on a policy. So the the community wants us to be doing something. Maybe not you right
197here tonight, but I have 300 emails. I talked to 300 people in my district that agree that bikes should be banned. I um got public records from the police department that came in this afternoon because I wanted the numbers, the real numbers. And in since 2003, ebike accidents that require first responders happen one out of every five days. >> 2023. >> Nope. 2023 through today. >> So on average, every five days we are going to have a ebike accident that requires um an ambulance or a paramedic or something. They I got the numbers today in my email from the chief of police in Newport Beach. That tells you right there that is something really, really scary. The other thing is I was going to read a long thing, but I'm not going to other people
198take up so much time that I just don't have time to read all of it. But chalk has gone up 300% since 2019 in ebike accidents or ebike um injuries. That's just one hospital. So, they had one in 2019. She said seven, but they actually had one. I did my research. And now they're up 300% 5 years later in ebike only injuries. That's crazy. The other thing that is so and it's mostly middle school age 11 through four uh 15 is the ages of most of their things. Um, >> Trusty Mccelro, can I um pause for one second your feelings on the elementary school though? Can we go back? >> I agree to her elementary school. >> You agreed with that. >> Perfect. I agree with that. Can we just keep going before we get
199to middle school because middle school is a whole another discussion. Can we hear from Trusty Pearson and Murphy and then go back to you to get to the middle school section complete I'm in complete agreement with that any that K through 12 can ride their bikes >> regular? Yes, regular. So everyone here is okay with regular bikes all the time with no um documentation etc. Just the helmets and the parking on school. >> Yes. I would just um since we are all in agreement on the bicycle issue for for everyone >> for elementary >> through 12 >> K through 12 everyone can ride a bike. I do think that would um that is why it could be an easier way to address this by creating the two different policies. One on the on ebikes specifically
200in our bans against ebikes and then separately the bike to school >> um policy which would be around just bicycles. >> Any motor vehicle like it could be an electric scooter. It could be >> definitely but just the non-motorized. We're all okay. It sounds like what I'm hearing, we're all okay with the safe routes to school policy, talking about the promotion and education around bicycles because we support fully active transportation for all the children as most of us with our kids have demonstrated when we go to and from school. So, so that we're we're settled on. Now, the more complicated discussion is the the ebike one. And I'd like to kind of step back and go back down the line to Trusty Y again and come back up the line because I know each of
201everybody's buttons on. So, um, if we can talk about middle school in particular now. >> Sure. Um, thank you for doing this. This is so, um, systematic. So, thanks. Um, so middle school is probably our biggest issue with ebikes because of the amount and the, uh, and their age and maturity level. Um, so in in my opinion, if we don't do anything about banning ebikes for seventh through eighth grade, we shouldn't do anything about it because if you don't do something about seventh through eighth graders in our in our um in our district, it it's still going to be horrible and we're still going to have issues. We're still going to have accidents and um there's still going to be the bullying of kids that might have ebikes, that don't have ebikes, that become these
202bike gangs around the around the neighborhood. Um, and I it it's bad. Um, I mean there are the number one thing I've been on the board for six years and the number one thing that um parents come up to me and ask is when are we going to ban ebikes? And this is not just from the same people. It's from multiple people from multiple community members and and and um and parents of all grade levels. So my opinion is that in middle school we need to ban all um ebikes, ecooters and motorized bicycles, motorized vehicle on any of the campuses. And I'll tell you that this will I can see the anger of maybe parents that have seventh graders right now that are accustomed to riding their ebikes and then in eighth grade they're like,
203"Oh man, I was hoping that they would ride their ebikes in eighth grade." But the sixth graders coming up, they probably don't have ebikes yet. So, those parents like, "Great, I don't have to buy one. It's cheaper as well for just a pedal bike. That's, you know, $200 as opposed to the average of 3,000 for an ebike." And then um and then those eighth graders going into high school um if we allow ebikes in high school um with restrictions, they can do that as well. So, I mean, I understand that to the to some people it might sound like a drastic thing for middle school students, but that's where we see the biggest problems with um bullying with um injuries and um we've had student a parent coming here talking about a bike gang um
204yelling racial epits out her daughter and that was really really hard to hear and I don't want to be up here again um having any blood on our hands with another child dying and the repercussions through um the school about that or someone saying that these kids were um you know bullying their their student. That's just really hard to hear. And we and if we have some way to do something about it, I think we should um and so in in the middle school, yes, no ebikes. Um and um and you know another thing I wanted to say is actually um Cara has actually put together some good data and I'd ask her um you know there's concern that we're limiting some people's ways um to get to school and they might not attend school
205and I think you put together some attendance data but before ebikes and then after ebikes and I'm paraphrasing and you can say what they were but the data didn't change uh before ebikes actually some of the years we actually had higher attendance than we do now at all of our schools. Um, and another anecdote, four years ago, 5 years ago, all of our kids got to school with regular pedal bikes in this area. We don't have new communities. We're in an old area. My husband for one rode his bike to all the same schools and um got there just fine even in his and you know, so we are kids today and if we're really concerned about healthy kids, pedal bikes are the best. And Carrie, do you want to talk about that data? If
206I can have you talk about that data for attendance. >> Chris, did it be clear? You're K through eight. >> I'm K through eight banned. Yes, K3 at ban. Sorry, I was on middle school, so I was talking middle school, but I'm K3 ban. A trustee asked if there was any way we could look at attendance data. Does it matter if a kid rides an ebike or bicycle to school? Does it change their attendance? We looked at a 10-year history excluding 2020 for COVID because that would be silly. Um and so we looked and actually there is not a significant difference and actually we have a decline in attendance currently. So >> great. Thank you. Um next trustee Crane, do you want to share your thoughts on middle school? >> Okay, Trusty Anderson. >> Thank
207you. Um I I think we are where we are. I'm I'm very sympathetic to that concern. My brother went to Enen. and sin is a really uniquely impacted school that doesn't have a lot of space and I think it's hard with cars and vehicles and it has been that way since in its inception. Um I think there's two things that I would like to see addressed within middle school for not just enen um but we currently have um class 2 and class 3 bikes that students are using which I think are creating a lot of these problems. So I would like to see that changed. Um I also there is not a very safe route that has been established to get to Enen from Westside Costa Mesa. Over a third of students at Enson are
208from Westside Costa Mesa. So we have what we have heard from different people in the community where rather than having one or two safe pathways that are largely bikes, we have people scattering in 7,000 areas. And so at every stop sign, at every yield, at every piece of East Sai Costa Mesa, it's crazy. We've all driven it. So again, those are two things, solutions that I would like to see before we go to a much more punitive place. Um, I think I would like to see more enforcement with both cities police giving tickets for helmets, giving tickets for multiple students on a bike, on an ebike. Um I think while we hear from the um attendance piece, there's a change also currently. So a lot of our students who used to be able to take
209the OCTA bus are less comfortable currently with the immigration enforcement that's going on riding public transportation. So if we're again taking another option away, that concerns me greatly. Um, but again, I think I I saw yesterday a student who was riding, his helmet was on his handlebars, like that's not helpful. But the second they leave the sidewalk, they're not ours. So, we're trying to address something that's we need the cities to be doing a lot more. And so the thing for me that is frustrating too is particularly for middle school for T-winkle and Enen, they're both really far away from the student populations that they serve. If you have both of your parents who are working full-time and you're in seventh grade, it's really hard for you to get to school. Um, so I am
210not in agreement. I think it should stay within the um appropriate age band uh bands. So elementary um well no TK we have lots of we have preschool and TK. So to me it's it's everyone who's at an elementary site that's with their parent and is learning good safe practices like riding wearing their helmet every day. Um, and then for middle school to have only class one bikes, class one ebikes, bicycles, h mandatory helmets, one rider per vehicle, and none of the extra scooter motorized, any of that. Um, so I and with the training, I would like to see more robust training. One training is great, but we have some schools that we've heard a lot from Mariners families that want more. If Mariners Elementary want three more sessions, awesome. Let's do it. But so
211if there's Enen, we want to have more trainings, great, let's do that. But I don't think it should impact the whole district. Thank you. >> Um Trusty, um Ma, >> okay, >> middle school. >> I'm middle school. Um so again, it's up 300%. accidents. Um, you need a specific license to drive a motorcycle. Um, and these are basically motorcycles. >> So, I am um I'm for a complete ban on any motor vehicle of any type. Um, for sixth I mean for seventh and eighth grade. They're completely unsafe. I h saw an accident. There's been two accidents. one on Friday, one on Monday. Um, both from Enson. Oh, no, sorry, one from CDM. I lived down the street. I watched 400 kids leave all at once, crashing into each other. The statistics I gave you about
212the police. That doesn't even account for the non reported accidents, which in fact I have on my cameras at home a boy doing a wheelie down my street and crashed into my trash cans and he fell and tumbled and got up in a panic and rode off because he did not want to get in trouble. So, we don't really know the numbers. So, we just want our kids to be focusing on education. And what's happening is the stress of these ebikes are making um and not having an ebike versus having one versus not having the right one. Um on social media, they're teasing each other for if they post the ebike that doesn't like is not as cool as the other. The other thing that's really sad is early out Wednesdays, which used to be
213a pretty fun tradition for the kids where they would walk walk to lunch or ride their bike to lunch. Now, the group of people who have the ebikes and usually a certain type of ebike. Now, you act like I don't know this. I sit and watch this. I interview all the stu all the parents and I am completely engaged in this on a daily basis. So, they are riding all the way across to canes. So the people who don't have an ebike can't go. So it's a total distraction in school. Kids are not wanting to go to school on certain days because they don't want to be embarrassed that they can't go to lunch with their old friends. So friends are being divided. It's it's becoming a huge issue. And be and um hold on
214one second. And then as soon as we make this change, I think there'll be actually a relief. We're not saying they don't can't have it on the weekends. We're not saying we just don't want We want a very We want kids to be focused on education, not what bike they're riding to school and if they're going to even make it to school. We want education. They rode their bikes for the last I don't know how many years and our districts haven't changed or they walked. So, we can get this done. We have school buses that can take them. We made sure we had enough. So the OCT problem is not an issue. We have school buses available. We have looked into this for a really long time. It's not something that we've come up with
