Special Board Meeting March 5, 2024

001okay at this time I would like to call the Paris Union High School District special board meeting to order at 3M I will be taking a roll call trusty Nelson here trusty Vio here trusty Stafford here trustee compos here and myself here we have a quorum item 3.1 invitation to address the Board of Trustees on close session items only no cards today thank you Mr Bennett item 4.1 adjourned to close session do I have a motion so moved second any discussion please vote item 4.1 is a a 0 vote and we will be adjourning to close session at 3:1 p.m. all right item 5.1 reconvene in public session Pledge of Allegiance or excuse me uh we're reconvening at 552 p.m. and if you could all please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the

002flag of the United States of America and to the stands na indivisible andice all item 6.1 revision adoption ordering of agenda March 5th 2024 for is there a motion so move second any discussion yes I do i' like to pull out action item 9.4 can I get a second one second 9.4 is there a [Music] second you know second just keep keep moving on so we're on 6.1 we still vote all right please vote oh wait wait I I didn't see a second so the motion fails Miss Elizabeth the motion fails I'm sorry so then we would vote on revision adoption of the agenda March 5th 2024 as it currently is presented any more discussion please vote yes item 6.1 is a 41 vote oops item 7.1 report out of Clos session I do have

003three reports on a closed session for this evening in closed session the board unanimously voted 0 to approve an agreement resolving o case number 202 31126 which is now Final in Clos session the board took action to appoint Adam Estrada as director of risk management environmental safety with an effective date to be determined by a vote of 3-2 and the final one in close session the board took action to promote Joseph Williams as assistant superintendent of innovation techn technology Services effective March 6 2024 by a vote of four to one that concludes my report at a closed session thank you Mr pennet item 7.2 overview of the district's current current physical condition all right how's that outside I'm being asked because they knew I was the next speaker to remind everybody to please speak into

004the microphones for our folks in the outside so I'm just the messenger in that regard um so I will be uh brief tonight um we have some um visitors here today from the Riverside County Office of Education who has fiscal over oversight responsibilities um for our district and 22 other um districts in the county um I I'm going to introduce Dr Price then I will let him tell you a little bit more about himself and introduce him his team but Dr Price is here uh tonight he's the chief business official um for the Riverside County Office of Education so before I do a handoff to Dr Price I just wanted to do a brief um budget update as it relates to the district it's only three slides long because I I um I want to

005have you see where we were the last time we talked um and then where we're at so that when Dr Price and his team are speaking um it will make a little bit more sense so this is the this is just a summary of the unrestricted general fund you all are used to seeing this format I know many many times we've been talking a lot about this and so this is what our budget looked like the last time we talked about it with you which was on January 24th we were talking about a number of different items as you you may recall uh we were talking about um contract negotiations correct uh we were also talking about the governor uh just released his proposal for the state budget and in that proposal the cola for

006next year uh was projected to decrease to 76 from 3.94 to 76 and so we were talking about really both of those things together and so this was the budget U that we showed you that would then include level one and level two reductions many of those items are before you um tonight some of those were deferred uh from the last regular board meeting um as well as what as you know we ultimately entered into a tentative agreement with them and have a with PSA and then have a a me too agreement with um CSA so so this should look familiar um to you um I want to point out that in 2627 which is the fourth year uh there we were projecting ing to end our ending fund balance at 3.02% but that was

007with additional reductions that needed to be identified of $1.3 million so just wanted to spend a bit of time on that so what has changed um since then um I just want to highlight the major budget revision since that time to the budget we that you have not seen but I'm going to show you but we had to submit to the Riverside County Office of Education as part of our ab200 disclosure requirements which is the next step after reaching a tentative agreement with a bargaining unit so um you may recall um that we've talked about our oute enrollment projections and what does that look like so uh previously in the budget we were projecting a 2% increase in each of the out years we have lowered that to 1% and what has changed since January

00824th is we have certified cow pads from each of our feeder districts um and we were able to take that data to look at what does our student enrollment look like for um next next year so we've um lowered that down to an increase still of 1% but down from 2% so that has an impact on the budget um that's the bad news the good news is we also looked at our Ada yield and capture rate and that has in we're projecting that that will increase in the current year and hopefully all of the out years will follow suit um by 1% I know we've talked a lot about that our attendance rates right and they're they're still at um close to um po they're not close excuse me to pre-pandemic levels Dr Price is

009going to talk a lot about these details I just want to give you the the highlights um since you all approved the Ser at the last board meeting talked with the County Office of Education they were comfortable and we were comfortable with including some level of ser savings on the conservative side so we've got that built in um obviously we have built in you have two more um items before you that were not deferred from the last board meeting those are action items 9.3 and 9.4 so I just want to be very transparent that that is included um in the budget and because there those action items create additional savings um and we have the Ser savings um in there uh it actually eliminated the need to make additional reductions of that $1.3 million now

010I will put a lot of asterisks out there that is based on the assumptions that we have currently that is based on the cola of 76 and all of the projections we have in the out years when the May revise comes out um that may all change a little earlier than that we should get statutory Cola so budget is fluid and these are our best projections um at this time so I just want this matches what we sent to the County Office of Education for our ab1 1200 disclosure it is a think of it as a preview of second interim which will come before you next month so with that unless you have any questions specific to me I we'll turn it over to you Dr Price and you can control this or you can

011wink at Sarah all right thank you very much okay I appreciate that good evening uh it's a pleasure to be here president Garcia uh superintendent Bennett members of the board it's pleasure to be here tonight I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today I also want to thank uh Miss Reigns and Miss Capistrano who have been working with our office over the last week and a half after we got the the disclosure that uh was spoken about by Miss Reigns which talks about the raise that was given and the effect of that on the budget so we've been working on the details uh going through that uh to see the effect and what uh needs to happen as you move forward um I want to thank my team that's here

012uh just so you know who's here uh Raina Phil who is our executive director of District fiscal Services uh Lindsey gleon who is our director and uh Angelica who is our manager Koga uh for DFS District fiscal Services District fiscal Services focuses on the district we do your paychecks we look over all of your expenditures that come in we audit some of those and uh we take care of all the retirement that comes through your District uh all goes through the county office and of course we look at your reports your fiscal reports in your budget as they go through and we approve those as they go through uh my name is Scott Price uh I'm the chief business official and it's always nice to understand who's in front of you when somebody's speaking so

013just briefly I've been with Riverside County for about two and a half years before that I was Superintendent at the Lennox district and took an upside down district and uh brought it uh from fiscally upside down to fiscally stable uh before that I was Chief Financial Officer of a little District called LUSD uh so uh it's I was there and before that I was the Chief Financial Officer at LA County Office of Education so uh this isn't new to me here in Riverside uh since I've done this with uh LA county and the 80 districts that uh LA county has there so I just want to give you a little bit of background uh there so a lot of our districts right now are experiencing a perfect storm uh that happened so uh during covid

014the federal government the state government did everything possible to get District's funds uh but they were one-time funds for CO as you've heard and uh talked about at many board meetings those funds are now ending uh the last of the big dollar end in September of the coming year the federal portion of those and so those are are gone they're done and if they aren't spent they have to be sent back either to the federal government or the state government but most of our districts are doing a great job spending those funds and some of them have already spent all those funds and all the other districts are working at spending those now at the same time that one-time funding ended 's been a shift in the state economy as you're well aware Miss Reigns

015talked about it quite a bit uh at budget time last year June of last year the state was telling us the economy is great uh we still haven't gotten in tax receipts as you remember taxes didn't have to be in until first September then October they delayed it to November but during budget time the state said we're doing great so we want you all to project a 4% Cola so everyone put a 4% Cola in the 2425 year across the state in November we started getting uh some word from the state that that Cola probably wasn't realistic after all and uh the Legislative analyst's Office came out and they said you know you better not expect the 4% Cola it's probably going to be closer to a 1% Cola uh progress further the Governor's budget

