001all right this is the same letter that we've read we will begin our meeting at four o'clock for May 16 2023. um roll call vote please Christy Anderson here trustee crank here trustee wakeen here justy Pearson here trustee Murphy trustee your soilu trustee Bartow here Dr Smith here thank you and Adoption of the minutes adoption of the agenda motion so moved second okay moved by trustee weigan seconded by trustee crane roll call vote trustee Anderson yes trustee crane yes trustee wagon yes trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy trustee your soilu trustee Barto yes do we have any Community input yeah okay um we will move to closed session the items we are reviewing are 4A confidential student matter one case 4B conference with legal counsel potential litigation one case 4C conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation
002one case 4D conference with labor negotiator for e-public employee discipline dismissal release employment for e and G and Public Employee discipline dismissal release Employment Number 202303 HR and 202304 HR and for H update on student discipline one case we will return to open session at 6 pm thank you it is 602 we are coming back from our closed session earlier and we have the following four readouts from um 4B the vote was seven yeses zero no zero abstain zero absent for 4E the vote was seven eyes zero no zero abstain zero absent for item four F the vote was seven yeses uh zero no zero abstains zero absent and item four G the vote was seven oh and now we will do our Opening Ceremonies and moment of reflection led by TJ rokos okay ready
003begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America which it stands one nation under God individuals next up is the adoption of the minutes from April 18 2023 do I have a motion so moved second okay moved by trustee weigand seconded by trustee crane roll call vote trustee Anderson yes trustee crane yes trustee wagon yes trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy yes trustee or soyluz yes trustee Bartow yes okay next up we'll have our recognition of our national board certif certified teacher Catherine Holtz from cloud campus [Music] I wish that was for me right but it was for Katie Katie can you come on up here this is who you wanted to good evening president Anderson superintendent Smith Board of Education my wonderful colleagues and our fabulous guests it's such a pleasure
004to be here tonight to introduce the most recent teacher that we have had to receive her national board certification and I just want everyone to know receiving your national board of education is extremely special it is very difficult to receive and as well as to maintain it's probably one of the highest Honors that you can receive as a teacher and they have to work for it in fact only one percent of our teachers in our district have this honor and actually only six percent within the entire state so you can see how how unique it is and to give you a little bit of background the mission of the national board is to advance the quality of teaching and learning and the foundation is national board certification is based on National standards and six prepositions
005teachers are committed to students and their learning they know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students they're responsible for for managing and monitoring student learning they think systematically about their practice and learn from experience I'm just going to repeat that one they think systematically about their practice and learn from experience and they are members of learning communities they Katie in her journey has and other candidates have to complete four components they must demonstrate content knowledge and for Katie that is mathematics which is very special and then completing a portfolio of differentiation in instruction teaching practice and learning environment and effective and reflective practitioner and so she has created a wonderful portfolio and so tonight it's it's with great pleasure that we recognize Katie who has earned her national board certification
006mathematics and early adolescence did I get that right yeah so she's been working really hard she's been with us for 11 years within our district she actually started as a substitute but she's so talented it was very short period of time before someone they picked her up at Davis and that was a short period of time before then she moved on to Corona del Mar where she was since 2013 and then when cloud campus opened they were fortunate enough to have her involved with that team to enhance student learning and next year she will be joining the Ensign family so very very excited so very highly respected and involved and this is just another accomplishment for you to be very very proud of Katie so yeah [Applause] thank you and next up we have our
007recognition of the 2022-23 teacher of the year recipients Miss Olson and actually it's my place yeah it's my pleasure to introduce nmft president Rhonda Reed who will be acknowledging and introducing our teachers of the Year wonderful good evening president Anderson trustees superintendent Dr Smith cabinet and guest here tonight it is such an honor to recognize the 2023 teacher of the year finalists this evening our top three finalists were announced at the Teacher of the Year Awards dinner last week where we celebrated the best of the best Educators who have outstanding passion um for teaching and learning who are truly extraordinary teachers who are also kind and generous human beings our three finalists who have the opportunity to move on to the county teacher of the year application process and I didn't see her tonight uh
008Jen yeni she's back then from CDM [Applause] thank you and Jennifer Puritan from Woodland is also one of our finalists [Applause] and Michael Wong finger from Ensign intermediate [Applause] thank you and next up we have our recognition of Newport Mesa Unified School District's 2023 classified school employee of the year recipients to Tedford hello house tonight [Music] president Anderson and members of the Board of Education and Dr Smith tonight we are recognizing two employees as part of the California classified school employee of the year program the overall purpose of the program is to identify and honor exemplary classified employees Newport mesa's classified employees are vital members of our school community and play key roles in creating a positive School environment that helps promote student achievement and well-being this evening I'm pleased to assist the board along
009with Personnel commissioner Susan Meyer Tristan Ailey and Charlene matoya in honoring our 2023 Newport Mesa classified employees of the year so our first person is known as the heart and soul of Ray Elementary this classified school employee of the year is a model of kindness and respect in nurturing and trusted presence for students and their families who links the campus and home experiences of our students while improving mental and physical health outcomes and academic success with extensive knowledge of policies and procedures of the health office that have proven instrumental in her developing effective and efficient routines she maintains impeccable health records and communication logs skillfully tracks absences to Aid teachers and is a leader in a campus emergency preparedness efforts critically though she connects with students by making it a priority to learn favorite stories
010and characters names of pets family traditions and more and has a magical way of building confidence motivation in students she's trusted and held in high esteem by students staff and parents this remarkable health assistant has become a crucial resource for the entire Rey Community congratulations to health assistant Patricia van sickler foreign [Music] congratulations to you Patricia it's amazing on [Applause] from top to bottom the staff and students at David's Magnet School recognize and greatly appreciate this classified school employee of the year who ensures that the campuses physical appearance and operations mirror its high quality instruction combining integrity and tension to detail pride and work and respect for all and exceptional listening skills this head custodian excels in all aspects of his position and far beyond the day-to-day cleaning and organizing obligations he serves as a
011valid role model for students with an approach well excuse me approachable and responsive manner has established trusted relationships with staff with his observant and anticipatory actions and successfully builds and maintains the morale of his custodial team through his positive and thoughtful relationship from classroom setup to meeting preparation to weather-related Alternatives his collaborative style and attentive manner allows the entire campus to operate more productively and harmlessly congratulations to head custodian Marco sharinos thank you okay and I just want to close by thanking the Board of Education Dr Smith and of course our Personnel Commissioners for always supporting and having a commitment to recognizing our exemplary classified employees thank you thank you and next up we have our recognition of our secondary education student Award winners is Torres yes thank you it is our pleasure this evening
012to celebrate so many of our wonderful secondary students and so I'd like to introduce Dr Mike Shaka who is going to then introduce Mr Carmona because we have lots of winners tonight and when we invite our students up if we could also have the principles come up if they are present tonight for a photo op that would be fantastic thank you thank you and yes it is recognition night so it's a lot of fun president Anderson members of the board Dr Smith executive cabinet and all of our guests each year Orange County Register recognizes five people across the county as Orange County artists of the year it gives me great pleasure to introduce Alexandra Hernandez Alexander if you can come up here Alexandra is from Costa Mesa High School and she won the OC artist
013of the year for Fine Arts this is a huge accomplishment she beat out hundreds of students throughout Orange County to receive this honor we're extremely proud of Alexandra and eager to watch her continue to pursue her passion in art congratulations [Applause] and now Keith Carmona will continue the celebrations with some of our avid standouts good evening president Anderson trustees superintendent Smith and executive cabinet tonight we are celebrating the accomplishments of some incredible students in our middle and high school Avid programs Avid is a college readiness program at seven of our secondary campuses that we'll be sharing a lot more about with you later this evening Avid seeks to provide students with essential academic skills for them to be College and Career ready upon High School graduation our Avid programs help students set High academic goals
014for themselves and then provide a pathway to achieve those goals here in a partnership between the Orange County Department of Education and the Angels baseball Foundation all Orange County secondary Avid schools are provided an opportunity to select their most outstanding student of the year to be celebrated at a ceremony the Avid 8th grade standout students were honored at a ceremony at the Diamond Club and on the infield of Angel Stadium earlier this month the students pictures were shown on the big screen a bio of their wonderful accomplishments was read and they received a laptop computer down on the field all while being cheered by family friends and School staff the 8th graders I'll name in just a minute have demonstrated perseverance diligence and dedication we are proud to celebrate Zachary gervasio from Costa Mesa Middle
015School come on we'll do all three of them Ashley Spicer from Ensign intermediate [Applause] she's beautiful and aisleen Avalos from T Winkle Middle School looks like she wasn't able to make it together okay one two three thank you all right similarly ocde and the Angels baseball celebrate the hard work and dedication of outstanding seniors in the AVID program at a beautiful ceremony at the Barkley theater at UC Irvine our Avid standout seniors are from Early College Sarita Plata [Applause] thank you oh okay from Estancia High School Jose Corona and from Newport Harbor High School Christian Reyes please join me in congratulating these seniors finally as a part of the ceremony at UCI the Angels baseball Foundation has a program that provides College scholarships for seniors around the county these scholarships are unique in that Angels
016baseball evaluates the students hard work and accomplishments and then ensures that selected students attend college at no cost the angels will provide scholarships that cover the balance of their tuition and other costs that aren't already covered by other grants and scholarships ostensibly these students are now receiving full rides to their schools of choice as we invite these students up to receive their recognition I invite them to share with you the college they will be attending from Early College High School always say castianos hi my name is alza Castellanos and I'm going to UCLA [Applause] from Early College Eileen Jimenez I will be attending UC Santa Cruz [Applause] also from Early College you met her earlier Sarita palata I will be attending Harvard also from Early College Gabriel quesada [Applause] attending UCLA also receiving this honor
017are Jose Corona and Christian Reyes who weren't able to be here this evening but congratulations to all of these students [Applause] thank you and I know Jose Corona couldn't be here but he got into Berkeley and UCSD and he has chosen to go to UCSD so you think Jose um next up is the recognition of the 2023 superintendent character trait award honorees Dr Smith so when people ask me what's right with Newport Mesa unified you just saw what's right with Newport Mesa unified these amazing students and their classmates that they represent they're absolutely right and by the way let me also thank the parents and Guardians this doesn't happen by accident we thank you for raising these inspiring young people to the teachers to the classified staff for everyone that's helped them get to where
018they are today and the dreams they'll get to realize thank you for everything you've done now I get to recognize some more I get to recognize graduating seniors one February high school that is a pillar of one of our character awards the character awards we recognize are caring citizenship courage fairness respect responsibility and trustworthiness these stories that we hear about these students once again uh absolutely inspiring in fact one of the students a staff member said to me I would trust this person with my children I would even trust them with my checkbook and it struck me who has a checkbook anymore okay and also you're going to your kids first before your bank account either way the story is these kids are pillars of character I'm gonna ask the principals to come up and
019help me with this and so first off let's have principal halt come up so we can recognize the character awardee for caring Ellie Gowen foreign it's my pleasure to introduce uh Ellie Ellie who's been rep selected to represent uh the the pillar of caring um Ellie's been involved in everything that she does at our school and continues to show what caring really looks like in different aspects of student leadership she's currently the ASB vice president where she's worked hard to make sure that all the events that going to Estancia are inclusive and enjoyable by everyone showing that inclusivity is a form of caring she's been a model link crew leader where she mentors freshmen to ensure that they understand how to get by in high school what it takes to be a successful eagle and
020what it means to be a true student she shows them caring every day by working as a mentor each day with 30 students that she mentors Ellie's also been a standout athlete at Estancia and it's nice to know somebody can really have sharp competitive instincts balanced by that sense of caring caring might not be the way a lot of her competitors viewed her but she's represented our school well uh she's been the varsity team captain she's been selected to represent the Orange County League uh and she's also been selected to the Elle County Dream Team after leaving Estancia she's going to go on and attend UCLA and major in Applied Mathematics is [Applause] now I'd like to have principal Haley come up and help me with the citizenship awardee Luca fasulo [Applause] yes good evening
021uh president Anderson members of the board Dr Smith executive cabinet it's my pleasure to be here tonight I'll Echo your comments uh this time of year is just such a special time as we reflect on the students not only in our school but throughout the district it's just so fun to hear their accomplishments and you're exactly right it is a true representative of the work that we do each and every day and part of that work is next to me I've gotten to know uh Luca fasulo this year and uh more than anything I learned about him really in the daily pilot and sometimes you think oh geez like what what is that going to mean well Luca was our representative for boys Nation after attending boys state for Corona del Mar High School as
022a junior and got selected to go to Washington DC and so reading about Luca and then meeting him this Summer uh you can tell right away that he indeed represents everything we want to see not only in our school Community but the community at large he cares he cares about other people's points of view he wants to make sure they're inclusive any any possible outcomes that we could try to drive for positive change means he will see just recently in ASB class and he's been a part of ASB for every single year he's been at Corona del Mar we're having a really healthy debate about some changes we're making in our student handbook and I just watched him as we kind of were having the conversation with the other 31 students in the room really