215five minutes ago. So I'm against I mean a total ban on electric uh for so many different reasons in uh seven things. Great. >> Thank you. Trusty Pearson, your thoughts on middle school? >> Um I think we should ban them and I I started my research over a year ago. Um, I'm in I went to pretty much every PTA um meeting that I could be at. Um, ask Carol, you brought up the ebikes and the PTA meeting was an hour long because these parents had so much to say to us about how they wanted the ban. They would they parents I probably pulled over 500 parents. I would say 499 not only said I want a ban, they said I want it to all go all the way to 12th grade. I'm not willing to
216do that. I think once you get to high school, I think you need to learn to be I've got kids that went to college. They they've got to start being able to be responsible for themselves. Um not that I don't care about their safety, but it's it's just a life life lesson. Um but K through eight, I'm not saying this because of me. My kids did never had ebikes. I, you know, I was fortunate not to have that. I'm saying it because of the 500 parents that I have spoken to um in this past year. I even asked the hostess today at lunch what she thought. I mean I have asked I mean I it wasn't just at PTA meetings, it was at jogathons, it was at plays. I have taken this extremely serious and
217this is what I'm hearing from my constituents. Um it's unfortunate. It's unfortunate that the ebikes technology has outpaced our kids cognitive and physical ability. Um, you cannot tell a class one from a class two from a class three and who's done this. Our principles and our teachers need to be on campus teaching, not worrying about whether it's a class one, class 2 or class three. Um, so for that reason and and the other thing is we've taken we've taken the education part of biking very seriously. I sat on a city committee um with the mayors, with the police chief, with the other policemen in the in the in the room. We started off not wanting a ban um not wanting to change any ordinances in the city. You'll see two months ago, they did change
218ordinances. They no longer can do wheelies. They did make changes. There were no changes to the schools at that point. Unfortunately, those rules haven't stopped accidents. Unfortunately, our education hasn't stopped accidents. Um, it's unfortunate and I think that's why now we are at this K through eight K through8. >> Thank you, Trusty Murphy. Anything about middle schools? Hi, Jackie. >> I don't know if there's anything more to add about middle school to be honest. Uh, uh, yeah. No, my um gentleman, I certainly hear you about uh about, you know, loving ebikes and wanting to be able to ride them. And um so I'm obviously I don't argue with you about that. Um but I I agree with my colleagues and certainly uh as a mother of an eighth grader attending Enson who I do not
219let he does not have an ebike. I do not let him ride any bike. Um because of my concern about the safety and um and to my fellow co colleagues points, I have seen the wheelies going down the middle of the street. Mary Mack in front of Davis is another perfect example. Um it's it's frightening actually as a mother to be like pulling up to a stop sign and watching a helmetless, you know, kid coming at you wheeling, you know, with a on a popping a wheelie like halfway down Marry Mack. Um wondering if he's going to fall and you're going to have to like try and take him to the hospital. So So this is really a very serious concern that we have about the safety of our students and um and it is
220a tough issue. I understand because as I was telling my son, you know, nothing is black and white. Black and white. There is no black and white with this issue. I see that there is a lot of gray. Um but I can't support I can't support um motorized bikes in vehicles in uh in middle school because of the safety concerns. I would certainly what what I would prefer to see as I just discussed is separate um policies around the you know how we're dealing with the ebikes and the the bans on K through 8th and then what we're going to allow on high school um on the high school campuses and then what we're going to do with safe routes to school for regular bicycles. So that would be my preference to see those two
221policies crafted that way. Um but yes, unfortunately I have also had too many um moms and PTA moms and folks come up to me and ask me to to ban the ebikes going to middle school. >> Thank you for that. Um and then so my I'm just trying to go up and down the row and just we're going to get this conversation done by 9:30 so that everyone knows this is not going to go on for forever. Um we had a plan we had a plan to cover the three topics by 9:30. It's going to happen. Um, so my take is again I hear everybody I hear because I love active transportation um may not know I was on the first active walkability bikeability committee in the city um with Miss Flo and with Mr.
222Ralph and with Arless. So been there done that. I have been an advocate of active transportation my entire life. I love bikes. My daughter biked to school but I am not okay with ebikes for the the 12 13 year olds in middle school. I'm just not the frontal lobe development is not there. I have heard from countless parents. I have not heard from one parent um that they want them in middle school. So if anything, friends, parents are saying, you know, yeah, save me from getting pressured into getting one. You be the bad guy, not me. Um because that's the reality. Um I my daughter is sitting in the other room right now in the in the back conference room and if she heard this discussion, she'd kill me because she begged for an Ebite.
223She's now she's now 14. has been begging for an ebike and of the three trustees up here with kids at that a middle school age, none of us have them. So, it's it's a very hard sell for me for the the idea of Enen though, the unique situation of some Westside kids trying to get over to Enen. Um, so the numbers we have 141 ebikes at Enen, 19 of those come from the west side. So, there are 19 families that that either need a regular bike or can use our district school buses that we have operational. And we are paying these district school buses every day, day in day out. And they have a bunch of empty seats because some of the 19 children are choosing to ebike across town versus be on our publicly
224funded school buses. Um, so, Miss Torres, can you share that if indeed they chose to come back to the school bus, there is room on our school buses for them? >> Um, that's correct. We've confirmed that um multiple times that we have empty seats on our our bus routes. >> Okay. Because that to me the equity issue of how do westside kids get across town to Enson. I wanted to know how many there are 19. How will those 19 now be able to get across town? Maybe they have a regular bike at home. Maybe they can take the public school bus, not the city bus, not the OCTA type thing, but our own school buses um to get where they need to go. uh because again the safety things have been hit on adnauseium but
225the average kid and I know some some districts have permitted the class ones for the middle school but at the end of the day that's 20 m an hour the average teen can pedal 7 to 12 hours if they go really fast maybe 15 7 to 15 miles an hour the average kid teen can pedal putting them on a machine that goes 20 automatically with or without as we see helmets hanging on the handlebars most of the time with that age group um and I I agree that you do see a shift in high school as they get a little more maturity, a little more, then they're they're able to drive a car in a couple years. They're able to do the class 3es once they're 16. So the high school to me is a
226totally separate issue, but middle school to me, the ban needs to be from the the TK, the the earliest education that we give to 8th grade and then after that we can talk about high school. And so we got about 10 minutes left to go back down the line and now share thoughts on high school um for everyone here. though high school. Um, while I don't like EBX at all, I would accept them for high school, but I want to have a lot of I I want to increase that the parents have to be part of a training that we would have to do on the weekend. So, I want it to be not just a given that the child will have an ebike in high school. I want it to have the parents have
227ownership of the responsibility of giving your child an ebike. Um, so whatever that looks like, I want that. But I also want like a one strike and you're out policy where if they're caught doing something off-campus poorly with the ebike or on campus with the ebike um and a strike could also be um any kind of disciplinary issues that that occurs on campus. So for instance, we want our students to be good students while on campus and riding an ebike or bringing a car to campus is a privilege. So, I want to make sure that we have that as a privilege. So, I mean, I think we have uh rules on um on bringing our cars to campus that if they get in an accident on campus, they can no longer park their car on
228campus. So, make it sort of like that where it becomes this privilege. Um, I also want to tie it to grades, but that's that's my opinion because we are in education. Maybe that's what I would just do at home. Although they would never get bike. Um, but um, tight to grades. I like that. Disciplinary actions. One strike and you're out that year. You're done with your ebike. So, >> that's my opinion. >> Trusty Crane. >> Okay. So, um, for high school, I think that's a no-brainer as far as allowing bikes, ebikes. Um but I would like to clarify class one only. Correct. >> Agreed. Class one only. >> Um >> for Paul >> I I think that is where we have to look at staff. The implementation of that is going to be nearly impossible
229unless anyone here I mean some of you guys here I'm sure you can line up three bikes and you guys can ID a one, two or three. But can our average principal and staff ID a class one, two and three? And the implementation nightmare of that I think for high school you have to just allow them. It's going to be nearly impossible, especially the threes, which are only allowed for 16 year olds and up. That's on the parents to not buy their kid an illegal vehicle when they're 14. Hopefully, they wait till 16, but I think the ebikes for high school just have to be allowed because the implementation nightmare of >> oh, you're a one. Oh, your bike can be your bike. Your bike can't be. I don't know how that makes sense. >>
230But, uh, but shouldn't we have it in language though? Shouldn't Shouldn't we have it in language though? >> Something about class three that you have to be 16. I also kind of thought about, you know, we were doing stickers at ENSEN and saying you went through this bicycle training and could park your bike, but um so if say a kid goes through all of these steps in high school and they could bring their bike, I think we need to make it really big like a big yellow placard that you have to put on your bike. Not joking. I mean it's very easy, right? Kids are going by, you see it, you want to bring your bike to school, you clip it off, you got to put the placard on it, and if they're it's clipped
231off, then you can't bring your bike. So I think responsibility I'm loving the creativity tonight. Um >> but that's how you guys implement it. I know I know I'm just giving you ideas. Some of these elements though are going to be for the ARs for the actual like >> for the ARs things like the the any repercussions disciplines things like that around implementation. But I think for tonight if we can come to some ideas and and share our thoughts on just can they be permitted which ones? And then we kind of keep looking Trusty >> Crane. So, so you're saying I mean I I'm if if we're going to do this class one is plenty and I think we need to make it clear and it's up to staff to figure it out but I
232I would like the language to put to say um class one only because I think that's how other districts have done it have modeled it. they they have for other for um high school districts. Some of them had for the 16 and up. But again, we're talking about a group of kids, high schoolers, just at large, high schoolers can drive a car. I have a very hard time saying they can't ride a a class 2 bicycle if they can be driving a vehicle. Um so for high school, it's just sadly going to be a free-for-all. I I I don't see any any clear path to make it just class one for high school. I wish there was, but just the logistics and knowing the age variation of the kids there, they're 14 to 18, they
233if we can trust him with a with an Audi, we can trust him with a class 2 bike. Um, but >> President Erso, yes, >> if I could just add, at this current time, we don't allow motorcycles on our campuses. >> Okay. >> So, when the conversation with other districts, they don't allow the threes at 16 and older. I understand there's an enforcement issue. We will have to figure that out if you choose that route. I just want to let you know that currently while a student has a driver's license, they're allowed to bring a car on campus. We do not um support motorcycles. >> So, the emot we would be tagging that bike or figuring out how to work that. We I don't know what that would look like yet, >> but we would
