001I am calling the November 19th 2024 meeting of the Board of Education to order per government code section 54950 executor and Education Code section 35140 executor at 50:3 p.m. we will now be adjourning to close session for the purpose of discussing the following matters conference with labor negotiators Dr Alex chernes superintendent Gary Stein assistant superintendent of administrative services Dr EXA Gates Deputy superintendent for the purposes of CCA APLE and Plum we have a claimant um we have a claim the claimant is lucet Cunningham the agency has claimed against his PUSD for workers compant station claim number 23000 2947 in the monetary amount of $100,000 we also have a conference with legal council anticipated litigation per government code section 54956.9 sub section D2 with Terry TAA of TAA and rosini APC we also will be speaking
002about an expulsion of student number 22.7 is there anyone present in the audience who would like to address any of these items for close session seeing as there is no one we will now adjourn to close session at 5:04 p.m. all right we're going to reconvene to regular session at 6:04 p.m. our report out of close session is as follows the board met and conferred in close session to approve workers compensation claim number 23 2947 motion was made by Mr Youngblood a second by Mrs Anderson and the vote carried 5 we also met and voted to approve the recommended expulsion of student number 25 0 2.7 motion was made by Mrs Buck the second by Mr Youngblood and it carried 5 to0 at this time I'm going to ask trustey youngl to lead us in
003the Pledge of Allegiance would you please rise ready begin I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay let the record show that all of our board members including our student board member Luke are present approval of the agenda please I'll make a motion for the approval of the agenda for November 19th 2024 I'll second I have a motion by Mr Frasier I have a second by Mr Young Blood any comments all those in favor I I and I'm in I Luke are you and I all right motion carries 5 Z with an I from our student board member go on to our public comment announcement public comment cards are available on the foer
004cards must be completed and turned in prior to the designated time for public comment there will be a maximum of three minutes per person if translation is needed an additional three minutes will be given please let us know ahead of time so we can ensure we are prepared we have a civility policy education code 202 or 220 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability gender gender identity gender expression nationality race or ethnicity religion sexual orientation or any other characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate crime set forth in section 42255 of the penal code including immigration status I need a motion for the minutes please I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting on October 8th 2024 as presented a second I have a motion by Mrs Anderson I
005have a second by Mrs Buck any comments all those in favor I I I am an i and we have an I from our student board member motion carries 5 Z all right now we have Rec recognitions I'm going to turn it over to Dr turnis good evening tonight we have the privilege of presenting the you are the advantage award to two outstanding members of our district family District nurse Alise Sailors and Travis Ranch Health clerk Jennifer gagos Alise and Jennifer would you please join me at the lect turn okay the UR the advantage award honors individuals organizations and employees who exemplify the district's four core values Excellence collaboration integrity and Innovation for those fortunate enough to know or work with with Alis or Jennifer you've experienced firsthand their dedication to these values for those
006who have not yet had the pleasure allow me to share a little more about them alely and Jennifer are vital members of our Remarkable Health Services Department whose mission is to ensure all children enjoy Optimal Health to fully benefit from their education this department comprised of credentialed School nurses like Elise and health clerks like G Jenifer who serve at each School site while Health clerks are not licensed they receive training and basic first aid and CPR to address students immediate needs in the health office credential School nurses work closely with our health clerks to promote wellness and ensure the best possible outcomes for all students let's start with aise who has distinguished herself as an outstanding school nurse Alise serves y Belinda High School Fairmont Elementary School ocscs and Travis rant School collectively supporting the
007well-being of over 3700 students Alise joined p in 2011 after an impressive 20-year career as the Director of quality management at P Health Downey hospital she holds a bachelor's degree of Science in nursing from Cal State domingus Hills earn her school nurses nursing credential from Cal State Fullerton and is a nationally certified school nurse Elise also serves as treasur of the Orange County school nurse organization in addition to her professional accomplishments Lisa is a proud p parent all four of her children graduated from our schools two are accountants and two of them have pursued careers in healthcare one in Optometry and another is an emergency medicine physician we're delighted to welcome her husband Brian her mother Linda who are here with us this evening when asked about AAS Health Services administrator Michelle de Haven these
008words it's both an honor and a privilege to work alongside Elise she is not only a caring and compassionate professional but also an incredibly skilled and highly qualified school nurse her ability to think quickly and respond effectively in high pressure situations is truly remarkable Elise your dedication to our school community and your exceptional problem solving abilities are deeply appreciated you're an integral part of our team and we are so fortunate to have you with us thank you for all that you do each and every day to ensure our students health and [Applause] safety all right now stay up here let's turn to Jennifer who joined us as a health clerk in March 2023 she holds a bachelor's degree in gender ethnic and Multicultural studies from calply Pomona she has found her passion working in healthc
009care and supporting children at Travis ran school also joining us tonight is Jennifer's mother Sonia last month Jennifer's calm demeanor and Swift action were pivotal in saving a student's life when a fourth grader experienced an allergic reaction to a beasting Jennifer quickly leaned into to her first a training and contacted Elise for guidance Elise who was nearby rushed to the scene and together they confirmed the student was experiencing an anapec reaction recognizing the severity of the situation they administered an epip pen potentially saving the student's life their quick thinking and potential teamwork are a testament to their dedication to our students health and safety Travis Ranch principal Kristen petraki praised Jennifer saying her calm demeanor and composure Under Pressure were instrumental in ensuring the best possible outcome we're deeply grateful for her exceptional dedication in
010our health office knowing our students are incapable and caring hands this moment also underscores the importance of California educ Education Code 4941492 [Applause] um if you can I'd like you to come up here we can get a picture of you with the board let's even it out team come on definitely went girls [Laughter] guys thank you [Applause] thanks again okay Luke you ready take it away good evening president blades trustees superintendent chernis and executive cabinet members I'm excited to be here tonight and share recent updates from our Comprehensive High School and alternative campuses point a Vista Virtual Academy and parkvi school welcome Vietnam veteran Lieutenant Colonel Steven Lund who spoke to elementary students in honor of veterans day the PTSA also hosted its annual book fair and fall festival featuring games square dancing food and
011fun high school students serve as community volunteers supporting their younger peers during the event El cuno roale students recently visit fton College the 22 students explored the campus attended classes and met with career and financial aid counselors to plan their Futures a schoolwide field trip to Sofi stadium is scheduled for November 20th students and staff will toour the stadium facility through an academic lens Focus on the elements that go into building a city- of-the-art venue their sustainability commitment and the steps taken to limit their carbon footprint their vast technology systems that operate the stadium an architectural and Engineering side of the build and much more after lunch and some activity time on the field students will participate in a career panel with employees from all facets of operations in order to learn about the pathways
012to their respective careers the annual tree of thanks activity is also underway where students and staff will put what they are thankful for on different colored leaves and the leaves are posted on our tree in the middle of the campus ELO high school held its 12th annual fallen heroes Memorial Veterans Day C ceremony on November 8th every year the ceremony is live streamed throughout the country and and into classrooms and is highlighted by recognizing the three gold star families of Golden Hawks who lost their lives protecting their country the three Fallen are Staff Sergeant William Harrell corpal claudo patinho and Sergeant Jason Weaver the ceremony also recognizes veterans in attendance by in a roll call Taps is performed for the Fallen when their name is announced students this year who participated in the event were
013PR leader and Senior El sham moderator and Senior as president Luke gilra that's me and jzw trumpet player and Senior miles Olen former principal Mrs krie IO gave a powerful and impactful closing to this year's Ceremony this event can still be viewed through eldorado's Hawk talk YouTube Channel edhs video production edhs would also like to thank board member Marilyn Anderson and sha Youngblood and assist superintendent of Educational Services Dr Olivia Yang for being in attendance Esperanza is continuing their PB PBIS program after being awarded gold this year students are awarded with treats every week if they have earned a pride card in around school pride cards are given if a student is given to a student if they are showing characteristics characteristics of positive responsible Innovative determined or engaged on campus students took part in
014What if week where POS questions and held activities for for the students to continue to make esparanza a school that is welcoming inclusive and kind we just finished up our High School showcase where we show uh showed all incoming eighth graders and students all the great things that esparanza has to offer from academics to Athletics to arts and more great to see so many eager aects on campus this week is a busy week at esparanza as be a future ready day this this Wednesday to have every senior fo a college application Thursday we have a blood drive Unified sports game and fallfest which which will connect students even more to school asira also celebrated outstanding achievements in CIF competitions across across all sports cross country women's tennis women's golf girls FL football and football preparations
015are now underway for winter sports Venture Academy's coffee cats program continues to thrive offering coffee tea and seasonal treats while planning to expand its menu the program supports community events including the upcoming principal meeting in December George Key School will host a fall craft day on November 15th featuring sensory activities crafts and refreshments for students and their families the school also looks forward to annual rotary Christmas party on December 13th made possible by Sunrise Rotary of your blinda Valena High School celebrated athletic success with first place finishes in girls golf tennis volleyball and cross country in the Empire league sophomore Michaela Gill will compete in CF cross country finals on November 22nd at Mount sack best of luck Mel the tiger regiment concludes its undefeated season with a first place finish at the Savannah High
016School field show this concludes their competition season in which they were undefeated AP exam sales have concluded with over 1,800 exams being purchased serving our 900 students for testing in Spring 2025 reflecting the school's strong academic engagement on Thursday November 7th fl's High School showcase was a standing room only event welcome welcoming future T tigers from the class of 2029 and introducing them to programs like IB Cambridge and Valtech class of 20109 that's crazy um yand High School successfully completed its was accredit uh was accred uh accrediation visit this past October the visiting committee provided positive feedback on the strength of durinda high school's Arts Athletics and academic programs thank you to the entire yhs Community teachers classified staff students parents community community members and District Personnel for their support throughout this process the Mustang
017band and guard took sweep steak at Laura third at South Hills and fourth in their group at prelims they also had successful performances at the placenta and Anaheim parades the orchestra had a successful Symphonia night this month and their choir is in preparation for Winterfest on December 3rd at Disneyland and December 12th at a Winter concert and December at December 20 16th whoa the theater department is in the middle of their fall play nois is off it's playing this Thursday Friday and Saturday Saturday at The Forum the dance company is getting ready for their performance waves on December 6th and 7th at the pack fars cheer qualified for and is going to attend the National High School cheer championships in Orlando Florida for the first time in school history they qualified at the UCA Southern
018California regionals last Saturday at mirosa high school placing second in the experienced and highly competitive field of schools the Mustangs just finished our um matter week a week when they prably uh celebrated every Mustang on campus both students and staff joined in the excitement with spirited dress up days and a variety of engaging activities all designed to remind everyone that they had very important and Valu part of our Mustang community and then it's not written down here I didn't put it down but uh W HS football is in the semi-finals of division 2 that is fantastic I watched the game last Friday it was incredible shout out to my friend Drake dlas he's a starter great player and all my friends are going to go to the game on Friday so I hope you guys
019make the 2-hour drive out to support the Mustangs that concludes my student Port Port was a lot once again lovely board report we all are actually wondering if you would want to read ours all right so I do have a question and if 2029 feels a little you know dated so you imagine how it feels like to the rest of us that checks out yeah yeah but that's not my question what my question is what are some of the opportunities that P has uh PUSD has given you to grow as a student and a leader um for me one of the biggest opportunities Grant to me and then 43 other kids are in ASB right now at evhs um I've been it for three years I was a sophomore president and I did the rallies
020last year and now I'm as president but uh under the leadership of Mr cazano he allows us to grow so much as leaders and that program at Eldorado is is just fantastic so I'm really grateful to have this opportunity to do this and to do everything at El Dorado and that's really helped me grow it's leader and it's something that P has given me to keep going amazing well we are really enjoying you as our student board member so thank [Applause] you all right I'm going to give um we have an avid presentation I'm gonna uh turn it over to Dr Olivia young Luke you gonna chip in for me here yeah I mean if you want me to I can but thank you okay well good evening president blades board trustees superintendent Dr ches
021and members of executive cabinet it is my pleasure to share information this evening about the AVID program and how it is helping us ensure College and Career Readiness for all students across the district I'd like to begin by sharing avid's Mission which is to close the opportunity Gap by preparing all students for Success um in College and Career Readiness in a global society as you can see this directly supports our District's vision and Mission as well at the foundation of avid is wicker which is a research and evidence-based learning support structure that helps students develop the skills and behaviors that prepare them for College and Career Success these tier one instructional strategies are student centered provide scaffolds to learning help promote Equity build literacy strengthen critical thinking and are effective in any content area and
022any classroom on any campus but Avid stretches far beyond wicker which is the Hallmark of the program the global work that Avid does with districts and schools is rooted in their College and Career Readiness framework which represents avid's theory of action within this framework Educators take actions together in alignment across the four core domains of instruction systems leadership and culture to help students develop the skills knowledge and experience needed to succeed in college careers and life essentially Avid has identified what educ s do and what students need and how those things come together to work to close the opportunity Gap so our students can be ready for college or career in essence Avid is both the vehicle with which to transport our instructional Vision as well as the belief system that is needed to ensure
023that every one of our students can and will succeed now that we have an understanding of avid's mission their core instructional strategies and guiding framework I'd like to share a bit about what the program looks like at the elementary and secondary levels at the elementary level Avid is a schoolwide approach for grades TK through 6 and it's intended to close the opportunity gap before it begins by teaching and reinforcing academic behaviors and higher level thinking at a young age Avid elementary teachers create a ripple effect in later grades elementary students develop the academic habits that they'll need to be successful in middle school high school and college in an age appropriate and challenging way children learn about organization study skills communication and self- advocacy wicker strategies are embedded into the daily instruction of all Elementary
024classrooms across entire grade levels such as focused notes and the use of highlevel questions at the elementary level Avid is not a standalone program or a pull out but is instead A schoolwide system that equips students with the academic social emotional and Professional Knowledge and Skills that are needed in the changing world now at the secondary level Abid takes the form of an elective class for students who are typically the first in their family to attend college who are middle performing and have the potential to excel with support from Avid strategies the elective class provides structured tutorials for students twice a week by college tutors as well as an explicit College and Career Readiness curriculum that heavily supports literacy I liken the role of the Avid elective teachers as school parents to their Avid students
025constantly monitoring student progress helping them strengthen core skills building their self- advocacy and unlocking the hidden curriculum of college entrance and success at the secondary level when Avid goes beyond the elective class and expands schoolwide you can find the Avid strategies implemented in all classrooms across the campus this is the marker of a school who has committed to instructional excellence and their practices are used with all students this inevitably leads to a culture of high expectations and academic behaviors that permeate the entire campus now that we have a strong understanding of what the AVID program entails and looks like I'd like to share how it has grown over time and impacted our student achievement in this district AVID has been in our district for 28 years dating back to 1997 with one class of avid
026offered at Kramer Middle School followed by one class of avid offered at Valencia High School the following year over 28 years we have now expanded Avid to all of our Avid all of our secondary schools including El Camino this year and 13 out of 21 of our elementary schools with three additional elementary schools in the process of becoming Avid schools additionally two out of six of our middle schools are also Avid Excel schools which specifically supports our long-term English Learners by accelerating language acquisition developing literacy and placing them on the path to High School Avid and college preparatory coursework we have invested significant resources in Avid over the years to train our staff with 419 staff members trained in The Last 5 Years alone we are proud to share that our district is home to
027one Avid showcase school at Ruby Drive which means they host events for educators throughout the state to learn about and observe the strong implementation and commitment to avid IES present we're also proud to share that out of only 61 Avid National demonstration schools in the state and 213 across the country our district is home to two Avid National demonstration schools at Kramer and Valencia National demonstration schools serve as a model for the Avid college readiness system and have demonstrated a commitment to Excellence in both the Aid elective and schoolwide high expectations for all students in fact we are informed by Avid that we are the only District to have a tk12 Avid National demonstration feeder pattern not only in the state but in the entire western region yeah so as more and more of our
028elementary schools are opting to implement Avid we are creating a collective vision and common academic language for Student Success in turn our students exhibit higher agency a stronger academic mindset and are better equipped with the skills and strategies to succeed in secondary school and Beyond but don't take it from me let's hear it directly from our students and staff at this time I'd like to invite three students from our tk12 national demonstration path schools to share about the impact Avid has had on their success to begin I'd like to invite Ruby dries principal Lisa Carmona and Andrea Canales a fourth grader to the [Applause] lecturn thank you Dr Young and good evening to the board and executive cabinet as an avid showcase School Ruby Drive is committed to a culture of academic rigor and a
029supportive learning environment beginning in TK Ruby Scholars learned the foundational skills in organization inquiry collaboration and critical thinking which helps students build lifelong learning habits these habits instill the confidence and resilience needed to achieve success with me tonight is Andrea canizales a fourth grade Avid scholar she is here with her mother and proud teachers Miss Lawrence and Miss baros Andrea embodies the qualities of a true Avid leader she is a problem solver a collaborator and a confident Communicator who is a positive role model to her peers she will now share how Avid has had a positive impact on her education thus far good evening everybody my name is Andrea Canales and I am a fourth grader at Ruby Drive Elementary School I would like to share how Avid Elementary program has made a difference in
030my education first off I would like to let you know what Avid stands for Avid stands for advancement via individual determination I have been in the AVID program since kindergarten I have been an avid Ambassador for the school several times I truly enjoy being an avid Ambassador since I feel like a strong leader I enjoy teaching others all the aid strategies we use at Ruby Drive because of avid I'm organized confident and ready to learn my binder forever folder tabs and agenda help me stay organized and to be able to find any everything I need easily I also feel like my two and my three column Focus notes help me stay organized and ready to go further with my essay writing one thing I really like about abot is the collaboration it helps me as
031well as others if my partner or I don't understand something we are able to ask questions and get ideas from each other through the discussion with others I have become a better critical thinker and I am able to ask important question questions Avid has made me feel like a leader and part of the community at Ruby Drive I will take what I've learned and continue with the strategies in middle school and in high school Avid Avid has helped me set future goals I plan to attend UCLA and hope to be a lawyer one day I know Avid will help me achieve this thank you for giving me the chance to share how Avid has helped me and my classmates become better students and bigger dreamers [Music] [Applause] amazing that was amazing I'd now like to
032invite Kramer's principal Matt Callaway and susel palifox narai and Avid Excel eighth grader to the [Applause] electron thank you Dr Young good evening president blades Board of trustees superintendent Dr Alex chernes and executive cabinet at Kramer Middle School Avid has trans transformed how we support Student Success it's not just a program it's a part of our culture through Avan we've equipped students with the skills confidence and mindset to pursue pursue their goals creating Pathways for achievement that extend far beyond Middle School it is my honor to introduce susal palifox nungaray one of our outstanding a grade students in Avid Exel susel is a second generation Kramer student and a shining example of the opportunities Avid creates she's here along with her family and her teachers Miss Beth Missouri and Miss Jessica rosete uh to share
033her story and the impact havid Avid has had on her journey good evening my name is suel Ruby narai palifox and I want to share how Aid has helped me grow one of the biggest changes I've noticed is in my communication skills before I Aid I was shy and afraid of what others would think of me but my teacher Miss Chia encouraged me to pretend no one's watching and reminded me that 10 years from now I won't care about others opinion this advice has helped me feel more confident when I speak Aid has also helped me get organized in sixth grade I often lost papers and Miss deadlines which affected my grades since joining Avid I've been able to improve my organization and have seen my grades go up I mostly get a now although
034science last year with Mr oi was a bit challenging lastly IID encourag me to set goals I used to feel unsure about sharing my interests but now I'm confident in saying I want to accomplish Big Dreams in the future like working in crime scenes investigation or becoming an immigration lawyer and helping people without legal Styles get their papers Aid has truly helped me become a better student and person who is on track to reach your goals thank you for my teachers for guiding me along the way I promise to make you all [Applause] proud thank you thank you susel I mean this is Quite a feat to talk in front of a room like this so great job and finally I'd like to invite Valencia's assistant principal paa suchan and Cesar MOA a dual IB
035and Avid 12th grader to the lecturn [Applause] good evening everyone bu uh thank you Dr John AET has impacted Valencia by giving students the tool to challenge themselves in regular classes like AP and IV and college level courses and also it has allowed them to apply to colleges our students have never dreamed and to help them prepare for success in colleges and Beyond Today I have Cesar along with his family miss naso his counselor and Mrs caret our AVID coordinator Cesar MAA has been an avid student since sixth grade he's a dual IV and Avid student president of VHS Big Brothers Big Sisters Club and a scholar with a true passion for helping others Cesar plans to become a special education teacher and will graduate with both iy and ABI Abid scholar recognition welcome here