023start to kind of synthesize kind of some of those viewpoints to make sure that everybody felt that they were heard they were appreciated and they were valued in that conversation and then we got to a really really good outcome at the end really really happy as a Washingtonian that just like TJ roku's right there we also Luca will be attending the University of Washington uh this fall go Huskies he's a marvelous representative of school and he's exactly what we want in our community and so just make sure after you go to the beautiful state of Washington please come back and and help us here so Luca for sulo laughs foreign Luca did try to get me in trouble this weekend though I have to be honest and share the story we had a section championship
024game where both of our teams were in the southern section Championship so we all decided we had to sit in a neutral area which is hard to find in a gymnasium so we went to the Press table right sitting at the Press table Luca came up to me and said I'm glad you picked the right team and I said hey man I'm at the Press level he said but it's closer to our Sidelines so all of our hard work did necessarily pay off with him now the awardee for courage I'd like to have principal bauermeister compete help me with Davian Gonzalez good evening president Anderson members of the board Dr Smith executive cabinet and distinguished guests is with great pride and pleasure that I bring David Devin Gonzalez to you tonight as a superintendent's recipient
025for courage David has certainly used Back Bay High School to its fullest to create a plan for his future Davion once described himself as a failure in the education system because of his grades and spotty attendance but in the past two years he's shown the courage to ignore the stereotypes that come with poor grades and unlocking his unlimited potential he is now considered a role model and Mentor for other students finding a way to create your own success is what courage is all about and Davion is the best example of that at Back Bay through his involvement in the Back Bay spider lab program he has earned multiple career advancing certifications and now helps his fellow students and teachers acquire valuable skills Davian also participated in the school's new mentorship program building his skill set
026from industry Professionals in real estate construction and entrepreneurial fields and two of them are here tonight he has taken ownership of his education and career goals when he came to Back Bay he was intent on dropping out so he could financially support his family but instead made it his personal goal to succeed in education and he has done just that his teacher Jason Kovac said earlier this year daviana attended an evening presentation on financial aid leaving with a determination to apply for scholarships he will attend Orange Coast College in the fall and plans to major in business and we look forward to seeing what happens in davion's future because we know he's ready foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Martinez could come up and help me with the awardee for fairness Alice [Applause] in president Anderson board
027trustees Dr Smith executive cabinet guess I'm going to stick with what I have here or you're gonna have to start that clock on me they'll always say castianos's early years in life were anything but fair one would not know it based on her Fair kind and positive attitude she does not complain of hardships or make excuses and that is especially true when it comes to education and relationships with her peers Alize has pushed forward to create a bright future as home life was not always stable fortunately her aunt and uncle were here tonight took Alize and her sister Amelie in not too long ago yet she never missed a beat with a resilience and determination during classroom debates and discussions LSA searches for the truth and ensures that all their peers have an opportunity to
028be heard she listens to and considers all points of view to achieve a balanced perspective among her peers and those with differing views her reasoning and Analysis is consistently fair and kind to all people and groups and she demonstrates a sense of civic duty and responsibility since Alizee did not always have positive memories with law enforcement who had to intervene in her young life she took it upon herself to understand what officers Experience day in and day out by joining the Newport Beach Police Department's explorers program where she has committed over 350 hours of service these are always words my dream is to fulfill my calling to help people to become a doctor I'm going to show other Latina girls that there is a place for us in the medical field despite currently making up
029such a minority of Physicians the pain I have experienced in the past has become my purpose and will feel the impact I'm going to make in the future when she graduates on June 1st she will have earned not only a high school diploma but also associate degrees in math and science plus arts and humanities LSA intends to start her next Journey at UCLA majoring in cognitive neuroscience she has the right mindset where I don't have any doubt one day I'll be calling her Dr Elise [Applause] principal Bolton can come up and help me with our awardee for respect Shea wood president Anderson members of the board Dr Smith executive cabinet and distinguished guest thank you for recognizing Shea wood for respect it's one of the pillars at Newport Harbor High School it's one of the
030most cherished values that we have invariably a student has 24 to 28 teachers in their four years at Newport Harbor every single one of Shea's teachers recommended her for the superintendent of character award and they just said that she was the most respectful person that they have ever met it's an overused term sometimes but she exudes it embodies it and lives it every day accepts people for who they are doesn't judge is very soft-spoken but tenacious at her academic work and also sailing she's a sailor sailor children she'll be she in fact she'll be sailing at Stanford University in the fall where she'll be attending and I think that the biggest compliment that that she could receive is from her own peers who when they found out that she got this award applauded the fact
031that we had chosen her for this award and her picture is going to hang again representing the entire student body at Newport Harbor High School she's a full IB diploma recipient she'll get her full IB diploma this spring at Newport Harbor and she's off and away and I'll be working for her in a couple of years after she graduates from Stanford as we all will but she'll change the world because of her heart her soul her mind and the Beautiful acceptance that she has for everybody in this world Shea wood [Applause] closer thank you now principal Stevens can help me with our awardee for responsibility Lauren James [Applause] good evening Dr Smith president Anderson members of the board and executive cabinet before I start I want to let you know that Lauren was one of
032the original students at Cloud campus and has been with us the entire three years of our school so we're really happy to recognize her tonight because she's accomplished on so many levels she has consistently demonstrated responsibility through her ethic and respectful attitude she takes care of family members and takes an active role in her family and tutoring other students including elementary students at California school in nmusd she attends Korean class two hours a week and spends her free time tutoring younger students and she plans to spend time in college abroad in Korea teaching English so Lauren is also a classically trained singer you may have heard her at some of the events in the past including graduations at performance at T Winkle California Estancia the state of the District breakfast Costa Mesa city council and
033many more and you'll have another opportunity at the cloud campus graduation that's coming up real soon her English teacher Mrs Arrow comments that Lauren cares deeply about the world and one of her greatest accomplishments in life will be leaving it a better place her mind is full of insight and possibility her heart is full of respect and empathy for all Lauren has always shared that she hopes to be part of a non-profit group acting as an advocate for the voiceless and underprivileged she values humanity and will rise to the occasion for anyone in need for instance in response to her senior project Lauren presented information on Mental Health Awareness to all of our Zoom classes at Cloud campus Lauren has been accepted to the University of California San Diego the University of Minnesota University of
034North Carolina at Greensboro University of Hawaii in Manawa and is excited to major in sociology with a career goal in Social Work Lauren would also like to travel abroad in her college Years congratulations Lauren [Applause] thank you and finally if principal Partners could help me award our final Award winner for trustworthiness Tiana long president Anderson members of the board superintendent Smith executive cabinet and guest Tiana luong was one of the first students that I had the opportunity to meet when I started at Costa Mesa High School she stood out as a student who is compassionate introspective and trustworthy over the year I have observed her being a connector and creating an inclusive campus for all students she celebrates others accomplishments and makes the makes those around her feel special I have observed her make thoughtful
035decisions keeping in mind the feelings of others when asking for input from the staff on who should be considered for character traits award Tiana received the most nominations with members of the staff sharing that they would trust her with her kids their kids and trust her with their life being honest I understand why what I haven't shared with her or really anyone is this during our spread the love week students in ASB wrote letters to members of the staff spreading kindness and gratitude Tiana wrote a letter to me which is hanging in my office it's not just the fact that she wrote the letter but the heartfelt words that left me taking a picture of it and sending it to my family I wish they thought I was a specialist truly [Laughter] um she is
036the type of student that will lend a helping hand she's the type of student that will ask you how are you really doing because she reads people so well she's the type of student that makes you believe that you can when you are not sure Tiana luong is an exceptional Mustang and we are so proud to celebrate her Tiana [Applause] those are my favorite Awards um next up our student board member reports trustee crane good evening everyone tonight's topic is in the spirit of the superintendent character traits award if you were to present a character trait award to one specific adult individual on at your campus should we wait until let's let's recess for about a not recess but pause for a minute we're going to take a one minute break while our students and
037our families are able to leave okay we will resume all right thank you president Anderson in the spirit of the superintendent's character traits award if you were to present a character trait award to one specific adult individual at your campus who would it be in which one of the seven award traits would you bestow upon this individual and why and the Seven again were caring citizenship courage fairness respect responsibility and trustworthiness and then if you also can share two campus highlights tonight we have onadias TJ rocos from Coronado del Mar High School and we have Ethan Krauss from cloud campus Marcie cope and Moss Elliott from Back Bay High School Monte Vista High and TJ won't we begin with you well just when you thought the recognizing was over uh here we go again so
038this week as Mrs Craig mentioned we were asked to recognize an adult on campus who we would give an award to for one of the seven character traits superintendent highlights at the end of every year however I happen to believe that in order to be a good man or woman you have to have a little bit of all seven character traits caring citizenship courage fairness respect responsibility and trustworthiness the man I am choosing to highlight Michael Dobbins encompasses all of these qualities in his life because he's one of the most well-rounded individuals I've ever met as the activities director at CDM he teaches a student government class this means he constantly has a pulse on what is happening within the student body more impressively he is able to get along and connect with all 50
039of our diverse students in the student government class he can have a conversation with me and the boys and then get along equally as well with the girls from football to dance to theater he knows how to hold a conversation about it and if he can't he's willing to learn and listen I first met Mr Dobbins as a nervous sixth grader walking into my middle school ASB interview that day he gave me his vote of confidence and I've served with him for six straight years since I have grown as a man since meeting him but I have not grown without him aside from my parents he has been one of the most important role models in my life they say everyone has a has that one teacher that they will remember that truly made their
040experience in school special I was fortunate enough to have that teacher every year I was at CDM Dobbins I'm a better man because of you to the superintendent members of the board the stipend that has given new activities directors is not enough for the work that they do it's possible that no amount would be enough to compensate them for the amount of students they impact and Lead to all activities directors thank you for staying with us until midnight setting up for the rallies thank you for always answering the phone and thank you for your service I'll keep my campus highlights short and sweet my first highlight should be a celebration for the entire District because we had two Adam USD schools competing for the CIF Volleyball championship on Saturday unfortunately the school from the other
041side of the bay that we don't talk about beat us but the dedication that all these boys put in to get their stems from a school district committed to their success in sports and school and we'll get them in football again I think that would be 11 years Mr Bolton I don't know if you probably left finally we have prom this Saturday at Soak University with an Under the Sea theme parents if your son or daughter is lucky enough to attend CDM or even luckier that they're dating someone from CDM please buy the tickets by this Thursday to attend at CDM high school students will be voting on one prompt King and one prom queen this week at school and a senior boy will be announced as king and a senior girls Queen at the
042dance about halfway through before everyone leaves so thank you always for the opportunity to speak God bless you and thank you Ethan Krauss Cloud campus if I was to give a character trait award to someone at my school it would have to be my teacher Mrs Kroger the award would be for caring I have had her as my science teacher for the past three years now myself my year she was my chemistry teacher my junior year she was my AP environmental and AP chem teacher I'm sorry in this year she was my AP environmental and AP chem teacher I would give her the caring award because she always checks in with me to see how I'm doing at the beginning of each class in addition she always checks to make sure I understand a concept
043before moving on to a topic she's an amazing teacher and I'm so glad that I've had her these past three years for cloud campus highlights on Monday May 22nd for secondary school will be having a virtual open house on Wednesday May 24th the elementary school will be having its open house then on June 6 elementary students will be having a yearbook signing celebration thank you Ethan Marcy and Moss come on up Marcy just me I'm afraid that's that's good we'll we'll take that good evening superintendent Smith president Anderson board members cabinet and Community the student board members were asked who on our school's campus we as students would present a character trait award to I would choose one of our English teachers Miss Bryce Dickman with the character trait Award of caring she is one
044of the most caring people on campus whenever a fellow a student or fellow teacher needs help she is there to support them in any way they need it she makes sure that students understand everything she teaches and is there to support them with any of their needs emotionally or academically she is always energetic energetic and enthusiastic she brings endless positive energy to campus and two campus highlights from this last month was our senior breakfast which was a success in all of our graduating students got their photos taken including me and Moss and we also had our Cinco de Mayo celebration which was a nice break for the students thank you very much for your time thank you Marcy okay next is our Harbor Council PTA report Cynthia Strassman good evening superintendent Dr Smith president Anderson