234have to deal with that. So, I just want to share that if that helps you at all. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, um so I do want to go back to middle school. Um there's no question that ebikes are a public safety issue and um my concern is that um we need the cities it's kind of a tale of two cities it seems like but we need both cities to kind of work with us as far as if we're going to really make a difference because those bikes aren't going away just like AI ebikes are here to stay right so um my biggest concern because I I am on on the fence still about all this is that I I have an issue with limiting parents options on how they send their kids to
235school 7 to 12th and um that's kind of where I'm struggling and so and I don't I don't know how this group feels but could there be a ban because I have listened to the um December meeting when trustees were saying K8 ban parent opt in is that even something you'd want to consider? >> No. >> Okay. >> I've always said that that I I'm guilty of saying that, but I after talking um to principles and Dr. Smith that again it's a logistic night. It's a logistic nightmare on you know like how to tell the difference between student class one, class two, class three. It's the optin it just a logistic >> plus I just thought of something. We have 7 to 12 campuses, right? So, Mesa and CDM, how would you determine the seventh
236grader from the ninth grader or the eighth grade? >> Yeah. >> Okay, I see. And block schedules as well. >> Well, you just have to separate parking based on grade somehow. >> And they are I mean, I dropped my daughter at CD. The principles are out there. The staff is out there every morning. They be like, "Oh, I know you're you're a seventh you're a middle schooler. You're you're a high schooler." They know their kids. Um it's I I don't think that logistics is as difficult as the separation of types of bike for high school, but um Trusty Anderson, >> thank you. Um a variety of things. Um I would love to see us replicate um the policy that is in Menllo Park that describes what each of the types of bikes, vehicles, all different
237things are. um for students, for staff, for everyone, parents to know. Um I think that's missing currently from our policy. Um I also think it's important to include enforcement and who will do it and what that entails. Um I um following up on the 7 to 12, I think it's really difficult for our schools that are 7 to 12 to make policy that only impacts part of the school. Um, similarly to what Trustee Orsulu just said, the the the staff know their kids. So, if they know that the student is in seventh grade, if we do something, the class one um ebikes have a manufacturer sticker on them. If we have all those staff people that are at those schools and have gone through the training, they've been a part of the training with those
238students. if we're doing seventh grade at Enen, if we're doing seventh grade at CDM, the staff is a part of it. Um, I just I think we're trying to imagine more roadblocks than I think exists. Um, I also am I wanted to add I didn't say this at the beginning for middle school. I do think it's important to include a parent consent form for middle school. So again, I'm thinking of it as elementary is one bucket, secondary, 7 to 12 is its own bucket. 7 to 12, I think it's really important to have um parent consent and sign off a waiver of liability, a release of liability. Um I haven't heard that really mentioned up here. I also think that um there's been a lot of banding about about these supposed numbers at Enen. I
239to me that's a really low count. I'm I'm around Enson and Whittier all of the time and I in one day on one street in 12 minutes there's 14 by ebikes. So I I I find that really hard to believe but I do want to say again there's not enough there. There might be current lower numbers for the our current buses. There's three buses from Enson and Newport Harbor that serve that go to Westside Costa Mesa. They all arrive between 3 and 3:15. So if a student is in a sport, if they're in a club, they don't have a way to get to school. And a lot of the conversation that I'm hearing up here is recreational use versus necessity. So if there's a student at Newport Harbor, who plays football, is on the soccer
240team, if they're in any of those other spaces, and the bus leaves at 3, they have no way to get home. So again, these are practical considerations that I think are really important. I I differ. I don't think that we should have um class two and three for kids that are under 16. The state law is for 16 and over. So again, the same these our schools, we have control of these things. We have the parent handbook, the student handbook. We have that's I the ARS and all of that. So to me, I think some of the things are being focused on and they're not the things that I would focus on. So, um, those are my concerns with high school. >> Okay, Trusty Mckelro. >> Um, I think Evik's fine for high school under
241um certain conditions like I do think that the parents adopt in and be aware. I will tell you that um because this is Enson, these are the parents that are going into um to uh Newport Harbor, they had a parent safety meeting for ebikes for the entire school, which is 900 students. Four parents showed up. So there was and and it was actually four didn't show up. A couple showed up, the PTA president and a neighbor. >> So, I was I was the one that showed up with my husband. My kid, >> how many were there? >> Four people. >> Okay. Sorry. Point of order. Can folks speak closer to their microphone because they're having a hard time record and als and also we can't talk to the public. So, it's not >> Oh, sorry.
242So anyway, my point is that the parents need to engage in this and help us out >> and um a lot of this might not have happened if they were engaged in this um early on. You know what I mean? So um I want the parents to have to to go to the class and that is the only way just so they're aware of what's going on of the different type of bikes and all of this. the only way that their kid would get a pass to use um a bike on campus is if they attend a class >> and oh trusty Pearson >> that's for high school I'm I'm okay with ebikes for high school >> um just no motorcycles I >> Murphy >> um yeah yeah the the high school thing for sure
243um even though no I don't know if I'm going to let my kid ride a new bike to high school either I probably But um but uh for high school we are saying that parents have to before the high school student can ride their ebike the student ha the parent has to take the the training right >> is it in for high school we have said students are required to be in a training and the parent guardians consent and release of liability >> right but it doesn't say class >> yes so do we do we Do folks think the parents need a class? >> I think I mean I agree >> based on the fact that four people I know I agree with >> based on the fact that four people showed up for a
244meeting I would say. >> I know I agree with Tristy Mroy. I mean, half of the issue here is the fact that we can't get the parents to >> um to to I don't know really understand how serious this issue is in terms of their their child's safety, their child's safety and so and how easy it is unfortunately for these kids to get into um a serious accident that would um could have, you know, lifealtering consequences. the those accidents the the trauma um that that kids are experiencing at chalk actually that you mentioned is mostly head and neck. So when the internal injuries are reported it's head and neck. So um and this is granted this is not at necessarily at Hogue this is we're talking about chock the children's hospital. So um I hope
245you understand we are we're talking about children certainly not um not not anybody else just just the children and the students. So um so that's how I feel about the high school piece is I would want um parents to actually have to take a little training on that too um before they can sign that form before their kid can be on campus. So, >> um, but I I do also think this just, uh, brings us all to the I think the issue that we're at right now since it's 9:34 is that we all are pretty much in agreement. We should probably just take this to the second reading so we can fine-tune all of this language. Um, I don't think it's going to change the outcome, but I do think we need to clean up
246all of this language and and maybe even add some definitions about the bikes. So um so that is crystal clear so that there is no confusion about what we're talking about. It may make the policy longer. It might read longer as we explain and delineate everything that we're talking about. But um but that would be my recommendation and so I hope we do that. >> Trusty Anderson, you had your hand up one last time. Did you want to add anything before we close? >> You need to tell us your high school. >> Oh, I Yeah, >> she's fine. So, well, Trusty Angel, thinking I I want to just since I'm on the policy committee, I make sure we get this right. So, under high school, second bullet, we're going to add parents, guardians have to
247attend class. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, we're going to do that. >> Okay. >> Well, if we're going to do this, do it. >> I mean, is that I need to hear >> because we need to hear what you're >> Yeah. And then >> in Did you have anything, Trusty Anderson? No, I I'm just going to say to me it's it it's not based it shouldn't be based on grades for a secondary. It's a necessity as access to school which is federal law. So >> yeah and I think that that >> but I think it that I didn't come up again. So I think it's a big point. >> I think um I think something trusty again just dreaming a little bit >> dreaming. I'm going to start. >> Yeah. >> Well and we still
248have a long way before implementation. So it's only for that the next the next fall. So it goes back to the policy committee. Yes. I mean it is a form of transportation. The kids are some of those kids are driving cars to school. It is very hard at this point in high school to regulate it. Just they can bike, they can ebike, they can car, they can do whatever they got to do to get to school. We can hope their parents come to a training. They probably won't. >> No, but not they have to sign the form. >> It may take multiple times to get the parents to come to the training, but the students at least will go to the training. the parents will sign the waiver, the helmets will be worn, and we
249can see how it goes from there. And no motorcycles and no emotos will be allowed. That's kind of a no-brainer. No one wants those. So, I think that just covers sort of the the basics there. And our middle schoolers would be able to catch the bus, catch their regular bike that's probably rusting in the garage right now. Um, but the high schoolers who need to get to jobs, who need to get to sports, who need to get to all of these responsibilities, they will be able to ebike as they need around town. Um, as as folks have mentioned. So, I think with that, we have enough input from everyone here has has sort of weighed in and given their given their thoughts. And I think just for the for the folks in the room that
250have been advocating for bikes and active transportation, I just want you all to know that that we absolutely hear you. That this was a draft that no one was trying to pull anything over anyone's eyes. That all of us here actually care about active transportation and it just takes a while to be able to do things in public because we can't whisper because that would be illegal. So we can't do it on our own. We have to wait and do it all in public which makes the meeting go till 9:37 on this topic. But um I think everyone got their thoughts out in public. So now the policy committee can go back and refine the draft and make it into a tighter draft. And the Menllo Park like I like that it had the two
251different policy titles like that. One is safe roots which is a distinct thing. One is ebike safety which is another num policy number the state will give us uh whatever that number is going to be. >> Um and separate those out. And to Trusty Anderson's point also I love definitions being in a policy like the definition of a class one class two all of the things need definitions. Um, but I think with that we're good to go to back to the policy committee and then we come back to you guys next month for the second and the >> I just want to give the parents enough time to adapt if we do passes to the new policy. So the sooner that we do this >> um, you know, the better because you know they still