036you go [Applause] good evening everyone thank you for having me so as bession said this year is my senior year a significant Milestone but I'm also proud to say that it is my seventh year taking the Avid elective and reflecting on who I am today I can without hesitation attribute my academic success and my enthusiasm to the Future to my experiences in the AVID program academically Avid has taught me the power of collaboration and communication and learning through my experiences in tutorial groups I've learned how to tackle new and difficult problems with the guidance of my peers and the support of our amazing Avers at the same time I've been able to strengthen my own understanding of content by helping others creating a never-ending cycle of learning my Avid teachers Miss Harnett Mr Lee Mr
037Henry and Mr Ral work hard to ensure that students like myself feel safe and comfortable seeking and receiving help in the Avid classroom at school and Beyond um their consistent individual guidance and and regular check-ins have proven to be instrumental in my high school journey and have provided me with key moments of reflection and areas for growth that have been proven necessary for me to achieve my goals one of the most transformative tools that Avid has provided me with is the growth mindset the growth mindset is not just a concept it's a practice like a habit for me my moment of Illumination to the growth mindset was when I was encouraged to take geometry over the summer and jump into algebra 2/ trigonometry honors after taking Algebra 1 my freshman year and I had many
038misgivings especially since I doubted my mathematical abilities however my Avid family avalena especially Miss gave me the courage and confidence I needed to tackle both courses currently my growth mindset has allowed me to maintain a part-time job do well in the international baloria program and have a zero period behind that and and um leader in my community and at school wow Avid has prepared me for a future where I'm excited to learn and grow at the University level especially since Avid has provided me with the skills such as Focus note taking I feel confident and prepared with my own system of focus notes and I'm excited to see how can I apply those skills at the University level so I could say without a doubt that Avid has significantly impacted me not only because it
039has made me who I am today but because it has showed me the possibilities of who I could be Avid has given me the methods and tools such as organizational skills time management and communication in order to work hard towards going to college and to achieve my dreams thank [Applause] [Music] you thank you to all three of our students for taking the time this evening to share how Avid has impacted your sucess thank you to our site administrators and our staff who are joining us this evening as well for your support of our students and to the families of our students thank you for your partnership and for entrusting us with your students now to complement the Amazing Story Shar this evening by our students I'd like to just share some brief data about how
040Avid is closing the opportunity gap for our students by presenting our senior data from the class of 2024 across all four of our high schools last year we had 138 Avid seniors in the AVID program across the District of which 86% were socioeconomically disadvantaged in comparing the graduation rates of our Avid students versus non-avid students in our district we see that 100% of our Avid students graduated as compared to our overall grad rate of 95.2% this represents a 4.8% increase over their District peers when we look at the courses of rigor taken we see that 73% of our Avid seniors completed a course of rigor while in high school as compared to 57% of all district seniors which is a 16% increase over their District peers when we look at the college readiness exams taken
041in those courses we see that 56% of avid seniors took a college readiness exam as compared to 32% of all district seniors this a 24% increase over their District peers then when we look at the a to G completion rate which are the requirements necessary for entrance to a 4-year College we see that 87% of last year's Avid seniors were a tog ready as compared to 57% of all students this is a 30% increase over their District peers as a reminder 86% of our Avid seniors across the district were socioeconomically disadvantage aged these results speak for themselves Avid is irrefutably helping us close the opportunity and achievement Gap in our district and when we look at what our students do when they leave our district we find that our Avid graduates enroll in college the
042first fall After High School at 87% as compared to 62% nationally which is a 25% increase and when we break down what type of college our Avid graduates are enrolling in 56% enrolled directly in a four-year school and 32% enrolled directly in a 2-year school which is 11 and 15% higher than the national average respectively finally when we look at the fall-to-fall college persistent rate of our Avid graduates compared to the national average we find that they continue onto their second fall at an 8% higher rate than their peers across the country so when we think about the return on investment no other evidence-based program has generated the student outcomes like Avid has for over 40 years and in summary our Avid students are not just better prepared to succeed in high school and gain
043entrance into college they're also finding more success when in college than their peers and through Avid our students are able to overcome obstacles and Achieve success regardless of their life circumstances whether they choose to pursue college or not our Avid students are able to think critically collaborate and set high expectations for themselves to confidently conquer the challenges that await them in their career and life so in closing we thank you for your continued support of avid as the program continues to expand further districtwide I would love to take a moment to thank Paul leaport our Avid District [Applause] specialist for his steadfast dedication to the growth of the program for the past 10 years and for to Dr will gray our executive director of College and Career Readiness for ensuring that all our students graduate
044college and career ready thank you thank you Dr Young um to the students here thank you for coming and and sharing with the community what we all know so well and that is that Avid is a jewel of our school district and something that we're going to continue for um years to come so this is a great program we're so proud of you guys um thank you teachers for coming to support your students and principles um and administrators and um we will continue to um to celebrate this program and to track the success and I think the data shows that this isn't not just a qualitative feel-good program this is actually a program that works so thank you very much all right this is a time when our students and their families if you'd like
045to go ahead and exit we'll give you a couple minutes uh to to leave the building so you guys can go home and I guess probably do homework you e oh yeah [Music] is a what okay it looks like our students have left the building and so we've broken up our board meeting tonight and like the um different things we're actually trying something new tonight and so when you guys were putting in your speaker card you were asked what you would like to speak on and so we have the action items of 14.1 14.2 14.3 and 14.4 we're going to take those speakers um right now and so I have Nell Raphael I have Linda con I have Don Miller and I have Scott Sheba and if you guys want to come to the front
046you'll have two minutes to speak and just so everyone knows these are for the superintendent and assistant superintendent comments this pertains to these agenda items are those all the comments thank you so much no on this subject on this subject I put my card in for this subject this subject I did oh she's got more she just called the first four I just called the first four first that's what I was asking thank you so much okay in 2020 three outgoing board members Downey Carmona and pageant quickly participated in superintendent interviews just 5 days before an election despite the confirmation that the board would gain three new members after the 2020 election the outgoing board disregarded the community and the wishes of the new members by hiring a new superintendent on a 4-year contract these
047outgoing members never collaborated with the new superintendent but ensured the Union's preferred candidate was selected why was there no outcry at that time with four existing board members on the new board and Dr chernus join joining on a 5 and0 vote in 2023 making changes to superintendent and assistant superintendent contracts is minor compared to the actions of the outgoing 2020 board buck and Freeman were involved in the 2020 vote that granted El saster a super majority vote Additionally the past two superintendents had super majority Clauses in their contracts so this is not introducing anything new also consideration should be given to Anderson's multiple hosle work environment claims is this her way of retaliating against a superintendent who filed claims against her for misconduct let's focus on presenting facts rather than inciting chaos in the community
048once again okay this is the this is the first warning we're going to be respectful to speakers if you want to talk out from your seat and not be respectful then you'll be asked to leave first warning um Linda con um with so much attention being focused on school boards you no longer have the luxuy as Trustees of firing top administrators without cause you have the right but it's highly problematic because we know from experience that the public simply does not understand the firing without cause that takes place behind closed doors we saw this vividly and clearly in Orange Unified School District where we went through 14 months of hell I don't want to go through that same experience in placen or Belinda I would argue that the vote to fire without cause should be
049unanimous in this situation I know that's rather extreme but consider this the vote to hire these people was unanimous just 18 months ago a 4:1 super majority should be the absolute minimum requirement for firing for any cause but this raises a much bigger question I'm asking all of you in front of me and behind me how can you justify firing this Administration team that has turned an 8-year decline in enrollment dramatically around and that's just the beginning you all heard about those test scores where our most disadvantaged kids had incredible leaps in math achievement on their test directly related to the highquality tutoring that this Administration implemented after the previous administration cancelled summer school I could go on and on but my time is very limited I simply want to say that satisfying Union agendas
050should not Trump protecting and educating our children and respecting parent rights Don Miller Don Miller again resident retired assistant superintendent from Orange County um per our board bylaws and I just need to make sure we understand that's how we make our decisions it's not about what we want or what we think but it's about what how we are being governed and per board bylaw 93 25.3 every official action requires a majority vote for all the membership it lists actions that require a four of five vote and none of them would pertain to an employment agreement as for the appointment agreement for Alex chernis just in June there was an extension of his contract to 2028 without any formal evaluation this already is a violation of board policy 21.1 board bylaw 9000 and board bylaw 921a
051why would any Board of Education limit their ability to hold a superintendent or designate responsible and make it more difficult to terminate the answer is they wouldn't so why is this even an agenda item especially because it's a violation just to have it on on the agenda to be put to a vote which is the responsibility of our superintendent and our president of the board and as Miss blades was quoted in the Orange County Register today it's because District employees fear losing their jobs I have a side note I didn't see any last year's termination of assistant superintendent or site administrators having a super majority vote in order to be terminated I guess we are only going to protect those who have maybe donated to a board president's re-election campaign or campaign against uh trusty
052Anderson for reelection not conducting a formal evaluation on the superintendent and putting this in agreement is malpractice thank you [Applause] hi hi my name is Scott Sheba uh my first time addressing the board here and I would uh like to reiterate and ask the board to consider how amending the superintendent contract at this time is in any way beneficial to the families or the community that you represent as was met previously mentioned the superintendent contract was already amended this year to extend his contract to 2028 uh without a performance review if you felt it was so necessary to amend this contract to include a super majority for termination with cause why was the contract not amended as such at that time um as mentioned president blades has said in the comments to the media that
053this is because we need more oversight and this measure is needed to retain people uh and she's called it hypocritical for members of the community and the board minority to oppose this because this type of clause has been added to past superintendent contracts that's however not the case uh as we know the previous superintendent contracts which were including super majorities were for termination without cause and this contract Amendment would be for termination with cause uh it should be noted as mentioned that this contract Amendment comes after Dr chernes donated $150 to president blad's re-election campaign and he was seen at a campaign event for the candidate running in opposition to miss Anderson uh Dr ches is certainly free to do as he chooses uh however unless we would like to set a dangerous president for
054quid proquo uh I feel that President blades should abstain from voting on this agenda item because it' be a clear conflict of interest and I believe that I'm accurate and I believe if there was any error or um you know thing counter to what I said that that's not accurate um you can certainly call me out on it but I think that we all know that that's the truth thank you our next speakers are Joshua schroer Brook Harper Trisha cantero and I'm sorry is this chow cow I can't read this is this you sir okay thank you my name is Josh Shader I'm a p parent Dr chis badly botched the USI construction and launch remember when it was going to be at w a Vista and continues to aisc its financial situation and enrollment
055numbers with half truths he has overseen an unprecedented Exodus of EXP experienced and beloved staff his actions in no way warrant enhanced contract protection if anything they weren't an immediate performance review something that he has unexpectedly not had under the current board's leadership requiring a super majority vote for dismissal with cause would violate State Education Code this was not part of the previous superintendent's contract the previous superintendent Dr elsasser super majority Clause was only for dismissal without cause but you know what Dr elsass contract did specify an annual performance review this election was the Public's first chance to provide a referendum on Dr chess's actions as superintendent in fact for many of the people I spoke with it was one of their primary motivations for which board candidate they chose to vote for the new
056board deserves the same power over his employment and his potential with cause termination that this outgoing board has had this contract Amendment must be rejected thank you thank you good evening thank you for your patience for my questions earlier appreciate it um my name is Brook Harper I'm a parent taxpayer and um a proud member of this community I oppose any changes to board policy employment contracts the addition of resolutions additional board meetings or any other major changes to how this board governs during this lame duck period between now and the December meeting the I did want to point out that the not two years ago the Republican Party released a parent Revolt program that supported firing lawyers and superintendents without cause so I'm a little baffled by these calls of these things being um
057being hypocritical um here we are the fact that you moved public comment to the end of the meeting just confirms once again for me that some of you on this days have abandoned the board mission to be a bridge between the community and the [Applause] administration I wish that were not the case I wish you cared about all of us shame on [Applause] you hello my name is Trisha quo and I wanted to speak today in regards to the proposed contract changes these Chang Es are being proposed with the guise of bettering School Community unfortunately the impression I have of these changes is not what is best for the community but instead what is best for a select few the community spoke two weeks ago they do not want any more surprise changes I was
058also shocked to see my opinion in a published article I have not said anything in regards to this topic nor have I ever publicly publicly expressed my opinion in regards to any contract changes or employment matters so to say someone is afraid of possible firings is absolutely unfounded this is truly disappointing yet sadly not [Applause] surprising good evening my name is trano I'm a resident of ju for about 20 years and I just want to ask for fairness for this contract our president can lose the reelection just by simple majority our governor can be recall by simple majority even the board in front of me can lose and fail the reelection by simple majority so out of one person in this District needs to hold highest accountability is a superintendent a superintendent cannot be harder
059be fired than the one he or she fires us thank you thank you next is Patricia Hanzo Shanny Murray and Andy Falco I have no confidence in superintendent shernice or Board of member truste Leandra blades and I oppose contract changes I'm going to reference a document that is entitled bylaws of the board 93 25.3 actions of the board there's a section about non agenda items there's a section about actions requiring 4 fth vote of the board there's three things you can do with a four to five a vote those three things are the expenditure and transfer necessary funds or use of District property or Personnel to meet a national or local emergency created by War military Naval Air Attack sabotage or to provide for adequate National or local defense the second reason to vote four
060to five is to adopt a resolution between July 15 and August 30th to borrow funds the third reason would be to declare an emergency in order to authorize a district to include a particular brand name or product in a bid specification those are the only three reasons to ever use a 4tify vote a unanimous vote in that section says that you would need a unanimous vote to authorize the terms of a community lease for extraction of gas the second reason would be for emergency exits that would need approval by the county superintendant of schools and so those are the outline changes since 2014 the board has not changed these policies and if you try to change them today you are violating government state law and Education Code so I have no confidence and I also
061encourage the public to participate more and read up on these bylaws because we are getting gas lit [Applause] tonight hi my name is Shanny Murray I'm a parent in the district and I'm just trying to understand why you're attempting to undermine the new board majority the only thing that will change is instead of sha youngl we'll have Trisha quino who received the most votes out of any candidate running with almost 10,000 votes she ran she ran on a platform of student achievement Community engagement fiscal responsibility and transparency and informed decision-making she promised to be an advocate for all children and a unifying voice treating everyone with dignity and respect so what are you afraid of and what are you trying to hide thank you [Applause] Shanny after months of lies from the teachers union about
062the current Administration namely how you all were firing hundreds of teachers and principles and were needlessly spending money all of which were lies that same teachers union is demanding that quino Anderson and but dismantle and destroy all the positive progress that has been made by Dr Alex chernes and his executive staff in one of many racist and anti-semitic posts against Dr chernis and Dr Gates the campaign workers of quento and Anderson WR T-minus 49 days until a new school board in audits bet there are a few people feeling nervous I hope the first step is auditing USI ocsc byms I am almost giddy another one writes I want them to know we are coming for them I hope they are nervous I hope churness is fired add the principal Janice D says add the principal
063of byms to that and I am in time to cut out the cancer can you imagine calling one of our finest if not our finest principal a cancer I am begging and praying that none of you give in to quento Anderson and buck and their attempt to destroy PUSD thank you thank you okay I need a motion for 14.1 please I'll make a motion to approve the amend employment contract recall of Dr Olivia young assistant superintendent of Education Services a second okay so just to recap about um what is in front of us is we got a cease and assist today from don't get too excited we got a cease and assist from the CTA which is the California Teachers Association and the APLE which was we also were brought into court today um um
064by a citizen and a little bit of an Entourage and they try to um essentially do a temporary restraining order on this vote tonight and the judge found the judge denied the temporary restraining order it is also found too that according to our attorney the C syn assist does not have any Merit and so we are going to go ahead with the vote however I do have this question and as we do go over these contracts um we do need to talk about the precedent that was set in 2020 um which leads us to where we are tonight um what the judge said in court today was essentially they were trying to stop the vote because they said they don't like how we're going to vote it was kind of essentially that and you know
065next month the board is going to turn over is what they said and so what the judge said to this person was he said so Congress is still in session until January 3rd January 3rd I believe do we expect them to stop work working do we expect them to stop making decisions and I will say that Apple has also said um I write on behalf of the association of placental land Educators CTA and Nea to inform you that the placent Orinda Unified School District intend to require super majority vote of its Board of Education to approve the termination of employment contracts of four highlevel District administrators would violate Ed Cod according to our attorney it does not and it says there as you're aware of a recent election the composition of the district's Board of
066Education will be changing and at least one new trustee will be replacing an outgoing trustee and so essentially that is part of their problem and why they wanted to cease and assist but we go back to 2020 and we go back to approximately 5 days before the November 2020 election when there was a previous Board of five people two were not running for reelection so there was going to be two board members already brought in possibly three and so they went on a Sunday and they did a superintendent um you know they did superintendent interviews and they gave a conditional offer of employment to Dr James elsasser 5 days before the November 2020 election and so on November 10th of 2020 they offered they offered um Jim elaser a four-year contract with a super majority
067knowing that three board members we're going to not be sitting on the dis and so I asked what is the difference tonight from what we had in November and I would also like to ask my other question is is where is um the cease and assist from APLE and the CTA and the Nea to the board president at the time Eric padet because we're under the same circumstance in fact we have more board members that aren't going to be on this thing so where is where is the cease and assist is it because Eric padet was a part of the CT and the Nea is it because the union was okay with the hire what is the difference tonight from what our board is doing so what you're telling me I'm not asking you guys'
068questions I'm saying hypothetical so what I'm [Music] telling so what I'm saying is is there's no difference from now in 2020 till now into 2024 I I'd like to comment well I'm still speaking one second well it sounded like you were done well I'm just waiting for them to quiet so that's the that's where our that's where my thoughts are and that's also too you know it's been spoken with for the attorney um Jim elaser never had an evaluation he was here for 18 months so all of these comments about evaluations Jim elester never had any eval valtion Mike Matthews didn't have any valuation so that's kind of Moot and also we also feel too that another part of these contracts is that there's some things that are just going on be behind the scenes
069that we feel that um who's weak there's there's some stuff that's going on this behind the scenes that this would actually be a move to protect the district because some of if if anybody made moves to fire Dr chernis in December as social media stating or any of these things that could be considered retaliatory for instance this um this cease and assist that we received today from APLE I'm not sure if everybody is understanding here is this is the first superintendent and this is the first cabinet and the first law fir firm that has actually held the union president to her contract we have not been receiving any funds from the CTA or from Apple to fund her employment contract so it has been told to us that she is working outside of her contract
070and has been since 2004 and so we have a potential misuse of public funds and this person right here is holding her accountable the first superintendent in 20 years and this board majority also now this year now this year 50% of the salary will be paid to the district by Apple or the CTA and next year 100% of her salary will be paid will be paid by CTA or APLE but the problem that we have here is we have what appears to be some retaliatory acts from our teachers union and why is that is that because we're holding you know we have people on our executive cabinet or superintendent holding people accountable for these things I'm also concerned about any type of retaliatory action for things that are also going on in HR from our
071board and so when we found we were reviewing the contracts and found that Dr elsasser was given the super majority 4 to one and then Dr Matthews was given the same and so we so it was I said would you guys like a super majority in your cont contract as well and how we think how what we think happened was we think that our change in law firm at when we had ainson a a LR they were giving the super majority because that's where it started it started with that law firm and so when I asked David Huff why um why we didn't you know offer that he says he usually just waits for the superintendent or the person in contract to ask for it or the board to ask for it so we're doing
072it tonight which is no different than what happened four years ago and we're not we're not lame Ducks we're still moving forward we're still you know doing all all of this so um that's what we have from Court obviously the judge denied the trro our attorney has said that all of this of what we're doing tonight is legal and it's not violating board bylaws it's not violating board policy as because it's been done before and so Todd do you have anything thank you Todd I appreciate that okay um so I was actually the one here when El sasser's contract was done so let me just point out the reasons why they're different number one those two contracts were approved at a 5-0 vote um doesn't appear like you're going to have a super majority tonight
073to get this super majority Clause added um neither elsasser nor Matthews contracts had a 5 clause for unilateral termination with or without cause this is an addition in this one it's a 41 even with cause um these contracts with Dr El Sasser well with Dr El Sasser it was an initial contract for his employment and the only way that he would accept the position in a community that was divided we also took a long six-month process and had a climate survey done throughout the entire Community to get input from the community from students from teachers to find out what kind of administrator they wanted that was never done here the reason why Dr El Sasser did not get an evaluation is because he resigned before it came to that time so at that point then