016in January and the governor just confirmed that in reality that 4% Cola was just a 76% Cola basically so it's a 3% decrease in not only 2425 but that year sets a base so it's a decrease of 3% there decrease of 3% out in your next year and then that fourth year also because it resets the floor of what that col is going to be so it's a significant cut at that same time and well just to mention the governor uh was being optimistic at that the Lao had said that it's between 58 to 68 billion dollars that the state will be short the governor said no it's only 38 billion so I'm still going to give three4 of a percent of cola and uh I'm expecting tax receipts to come in in April and

017uh uh they'll be great but since that time in January it hasn't been great the legislative analyst office which I'm sure you're aware as as the uh information comes through now thinks instead of a$ 68 billion hole it will be more like a73 billion hole in the state budget so uh that's not good news and as Miss rain said uh that 76 may disappear Al together in the May revision we don't know still but uh hopefully hopefully there'll be good news there but uh it doesn't look like it right now another reason or another piece of this perfect storm is districts are negotiating raises at this time when the 4% Cola was there and verified by the state and so they negotiated with the thought in mind that there would be the 4% Cola not

018only in the next year but that same floor would be raised for the years out uh when that happened many districts were in negotiations past uh what would happen with that drop from the 4% to 1% in other words that extended themselves with that 4% Cola and and uh negotiated with the thought of getting that 4% so there was a choice at that point for many Districts The District could either choose to take their latest offer and move backwards which is a political nightmare in negotiations or they could move forward and take other measures in order to pay for uh the raise that was given and so we find ourselves uh various districts right now in this position uh our job has changed the district uh fiscal services and with the county office before in

019the first two years I've been here we haven't visited any board meetings uh we haven't had to but we've been very busy uh this is not the only board that we're visiting and there are other districts that are in the same situation so see I hope you're going to be able to see these slides but uh I I know the screen is uh we'll we'll go through it um first though I I did forget to mention that uh I do I do know Miss Reigns from uh before we were both in the CBO Mentor program together and I got to tell you she was the sharp student and uh helped me through a lot of uh the CBO Mentor Academy so I appreciate her and uh I've I've known her over these years so I

020appreciate that so as I mentioned the last week we spent clarifying and we've gone through your reports your different Financial reports work closely with your financial team to understand the details uh of your budget so that we could help to show you in a few charts a little bit more information about the budget the purpose of this presentation is to show you some of those Trends show you the macro uh couple lines that uh will be helpful we hope and then of course one of our responsibility as the county office and the reason we're here is because we have to approve your budgets and we have to approve uh your interim reports so with that in thought here are one of the things that we look at when we look at your report and this

021will be familiar to you may be an unfamiliar format but this is your enrollment which are the brown columns the Ada that you get average daily attendant which is the blue column and then superimposed on that that Gray Line is What's called the attendance rate or the capture rate capture rate is what we use at the state level so that's why we included in the CL in the slide you're used to hearing it as your attendance so so I know it's hard to see there it's a little bit of an eye chart but pre pandemic you were at just just under a 93% attendance rate that's a great attendance rate and uh it's it's wonderful you must have worked very hard to make that so the pandemic everyone's attendance rate dropped you can see that

022your attendance rate dropped down to around an 87% and you've been able to to bring that back up a little ways but it's still not up to prepandemic levels that has affected many districts I want to tell you this is not unusual and many of the districts look just like this so uh everyone struggling we train so many parents to if a kid has a sniffle keep them home and the parents were trained very well and so it's hard to retrain them to to get kids to school so this is Is Not Unusual I just wanted to point out that it's normal for districts and all the districts are working at trying to make this better get the uh attendance rates back up so kids can be in classrooms learning and so that that attendance

023can support the District activities in the budget another thing that we look at our contributions from the uh unrestricted to the restricted your Are Not Unusual uh they've risen over the years uh special ed uh has gotten more expensive as we come out of the pandemic as you give a raise of course uh special ed also the cost increase which uh makes sense and there are more uh students that are fighting the effects of uh being uh remote in covid so that's gone up and the routine restricted Main maintenance you are blessed with what you're one of the few districts in uh the county that actually has growing enrollment so as you're growing enrollment as you grow in enrollment your routine restricted maintenance also increases because it's all based on a formula on revenues so

024your general fund contributions are normal there's nothing abnormal about that and it's not unlike any other District this is the real uh centerpiece of this presentation so I'm going to spend a lot of time here and once again I'm sorry for the small I I hope there would be a little bigger screen um let me explain what's here before you the Blue Line represents the revenues for the district so you can see in um the beginning in uh year 2021 year uh the increase in revenues we've had great colas uh that those revenues shoot up that is unlike this is just like any other District they rise now the reason that the two lines split H the Blue Line splits there on revenues is the blue line is actually what the governor has now said

025we will get Cola the green line that's split from the blue line is when we still thought we were going to get a 4% Cola okay so that's your Revenue line the red line that you see going up is your expenditure line now this isn't unusual expenditures went way up because you had a lot of one-time monies the onetime monies had to be spent districts got used to deficit spending because there was a lot of onetime money that needed to be spent now that the onetime money is ending you can see that red line dropping so but that red line those expenditures have crossed the revenues and in your out years that red line continues above the blue line which is are your expenditures so what you have here is you've heard of a structural

026deficit before this is is the picture of a structural deficit and once again this structural deficit is a year after-years into your savings or reserves so if you think about your home budget for just a minute if you have $4,000 a month coming in but you're spending $5,000 a month you got a problem right and the only place that you can take dollars from is your savings account so once that red line crosses the Blue Line you're spending more than you bring in and you start dipping into savings so the red line you can see has excuse me I'm going to grab the water I've been in meetings all day sorry the red line once it crosses you know that it might have to uh be there for a few years but you try to

027get it back to where it's underneath the blue line or where you're actually saving some money and not spending more than you're bringing in the yellow line that is coming off of the red line that you see there that's if you uh approve the resolutions tonight uh that's the new expenditure line for the out years so you can see the resolution the resolutions that are on the board agenda tonight if you pass those your expenditures will decrease and you get closer to the blue line and what you want to do is you want to move that yellow line closer to the blue line there's still work to do in order to uh take that structural deficit and at least make the lines meet this line or this chart is your savings in the district because

028of the structural deficit that you see there this is what's happening to your savings just like that Home Savings Home budget that you're dealing with right now that I just talked about if you're spending more than you're bringing in your savings start to drain and you can see there two lines here the first one the red line matches the red line of expenditures Here In Your Chart beforehand you're draining your reserves because you're spending more each year than you're bringing in because of this perfect storm okay the yellow line that's there is the yellow line on this other that if you make the reductions your rate of spending in your reserves is slowing in other words the your dollars will last your year reserves your balance your savings will last you for a longer time

029so there's still once again more work that needs to be done but the work that you have before you tonight with the resolutions starts you on the path uh to to fixing or uh approaching or uh confronting the structural deficit that is there so you can see here let me explain this chart the outside messenger again okay thank you sorry about that thanks uh so this chart you can see the dark black line that's before you that's zero dollar in your savings account uh you get below that line it's it's it's a bad it's a bad thing the gray line that is there is the 3% Reserve when we look over your budget that you're supposed to have across all years and I know that this board has a policy where you uh prefer to

030have a 6% Reserve okay you can see that if you don't act and uh don't act on those uh resolutions that are there your Reserves uh are eaten away very quickly and when you come to us in a few months with a budget that budget uh the fourth year becomes the third year and you're going to bring a budget to us that shows you dipping below zero in the third year which is once again a budget that can't be approved with the reductions that are here on the agenda tonight that uh uh erosion of your balances of your savings puts you at least at the right about the 3% line which is a budget that can be uh approved at the county level so uh it's important to note there that uh that that budget