252have a a whatever >> eight months to adapt to it but they need to be well aware of what's going on. And so that's why I think it's very important that we get this done immediately >> and have it ready for vote next after you know read through and vote next meeting. >> Yes. So that next meeting >> I wanted it to happen this meeting so for the parents sake to be honest because I figured that we were going to agree most of us but um I do think it's a good idea to make perfect changes but ready to vote next month so they can make change so they can be adapt to this change >> and frankly so that over the summer parents and students can take these these classes that we're going to
253require for the so they'll have all that time to log in and whatever the vendor we find to do these classes um all get can get set up so the implementation can begin next fall. But again, back to my point to the bike advocates and I'm sorry we went over 9 minutes. I I'll wrap it up, but um I understand your concerns. I understand how diligently people have worked on safe routes to school and active transportation measures and how it takes school district and city and transportation and state, frankly, CALR. There's a lot of players that need to come together to make the road safe and we can only control this one little part. So all of these things about oh enforcement oh police aren't ticketing for the helmets. We can't control that. That has
254nothing to do with us. We can hope we can ask. We have but that's not us. We can't we can't ticket for helmet uh being on their bike handle. So all we can do is control. Okay. We know that less of them should be on the road for the middle school time in the beginning of the morning when people driving, you know, people are driving their cars without having their morning coffee on their way to work yet and just hundreds of kids are flooding the street. Um some of these kids are 80 pounds on these ginormously heavy bikes and and it's just not not a safe uh situation for them. So with that, thank you everybody. And um can we get a motion to um wave this one for the sec? Wait, >> we don't
255need any. Okay. But I do have a point clarification because again, >> yes, I want to make sure we have the right details. Uh high school student section bullet number two. Um it's going to be parent guardians um have to be required for to join a class whatever for those students >> for the students who wish are whose students are wishing to ride and then it says their class one ebikes to and from school we need to change that then >> one and two >> to one and two >> okay and then biker okay >> well thank you everybody for your patience and for the the the curiosity and not the curiosity. Uh we will move on now to the next item which is >> which is item 21A. Um adopt resolution 10326 to standardize
256district facility components for specific materials, products, things or services on public works projects to Rowling Corporation for the standardization of the public address system and related equipment or devices. Mr. Dixon, >> thank you. Um the resolution before you tonight allows us to standardize our public address system, our PA systems across the district. As you may be aware, many of our PA systems across the district are coming to the end of useful life. So, we're going to need to start replacing them at all of the schools over the next few years. Um, in order to be the most efficient and most beneficial of our own staff time, we want to standardize the PA equipment so that all the sites have the same equipment so that we can maintain it in-house. We can train our employees to
257do it. Um, and we have consistency among all staff. So if you move sites, you're already familiar with the PA system because it is going to exist districtwide. So we need this resolution resolution in order to standardize it, which is why you see it tonight. And so our staff does recommend that you approve resolution 10-0326 so that we can begin this work. Now, I would also like to say that this isn't just um coming to you without any forethought or insight. We had a very extensive request for proposal process that we went through with a big group of not only scoring on the RFPs themselves with written but also interviewing the various PA firms all of which were very good. They demonstrated their systems in use and it included participants on that group. Dr. Torres
258was part of it. I believe Dr. Shaka we had principles and we had some of our maintenance techs that would oversee the work on these systems. So we are bringing it to you. It has been vetted. It has gone through a competitive process and so now we're just asking for your approval to standardize it. >> Thank you. Any um questions? Anyone? No. Um do we get a motion? So moved. Um moved by Trusty Crane. Second. >> Then Trusty Anderson and roll call. >> Trusty Soilu. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Bathroom. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Mroy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. Trusty Wagan. >> Yes. >> Okay. And with that, we go to 21B. Approve adoption of resolution 11326, making no competitive advantage finding for
259bid number 10626, Newport Harbor High School draining drainage repair project for narrow path engineer, Inc. and authorizing execution of the change order in excess of 10%. Mr. Dix. >> Yes. Thank you. So, as you may be aware, a few months ago, the board awarded a contract or a bid um for repairing the Newport Harbor High School drainage issue that caused significant flooding into one of their rooms. That work has already begun. And so, we appreciate you awarding that. We know um it's going to entail a lot. And as we got into the project, one of the things we discovered as we pulled up the existing asphalt and concrete, there were some utility boxes that were unforeseen, as well as some old infrastructure like the old pool. there had some of that infrastructure still in place.
260So, it's led to a lot of unforeseen conditions within the soil beneath our our hardscape. Um, in order to remedy that, we're recommending that the board wave the change order provision that you can't exceed 10%. Because what that would do in theory is you'd go out to bid again. You'd be repaying a mobilization fee for either the same or a different contractor. Um, and there's really no competitive advantage to doing so. They're already there. They're already mobilized. It's already been exposed. So, that's where we're asking the board to approve this resolution so we can continue on with that work. um and bring back we will bring back the change orders for approval, but in order to bring those back, we need to get this resolution approved first. >> Great. Any other questions, comments? >> Um
261just make a motion to uh to approve that. >> Okay. Moved by Trusty Crane, second by Trustee Pearson, and roll call. >> Trustee. >> Yes. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> Yes. Trusty Mroy, >> yes. >> Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Crane, >> yes. >> Trusty Wagen, >> yes. >> Okay. And with that, we now move to item 21C and I will um gloriously exit because it's a conflict of interest and the illustrious vice president here will take over. Um, >> may the force be with you. All right. >> Public comments. Okay. Thank you. >> Oh my god. >> There we go. >> All right. Okay. Um, all righty. So, all right. Thanks everybody for your patience. Um, all righty. Item 21 C uh presentation regarding the Banning Ranch property RFP
262and adopt resolution number 12-03-26 identifying the most desirable proposal to ground lease the banning ranch property pursuant to the request for proposal procedure as authorized by the California Department of Education. Jeff Dixon, please. No club, sorry. Public comment first. Sorry. All right. You have two minutes and 50 seconds um for your comments. Uh the first person we have out up here is Olivia Stockdale from Coast to Misa. Thanks, Olivia. >> Good evening. Good evening, Superintendent Smith, esteemed board members, and community members. I'm Olivia Stockton and I'm a concerned early college student. I speak to tonight to ask for clarification to ensure the greatest benefit to all parties involved with the development of abandoning ranch property. The district wants to be fiscal stewards, which means ensuring funds to create the greatest benefit for students. I urge
263the district to create a board policy separating this revenue from the general fund to ensure it won't be eaten up by miscellaneous expenses and allow for the promise innovated programs to exist and benefit students. Given the current lack of transparency, we want information and concrete med me mechanisms to ensure promises of supporting NMUSD staff and students with this deal are kept. How is eligibility for affordable housing determined? And especially, how is the rent or mortgage determined given that information? Given the district's preference towards Nighhall Capital single family home for sale model, how will these properties remain affordable? What legal mechanisms are in place to ensure long-term affordability and prevent entities from lake house flipping causing extremely marked up prices? Documents also state the district is seeking an exemption from the surplus land act. What are
264the implications of that given the surplus land act has mechanism to force a certain amount of affordable housing. If one goal is to retain families, how much affordable housing will be offered to the general public and will the units have enough square footage for families? How much housing will be available for NMUD staff compared to market rate? How will the owners of those single family homes renew the lease in 99 years? Additionally, it is likely there will be some green space left over as not all the land is buildable given the environmental concerns. Will that leftover green space be accessible to locals actually mitigating the concern of removing green space from local residents and actually improving the prospect? How will the collaboration with cities work to ensure proper infrastructure to support the influx of hundreds
265of residents? Westside Costa Mesa has narrow streets, especially because of people parking the street. How will the traffic work, especially because it's an extremely industrial area and it's really important to prevent congestions that can hurt local businesses. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Next, we have Terry Welsh from Costa Mesa. Hello, my name is Terry Welsh and I am president of the Coastal Corridor Alliance, formerly known as the Banning Ranch Consery. And I think I speak for everyone in the Randall Preserve community when I say that we would like to see these 11 acres permanently preserved as open space. Now, a lot of people think that our organization, the Coastal Corridor Alliance, a nonprofit, we own Randall Preserve. This is not true. Randall Preserve is publicly owned property and the title is held
266by a state agency called the Mountains Recreation Conservation Authority or MRCA. Now, it's actually not an agency. It's a joint powers authority, which is, as far as I can tell, it's kind of like an agency that's made of agencies. Anyway, today, if you have not received it, uh MRCA has submitted a letter to this school board. um they want to negotiate a long-term lease for this property. And I can tell you that working with this MRCA organization that they they got title of the property as soon as the property was purchased in December 2022, they are an excellent excellent organization. Uh they're doing a wonderful job of preparing Randall Preserve to be and ultimately a park. Um, I would just strongly urge you to enter into negotiations with MRCA to lease this property. And I
267would also ask that you table this resolution that you were planning on voting for tonight to uh enter an agreement with a developer. Table it for now. Thank you very much. And next we have Angelie Andrade Varta. She's still screwing everyone. still here. I know. >> Sorry. >> Hi, good evening. Um, Angelra Dearta to speak about the proposed development of Banning Ranch. I strongly support what the previous two commenters, the young lady definitely hit some great points um and as well as the president of Randall's pres of of Banning Ranch. So, I want to begin by saying supporting teachers and housing solutions are goals many of us share. teachers deserve to live what they communities that they serve. But the question is is whether teachers deserve housing is whether that housing where that housing should
268be built. Banning Ranch is not just an empty parcel of land is one of the last remaining natural open spaces the west side of Costa Mesa which is a park hungry area already has left. It provides habitat for endangered species, biodiversity, all the things that you all know and increasingly rare in Southern California, accessible green space. When we lose that land like this, we don't get it back. For our children and future generations, green space is not a luxury, it's a necessity. Research consistently shows that access to nature improves child's physical health, well-being, academic performance, and overall quality of life. If a school's district's mission is to invest in the future of our youth, protecting the natural environments that sustain them should be part of that mission. Developing housing on protected land also sets a