074we had to go out and look for another superintendent and we decided to do an term Superintendent at that time because there was a board election coming up and we wanted the new board to be able to have that opportunity because of the what had happened in the past we didn't want to recreate that um his contract was a year and it had a super majority in a clause uh as well um because he was the only one that applied the only one the inter that we interviewed and the only one that was willing to take the job at the time so very different and at that time we did not have assistant superintendent Clause um contracts in there as well um when you have now if this gets passed you have assistant superintendent that
075also can't be terminated with a 41 vote even at the recommendation of the superintendent I'm going to vote no oh one one last thing board bylaw 9,000 board and superintendent roles and responsibility the role of the the board is to ensure that the superintendent holds District Personnel accountable we can't do that with these [Applause] contracts okay I have a couple questions um you keep saying we and um in the contracts it clearly states that it is the desire of the board to amend this agreement so who on the board desired this I brought it to the board I brought it to well if we vote Yes then that amount of the board is saying that they want to do it okay because I found out about this on Friday so I am not part of
076this desire to amend the board [Applause] contract of any of them and um let me see what other questions I have for you um I think Mrs Buck um covered everything else I'm looking for but I just want to say that I think you're misrepresenting what the attorney gave us he gave us a legal opinion and if we would like to wave a simple majority we can actually read that and we and the community can be clear on what the attorney said so um you guys agree to that we can I'm willing to wave it to read the opinion of the attorney I am too you're saying to vote to just to read the opinion if we have a consensus we can read the the thing because um Mrs blaz says that it's not illegal
077and my read of what the um attorney said is different and I asked for Doc for David Huff to be here today on two separate occasions and I was denied David Huff said that he had given his legal opinion to the board and um I believe he was also in court all day today so he couldn't make it well Dr chis is the one that told me he could not attend that he would not be attending the board has legal opinion it's um it's it's been vetted by Council the board um has the ability to a away privilege it's not my recommendation to read legal opinions in public I well I would concur I think we're setting a precedent to wave privilege I mean you can laugh at all you want that's fine um but
078I I think it would be inappropriate for us to set that precedent to to wave the privilege to read it in public at this point so okay well I just wanted stated on the record that my opinion and um president blad's opinions of this opinion do not match up okay and um also I just think um it's a really poor comparison to compare the two contracts of Prior superintendent because they had a simple majority for cause to get um fired and it just breeds [Music] um corruption thank you um it just breeds corruption to do that and I don't think that's how our government set up it's not how it works and I think it's wrong so I will be voting no on all of these contracts Okay so you know for me um for
079those that might not be in the not did you by chance see the last board meeting did we see the amount of supposedly Educators and teachers in our district that were acting absolutely foolish where you would think that they were part of a seventh grade class giving Fus to Dr chernis saying that they would want him fired if they had the choice and it was so disappointing these are these are people in which are educating your kids uh and if they're willing to act that way in public what do they do behind the closed doors in their classrooms so I think if you're referring to Mr Davis and that's really disrespectful really disrespect well I there were okay and um and I and I would agree well and and hold on Sean I don't Luke
080I don't know if you're aware but there was a lot of there was a lot of talking in the crowd absolutely so and I Mr Davis I understand but I just wanted I just I love that I love that man so much I I appreciate that you appreciate that's that's really great however I don't think that's what what Mr Young referring I I understand the the general of last meeting that was you were there yeah it was crazy absolutely so um with that um but I'm glad it's clear now that we have had that conversation with that I think it was it was very clear that uh there was already going to be a um an issue once once the uh the election was over if the board got switched that they were going to
081Target uh you know certain members up here on the Das uh and whether or not that you know you think uh Dr chernes and his his staff are doing decent jobs um the one thing that we continue to forget is it's about the kids and if everyone who really had such a a deep dis were um we're looking at Dr chice or any of the the board members and totally forgetting about the whole reason in which we're up here and we're completely forgetting that this is about the kids and their education okay we have a tendency to go after one particular person but that is in itself just a person and it's not not the it might be an ideology it might be ideas in which you guys may be disappointed or disagree with but
082I guarantee you the person is all for the kids in the district and I can tell you that if I myself want to insulate Dr chernes and this amazing staff that he's got around him then I will do so so my vote will be yes I'll make my comments brief I think this is a move in consistency if I one of our comments earlier was about the uh situation in Orange Unified this last year that was an absolute mess and it was because there was there was action taken without enough evidence pulled together to make that move and it caused uh an uproar out there I also would like to say that regardless of whether it's cause or without cause if there is an issue and we need to change leadership I am all four
083voting for changing leadership so that that well no but I'm I'm saying what my my point is if it's a if it's a if it needs to be super majority my guess is if we've got cause or we're wanting to R without cause I doubt that's going to happen but it would be a 50 majority vote just like it was to hire so I think that there's there's things that have been said that if came to fruition would be a big problem I think this helps keep us consistent and based on on legal opinion I feel comfortable moving forward with the contract so I'll be voting yes okay I also would just like to just just to note that just today on this uh some of these websites you know people have said like there
084was a comment um I guess I won't let me just remind everybody that this is the board that votes they don't vote I understand and when we have a new board member that comes in that board will be voting it doesn't matter what says on social media what anybody says asss that are being made about the new board I agree with you there are so many assumptions being made of what is going to happen and you don't know that so by by making decisions now you're actually legislating for the future board which is against the law I think that's an opinion and what I was saying about the social media was it said just earlier today should Todd Frasier vote for this tonight he could be up for a recall and then it even goes
085further you know you can be again a recall and until after 90 days and then like basically a candidate who lost oh you know they'll they'll take over they'll do what's needed for the district and so what I'm saying here is you know we have people that are like actually threatening recall just based on our decisions up here like there's threats on social media for a decision so I'm just saying is like you know what we're holding firm because look at Orange I mean now Orange Unified they've had a rough 14 months and then they gave those raises and now we're looking at you know they're their funding is going you know they're in a deficit spending if they you know from one of some of the stuff that's happened because they don't have any
086consistency in their District I just want to add I think it's really sad that we can read social media but we can't read an attorney's [Applause] opinion social media is very different than legal opinions that's it's [Music] Anderson it's more than a legal opinion Miss Anderson it's it's pending litigation and so it'd be irresponsible to do that and you know well that that is not appropriate so you're saying there's going to be litigation because you haven't notified us about I'm saying there was today were notified in were in court today I wasn't notified that there notified today that we were in court I sent you the report today you did not you did not you sent me the after report but you didn't send it to me in the this is potential these are reasons
087why I have concerns I don't get all of the information we are left out of the communication and that's why I brought up the we because it wasn't we and I think there's a lot of issues here and I think we should just put this aside and go back to the attorney and get this straightened out because I think we're going to you we already had litigation today that I wasn't aware of but until after the fact but all this is going to do is take money away from our kids it's going to take money away from our education where where's the financial impact where's the financial impact potential litigation potential litigation litigation is expensive sure I understand but litigation happens all the time too like that you're you're making an ass no you're making
088an assumption just like Carrie said that people have a lot of opinions but you're making an assumption that that means that this is going to cause that we don't know that well Dr C that was previous as what we talked about earlier to say yes absolutely that's in the email sure but I think that we are talking about a bunch of opinions up here you have stated your opinion Carrie stated hers Sean stated his I have stated mine and landra stated hers and that's what we're here for to to make judgments based on how we see the facts and the situations and I think it's time for a vote Yes I do too um before we go for a vote I was going to add on here on to the um termination agreement that um
089it says for fa and this would be for all of them so would be the same language but it says for for failure by uh young to substantially perform the duties or responsibilities the set forth in this agreement found by clear and convincing evidence and then in addition the district May terminate this agreement paragraph is that and what's I'm sorry it's a a a looks like the very first paragraph oh you see it now yeah yeah in that in that first sense right and so it says in addition the district May terminate this agreement for breach of contract if it determines in its sole discretion determined by clear and convincing evidence so just putting that in and then also what was that excuse me we have a motion are you making a motion to amend
090I'm making a motion to amend the can you can you state your motion to amend so the board has it she make motion no nobody made a motion she was talking about a potential change I don't know that that adding the language is necessary Sean made the motion so he can only amend the motion is uh Dr chus is that a recommendation to amend the motion I the it's the parliamentarian Miss blades is making a recommendation okay I can send this down you if you'd like to see it the recommendation is in green and the line that's crossed out can we take a a break and get copies of that so that we can all see what the changes are in instead of passing one copy around I don't support amending what we have okay
091if I would just like at least a few minutes to study it well it was just an addition of a language like we do to resolutions and other things that sometimes you we sit here and we add language but exactly that's why I like I would like to but if we're not going to have a motion to amend it then let's go ahead with the vote original I think the original is fine perfect oh you guys want sure okay all those in favor Mrs Buck no Mrs Anderson no Mr Young BL I Mr Frasier I I am an i and Luke is this for 14.1 I don't think he can vote on this kind of stuff oh that's true sorry yeah I was hoping you would just say abstain no okay so the motion [Applause]
092so motion carries 3 22 all right 14.2 I need a motion don't make the motion hold on sorry we are making that motion I'll make a motion to approve the amended Employment contract for Renee gray assistant superintendent of student Support Services 14.2 all second all right since we've already had all the discussions on all of these do I have any more comments All any more comments I just reaffirmed my previous comments perfect same all those in favor no no I I and I'm an i motion carries three to2 14.3 to approve the I'm sorry I need a motion I'll make a motion to approve the amended Employment contract for Dr Isaiah Gates Deputy superintendent 14.3 I'll second all right I have a motion by Mr Frasier I have a second by Mrs Mr Young Blood
093sorry almost changed your agender thank you all those in favor no okay I'm Gonna Roll Call vote Mrs Buck no Mrs Anderson no Mr Young Blood absolutely Mr Frasier I and I an I motion carries three to two um I need a motion for 14.4 I'll make a motion to approve the contract for Dr Alex jernice superintendent all second I have a motion by Mr youngbl I have second by Mr Frasier all those in favor I have comments okay okay so for this particular agenda item um this in addition to all the rest but I'm going to point out all the different violations here um this violates government code 94 54952 six action T taken means Collective a action decision made by a majority of the members of a legislative body 54957 this chapter shall
094not be construed to prevent the legislative body of a local agency from holding close sessions during a regular or special meeting to consider the appointment employment evaluation of performance discipline or dismissal of a Public Employee article four of Ed code powers and and duties of governing boards Ed code 35010 every school district shall be under the control of a board of School Trustees of or a board of education Ed code 35164 the governing board shall act by majority vote of all of the membership constituting the governing board Ed code 35161 the governing board however however retains ultimate responsibility over the performance of those Powers delegated by law or duties so delegated per board by law 35 or 9325 point3 actions by the board every official action requires a majority vote vote by all board members
095while some actions require four out of five vote none of these pertain to the employment agreement um this uh contract violates board policy 2111 1.1 evaluation of superintendent board policy 9000 board and superintendent roles and responsibilities board bylaw 9010 board authority 9020 board powers and Authority board 0921 a professional gu governance standards of the board Beyond these policy violations Board responsibility includes hiring and supervising the superintendent to assure ensure alignment of the district's board Vision goals and policies why would any Board of Education compromised this this amendment violates government um government Ed code board policies and undermines responsible governance a su a 41 super majority or 80% which is quoted in there is um uh if less than five is statistically impossible um with four board members it would require a four V 44 Vote
096or 100% to meet the 80% threshold this three4 vote would only get you 75% of the way and you would never get to the point where you could terminate with or without CA even with that um again I'm voting no okay roll call vote roll call vote please no Mrs Anderson no Mr Young Blood once again did um did our uh lawyer go over this particular and what is it that he mentioned he said that this was legal and he said it was fine and and he also did go towards not quite accurate here Sean you're on the board you can actually read this thank you dear okay I vote I oh I and I'm an i motion carries 3 to2 [Applause] okay so we have now a public hearing about ocscs and so we
097are actually GNA do our do you want com um Dr fiser would you like to hear the comments first so you can possibly address any of the comments in the public hearing or would you like to do your public hearing first the law yeah public what a law or something around that that's yeah no no there's no law about this Miss Buck she's free to present as long as we have public comment within is is there any rule on when the hearing is open then they do it or before after the public comment I'm not okay sounds good so we are going to open up the public hearing at 7:39 p.m. and I'll call the speakers forward we have Don Miller Joshua Schroeder Heidi Chipman and Curtis macine let me hold on one second let
098me count there's eight sorry so you want to be at the end I'll move you to the end whenever you ready Don Miller I'm back so I am here to respond now to um this public Hearing in regards to this public hearing board members who would be in support of this are in violation of board policy 1160 board bylaw 921a board policy 9200 and possibly for you miss blades possibly board bylaw 9250 which is conflict of interest this this is now this action is very alarming from reading the proposal it is giving up the district's governance of this school as well as moving ahead a controversial USI program which again had been developed quickly and with little transparency the superintendent and board president has been telling the community that the school is a district Charter
099no worries it's so great we need to spend millions of dollars to make the top of the line for our kids and it sounds like it's a a wonderful program we have been hearing how great this program is and again started very quickly without the opportunity for vetting USI is also one of those programs that was developed quickly without transparency and supposed a great program for our kids as well but now the superintendent and the board president want to put a board agenda item to begin the process of calling for a vote to give this school and USI program away and make it an independent Charter which our board would not oversee as one of our schools the Orange County Register article also quoted Miss blades stating that the proposed changes have been in consideration
100for some time now well what does that say to us that says that even though they've been telling us as a district that they've been that this is a district school that they're now again lying to us in the public since they've had this in mind the whole time this board election results just made the movement on it faster than probably intended so what superintendent and Schoolboard president ever on the face of the Earth and Beyond would ever give away a district school the answer again is none none none we have funded the school and no board member should ever be willing to donate the millions of dollars to an independent Charter that has a board that controls the governance of staff and budget this school belongs to us the district and to our P
101ylu SD board should be responsible for that oversite it appears that this change may be to protect maybe the current Charter Principle as well as Maybe beginning to take Public Schools away and converting them into Charter Schools could be something of one or more of your desires board policy 9200 States board members are to be champions of the public schools these board policies and board law need to be the law you govern thank you if you want to know what Bo policies I have a cover them right here I'll send them out to you am I good right again I'm Josh Rider App parent in P LSD um my question is this why is this happening in the middle of the first year students just started at OCS this fall the first class why would
102we allow a less than three-month-old District Charter to suddenly become an autonomous entity how could we possibly know if it will succeed or fail in the long run standardized Tes for the year hasn't even happened yet why should we give up elected control to a nebulous Charter board in the middle of its first year this is a gross abdication of our board's financial responsibilities to taxpayers and educational responsibilities to the children at ocss secondly what in the world does an Elite Sports Institute have to do with a computer science focused middle school the only reason the USI gym is in the Bernardo yorta MPR in the first place is due to Dr chern's mismanagement of the USI construction process at buen Vista these two projects have nothing to do with each other there are very
103real problems with the USI finances and this board has not been transparent about them the truth is this you are trying to cover your mistakes by hiding the USI in the ocscs and sweeping it all under an independent Charter and you are trying to do it now before the new board takes office there is no other reason to explain explain why this is happening so quickly and so suddenly thank [Applause] you hi okay good evening and um I have been well I'm a lifetime lifetime member of yinda um and yinda school districts and I've taught in the district for 35 years and I I've just am I'm overwhelmed at what I've seen happen in the last years here and it just it breaks my heart um the initial reason to create a public charter school
104is to increase flexibility and Innovation within public education y placenta Yorbalinda Unified School District has one of the most outstanding flexible uh Innovative uh program from K or prek through high school why we would want to um have the financial hit of sending students if we lose two students to a private Charter School per grade level we will lose um the per pupil funding um but the fixed Administration costs will remain the same also Financial hits are um s are serious Moody's um investment service reports that Charter Schools can negatively affect the district's credit ratings um we're just we we're we continue with this board mostly the to put the cart before the horse and when you listen to the speakers pro and con on both sides it is important that you remember you are
105representing all of our district all of our district and it's it just it does it breaks my heart that we're fighting over a you know to make a charter school we don't we've never wanted a charter school never and especially one that's not run by us we will have non-qualified teachers we will have well they don't have to be qualified Charter School teachers have different credential systems than we do um anyway I'm just I'm speaking from my heart and I'm just I'm very disappointed in our school board currently with two exceptions are you okay April Maria leita stubs and Porter James Hughes had a com did you grab a comment card go ahead and put it in I oh you did I'm not done with all the speakers yet so you're probably in here I
106have a April yeah I have Maria La Pita stubs and then I have Porter James Hughes okay thank you everybody for your time tonight um I have a unique opportunity to present to you or present to you my opinion my experience with this charter school as a parent of a sixth grader and an eighth grader and also as a member of The Advisory Council um so I have been privy to see the um budget in in action and to be a part of um how the money is is running and seeing where it's coming from and where it is going and I have to tell you uh as a parent I am extremely pleased actually my daughter wanted to come today we brought things for you guys to see what they're doing in the Innovation
107lab that is at risk of losing the materials to survive if we continue with um the politics that are happening regarding this school I've been a member of this community for almost 20 years myself all of my kids have come through this they've been in the pathways they've been in all different levels of the school um we have always consistently in this community put children first so on some of us I do disagree with that this is not new to put kids first in this community but it also has been um in creating different learning opportunities for students uh I had a younger sister who was homeschooled she had to go through the Department of Education through the county this is the first district that I know of that had their own homeschool program through
108the district that the community members were able to service their students in that way that's a fantastic far-reaching Beyond you know other districts that's a far reaching level of flexibility when it comes to teaching kids uh buav Vista Academy Venture Academy these are all things that we have provided throughout the community forever so this is nothing new unfortunately what we're asking is that we don't want to do this what we just did for the last hour we just want to be able to provide for the kids an opportunity to do what they love learn how they learn and I want to remind you guys the bad mouthing that goes on there is a full staff of teachers teaching our children who are committed and passionate to their learning I have been in the classrooms I
109have sat in meetings they have families they have children they have lives they have dedication to do what they are doing so when the critics come up and they want to talk bad about this school and put them down and I've read they actually do have to be credentialed teachers There are rules about that and they are passionate about doing so so if you are a teacher or an educator and you are putting them down you are really doing yourselves a disservice as Educators as well this is a solid group of people who are passionate about our children so I would advise that you be very careful when you speak about them because unless you've come and spent time in their classroom you are speaking out of turn and it's unfortunate and we also have
110kids who love this experience and are thriving and I'm sorry that it's come to this point but it's damaging to them to do this and as part of the community you do represent all of us and there is a large group of people who came back to the school because this is what they wanted so you're not under represented thank you thank [Applause] you good evening everyone president blades superintendent Dr chernes staff and community my name as you know is Maria the stubs and I am a parent of P ylusd um recently I attended the Orange County School of computer science event the cornicopia 2024 where families tour the campus and visited the state-of-the-art labs it was an experien type of event every parent said the same thing over and over my child can't wait
111to go to school here every day they love it they wake up in the morning and they're excited about going to school how many you of you hear that on a consistent basis from you know the community so seeing students fully engaged in learning made it clear as to why Ox is such a successful program it is frustrating that a small group of people decide to go ahead and criticize this school and refer to it as a waste of taxpayer dollars these people are entirely out of touch the reality is that our children and our students are achieving excellent outcomes and we should all be very happy about that and we should be supporting that so this critics these critics of this school actually have no issues waiting taxpayer funds by legally challenging the district
112super majority Clause as they did this morning um knowing very well that this is a standard practice for our past two superintendents and why do they do that because they wish to Simply carry out the AP agenda for control of her school board and so as a community we need to really put kids first as opposed to the APLE agenda so please vote for for this I um ask you trustee U shot to FR landra I know Anderson and B want they really don't have kids uh best uh interest in mind no they don't no they don't so thank [Applause] you all right our next speaker Patricia Hanzo Colleen Wood and oh I'm sorry did I miss you I'm sorry go ahead yeah Porter sorry good evening uh my name is Porter James Hughes uh