031is only just a few months away you're going to start talking about it in May maybe April and then you have to approved the budget in June so regular process happening everywhere so I we wanted you to see this chart so that you could see how fast those savings are being eaten up with the structural deficit here's another view of the same thing just with some dollar amounts to it uh away from the 3% reserve and once again I apologize because it's hard to read the numbers there but you can see the last the fourth year which is which will soon be your third year you would be uh $15 million below your 3% reserve and actually below zero uh by about $9 million so um that's that's a severe budget situation so it's just

032another way to look at the same chart that was there before the yellow line though if that were put on to it you'd be okay in that fourth year out so uh our job as we move forward is to keep really close contact with uh your District as you uh move forward uh we're going to look at the second interum that comes in uh we'll get into the details as we move through uh your because this happens mainly in your third year right now or your 3% reserve your second interim is going to look pretty good uh it it if you look at that second interim you're going to say oh and it may even be a positive certification because you're above your 3% Reserve in the third year but as soon as you get

033to that budget time in just a few months and that new that fourth year becomes your third year on your budget uh you'll have some real difficulties and it will be difficult to for us to pass a budget and we can't pass a budget that has uh something going below zero in the third year out so we just wanted you to know that uh we're here to help if we can uh here to answer any questions uh I want you to know that you're not alone uh we've been spending um like I said some time with some other boards and it is because of this perfect storm and because the timing on your negotiations just happened to be right in the unfortunate spot as uh some other districts where that already moved past and uh

034they had bet on that 4% Cola which which they were hoping for because boards understand the inflation that that's out there they want to help their employees they want to move forward and so boards have asked across the state to uh help push as much as they can to get into employees Pockets so it's it's understandable with the situation the way it is but if you just uh if you saw the news today uh San Diego is laying off 400 individuals FTE uh today Santa Barbara has some that they just announced and showed Riverside did their uh Riverside UniFi did their Cuts uh about a month ago had all that done Coachella has gone through a couple board meetings where they've finally decided to do the reductions they need to do uh we've been at

035Mareno Valley um so it's it's uh do you have any questions I know that this is uh probably new the way that uh I'm showing you the charts so I'd be glad to answer any questions or help in any way thank you very much and uh if it's okay if I can excuse myself and my team but we're thank you Mr Price got our own board meeting and uh but anything you seats are opening up we invite other people to come and fill those seats as well thank you very much sorry for the voice I've been in meetings all day today so moving on to item 8.1 invitation to address the Board of Trustees on non- agendized items individual speakers shall be allowed three minutes to address actually I need to clarify that because we

036have so many and normally we keep it to 20 minutes we're allowing we're trying to get everyone to be able to speak so I'm going to give you all a minute and 30 seconds to stay within the timelines but I want everybody have that opportunity to speak so I'm trying to be as flexible as possible so individual speakers shall be allowed a minute and 30 seconds to address the board on each agenda or non- agendized items the board shall limit the total time for public input on each item to 20 minutes with board consent the president may increase or decrease the time allowed for Public Presentation depending on the topic and the number of persons wishing to be heard in addition the president may take a poll of speakers for or against a particular issue

037and may ask that the additional persons speak only if they have something new to add also I I want to be a little bit clear last board meeting we had people in the audience shouting and trying to trigger it back and forth that will not be allowed if if I tap the gabble consider that your warning the next move I'll ask you to step out this is a professional business meeting that we need to conduct whether we're for or against I'm asking everybody to be respectful please I'm trying to be respectful and I would ask that you be respectful too I want everybody to be able to speak so the first person I have is Jason Miller yeah thank you much one one second one second everybody minut so that should be three minutes this

038this category is too okay so I apologize for this category these are three minutes so you have three minutes I apologize Mrs is next thank you much in the future I think I will have my own perspective on numbers it is clear there will be a deficiency in mental health services for students in the coming school year we are asking for a real plan to not overwhelm counselors with these Services the counselors in our districts have a lot of things to do with a broad spectrum of responsibilities in their job I'm a teacher I can take my grade I can take my papers home and grade them these counselors cannot take a kid in crisis home and work on that at home we cannot have anything extra added to their plate and that doesn't just

039include extra services but also extra work and the responsibilities they already do it is easy to say that certain responsibilities are part of their job but what happens when their regular job responsibilities have too much of a workload in and of themselves there needs to be a level of regular job duties that if exceeded becomes too much and we say please hire somebody or do something to offload the too much for these counselors counselors right now are close to or over that level even now nobody wants to have less staff and we if we cannot keep staff then what is the plan to Shield these counselors from inundating them with too much work from what I have observed our counselors work hard and put a lot of time in for our students and we do

040thank them for that I admit I do not fully understand what counselors do I will be requesting from counselors throughout the district if I can Shadow them for a few hours to see what they do with an intention of understanding their job better I hope that others can look to understand their job better as well thank you for this time to speak thank [Applause] you Jonathan boso good evening board members more than anything uh president Edward Garcia just want to address this that this is not a business meeting this is the public sector this is public administration we are not here to just write things off check off boxes I stand before you as a director of a nonprofit a businessman a consultant an uncle who understands the importance the necessity of these services and

041allow me to say that we cannot just keep viewing we have to look at the Optics that these are now Necessities these are not additional programs that were once valued and now we're going to be able to write them off no I need you to understand that this isn't about coming down to arbitrary number percentages of kids dealing with mental health what will it take what do we need to explain to you how many time do we have to get give a story about kids failing and taking problems home and then just suffering day in day out if this was the private sector we would go ahead and turn and look to the administration those in charge of finance and we would cut them they would be the first to go so I'm curious why

042is everyone else suffering for the incompetence of those in charge if this was the private sector you would be the first to go I dare you to look at the children and ask them am I being paid too much what do you think of my salary you know you won't have those services but hey I'm going to get a nice raise here so I ask you to truly think think about it are we really really marching on to being like Tula on the news no not here not Paris no because we have the opportunity to stop this we have the opportunity to show the people the people we serve the people you represent that we're doing everything possible so I ask you have you been doing everything when's the last time any of you have

043spoken to the students have participated have gone to their events talked with the teacher and truly say what do you need what do you need because that is public service and if you're going to administer if you're going to wear the title if you're going to probably take home that check be sure to ask yourself did I do everything possible to serve my community thank [Applause] you [Applause] item 9.1 Personnel certificated Personnel action items is there a motion so moved second I'm sorry who was first any discussion yeah I have a question so sorry I got confused from the beginning so we're only letting two people talk or out of the whole those those were two cards for non- agendized items for non- agendized it okay everybody's gonna get a chance to talk okay perfect

044um I also wanted to ask a question regarding this item I want to know what are we doing about this are we like are we going to save them with the grant that we talked about like what what what are we moving beforehand because I don't want to vote on something where we haven't really talked about what we're going to do to save them can we save them can we not I need to know what's going on with this we're we're going to allow Candace to speak shortly briefly please yes so I wish I could stand before you today and have something to tell you that was absolute but unfortunately you know I don't have that um I can tell you that there are teams of individuals behind me that are working around the clock

045um on this issue in a couple of different um Arenas working to write grants um but also and I think one of the most viable things that we're looking at um and really reaching out to folks across the state that do this not just well but really really well um and that's looking at the types of specialized services that most if not many if not most of the individuals on all of these agenda items you're about to consider do and is there a way that we can bill for those services medical billing Revenue that would bring in additional Revenue um some of their services could then bring in additional Revenue um uh it above and beyond that so so I don't have anything absolute I can't stand before you today and say I have a