269troubling precedent. Once we begin to treat conservation land as a backup option for development that protections, the protections that communities fought decades to establish start to erode. and banning ranch exists today because of previous generations understood the value of preserving it. We now carry the responsibility to carry it forward and protect it for the next generation. There are alternatives that we can pursue. So tonight, you really have a choice between short-term convenience and long-term stewardship. If we truly want to show our students and the future generations what leadership looks like, we must demonstrate that some places are worth protecting. And Banning Ranch is one of those places. Let us support our teachers without sacrificing the natural legacy that belongs to our children. So, please preserve Banning Ranch. >> Thank you, Angelie. Uh, next we have
270Colin Zarbo. Hello board members. How are you this evening? Uh thank you for staying so late. I I'm sure it's late for everybody. You have things to do, but I just wanted to say that um I'm a resident that actually lives in the area. I've been there for about eight years. Um I was there, you know, our houses were built on old Rathon lots. I remember when we had to have gas monitors on our houses just to be able to make sure that it was still safe there. We were at the top of the mea when nobody else was thinking about building there. So, we have a huge attachment to this area. Um, and I I think when I hear about 169 units that are going to be butdding up against one of the most
271social uh one of the most sensitive ecological area uh areas in all of Orange County, is this really something that we want to take on? You know, I heard earlier that or I read earlier in a LA Times article that um you know, the reality is is that a Newport home will basically be a medium price is about $3.5 million on 7,000 square feet. Well, if I take the information in that same LA Times article, one acre is actually developable, one of 11. So, I'd really like to understand and if we could table this for later, where are we getting these numbers from and the proposal? Okay. And lastly, the thing I really want to talk about is an emotional one for everybody that lives up on the Mesa. What do we love about living
272up there? We love the views. We love the access to nature and the ocean. But the reality is you all are thinking about building some of the tallest structures in the area bes besides Hogue Hospital right at the front of the mesa. So everybody that lives behind that all the new housing coming all the west all the east side development that's going to be coming or west side do you think you think they'd want to have access to any of these views? Well they're not going to be able to because of the project that you're actually submitting. And one of the things I think we really need to be careful of is can we please make sure that whatever is chosen for this site hopefully you allow the coastal commission or the conservancy to actually
273take control of it. But if you don't can we make sure that whoever is building actually speaks to the community thinks about what should be put there and make sure that our opinion counts. Because one thing I want to make sure as everybody alluded to earlier is that if we don't get this right, the legacy of everybody on the school board will not be that you were able to obtain limited housing with good revenue for the school district. And let me say as somebody who's a married into a family of local teachers, I love the idea of the revenue and the housing. That's amazing. But if we get it wrong, we're going to squander all the hard work that people in this room have put together and also natural resources of everybody in Orange County.
274So, I appreciate your time. Have a great evening. Thank you for the time. Take care. >> Thank you. Next, we have Jenny Callahan from Costa Mesa. >> Is Jenny still Oh, there you >> still here. >> I was also here in January. I'm Jenny Callalahan and obviously this decision has been made. We all know but we're all here tonight to talk about what a disservice you are doing to this community. This is some of the last natural land in Newport area. But more importantly, as a teacher of 25 years, I'd like to talk about the part about affordable housing. As a teacher of 25 years, not even making $120,000, speaking with a mortgage company, as a single female, I would not get approved for any of your homes, nor would I get approved for these
275new homes that are talking about being built, which is offensive because I work probably more than most people in this room. >> As a teacher of 25 years, and you guys are talking about affordable housing, that's an insult to me. I could not live in one of those new houses. a mortgage company would laugh me out of the room. So, I would like to know what is the affordable housing being put in there. It's for the Newport Costa Mesa teachers. Here I am. I could not afford any of those houses. So, I want you to think about that. You're talking about these California Affordable Housing Act. What single teacher could afford it? Anybody? Because I'm telling you, I don't make 120,000. I'm not getting approved for a $1 million loan. >> I know we can't
276respond. >> I know, but I'm resting my case. It's not affordable housing. It is not affordable housing for teachers. It's an insult to us. And I'm offended by those words because that is not affordable. And everybody in this room knows that. And I don't care what anybody says. Not only are you doing a disservice to our community, it's offensive to teachers that you call that affordable housing because right now most teachers are living below the poverty line. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um Eric Oberwise from Costa Mason. >> Thank you guys for the opportunity to speak tonight. Um, so many of us have sat through this meeting tonight. Um, because this issue matters very deeply to us and I want to bring up a point that was discussed earlier. You know, you talked about the
277bike meeting where nobody showed up. Well, I've been to a few of these meetings and dozens if not, you know, more than 40 people have shown up to speak to you guys about this issue and how passionate they are about it. And that should be a testament to how much this is going to create a rift in the community in Westside Costa Mesa. Dozens of students, residents, teachers, and other community members, they've shown up tonight, and they've shown up in the past to voice this same concern. This parcel sits in the middle of a preserve that's now been thankfully uh protected by the Coastal Commission and the great work that's been done. And realistically, it just doesn't seem like common sense to build 169 units right there in the middle of something that we've worked
278hard to protect. So, as we enter into this development lease, I think you guys would see that based on the project, it will it will take more time than expected. It will cost more than expected, more approvals, redesigns, and shifting where these estimates of revenue are not going to be accurate. and you guys are going to look back and see that this this will be potentially not as profitable as you see over the 99-year lease. So once it's developed, it's irreversible. And I think we all realize that and people have used the word stewardship as kind of a a a guiding light. And I I want to leave you guys on that note that this open area, this open messa, this open habitat, it cannot be reversed. And one last thing I want to bring
279up about the prime property that was discussed in the last meeting. So, we've looked at all the surplus properties and seen that those are viable options. This land had a fence put around it. Whether or not it went through the right approval process or not is unclear to us. But to speak in the last meeting about how this land was perfect because nobody was on it, that's because there was a fence placed around that region versus these other properties that are open to the public and basically unused. So my point there is I don't believe that the surplus property I would say screening was done adequately and that we should reconsider that as you guys move forward with the mindset of hopefully stewardship. Um and I just want to say thank you guys for for
280hearing us out tonight and I hope you guys continue with what I would consider common sense in relationship to this this parcel. So thank you. >> Thank you. Next, Brian Duben. Duban. >> Good evening, trustees. My name is Brian Dubin. I'm an active resident in the Lighthouse community. I'm the father of two boys in the Newport Mesa School District and I'm also a physician at Hogue. I'd like to briefly raise a slightly different issue that hasn't been discussed tonight. While the district certainly has the authority to evaluate surplus property, the key issue here is timing and legal process. The Banning Ranch area has already been identified as a culturally sensitive site with a positive sacred lands file search and known tribal concerns that triggers required CEQA review and AB52 tribal consultation. Because of that sensitivity,
281the district should avoid committing to a specific development path before those processes are completed. Selecting a preferred proposal, authorizing exclusive negotiations, or entering option or lease agreements too early can prejudice environmental review and limit meaningful alternatives. So, the request is simple. Please ensure no developer selection, exclusive negotiations, or lease commitments occur until CEQA review and tribal consultations are fully committed. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> And I believe that is that is it for our speakers. And so next up, uh Jeff Dixon. Okay. Thank you. We're going to do this presentation the same way we did the one on January 20th where we have Andreas Keltus, our legal counsel who's assisted us for a few years on this now and uh myself and I will summarize the presentation and then Andreas and
282I will be up here for questions after. So, so we begin first with going back to 2023 just give a little history. The district started examining what could be possibly considered surplus sites. At the time, the district reviewed seven different sites. You can see them all listed on this slide here, Banning Ranch being one of them. Um, as we had summarized at the last board meeting that we talked about this on January 20th, uh, from that point, a 7-Eleven committee was established, a surplus uh, advisory committee to make recommendations based on the analysis of those seven locations. Uh the advisory committee met from November 2023 through March of 24 and they developed a final recommendation and report which led to them recommending to the board to declare banning ranch surplus and to pursue a potential
283ground lease for development of that property. And I think it's important to make clear that the ground leased option isn't us developing the property. It's us leasing it out to a developer who's going to have to deal with all those different nuances and entitlements. After that, uh, our district did seek and eventually obtained a waiver from the state board of education and, um, that was granted back in 2024. And that waiver allowed us to sub go through a request for proposal process, which is what we've been doing over the past few years, couple years. Um, and that would allow the the board to assess proposals based on a variety of criteria such as the amount of low-income housing, amount of workforce housing, environmental considerations, um, etc. All those things that we've been discussing and Andreas
284has been filling us in um, over the course of the past year and a half or two. Um, as part of that process, we received six responsive proposals. um of those they have all submitted initial proposals and I think it's important to understand that since the initial proposal there's been a lot of back and forth primarily with Andreas and the proposing firms to really understand what the terms and conditions they could provide to our district as the greatest benefit which would allow the board to come to tonight and identify the most beneficial proposer. Um as you know this is not the last step in this process. there still would be a requirement for the board to approve an actual ground lease agreement and we're not there yet. That this is the next this is the
285step to allow us to get to that point. Um, at our Januaryth 20th meeting, um, we did establish, uh, what would be possibly identified as or we talked about the discussion we would want to have tonight about what would it mean to identify the most beneficial proposal and that's what we need to hear from you tonight. So, in addition to making a motion on the resolution, if we want to have the board have a discussion on what are those conditions and terms you're looking for, and I know we've talked about this in other sessions and close session in the past, but what are those considerations that Andreas needs to take back to really consider with the development should the board choose of a ground lease agreement that we could draft and negotiate with that developer?