045trustees cabinet and guest good to be here it's been a while since I've reported in person we just have a few things to share on behalf of Harbor Council PTA on May 8th we had our Harbor Council honorary Service Awards luncheon where we were honoring our unit PTA parent volunteers and our Council awardees and we were so appreciative of the support that we received from the principals the district the trustees our PTA presidents and the parent Community we had about 160 in attendance that day so it was a great showing it was great to be back in person it was economical and I received a lot of emails from the attendees stating that they felt honored so thank you for that um next pleased to announce that Harbor Council PTA received two distinguished Awards this
046year one from Fort District PTA we received the outstanding Council PTA for our collaboration our advocacy our communication and our leadership in addition we received an award from California state PTA for our leadership I'm just recognizing all the work that we do to help support our PTA units I also would like to recognize and graduate three PTA units for their many many years of service at their school sites you're going to be wowed by this Ensign 70 years 70 70. Anderson 60 years and Paul arino 50 years so um pretty pretty impressive that the PTA is still going strong after all these years as we end this school year our current membership is I'm going to have Andrew McGary come up she's our VP of membership to share the good news about membership we'll Circle
047back to that but she had asked to come and present that so we'll give her just a couple minutes and we're wrap as we're wrapping up um the end of the year we are meeting our last meeting of the years in June we've invited all the newly elected PTA presidents to come meet Harbor Council sometimes the new leadership kind of is kind of frightened to come to Harbor Council not quite sure what we're all about so we're we're there to introduce greet them welcome them and help them make a smooth transition into their new leadership roles um she's come back in okay um lastly I wanted to express on behalf of Harvard Council or gratitude to our Educators to our school board members to The District to the school staff right to our PTA leaders
048our parent volunteers we're working as the village right we're all working in concert to benefit our school communities and the kids and it doesn't go unnoticed we truly appreciate your partnership we couldn't do it without your support and we look forward to our partnership next year so I'm not going to say goodbye just yet to Fed I give just a couple minutes for Andrea which has got her coming how about we call if she comes back in yeah okay I could share what she's going to share but I told her I would give her um a couple minutes to do that so poor recap okay well I'm gonna come back up okay there she is okay this is Andrew McGarry she's our vice president of membership sorry I was waiting for my prop and he's
049writing so miss soldan from Costa Mesa High School is going to be my messenger um but as VP as Harbor Council PTA membership Michael this year was to increase by three percent district-wide and I reached out to all the PTA presidents and encourage them to do all that they could whether that meant setting a table up at their open house or at a football game or going to the water polo games or at their trunk or treat and just sharing what ptas actually do on their campuses um I have my foot cut in in different schools because I have kids at Davis but then I also have kids at Costa Mesa middle and high school and I think for a lot of parents they don't know what does PTA actually do so I was encouraging
050all of our PTA presidents to share all the amazing things that you do on your campus and so every month I would send them fun little activities um try to get your principles to join try to get your staff to join make sure everybody on your PTA board has joined and just little things like that send me a picture of your board dressed up for Halloween or at your last board meeting and I was trying to make it more inclusive and not my school versus your school mentality I wanted us to be Newport Mesa mentality and because of that we have raised our percentages at over 13 percent increase district-wide which is around 900 more memberships um one of the fun things that I was doing every single month was any time a school did
051something amazing those little baby sets of baby steps of achievements I would ring a bell and I forgot my belt but my husband just oh pole dance so anyways I've been the bell ringer for the last year um so no matter what school that was whether they had 23 memberships last year and now they're at 32. and for a lot of schools that have four or 500 memberships they don't think that's much of an accomplishment but in my eyes that was huge it meant that they were improving on their own campus they were spreading the good word of what PT was doing they were getting more staff involved they were getting more parents involved and so I would ring the bell for each and every single one of those schools please be yes yes here
052it is this is my favorite thing um anyways for every single school all those little amazing amazing amazing little achievements they would get Skittles but also I would ring the bell because I wanted them to feel proud of whatever those achievements were and so anyways I'm really really proud as a VP over membership to as of today about there's around 900 memberships but it was a 13 increase last year we were at 555 and I think we're at 68 6488 yeah 60 yeah it's over 64. but we don't have maze numbers yet so but I'm really proud and I'm coming back next year as membership so I hope to be ringing the bell next year to let you know that we've increased even more so for everybody here who has joined PTA thank you [Music]
053and make sure you join the PTA first July 1st July okay next up are csca President Stu Tedford president Anderson trustees my buddy Wes Smith cabinet and all of our esteemed guests um the first thing I'd like to do real quick is to acknowledge our scholarship winners and the reason I'm going to do that is because I'll forget because I don't normally prepare and if I prepare it I'll forget so um Kyra Johnson Ramirez Lucas Woodruff and Mark Vera each got a thousand dollars from CSE and the reason we do that is because we can't really directly reward our uh our members for these kinds of things but what we can do is support them in their quest for education for their kids which is super important and you all know that I put kids
054first all the time so anytime I can help somebody you know do something really nice for their for their family we'd like we like to do that so um uh one thing I would like to bring up is As a kind of a mixed message thing is that the instructional AIDS I'm still getting a lot of calls from them but I could I tell them that we're working on it as diligently as we can I've shown the the Personnel commission reports about how many positions we have available for people to take how many people are qualified we have a lot of 100 percenters so we have a lot of quality people that we can choose from so we need to just find a way to get them in the door and I know that we're
055going to do that together the LMI is coming up in a couple of weeks we're super looking forward to that I want to thank everybody for including us in that it's been a very rewarding [Music] marriage I'd say between the people that come and the people who participate fully sometimes it's hard to get people off of their butt you know to to understand the value of these things but at the same time when you can reach out to somebody who's in a position to help you and you can do the same because you've develop those relationships and you've heard me talk about it many many times about relationships it's important to us and we really really value it and thank you very much for all the consideration you give us and now my favorite part
056is Ace day and I want to thank every one of you who's participating it's going to be a wonderful program my folks are super excited I'm super excited you're going to be busy busy bring your work clothes I got my boots on you may want to also I hear we got a lot of interesting things for folks to do but again what it's about is it's about team building and relationships and that's what we do best here in Newport Mesa and I want to thank all of you for your dedication to the kids and your consideration and kindness to us and especially your leadership because that's what I value most thank you next nmft president Rhonda Reed Sandy Gordon good evening president Anderson trustees superintendent Smith and cabinet and guest tonight uh first of all
057I wanted to say congrats to our certificated and classified and all those absolutely wonderful students recognized here tonight everybody has done such an amazing job I'm Sandy Gordon I'm first vice president and I'm honored to share with you tonight an nmft's update for this evening this past month I alongside our Union president Rhonda Reed joined California Federation and teachers in Sacramento to meet with state legislators and advocates for our priority for education and the capitol all of our presents in the halls in the legislature gives a human face to our Collective fight for high quality education one of our top priorities AB 938 increases certificated and classified Educators and professionals wages to enable them to have a long and successful career dedicated to their students while we were in Sacramento the bill passed out of
058the education committee without any no votes and with bipartisan support so we were very happy to that it was a very very exciting day on another note as many of you know this is my last year with the district therefore my involvement with nmft and my involvement with nmft at this level I wanted to express my gratitude to all those I have had the pleasure of working with and knowing during my career we I we truly have the best of the best in our district being on the Executive Board of our Union as a has been both challenging and rewarding and sometimes all in the same situation I've especially enjoying the interaction with the district Personnel through our negotiations our LMI training and our superintendent meetings I feel our Union uh and its leadership are
059very very strong and will continue to be strong with the candidates that are currently running for office in the involvement we have from our certificated employees I look forward to volunteering and continuing to support the district and our Union and any way that I can thank you for a wonderful career thank you very much Sandy for all of your years at Victoria next we'll move on to 14 Community input on non-agendized items this is an opportunity for the public to address the board regarding items on the regular meeting agenda comments on non-agenda items topics are limited to three minutes per comment up to 20 minutes per topic and today we have a lot on class size so those to get everyone inks who want to hear everyone we're going to shorten those to two minutes
060each because we do want to get everyone in um a speaker may not relinquish his or her time to another person by order of the brown acts section 549-54.2 the board will take no action nor have any discussion on non-agendized items the superintendent the superintendent May provide clarification during superintendent's comments Andrea bird Steiner and after that will be Corey Tippett good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak today my name is Andrea birdsteiner and I am the mom of two students at Newport Heights Elementary I'm here to urge you to add at least two teachers to class and classrooms to Newport Heights for the 2023-24 school year my kids are in Kinder in third grade right now at Newport Heights because of the covid-19 crisis the current third grade students at Heights did about
061a year of remote or hybrid learning between kindergarten and first grade as reported last week on NPR according to researchers at Harvard Center for Education policy research and Stanford's Educational Opportunity project students fall behind during covet in both math and reading students with long periods of remote or hybrid learning fell further behind and these studies are showing that the students aren't catching up yet the unusual circumstances of the coveted crisis puts a burden on our teachers to help our students play catch-up each child had a different experience with remote and hybrid learning many fell behind academically and many fall behind socially and emotionally we need to support these students and the best way to do this is by keeping our student teacher ratio down so that teachers have the ability to give our students individualized
062attention that meets our students individualized needs if teachers have too many students they can't do this right now at Newport Heights there are three third grade classes but only two fourth and two fifth grade classrooms large classes heard our students chances at catching up the difference between around 20 to 22 students versus 27 to 30 students in his classroom is huge a teacher only has a set amount of time to spend one-on-one with students even in a small class and in a large class at times reduced even further because if any disruption can cause a ripple effect I'm asking the board to add at least two teachers in classrooms for the 2023 to 24 school year at Newport Heights so that all grades have at least three classrooms we must support our teachers and students
063thank you foreign good evening Newport Mesa trustees and superintendent Smith my name is Corey Tippett I have three sons a third grader at Kaiser first grader at Woodland and a soon-to-be TK student I've come here tonight to share my concerns regarding projected class size increases at Kaiser Elementary in my meeting with District Representatives I was heartened to hear them say that while we are a large District at 22 schools we aren't so large that we can't take time to look at each school's individual needs and that to me speaks to the heart of the matter as a former High School teacher and administrator I understand the need for standardized metrics and procedures without them it would just be chaos but I also know the power that comes from being able to see each student class
064and school as unique and distinct entity that deserves consideration I understand how the math Works in my classes at other schools are smaller partly due to the pause on split classes that said there's a clear inequity happening when some students are learning in classes with 23 students and other students are in classes with 29 and 30 students let me be clear I don't want that the other classes to be brought up to Target I want fourth and fifth grade to be re-examined with a critical lens to see what is really best for these students I continue to hear that the district is trying to bring our classes back up to the pre-covet Target of 28 to 1. this is concerning as all of the academic research that has come out of the education space makes
065it clear we're living in a post-coveted world and these students need to be treated as such the social emotional and academic trauma these students have experienced is real our current third graders lost the first few years of their schooling and trying to get back to pre-coveted numbers without intense intervention is setting both teachers and students up to fail I know you've read the same research as I have learning loss from covid will take years to correct and that is with intensive recovery strategies not just returning to the status quo sending these kids back into larger classes with less one-on-one attention is simply nonsensical test scores will continue to suffer and we will continue to lose kids to private schools thank you for your time [Applause] Alina will be John Joe hi good evening my name
066is shalin ibisa I'm a pediatrician in Huntington Beach but I live in Costa Mesa I have a fourth grader at Kaiser Elementary she's about 29 kids in her class right now she explains to me on the daily that it's really hard for her to focus because of all the changes that are going on and there's a lot harder for kids to kind of settle down basically so basically she said it took her almost a whole year for them to you know calm everyone down she said we have actually transferred to the public school because we've had a lot of issues with lack of diversity in the private schools so you know one of the reasons why we wanted to change that was to go to the public school and kind of experience that but when
067I hear about the lack of you know funding for more teachers more one-on-one it's kind of making me really kind of rethink what I want to do with my children's education as a physician and a pediatrician in the area you know on The Daily I experienced what covet is affecting you know my children and you know my own patients as well too um you know usually these kids that I hear from or parents that I hear from you know they have a great support system but so I can't imagine you know not having that and you know once the funds start lacking and with the lack of extra support you know these teachers can you know to set extra five minutes can make a really huge difference and touch a child's life um you know
068if the child won't if you know once there's more availability for these teachers to you know have that one-on-one you know they won't be coming to see me in my clinic because of depression anxiety you know a lot of issues that have been just getting worse and worse as the days go by um so I think we should really rethink our choices you know for what is more important for the future and not be so short-sighted thank you [Applause] [Music] and after John is Jennifer momini momina all right good evening superintendent Smith president Anderson trustees I appreciate you taking the time tonight my name is John Joe I am a parent of two children at Newport Mesa Unified School District my wife Tiffany is a member of the PTA teacher at a neighboring school for