046solid plan or we have a solid plan that'll save you know seven and three I'm going different categories uh I I just don't but I can assure you that it is our absolute top priority and when I say we I'm talking about business services I'm talking about Educational Services I'm talking about it's you know the first topic every single time we have a cabinet meeting is at the Forefront of everything that we're that we're doing thank you sorry I had a quick question about that medical uh billing one so can we Implement that now does it take time like what um I'm just trying to know the timeline regarding that it's both actually so we can Implement that now um we do have um some funds that have trickled in over the years and so

047we're working on a plan for that we have to be very very strategic with it right so we want to take the small pot of money that we have and get the best bang for the buck so we want to First bring back positions that can then help generate more Revenue right um so that we can then bring back more so we can go slow and then have a plan um to to take the next step as quickly um as possible so can we like is it like does it make sense for you if we can like table this to figure out if we can do this or what's the best option unfortunately and I know this isn't the answer that you want to hear Miss F so I'm sorry that I have to be

048the um messenger here here but unfortunately in my opinion it doesn't make sense and that's for two reasons one like like you all talked last time um we do have to meet the timelines of March 15th right so so that's that's one side of it um there's another um side of this some of these funds that we're talking about um there's um there's requirements that you can't supplant so that means I can't just switch the funding so by action it it helps us through the audit it when I get down to you know the the main issue so if these positions are laid off and then brought back with another funding source that helps us pass the audit Trail um in short so I know that's not the answer that that you want and I'm

049sorry about that no it's okay thank you Candace I just uh I just want to say in general though I feel like we did not exhaust all of our options did we talk about Furlow days did we talk about can we say can cabinet if they want to cut their salary and H and save the rest of the staff to help the students I think we should do that I think it's time to know that we are so in the red we are in we are so in trouble I think these are the next steps to do to help all of our staff to help our children um for uh just let you know Furlow days are not allowed unless the state approves it and we and the state does not know in a position

050to do that at this time so fow days are not an option unless the state says says it's an option what is the process of fur days Candace can you help can you help me with that thank you thought I could sit down so the definition of a Furlow day essentially is I you know I'm an employee I'm going to use a teacher as an example uh my current work year calendar I'll ask you to help me if I need c or if you think I need help is 186 days so a Furlow day would be to say you know instead of working 186 days will you instead work 184 days so a different of two and then you thereby reduce their salary for the equivalent of of those two days so in this case

051the formula would be two divided by 186 now what Mr Nelis is talking about is in the last recession 2010ish the state allowed us to reduce student instructional days right now there's a requirement that all students be scheduled to attend 180 days we hope that they actually attend 180 days because then our attendance rates would look much higher right um so what the state allowed us to do as a budgetary savings measure is go from 180 to 175 and that's what Mr Nellis is saying the state has not um authorized us to do and how can like how does that happen again like how come they authorized it back then and not now when we're in The Perfect Storm is what Dr Price said did say that didn't he I don't have an answer um

052for that currently I'm sorry because that's not a decision that that that would be a stat made decision so cuz I I guess I'm just trying to understand like how can like I guess from your uh from your e like expertise is there any way that we can save everyone like give me like give me a Hail Mary give me something that is out of the norm so then I know that we have exhausted all of our options that we can save everyone unfortunately I'm going to repeat what I said before I I I do I I understand your question and your heart and and all of your um heart I know you you want to do um the you know the best thing that you can for for everyone and unfortunately I think we

053have exhausted um all possibilities in in those those conversations that we've been having if I may um I feel like not only the board but the community has been cheated with information we don't it's like we're hearing new things and we haven't heard in there as well so one of the things I'm going to talk about is why I understand we have a March 15 deadline but we keep pushing it on that's what the special board meeting is so how many times are we going to delay with no results we we asked to delay this mean to become today to get data I haven't been presented with data has any of you okay so I'm asking that because everybody's impacted and I understand the depth of this I understand that this will be so deep

054it could affect marriages people's families loss of homes this is deep and it's been a long time since we've been in this position so I'm asking can you give them the information you're giving us as well and vice versa because I'm hearing different things the furl we talked a little bit about that and I told you my experiences with my district if it an option let's do it so is there any new data that you can present to us today so know I'm I'm other than what we've already talked about I don't have any data nor was I told of any specific data though I'm always happy in any situation if you have a specific request I'm happy to I know all of us um on cabinet and all of us are happy to provide

055um that data for you all right thank you and then also can you provide uh the other data regarding all the other grants we have so like also the Aspire Grant because I've been hearing so many different things that it that it was supposed to cover people's salaries for 3 years and then it kind of goes back and forth but I feel like we need to have transparency on where that money is going and next time I would prefer to have that money saved for the students specifically only because if we go to a time like this then that's where I feel like we need to put the money in there to save it absolutely and then can I just say one last thing before we vote is I just really want to emphasize here

056um I still feel like we haven't really exhausted our options because we don't have the data I you know I feel like we need to figure out what's really going on because if you really think about it counselors and staff they're warning us about the dangers and repercussions on shutting down all these wellness centers they are on the Forefront they know what is going on and all because we are in a financial trouble does not mean that we take out the our most useful services that we can clearly see that students desperately need and we should be cutting other items so I guess I think we should definitely cut like buildings and grounds like things that we don't need to make now unless if it's like a danger to students but I feel like we

057need to cut that out we we also need to cut out uh conferences we also need to cut out a lot of unnecessary uh things that we that we don't need to spend on currently and I understand that we received all of this grant money for a growing need which was the students mental held during Co but the need is still there and the experts are telling us that we are in big trouble and if we pass this we aren't listening to the people that are talking to the students daily we need to listen to them taking away the wellness centers does not erase the problem Miss vayo if I might interrupt this is for discussion not a speech and and I respect because I'm I'm advocating too but we all have rules we are

058governed by and if we're going to hold them accountable we have to hold ourselves accountable as well please please exactly but um can I just say one last thing that this uh highly reminds me of the um of the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster um I'm someone who really likes stories so I like explaining stories so then we can all see how the problem really is but regarding that Challenger disaster a group of Engineers told the higher ups that we should not let this uh shuttle launch because it because um they said that there there's a huge problem that when it lifts up it um in the air or something in there it's it is going to explode and that's what I feel like it's going on now we're not listening to the people that

059this is such a huge need and that we need it to change like I I want to hear from the experts like I feel like cabinets telling us one thing but I feel like we need full transparency if we don't have full transparency that that is why our District's a mess it's a huge mess it's terrible it's it's going bad but I want us to come and be United in a Forefront just so I want to regain their trust I want them to be like hey these people did put students first because I don't feel like we're putting students first from all the other decisions that we're making tonight we are not putting students first at all thank you any more discussion you know what I just um in hearing everything I mean obviously I

060think the purpose or the intent of bringing Dr pricer was to give his expert opinion in terms of what the financial situations are none of us here want to take away the services we also have obligations deadlines that we have to meet um it's not to say that we're you know between now and May 15th that we're not going to try to do everything possible to do as best we can with the budget to make cuts on conferences have these further discussions unfortunately we can't solve that problem on March 5th we have to make decisions difficult decisions and then from there we hit the ground running and then we start to see hey what do we looking at where can we cut out where can we do this um unfortunately we're going to have to

061prioritize some Services um you know i' I've heard from many different councils I've had uh phone calls and conversations and I have a better understanding of what's going on and how it all works the interworkings and the moving pieces that it does at a campus and and obviously I I don't think anybody here doesn't want to try to save as many positions as possible um but unfortunately we have decisions to make and then from here on out we're going to then take a look and see where we can make where we can recover funds if there's opportunities to recover funds then we do it if there's grants that we're writing that are going to come in then we we might reallocate people or personnel and staff um but make the budget work because it might

062be extra funds that are coming out of another source as or s ource uh as opposed to the general fund so and again I can't do anything but try to stay optimistic in terms of what everybody's doing the work that is being done on the ground um you know in the future negotiations you know I'm I'm living and learning that sometimes when you get projections and you know there's money there to grab for staff and Personnel we need to think twice about how that's knowing that in that third year it's thin I never thought we would be here with the projections that we had three years ago when I wasn't a board member just as a personal employee um I didn't see this I don't think many people saw it um so now you know