286And again, includes all those elements that we've discussed and a lot of things you've heard from our our public comment tonight, such things as what does low-income housing look like? What does workforce housing look like? What are the terms and conditions associated with that? What does access to green space look like? So, those are the types of things that we'll be able to work on after tonight. I already mentioned some of this um in identifying the the most beneficial proposal tonight. We want to hear that in your discussion. Um by approving the resolution, you will authorize district staff and our legal council to to negotiate the the agreement for the ground lease option. And part of this process is we're making the finding or the board's making the finding determination declaring that Ban Ranch property
287is exempt from the surplus lands act. Based on discussions up to this point, it seemed clear to us um that Nighthall Capital was in the lead of the most beneficial proposal and that's why we framed the slides in this order. So this is a reminder of what their latest offer to the board was and this is no different than what you saw on January 20th. Um some of the reasons that we've heard and that's going to be on the next two slides here and this could be referenced should the board choose to pursue uh night as the most beneficial proposal. You can simply reference these slides as to why um it lists the benefits. They had uh demonstrated a lot of experience and had necessary relationships to get through the various entitlement procedures. Um they
288had very strong overall presentation. Their initial proposal actually took into account the potential restrictions on the site, meaning that they didn't propose to develop the entire 11 acres. Um, they recognized that there's going to be some sensitivity and it's going to have to be a smaller project, which they came in right right out the gate. And they had a interesting model with the for sale model, but it was really a 50-50 sharing a split model with our district. So, it showed that we had we had teeth in the game over the course of the 99-year lease. potentially one big reason that they kind of rose to the top is they had a good financial um proposition for our district. Um all of I would say most of the proposers had good financial proposals over the
28999 years. But I think one of the things that really set Nightall apart was the initial access early access to capital which their model provided and that would give our district access to a good chunk of the total revenue over the 99 years within the first 5 to 10 years uh based on what they had proposed. So and that's nice because when you look at $1.8 billion over 99 years per year that doesn't add up to a lot. Now, I would argue every dollar counts, but getting access to capital sooner rather than later allows us to make strategic investments, which could include savings or allowing our dollars to work for themselves. So in determining that banning ranch is exempt from the surplus lands act the big reason why is that and you see it on
290the third bullet there if the generation of revenue of the agency's uh governing body if we take action in public meeting declaring that the site will directly further the express purpose of the agency uh work and operations which for us is everything that you see in that fourth bullet there. It could be potential development, modernization, maintenance, operation, funding a district, various sites, programs, initiatives, etc. So everything that we do, the additional revenue would help us to go to support and that's the reasoning that could be declared exempt. And part of this process, if you may recall, is after last January 20th meeting, we had to submit letters per the government code specified on this slide to various entities noting that the the land is available and you can reach out to us. As you heard
291tonight, we received a letter today and that was from the Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority. Um so that would trigger uh at least 90 days to negotiate with them and so Andreas would be reaching out to them and going through that process. Um in the event and that doesn't change anything in our our uh move tonight other than that last bullet because we did receive the um notification of the interest from that entity. It could extend our timeline based on that 90 days of negotiation that would need to occur. Um, so we wouldn't be able to bring back necessarily, we still could potentially, but to the next meeting, uh, an option agreement for approval could push it out if they want to, if we use the full 90 days. So again, tonight, uh, based on
292what we've heard so far, Nighthall Capital has been identified, at least to this point in our minds, as the most beneficial proposal that we've heard from you. Um, by approving the resolution tonight, you'll authorize us to negotiate with Nighthall based on the discussion you have where hopefully you can identify those specific terms, desires, and conditions you would like to see in that option agreement so that Andreas can take that back and work with them. And then finally, the final finding, uh, determining and declaring that the property is exempt from the surplus lands act. Again, going back to the operational and the revenues that it's going to, uh, generate for us. So with that um I'm here and more importantly Andreas is here to answer any questions and hope guide facilitate your discussion >> not to
293say that you need me because Mr. Dixon's very good that was summary but yes >> questions so I just wanted to clarify today what we're what we're doing we're adopting the resolution of the um developer we find as most responsive or what what the term is we're using. So, say we we go with Nighthall and we're then going to talk to you today probably about going with Nighthall and then what we would like to see in that contract going forward and how you would negotiate with their um team. >> Is that correct? >> Yes, that's right. There's going to be plenty of opportunity for the board to continue to chime in on the development of an agreement. In other words, as soon as we get a draft agreement that's pretty much final, we can bring
294it to you and have a discussion about what is done, what maybe is still um up in the air and you can continue to fine-tune. But what this resolution does is to say, yeah, we've identified Nighthall as the most beneficial from that RFP stage. So there's no promise that anything's going to be done just yet. It's just saying from the RFP stage moving forward, we've now put a pin in it and said Nighthall is the most desirable entity. As you heard, MRCA did provide a letter today and that does trigger a 90-day requirement to talk with them in good faith negotiations for a ground lease. Um, and obviously it's a valuable property. So, we'll see where those negotiations go. We cannot um limit the 90 days should MRCA want to continue. But standard part for
295the course is if the parties are just chasm just light years away from each other, often we'll say, "Look, we're at impass. There is no real negotiation here. So, let's shave off some time in the 90 days, but if it's demanded, 90 days is 90 days, and we'll wait for that. It's actually 90 days from the 60-day timeline. So, this June 24th 22nd, excuse me, is actually 90 days from the initial 60. So, regardless if MRCA, who is yes, has said yes, they want to negotiate, or any of the other entities that received our notice, you're going to have 90 days of discussions from that point forward, unless in writing they say, "Yeah, we don't need the full 90 days." So, this resolution allows us to proceed with Nighthall as the as the uh uh
296uh most beneficial proposal, gives us the authority to talk with them and negotiate with them. But now we have this track of the MRCA or potentially any other entity that wants to talk about open space, not affordable housing, but open space under the Surplus Lands Act. You're exempt from the housing component, which we're doing tonight. Um, and I think you've heard in the past and many districts have dealt with this recently where there used to be two exemptions that was taken away at June 30th of last year by a bill. And so now there's still one exemption. That's what we highlighted tonight, which is the use of the proceeds for public agency use. So we will move forward with MRCA. We can start those negotiations as soon as we like, but the 90-day clock starts
297uh and brings us out to potentially June 22nd. But that's only if we don't >> pass this resolution today >> for Night Hall. Correct. >> No. Passing this resolution today, we still have to deal with the MRCA and address the um their ability to have us negotiate. >> Well, so anybody can walk in and have a say, I have a new proposal for you and this could go >> only the entities that received the um notice of availability for the open space purposes. So that will continue for that negotiation. >> How many people? How many? >> There are five entities. There's two departments at the city. There's the county. Um actually I can give you the specifics right here. >> We had the >> county of Orange City of Newport Beach. That went specifically to
298the public works department and the uh recreation and senior services department, the California natural resources agency and then MRCA. >> Is this the first time we're hearing about that? >> No. No. No. We've provided summary information and other things along the way in terms of our price and terms of negotiation appropriate closed uh session items. So this turns on price in terms of payment. So we have uh uh provided information >> more than one occasion. So does this um if if we uh move ahead and approve this >> nighthall tonight >> um we still have to wait 90 days to to move forward on anything. >> Yes. Unless unless the negotiation >> if we decide that the other opportunity is not I mean it's not working for us >> which other opportunity >> with the
299MRC >> MRC or whatever other ones you mentioned. >> Sure. If during that period of time either one thing happens, which is MRCA agrees that we're light years apart and they can't afford to do a ground lease, they may allow us to not go the full 90 days. Should they demand the 90 days, we'll go the full 90 days. We're not arbitrarily going to cut the time off, per se. >> Okay. Is is this a stalling technique? >> Probably a stalling technique. I'm sorry. >> Is this a st a stalling tactic or is this a um Have we gotten any numbers from them? Do we have any idea? Today was the first letter we received per that >> exactly on the meeting the day of the meeting. >> Yeah, they actually have a little bit
300more time. They have 60 days from when we sent it out, which was January 23rd. But yes, we received it today. The negotiations for that period of time will include things like how much they were willing to pay, how long do they want to lease it. We're offering a 99-year ground lease and of course the propertyy's valuable. So, >> so if next week someone else does this and then we have another 90 days from that person, >> no, it'll start 90 days, excuse me, the 90-day clock starts at the end of the 60-day notice period. The notice period, the notice period was January 23rd. So, that takes us out to March 24th, and that 90 days from that is June 22nd. >> Okay. >> They would run concurrently. You don't have to line them up
301one after another. Trusty CR trusty macro do question trusty crane >> the timeline is helpful. Thank you. So uh our questions that we will have regarding the contract um and there are some excellent questions from the some from the >> public. Are th do those have to proceed in public or during our closed sessions? Uh you can do either close session is where it's appropriate when you're dealing with price in terms of payment because the dollars we're still negotiating with Nighthall. You're not deciding the terms of night. You're just noting why they are the most beneficial per that RFP process. Right. So anything we need to discuss that isn't for Nighthall to know in real time needs to be done in close session. That's confidential. Right. Right. Okay. >> Yeah. But those issues in the
302document will be addressing things such as timelines, due diligence periods, and whatnot. And Nighthawk Capital, should we enter into a contract with them after negotiations with MRCA, etc. If we were to enter into an a an agreement uh with Nighthawk Capital, they would have their due diligence period to determine whether or not they're moving forward with this property. And they have deposit structures and whatnot. and they would have to follow every manner of uh review, entitlement package review, California Environmental Quality Act review, the whole nine yards. >> So we today's the is March 10th, so we have 13 more days um as far as receiving additional organizations that may be interested >> and that would be the uh county. >> So far we just have one. Yeah. Okay. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Wagan. Um
303so today on this vote, do you want us to to vote as in like say we we move um this item >> and then do you want us to discuss can we discuss afterwards some things we might want to have in the contract you know talk about open space and all that kind of stuff? >> You bet we would take we would take any direction you want to provide at this time by all means. Uh we set forth that slides nine and 10. What we were thinking and hearing would be the reasons why that board may choose Nighinhall Capital, but beyond that, you can talk to us about any other issue that you want us to address down the road in. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure that if we make a a
304motion to to move this item that we don't also have to have like contingent, you know, like some of the items that we would want in the >> there's plenty of time for that. >> That makes it faster. >> Okay. or I guess a simpler process. Thank you, Trusty Anderson. >> Uh yes. Um similarly, so we have an updated motion. Um but I think or a recommendation for an updated motion. Um, to me again what I'm hearing and from reading the letter and from reading the former language from some other sections beyond the last recital. My concern is why why we would want to push faster. Again, this is property that is hypothetically going to be in a lease for 99 years. >> Sure. So, if per the government code and the surplus land act,
305to me, it makes sense to have those conversations before we make a motion that basically says we're approving something except for one recital. To me, I just I think I'm not sure why there's someone with the bikes. I don't know what the rush is for something, but for something that's this longlasting. So, I think we it's unfortunate that we got that today and not last week. It's unfortunate we didn't get it before Friday. I think it really is confusing and it it changes a lot of conversations and this is our first opportunity to even discuss it in public. Um, so I I'm just concerned about the the the resolution as written. I'm concerned that I I couldn't agree with the proposed one because it it doesn't include a lot of the changes that could come.