069the past 16 years and I too helped volunteer at the school with the school's Foundation to help fundraise for the district as well um we absolutely love first and foremost Newport Heights Elementary we think it's an amazing School we're here today because we want to continue to support that school we have a fifth grader who has lost you know is in fifth grade previous years has always been three teachers this is the first year where they reduce the class to reduce the teacher count so it went from 22 students up to 30 students at the time we were told this was to make room for the sixth graders so they had all three teachers in their grade going forward or being told that the sixth grade year next year will also lose a teacher so
070he'll have two years well there will be 30 to 1 as far as a student to teacher ratio and we're just trying to communicate this to the board we ask you for support um you know we're we're very concerned that this group of students is struggling academically they're current they're going to Care their struggles into junior high and high school where we know for a fact that Junior High comes with more academic rigor and we just want to set up our kids for for all the support they can we're here tonight where we saw previously where there's all these students who are being celebrated for the academics and we want to support our kids as well so we thank you for your time and after Jennifer will be Casey Carpenter good evening I'd like to
071pass my time please because other parents are covering the same comments I wanted to make but we're not allowed to do that if someone else would like to speak they need to fill up their own car oh they are they have I just know that what I would like to share I've already heard parents say and I don't want to waste time you Casey Carpenter and then Carrie night teak Carrie Knight Teague and then following that Kelly Newcomb good evening superintendent Smith president Anderson trustees and cabinet I appreciate the time tonight my name is Carrie Knight T and I'm a parent who loves children in third and fifth grade next year at Kaiser Elementary I'm also a school psychologist and professor and it's difficult for me to remove that hat when I think about my
072kids education I'm here to support Kaiser's outstanding teachers and excellent Administration first and foremost and speak about projected class sizes at Kaiser next year I recognize that decisions have been made about Kaiser Staffing are made in accordance with California Department of education's maximums for grades three through six and class considerations across other Newport Mesa schools I ask though that considerations are made first and foremost about the best interests of our students I also implore you to consider the potential impact this could have on Kaiser's and therefore Newport mesa's overall enrollment Trends in the future research on the relationship between class size and student outcomes is impacted by many confounding variables things like teacher education curriculum the Fidelity of implementation of that curriculum the skills that kids come into classrooms with at the beginning of the
073year so there's been issues with research on class size in the past and I can speak about that as a professional however studies that do a good job of controlling for those confounding variables do find a relationship between class size and student outcomes both academic and student well-being even in the upper grades so much of the research Focus has been on primary grades and that's reflected in the CDE guidelines for class size but there is research evidence to support that class size impacts the outcomes of our upper elementary students as well in a post School closure World fewer students are meeting or exceeding Ela and math standards and aspects testing it's in the best interest of student teach students teachers am I done yeah okay thank you thank you [Applause] next up is Kelly and
074then Wendy Paget followed by Donald Miller okay don't start it good evening Newport Mesa trustees and superintendent Smith my name is Kelly Newcombe my daughter is a fourth grader at Kaiser Elementary and happens to be the fourth generation of our family to attend the Newport Mesa School District I'll come here tonight to talk to you about the class sizes at Kaiser and offer my strong support to keep all Kaiser teachers on staff we support our entire staff and Leadership at Kaiser this is purely a class size issue my daughter is one of the unique kids at Kaiser who has both an IEP and is a gate student her unique learning disability paired with her Advanced learning has made it difficult for her to reach her potential this year with a crowded class of 30 students
075she comes home constantly sharing how hard it is to focus or get her questions answered in class when her classmates are disrupted disruptive I volunteer in her class once a week and know her classmates have IEPs 504s or English language Learners struggling academically academic High achieving while there's how behavioral issues need speech and counseling with all the specific needs of each student and the highly studied post-covid learning loss there is no one teacher that can effectively meet the social emotional and academic needs of 30 students in the in the time allotted I see the challenges of her teachers face and the curriculum required and I know the class will not be able to get through it all by the Year's End teachers work hard to do their best but the district is failing to support
076them with these large class sizes this entire fourth grade will be faced with the same overcrowded issues going into fourth and fifth and sixth grades and is unfair that they will not receive the same level of education and opportunities as others in our school and our district after pulling families on my daughter's sports teams who are also in fourth grade in the Newport Mesa area none of them have larger classes larger than 22 students and all attend schools like Mariners Kelly Brook California East Bluff it's only our Kaiser kids that have 29 to 30 students which these are her peers when we're going to go to incident Harbor and obviously this is going to impact their overall success I could have said more [Applause] good evening Newport Mesa trustees and superintendent Smith my name is
077Wendy badgett and I'm a Kaiser Elementary School parent in the upcoming to 2023-24 school year I will have children in 4th and fifth grade which are the most impacted grades at Kaiser I have witnessed the disruption disruptions and constant distractions in classrooms with these larger class sizes I'm currently spending time in these larger class classes as both a parent volunteer and a substitute teacher I have seen firsthand that it is difficult for students to learn to concentrate and perform at their best in these large classes additionally I'm concerned with Equity among classroom sizes within schools in our district as a substitute teacher I have been in different schools in various classrooms of the same grade where the numbers are significantly lower students in these smaller classes are able to successfully Move Along through the curriculum
078with the support of their teacher with classrooms operating at maximum capacity Kaiser students are not being offered the same Equitable learning experiences that they deserve asking even our most experienced teachers to manage these overpopulated classes and meet the needs of many the many students needing extra support throughout the day is unreasonable the loss of Kaiser teachers and proposed higher class sizes simply does not set our students up for success as a parent and an educator I teach my students to do better than the minimum to strive to go above and beyond a goal I'm asking the board to do what's best for our students and not leave Kaiser or any school staff but just the minimum thank you for your time Donald Miller hard to do yet hello my name is Donald Miller uh I
079have a fourth grader uh at Kaiser a boy and I have a seventh grade girl at uh Ensign who went through Kaiser so I I got to see you know the whole thing and Kaiser's been great Woodland is great nothing but great things to say about these people um but I'm a little bit taken aback that by the notion that we're looking to get back to a ratio that was in place pre-pandemic uh it seems to me like you know maybe the pandemic is over as a national uh or a World Health uh event but the impact that these kids have suffered because of the disruption to the normal course of education is like just incredible and like I got to see the difference between my son who was in first and second grade and
080missing those opportunities that the in-person instruction at that critical age versus my daughter they both were negatively impacted but my son and his cohort were like way way impacted so it's just the notion of going back to that status quo and T is kind of nuts to me because we're still reeling from the effects of this so that's got to be taken into account the last thing I'll say is like I get it we want to be fair to the other schools we can't set a ratio that's so low that it's physically impossible for certain schools to meet it because they don't have enough classrooms well if that's the limitation then I should really be advocating for more classrooms at those schools so that we can bring the ratio down and it's physically possible to
081meet a ratio that we would like to see at all the schools in our district I think parents you know we're looking at our kids and our classrooms at our schools but you guys when you're talking about these ratios this is a ratio for the whole District you know and you got to look at all the schools so if you've got to build more classrooms of Paul Arena so that they can you know theoretically uh meet a ratio of 25 to 1 then build classrooms at Paul Areno like whatever has to be done let's do it but let's not be holding ourselves to a ratio that's only ever going to be as low as what our least equipped most overburdened school can handle thank you appreciate it next is Kathy pinkert followed by Deborah Harrison
082yes we are back to three minutes we are moving on from class sizes all right good evening trustees and superintendent Smith thank you for your time this evening my name is Kathy Pinker and I'm here to speak as a parent of a player on the Newport Harbor baseball team my husband Tim is the president of the baseball boosters so as a family we're very invested in this program and have been frustrated by the lack of action from the district when it comes to health Safety and Security of the players on this team as you know we are in a very unique situation with the proximity to the ENC which not only poses health and safety concerns such as uneven outfields with holes drainage issues rabbit feces all over the field fencing sinkage but it also
083has a tremendous Financial impact Newport Harbor baseball has had no major district field Renovations in over four decades Costa Mesa Estancia CDM all have had within the last five years as parents we have to fundraise and spend about 50 to 75 000 per year on items that should be covered by the district some of these items include netting which was paid for by the boosters all other netting and nmusd was paid for by the district Dugout netting also paid well for by the boosters grass over seating rabbit fencing and installation machines and Equipment I'm not sure if you guys are aware but we spend eight thousand dollars of parent money on baseballs that get lost into the ENC each year um we also had to install new Dugout benches with our own money that were
084literally falling apart from termites um and the list goes on when we put out campaigns to raise funds the number one question we receive is where does the funding go most other athletic programs use booster funding to pay for items outside of the health and safety bucket such as out of town tournaments extra coaching and Technology unfortunately we are stuck paying for items to try to keep our players safe I'd also like to bring up security as you're all aware we had a break-in of the player Clubhouse and locker room earlier this year resulting in about twenty thousand dollars worth of player equipment that was stolen our coaches had requested a Better Door and repair for a really long time and it was never fixed even after the break-in the door sat broken for several
085weeks until it finally fell off the hinges and then it got fixed from an outsider perspective that door should have been replaced the day after the break-in occurred the break-in never would have actually happened had the repair been made when the complaint was initially requested over the last three years since our son has been in the program we've heard a lot of talk but have seen no action if we don't act now we're going to be at the exact same spot than we were last year and many years before that at the end of the season next year we've been told that there's a master plan in place which is great but that's many many years down the road as boosters parents and members of this program we would like to see a hybrid solution
086paid for by the district and we can also get private funding for a hybrid field of um both sod in the Outfield and then Turf and the infield we would also like to see the fences repaired which we've asked for repairs for a long time because of the safety issues thank you foreign hello and good evening I am Deborah Harrison the mom of a new and incoming freshman at Newport Harbor High School I'm here to speak as my son's Advocate and will continue to speak as his Advocate until he graduates in 2027. it is my passion to stand before you today not just as a mom of a boy with a dream that is bigger than me but as a resident of the community to discuss what is important to these kids I want to
087talk about three things three things that you just heard these things already have heard previously but as a new parent coming into the Newport Harbor High School I feel like I've been falsely led to believe that our facilities were just like everyone else's facilities but now I come to find out that this is incorrect and with the below issues it is sheer negligence and laziness that these multiple requests have not been either submitted or approved the first is safety we have a multiple of injuries on our Fields over the last few months due to erosion out of date facilities and unlit areas these have no excuses for the latest for these kids excuse me number two is health and wellness the poop from the both the dogs the bunnies the geese really carry germs and
088parasites and bacteria to these young children and actually are causing environmental and pollution in our community the school States no dogs on campus but everyone knows that this is the local dog park three security many athletes attend the school at early in the morning or late at night and excuse me I was amazed to find out that my child will be attending a school without Gates or lighting or cameras or security guards in some of the most darkest and remote areas on campus where theft and vandalism have occurred it is our responsibility to keep our kids safe but also to inspire and create their dreams to come true our schools are not just for educational purposes which I know that this is number one but it is also to practice a healthy lifestyle and that
089has to start today thank you foreign my name is Krista Perez you may recall I was here 30 days ago talking about the same subject the baseball facilities at Newport Harbor High School um I would like to be reporting that many many great things have happened since in the last 30 days but unfortunately that's not quite the case I would like to thank trustee Wigan and trustee Bartow after a few days after that meeting they came out along with an assistant superintendent and also Lance who's in charge of Maintenance and we walked the baseball fields and the softball fields together so that they could see firsthand the problems that we're dealing with I think everybody um was basically in agreement that we're dealing with substandard facilities just so that everybody's aware we understand that these
090are long-term issues and that bureaucracy often moves very slowly but we are dealing with multi levels of issues with the field there are some what I like to call low-hanging fruit issues that are repairs and immediate things that can be done to at least put the fields and the facilities in a safe condition so that the kids can be using it and not worry about being injured in about five weeks we have a youth baseball camp program that's going to be at the school so very young kids are going to be on those fields they're not aware of the pitfalls the holes the fences all of those things that they're going to be dealing with so it is concerning we also have some short-term plans that I think could improve the the field that we
091understand will take longer to put in place some of the other speakers have talked about those improving the Outfield perhaps through new sod maybe Turf through the infield and then of course there's a longer term plan that I know has been discussed about putting some major improvements in the overall facilities for the school School so we want to be reasonable but we also need to have action you know we had some foul poles installed um that were promised months and months ago and they were installed after the season was finished we are approaching summer now um we need to have some of these things taken care of baseball players play throughout the summer and in the fall but it is a lower um you know not as busy of a schedule so now is the