063we basically just have to work together figure out what we're going to do and I think everybody's going to do the best that they can Advocate where they can um I think we all bring different skills and assets as a board and we're going to utilize that with whatever Personnel we have to obviously going through uh Mr Bennett and making sure that we're asking the right questions and we're trying to figure out well how can we save one more job you know one more job here one more job there it's going to take a collective effort and you know I just hope I want to maintain that you know we're going to be positive about it and hopefully things are going to good come out where we benefit from it but I again I can't

064make promises but I'm hopeful that they're going to do Management's going to do their job we're going to do the job that we have to do to make the decisions and hopefully the outcomes are going to be beneficial to all especially our students so thank you thank you um I just want to reiterate one more time we're faced with the deadline of March 15 to send out notices but we are working with each other the district and the board and cabinet every everybody is working hard to retain money so we could retain in the employees and you guys whove emailed me I've done my best to get to everyone I don't think I got to everyone but just understand we are working still it doesn't mean we're stopping everything because of what's happening right now

065we're Bound by laws and governance policies and all that stuff and please understand we are working it's not going to stop it's not going to stop I assure you guys we're all trying you see how passionate we all are and and the hard part you know is I want to let her finish her speech but if I got to hold you accountable I got to hold her accountable so please don't take that as disrespect my my other goal is I want everybody the opportunity to speak I want to hear your voice I want to know what's on your heart so please work with us bear with us okay so so where we at we are at 9.1 any more discussion we didn't have a no we didn't have card sir no this is for us

066we have a motion any more discussion no all right please vote item 9.1 is a 41 vote it does hurt it does hurt 9.2 resolution number one or excuse me 14 23-24 elimination discontinuation and layoff of certain classified management and unrepresented employees for the 20242 school year do I have a motion so moved second for this one okay so we have three three speakers and these are a minute and 30 seconds no these are three minutes okay and these are three minutes each the first one is Adrien oh I cannot pronounce your last name I apologize lamo lamoth Adrian I'm sorry if I messed your name up go are they coming yeah let's move on Roco nemes before I start I do want to uh um res present a petition that our school has been

067signing and schoolwide and I'd like to present it to her if that's okay okay with you guys in the board thank you so much with that petition comes 190 signatures from students and teachers who are concerned on our campus for our well-being for our mental health and uh I just want to start off by saying thank you for inviting me to speak and today I'm not speaking from a script I'm speaking from my heart um you all as elected board members have made a promise to our commun to our community and not only to our community but to us as students and I say this with the hurt in my heart you have not been carrying out that promise I am the one who is doing your guys' jobs from behind the scenes I am

068the one who is staying up after hours after doing my schoolwork looking for Grant uh grants and programs I am the one emailing our State Assembly members and the office of the governor of California I am the one who found a grant by or that is um endorsed by the governor of California um I am the one who gave you guys the idea to reach out to medical offices in Riverside via email and I just feel that it's unfair that I as a student have to do the work that you guys promise us as a community to do and um with that being said I also want to say that I have seen my own friends struggle with their mental health I will not name this person but they have came to me many times

069in worries for their lives they have told me they do not believe that they can make it to wake up another day and I worry I'm the one who has to deal with that burden and I just want to let you know that it takes one student one student to end their life to have the district sued and not only the district being sued it will be you guys making that call to their parents saying I'm so very sorry we could not save you so like I said before there must be alternative budgeting Solutions we have seen this in California over and over again we have seen budgets go down we have seen debt but it's your guys' jobs to make sure that those are not always there it is your guys' jobs to make

070sure we stay out of the red it is your guys's jobs to make sure we can go home to our families and not worry that they can't eat or they cannot have a place where they can sleep and I think you guys forget to realize that me and the minorities on our campus are the ones who struggle the most me as a foster child other people who are foster children lgbtq youth we all struggle and I'm sorry if I'm going over a little bit of my time but this is unacceptable and we expect more from you thank you so [Applause] much Jasmine Diego um good afternoon Board of Trustees my name is jasine Alano Diego I come to you as a first generation Latina daughter an older sister an active student of the P School

071District who struggles with her own mental health in my culture it's a weird stigma that mental health isn't something normal and that those who have it are simply seeking attention but even I as a a well-rounded student who is involved in four extracurriculars does community service is an active member in my church and still has time to spend with my family members and friends I here to Enlighten you that even the strongest one of us have moments and mine are mentally challenged I've spent sleepless nights running through my thoughts thinking about my own life how I've struggled and how to keep pushing forward and it's not only me who continues to struggle with these moments it's also the community that surrounds me we as a community have found solid in the environment that the wellness

072center provides for us it's become a space safe for many to for many how are students expected to continue pushing forward without the counselors whom they've created a bond withd I as well as Roco ons have been going around collecting signatures from the student body that the wellness center is a need and not a want our support is our claim is supported by the 90 signatures that we've collected I collected signatures because it was a responsibility as someone who s suffers from mental health and who has friends but also as an older sister I have younger sisters and I have talked to them about the opportunities and the well that the wellness center provides but I'm unable to continue having these conversations why as an older sister would I rape to them about sources that

073aren't going to be there for them I worry even when explaining to the own students that go to the school this year about the petition they felt like they were blindsided that they didn't even know that this was happening how are you guys going to make these budget cuts when the students at the current schools don't know what's happening why are why are you taking these resources from the community what's our alternative who will be there to support the students are we as a community ready to watch our students struggle are we as a community ready to see how dire mental health impact someone's life and with all honesty I'm not willing to watch these those who I love with struggle so heavily with mental health why are we going to take their help aren't

074we supposed to be helping them aren't you guys supposed to be helping us help ourselves why are counselors and wellness centers not being prioritized why can't we reallocate funds why can't we make fundraisers why can't we do anything to stop this I feel like we do and I feel like it's your responsibility to take Ro action into this and you guys are simply not and I've seen this from a student's perspective I'm there I have friends who struggle and I'm the one who also knows that if without the wellness center I'm going to have more friends I'm not willing to let my circle slowly slowly go down in numbers because you guys made a decision to take away their support thank you Adrien Lam moth please thank you adri all right item 9.2 we have

075a motion and a second any more discussion say none please vote item 9.2 is a 41 vote item 9.3 Personnel resolution 1923-24 elimination discontinuation and layoff of certain certificated management employees for the 2425 school year do I have a motion is there a second second any more discussion please vote item 9.3 is a 41 vote item 9.4 Personnel resolution number 21 23-24 elimination discontinuation and layoff of certain certificated management employees for the 2425 school year do I have a motion was that I'm sorry was that a motion see no motion so move okay is there a second second okay first speaker is Devin blinken chip this is a minute and 30 seconds please hello everyone my name is Devin Blankenship and I'm a current employee with the Paris Elementary School District and um the cuts

076on Dei diversity equity and inclusion are a great concern for me because um without proper representation of students in their educational environments um I don't see how students can succeed so I work in a special day class with um students that have disabilities and I see the intersection between persons with disabilities and race um many of my students who are of Latin and africanamerican descent most likely will be in this District within the next 10 years and it is crital critical for them to be properly supported throughout their educational career and according to US News um for Education it says the district's minority enrollment here is 90% so it's imperative that a district that serves a predominantly minority population prioritizes diversity above anything also black and Latino students are less likely to meet College requirements

077and take Advanced courses so by cutting this it perpetuate perpetuates the inequities we see today even with affirmative action being now forbid in our country if we want to see our students go um to campus and be um integral to our word we have to put these students first so um hopefully that this is something that you guys will be able to work out and yeah I trust everything will work out good thank you Nelly C on Noel Noel my apologies good evening um hello to all of you members of our educational Community my name is Noel camon and I'm a proud teacher at Heritage High School and I do the world's most important work I'm here to address these line items that would cull the very important work that I do do I'm here