306It's not just the last recital like section four on page four to me doesn't line up. So I I'm I'm a little it's a little tricky for me and I don't know if we are going to go then yeah into discussing actual features. um this was not my number one choice for an entity to go forward with. Um I preferred well I don't want to build on the land at all. Um so but I just I would prefer to wait if there's 90 days. It's not 90 years. It's not nine months. It's 90 days till those discussions and conversations have been made. >> So to address that that the reason for the timing goes back to January. And this slide, the beginning slides on this presentation as well. The waiver process that the state board
307of education demands of a school district has some requirements. They require that once you received in open session, those final proposals that within 30 to 60 days, this being within that 30 to 60 day window, you actually take action to approve again. So, it's bifurcated in my mind. The action tonight is just to move forward with Nighthall as most beneficial per that RFP scenario. The state board of education waiver scenario separate path is moving forward with discussions with MRCA. So we set this up and this was posted last week before we even knew of the MRCA letter. It still makes sense to move forward legally speaking. You can you can do this today. If not, we would have to come back with another board meeting perhaps updating showing proposals again and starting another 30 to
30860day clock. So that's the reason for proceeding today with that updated >> motion. Trusty Anderson, is that >> I think Well, I think the difference though to me is it's not one of like the proposals. It's different because it's for open space. So it's not it's not one of the RFPs that like we've been working with, you know, for a year. So, I I understand what you're saying. I just I to to me I the way that this updated proposed motion is written, I couldn't support it the way that it's written based on the language that's in this because it's not just about the last recital of the existing resolution to me. >> Yeah. The idea is that it just approves the resolution. >> Motion I'll second. >> Thanks. >> I hear you. >> Go
309ahead. >> So, yeah. Um I'd like to call for the vote. Oh, so >> I I'm okay. I'm I'm going to second her. >> Um I'd like to move that we adopt resolution 12-03-26 identifying the most desirable proposal to ground lease the banning ranch pursuant on the request for proposal um and and designate Nighthall as that um most desirable proposal. >> And I second. >> We have a first and a second. Um, all righty, Sam. Um, can I make a comment since I didn't get a chance? >> Sorry. >> You got 30 seconds. >> Quick, I'll go quick because we only have four minutes left of this meeting. Um, so, uh, most of most folks who know me, I am very supportive of, uh, affordable housing, of workforce housing, of permanent supportive housing. I've spent
310good majority of my career working um on housing issues for low-income um families. And so so I so my struggle here is because I am very supportive of affordable and workforce housing. Um I am also my struggle is that I am very um I'm keenly aware of the issues that we have um with this space with the environmental um repercussions this is going to have if we if we do develop it. Um I hear our friends uh over at Banning Ranch who have fought so hard and so long to preserve this space. I understand um I understand the loss to the westside community of green and open space this could be. So so I am struggling. I will just say that and um and I I guess my my my preference would have been um
311the proposal that had in included more open space and green space as one of their priorities in the proposal. So um that is my concern and now we can take the vote. >> Trusty Soilu, >> can I have a point point of order? You were talking about we only have three minutes. Do we >> we didn't I mean I I think we made the motion. >> We're going to No, we have we have to vote to extend the meeting after 10:30. >> Oh, okay. That's it. >> Can >> So we can vote now real quick. >> We do that before we're >> No, no, we're voting. >> No, we're voting quick. >> We're goingust discussion. Yeah, discussion and we're going to the what I meant was timewise was 10:30. We have to make that motion
312to extend the meeting then. >> Trusty Murphy, >> no. >> Trusty Pearson, >> yes. >> Trusty Mroy, >> yes. >> Trusty Anderson, >> no. >> Trusty Crane, >> yes. >> Trusty Wen, >> yes. >> There we go. Motion passed. >> I'd like to move to extend the meeting if needed. >> Second. Why? >> Second. >> Yes, we do. We do need that motion. >> Okay. >> Trusty Anderson uh seconds. So, we will be extending the meeting. Oh, sorry. Roll call vote. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson, >> yes. >> Trusty Maroy, >> yes. >> Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Crane, >> yes. Wag, >> I apologize. Just point of clarification. There was a motion to be made that included the reasoning for the most material and that's going to be in the
313the meeting minutes that was on the slide. We probably should have addressed that a little bit more specifically on the slide. So, we prepared a motion that will be in keeping with what the state board of ed wants and needs us to do for the waiver requirement. >> I forgot I had to say that. It's just all all it's approving the resolution, but all it's saying is specifically that the the minutes will um uh reflect slides nine and 10 for the reasonings for the selection. That's all because we have to put that in the meeting minutes per the state board of >> I I would read it because Okay. Yeah, >> if you can clarify the motion that would be >> here's I I make a motion. >> Thank you. >> I move to approve
314resol resolution 12.03.26 identifying Nighthall Capital as the RFP respondent which provided the most desirable proposal for the potential ground lease of the district's banning ranch property for the reasons set forth in slides numbers 9 and 10 of tonight's presentation which reasons shall be reflected in the board meeting minutes associated with this resolution and that the last recital of the resolution be revised to reflect that the district has received notification from the MRCA of its interest in ground leasing the property and that the remainder of the recital language remaining unchanged so that the district negotiates as required by law with MRCA to any other applicable entity that provides a timely response. >> I second. >> I have a point of order. We already voted on this. She made a motion. It did not include that. I
315have never been part of a meeting where second motion goes forward for something that already went through and was voted on. So, we need to defeat we need like a I know that you're a land legal expert, but to me, we already had a motion that came forward and we voted on it. >> So, I'm not sure that the motion actually went through was the vote. There wasn't a final vote as far as I knew or heard if I'm mistaken. You can look back. >> There was a final vote. >> It was It was 42. >> Oh, well then it's a Brown Act issue. Let me >> let me think of this. >> So, a point of clarification. How about then we make a motion to defeat the initial motion that was made by uh
316Trusty Wand. We take a vote. We see how that goes and then we move on and redo Chris Trusty Wan's motion once again. >> So yeah, if the first vote was final on a 62, then there would have to be a separate. >> So I can make a motion if you'd like. >> Go ahead. >> Um Vice President >> Murphy, are we okay? Okay. Um, I move that we deny the first original motion that was made by Trusty Wand regarding the proposal. And as stated when she initially said it, um, that's it. >> I second. >> Let's do the welcome. >> Trusty Murphy. >> Yes. >> Trusty Pearson. >> You're defeating the motion. So, it's saying yes. >> Whatever you want. Yes. So, yes, you defeat. No, you don't defeat. >> Yes. >> Trusty Mroy.