113I'm here on behalf of the California School Employees Association uh the labor the other labor union here at placenta yber Linda that just took over your board as you just said uh we proudly represent over 280,000 classified School Employees across the great state of California including right here in placenta yinda unified I stand before you today to express cca's strong opposition to the proposed conversion of the Orange County School of computer science to an independent charter school this move poses a serious threat to the students of this district and the classified employees who work tirelessly to serve them every single day this conversion with strip students and classified staff of fundamental rights and protections they currently enjoy under District oversight independent Charter Schools often operate without the same accountability or guarantees of applicable treatment that
114public school districts are required to provide for our dedicated classified employees who support this school the conversion would mean the loss of critical workplace protections including their current collective bargaining agreement and access to Fair wages and benefits on behalf of CCA and the classified employees we represent I urge this board to Halt this Reckless proposal and prioritize transparency accountability and fairness for the entire School Community the students and employees of this District deserve better thank [Applause] you Patricia Hanzo Colleen Wood and Shanny Murray I am a parent in this community I am a homeowner and I'm a taxpayer on item 15 I encourage you as board members to vote no it is not in the interest of students parents or Families my I also have a request to avoid conflict of interest regarding this School
115site Bernardo Yorba Middle School in the city of Yorba Linda we need trusty blades Leander blades to recuse herself on votes related to Bernardo Yorba middle school and the OC School of computer science and UCI which are located on the same site there's a conflict of interest since her son works there as a security guard she has a vested interest voters have spoken but the current board members are aiming to undermine the incoming duly elected board members this needs to be about ocscs a public hearing it is okay stop interrupting the newly elected board members take the oath of office on December 17th I urge trustee Todd Frasier which is an accountant from what what I understand and trustee sha youngd which is a firefighter to vote no on motions that aim to rush spending
116or motions to cause the public to lose a School site this site is publicly owned and paid by my tax dollars the new board members the current board members had their four years and in January there's going to be a new board with their four years the NPR at this site was changed and covered up and and filled up with equipment and Chambers and mats and exercise equipment I'm not sure if all all 3.6 million of that money is housed there so I suggest we take an inventory of which exercise equipment UCI is located on that site the library books were moved out because the School site needed a meeting room and all those library books were in the hallway the management of this site is something I am not proud of you should not
117be having library books in the hallway because if there's an earthquake that's going to pose a threat to students at Bernardo Yorba Middle School the management of this school site has been poor last month in October about three or four weeks ago the principal there went on a social media tiate scolding parents and community members I emailed the board and I emailed the superintendant asking if she had authority to represent the district did she have District approval to go on social media and attack us parents that is something that I want you to take into account has this been dealt with in a careful way in a professional manner because I don't think it has thank you [Applause] my name is Colleen Wood and I'm the parent of two students in the district who are
118zoned for ocscs my husband and I chose to buy a home in your binda like so many other families because of the reputation of the school district last year when the new school was announced it was difficult to get much information about the change other than the opportunities will quote be amazing before it was approved that was in an email from Dr chernis it feels as though the same rushed process is happening again and instead of taking the time to enhance what could possibly be a superb educational experience for our students and address concerns such as those with the honors contracts the advanced math placement and discipline challenges the school board is instead choosing to cram two ill-planned and ill-advised programs into one school away from this elected board supervision that will have dis Master
119results for the future of our district and its students I'm here for my kids and all kids in this District to fight for our school why the rush thank you Shanny Murray p parent um you all sold us on the computer science Charter by touting it as a district run Charter you voted 5 to deny the outside crla Charter in favor of starting our own so it seems to me everyone here should be against changing the governance structure and against establishing a separate fund for financial management anyone who supports fiscal responsibility and transparency who cares about local students and protecting their District resources and who truly wants to be an advocate for PUSD should vote against this petition thank you thank you and Scott Scott Shiva thank you for taking the last minute addition of
120a comment um I just wanted to uh address one thing because I know the other commenters spoke on this um with the fact that this school also houses the Dual language program and uh I'm a parent of a student in that program currently at Glen viw Elementary um and when we signed up for I'm actually my parent of two students in that program um and we really love that program and it's a fantastic asset to our district I'm must say that the teachers and the administration of that school are fantastic fantastic but my point is this when we signed up for this program we were sold a bill of goods which outlined a pipeline from elementary through high school and we're looking forward to continuing our students in that pipeline my concern is that by
121squeezing so many diverse programs which which may sound like great programs um by squeezing so many programs into uh this school we are uh jeopardizing what is a fantastic program and which already has a wonderful Pipeline and amazing Community Support in favor of other programs which you know may have their merits but to me it seems that um this is really ill advised because it's going to to sacrifice the opportunities for our dual language kids and I would say um you know with regard to this having an impact on School enrollment which we seem to be very focused on um there are other schools which are for instance equally distant from my house such as Lera Vista and other districts which would offer a similar program that may have better opportunities were this school to
122convert to a charter so um parents may consider that a better option for their kids and we could actually lose uh students from this District to other programs thank you thank you yeah that's all Mrs fiser or Dr fiser I am going to end our public hearing at 8 oh you have to present too okay so we're still public heing got it all right oh me Jeremy okay just got to press play okay president blades trustees incredible superintendent who I am honored to serve Dr Alex chernis and executive committee I respectfully come forward to you today and I do have um if you recall in October uh of last year we put together a presentation and I narrated it I have prepared the narration ahead of time so that there can be absolute Clarity in
123what the revision is calling for on this Tuesday November the 19th 2024 I bring forward a revision to our Charter petition for your consideration with unanimous approval from this Board of Education we opened our doors to students in August of 2024 we are very proud of our 360 degree experience at ocss culture First Learning second leading to Higher Achievement given the current misunderstandings I want to take a moment to clarify some key points and address the misinformation that has been circulating we will do this in a myth fact format myth ocss drains funds from PUSD fact ocss funding is Ada based and does not impact PUSD Beyond enrolled students oces is still a PUSD School myth Charters are unaccountable fact OCS undergos annual independent Audits and complies with ab55 financial reporting myth the addition of
124USI to the Charter was forced fact as USI is on the campus of ocss as we make this move to an autonomous structure it made sense for all operations to fall under ocss myth USI will drain the ocss budget fact USI has its own operating costs determined by Ada funding there cannot be funds allocated beyond the a unless ocss seeks a grant or donations to provide additional funding to USI myth moving to an autonomous budget and governing structure makes ocss a private Charter fact Charter Schools including ocscs are public schools Charters are tuition free open to all students and are funded through public tax dollars like district schools char schools must adhere to State educational standards and accountability measures myth Charters are able to employ staff without credentials or authorizations to teach fact Charter Schools
125including ocss are required by law to employ credential teachers for core academic subjects ab55 mandates that all Charter School teachers hold appropriate California credentials including in intern credentials ocss not only complies with this requirement but also invests in staff development to maintain High teaching and learning standards myth in this move ocss is now considered an independent charter school and is no longer a PUSD School fact ocss operates under the local funding structure with all funds distributed to PUSD and then and PUSD directly allocates those funds to OCS maintaining its stat buffer Netflix looks like crashing the internet guys canva I'll play with this but okay um I can go forward with it I'm quite knowledgeable of everything they're in this let's just let it go let it okay cat up um as we are waiting
126for this to happen I want to thank the many parents the current OCS parents who are here you will notice that we did not have very many parents comment because prior to this I had asked our parents to refrain for making public comment if they felt that they could do so because I'm a big believer that actions speak louder than words and I want to say thank you so much for your presence here tonight for your partnership with our school and ultimately at the end of the day I had asked them not to engage in public comment because we need to come together in a unified manner Dr Fisher while we're waiting can we um acknowledge our amazing OCS teachers if you're OCS teacher here can you please stand so actually on that note I'm
127gonna talk about we actually typically I do want to applaud them we actually typically do fill the seats with our teachers um so in addition to that I had a um an ask people have their first amendment right they can come to whatever board meetings they want to come to as evidenced by your presence here but I had asked the teachers to refrain from coming and asked our two most veteran teachers to serve as a representation for them our two most veteran teachers were um obviously a part of the former School Bernardo yba middle school and help carry forward this important work um our teachers need to stay focused on the classroom and they have a very busy day tomorrow and so the reason why our teachers are not here but I do want to
128say hi I've been getting lots of text messages from you guys we love you very much and we hope that you go to bed at a reasonable hour because you are going to be serving kids bright and early in the morning okay I can work to uh do this you want to talk yeah that's fine up there okay they can't see the screen the moment is just Frozen okay what's that but it's not EX full screen so I think the words are important so yeah I don't think it's going to recover can I try to hook up my computer you're welcome to should we just take a a bathroom break and let this well we can close it and then reopen it yeah well I think they're trying to they they're we're giving a couple
129more minutes before we do that I'm probably going to have to restart it entirely try yours yeah let's try it why not hold on hold on before I plug it I'm take off my enrollment form email just in case this yeah go for it no they he thinks he needs just like a couple minutes problem is they rarely display right up there we'll see yeah why not three dots full screen will it play where do I go full screen and see if it'll play to employ credential teachers for core academic subjects ab55 mandates that all Charter School teachers hold appropriate California credentials including intern credentials ocss not only complies with this requirement but also invests in staff development to maintain High teaching and learning standards myth in this move ocss is now considered an independent
130charter school and is no longer a PUSD School fact ocss operates under the local funding structure with all funds distributed to PUSD and then PUSD directly allocates those funds to OCS maintaining its status as a PUSD School similarly El Rancho Charter in the neighboring Orange Unified School District follows this model while ocss is not independent of PUSD it has the autonomy to align its implementation with the Charter's goals this structure also provides access to additional grants and funding opportunities that would not otherwise be available myth a board of education or a charter authorizer can shut the charter down whenever they want fact Charter Schools including ocss are subject to to specific conditions under ab55 that may lead to their closure these include involvement in illegal activities by the charter school and poor performance at the
131end of the charter petition term specifically if the school ranks in the bottom to Performance levels across all state indicators the charter school Act of 1992 was created with these goals in mind improving student learning providing more learning opportunities for all students encouraging Innovative teaching methods and creating new professional development opportunities for our teachers at the end of this it also ensures that we give parents and students more choices in their educational opportunities it is evident that even in the earliest stages of implementation that the Orange County School of Computer Sciences is showing large amounts of success in aligning and enacting the goals set forth by the charter school Act of 19 1992 as we bring forward this revision to our Charter petition we do so with intention we recognize that with these changes come
132a number of questions among them why in our initial Charter petition we identified various challenges that face modern American Education including learning loss from the covid-19 pandemic as well as the inability for americ American public schools to keep up with innovated efforts especially in the arena of technological and Computer Sciences one of the biggest challenges to overcoming systemic issues in American public schools is that relating to mental models mental models are what we view or believe to be true about the world so I want to reference for you as we go through this presentation organizational expert Peter S when he said mental models are deeply held internal images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting very often we are not consciously aware of our mental models or the effects they have on
133our Behavior so going to ask you the essential question before we dive into the details of this revision how might our mental models of Education shape how we view education reform and Innovation typical mental models of school include the outdated late 1800s early 1900s factory model if you look at American public schools you do have to question to what extent are we still reinforcing those structures teachers as the keepers and holders of knowledge ultimately having that power structure to disseminate knowledge the one size fits-all approach to education and those traditional achievement markers of the a through through f grade being the end all be all as we bring forward this Charter petition revision we know why reframing matters in educational reform we are going from taking systemic issues in American public schooling many of which
134we already mentioned previously to transforming the landscape of Education through Innovative responses to long-standing challenges now it is important that we as we reframe this and as we work on a reorganization of our Charter through this petition revision we are careful not to place blame our work is not about blaming individuals or labeling failures instead it's about addressing system level weaknesses to create a better option and better options for all Learners as such we are as we bring forward this Charter petition revision we are taking a multi-lens approach as you work to understand our specific revisions if you've had the opportunity to look at refor reframing organizations from deal EMB Bowman the reframing of organizations is often seen in four lenses structural Human Resources political and symbolic we will use that frame of reference as
135we talk about reframing our organization our Charter School in the structural Arena we are proposing the addition of independent study Pathways in the human resources Arena while we make changes to or propose changes to our budgeting and government structure we want to make sure that we know that our teachers and our staff remain supported through their salary benefits retirement and professional development as outlined in the charter school Act of 1992 ultimately the political frame is where we are going to be seeing the most requests for change because we are requesting to go to a more autonomous government government structure and budgeting structure and ultimately at the end of the day the symbolic frame is what drives us we want to continue to emphasize Innovation and Equity through action as core values as we transition into
136the details of the charter petition revision it is important that we set a societal and cultural norm for our district avoiding the common pitfalls we are focused on collaboration not condemn ation while we bring forward the need to reform education and reframe our organization in order to do so we want to ground ourselves in the reminder that blame distracts from addressing systemic weaknesses and limits our options for Meaningful change while operating as a PUSD school we want to acknowledge that OCS is a part of a bigger Vision to support systemic change while preserving our local values as we look at OC's systemic contributions to reframing our organization while reforming education we have some powerful systems in place we are proud of our multidisciplinary Innovation lab that empowers our Learners to go to leaders we have
137student centered Pathways and ultimately as we engage in the discussion of equity Equity requires action as such we are proud of our full inclusion program no matter how severe a disability a student faces they are entitled to and are given their right of full inclusion and learning at ocss new professional development opportunities for our teachers and our staff including the opportunity for them to be responsible for our learning program I cannot emphasize enough the incredible contribution of our wonderful and full credentialed staff our Mastery based learning model emphasizes growth over time now that context has been set it is time to dive into our proposed changes in this Charter petition revision our Central changes have to do with our budget structure governance structure and independent study Pathways the driving force behind requesting the change to
138move the governance structure to the oversight of a local Charter board is to ensure that the mission of the Orange County School of Computer Sciences becomes the sole focus and operation of the governing board that oversees it as we look at this revision the governance of Orange County School of Computer Sciences will be a working model for the mission of ocss and ultimately their role is to ensure that while that mission is in process of implementation and completion that legal compliance is made maintained let's take a look at the structure of the charter board due to the multidisciplinary and skills-based Approach at OCS we are seeking a charter board that reflects our values and program implementation we are seeking one business Community member two parents who are either current or former parents of ocss and
139two members who have professional industry experience in the areas of computer science engineering and technological Sciences as outlined by our Charter petition revision we have a strategic board selection Ran by A governance committee the role of the governance committee is to develop the roadmap for recruiting and selecting candidates interviewing and evaluating prospective members based on qualifications and alignment with the school's Mission and ensuring that candidates understand the roles and responsibilities in including the fiduciary duties and strategic oversight our governance committee is comprised of the current executive committee of the 2425 ocss advisory Council the chair serves as a current and former parent Additionally the chair has served as a former PTA president of the former School Bernardo Yorba Middle School our vice chair is a local business Community representative a former parent of the former
140school byms and a former BYU parent bringing the unique perspective of our Stellar performing arts program our secretary is a current parent of ocss and also represents as a parent for a Spanish dual Language Academy program we ultimately selected this group for the governance committee because they were elected by our current oversight group The Orange County School of computer science advisory Council our aim in this board composition is to build a high performing team with the core principles of diversity and skills perspective and experiences to enhance decision-making commitment to equity transparency and Student Success the following are the recommended skill sets we are seeking Financial expertise for oversight and budgeting expertise to ensure compliance and risk management educational experience to align with our academic goals to take our Learners to leaders and fundraising and Community
141engagement experience and expertise our Charter board will be responsible for ensuring trust and accountability adhering to the brown act for open meetings they will be responsible for establishing and maintaining an organizational structure that supports the Charter's vision and empowers the professional staff they will hold regular performance evaluations of the executive director and establish budget priorities and adopt the budget a notable revision we are requesting to make to our petition is the fiscal responsibility through OC's budget structure to understand this change it is important to examine how the traditional school funding works if you reference this visual the state of California receives its funds allocates it to local County offices of education and then those local count offices of Education distribute them to the local educational agencies in our case PUSD something that becomes problematic with
142this is this limits the flexibility for Innovation and addressing specific Community needs our revision to our petition calls for a locally managed Charter model the same remains true that the state allocates funds to the county the county to the Lea but in this model p yl USD will provide the average daily attendance directly to ocss to enable local control to Target investments in Innovative programs student centered learning and Equity initiatives at ocss this also allows for independent Financial audits specifically for ocss separate from PUSD to ensure transparency and accountability in making this budget structure move this ensures Financial stability and Equity as it allows us to Target spending funds are directly allocated to programs that align with the Charter's Mission our community is so desperately speaking transparency and this meets that call to action as
143annual audience and compliance reviews with the state and Reporting requirements are a part of this process the sustainability of the charter school will follow the 5-year budget plan to ensure long-term fiscal health and if efficiency also drives this Force Independence governance reduces overhead costs and promotes direct investment in Student Success a third notable revision includes Innovative Pathways for Unique Learners we are proposing to add an independent study program for grades 3 through 12 allowing students flexibility to pursue in competitive Sports performing arts or needed flexible schedules we also want to increase our dual enrollment options maintaining dual enrollment with other P USD schools and expanding to dual enrollment with local community colleges of course while this is not a change we want to reaffirm our pride in our specialized program the Spanish dual Language Academy
144while we submit this petition revision for your review we want to stay grounded that we are partnering for Student Success as ocss remains a p ylusd School [Applause] thank you Dr Fischer and I just wanted to remind everyone that we are not voting on this tonight this is a public hearing so this was to inform you know you guys and people at home and then also the board and give us the leeway to ask any questions that we have who want start DR fiser did um is this happen to be on a YouTube or in which uh presentation that I can upload it I have no problems uploading it excellent thank you I'll send it to Dr chernis and then Dr chernes can send it on that would be great because we couldn't see it
145over here at all yeah once the screens went out we couldn't see and additionally um the internet um caused some challenges to seeing some of the pride points of our students in action so I think you will quite appreciate seeing our students can we can we also get a PDF of the actual presentation itself of the slides that would be greately really that's a massive summary of what the charter petition no I get it I get I mean we could read the charter but it's the pictures are pretty um I guess I I'll just jump right in I guess um so you answered a lot of the questions that I had coming into this because I think uh contrary to what's been shared in the public um there's been a lot of talk about it
146being independent from P everything's breaking off somebody said something about donating a school um selling a school basically that what we heard here and the way that I read the petition that's not what this is um specifically about the teachers there was comments made about protections taken away now all these teachers are as you mentioned in your uh presentation certified teachers uh they have to like ocscs is required to file follow all the California rules for Education that's not any different however are they allowed to be a part of the collective bargaining and um Union that happens here because it's a PUSD school yeah uh are you okay if I switch to I did um for my staff actually I put together a little presentation of what a memorandum of understanding bullet point would look
147like if we enter it into it between PUSD and ocss do we have time for me to do that of course okay I think this was really helpful for our staff to see and I think it will be helpful for you to see as well if you can see it yes this is true oh I'm just getting it up yes I think I think our our screen is back up that's what's on that screen right there oh is it gonna be back up should be getting a little excited Todd ready like you're excitable tonight oops I forgot to do this casting sorry about that do I have to cast you're already up there I CH go for it okay so this is the part where you start getting into some of the technical okay oh
148is it too small I'm too small got it got it got it got it I may not have this be a big I need glasses so I'm sorry for those of you who also need glasses but if the internet is not going to work so well with us we might need to get some amps here okay did it go away oh it's all good thank you though so you're the input but for some reason it's chosen not to display anymore got you it's duplic does it matter if the inter internet went out no it's just not displayed okay I can read for you um and then again I can send this to you but please note that this is not um the formal umou because these are bullet points that we would be bringing forward