078to express my sadness and frustration at the proposal to cut my work off at my knees what you may not know or understand that is that these support and administrative Personnel make my work possible they free me up to do the very precise and intentional work that I do with our children without them my work becomes less efficient and less precise picture a surgeon going into an operating room without an anesthesiologist or surgical tech or a nurse their work is less efficient and less precise and who suffers the patient are students suffer when we don't have support you are tasked with a different type of precise work you're being asked to cut I implore you to cut with Precision I implore you to look for cuts with a mind to the quality of life of

079your patients our students what I see so far is more akin to Butchery please don't just look for joints to cut off Precision is necessary and so is assistance please consult the experts in the room please consult the people most affected please do your homework the last thing I want to say is that when you fail to plan you plan to fail these proposed Cuts seem like a colossal failure in planning to my mind I hope there is a plan in place going forward no I expect a plan I expect for you to come up with Solutions I expect leadership to serve our educational Community with precision and intention thank [Applause] you good afternoon superintendent Bennett members of the board my name is Mary venerable and I'm here today representing the Southwest Riverside County NAACP

080Branch 1034 I am here in keeping with our mission to secure the political educational social and economic equality of rights to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of persons I I also reviewed your vision statement which indicated that Paris Union High School will be a caring diverse supportive learning environment in which all are committed towards working in the relationship to Foster Innovative and Creative Learning my major reason for being here is to speak to you about your plans to cut the diversity equity and inclusion Department I have been reduced in time I have provided the uh clerk to provide you with a copy of my presentation and so I won't go into the details uh that I have been cut with so I ask that you review my remarks and that you

081give due consideration to stop the elimination of this position this very important position I hope I've given you in my outline the insight and information about the need to continue the objection the operation and support for the diversity at uh Equity inclusion Department in Paris thank you for allowing me the time thank you you Helen stey before I get up there I bet your Indulgence because I timed it to three minutes so I'd rather not read it fast but if I have to I will you have to stick with this so we could allow everyone to speak I will I will read fast good evening president Garcia members of the board superintendent Mr Bennett and cabinet my name is Helen styck and I am Dr Cassandra McNair's secretary and Dei I want to appeal to

082you regarding action item 94 that will eliminate Dr McNair's position and the equity division of PHS I understand we are in a budget deficit and we need to sharpen pencils and eliminate unnecessary contracts consultants and Physicians but I can't begin to understand how this District who prides themselves on being the first in Innovation as a leader not a follower and continuously maintains that everything we do is for the benefit of our students and families would consider eliminating one of the most beneficial programs ever implemented to release Dr McNair a leader who is proactive in inovative caring articulate dedicated and be beloved by staff parents and students without a full understanding of what she has done to achieve such positive results for phfc is absurd besides creating equity and ethnic study Committees of both certificated and

083classified members of parents and students that meet with the superintendent quarterly she has been able to bridge the gap between people and cultures she models the vision of a caring diverse and supportive learning environment and has proven success with with restructuring deac APAC BSU and that's just the beginning plans are in the works for the cultural celebrations and affirmations for Hispanic and Asian population in our district she has written a $12 million Community School Grant to bring positions and services to our students what happens when the next generary when next year the grant committee has questions for her and we say she doesn't work here and we don't have a Dei division then the committee asked to speak to her supervisor and we say sorry the superintendent retired do you really think that this Grant

084Community will want to invest in US Dr mcir has done so much in such a short time and she has so much more to do California Health kids survey is under her purview she is in discussions with committees on novel adoption and the pilot program for stud interrupt I apologize but I'm trying to respect everybody's time if I go over for yours like and everybody else's we won't be able to do this in a timely manner I do apologize but I'm going to ask you to email that to me please thank you Robert Brown Robert Brown Charlia doson good good afternoon board um superintendent Bennett my name is Charlia doson I'm a teacher at Heritage High School and I'm also a parent of a Southmore at Heritage High School I didn't come in with a

085speech because when I speak I speak from my heart so I'll make this quick year and a half ago when Dr McNair came in we had some higher up folks from the district office come in and hoo-ha about how great things are going to be because you receive you've given out surveys and you've gotten information from us and you see the con concern and you see the need for our students and then we go to these District APAC meetings she comes in she she makes these grand um presentations about how we can uh better the situation and culture in our district for our students and then now you come in and you tell us she's going to be gone I mean it's just like I'm really truly at a loss for words um our counselors

086just this past August um the car's team Bob Bruff comes in and he all around our our um our theater and tells us how great this team is going to be and they're going to come in and they're going to do all of these great things for our students and then what now they're going to be gone at what point are you guys going to start thinking about our children like really and truly when are you going to start thinking about our children and what's going to happen is just what happened after Co you see what the need is there's a reason why you brought everybody in now you take everybody out and the same thing is going to happen it's cyclical everything is going to just like um Avalanche we're going to be the

087teachers the counselors that we have left over are going to be the ones meeting the needs of all of these kids wearing all of these hats and all is going to happen is all just the I'm just so upset it's want to work on the mental health of the teachers as well the same thing is going to happen teachers are going to be taken off then you're going to have all of these Subs no one and and it's at the end of the day it's just going to hurt the children period so you keep saying you're listening but I don't think you're listening because the votes are continuing to be 4 to one Priscilla grihalva good evening board superintendent and cabinet my name is Priscilla grala I serve on a national School counseling board and

088committees I'm here to support School counselor's mental health and the equity director according to your mission statement it is to create a safe and caring environment I won't read it all to you because you know it eliminating the director of equity and inclusion as well as school counselors is detrimental to our students these positions create a safe and supportive environment this will send a ripple effect across the district ethnic studies will be a state requirement in the coming years Equity director is needed faf saata is a completion requirement in our state mental health needs are rising school counselors are needed there their case will raise once you cut them and they'll be above 530 this will create less time for direct uh services for our students school counselors assist students with their mental health needs

089college career and so much more they save lives the equity director position helps close achievement gaps the US Department of Education has released the 2023 Equity action plan as part of the Biden Harris administration's continued commitment to advancing racial equity and support for underd deserved communities through the federal government this plan aligns with the one of the president's first executive orders 13985 advancing racial equity and support for undeserved communities through the federal government according to the educational trust research in particular students of colge and students from low-income families benefit from having more school counselors for example black students are more likely than their white peers to identify their school counselor as the person who had the most influence on their thinking for postsecondary Education my question for you is do you think cutting these positions

090supports your mission statement and will help your students with educational Equity as board member Elizabeth Vallejo stated look at the data and other items put students first please consider removing school counselors and your Equity director from from elimination thank you thank [Applause] you Janice ruths I'm going to ask again you guys please be cautious of the time I know you keep going over about 15 seconds normally I wanted I would allow that in a regular board meeting but we have so many more speakers that I want to be able to get to them all please um my name is Janice ruds I'm the executive director for the center Against Racism and Trauma uh we cover the entire Inland Empire and we're particularly interested in instances where school districts are getting rid of their diversity equity

091and inclusion departments um I'm listening here to both you board members as well as staff and parents and teachers and um of course it makes no sense to get rid of diversity equity and inclusion in a district where you have such great diversity but you have what might be respectable graduation rates but very very low um achievement in math and English and even for English language Learners um and high you know rates of suspension so these are measures me es these are your work measures these are your work measures staff and you need to have somebody who's going to be looking at what do people need students teachers staff in order to be successful in their jobs which is to ensure that children learn and are supported in that learning with a variety of things