092time to take care of some of these immediate needs we have termite damage and then like I said the field with the holes the rabbits you know all the things that you've already heard about um so in in summary that's what we would like to request is that there's a comprehensive plan put in place and of of most urgent need is to deal with the the facilities as they stand now we have a temporary fence that showed up the morning that the board members came to walk the field um not sure it was miraculous that it showed up that day after having not been there from months but we have a gate that's still not fixed and provides Public Access so thank you [Applause] thank you next up is Wendy lease followed by summer Bailey
093good evening president Anderson and superintendent Smith and trustees my name is Wendy lease and I sat up there well sometime I was at Harper too for eight years and also on the Costa Mesa city council for eight years I've been a taxpayer you should put that on the thing we sign in parent and taxpayer because some of us raise kids in this District but they're grown and thankfully on their own I have a solution I support lowering the class sizes and fixing the baseball field one of my sons did play baseball over there what you can do is take the money that you're using for social emotional learning SEL or Dei diversity equity and inclusion and use that to make open more classrooms and fix the baseball field so I appreciate that last year in
094your budget the budget priorities one two three I'm here on more meaningful communicate more meaningful communicate and engage with constituents and I am a tax paying constituent so I'm happy to be here uh this morning I was listening to Dr Carol Swaim who's an educator and a legal scholar and she was talking about how diversity and inclusive the Dei and the SEL that they are really going to be in violation of constitutional rights because when we when we lift others up and then we put others down that's in violation of the Constitution I hope you all have a copy mine's kind of worn out but I use it all the time amendment 14 says that the last part of it is that North shall any state deprive any person of life liberty or property without
095due process of law nor do deny to any person with its within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws and I think we need to have a a study session about these controversial ideological indoctrination programs that are in violation of other people's rights and so the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the equal protection Clause um that that it's going to Peg uh the civil rights of heterosexuals and other groups in favor of minorities so I hope that in the future as you listen to the people about the baseball field over the years you've listened to them us about the the theater at Estancia the football field at Corona del Mar uh Swan math term limits it's time to listen to us now we're part of the community and the State of Florida just passed
096a a law to to Outlaw the Dei and the SEL and so it's it's happening and so we need to be with the times thank you [Applause] hi um High board thank you for having me um I'm here to talk about uh two items one is just really brief I wanted to bring everybody's attention to the fact that there's a sustainability decathlon happening in the fall at Orange County fairgrounds and it is it used to be called the solar decathlon it's amazing incredible it's a National Collegiate competition for engineers and student designers to come up with sustainable ideas they build many homes but the reason I'm bringing it to your attention is that there are grants available for high school students and high school programs and I know that October is right around the corner
097for you guys but anything you could do to get the word out to get elementary school kids and high school kids excited about the program I promise you you wouldn't be um sorry that you did it's really exciting um my name is Summer Bailey I um the last time I was here my daughter won an award at awards night and that was a long time ago they grad my twins graduated from Corona del Mar first Lincoln then CDM back in 2015. and currently I am a writing tutor and I specialize in college essays and college application assistants for kids and I I guess it's a good deal that I'm following the nice woman before me because I'm opposed to her position because I think that social emotional learning is something that is absolutely necessary and
098I say that as someone who sits and has intimate discussions with these precious teenagers who I ask what would you like to write your essay about and I am sad to to announce that the majority is about social anxiety bullying and depression and uh I can lead them to presenting their stories in meaningful ways but why are so many of them having those stories to tell if we have an opportunity that's evidence-based learning that social emotional that can help them Thrive and succeed for being good people for being kind for being successful and strong-willed and strong-minded then every bit of that effort I believe is entirely worth it based on my experience over the last six years meeting all these lovely children so that's why I came to speak tonight thank you for having me
099here thank you superintendent's comments let's um let's start with where we just ended up um uh everyone has an opportunity to come and speak to the board and they're all welcome to do so whether they're parents or not but I think what's of Interest oftentimes is with those people that are sending their kids to the school what are those priorities so that you are looking you say get with the times we're trying to be current and ask current parents what is it that that you're most concerned about I thought it was interesting during the conversation about Cloud size is that multiple people talked about the social emotional needs of students post pandemic and that is one of their greatest concerns I think it's also worth noting that I had my parent advisory committees and these
100aren't parents that I hand pick so it's not a skewed pool and their number one concern regardless of their level was a social emotional well-being of their students number one and they complimented when we asked them what's the thing you're most proud of in the district that was their first item and then they went into some other things we've recently heard heard from other community members in that regard and so this seems to be a topic that our parents and and those folks who have students in our school are Guardians they're really concerned about the wellness of their students and they know the research is very very clear on Maslow before Bloom right that if we don't meet the needs of those students they're not going to focus on algebra they're not going to focus
101on these complex formula right we've got to address that first it's also worth noting that people mention all these things that they don't like they're not even things we do our social emotional learning we're not putting anyone down to elevate anyone else we're helping to equip the students with the language and ability to identify how they're showing up so that they can they can address that so they can Engage The Learning so I can't speak for what other people are doing we're not putting people down we're not elevating anyone else above them we're trying to meet every student where they are when they're there that's what we're trying to do and it sounds like from parents we're absolutely on the right track with regard to baseball I I bristle a little bit because the suggestion
102that there's been a lack of activity it's confusing because I know that we've put a lot of time in recently on this project and we remain committed to it I know that myself I I canceled going to a musical at Ray Elementary so I could meet with booster parents at a last minute meeting before I was going out of town because it's that important to me um and I love musicals right I have no musical Talent whatsoever but I really enjoy them but I wanted to meet with these parents and then I committed my team the very next week to walking every square inch of both the softball and the baseball diamonds we're committed to fixing the safety issues now now an education is the operative word right I get that as as a public
103education entity things are slower sometimes than in the private sector just because the government makes us jump through hoops we've got employees who work their tails off um and I think that's worth noting too because I think there were some employee groups that were offended the last time this came up because I would say that as a district we didn't give them the tools they needed to do their jobs and they're committed to doing them and now the district's committed to giving them the resources they need to better do their jobs but I can tell you that the safety issues holes in the field like you say the other things there there are contaminants districts committed to doing those now now is there a long term plan for something grander sure and that could take
104multiple years we have to find funding and all those things but the safety issues can be done now and we're committed to doing those I don't know where that's getting confused so I just want to say it again from this Deus we hear you we're prioritizing this and we're committed doing things now and giving our employees the tools they need now to keep those facilities in good repair the the class size issue I certainly appreciate the advocacy there and I've said it before when our parents uh don't take the time to advocate for their kids then the whole system is in trouble I would add to that that I'm grateful for the teachers that we have in the district they've sent us messages as well of advocacy around this topic the school board has read
105every single email that's been sent to them they've read every one of these notices that's been provided as have my team we're committed to these conversations in fact that's why we've met twice with the teachers most recently at Kaiser but we all said the same thing at Heights and at Kelly Brook last year remember this conversation was at this same day as last year so we're committed to having those conversations we also met with parents last week to hear more about their concerns and talk about how we might address this this district has been committed to having some of the best student to adult ratios in the county and they're always in the top three when you actually look though at student to adult ratios you find that we do better than most other districts
106in this County because we don't just look at one job alike the teachers are absolutely important in fact research is clear that the most important factor to student outcomes but there are other things that we Avail the classrooms of like full-time support teachers and we we don't just say one size fits all one of the parents said you should look at the individual School sites and we absolutely do and we've identified for example at Kaiser that they get one and a half fds of full-time teacher support one full-time one half time we look at the psychologist because we know that psychologists are really important to these Behavior conundrums post pandemic and where we usually have 0.4.6 worth of psychologists time on a campus that school has 1.2 ftes or full-time equivalents of psychology because we
107realize they need some more support so we're not saying pre-pandemic Staffing we're giving more adults on that campus than we did pre-pandemic especially when you consider and it's a you know I think the vision of this board to provide more support we have in in the budget for next year a full-time counselor at every elementary site let me just say that again a full-time counselor at every single elementary site you do not find that in this County in public education and those support staff are there to help with these issues specifically and so again I complement the board for that I think one of the parents mentioned um curriculum the Fidelity of implementation capacity building of the front line staff and I would agree and I think that's what my staff and I continue to
108be committed to do is to make sure that we are addressing those things as well because those are really really important we're not talking about more we're talking about doing better with what we have and and investing greater in that capacity and and the work that's being done there we are committed to continuing the conversation about where we are and what we're providing we'll look as we always do next year at where we are some people have said what if more students come in well then the conversation changes we know that we're in a state where declining enrollment is the norm in California that's everywhere if we have fewer students then that conversation is very different conversation but our commitment is is to monitor that to look at each individual site and say what types
109of support do they need to have numbers of adults of student ratios that are better that put us in the top quartile in this County because our kids deserve no less and I'll end with the importance of teachers because I mentioned that a minute ago we believe one our teachers are supported by Administration through capacity building with the tools they need that they can meet the needs of the students that have been identified by this board as an appropriate number in a classroom in Upper Elementary and I think the research absolutely supports that also the conversation continues we're here to work with you we've been on site because of that we'll go back to the site and other sites because I heard Harbor or Heights I'm sorry I get all the H's confused sometimes Heights
110was mentioned as I said Kelly Brook and others we will be where the conversations are we will listen and we'll do what we can do to to provide the best opportunities for our students put on agendized items this is the opportunity for the public to address the board regarding items on 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 we have one from Wendy lease on item 19a would you like to speak now or when we come to the item thank you madam president um members of the
111trustees my name is Wendy lease again I'm still talking about more meaningfully to to more meaningfully communicated engaged with constituents including taxpayers um I'm looking for a win-win on what I'm going to talk to you about right now there are 10 bills in Sacramento dealing with fentanyl and some of them are moving fast in committees and some of them are stalled and some of them have been thrown out but I would like to suggest that this is a fine opportunity for you to write a resolution to support any one of these or all of these bills we know that the fentanyl crisis is is everywhere I had a student a couple of weeks ago who OD'd and came into my class after getting the help and that it was also in the The Vape thing
112and so teenagers they are you know they want to take risks and they don't realize that the fentanyl is in something or that you know so it's I know you're you're educating your teachers are educating but we pay Kevin Gordon as a lobbyist uh let's use him to to do something we can all agree on okay not just what the the staff tells you that we need to use Kevin for for I know the basic Aid Lobby for that and financial issues but but do something outside the box okay fight for us fight for the kids find whatever legislation um the summer Dem some are Republicans uh one is I know Shannon Grove that's SB so support her it's it's not you you can do it you don't have to listen to your attorney and
113the staff all the time you can't think for yourselves and do what's right and represent this whole District yes I'm a parent I'm a grandparent but I'm also a taxpayer and I'm old so I know what I I know what's best and I respect the parents that like the the SEL and all that but you got counselors and um parents what about parenting they're supposed to help their kids with social emotional stuff I did we all did I don't think it belongs in school but I'm off track please please think about supporting a resolution not a letter a resolution to Sacramento uh to the legislators that Newport Mesa Unified School District supports these bills to stop fentanyl from taking our kids lives amen thank you [Applause] next up item number 17 achievement a report on
114Avid Ms Torres yes at this point in time I'd like to welcome up Keith Carmona and he has a presentation and a team he'll be presenting with on avid now that we turn it on right here oh there we go got it yeah I got it good evening president Anderson trustees superintendent Smith and executive cabinet members tonight I am here to share with you about the AVID program and the wonderful impact it's having on students at all levels in our school district AVID stands for advancement via individual determination and is a program that has existed for over 20 years in Newport Mesa our goal tonight is to share some specifics about what Avid provides for students teachers and our campuses and then also to hear stories of avid teachers and a student who have been
115positively affected by it avid's mission is to close the opportunity Gap by preparing all students for College and Career Readiness in a global Society you will hear this evening about how Avid integrates into our schools and supports students from all backgrounds we also hope that you're able to see that it aims to engage students at high levels and seeks to raise the bar in classrooms where it is being utilized so what exactly is avid is it a class is it a set of strategies is it a mindset can you do Avid without being in or teaching an avid class the answer to each of those questions is yes and more Abbott is a research-based college readiness program that can be integrated into elementary middle and high school campuses it has a long track record of