149as a memorandum of understanding between ocss and PUSD so I'm going to give you a little bit of the long-winded answer because I think it's important for you to understand the nuances of what the locally funded pass through budget structure means so PUSD would agree to include ocss employees in its health insurance and benefit agreement with ocss reimbursing pylusd for these expenses when it comes to the bargaining units the bargaining units would actually have to be the ones who agree to represent the teachers so health insurance want to make sure there's Clarity on this because I did have to spend a little bit of time with my staff processing this because this is very new to PUSD although this is a longstanding structure that occurs in public charter schools again I want to emphasize it's
150still a public charter school and still a p ylusd school so when you make a move to the autonomous structure um we enter into an agreement with the district to ensure that there's no disruption in the health insurance and the benefits as well as stirs and Pur retirement our staff by nature of the charter and how it works has a 51% majority to make decisions on behalf of the charter so per the charter school Act of 1992 one of the key tenants of that is to put control trustees superintendent Dr Alex Tris um it is okay yeah it's okay I got this I can I can send them the word for word bullet points later um or summary I should say so um it is common in charter schools so I'll give you um two
151examples um I believe L Rancho Charter the there needs to be anou between the local bargaining agreement and the charter school that those bargaining units would maintain the representation of the employees apple and P apple and CSA are not required to represent our teachers I want to make it super clear though our teachers can unionize themselves can open up a local chapter with the CTA this is very common practice in charter schools and there are multiple organizations that can unionize and protect the teachers I think people also who do not understand administrative law when it comes to schooling I as a principal am required to ensure regardless of a if there's a bargaining unit or not that I follow through with the employee rights that they have so I guess to summarize if a teacher
152would like to have the collective bargaining uh protections of apple or CSEA and we have anou that we as long as they say they good that is so PUSD will need to enter into M us with the charter school and separate from that PUSD cannot go to csca or apple and say you are now representing them so really at this point it becomes the bargain unit that has to make the decision and that I I do not engage directly with them by nature of me being a principal so that actually would occur at a level that is higher than mine so if we agree that theou makes sense and the teachers are interested then it's up to those bargaining units to accept or deny those protections to the teachers yes but our teachers regardless of
153if the current CSEA and apple bargaining units want to provide representation our employees still do maintain health insurance matched salary schedule retirement Etc as it is outlined in our Charter teachers have to make the same and even if apple and CA decide not to represent our teachers we are still Bound by the negotiation that happens between Apple and CSEA so for example if apple and CA successfully negotiate a 4% raise the charter will be responsible for matching that 4% raise that's great information thank you um you covered a lot of that covered uh pay scale would be at least what we have here but do you have the ability to pay more if your budget allows for it the charter board is ultimately the one that makes that determination but yes okay um and then
154oh as far as students and I think it was mentioned about uh dual enrollment what about interdistrict transfers it's still a PUSD school is it handled the same way through the district if kids wants to come in or out to ocss yeah so I think this is something that just in general can be confusing Charter Schools basically have no boundaries within the state of California so I'm going to give you an example we have um students who are enrolled in cities and schools that are outside of P usd's boundaries so they do not need a release from their District to come and we actually um Jeremy and I were just meeting over the phone today about how we're going to handle this season of open enrollment for ocss so there's the choice transfer process that
155is done through PUSD and then there is an enrollment form that any families who do not meet our home school so for clarity sake because we still remain a neighborhood School per Ed code when students R triculate from sixth grade at Fairmont Glen null Glen View and Woodsboro they are automatically enrolled and should any student not want to attend the charter per Ed code they have the right to not so then PUSD would be responsible for coming up with what a choice transfer process looks like because I cannot determine I can't say oh that sounds great you get to go to Travis Ranch that's not my prview so what you're saying is there's options and nothing really changes other than there's a lot more opportunity for kids to come what changes is in the adult
156world and so I want to encourage us that the driving force behind this and um in the in the public comment here I think it was said so aptly we have a strong desire to have a targeted focus on ensuring the implementation of our school goes so well and as I look at the parents in this room the parents the you are you're my stakeholders I answered to you but I was ultimately having a conversation with a parent today I answer to your children and so as we work together I'm proud of the parents who ask the tough questions I'm proud of the parents who say Dr fiser have you thought about this we are coming to you because we so desperately want to be able to have a hyperfocus on this Charter and we're
157not out of line in asking this because this is a typical model for Charter Schools great um another thing touching on the financial I'm sorry to like just be taken over but I'm assuming I'm hitting all the questions thank you Luke I appreciate you buddy um a so so the the financial aspect there was a comment made and I think I've overheard that you were not eligible for certain grants and funding because of the current Charter structure and this would then allow you to go after additional grants and funding that you would now be eligible for can you talk a little bit about what that means yes much to my heartbreak last December um after approval I did submit a charter school startup Grant and um literally called every single person who I could possibly
158speak to to say I need to appeal this I need to appeal this we are a brand new charter school and that I mean in your first year you can estimate maybe $600,000 um if you're really really in a good spot you might be able to pull a million dollars from that um what they told me is we are not operating in an auton ious governance structure so we are not eligible if you think about it this way and I don't mean to disparage but it's kind of like this if we have a need we can call Mommy and Daddy and I could come to you and say hey you know what and this may have happened last year could I get $56,000 for professional development for my teachers because our discretionary funds at a
159site level I'm looking around the room there's lots of PTA parents in the room you have to overcompensate because of the limited funds at the discretionary level as such we then have to come to you and say I cannot possibly manage the professional development for $56,000 because my discretionary funds are $53,000 so the part where I know my local community the parents that I serve are saying are you sure you really want to do this because the second that we go to an autonomous structure I can't come to Mom and Dad and ask for an allowance I'm a big girl now got to take care of it myself y okay that's that answers that question um and then dual Language Academy I you mentioned it in the um in the presentation that's still a very
160strong piece of what's going on with there absolutely I would say very much so the heart very much if you come on campus you will see the most energy and our parents know what that means they're lovely um in fact today it was a pretty humbling moment and if their family is watching then their kid is going to know um it was actually pretty cool because we have USI as a mini elective um and I get along quite well with our kids and so I went in in my heels and said excuse me young man can I show you how to correct your uh proper form when you do that weightlifting technique um so give that as an example because our da students are very much involved in the life of our campus and there's
161no way I'd want to see that go anywhere else awesome and then I just have two more questions and I'll stop um but related to the USI change and this is one of the things that I want to make sure that we focus on is that one of the big advantages that I see in USI is for our 9th to 12th grade students to be able to dual enroll at a traditional high school and participate in athletics there and I know that there's rules with the NCAA and a3g approval currently we get it through Parkview bvva is not approved a3g or NCAA so that is why Parkview is the place that that happens if we move to ocscs can we guarantee that all the students that our high school students dual enrolled can still participate
162in athletics and be able to go to college if they so choose After High School um so something we'll need to do is enter into um a part of the M with PUSD um so if this is approved then we would turn around and start the accreditation process so we would need to establish anou with PUSD for X Years start at ocss because what we don't want to do is pull them from Parkview which is the accredited program we are responsible we do answer to the kids so we would have to look at that um I did explore with was it takes about 18 months to get a was accreditation so as we discuss the terms of a memorandum of understanding we would account for and then give longer runway in case there were challenges
163okay because that I think that's like one of the biggest assets of that program for the high school students 100% we don't want to see that go away cool and then my last question regarding USI is currently we have students from all over the district that are able to participate in USI training before school and after school would that change with this coming under ocss instead of part view we would do the same thing like in the memorandum of understanding because we're still a PUSD school um of course we want to have the benefits of participating in Middle School sports um so of course we would want kids to continue to have the benefits um I'm very proud to be a parent of this community and as my kids play on their fields in their
164courts and as I hear various parents saying that their kids are dropped off at 6:00 in the morning at USI it's a really cool thing so we have no intention of taking away the benefits to the entire District as PUSD and USI remain with as ocss and USI remain within P USD awesome and that's still going to be uh not there's not a fee for that for the students to participate great that's all my questions I spent the day with a um Charter School executive director um because I'm very proud to be able to accredit um through the California schools to watch iation ACC credit middle schools as schools to watch and um we are in great collaboration and he's actually watching right now I appreciate your support um and it is very I know
165that they charge but it is becoming a thing to offer these program so it's not out of line to put it with the charter school so my question is is people are confused as as as I was too when I first started reading this so ocscs USI will not have ocscs curriculum it will have the parkent study independent study curriculum now we do have students who are concurrently enrolled in our in-person program if they opt for that the beautiful part about Charters and we are as somebody acknowledged with our three months in we are in our infancy stages so if you look at our neighboring District school Charter School El Rancho Charter and Santiago Charter both of which are phenomenal charter schools and I give a lot of respect to them they have a broad
166program if you call a year ago when I came forward people were really questioning why do we have so few opportunities in our program and my common response to parents has been we're not to the size and girth of El Rancho and Santiago so we need to grow with intention so this I lost the question it was a good question though um you can come back to me I'll think of it hi Dr fer um I just want to reiterate that I voted for this Charter initially um and I think that computer science is incredibly important especially with where we're going forward um I recently got a chance to come and visit the site which was great I did get to walk through all of the classrooms and see all of the the um the
167education going on and and listen to the kids and see what was happening um and I appreciate that um so I do have a few questions um so just so you know I'm a fan I just have questions and I want to put um a couple scenarios out there because I'm trying to figure out how USI and independent study is is being added in and and kind of make a comparison so stick with me absolutely um so a first question is were there any um have there been any CH changes made or anything that that our staff as a p staff has contributed to the new um revision like are you you asking like um this team over here yeah no I would say that I mean I do my due diligence in terms of
168saying like I mean I do have a like I brought my actual textbook because I studied this um but in terms of asking questions like hi Gary are we meeting the legal responsibilities per ab55 um but in terms of if anybody was on the doc writing no okay thank you um so on our um later in our board meeting there's a list of ocscs teachers that will be um that had something that we're paying a little extra for um can you tell me how many teachers that you have that list had 44 how many total teachers do you have that sounds about right 44 sounds about right do you have an exact number I would have to pull up my master schedule and in CSEA like any classified staff how many do you have okay
169so I think we my social committee is here don't we estimate we're at about 80 total staff we're we're at about 80 total staff between certificated and classified okay um I saw on social media that you have nine security guards is that accurate um so if you read the social media post it doesn't say Nine security guards it says nine members of supervisor it says nine members of our supervision team okay what does that mean can so what that means is anybody who plays a role in doing any kind of supervision so we can pay teachers actually I think we have 44 + 9 that's how many supervisors we technically have on campus um but to be direct to the point and not trying to use my High School sarcasm um we have a security
170manager we have a um campus supervisor those both are full-time positions and the rest are considered noon Duty supervisors or noon Duty supervisor substitutes we also pay some of our teachers um or our learning facilitators extra duty hours when possible depending on the need of the school now as I had mentioned I do answer to the stakeholders of the parents and students that I serve so as we listened and did listening sessions on the needs our parent Community expressed that their number one priority is to increase student safety so I'm really proud of our reduction in disciplinary incidents on a major scale and if you speak I um charter schools are not traditional so I still identify as a teacher and I have the opportunity to teach a mini elective which is a student ambassador
171essentially a peer leadership um class and if you ask my peer leaders did it not happen in class they said they love our supervisors because they connect well with them and make them feel safe thank you I have a student ambassador in the house yeah so I was moving on just a little bit to the budget I have a few budget items um there are some material revisions that aren't included in there there's not a payroll fee or an audit fee it should be on the bottom um per Ed code there is a 3 and maybe that's because that is the existing budget um but per California Ed code um P ylusd can charge a maximum let me reiterate a maximum if you want to charge less than that it's totally fine um but a
172maximum of 3% of the total basically income of the school so if you round number it if Ada is 10 million then it's a up to a 3% charge for oversight so things like payroll um working with Dr gates to ensure that job postings go on Ed join um they're a whole wonderful machine I don't know if anybody from HR is watching but we cannot function without HR so part of those fees go to that um Jeremy Powell obviously being able to support us since we are a PUSD School obviously we wouldn't want to have a weird it's already hard enough to say ocss guys okay we'll acknowledge that so we don't want to have B Fisher at ocs.org still B Fisher at pusd.org so this very Bare Bones operations are charged to the Charter
173a 3% fee up two um you also mentioned that there's a CBO and I didn't see any dollar amount change or anything from the original budget to this one with to include Staffing changes so what would have to happen is there would need to be an approval of this to happen I mean I'm happy to work with um the great Gary Stein on putting together a revise what that might look like you'll notice though because charter schools go in three different routes which is why there's three different titles there's a CBO there's a business manager and then there's a u business operations manager so different charter schools have done it in different ways um depending on the funding that is available to them I think though just for full disclosure we would do that based
174off of our current Ada as you know and this is also just being responsible and I want um because I am responsible to you the parents as we look at that with Ada being a moving Target um we do need to budget very very responsibly can you talk about Transportation there's no transportation in here and we would not be paying for that yes so my understanding is um when Christina Michelle ran um some dollars for me that we could potentially afford it um and so at the end of the day waiting for final approval and the other part too is I think people need to remember that this would shift over to a charter board so I can't undermine the work of whoever the new Charter board would be so I can give recommendations I
175can put together some things but if it were to go on that structure then when like currently we don't have a CBL because we have a pH one right here who deserves much respect um so there's a lot of variables at play in terms of what decisions you guys need to make but I'm happy to put together various scenarios and give it to Dr ches to give to you okay so a couple scenarios I have for you um I'm I'm I don't understand how ocscs can just write into their Charter another school program and to take it over so to me can I'm I'm trying to figure out what the comparison is and to me it feels like um for example North Orange County Roop as an manufacturing and Engineering at esparanza if they came
176in and submitted a charter petition and said we would like to now take over the remainder of the school here it is um can you tell me about what that looks like and how is that different than What's Happening Here well at the end of the day because USI like put in the presentation because USI is housed on our campus it makes sense it streams lines it simplifies the process but also at the end of the day you as the Board of Education Who oversee this Charter petition revision request um you can come to an agreement and say you know what we don't think this is what is best for USI there are no hard feelings at the end of the day we found it to be a logical move for Simplicity and also I
177do believe in the program and I've had the opportunity to see firsthand the benefits to children so it's not something that would be hurtful or a loss to us have you had any conversation with Parkview or Parkview teachers um because it's basically absorbing the work that they do no um I I pretty much stay in my Lane when it comes to speaking with my own teachers so I haven't talked to the Parkview teachers when did you talk to your particular staff at ocss about this did they have any input did they give advice when were they when were they brought into the mix um so I submitted the charter on Thursday believe it was Thursday right all the days run together I have like 100 hour work weeks so Thursday it was Thursday I'm pretty
178sure it was Thursday so prior to by nature of how um things go and word travels very quickly I did not want uh our staff to hear that we were putting forward a charter revision through anybody but me so I dropped it off um early in the morning to Annette and then headed over and spoke with our staff so they weren't aware of any revision that was going to be submitted not asked if they wanted to be part of it or anything related to USI and nobody at USI just asked about it nope were you given any direction by the district to write this Charter no you just decided that you were going to write a charter and include USI so as we look at and this is the part and I've had this conversation
179with my parents sorry did I cut you off I'm really working on that um so um as I've had this discussion with my parents sometimes leaders need to make difficult decisions and so as I'm looking at and as I'm in collaboration with a large network of other Charter Schools they made they made the recommendation to to bring it forward so that we can ensure the Health and Longevity of our charter school I think I'm only have a couple left um while you're while you're looking at that just can I jump on to that question um the currently ocscs students have an option to have an elective of USI correct it's more of a mini elective mini elective okay but this would allow that to be more an actual elective oh absolutely yes so and I
180think one of the things just speaking to the value of bringing it into the charter school people said there's not a lot of programs in it however if this Charter is in competition with um Rancho and San dieago like this would be something that would help entice students to come to our district and to stay in our district that would be leaving for those others so I think I think there is some some reasonable thought to say that would be a benefit to the the charter specifically as opposed to the parf connection with I love parf I think parw is a gem and we need to continue to support that absolutely but I think that there it just makes sense especially because it's right there too so that's all I have to say um okay
181so I had a question related to USI because this is our district program we were just here in October and we went over the state of the district and in that presentation talked about the USI um has components at other schools um esparanza dur blinda all of those and and each one of them and this site had just one particular piece of it so what does that look like as a district where we have we've promised that it's going to be out everywhere as USI and students can be within that and now we've taken it and removed it and just put it there so I think what does that look like have to be part of anou as Dr Fisher is talking about for the same reason as students can attend USI and um you
182know still compete at our schools right now um it's because there's an agreement I believe between Parkview and the schools to be able to allow for that um so how would Finance work with that so the Ada where would the Ada go and then who are we are we sharing cost of so it's no different than currently the Ada follows the core um program so for example at Park viiew they can they have four basically four core classes at the high school level so so the Ada is collected through Park viw they can take no more than two classes from a comprehensive high school so it' be the same it would be the same thing the the core would be OCS um they could take no more than two classes at the high school so
183this is in competition with the exact program we have at Park viiew except for now we would change it and remove piece we're taking all the sports out and and basically get well no because students don't have to participate in USI to parate in sports so if they didn't want to do that program because it's a high level program and kids just wanted to continue to go to Parkview and do their independent study and then go to the schools they can still do that so you could frame it as competition I think it's just options yeah I still a part you I don't know I I the last number I heard 85% of the USI kids um weren't at Parkview last year so I don't necessarily think it's pulling um all the park viiew kids
184right 85% were not at Park viiew right they're like new to USI whether it's new to the district or how many students are at USI or participate in USI I'm pretty sure by now it's over 100 well over 100 uh 100 enrolled in USI and Parkview yes over 100 so we're basically going to be giving away a 100 of our students just a reminder though if I may again reframing it's not a giving away the students because it remains a PUSD School we're giving away control of what we receive and managing that program to another Charter yes to a not sure why to a p USD Charter right but we're giving away our supervision and our oversight our oversight I'm really just a second I just before we move on I'm just really confused you
185say that there's 100 students at USI I and the 100 students at Parkview they're the same so it's 100 total there's only 100 students at Parkview no USI USI right so how many are at Parkview then in addition in addition I think 150 but I have to look because I think at um the the census date it was like 240 is that right it sounds right yeah so that would be about 150 at Park View that aren't USI and about 100 that are USI okay because it just was sounding weird thanks for the clarification can can you tell me a little bit about super um superintendent rules over ocss and um USI the charter board and again I do want to emphasize that um for those people who think that I'm Oho creative um I'm
186not operating as Beth fiser who wants to create these Charter rules um these come from assembly Bill 1505 um Charter School Act of 1992 and existing Charter Schools um so the best model to look at is the El Rancho Charter um now please note that the El Rancho Charter I think at this point has a 13 board member I'm going to give you a couple of examples um Santiago has an 11 board member um other charter schools have a five board member we went with five because we currently have a five board member and um you are able to so in some Charters there are no parents who serve on a charter board in some Charters it's all business or depending on the focus of the school um so in terms of the governance structure
187of Who overseas this and it was very clearly worded inside of our Charter revision the charter school reports to the Charter board and all employees there in so I'm just curious Dr turnus why you would be in support of this because these are your passion projects and now you're giving away control over them well why are you putting words in my mouth when did I say I'm in support of it pardon me when did I say that when did you say what I'm in support of it oh okay are you in support of giving um of of this Charter and and this revision I definitely see benefits to it I think there's pluses and minuses to it but um yeah I I I will think about that that the board does not have to vote
188on it tonight um but I don't appreciate that assertion I'm just I'm just curious if you were if you were in support of it it's very clear in the petition that um the superintendent no no longer has oversight over um this school and so the board will have to decide whether the superintendent to have Authority or not in this case it doesn't um that's how it's written at least so that's up to the board I see benefits to it I think that um having USI already on that site and having hundreds of kids already concurrently enroll um from the school right now um there's PE classes there's um a lot of opportunities for dual enrollment I think um I definitely see benefits to it um but you know this is for the board to ask