092but my question to you in my few seconds is why is the county telling you about your finances and why wasn't this s session a whole session on what the budget is in Paris with all the data you need to help make the decisions you want to make in terms of doing that surgical work and cuts that's the question you should be asking the staff thank you Ashley [Applause] Williamson hello my name is Ashley Williamson I'm the parent of two Paris Union students and one former student I came today to address the board about a poor proposal to eliminate some of the most crucial faculty members at PSD social workers the the diversity and inclusion director support staff drug intervention Specialists and assistant principles are absolutely vital to the students in our district that are

093the most in need schools can sometimes expect students to be comfortable with engaging faculty and these kinds of relationships can lead to emotional support recommendation letters connecting with faculty is valuable to a student's GPA one research study shows that each voluntary office visit corresponds to a 1.25 bump in their final grade for that course now that's in college but how else to better prepare our youth for the world Beyond High School than to start now how else to better show our most vulnerable students that their school supports them by retaining specialized staff supic specifically for the purpose of support recently my child had an issue with inappropriate content in the classroom by a teacher and it was addressed immediately by both a counselor and an assistant principal who called me today to let me know

094the issue was addressed and that there will be practices implemented to f further monitor the situation our students rely on these staff members and as a parent I also rely on them supporting my children when I can't be there to do so I trust the administration and the counselors Dei directors wellness centers and the encompassing staff are integral to the cultural competency of a community so when families come in they can see and hear themselves in their teachers staff and and Leadership diversity work can sometimes be lost in everyday functions of a school but that's exactly where it exists in the day-to-day and the nuances and the lens we see the school through is important just as we look at Administration practices advancement practices or financial practices you should want to look at your diversity

095practices this brings inclusion to the entire community and leads to everyone having a voice at the table eliminating these valuable positions only serves to harm not just the lgbtqia students or the black and brown students or the differently abled and chronically ill students but when an overall detriment to every student in the district stop these vital staff cuts and the sport the students that you were elected to support ladies and gentlemen I apologize that we had to cut her microphone I am trying to be transparent with time as you have noticed but we can't delegate or break away from the policies of procedures we're trying to do and I'm just asking you guys to be respectful I don't want you guys removed okay we had card number 11 turned in no name on it um

096they they have their phone number I'll just give the area code 323 323 area code no okay okay next speaker Sharita mcgomery that cor she's coming hello hi my name is Sharita Montgomery and I am uh I have an alumni from Paris High School also par a student in Paris High School and one going into Paris High School and I think that the way our children are being treated is is just disrespectful our children deserve a whole lot better than what they're doing and then taking the Dei out of the system is not good for our kids it's not supporting our kids with the I APS that have mental disorders I have one kid that's going crazy all the time and they want to take this out of out of the school system it's not

097good for our kids our kids need help you hear the fires the the police running up and down the street right now kids are being killed kids can't even walk out the street out of the schools without feeling unsafe and as a school board you have to protect our children our children are number one important that's the only reason you have a paycheck is because of our kids and if you cannot take care of our kids then you need to step down out of the seats and find somebody else that can take care of our kids the way that they need to be taken care of I have a a son that has been pushed from one school to the other school to the other school but nobody has taken time to help my son

098and now they want to send him to rcoe in Riverside and he's only 13 I'm a single mom I need help with my son but to send him to rco and I got one kid here and one kid there it's not fair to me if you can't do your job job get out of your seat sha Bradshaw is there a Shaina Bradshaw thank you I hope I don't ruin this Jahim Grant did I say that right and Jasmine Grant it Crystal Perry cryst my goodness David RAB I know I seen him earlier is he here good evening members of the board my name is David RAB I have the pleasure of serving on the Paris city council I'm here to Echo the sentiments of my constituents and many people in the Paris unified uh high

099schools district um I would advise the board to vote no on cutting the diversity Equity of inclusion um role and all the council roles as a 2004 Paris high school graduate whose family has over 70 years in this High School my dad's older sister graduated 19 1947 I understand the things that black particularly black students have to face in Paris High to go and cut the diversity Equity inclusion uh role in this in the city in the the high school it's a role that's needed here and it's a role that helps out a lot of students I've had the opportunity to speak to the APAC multiple times a lot of the students particularly the young black boys are not getting the um needed guidance that that uh the diversity eity inclusion a role plays in

100the city and another I mean in the school and another thing is um here it is election day and you have a special meeting on Election Day a lot of people are C exercising their right to vote and here you have a special meeting on Election Day the meeting is not filmed you just have the audio equipment in the meeting and it's just unconscionable that a board is trying to do things in the dark so once again vote no on uh getting rid of the diversity equity and inclusion role cutting those counselors and um you know ensure listen to the voice of your constituents and the voice of the residents of the district thank you thank you [Applause] miles Ross Mr Ross good evening miles Ross NAACP Branch 1034 honorable members thank you for hearing

101me out I'll be short we cannot say that all lives matter if black lives don't matter we cannot say that all lives matter if you engage in academic apartheid we cannot say that all lives matter if you engage in Jim Crow 2.0 cutting benefits that help the least of us is not education it is deprivation we're here to help to find solutions to fix problems to solve issues a school is not a business you cannot stly strictly run it by bottom line you have to look at the impact the negative impact that it has on your constituents mainly the children who are your customers you are depriving your customers of their what they bargain for which is a education that allows them to fully become who they are meant to be and to be a

102positive contribution to our community if black lives don't matter no lives matter we ask that you vote no on this agenda in regards to diversity equity and collusion thank you thank [Applause] you item 9.4 any more discussion actually have a quick question for the board I just really wanted to ask why is the Dei position being cut when it wasn't even supposed to be cut till next year this seems very targeted to me it is very sexist it is very racist about it and I think it's rude that we even have such a great employee and how come for others we have found a position for them in the district but we haven't found one for her why aren't we salvaging these really great employees that really care about these people we already lost brff

103and he was such a great person who really put the students first and now we're losing another one that really puts the student student first so what what was the rush what was the rush for laying off this position when it wasn't even set till next year please let me know to I think that's a question we all want to know but you're asking us and you know the answer you know that all this is presented to us and we have to make the decision and I'm not I'm not sticking up for anybody I'm just putting the facts out there just like last time we had to clarify some miscommunication I'm not going to partake that but I know we're here to do what we have to do that's all I could say because you're

104looking directly at me like I'm the one transparency transparency I'm looking at all of you guys you looking at me I will directly look at you if I want to to be honest go ahead but it but my question still stands she like her position was not even due to be cut till next year so what's going on like why I we should ask you the same thing if you're again you're looking directly at me so I want to answer you but I don't have that answer so you're telling me that you voted for this position to be cut for What specifically because I want to know what what you now now you're pointing fingers and I think you need to stop correct but we're about to yes yeah well I'm not no this isn't

105professional don't do that no I I I I just want to assume that um I feel like then we're in ing that this is going to be a no and then this job is going to be kept that's what I that's what I'm hearing so I think one of the things that you know obviously the position that we're in is is lose lose is what it seems like you know you have one side saying why aren't you cutting Administration then you cut Administration and then it's like why are you cutting Administration and so we we have to look at the bottom line the figures that are out there and then obviously try to move around the pieces no one has ever said well and maybe that you know it was a conversation that we haven't

106had we are trying to look for positions for everybody who has been cut or is on on the cut list we're looking for those positions with these Grant monies that's the intention that's the purpose now if if I don't know if you've had those conversations with anybody but I have and so I want to make sure that you understand that we're having conversations we're having conversations about how can we take this employee and find if there's other funding take that funding and move them into that now it might be a change in title but it is nonetheless trying to save every we're trying to save everybody we can and that's the bottom line I I think this this you know it feels very targeted I mean you know I I have never seen I it

107is wait wait the reality is we have to make decisions here and now and then obviously I hope you've tried to bring Solutions to to the cabinet to to Mr Bennett because I know I have I know I've had those conversations and I've tried to find ways to make sure that we that we're trying to save every position now you know I've heard you know you guys got to do your homework you got to do this you got to do that there's you know my thing is I have done my homework and I have asked the questions and I've had I have I'm the one who actually looked into the Community Schools Grant you know but you know now it's all of a sudden we're being posed as like we're going to be the ones