317>> Yes. >> Trusty Anderson. >> She said yes. >> Trusty Crane. >> Yes. >> Trusty W. >> Yes. >> Now we need a new motion. >> I'd like to make a new motion. >> Read it again. I move to approve resolution 12-03-26 identifying night identifying Nighthall Capital as the RFP respondent which provided the most desirable proposal for the potential ground lease of the district's banning ranch property for the reasons set forth in slide numbers 9 and 10 of tonight's presentation which reasons shall be reflected in the board meeting minutes associated with this resolution and that the last recital of the res resolution be revised to reflect that the district has received notification from the MRCA of its interest in ground leasing property and that the remainder of the recital language remaining unchanged so that the
318district negotiates as required by law with MRCA or any other applicable entity that provides a timely response. >> I second roll call vote. >> Trusty Murphy, >> no. >> Trusty Pearson, >> yes. >> Trusty Maroy, >> yes. >> Trusty Anderson, >> no. >> Trusty Crane, >> yes. >> Trusty Wagner, >> yes. >> Thank you. And sorry for that second bite of the apple on the procedure. Thank you. >> It's late. >> 42. >> Um, >> so now do we extend a meeting? Did we vote? >> You already did. >> We did. >> Okay. >> We voted to go over and we're over. Um, all righty. Uh, informal reports. >> No discussion. >> Superintendent comments. >> Don't we have >> superintendent comments? I I believe >> superintendent >> point of clarification. Um I believe there's a
319session of uh feedback to um our staff regarding this resolution some of the questions that we may want to look into as far as uh negotiations. Was that didn't you want some feedback tonight? >> Yeah, I spoke to Andreas about that. It's going to be an ongoing process. So, we'll bring back the draft agreement, modify the terms for the board's requests, >> update on negotiations with MRCA. Okay. >> And if we get other respondents, so it's not doesn't the feedback doesn't need to happen tonight. We'll give you an actual draft that you can provide more specific details and feedback on. >> Can I make a comment? >> Can I make some comments? Okay. So I I very much hear what the public spoke about today about u preserving the environment and it's the you know
320the importance of green space but you know our our family were surfers. You know my my son at CDM founded the the CDM surfer foundation you know uh chapter at at Coronar High School when he was a freshman. We do cleanups. We we are very much into the environment. But please understand at least for me where I come from um I am here um representing our students, our district and our fiscal responsibility to providing excellence in academics. And that starts with um a responsibility that has to do with a learning environment that is conducive to learning. So in 23 we conducted a very thorough uh massive facilities audit and I'm not sure if the if the public knows this. We hired a a uh a consultant that did a very very thorough um assessment of
321the needs of our campuses when it comes to facilities. And the outcome was very eye openening to me because here are some of the numbers. The recommendation get my glasses so I get it correctly. The total cost of our facilities to update, upgrade, modernize so that we have a safe learning environment and an optimal learning environment was $2.5 billion for a total of 38 properties. The average date of original construction in our district 19 the year of 1960. Existing buildings total square feet 2.5 million square feet in facilities 8.4 million square feet of green space that we have to maintain. The date of our oldest school constructed is 1894 and I believe that's Newport Elementary. 25 years is the age of our newest campus. So from where I sit here, I'm looking at the need
322for $2.5 billion. Okay, that's the dream, right? Because that's not necessarily a realistic goal. However, we must make sure that we have revenue sources that can come even close to that. And that's not going to magically appear. Okay? Our our state is not going to hand us billions of dollars. So, what do we go to a bond? We don't float billion dollar bonds in Newport Mesa. The appetite is not there. We have to be creative, innovative, and also responsible stewards of student academic excellence and the upkeep of our facilities so that our students are safe and are learning in an environment that is conducive to learning. So as much as I completely understand the need for an environmental space, I am I can guarantee you that as a trustee, I will make sure that the
323Nighthawkall Capital who is in the house tonight um will be a steward of our environment. Um ask because This is all up to negotiation. And to Olivia's Oh, she went home. Um, excellent questions. Um, I thought they were very thoughtful and good questions that I was going to ask. One of the main ones is workforce housing, and it's not necessarily affordable. It's workforce housing. When a a house is to be resold, I want to make sure that that house that's been earmarked for workforce housing is still maintained because that was one of the visions of what we wanted to do here in Newport Mesa. Aside from the fiscal revenue, we also wanted to make sure that our employees can dream to own a home where they work. Okay, fine. If it's 20, that's 20 more
324than no than zero. So, for me, this is worth it. And I hope that you understand where I'm coming from when I voted yes tonight. Thank you, >> Trusty Anderson. >> Thank you. Um, just following up on the word stewardship. I think we heard that a lot earlier from a lot of people here. Um I think there are different def definitions. Um and we're in this situation largely because there were a couple of decades as many people can see that deferred routine maintenance did not occur on our properties that are quite old. And so we now owe or will owe or need to build or renovate a lot of properties. To me, that happened because there was a lack of long-term thoughtful planning with community engagement, listening to staff who were saying some of the
325facilities needed to be renovated or had um damage to them. So, for me, um stewardship is something different. Um in the past I think um there have been difficult decisions that have gone out even for a vote. I know something as like term limits. The previous board a long time ago could have decided amongst themselves to change term limits. Some of us in the community wanted term limits. There were no term limits. And so it went out. The board at the time didn't want to make that decision. and they took it out to the community and the community said yes, we want term limits of this level. To me, rather than us making an arbitrary decision that I I think there's a lot of mixed communication and a lot of us may have different ideas
326about it. Um I think there's some concern about putting out a bond rather than putting out a ballot measure to say, do we want to develop this property? there's been an insular process which I know we have to do in some ways because it's real estate but I would rather if we're relying on the community and it's something that's impacting both cities it's a tricky situation right it's really really close to Costa Mesa it's officially part of Newport with a sliver of the county but that property that's across the street that in the culdesac isn't city of Newport cityard it's an industrial space they didn't decide to build beautiful housing there. They didn't decide to develop that for a variety of reasons that I think is quite telling. Um for me, developing I, you know,
327if if anyone was going to put together actually affordable housing and workforce housing at a higher level, to me, I still wouldn't be a fan of it, but at least it would make much more sense. Um to me at the current level it would only take it would only consider out of if there were if we did end up again these are all still hypotheticals 169 units that are four stories only 34 of those would be affordable according to the current level um for Orange County low income undermarket value 80% fair market value is 84,000 We heard today from a teacher, she can't afford that. If it was a teacher in our district who had one child, that would be 108. If that was a teacher who had two children, it would be 121. A
328lot of our classified staff is dramatically under that. They're in very low income, which is 59,000 for one person. So for me to hear that the current conversation for affordable is 20% of those below market value would it will it usually ends up defaulting to 80%. Those are the numbers for 80%. It's still not enough. And again, if the priority is for district staff, that's only providing housing hypothetically for 34 staff people. To me, to be a good steward, that's not sufficient to change the only open space that's in our area. It's at the end of my street. It's a beautiful space. It oddly had a fence put around it in like 2014. Um, to me it's it's not I know there's a lot of money that's involved. It's not about this entity, but I
329just think it's a it's literally if you look at the map of all of the Randall Preserve and then this little triangle that's ours. Um, to me it just makes much more sense to leave an open space. I have one question though that's about um because we had talked about what the proposals were on slide 10 where it talks about the starting rent at 1.1% of home price and will increase the greater of 3% or CPI which I think we all have discovered a lot about CPI um then at each home sale an additional 2% fee is split 50/50 and the baseline rent is reset subject to a floor. Again, I think within 10 years, these are going to become overpriced for anyone who has ever worked in our district. Um, and I just wanted
330more clarity though on what specifically some of those numbers are and what that's referring to because that was the first time that I had seen that. >> I can address that for you, Trustee Anderson. Um, I just want draw attention to the fact this is from the proposal. I know. >> So, this isn't finalized. So, the terms, the actual specifics related to those terms, >> percentage increase, that be part of the agreement itself, which we'll bring back to you before finalizing them, bring back for board action at a later date. >> Yeah. So, what does it mean though right now? Can you explain what that because that that was language that I didn't remember seeing before. So, could you explain that in public what that means? >> An escalation in annual rent costs. Um, and
331in terms of when the unit, because it's a for sale unit, when those units are sold, um, the way I understood it is whatever the premium amount over the initial sale price, there's a share almost like a profit share model in that. >> Um, but again, this is >> this is not final, but it's just a matter of these are certain incentives to show why they would be the most financially beneficial for us. Um, and that's all I would look at it. >> I just Thank you. I wanted you to clarify what because I think there's a conversation around values, right? Like for some people it's that we get the most amount of money possible. For others, it's protecting a space and that is the high value. So I thank you for clarifying that and
332that it's if it's possible for anyone in our district to afford it in a few years. Thank you, >> Trusty Mroy. >> Okay, really quick. First of all, in their proposal, it says 48% discount from fair market value. So, um, >> no, it's referring to something else. But >> the reason why Capital's proposal is likely the most desirable. >> Okay. Anyway, besides that, it's too late. >> Referring to that, >> it's too late right now. and I'm talking it's too late for us to be discussing the details and we're tired and we want to get the best, you know, have our brains sharp and ready to go and really dig down on what we want and what's best for the community. And if we go in circles tonight over this, um, we're not going to
333get anywhere. >> Respectfully, I asked a question for the public. >> Ladies, colleagues, we've already voted. I think it's time for superintendent's comments. Thank you. >> Out of respect to the board and the community, I'll seed my time to the board tonight. >> We'll go down the line starting with Trusty Wagan. I've seen my time tonight. It's been a long day. Got to work tomorrow. >> Trusty Crane. >> Oh. Um. >> Yeah. >> I seen my time. >> It's miracle, Carol. It's a miracle. >> Okay. It's hard, but I'm doing it. Good >> baby steps. >> Trusty Anders house. >> Trusty uh Mroy. >> I'm I'm good. >> Yeah, I'm good, too. >> Yep. All right. >> Congratulations to the employees that were recognized tonight. >> Huh? >> Congratulations to the employees that were recognized
334tonight. >> Oh, yes. Congratulations, everybody. And here's to going to bed. 10:48.