189those questions um so uh is there a downside to it sure I would say the the the district is no longer um has oversight over the USI program and um OCS to the degree um but the benefits for or I mean for me I just want what's best for the students and so if this is best for students I'm all for it if I'm not overseeing the program I don't really care if it's best for kids so that's that's the way I I see it I I would also add I think that we glossed over I think briefly and I asked you about it specifically the ability for ocss to get additional funding EnV and thinking USI with that a l and we can't we can't keep coming to you we can't being we can't
190it's not it's not efficient it's not I agree so this I this is so I think my brain is so much smaller than your guys and I can't get all this information if you want to read this book yeah wonderful you seem so have to read it four times okay um the reason you're pushing for this is to get more funding is that that's kind of the main purpose of it right okay so I think give me like a short secondary okay uhuh the the primary is and again I can't emphasize like you guys all have to go take care of your CH like some of us were like we want to say good night to our children and I don't know if my kids are still watching although I didn't want their dad to
191let them see this they are watching it um and so I think as I look at the almost 30 strong parents who are a part of our community there um Community Schools if you guys know anything about Community Schools um this community schools are like a dream that are not often actualized in education and so what I often say is this is as close to a community school as we can get making sure that the oversight is done with our local community there's layers to community right so the ocss community is our local community then there's the larger P ylusd community so I want to make it super clear that it's not just the funding but it's being able to partner with our parents being able to make sure that they have a really a
192strong stakehold in that lcap process in guiding that local Charter board I mean look at this we've how many items do you guys usually look at at any given board meeting if we move move to this structure it solely becomes about the work of the charter school and then secondary to that yes as I am in collaboration with other Charter Schools the access to funding is much greater that was really helpful thank you yeah just that little short expert you're very brave thank you thank you for answering all my questions yes also I do want to let you know my daughter my oldest daughter would like to be a board rep after watching you who you're inspiring I know that's I'm glad I'm inspiring others yes so let me let let me ask this if
193we were to proceed tomorrow say which which I I am going to be at work tomorrow with my teachers to be very clear V we're not taking a boote but let's just say that somehow this pass and next Monday this comes to fruition would the students on your campus have any idea that anything has changed typically students have ideas of adult Rel ated anything from adults because that's kind of what I'm I'm I'm hearing is that they don't a lot of students I mean nowadays people do know about school boards I didn't know about a school board when I was in Middle School or high school but obviously we're in a we are in a we are in a different era but um so if I was just to go to school on Monday you
194know if I had some parents that had or on a board now and I mean it seems like like USI it's kind of already on your campus and there's people there taking the US I program like would the kids because the kids from USI are still able to go play the sports and all the other schools people are still transferring in like your middle school sports program do we put in theou that ocss is able to you know um still compete in the Middle School sports program yes so like looking at this from to and and I'd wrap my brain about this the only thing that's different is the different governing board they're going to oversee your curriculum and then basically the funding but your teachers can actually get paid better with which is going
195to increase competition which we're not going to make the promise of that because of of course responsibility y but when we were looking at the funding thing that was a very interesting concept yeah so so really there's really no big change besides giving up the control and um I don't really understand what I don't really understand what's so funny about that because we can give up control to parents who we trust you we trust people in our community and we can trust parents parents to also do I mean we're all parents up here and there's legal requirements there are there are things set in place that you can't just go Rogue and turn this into a ballet school I mean if we want the charter school to shut down and fail then absolutely you could
196do that but that's not what's going to happen but I also think too that we can't I'm sorry I I'm sorry I literally am working like 100 hour work weeks but by the time we get here I can't actually hear so okay hold on sorry I'm going to be like in uh some of my can can we please just be quiet so my students know this the level of behavior in this room is appalling let our principal speak without calling out yeah unfortunately I actually can't hear you so I just and it is in line and my students in the Middle School know do I do I allow a side conversation not at all and they can adere to it so I think with with what we're what we've been dealing with for the past
197year I'm sorry this is like the teacher in me this is what we do in school do I need to clear the room or officers can you find out who continues to talk and be disrespectful during this presentation and just clear it this is ridiculous so what we've been dealing with in the past year or the past I should say few months or as the charter has come to fruition is what we we've been hearing from when we did The Innovation lab you were getting a lot of you know back talk from the community or a lot of questions about you know why did we have to make you know do a million dollars for the Innovation lab and so I feel like when I'm talking about the control we're giving the control over to
198a highly qualified principal it's still a p USD school and we have this you know Charter School Board that's obviously like within the law but now you can fund raise you can get all of this and so we you don't have to have the necessary stress of people either not wanting to fund when you want to expand but then you also don't have to have the stress also of people you know criticizing you for asking for funding from us you know if you want to grow your Innovation lab so this will give you the freedom to do so so I think that's what I'm looking at is like we can't have it both ways we can't say no we don't want to give you a million dollar for an innovation lab or we don't want
199to help you grow your program because this is going to take from the PUSD general fund but then we also can't not give you the freedom to now say okay you can go get grants you can get a $600,000 a million dollar Grant and expand your school and it's not going to affect our general fund but for some reason just because of the control Factor like we don't want to allow you to do this and so that's when we hinder the kids and so that's what I've been looking at is it giving away a little bit of control obviously knowing it's within the law but it's also too because we've gotten a lot of crap up here for this Mill milon dollar Innovation lab and so it's either do we allow Labs it's two I'm
200sorry Labs I've seen yes there's a bigger one and a smaller one yes but yes so we can't have it both ways it's either our community says we are going to embrace this District charter school and we're going to allow the labs to grow and we're not going to you know complain and stuff when we give money to the school to fund it or we say okay you know what this isn't something that we want but they can take it and they can go get grants and they can take it and run with it and make it a great program and so I think that we have to look at both sides of this like there is it's giving up the control but then man they can really run with it or we keep the
201control of it and we have to understand that there's a lot of hopes and dreams from this the community and what they have for this school and we as a community need to embrace that and if money gets pulled one-time funding from the general fund then that has to be okay but we can't have it both ways and I think ultimately what I want to I walked over to one of our parents because some of you might look at this and say this is not that big of a deal but what goes into this so I'm going to go back to your point about like the why um so really what goes into this is being able to give our Learners a different experience than they've had before so if you take a look at
202this what goes into this design by an 11-year-old by the way an 11-year-old the level of mathematical thinking the level of design and Engineering the level of persistence this young person has had to go through I'm not currently seeing this and I'm going to be forthright we haven't even started in the Innovative realm of things yet we're just getting up to speed with where the world is and we're still very far behind so I think at the end of the day um whatever power um and this feels awkward for me to say because that we have no desire at ocss for power we have the desire to expand this we have the desire to expand opportunities I would actually prefer to live in an educational realm where power is not the focus and children are
203the focus [Applause] I haven't asked any questions so I'd like to ask my questions now um so um you included um teacher signatures in the petition of the original how many of those original signers are still working at The District in at or High School of computer science on the original petition cuz we didn't resign them Craig casperson Sorry by the time this hour comes Beth if you can't answer these questions we can yeah I'll get you the answer get that information yeah is it a large percentage or small percentage if you had to guess I would say it's a decent enough amount of teachers to be able to lead the school forward in the way that it needs to go enrollment went up so you had yeah of course so you had to increase
204the amount of teachers that were there from original yes okay if you give me that answer I'd appreciate that yeah I'll send it to Dr ches and then um where did you get the USI budget that's in here is this your budget or the USI budget is what's post you can go ahead yeah did you want to answer yeah we provided that it's I believe it's the same budget we provided um to the board okay how did you provide it I don't recall I know I'll have to look I believe via email okay um I'm just going through the ones that have already been asked so how will this affect um Park View and bvva so are we going to move teachers I mean what what is the plan so as we enter into the
205agreement um with PUSD we would we would not want to force teachers to go into a charter school so there would be no intention of bringing over teachers and forcing them over and then what date do you see this switch do you see the switch happening during this current school year or in the next school year um when you say switch which portion of the Swit from the autonomous mhm so it would be logical for the autonomous um governance structure to go into effect in the new year and then in terms of the budget I believe we actually do have to wait till July 1 the budget was emailed to the board on October 15th USA yes so um there are various um dates within the charter revision I also want to acknowledge that there
206are still typos in there even if it took a full day to try to get those typos out because it was drafted quite quickly um so I don't expect any member here to um have read that Pro tip if you copy and paste it into chat GPT it can give you a great summary um but um there are various dates on there um so for example before I was waiting for a call from was but had to submit the document on Thursday so I got a call back from was later in the afternoon about the timeline we put a date that when we make theou in terms of Park View um students who are in the 12th grade year staying with Park View through the completion of their senior year for X um year so
207like this year obviously we wouldn't want to say here park for your students who are in a f accredited you're a senior in high school and now we're going to take away your nc2a eligibility there are varying dates within that Charter depending on what we're proposing to do yeah which would have to be adjusted with an mou prob 100% that solidifies everything you mentioned you wouldn't um force them to come over are they going to have an option to come over I think we'd have to explore that because um just to be super forthright in terms of the way that we service our um students there's great opportunities when it comes to cost savings to actually build the independent study program out of our FTE so meaning like of current FTE of current FTE so
208you would no we would no longer need Parkview teachers is that what we're saying I don't have over overk still has students so the the hundred students would move and those teachers that are right now or teachers uh responsible for them would not follow them so they well I don't know what the specific case Lo is but I think that those St those teachers have students that are not USI so right so I'm just curious as to how that would work there seems to be a really a lot of questions and a lot of things that have to be worked out and maybe a study session would be really helpful where we could work out some of these weird timelines and try to better understand how this is going to work so I I think
209I would like a study session on this because I mean trying to get accreditation we have to keep uh you USI students at Parkview for a while we don't we can't switch the budget tell the following year um I mean we what's going to be in theou and what is not because my next question is going to be um why you said you did this really quick why why why the rush why not the rush I'm going to give you the same answer I'm sorry I'll wait okay no it's okay if we can wait though because again our kids there's a saying anybody who is has been um in the equity work our kids have waited long enough so when I look at the opportunities that can be afforded to our Stu to our students
210at the end of the day there is no such thing as too fast for students they're real life students yeah but I see that we're going to be having to do this in segments it it looks like happens it looks like if this petition is for next year right well she's saying that the autonomous part would start for the governance structure as soon as possible but then the budget part but I'm like can they be CH this is where it gets really confusing and that's why I really would like to have a study session with our attorneys there because I don't know I mean have our attorneys even looked at this is it is it legal to be autonomous but yet we're still in charge of your budget these are we're not in charge of
211our budget we're not in charge of the budget that's what she's talking about the pass through funding are now we are now and they she just admitted that they they we would be in charge of the budget for the full fiscal year I believe and I think Gary wouldd have to weigh on on this one I believe you can't just flank to January 1 you have to go to the new fiscal year yeah that's correct so why wouldn't we wait for the whole thing until the next year there is a process that goes into to appointing that Charter board so by giving those allowances starting January 1 it doesn't then slow down the governance process of the charter board additionally when the question comes up of is This legal the president is set and you
212can actually go and look at El Rancho Charter petition and you will see mirrored language there did they do it midyear mid school year um I'm aware of many charart schools I'd have to reference U because as I've been seeking guidance outside of PUSD on ensuring that I can work with my local community and begin the process that we need to together for the implementation I was told by my advisers that this is very common in the charter world and I I would say in my opinion time is of the essence and I think that this is I like it I think it makes a lot of sense and I think it's great for the students so that's my opinion okay um I have a few more questions thank you um my next question is
213for USI and in we need like proposed budgets these are this is your current working budget USI this is um their budget but we need you know like if you're taking these over we need to know that you can financially support these so we need proposed budgets because in the USI budget I noticed it was exactly the same budget that Dr ches gave to us and um there's no facility fees in here there's no special education fees um um so again so all those things would have to be you so I think part of this is making sure that we know that you will be sustainable so am I doing a 1% fee am I doing a 3% fee USI is a pathway remember it's a pathway at a school and it's at Parkview which
214she's see this is where it gets really confusing I don't think it's confusing I don't think it's confusing at all I think it's very confusing and I also noticed in here that you have like the Golden State pathway program listed as income well that was a grant awarded to park for you you can't steal another school's grant money or you can't I don't maybe still is a harsh one I would say I haven't Sten anything but let's be clear per what you just said prior what we submitted is the working budget for this Academic School year so OCS will not be stealing any funds from Parkview or USI for complete Clarity so that's why I'm saying we just need more information that's how I look at that because this is you need more information don't
215speak for the entire board I do need more information and I think the community from listening to them wants more information as well so we're just trying to be transparent here you want us to make a decision and it sounds like you want to make us a decision quickly but with without lack of information we can't make informed decisions and that's all I'm saying I'm I'm happy to put together a proposed budget and I'll ask the executive they're you're like why I'll ask the executive committee of our advisory Council um to work with me on that so that we can put together some projections also we would love it if it was 1% just saying if you're giving hey if you're giving us the ability to make that decision that's what I hear you saying
216this is recorded I'll go back and play it I did not give any percentages okay one last question um does this petition and I apologize I have not read the entire thing because I've had um a lot of um very intense family issues come up recently that have taken my attention but um does this because later on we're going to discuss this but it looks like you guys have switched your coding to something from California regencies is code to the Future still a part of this um Charter can you expl can you explain that yeah I'm sorry going through a difficult time if you recall in December I I am known as a leader to make decisions that are right even if they're difficult so when I came forward um in December of last year
217I had mentioned and also from the feedback of a current parent if she's watching right now I do greatly appreciate your feedback on that I had been given feedback by a parent who's very deep into knowledge of that industry and application and um that parent said hey do a double look before you make the commitment to that organization and so we had some other parents who were teachers in other districts who have experience with SE stem so if you recall in December of last year when we went through ultimately the final it was either December or January um when we went through some of the final revisions um with this board of education um I came forward and said we're going to have to make an adjustment and move away from code to the Future
218did um this is probably a question for Mr Stein did we pay for code to the Future I'd have to go back and look but I I think we did yes but not for services for OCS for the 2425 school year let me be clear on that yeah we can verify that because I'm I'm pretty sure I remember paying for it but I know we were paying for lots of things so my memory could be fuzzy that's that's all my questions except for I hope we get um a study session to talk about this more where we as a board can work with the executive cabinet to figure out what percentage and things like that that we need to be able to um cover our cost for your HR and payroll and things like that
219and um um so I hope this I don't mean to be a downer Beth but I think 3% I mean I don't know why we wouldn't do 3% from the standpoint of what might be needed right but we can only do 3% as a Max yeah there's a ma there's a maximum yeah there's a maximum but within that I think that makes that's that's a reasonable assumption that I would say that'd be my recommendation 3% Mr Young did you have anything okay all right well if there's nothing else I'm going to close the public hearing and I'm going to close it at 9:32 p.m. and I thank you for Dr Beth fiser and for all of the parents and the staff who came to support her tonight and been supporting the program all right we're
220going to take a five minute break before we go to the consent calendar all right we're going to go to our consent calendar consent calendar as actions proposed for the consent calendar items that are consistent in nature with approved practices of the district and are deemed routine in nature the trustees we've received a board agenda backup information in advance of scheduled meetings and are prepared to vote with knowledge on the Block vote items I don't have any um um I don't have any public comment cards for the consent calendar is that correct all right so we'll move on can I have a motion please uh we can pull some we have public comment at the end I'm sorry what I need a motion or I'm sorry P pull pull okay I want to pull 171
221196 197 196 and 197 yes okay and I'm going to pull 182 1810 1817 19.5 and 21.9 182 1810 18 17 19.2 and 19 19.5 19.5 so four and 21.9 thank you anybody else pulling any items no ma'am Sean are you pulling any items okay I need a motion to approve the following list of consent items minus the ones that we pulled I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar as amended I second thank you I have a motion by Mr Frasier I have a second by Mr Young Blood all those in favor I I I have a 5- Zer vote and a I from our student board member who is still here pass curfew yeah it's gonna make it to the end got a cheering squat okay so our first one is going
222to be 17.1 absolutely I need a motion I'd like to move that we adopt revised 2024 Board of Education meeting schedule a second my question is we have two additional meetings can you tell me what we're going what what are the purpose so I can't um comment on it because of our closed session deal earlier today but um what was discussed in Clos session but that was one of the reasons that we were moving things out okay so that will for one of them huh for one of them maybe one possibly two if we needed it if there needed to be you know whatever it was so we just did two just in case that conversation will be continued one of the next meetings or both so are we just doing closed sessions at those
223next two meetings the reason that we did it is because of just you know we weren't quite certain what will come of the close session if we will need it sooner than later so it's kind of just you know padding the whole like making sure that we have that available to do it as soon as possible we also had a public hearing today as you know for the charter we're talking to our attorneys and filling out a matrix for that so we may be ready to have that agendized okay um I have a conflict with the 10th I will be out of town okay so um I guess I'll be teleconferencing it's my son's graduation from nursing school so very good so what is his uh nursing specialty um well it's General Nursing but so
224like er General yeah my mom is labor and delivery nurse that's what I ask so okay all right are we ready to vote Yes all right all those in favor I I no I okay so I have an an I you know what I think I will change mine to no as well okay so I have a no from Mrs Buck I have a no from Mrs Anderson I have a I from Mr Youngblood I from Mr Frasier I from myself and our student board members and I all right motion carries three to two next one please I'll make a motion to approve the warrant listings in the following amounts check 267 843 through 2691 98 um for the current year expenditures and then I will just leave it at that second second oh sorry
225care okay motion for Mrs Anderson I have a second for Mrs Buck Okay so I had um a couple questions I sent all these and I got some answers but there're but when I was reviewing them um the answers brought up some more questions so um we'll just start um there seems to be a lot of expenditures on here for baseball um for USI and um on the warrant listings from 10 to 20 to 1026 and Dean in 585 it's an Amazon corporate credit card for 5, um $338 and I asked about that and they said it was for USI for equipment including baseball and then if you jump to um see where's the other baseball one here it is um under warrant listings 113 through 119 um there's $31,000 for baseball Associated to USI
226and um I'm just wondering um we were told that the the 1.2 million was purchasing all the equipment but yet we keep spending money for equipment for USI and so this one alone adds up to almost 36,000 for baseball alone and I'm just curious about that why are a baseball figures so high and how many students do we even have enrolled in that yeah I'm unable to answer that so these P purchases go through the USI program and it goes through their approval process um so I I'm assuming that we have uh students enrolled with uh that need baseball training and so was that that Pro uh the software program um says AC Pros is that the one no this is uh this is proman LLC doing On Deck Sports it's it's like a it's
227it's all of the material it's pitching machines and things that are used for for training so and then the other one was on from Amazon yeah we'll provide you that information okay can we afford it Gary depend question it depends depends on what you mean yeah yeah so um it's I I I'm not sure I mean yes obviously the district can't afford it because it's been paid but um it's it's the question is what what are the specific uses for and I think we can get better information back to you for that and if it's USI what location does it yeah I believe those things would be used I think at high school I think it's joint use right your blinda high school USI yes but we have to code it a certain way so
228correct yes okay okay and then on the same warrant listing from 1020 to 1026 um there is an expenditures from Sports um Products Inc and it says here that this payment is for wall mats padding for USI and shipping for the wall mats I thought that was all included in the original training lab um all the all the um wrestling mats yeah a lot it does so what was included with the original purchase was um a specific area with the wall mats and everything so I believe that they've extended that in a different part of the room so that's why they needed to order more okay so another expenditure for that and then um then on the warrant listing from 1027 to 112 um there is um 15,000 for the Yorbalinda water district and that
229was to connect the water for Castle for the fire sprinklers um I know we're putting sprinklers in but um we don't have a plan for that building as of yet right we have the existing plan um and we've run the exist are we just restoring because we didn't we spend about 400,000 to take that building apart no or 300,000 not no no we haven't spent 300,000 on that building um but yes there's some uh you know taken drywall and things that need to be put back up but we're not changing the structure of the building at all we took the existing structure to DSA to uh get sprinklers approved for that okay but in order to do that there has to be a main valve that's installed by the yinda water outside I understand that