108that have to you know because it's a 4-1 vote I think it's very unfair I think we're we're all bringing different things to the table and I know I have to deal with my decisions and I'm hoping that they get rectified but I'm bringing ideas and solutions to the table to offset these job losses now if if you haven't done that I I can't I can't Bouch for you but I know I've done my job in trying to bring solutions to the issues that we have to make Cuts if you look at the cost of a lot of these Pro a lot of the the different programs and and when they were set up they were a lot of this stuff was done before I was even here and you know obviously some have them

109put in place but I don't think it's fair that we're being kind of accused or some of us um um to not think that we don't care we do care and and we're bringing solutions to the a and that's okay everybody has the right to their opinions we at the end of the day have to make decisions but I'm just asking for transparency though like if that's the case then why didn't we offer another position for McNair that's what I'm saying nots all okay I need the chatter on the other side to please stop so Mr Bennett hold on please I want to bring this is back to order let's stop the accusing let's stop the chatter and let's conduct this meeting like we're supposed to we're all professionals yeah we're all elected we know

110what we should and we shouldn't be doing and and attacking is not cool you did the last board meeting please stop wasn't attacking so so are we are we having more discussion a a question to Mr Bennett Mr Bennett have I brought you Solutions and ideas to offset some of the job yes or no yes you have yeah yeah and so my point is we're doing our job we're trying to do the best we have we have deadlines we you I don't know if you were paying attention to the the fiscal situation is not good at the moment but I'm still hopeful that with grants coming in that that can be alleviated and I mean maybe at this point you know it's just better off to call the question we move to a vote and

111we go from there any more discussion see none all right please vote item 9.4 is a 41 vote item 9.5 Personnel revised job description assistant superintendent Innovation and Technology services do I have a motion is there a second second any discussion see none please vote item 9.5 is a 41 vote item 9.6 employment agreement assistant superintendent of innovation and Technology services do I have a motion is there a second any discussion please vote item 9.6 is a 41 vote item 9.7 business selection of an independent auditor do I have a motion is there a second so come on Candace so the item excuse me I'm taller I think than the last speaker the item that's before you was requested um um at the last board meeting uh to look at different external independent Auditors um

112so what we were able uh to do is get for you I think you had requested that we get a single year quote from the the current auditor who is ID Bailey um and we got two additional quotes we did reach out to other firms we've reached out to the county office so we could get a full list of who the other districts use majority of the districts um in Riverside County do use I I Bailey that's not to to say the other firms aren't quality firms or anything like that uh you can see the the cost uh for the 2324 audit um before you for both the district audit and The Proposition 39 which is our um Bond measure fund um before you and so the way that we have written this agenda item

113is to allow U the board to have whatever discussion you would like to have and then if you um would direct us to for which firm you would like to use we will then bring a contract back to the board at the March uh 20th board meeting so that we could meet meet that March 29th um deadline that we spoke about a couple of weeks ago and that I wrote in the summary here so I'm happy to answer any other questions you have I I don't have any specific experience with the other firms though to answer those kinds of questions if I'm correct I think one of the big issues was we would prefer it to be a one-year contract and these are all onee proposals and the contract would then follow suit yes correct

114so what the next step sors three you have a board member make a motion for which one they would like to go with anyone have a preference our the recommendation of the of the cabinet is to to go with I Bailey continue because they already started some of that information previously but it's your decision anyone want to make a motion can I may I clarify something that you said just for the record they haven't started the 232 right they they've work with them previously we've worked with them previously they've worked with um all of our uh different restricted um one-time dollars and you know our their interpretation of the audit guide as it relates to how we use those funds um is that we would pass audit so and we do have this is our

115last year for those funds but that's just one consideration you may want to think of can I oh are you gonna ask a question or can I ask I was going to make a motion so moved can I ask a question a quick question after a second second okay go ahead uh kenice I just had a quick question um for the these three uh firms that that you chose is there a specific rubric on how you chose these specific three or just nope it wasn't that complicated we had a very short amount of time to um ask for quotes and so miss Capistrano actually reached out to all the firms um that that we could um many of the some of the firms I shouldn't say many there's not a whole long list of them

116some of the firms couldn't provide a quote for us in that short of a turnaround time some of them couldn't provide a quote because they're already at capacity and they can't take on another client in that short of a turnaround time so so I say that so that you are you know aware you know if if if you pick a firm for for one year it's not off the table to then start this process earlier yes uh for the next year if that makes sense Mr Stafford you made a motion is that to accept Idol and Bailey okay oh okay I'm sorry yeah originally Steve yeah and then again happened was it fli right oh okay then I'm well I guess so but I was going to speak to the another firm but well you're

117well there's a motion and a second so now we can have discussion oh so um in looking at the firms and so I think one of the things that we were trying to avoid um last time was the longterm and I obviously the established relationship that was there um getting a fresh new set of eyes to kind of look at and actually thank you for clarifying that that they were the ones that were dealing with all that other stuff in the past um that obviously you know we I wasn't aware of maybe maybe that's been mentioned before um so I did look at uh the CW cwdl and it says takes a great deal and pride of in our all-inclusive annual fee this Fe Encompass a variety of situations that trigger supplemental Billings at many

118of our competitors obviously they are the lowest uh bidder and and it seems like they're providing extra services and obviously if we're looking at um cost savings then this would be one of those things my question to you is um with I Bailey have we ever had any of those that were listed there that were additional costs outside of the the agreement because I know within the three-year agreement and I know it's probably longterm gets a better rate but at the three-year agreement we're looking at 60 Grand per year and I believe this one was 44 um if I'm not mistaken but okay with with the potential of extra benefits so I'm glad you read that so I could confirm with Mimi no under IID Bailey at least in in our recent history we haven't

119um because I I understand how you're reading that it could it could be more but the cost there is similar to what the way it was proposed rather um we would expect that we would pay that price and that would be the maximum that we would pay it wouldn't be extra Services right so there wouldn't be other because but that's an excellent that's an excellent question we um it's interesting that you notice that under cwdl because the media I talked a lot about that and that's actually intriguing um to us too um however I think I would say that that maybe down the road you know for the next year but that's up to you we're fine with whatever is your decision so now um so now you saying that um we're dealing with this

120year so because the agreement that was posed last board meeting was for a three-year agreement and I think where we were hesitant is in the long-term agreement I mean if if it's one of those things where we complete or we do a onee with I Bailey and then maybe we to cost save because if they've already started the process or whatever then obviously we stay with that emotion but yeah this obviously is something that could save us cost us and and if it's a one-year deal and we you know based on you guys' recommendations to discussion and you say hey you know what we did save money but there was more headaches or then obviously we then we would look into a more long-term agreement um but I think the hesitation last month was the

121three-year agreement and so I'd be more than happy to stay with with I Bailey for a year um if that's what Tony's recommending on that then that would be okay and then that we now have this as kind of something to look at to maybe let's go for that next year see how it works out and then you now have something to compare I think that's all reasonable I I think on our end we appreciate that because we're extremely busy more so than normal you know right now with all of the other things that we've talked about so we certainly would appreciate that but as I said before whatever is the will of the board we're happy you know to use whichever firm thank you one year and you're actually not approving a contract tonight

122Anna you change the motion in there to make it clear so it'll come up on there we would then bring back the contract for whichever firm you select at the March 20th board meeting all right so any more discussion since we have the first and the second no more discussion please vote 9.7 is a - vote item 10.1 adjournment special meeting of the Board of Trustees March 5th 2024 is there a motion is there a second is there any discussion see none please vote we are the vote is a - vote and we are adjourning at