116preparing students for college eligibility and readiness we talk a lot about getting high school students a through G ready before graduating from high school and while Avid helps ensure that there is also wonderful data to show that Avid students not only are accepted into college at a higher rate than their non-avid peers but they actually persist through college and graduate at a higher rate as well so when we say that Abbott is a college readiness program we are saying that It prepares students not only to get into college but to be successful through college so how does it do that Abbott equips teachers and students with highly effective teaching and learning strategies intended to facilitate deep learning and it layers on to the existing instructional programs avid's key tenants are that it seeks to set
117high expectations engage students in Collaborative inquiry-based Learning and teach and reinforce very important organizational skills it is also founded in relationships tonight you will hear from our teachers and a student you'll know to hear the term Avid family Avid challenges schools to examine and improve its instruction leadership culture and systems it is often said that Avid hasn't necessarily invented anything but instead pulls together the best of what education has to offer and creates a system and a network to actionize the best strategies and approaches for learning it does that by simultaneously examining both what students need and what Educators do avid's been around for 40 years and the role it has played in schools has evolved over time while it began in one classroom with one teacher as a way to raise the bar and
118set high expectations for inner city students being transported to an affluent neighborhood in San Diego it has become so much more over time the original archetype for Avid was a first generation college student however today Avid supports students from across the academic Spectrum a wide variety of students benefit from avid certainly we do have our first generation college-bound students but other students seek out the program for their organizational support the college tutors and some for the network of support they received from their Avid family today are Avid high school students are enrolled in the most rigorous academic programs our schools have to offer we wouldn't be able to have it without mentioning wicker an acronym summarizing the main instructional Foci of the AVID program writing inquiry collaboration organization and reading currently we have Avid at
119eight of our schools Ray Elementary Costa Mesa middle and high school Ensign t-winkle Early College Estancia and Newport Harbor Avid looks differently different at the elementary and secondary level for elementary students and teachers Avid focuses on utilizing the key research-based tried and true instructional strategies and integrating them into the regular curriculum at an avid Elementary School all students are Avid students teachers incorporate wicker into their lessons and students are learning how to learn how to study and how to advocate for themselves this is the beginning of the establishment of that individual determination there's also the fostering of excitement and awareness of college by introducing students to universities at this time I'd like to for you to hear from a wonderful third grade teacher from Ray Elementary Nicole Bussell who is going to share with you
120a little bit about what's happening there [Applause] um good evening thank you for having me um we at Ray were the only Avid Elementary and I just wanted to give you a little peek into what we do there I'm often asked what how do you do Avid at elementary school because it's not a class and so as you can see up on the screen the one on the left picture on the left is one of our Avid family nights we actually have four a year and many of you have actually been to our Avid family nights and that one that you see there was our stem night we also have Avid in the classroom this year we had our students and their parents make goals they made Family goals school goals and individual goals so
121we're teaching our families how to do that with their children I remember overhearing two that one of them their family goal was that they're to see their three children graduate from college and another family goal they made a different family was to buy a house so you know real life goals and we're teaching them how to do that as a family and then as students um the picture on the other side that those are our Avid presentations so each classroom has a college and that they represent and that's a first grade classroom is Bear's classroom and they are giving a presentation at flag deck so they've researched a college and we all do it and then we give a presentation you can also see they've done some thinking maps on there so we're integrating um
122everything into the curriculum um and then this was another avanites it was recent our college night and so all of our classrooms do a college board our sixth graders all do their own individual College Board we had Dr Martinez Come and speak and some Early College High School students talk to our families so again that family teaching teaching our families how to go to college and what they need to do to get there something new this year that was really exciting is we partnered with Vanguard um Vanguard University and every Friday we did high five Friday and so you can see there the Vanguard dance team is there and they are welcoming our students on Friday so every week was a different one we started out I think men's baseball came first kind of scared
123the kids they were so loud and excited and he was like what is that but it was interesting because they expect it every Friday now and they're looking to see what team is there and the first time that we we didn't have a team because it was winter break for the college students the kids were you know where are they why aren't they here so it's been really a fun thing that we've done every Friday we also have flag deck on Friday so two or three of the student athletes will talk to the students and they'll tell them their major and was fourth day play and then give them some kind of like you know keep in school stay in school read something exciting and that has been interesting as well the Vanguard students we've
124had students that have talked for about 10 seconds and we had one baseball player who talked for three minutes because I record them all so it's been really a fun interaction and then lastly we talked about wicker so Avid in the classroom it provides um rigor we do wicker the writing inquiry collaboration you see the students collaborating there um organization when a student starts the AVID program at Ray Elementary and kindergarten they start with organization note taking in kindergarten we start that and then we have the common language that Avid provides through all of the classrooms all the way to sixth grade where then there are no taking turns into Cornell notes getting them ready for middle school and high school and then you see we have college day on Friday so we have we
125try to get as many students in their college shirts on Fridays and something you can't see in the pictures are the avatarain teachers and what all that we go through we go through summer Institute our whole staff is trained so it's not I know it's not just you know one class or one so it's our whole staff that gets trained and the vertical articulation between the grade levels and ensuring that our students are getting that rigorous curriculum Cova definitely was a setback for Rey and for our students but we are on the move and we are back using all of our Avid strategies and we're excited for the future on Fridays we say and we really believe I'm a capable talented intelligent shark and I'm going to college and we are getting our students ready
126for college so thank you as we move up to the middle and high school level the scope of avid on a campus grows here is where we provide for the Avid elective class perhaps the piece of avid that people are most familiar with the Avid elective class exists for students who have applied for the program are interviewed and accepted into the Avid elective the application process is intended to seek out students who are committed to the rigor that Avid entails once in the Avid elective class students are exposed to an avid curriculum which directly teaches many of those essential academic skills such as study techniques organization and critical thinking which will help them leverage success in honors and AP classes and ultimately build success in college and Beyond the Abbott elective has a weekly tutorial
127model where college students service mentors and guides in student learning and our Avid middle and high school students benefit from a multitude of College field trips and guest speakers in addition to the Abbott elective at the secondary level similar to how we described wicker being implemented across the campus in the elementary schools um they we have the inclusion of the robust strategies campus-wide the vision here is that all students even those not in the Avid elective can benefit from great teaching and there is a benefit for bringing consistency campus-wide here is an example of an avid tutorial it is worth noting that the college tutor is not teaching the students instead students take turn presenting a single problem they have struggled with and they collaboratively engage in a process of resolving this point of confusion
128through inquiry the college tutor helps facilitate the process this model should simulate what highly effective study groups look like when students get to college here are Avid or Ensign Avid students visiting Cal State Long Beach Socratic seminar is one of the highly effective classroom routines that Avid promotes here students are engaging in collaboration inquiry writing and reading and continuing with the college join culture the picture on the left is the hallway the Avid hallway at T Winkle and the students on the right are visiting UCLA okay building the Avid family is crucial and we take intentional steps to Foster that sense of belonging now I would like to have you hear from an avid teacher at our secondary level from Newport Harbor High School here's Avid teacher Jennifer Thompson [Applause] program that's near and dear
129to my heart I have been a teacher at Newport Harbor since the year 2000 and about three years into my teaching career our Avid director Angela Newman came to me and asked me if I knew about the AVID program and to be honest I didn't really know anything about it I knew it was at our school but I just didn't know a lot about it so she asked if I would go down to San Diego to attend the summer Institute and by day two I was hooked with everything that they were teaching and everything that they were about it was just I knew it was an amazing program that I wanted to be a part of so since 2003 I've been part of the AVID program um we have grown at Newport Harbor tremendously over
130the last uh 20 years um at Newport Harbor we've had AVID for about 27 years um we started one section at each grade level we've now grown to two sections at each grade level and next year we're gonna have three sections at a couple of different grade levels we it was viewed for a long time as a class for first generation college students or college-bound students some viewed it as oh it's just a tutoring class but it's just Way Beyond that we've grown into a diverse student population we have a large number of students that are actually asking for interviews and coming to us from the public and the private schools mostly to help transition to high school because it is a smaller setting and we do look after the students greatly um so Avid
131at Newport Harbor offers obviously that academic support but we also offer a lot of emotional support just to give you an idea of what it is structured like at Newport Harbor we do offer in-class tutoring once a week as Dr Carmona has said they work in peer groups they work with tutors most of our tutors come from UCI Vanguard and we also have a lot of students that have graduated through our AVID program from Newport Harbor that now come back and offer tutoring as well while they're either going to college or just settling in getting a master's degree one of our tutors this year is actually graduating from Cal State Fullerton we are losing him next year and we are so upset but he will be attending Stanford University to get his master's degree so
132we have tutors from all walks of life um we provide them the tools that will help them be successful not just in high school but hopefully belong Beyond high school with time management note-taking skills binder organization at the junior level I know that a lot of colleges are not requiring act and sat tests anymore but we are asking that they do take those tests just in case they want to go to a school that might want that test so we do help them at the junior level with that they also will have their College admission statements written by the time they come to us as senior year I teach the senior level and our goal at the senior level we call it the Three A's we want you to apply to college be admitted to
133college and then attend that four-year college or university so um we help them at the senior level it's a very challenging time the first about two months is filling out college applications filling out their financial aid documents making sure all of those are done in class they are not allowed to submit without myself or Laura Barnaby checking them just to make sure there's no mistakes um and then we also provide them a lot of scholarship opportunities um over the years our Avid students have earned millions of dollars in scholarships the last five years we've had five Angel Scholars Christian Reyes actually was at our elac meeting presenting tonight which is why he was not here um he is going to be attending UC Berkeley next year um so we also surprised to provide emotional support
134um as Dr Carmona has said we are a family the kids know that they can text us at any time on remind whether that's a problem they're having at school with a class or a teacher or even if they just need some support in their home life some of the students have our cell phone numbers so we are emotional support for them as well it could be just they're having a bad day and they need somewhere to sit or they just need a break they need a shoulder to cry on that happens more than you would know especially when admissions comes out but it's okay um so um sometimes it's meeting with the parents and being being a counselor or just that support or a mediator for them as well so not only are we
135there for the students but we also try to be there as much as we can for the parents as well students know that we are always going to be there to support them not just in Newport Harbor but after as well so we have written for Master's programs we've written letters of recommendation they come back and ask for financial aid help filling out their financial aid documents as well so we are really a family in that aspect that they don't graduate and they go away we are there for them for years to come um the program at Newport Harbor would not be as successful without the support of administration and with the support of the staff we have a number of teachers that have been trained to Avid we have a number of teachers that
136will come to us and say I have a freshman that I think is a perfect fit for Avid and they just didn't know about the program so they didn't apply um so most of our students they'll join after those teacher recommendations and I feel like the staff at Newport Harbor has become an extension of our Avid family um the other thing we have is a tremendous Educational Foundation at Newport Harbor High School because of the foundation we are able to surprise or provide tutoring for all students at Newport Harbor uh after school till about 4 P.M on most days an avid teacher will stay and then we have our tutor supporting we provide on Tuesday nights we have zoom tutoring because we have a lot of student athletes that can't make tutoring because of practices
137or games so we offer Zoom tutoring as well and that's about once a week it's our one of our math and computer science teachers that logs in and he helps us with that which is great because I teach social science not math and science that's not my forte so um we are able to have that as well they provide us with field trip opportunities guest speakers The Freshman heard a guest speaker today on the Holocaust um and talking about what happened with some of the concentration camps so I love this program I think it's great I think it should be school-wide I think everyone can benefit from it I am blessed that I have this extended family and am part of the AVID program so thank you [Applause] our presentation tonight wouldn't be complete without
138hearing from one of our Avid students earlier this evening you met Sarita Plata an avid senior at Early College High School she has the unique perspective of having been a part of avid in elementary middle and high school as her journey has led her through Ray T Winkle and early college we are proud of Sarita and all of her hard work she's going to share with you about her journey and what lies ahead good evening everyone I would like to reintroduce myself so yes I am Sarita Plata I am currently a senior at Early College High School and I've been part of avid for over for seven years so starting from sixth grade at Ray Elementary all the way to middle school for two years and then I've been at been part of avid for