230so is is the plan because we haven't talked about this as a board at all um just to just to restore the building so right now I think our plan is to make sure that it's usable uh and usable under dsa's requirements and and then the board will be needing to make a decision as to how to best use that facility it needs to have the use determination changed and to do that we have to do these and then we can decide what ultimately to do with it we can't decide anything without it being usable right I'm just making sure that we're not we didn't tear it down to build it up then to tear it down again that's all I'm say nothing term nothing's been torn down there hasn't been any work on that
231facility but we do need to put sprinklers in there we can't use it okay and that changes the use code correct once we do that changes it to e it'll yeah we can use it for any educational purpose after that okay then um the next one down is for Delux printing um painting um that has the um the code of 363 but in your explanation it says that this was for Orange County School of computer science and I just want to make sure that we're using correct codes that that um programs are being charged for you know yeah the accounting is correct so the accounting is correct it's just the when we talk about sites uh USI is technically not a site OCS is a site so that's it's and and the site code for
232ocss is like 220 it's 220 yes and this has a um a 636 we have 636 so that we're accounting for it appropriately but yeah in the notes we just we refer to it as ocss because USI technically isn't a site okay a physical site a school I should say not a site a school okay and then the next set is the same thing it's again it's using um the USI um codes without and but you guys are saying it's for ocscs so that's that's is where it gets confusing and I just want to make sure it's taking place at that at that school but if it's 636 that means it's part of the USI program okay and those funds are being there okay yeah please so I just want to go back a little
233bit the promounds LLC DBA On Deck Sports the one that you just mentioned MH um there's one charge for 4,800 and the other one was for 26,000 um and it says it's related to staff and apparel uniforms for you for staff at USI is that correct that's the one above it that that's the national sports apparel not not the prouns oh okay ah okay so we spent $4,000 on apparel are we allowed to spend $4,000 or or money on apparel that's not related to educational yes it has to be uniforms it can't be like t-shirts just because but it can be uniforms does USI have their own uniforms they don't have their own teens not I think this is for like the shirts that were passed out at the opening every time I've gone to
234USI they're always wearing their polos and I know that yes it's their polos that they wear and I think one of the teachers was telling me that there's a staff like a day where all the all of the staff like wears a certain shirt like a certain polo one day a certain shirt another day yeah it's just like when we um purchase the P polos for all the district administrators or what whatnot I thought we did that with donation money I thought those were purchased by donation oh oh I didn't know that Gary were those purchased by donation yes they were but this is an appropriate expenditure okay okay good good catch I missed that one and then then also on here um we have the Garner halt um $5,000 for mannequins for it's mannequins
235so that they can create costumes for animated Atomic robots um can you have you been to ocss I I've been to school but I haven't been in the lab so I'm just trying okay so the mannequins it's what they're using to dress the mannequins they're not you know the mannequins are are being used as yes I don't know how to phrase that and it's a little bit late but yes the mannequins I think they've already been purchased correct and they're being used in the school site and they've been up on Instagram and they've been showing how they're using the mannequins in the lab okay and you just brought up the sports apparel so I don't need to bring that up and I brought up the baseball um skip that one um eight yeah that's all
236my questions all right can I move to a vote Gary are any of these expenditures outside of the budgets that we put in place to spend for the district I mean no it's it was paid out of the district fund so now it would be in the budget inside of our budget okay thank you but were they all approved before here or are so they would all go through an approval process before the money is spent so they would have all had a PO issued and then and then the check paid after the goods and things are received so it would standard way to spend money in the district yes yes all right move for a vote all those in favor all right no all right roll call vote please Luke I uh Mrs Buck
237yes Mrs Anderson no Mr Young Blood yes Mr Frasier yes and I a yes motion carries four2 one with an I from our student board member so we have 18 point 10 I'll need a motion I'll make a motion to approve the architectural service agreement for architectural Investigation Services for the walls enclosed project at Travis Ranch School with Studio Plus Architects can I have a second please second um I just pulled this to um bring awareness that um the district is doing their diligence and um investigating the walls at Travis Ranch and making sure that they're in compliance with DSA just for all the rumors it's being handled right and this was done under the former Brad Rune and Mike Matthews this was a project under to them I this was during last summer this
238was yeah I don't think so cuz I was took a tour there last year and the walls were already up uh when I got here the it was whether it was put in you know the first month or so that I was here or not the designs the plans was already in place purchased and I don't know when the installation was whether I was here or not but I had nothing to do with the project yeah we didn't never actually vote on this project yeah this never came to the board you should call Mike Matthews and ask him why well I know it was discussed but it was never brought to the board it was a it was a request at the board level to say hey we need to get walls in there because
239it's ridiculous that they don't have walls I mean obviously yeah but no vote no vote and we did um we voted on the completed project in October if I remember correctly so cool are we good with it let's vote all those in favor I I Todd I need a knife from you please I said I okay motion carries 5 Z next one 18.7 okay I'll make a motion to approve the independent contractor agreement to provide an update of use of facilities fee with um fow Consulting LLC effective November 20th 2024 through June 30th 202 I'll second all right I have a motion for Mrs Anderson I have a second for Mr Young Blood okay um I pulled this um because I wanted Mr SE to explain um how this company was chosen and the process
240that this is all going to go through um for all of the you guys with long Memories We have disaster with our previous um use of facility fees so I think that was the first thing I was told when I came here was about our facility uh Fe study um so yes we we've been actually uh looking at different companies for I would say six months um we've been researching I should say uh and we identify the company we don't want to use um who will remain nameless so um but for Consulting comes very highly um recommended by our neighboring districts uh most recently they've done uh facility fee studies for Irvine unified and Orange Unified um and uh the gentleman who runs this consulting company has been in the industry for 18 years they
241have done over 20 uh usage uh facilities fees studies uh that that have all gone through without any issues so we're we're pretty confident with that um the report once it's uh completed we will present it to the board we'll have a formal presentation uh after the input is received from the board we will then meet with our site staff uh athletic directors coaches and and uh um to review the report and then after that we'll meet with our partners meaning our people that our our friends that actually use our facilities to talk about the fees and um and then after all of that we will uh come back to the board and talk about it time timeline for implementation so we're not in a rush to I mean this is going to take several
242months for this to be done uh we just want to make sure we're doing it right and that we're getting all of the communication uh done and and everybody has some input before we do anything I really appreciate all the community input coming to the board we're going to give input that's it's going to the community our partners and then back before we vote I really like this pattern thank you are we ready to vote all right all right all those in favor I all right motion carries 5 z uh it looks like it's 19.5 I I remembered Luke who is out after curfew okay um I'll make a motion to approve the following novels to be added to our core extended reading list Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters time for Andrew and um Phantom
243tooth second I have a motion for Mrs Anderson a second for Mr Young Blood um I pulled this because I feel like curriculum should be um brought up so the community knows what we're doing and um and what books are in our children's classroom so that's why I pulled it um I read all three of these books and um took notes on them and I definitely had some more favorites than others um but don't ask me um what book I didn't like as much um but so I was really curious about the students and what their feedback were was and um all three of these books got excellent feedback um from the students and um with like I'd say probably 90 95% were all in the if you added strongly agree or agree with approval
244so I'm excited that these books will be added to our core reading list okay let's move for a vote all those in favor I I and I'm an i motion carries 5 Z the I from our student board member next is 19.6 Mrs Buck I'm going to add these two together um if we could and I'll read them both to adopt approve the adoption of the signing naturally units 7 to 12 curriculum for American sign language language 2 and and approve the adoption of American Sign Language 3 and sign signing naturally level two curriculum have a second please I'll second all right I have a motion from Mrs Buck a second by Mrs Anderson I am just I just wanted to point it out because I think that this is fantastic that we have sign
245language and that we have this program for students it's not only is it sign language but it's also another language um it counts toward that um I my mother um did sign language and taught me when I was little um I got sign language for anybody that has little children out there even babies I started using sign language with my newborn when she was well newborn and by the time she was four months old she was signing milk and more um and I I swear that my kids are smarter because they had that ability to communicate so much sooner so I'm just thrilled that we have this so I just wanted to point it out I'm really excited that this program is expanding and we're adding another level I was at the um espira showcase
246and our sign language students were um signing the national anthem and it was and I can see their excitement so I'm really excited that this course is moving on and um also um some of the things that I really liked about these textbooks as after I was reviewed in them um that they correspond with the videos and they really help teach and practice um the questions to work in a system and then you know perform and and work together so it's I thought the books were really good and helping them um build their vocabulary and their conversational skills and especially when you're getting up to the level three it's mostly about conversation like how to describe a room and you know where to begin and stuff like that so I'm excited for these books and
247um for the kids to um start this class does it start next year is that right Mrs Dr Young yes so she's a new teacher to us but not new to teaching s language and she's phenomenal I had the chance to walk the classroom as well with principal saroa and so there's a great enthusiasm for the course and so um two is happening already now so level one and level two and then we're adding on level three next M sure all right all those in favor I and I an I motion carries 5 Z 21.9 please I I'll move it so that you can flip um I move that we approve the certificated Human Resources report all second I have a motion by Mrs Buck I have a second by Mr Frasier okay I pulled
248this one um because um there was a mistake in the um HR report and um I thought we were going to amend it but um with the minutes but I think we all kind of forgot am agenda amend yeah yeah so um so I just wanted to bring awareness to it it lists in here under District funded co-curricular um assignment statement stat happens on page 27 that um Sterling Jones is listed as a sports consultant for $40,000 he was on um the month's previous a agenda so this is a duplication and correct me if I'm wrong but it's been removed because it looks like it's been stried through that's correct so we approve with the amended change so do we need to amend the motion can I have an amended motion please I'll amend motion
249to exclude that uh that one line Second oh I'll second all right I have an amended motion on the table all those in favor I I all right motion carries 5 Z this will lead us into public comment public comment is an opportunity for the public to provide input to the Board of Education during the public comment period board members do not dialogue with speakers or make comments regarding the information shared we have 13 people wishing to speak tonight which means that they will have 2 minutes each I'm going to call the speakers up to the podium and they can give their name and take it away first speaker is Linda Manion second speaker is Gloria Johnson third speaker is shot Scott Sheba and fourth speaker will be MAA sepula Linda Manion we've nearly come
250to to the end of a long and difficult election like all elections information was given to the voters and the voters had the last say now is the time the most important time in an election cycle and that is the time to accept the results of the voters and collectively begin working towards the transition that will occur democracy is not about trying to prevent the will of the voters it is about embracing the will of the voters even if an on occasion we are not on The Winning Side Ronald Reagan said good citizenship and defending democracy means living up to the ideals and values that make this country great I hope we can all take a moment take a deep breath and live up to those ideals and values that form the essence of our
251democracy by embracing the will of the voters thank you thank you Gloria Johnson hi Gloria Johnson sixth grade teacher uh in light of the fact that it's a little late I'm going to lighten things up just to Tad um I was struggling for what to say because I feel like there's so many things that we could have addressed so I reached out to colleagues and I took all of their ideas and I compiled them here so we're done with the chaos tired of the fight anti-un nonsense it just isn't right a community spoke we made our voice clear a board that supports us that's what we hold dear we want support and we want it now counselors in all schools let's say it out loud no Shady deals let's keep it true we're here for
252our students it's what we do we're tired of drama reactionary plays respect our decision don't cause delays you can leave peacefully don't burn it down the loss was fair and square don't wear a frown irresponsible spending we've seen it before we need a new vision we're ready for more teachings our passion it is our Creed together we eyes plant the right seed so here's to the Future let's make it bright with the board that stands up doing what's right we're moving forward just as like we planned for teachers and students United We Stand thank you Scott you're up again I hope yeah thank you for the wonderful opportunity to addressed you so many times I'm sure did you hear you've you've completed a hat trick tonight uh hey you know I'll take it however can
253get it you know um I just want to thank first of all um trustees buck and Anderson I appreciate you um asking the tough questions and um you know trying to get clarity for us and and the transparency and highlighting um you know was on the literature viiew Community um that review those books I'm I'm glad that you you took the time to read them because uh we did too so it was great um but I was just concerned about the additional meetings it seems like we're adding additional board meetings um with maybe an agenda in mind and maybe not an agenda in mind and it seems strange to me that we're adding meetings just in case um and so I thank um representative Buck I thank you for um questioning why we're having these
254meetings and wondering if there may be plans um in advance so um anyway I thank you all for your time uh for letting me do this hatrick of comments and maybe next time I'll just do maybe like a one or two you know goes yeah great is mik SAA still here or is she gone all right I have Mark Fury Esther Kim Sue Sawyer and April gabic she's gone okay April is not here Mark you're first all right Mark Fury original seventh grade class of Y blinda junior high 60 years ago um there's so many things to talk about that went on today but I got to reiterate I sat in the back in the disruption of people not listening to presentations it's got to stop okay just got to stop and it seems to
255me that we got to take a step back and look at the big picture the last meeting so proud of the success higher enrollment higher test scores focusing on the kids and 90% of what was talked about tonight was about elections teachers unions get back to focusing on the kids and it's so disappointing that the leader of the new Charter School didn't the parents of some of those students did not feel comfortable coming here to speak because of the rudeness in the back and they knew that would happen there are tons of parents out there that are probably listening that wished that they could come up here and if you remember at the last meeting there were dads that said my kid I could not get him go to school and when that program open
256opened up they were up early they were staying late and I wish most of that could be focused and if you guys believe in given the charter school a chance quit putting roadblocks okay open the roadblocks and look for success and one of the reasons there's so many people anti because the unions AR involved in this okay so that's my statement thank you Mark [Applause] Esther Kim hello my name is Esther Kim and I am a parent of a child in the P School District I am here to speak up against the contract amendments that were proposed for this week's agenda I am disappointed um to find out that the vote happened before I came um I was depending on this week's agenda that was released to um like get here on time but you
257know I guess I got moved last minute so I wasn't able to say what I needed to say before the vote happen so um but it does not make any sense for the board to vote to make these changes during this Lan duck period and one of the main issues a lot of people in our community had um in this election was with some of the people who work for our district who would be protected by these contract amendments it also is extremely unethical to be making such radical changes right before the new board majority is sworn in and able to enact the changes that our community wanted them to make by voting them in they should not be constrained by being required to vote as a supermajority to make changes to the contracts of
258people our community have a problem with who work for our district our new board should be able to vote with a simple majority vote if they find cause to terminate some of these people working for our district especially considering many people feel strongly that those causes exist based on the many issues our community has seen with the lack of transparency and the conflict of interest regarding USI and so I wanted to ask that the board to um please not vote to amend the contract but unfortunately I wasn't able to do that before so anyways thank you so thank you sue [Applause] Sawyer well pass my bedtime I'm deeply concerned about the current direction of this District we've seen alarming actions the force departure of over two dozen District leaders unethical and and retaliatory treatment of
259employees and mismanagement of District funds including questionable contracts like the $1.2 million payment to the training lab before the terms of service were even fulfilled the public has been lied to about the funding and solvency of the USI program claiming it brings in 1 and a half million in additional revenue and claiming it will have a profit of more than $600,000 a year both claims are categorically false the current Sports Institute is a program not a school it creates expenses not Revenue this leaders ship team is guilty of misuse of taxpayer funds a fact they're attempting to hide by moving USI oversight to the Charter which will be accountable to a board of its own making I urge this board to prioritize ethical leadership transparency and respect for all employees and students in this District
260we need accountability and fiduciary responsibility now I also want to thank you for allowing validas to get equipment from esparanza there is still some gear we need to get to be able to do the live streaming we will also need to get other another teleprompt which they do have at esparanza for a two camera stream we will need to work with Jeremy Powell if his tech crew can help us set up that live stream we haven't been able to make the network work yet um I know we had some issues here but your team is amazing and we appreciate it and we appreciate you and I urge you to put public comment down at the beginning of the meeting Beth fiser teachers are not the only ones that have busy days ahead tomorrow we all
261do and we start early thank you thank you I'm going to call the last five speakers it'll be Denise May Dave Peterson lesie Alexander Ali I'm gonna mess up the last name is it Suave orave Suave and then John Hansen will finish this off I'm sorry I I'm sorry Denise is first okay and you and Curtis and Curtis you come on up just come on up and have a seat you can go um second to last Denise all right um I don't normally speak so my voice will shake because I don't like speaking but I feel compelled to speak my name is Denise May after hearing Sean's very offensive comments about teachers tonight and that made me turn in a blue card because you spoke about teachers and so I'd like to speak about my
262experience with teachers your comments prove that you've never volunteered in a classroom because you don't seem to realize what teachers do so let me help you teachers the teachers you're supposed to support deserve better from you teachers work 10 to 12 hours a day they work holidays they work weekends teachers give of themselves day in and day out in support of children and their families teachers are motivated to help students not only improve their Knowledge and Skills but more compellingly to help students improve the quality of their lives teachers encourage a l of learning a strong work ethic to pursue achievements and to dream big teachers are encouraging our Future Leaders doctors scientists lawyers more teachers possibly even Schoolboard members so to me teachers deserve more than gratitude they deserve full support and I think
263you owe them an apology thank you Dave Peterson Dave you're up thank you I noticed you came with your camp chair tonight good move yeah I know you know I'm an eagle scout and the idea is always be prepared very good okay so uh tonight I speak to you as a senior CI cuz it's kind of hard to stick around for the public comment section when you're this old and you might get scile and Miss understood uh what your your own stuff you wrote earlier um so if it can be a little earlier that would be awesome maybe you could have a senior section you know if you're 65 or above you could do your comments early on I'd appreciate that um with the upcoming calendar you've got a couple of those you know you
264got three meetings coming up in the rest of December that's a lot uh it's kind of hard to it's the holidays I don't know people be able to you know fit all those PE into their schedule if if some of those can be put off till the new year beginning easier to make that appreciate that if that can be considered um I'm a pilot school participant in LAUSD so as we work with the charter school model uh I would encourage the board to kind of open up the discussion for other pieces like the Pilot School model the pilot school and the charter school are kind of parallel models and my ears were hearing from the the folks that it's all new and so people are kind of wondering with so many questions what does it
265mean with anou and all that type of stuff and where does autonomy line that that type of issue so and in terms of an educational piece um whether this comes from the district probably not from Dr Fisher because she had enough to work with tonight the idea of looking at what are some of those models and how is this one different from this one and that type of thing takes a little bit the fear action out and then just one of the things might be um securing the idea that okay the fa site facility with Bernard Yoba remains a property of Placentia Unified School District no matter what happens in that Charter thank you very much thank you okay lesie [Applause] Alexander my name is is lesie Alexander I'm a retired teacher from y Belinda
266middle school and uh I am a homeowner in area 1 as I've gone door to-door throughout our community over the past couple of months I have met many parents who Express their concern over these board meetings and the conduct of Dr chernis one parent told me he would not watch the board meetings when his children were present due to the poor examples set by Dr chernis I wholehearted I wholeheartedly agree with this parent the conduct of Dr chus at these these meetings is undignified unprofessional disrespectful and in my opinion juvenile this is how he conducts himself with his bosses in a room full of people while being recorded imagine for a moment how he conducts himself with employees when no one is watching it is one more item to add to the long list of
267chaos that has occurred in our district since Dr chernes has occupied his position a list that includes falsehoods misrepresentations and constant gaslighting I believe it is a disqualifying list of a failed superintendent Dr chernis is clearly aware of this as evidenced by tonight's agenda beginning with his ridiculous request for an amendment to his Employment contract and ending with his aggressive proposals for the charter school these appear to be the desperate actions of desperate people who know their time is up is Ali Suave still here all right hello my name is Ali Suave I'm a graduate of P LUSD go Aztec a 5-year placentra resident and mother to two children who will thankfully continue to be enrolled in the district thanks to miss quintell being elected to the school board thank you I'm here to remind
268the board that they have a duty to fulfill the wishes of the community that elected them uh sorry last my place Miss blades you said yourself tonight that you trust the people people in the community while the community has spoken making last minute changes to contracts and Charters do not reflect the most current perspectives the board with the exception of Miss Anderson and Miss Buck needs to put the wishes of the community ahead of their own selfish self-preservation interests to steal millions of dollars from the students of this district is appalling you present yourself as putting students first but your actions obviously show different and as I teach my children actions speak louder than words words your self-serving actions will be the downfall of this District prompting many families including myself to look into neighboring