139all four years throughout high school so I really wanted to share what Avid has really done for me and I think specifically you heard more about the Techno School side correct but really more Avid has been a mentality state for me so I have a specific shirt I probably should have brought it today but um on the back of the shirt it says we are the future and I think that Avid really is the epitome of this statement and really motivates it and that I've been able to learn through the tutorials about the importance of collaboration and courage I don't think I would have been able to speak to here today without the support of avid and really the support system that it provides I remember specifically attending one of the ray Elementary Avid nights
140and that was probably one of the best opportunities I could have ever taken and that I really saw the difference seeing it how much it had changed because of avid scenes through the literacy night of how the families were there for them to listen to their children and to listen and support them within their educational journey and I think that Avid really helped with that and I think for me personally I've really been able to stick with Avid and it's been the support structure for me throughout these four years and that I've been really able to go back to it when things get hard with the academic journey of just college classes and Grilling trigonometry class I've really been able to go back to Avid and know that there's something there for me because through
141the tutorials and again with the teach chairs it's really about the support system and the Avid family that it does provide and that I can be successful and going back to the we are the future statement I think it really does prepare me for that and that I do believe that I am ready for college that I've gained the necessary skills of the technical skills but also the soft skills of again collaboration and courage and making sure that I can go out to my peers and be able to effectively communicate where I'm confused on a question and I think this will really translate and hopefully help me in college where I will be attending Harvard next year and I think it's I was one of I'm the first student to actually be accepted into Harvard
142at Early College High School and I know that Early College High School really does focus on Avid and I think that's just one of the biggest full circle moments to go back and realize that Avid really has helped me throughout these four years and really throughout the seven years in that I can go back to it and that it has prepared me well enough for college Harvard is lucky to have you yes they are oh earlier tonight we celebrated our Avid eighth grade and Senior standouts these students received scholarships to college in addition to that our data is demonstrating that Avid Works recently our Avid seniors have achieved exceptionally High rates of acceptance into college including at one of our schools a 100 percent acceptance rate into four-year University which is pretty incredible uh you
143heard a little bit of a Mention Of Summer Institute all of the work that I've described for you this evening takes part or begins each summer with an annual three-day training that our teachers take part in called Summer Institute during these conferences our Educators become equipped with all the wonderful strategies and approaches schools set goals for their program in the coming year they participate in team bonding and the highlight of the week is always our inspirational student speaker it's worth noting that Sarita was selected as the keynote speaker for the annual Avid Summer Conference in Anaheim this summer he will be sharing her story in front of thousands of Educators and we invite our board to be there on that day as we look to continue our Avid journey in Newport Mesa we will be
144focusing on supporting the continued growth of avid at Costa Mesa who are in the initial stages of bringing back the program to that campus and are doing an excellent job so far additionally we want to continue to capitalize on infusing Wicker in classrooms and refining the Avid elective lastly we would love to explore the idea of adding Avid to a number of our elementary school campuses I would like to end by saying thank you thank you for your support of the AVID program and for your interest in hearing more about it tonight we believe in what it can do for kids and we are pleased to have been able to share it with you this evening at this point I'm happy to answer any questions for you thank you uh yes trustee weigand thank you
145that's a really impressive program man really impressive students that are going through the program and I just last year I was fortunate enough to be able to um view the the senior presentations and I think that they were just it's it's amazing to see what these kids have achieved in you know probably six years being in the program I hope we get invited to go uh this year as well I'd love to be invited but that was just my ploy to say please invite us they're really uplifting and I and I appreciate listening to our students thank you trustee Bartow that's actually me if that's okay oh okay oh that's right move around spots here um two things really quick I just I really like on this slide I used to focus on the academic
146middle I think we talked about our meeting last week when you came to CDM um we can't put such an emphasis on AP classes that we leave behind you know like the average kid that likes to take a regular class and I really like how that incorporates into this I have a deal and I think that you know you should be able to take a combination of classes and kids that just want to take a regular classes shouldn't be left behind for the AP kids I know a lot the majority of kids I assume in the district are hybrid you know you want to take two APS and two regular classes and I would just say the two regular classes it shouldn't be sitting on your phone for an hour and a half everything every
147period should be challenging I'm sorry I really like what you had to present there second question is I just wondering if there's a plan implemented at CDM because I'd love to I would have loved to be a part of it if it was offered is there a plan to get that at CDN question I've noted we've kind of grown really slow in our district and we've gone slow and steady and deep so the short answer is not yet the long answer is perhaps as we look at data and we determine how many students could be interested in a program like this and if it would fit in something in the model that we have over at CDM it could be something we could bring there yes any other questions thank you thank you so much
148[Applause] next we have a report on secondary curriculum adoptions thank you I'm not going to touch this we have our um Regular instructional materials adoptions and so Mr Carmona is going to briefly explain to you where we're at in our adoption process briefly good evening one for you consideration for instructional materials to be put on 30-day public display before moving forward with a formal adoption our Educational Services team and Committees of secondary teachers engaged in a robust pilot process to arrive at tonight's recommendation this evening we will be seeking your imp your approval for 30-day public display core textbook materials for Middle School language arts middle and high school Spanish and French and AP environmental Sciences we began the process of looking at new materials because the textbooks that our teachers are currently utilizing are
149outdated and in most cases do not reflect the current state adopted standards we are in need of textbooks that give our students access to the current state and AP standards and framework and are engaging and up to date before making a recommendation to the Board of Education we engaged in a thorough pilot process to narrow down and ultimately select the best instructional materials for our students each of the content areas began by establishing pilot committees at the beginning of the school year we were careful to ensure that all zones were represented and that we had teachers of students with special needs and English language Learners also there to help examine the materials as well the pilot committee first reviewed a large array of textbooks and narrowed down the options using a rubric that helped root
150the decision in which texts were best equipped to deliver engaging instruction focusing on the state standards the process narrowed down the pilot to two textbooks in each area from there our pilot teachers each completed a full unit of study from each of the two texts before and while ours teachers were utilizing the materials they would meet monthly to review progress and share in their experiences along the way after having completed both units of study the pilot committees were brought together to come to consensus on which textbooks to bring forward for board approval this evening again this decision-making process was aimed at selecting the materials that would provide both access to the standards but be engaging for our kids and our special populations in each of the Committees we reached 100 consensus tonight the text I
151will be sharing with you are that are now being recommended for 30-day public display pending your approval this evening and after we collect Community input we will be seeking final approval at the June 20th board meeting for our Middle School English language arts the pilot committee is recommending studysync is 100 in line with the current California state standards our teachers found that it had an excellent integration of reading and writing instruction there was a strong blend of both contemporary and classic literature and the selections were highly engaging for students our teachers commented that the embedded skill lessons to build foundational skills for struggling Learners were also strong this was particularly important for English Learners and students with special needs the text is available in both a physical hard copy and digitally visually it was appealing
152for students and overall our pilot teachers quickly and unanimously favored these materials on the world languages side our French teachers unanimously selected Carnegie publishing the comments on the screen capture the thoughts of our French teachers they indicated that the text provided strong contextualized vocabulary development excellent digital components abundant cultural lessons embedded grammar tools to support students and it has a communicative emphasis with authentic language tasks and allows for strong differentiation for Spanish our teachers select the textbook series from Vista these committee members commented that it had an excellent progression through the courses and would prepare students for AP like the French test it had robust digital tools such as the ability to record dialogues and give instant feedback that student-friendly layout and Rich cultural components as well the process that we engaged in with our
153AP environmental science teachers was a Consolidated version of the process I described before because there are four teachers in the district teaching this course environmental science for the AP course 4th edition is an updated version of the current textbook more importantly the standards for the advanced placement course in text and test recently changed and the current text is not align to the new standards and tests this new version rectifies all of that Additionally the text gives practice opportunities for students and is designed to meet the needs of all AP students taking this course so tonight we are asking the board to consider approving the four textbooks study sync for Middle School Ela Carnegie for French Vista for Spanish and environmental science for the AP course for 30-day public display pending your approval these materials will
154be on display at the district office in the Sanborn building and an online form will be available for anyone to provide input or ask questions about these materials this will be available on the secondary education page of the Newport Mesa District website there's one additional curriculum update that I would like to provide the board this evening our high school science teachers have been engaged in an ongoing pilot process for new materials in biology chemistry and physics this year we have utilized the process I described at the beginning of the presentation to engage with these new materials as well the committee of science teachers have found the materials that they've been piloting to be of high quality however one of the curricula open Syed is not yet complete uh there's an interest in seeing that these
155materials in full before making a final decision about which one we would recommend to the board for that reason we have decided to extend the pilot period into the coming school year our schools will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials and we expect to bring a recommendation to the board for new instructional materials in biophysics and chemistry during the 23-24 school year thank you very much for your continued support of our teachers I'm happy to take any questions any questions oh yes trustee crane I just have a quick one where did you say parents and the public can access the information digitally so uh for that for the test yeah for the review it's available um in the Sanborn building to come in and be able to look at the hard copies we
156can look at also putting it online okay thought you had said there was a digital there's a digital component for the students to access when we formally put it in classes thank you very much thank you thank you next up are informational items legislative and state budget items trustee Bartow and trustee Murphy who would like to go first we're negotiating who's going first um I'm going to let trustee Murphy close it up because mine are quick um we saw our version of the May revised budget and it's making everyone scratch their heads a little bit as to what we're going to do next year um the instructional materials Arts block grant was something we anticipated getting a big cut out of it and it did how that plays out for our district remains to be
157seen and I know there's a lot of advocacy through csba at the local level to kind of work on maintaining our funding additionally not something that csba has taken a position on but something that I've heard about from many many um trustees around Orange County and around California is that they're hoping for uh csba in general but all of the school districts to take a position on the bill supporting testing for dyslexia at school entry so I will have an update on that csba has their delegate assembly this weekend I'm sure that that will come up as a topic so I'll have more to report as well and then be able to speak to the nuances of what that supporting that dyslexia bill would entail where the support is all the details related to that
158and um mine is also very short just quickly uh we got uh the pleasure of meeting with assistant Secretary of Education Roberto Rodriguez while we were in Washington DC for the csba coast to coast trip um that was great uh we got to he's the assistant Secretary of planning evaluation and policy development so that uh felt um timely and um he uh was great and we got to talk about how um next time around I wanted to see in the infrastructure Bill funding for infrastructure for schools how about infrastructure funding for schools so we we got to advocate for that for a little bit um I think given our previous guests who who left they would agree with me we'd need more infrastructure funding for schools we also certainly talked about needing a federal funding
159for special education which has always been an issue continues unfortunately to be an issue and uh something I will happily talk to any assistant Secretary of Education about any time they want to so um it was great it was a great lunch and we appreciate the time so thank you for helping to set that up superintendent all right next up is our consent calendar do I have a motion so moved second moved by trustee weigan seconded by trustee crane roll call vote Christy Henderson yes trustee crane yes trustee weigen yes trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy yes trustee or soilu trustee Bartow yes okay and next is our resolution adoption calendar adopt resolution number 240523 recognizing I'm sorry uh I skipped 21A approve Middle School English language arts textbook for public display do I have a
160motion so moved I second moved by trustee crane seconded by trustee Pearson we'll call the student board member TJ rocos yes trustee Anderson yes trustee crane yes trustee weigen yes trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy yes tristiaulu yes trustee Bartow yes okay 21b approved secondary science textbook for public display do I have a motion emotion second moved by trustee Murphy seconded by trustee crane roll call vote student board member TJ rocos yes trustee Anderson yes trustee crane yes trustee weigand yes trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy yes trustee ursulu yes trustee Barto yes 21c approved secondary World Language textbook for public display do I have a motion so moved second okay move by trustee weigens seconded by trustee Murphy roll call vote student board member TJ Rocco yes Christy Anderson yes trustee crane yes trustee weigand yes
161trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy yep trustee or soylu yep trustee Barton yes really ready for number 22. resolution adoption calendar a adopt resolution number 240523 recognizing May 21 to 27 2023 as classified employee week do I have a motion so moved second moved by trustee crane seconded by trustee Murphy roll call vote trustee Anderson yes trustee crane yes just y weigand yes trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy yes trustee or soilu trustee Bartow yes um B is adopt resolution number 2505 23 to apply for California schools healthy air plumbing and efficiency program Cal shape the cow shape Grant do I have a motion yes yes so moved second okay moved by trustee crane seconded by trustee Murphy roll call vote trustee Anderson yes trustee crane yes trustee weiken yes trustee Pearson yes trustee Murphy yes trustee
162or soilu yes trustee Bartow yes number 23 informal reports superintendent I was able to talk a bit about the advisory uh councils so we'll leave that at that got a chance to go see Mamma Mia at Newport Harbor High School um again I love a good musical but but but I share that tonight because they had this breakdown the the system that's scheduled to be replaced uh broke down and the lights couldn't be controlled so the room was dark and they're trying to figure out how how to fix it and they had people in the audience who know a little bit about this and that and after an hour they're finally able to turn on the lights and go house lights only now if if you've ever done theater you know how difficult that is
163to go from ready to go two songs a break for an hour now the heist or house lights are up the kids were so courageous they were so awesome they prefer I mean they just performed magnificently um but but here's the other part and I want to complement our team the very next day Lance and the team had um someone over in the morning to fix that system so they could run a matinee and the last show with a full Curtain Call lights working and everything that day so Kudos Jeff to you and the team on a weekend getting folks over there to get that set up so our kids could perform as intended I wanted to say the Newport Mesa schools Foundation had a chance to to attend that as well what a measure
164of generosity to provide some support for Innovative classroom ideas and and supplies Etc I want to complement our school board for um sponsoring one of those Foundation grants as well and I told Julie that the superintendent needs to follow suit she's probably listening thing right now throwing something at the TV no but uh we're gonna follow your lead and do that next year and and then had a chance to go to the Early College High School science Symposium and we've we've heard from some of those students tonight how impressive that was um again the students mustering up the courage to present in front of a bunch of adults they don't know and it was even worse for me because I was wearing my suit so they thought I was a judge and they kept saying
165how'd I do and I'm like I'm not a judge they're like oh man because they were all into it but they're doing great work over there and it was just inspirational to be there last thing the board had from the days talked about investigating some of the emails we got in the cpri to make sure that there wasn't staff overreach or to determine if there was in fact we've completed that investigation a third party did it on our behalf they found no staff overreach what they found was that a single administrator used language was not consistent with District expectations or practices that employees no longer with us the resolution per the investigation is that we more clearly articulate our practice and we better train our team we are better articulating our practice in writing right
166now and we have scheduled training to resolve this matter thank you this time I will take volunteers rather than going down the line who wants to go first to do their their board member report okay fine I'll take it for the team always the first volunteer helium hand um all right well first a a huge Applause to our Tech Team Awesome it genus edtech tosas along with our Annette Franco and Pio team for the new website that they just launched and it was absolutely seamless on our end I'm not sure how the troubleshooting on your end but thank you apparently a little trivia here the website our nmuc website has 380 pages that needed to be um so yeah amazing so now they're working on the school sites uh pages but thank you so much
167for all the work all of the the behind the scenes work appreciated um we uh we uh trustee Anderson Murphy and I attended the let's be kind Gala which is uh was amazing at Costa Mesa High School well I intended I attended the CTE stakeholder engagement meeting which was held at Costa Mesa High School that was absolutely amazing to hear the reports and to understand how much we impact the our kids and the pathways that they choose that we offer some and and I know that we're on a growth pattern so that's wonderful thank you to um Keith Carmona and Mrs Snowden who are there presenting and the team of course is my elementary school that I represent East Bluff Elementary is getting ready for the production of Little Mermaid they're very excited attended the
168PTA meeting last two weeks ago and the East love PTA is very grateful for the collaboration in regarding to the renovation of the NPR and the support that the district has provided they were extremely grateful thank you very much for that uh CDM my gosh there's everything going on from performances Dance Theater uh CIF prelims finals Etc senior projects are happening next week which is huge as an exit project for our seniors very big deal also keeps them on task till they graduate so TJ um it's it's a bit Bittersweet to think that by our next meeting on the 13th we will have our student board members graduate except for Marcelina so wow amazing very impressive and we're very proud thank you I'll go next um I want to say thank you to the harbor
169Council PTA for the PTA luncheon that was wonderful and it was great to you know be a part with a lot of the different volunteers from different schools and the principals that was wonderful and to hear about you know see how many people have won and the impact they're making at their school so thank you for putting that on um the the I went today something that really kind of really impactful as my on my time as a school board member was I went to The Back Bay interviews their senior interviews and it was um just eye-opening to see the different Journeys that all of our students have taken and to graduate but they all were very proud of themselves for graduating and I was very um just very impressed with their their maturity and
170things that they've learned in life I probably spent 40 years trying to learn so it was it just amazing and one thing they did say about Beck Bay is There's A Renewed sense of energy and renew sense of purpose with everyone at that school and that was just so heartwarming and I'll have to say it's one of my top top five things I've done as a school board member so just great great um great programs we're running and then I did spend four wonderful days watching a Elementary musical called Willy Wonka and then the fourth day the smoke alarm went off so that was that one yeah I know I might have I might have pulled up but it was wonderful I mean there's so much effort from everyone around including my daughter thank you
171um trustee Crane and I visited Newport Coast Elementary and got to spend some time with the new principal there Heather Darrow and it was a great visit of course Newport Coast did the Newport Coast way of of welcoming her with balloons and parties and sandwiches and um it's she's going to be a very incredible asset to that school she's going to bring great energy and a lot of knowledge of of the curriculum she lit up when you talked about writing and I I think as parents we all want our kids to write and that is what she is going to bring to that school and I think she's going to be an incredible asset to that another great event that I went to this month was the Arbor Day event I guess every year at
172different Elementary School gets to plant trees and it was Anderson's turn this year and it was amazing it was super fun probably one of my favorite events to see and I think one of the parents there had planted trees 30 years ago and their trees were still there in the park so that was super cool now their child was planting trees so great tradition great thing that our city does and that was wonderful I've enjoyed going to CIF games not so much the volleyball ones [Laughter] because TJ was gone congratulations to Newport Harbor was a great game it was great to see how many people traveled to Cerritos to that game it's amazing we live in a great great community and a great school district for to have that whole gym filled with fans it
173was fantastic and um I I'll set the reward Banquets all night long it's one of my favorite things like like today I tear it up tonight it was amazing kids amazing schools and this is what what we're here for and it's great great to celebrate we found the tissue so yes uh obviously uh trustee Bartow and president Anderson and I went to Washington DC I could make a funny about that we laughed about it a few times I can okay yeah what what happens when a republican a Democrat and an independent go to DC um it was actually it was we had a blast nothing happened um I I actually I only really bring that up just from the standpoint of you know with all everything in the news um it's uh and and you
174certainly hear how people have tough conversations that aren't Pleasant and I feel like that we had great conversations that were really Pleasant and um yeah and sometimes yeah you can have tough conversations that are very pleasant and um and know when you're coming from the place of you want the best for the kids and you but and you all agree on on that as your driving force uh you can kind of agree on almost anything so um or find a way into that middle and so that was great we had a we had a really good time um I will do that with you two lovely ladies anytime too um also uh at Costa Mesa lots of good things going on I got to go to the best of the best event on um what
175was it last night two nights ago um there's a lot of best of the best out there right now um so that was so exciting to see the whole stage of the Performing Arts Center filled with students getting awards for all of their hard work and everything from um you know the Performing Arts to math science you know language arts the the whole the whole shebang yoga even so um that was that was super great um so proud of our teachers and our staff who really you can see how hard they work to make um our lives um to make their lives better for these students and to really um applaud their their successes and and support support them in their Endeavors so that was great and um I'll just mention it because I got
176to go Kaiser's Carnival it's the best event in the district say um those fields are amazing there's so many things you can stick out there in those fields for kids to do so the Kaiser PFO pulled that off again beautifully so kudos to them um thanks for the community for coming out and enjoying that supporting our schools we also was we were able to go to the csba reception with Senator Newman trustee Bartow trustee Crane and I were able to do that we got two here directly from the senator who's the chair of the education committee um so that was helpful he's got a couple of bills I know that we're in support of so it was good to be there and support him on that um the the one little thing I guess that
177wasn't as fun but I applaud a Dr potnas and Dr Kwong so much for taking this on they hosted an appropriate language event at Costa Mesa and um there was a good group of parents that showed up and had that kind of again tough conversation but um but it was great to hear uh parents of all you know from from all over talk about how hard it is to have conversations about race about ethnicity about whatever even as adults and so we understand that it's hard as students and as kids and um certainly as we all heard coming out of covid I think some of some of our boundaries on you know what's appropriate what's inappropriate might be it might be a little skewed I don't know that YouTube really shines in that in that
178light um in terms of teaching the best of the best but um but uh they took it on and again our principles and our teachers are brave and I appreciate everything that they do to try to make life better for our kids in this as we've all heard post coveted time that we're all still trying to get through so we will do it together and and that's that's the that's the best part about it so that's it um I just want to thank um our board and Dr Smith for honoring our commitment to students and parents and going through the trouble of go even doing a third party investigation it's great to see that we take that so seriously and it's also great to see um that we you know we have ways to improve
179but we're we're working on it and we can always do better but um but we take that seriously and thank you for considering the policy on Parental engagement because I think it really just highlights so much of what we already do and have been doing so I appreciate that and look forward to seeing that in a couple meetings when it comes through I have been running around too with everyone else been I appreciate the harbor Council PTA and their honorary Service Awards um I really love doing the Back Bay senior interviews some really tough places that our students have been through through no fault of their own in many cases and their resilience um and and so many of them were kind of you know having a hard time as to whether they would even
180graduate into whether they'd even show up for their senior interviews it was a big so exciting for our principals and staff that they did come because they had been kind of like oh am I even gonna make it do I believe in myself so the belief of the Back Bay staff kind of holding their hands and pushing them through and um so many of them said oh I'm no good at school and they were just beautiful writers you know just the the emotion that they were able to convey in their their paragraphs so I'm like you may not think you're good at school but you're actually an excellent writer like don't give that up um it was really cool to see also saw Mamma Mia know technical difficulties when I saw it um and uh
181CIF volleyball you know I really wanted to go five five rounds anyway it was but you get both these days be kind uh we went to the DAR citizenship Awards we have some really amazing students and it was great to see all of our schools so well represented from Junior High through High School both for being good citizens being good good writers for their engagement and volunteerism I also did not go to the let's be kind event but I sent my board designee my daughter so she needed some service hours and she was like did you go so that did I go so you didn't have to come like no I was at another event fundraiser so thank you for going but she she doesn't believe me she thinks that she was sent as a
182designee so we'll let her think of that um and I'm really looking forward to Ace day and working with I get to be with the I.T staff so I promise to be a good listener and observe and I'm really looking forward to that okay um well as mentioned earlier I went to the ray college night which was really incredible um the students get to study one specific school and put together a massive report on it and learn all about schools that are completely out of their area that they've never learned about before and it was really cool to also see um the teachers that were able to congratulate the early college students that they had had when they were in elementary school was really a heartwarming moment um I was also excited to see the
183teachers of the Year receive their Awards I'm glad they were able to come here as well for their amazing work I know Michael for several years has just done an incredible job at Ensign in particular of having his classroom be the safest space on campus for anyone and so he teaches special ed but anyone's allowed to go in there if they want to and they think that's just incredible I was also able to attend with trustee crane the Arts Commission on Friday night the date was changed to a Friday night it was not as well attended as sometimes but it was just lovely to see the momentum and really I gotta sit at the table with visual art teachers from teamwinkle Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor and just the ability that we were able
184to contribute like maybe you we can help you buy paint brushes like they just they've gotten used to not asking and I'm like we have money to to pay for supplies you don't have to do it and so um it's just kind of those real opportunities and being face to face with teachers I think those things always come up I was able to attend a city council meeting for Costa Mesa on a couple of topics I was just there to listen and I was really heartened to see a Victoria Elementary student who was in fourth grade come to the city council meeting and advocate for himself it was really delightful and amazing and surprising so he there's the harbor soaring club that has they want to allow the airplanes yes yeah it was really lovely
185um and then we finished up the um the bike to school days and then also on May 27th is walk and roller festival at Estancia at 10 A.M and then tomorrow night is the Les Miller awards for students in Costa Mesa who are high Achievers and so I think a lot of us will be there for that that's it all right it is 8 54 and we will adjourn our meeting