269districts to enroll their children because unlike you we do care about our students thank you thank you sorry I must have tossed your card in the hey you know what it's totally fine it's late uh thank you Miss blades thank you Bor um few things real quick uh it's been a long time since I've seen most of you Todd I don't think I've ever been in a meeting that you are at um things have changed a lot um congratulations on those of you who got reelected um Sean uh in the game industry we say you can't win if you don't play but as someone who's appreciates grandfathers in the lives of my kids uh I'm glad that you're gonna be able to do that um congratulations to miss Cano um I'm not here to talk
270about all this though um I'm here to talk about hypocrisy and then about the OCS and I'll get there if I have time I hope um you know earlier tonight people were talking a lot of stuff about social media and social media being bad and I'm kind of a tech guy and I remember I remember somebody yelling that recall at Freeman when she sat in your chair and you were sitting over there and you smirked and lean back in your chair and smile and I I have a picture because I remember and and I remember you Mr Young bled talking about how you know when when lawsuits were being talked about lawsuits were very expensive and then we heard from Mr frer n there's always lawsuits there's always litigation funny how it all comes around
271Mr chice Dr chis excuse me I remember Dr Sasser in your chair I believe I'm saying his name right he did not run meetings like you do there's a lot that's happened in this that's been real bad and I want to kind of circle it back on to oscs because I work in the tech industry and let me tell you something I have friends who have sons in their 20s who can't get jobs right now because of AI congratulations you've launched a charter school into a dying field I'd like the district to wake up and realize that what the people in this District want the children in this District need is a broad-based education that teaches them to think and the money needs to go towards those activities for all students and that is why
272I'm so concerned about the things that are being talked about in OCS and Echo the extra board meetings and the other things that you are going to do to try to get them approved thank you and to finish this John Hansen John Hansen 48e resident y blinda went through the local schools um first of all Miss Buck I you had a lot of questions tonight I wish in 2011 You' asked that many questions that done your research before you authorized the taking out of $20 million in bond funding so that we're going to have to pay back $282 million you should have done your homework in 2011 like youve now now you profess to be doing your L taxpayer Association November 2nd we had some election sign stolen another sign stolen there had been three
273incidents finally we got smart we put a tracking device on that sign imagine that it was two blocks from Marilyn Anderson's house sign was posted at 6:00 a.m. by 6 7:45 a.m. on Saturday morning that sign was taken out of the ground turns out that sign end up all the way down in Costa Mesa at the home of John Matson a teacher within this District I asked the question how did John Matson know to leave his house on a Saturday morning to come up and steal a sign that had previously been stolen three other times do you think he woke up that morning and thought Oh I'm going to drive from Costa Mesa up to Fullerton to to see if they've reposted that sign I've got that question GL thankfully the Fullerton Police Department is
274doing an investigation Mr Matson has admitted to stealing the sign and having it in his possession which he first tried to lie to a Coosa Mesa police officer that he didn't have to sign okay but it was found in his possession he had already cut it up if during the investigation of this incident it is found that Mr Matson had any communication either verbal VI phone or text with either Miss Anderson or her husband Steve the bully of the city if it's found that that took place I would call on Marilyn Anderson to resign from this board thank you very much all right would you like to do your superintendent report all right thank you president blades members of the board we have an incredible Community program called lot 318 and um you may not
275know this but about uh about a year ago I met with lety um who runs lot 318 and she said that she has a really hard time finding tutors for the program and so what we did in working with our um Teachers Association is we decided to pay our teachers to help um tutor kids after school at l 318 and so we got some teachers last year um and this year we only have two teachers willing to do it um so I volunteer to tutor I'll be at lot 318 on Thursday helping the kids um and I encourage my cabinet to uh to take take the helm as well um because it's it's the best feeling in the world to help these kids out um and so I can't wait to to um have my
276first day of tutor on Thursday that concludes my report all right thank you very much all right now we go to Communications and board reports Luke you have already given yours give it again I feel like I gave it like a week ago that's what it feels like that is fair all right we'll go down the the road I'm going to go super brief cuz we're here late um I attended the band pageant once again amazing um love to be there and see all the the students out performing um I mentioned earlier I got to go to visit ocscs I also visited Valena High School Valadez middle school and golden Elementry um I attended the ocba dinner meeting and I'm looking forward to csba coming up here in December and on Saturday night I'm going
277to go see noises off at y blinda high school so I he it's amazing it looks the little um brief bit that they did as like a teaser looks really funny so looking forward to it Saturday it ends I think it's Thursday Friday Saturday Thursday Friday Saturday there's two shows on Saturday like at two and at seven something like that I think ELO's play opens this weekend too oh what is it it's Peter and the star Catcher And it's like Peter Pan Before Peter Pan something like that I guess I'll have to go to two so just want to let you know I was must have not put in my border por gosh dang this is what happens Luke when you past curfew you're able to tell us more information exactly that's right thanks Luke
278that's it for me okay I will um do my best to go fast because it is getting late um I attended um the Rio Vista walk to school day and this was um combination of um Rio Vista PTA Anaheim Police City officials Traffic Engineers and um and it was all coordinated by the Rio Vista amazing PTA and they had kids walking in teams to get to school safely they had um police officers doing enforcement making sure that everyone was following the rules and um it was a chance for like city council and everyone to observe kind of what the patterns were and the issues and um I'm happy to report now because of this and the actions of the PTA that they now have a crossing guard over RI Vista school so it's a pretty
279busy school and so that was great um I able to attend the Middle School um Sports volleyball tournament esparanza and there was lots of great kids participating and cheering fans I also attended the library open house at Brookhaven and again this is another great example of school and the PTA working together to improve the school and um I got to kind of interview some sixth graders I just happened to come by when they were in there and um I loved the one student he said our library's been Brookhaven IED and if you ever get a chance to go there's all this original art done by a parent that's up now in the school and it's beautiful um I got to tour USI and um that was exciting and I also attended the ocba joint dinner
280and um I loved um the speaker that night Dr Jolene Hood who she spoke on building belongings and cultivating connections um participated in the Heritage day which you know I love and I got to bring um three of my grandkids on the bus which they loved and um it was they had a great time yeah you had yeah and thank you to everybody who helped keep three little little boys happy um I got to attend the Y Belinda Brownie troop 11:24 meeting and um talk about the um you know how government local government works and um I was joined By Janice Lim Belinda city council member and Heather Marshall District Attorney from um Riverside and it was just really fun being with the girls and teaching them about local government um I attended the Sou
281um California um air quality management event um at Travis Ranch where we got to um where our electric vehicles were showcased and got to go on a bus and that was really fun and um I I observed that these buses were super quiet maybe not with so many kids in them but um they were very quiet they really handled well and every one of the adults in the bus commented at the Amazing air conditioning so that was great I attended read for the record and Mrs Buck was there as well at um Valadez middle school and this is where eighth graders read to first graders at Melrose and Rio Vista and it was just really fun and um and then what was great is that they had different activities that the kids could do um
282that related to the book and Performing and my favorite part of the event was watching the eighth graders be they loved being there and reading to the kids and helping their buddies and showing them how things worked and um I just I love that um I attended the d d d moras event for the Dual language program at Orange County School of computer science and it was great seeing all the um things that they did and I even purchased some items that were made in the Innovation lab um I've got some really cute D mores earrings and stickers and um and it was really fun to support the students there and see all their hard work um I attended the dsas mores and Avid tailgate party at Valena high school and that was uh that
283was fun uh Mrs Buck was there with me and um the music um it was students um in a in the band and it was just great and I'm just so grateful to the staff and everyone who works so hard to put all that together um I attend a teacher of the year did you say that okay with I didn't say that okay with Mrs buck and um it was great to honor Jeff um I'm gonna paku thank you from El Dorado and Sarah Hoffman from Glenn null and um I'm just so grateful that we have such amazing teachers like Jeff and Sarah who Inspire our students and to hear their stories and see their stories live was great um I also attended the band pageant and um I love it and it was kind
284of an exciting night at the bad pageant because the wind was blowing so hard and things might have been moving that shouldn't have been moving like flags that were flying across the the ground they yeah so it was um fun night um I attended did the Veterans Day celebration with Mr Young Blood at El Dorado and Luke did an amazing job um doing um being the MC of the event and um and I was really I was like that's our guy and um it was really um nice to see our gold star families being recognized as part of the um ceremony and um just have our students be so respectful and appreciative of the veterans I loved all that and then I attended the esparanza High School showcase and um just seeing the students do
285stand up and tell about their programs and tell about why their programs are amazing and why um these eighth graders should come to their school so I loved it I love all seeing our students shine so that is the end of my Bo report oh okay um originally I had like almost a novel of of stuff in which I wanted to kind of bring up as you guys uh know no not going to happen where's the novel bring it out I I don't even think I I think I I can see straight on this but um um I just wanted to um for most of you the that don't know this will be my my last uh scheduled board report um I want to um thank you all for the opportunity uh for this last
286four years uh it has been quite a ride um I want to uh wish good luck to miss quento in her um movement to this particular spot on the Diz uh I can tell you it has not always been the easy EST position to be in um I can tell you that if it is thought of as a team um that your team is only as good as the the the weakest person and um we have to continue to hold up our team otherwise uh that that weakness that chain uh is going to break and that's going to cause District issues so uh it that constantly change it's a dynamic thing uh What uh I try not to do and uh I'm not always uh the best at it is to not make it as
287personal uh as I have in the past um but to realize that uh there can be um there can be a a mutual agreement that can be done in order to accomplish certain things I may not always like I may not always agree um but uh as long as I continue to um try to continue to educate myself on whatever the issues are uh and to be able to listen to people who may have a difference of opinion than I uh then I feel that um I've accomplished something um with that said however you guys know that in 2020 when this board was elected it was probably one of the most traumatic times in our nation uh we were going through a pandemic there was a lot of uncertainty there was a lot of fear
288um and the the three of us that uh got elected during that time uh were definitely from the frying pan Into the Fire um there were several um there were several key key things that had to happen uh in order for us to uh keep the district going um whether it was opening classrooms back up getting kids on Zoom to um you know to to start uh getting their their learning continued um parents were saying you know hey my kids already I can already see learning loss just about immediately um so so you know we had to navigate through those things and it wasn't just um navigating amongst ourselves even though there were things that we didn't agree on but um this went all the way up to the state level so we had things
289such as litigation in which we had to do and there were um uh you know ideas that we had as a board that was uh uh not all at all popular at that time whether it be masking or uh vaccine mandates um but this is what I kind of jumped into and I was determined to to uh be the best Steward in that position so I I do appreciate that I think that uh um did make me stronger um and unfortunately you know when you when you have that type of experience um you start um looking behind the curtain and I started realizing that there were forces that were were happening that were undermining a lot of a lot of the things the decisions that we were uh were trying to do whether it was
290uh in the form of curriculum whether it was in uh the form of um um you know Financial expenditures uh uh accounts that were were not being being shown money that was being hidden um so there was a lot of things in which this board had to deal with um we got through it we had a uh a superintendent that was uh put before us before I got on the board um we made the best of it um Dr elsasser uh tried to work with us in the best sense um and we uh we seem to have a pretty decent working relationship um you know there were things that happened there that uh later led us to believe that uh um uh it wasn't all everything that it seemed so there was investigations that happened
291um we found out certain things that um we let the public know we Tred to to be as as transparent as we could um but there were things that were handled inappropriately um after that we determined that um we had a an issue with the law firm that we were dealing with as a district uh come to find out that um they had a recruitment section or portion in which uh um was bringing on uh staff members that were U or or Consultants that were going directly into supervisory positions so there was a big conflict of interest there we ended up uh letting that law firm go hiring a new law firm which in turn hired we hired a new recruitment firm um we had a set of rules as a board in which we
292wanted to make sure the next superintendent because at this time now Dr Al Sasser decided I'm going to go ahead and go back to an older um or my past District so now we are under the gun to get a new superintendent but we did it uh as a um as a current board um fortunately M uh Mr Frasier came on with us so we were able to as a group a five o vote um was what was required from us we set that goal ourself uh to bring on a new superintendent and we went through that process and that was a little rocky as well um but we made it through it and we we came um we came out with our top candidate uh Dr chernes um and Dr chernes was um uh
293very uh very for coming with everything that he was telling us um and he had Amazing Ideas uh I've never seen uh such a calculated mind um and I thought this is what we need to go in that direction so that's what we did um it has been incredible for me to watch how he's uh been able to navigate in this District uh we' brought on some very Innovative programs um he not only cares uh about these programs and the the the staff that he has um this guy works continuously I haven't seen a guy his work ethic um absolutely blows me away so um it it really hurts when I see that there are certain people in our district that uh want to damage not only his reputation um but just him um and
294his family uh in general and and I apologize if that uh that person who thought I was being demeaning towards teachers uh that was not the direction uh that I had I had mentioned that uh in our last meeting there were people who some of them were Educators teachers administrators were acting like children uh and I think we're we're better than that um so I apologize if that if that offended her that was not the intent um with that said however um I know there are still some some things that need to happen I um I know that the USI and the uh OC U uh the OS yes sorry a little tired um is uh of M major issue um and one of the biggest things is the transp parency of funds I um
295I know that uh it uh this is going to be handled I I um think this program is designed to to do well for the students um if we can continue to to apply these things I think we're going to see some amazing results with the kids in the district uh we've come up in test scores which I was really really happy about I think we've come um come up and um attendance which districts around us are not not having happen uh I meant that's got to be something and I know the platform in which I ran on when I was uh uh running way back then it seems like 100 years ago but uh it was that um if we wanted to stay status quo um then that's a way in which you could
296do it but but I think we deserve better um and I think uh those people that are calling for um you know his resignation or staff's resignation or whatnot are the same ones that would like it to go back to status quo and I think that's a a big disappointment um other than that it it to me it has been uh an honor to be uh you know a a voice for the constituents of of not only my area but also for the whole District um I've got to see and learn so much there are some amazing teachers staff administrators um have had the privilege to uh work with Gary Stein I'm gonna miss you um and I understand his departure but um uh each one of the staff uh up here the The Command
297Staff the executive staff uh I've had the pleasure to um see work work with um and uh I realize and I I'm pretty sure you guys realize as well when you're building a team a lot of people get moved around uh and uh that's what we expected Dr chernes to do is you have to go in when you're building that team uh there there are people that uh don't get their contracts renewed may get their feelings hurt may feel that uh uh they're being unjustly moved or or whatever um that just so happens that happens with any any baseball team any basketball team any football team I wish it happened with my team the Cowboys but it hasn't yet I don't understand um but once again thank you thank you for uh allowing me to
298be up here it has been an honor and a privilege and um I look forward to seeing what happens in the district later I'll have more than likely read about it that's end of my report H poor Cowboys can't ever get it together um that's all you got out of that that that's that's it well that's you ended with man uh so it was uh it's it's been for me uh personally and then also District Wise It's been a busy uh last few weeks I didn't get to go to several of the events that I wanted to go to the band pageant and the Veterans Day ceremony I have a client in Alaska you know I've I've called in from Alaska um for board meetings and I unfortunately had to go for two weeks out
299of this last um this last session because there was an issue anyways regardless of that I'm disappointed I didn't go to all the things I wanted to go but I did get to ride in the her Day Parade uh bus and I think the crowd was more excited about uh Marilyn's uh grandsons being there than us being there that's okay I don't take offense to it um and then I was able to attend the elementary advisory committee and hearing from site leaders and hearing what's going on directly from them and getting feedback from the community I think is those if you have a chance to be a part of one of those it's a great way to to give feedback and to get feedback and I think it's great that we have those here in
300the district um despite being here not being here you still filled a lot of phone calls texts and emails as you are sitting in these seats and several things have come up obviously um several things tonight but one of the things specifically the elado field lights if you haven't gone to see them they're great over there however we had an issue with a a direction of one of the lights into one of our neighbors yards and so they emailed us and directly to the board and so I was very adamant and saying if we're going to make sure that these lights are not a problem because they're great for the students but we also need to protect our neighbors so I was in contact with our uh Eldorado neighbor and then Paul Warz they got
301the team out they took care of the light Direction and we were able to take care of that problem and I think the most important thing I got out of that and and I've always I think preached this um from up here is if we're not working together then we can't make anything happen and when we work together to do the things that we say we're going to do we say a lot of things but what are we actually going to do about it we need to make sure that our actions follow what we say and I think that was just another example of one of those things that I feel like very strongly that we need to make sure that we are taking care of our people the way that we say we're going
302to take care of our people um in line with that I've had requests from several community members regarding the science camp uh funding assistance and I think we have a problem with communication there are families that didn't know about it or didn't know how to get it so can we support our principles to be able to tell our families how they can apply for that because like we had a conversation two meeting what last meeting they're all blending together um about that making sure we use those funds for science camp for the families that need it I think we need to make sure that we that is very clear especially as that comes up for our sixth graders this year that we make sure that that is available and the families that need it get
303it and um so that we can we can make sure to support all of our students um and then lastly um he hearing the Avage students speak tonight you are in trouble buddy because they're coming for you I'm I tell you what they're awesome um and it just is a reminder of our we talk about this and I think I say it every meeting but it's all about the students and regardless of our perspectives and our different opinions about how things should or shouldn't be done it's all about the students and the students that are coming out of this District those three students that spoke tonight Luke I told him in the back I said he's he's going to be successful I think really needs to have a podcast so if he has a podcast
304we all have to download it and listen to it um but there are there are students in this District that are getting that are that are getting instruction and support and encouragement to use their gifts and to to be educated in a way that they're going to succeed outside of this district and far beyond their life at PUSD and that's what we need to focus on regardless of our perspectives and our different ways of doing certain things that's what I want to just make sure that that is what this is all about so I appreciate being a part of this Sean I appreciate you um I'm sorry for the Cowboys and I probably forever will be so thank you that is the end of my board report well thank you I'm sorry for the Cowboys
305too I think I could manage the team better um I would want that um so I actually went to something I'd never been to before and it was the Sunrise Rotary in your Belinda and that was quite you know an event is very early in the morning I found out but the reason I ended up going was because we were at um the Y blinda state of the city and the rotary table was behind us and so they actually called us out and said that none of us have ever shown up no superintendent no board member and no none of us so I said well game on I'll be there so I showed up and they were all shocked so um you know it was a good meeting and they you know they had a
306lot of discussions about traffic and then a lot about of um issues about the e bikes that was a hot topic that morning and so which led me I'll before I forget cuz I'm forgetting a lot tonight um I went to the Veterans Day um for city of Y blinda and when I was there for Veterans Day I ran into the sheriff not not the sheriff sheriff but I ran into the captain for um your Belinda and she wants to talk um come in and they want to give a training and about the ebikes because they're having a lot of problems with ebikes they just impounded ebikes the day before there's a lot of modifications happening and so they do want to come out to the middle schools and high schools they want to collaborate
307with us and talk about you know ebike safety and we kind of did have um kind of not a traumatic it could have been a lot worse but we kind have a lot of these accidents with ebikes so um they are going to be reaching out to you shortly um I congratulations you already talked about Luke but the yalan high school football win I wasn't able to attend the game but I did watch at home on that n LHS or whatever that Network is yes so I streamed it from home it was a great game um I did visit ocscs and then I also visited USI and was able to observe one of their agility classes um and I saw an ice skater in there I saw a downhill skier which I was really shocked
308that we have a downhill skier in the program and so they were telling us all of you know I said well how does this happen we're in California and so they were explaining how much this family travels so this kid can accomplish his dream so that was kind of interesting with cool um I know that I went to yand high school and ESP Bron high school girls volleyball game but I don't know if it was this month or if it was last month cuz it's all blending together um The Heritage Day Parade I'm really sorry that Todd you were not the fan fave of Marilyn's grandkids um saw a lot of water polo water polo season's over kind of sad about that um and then also too um I did take a phone call and
309I did was able to reach out to Paul Warz directly um a lot of people have been complaining to me about the Junior High School lights they're out and I guess there's Portables out there and so you know long story I think before covid there was some um copper wiring taken from Valencia High School and from Kramer and what happened was obviously a fixed Valencia but then they came into Kramer and you know it just hasn't been done yet but it is the city of Placentia responsibility and so that's where there like okay we got to work this out but then all of the travel teams and the club teams and stuff they're using the field there you know a lot of them are saying hey we might pitch in so I know that contacting
310the city so if you're concerned about the Kramer lights cuz this seriously was like the fifth call this week just know that they're working it and you know it is an expensive deal but but they're on it and they're at least trying to problem solve it um a couple people have quoted me today um at 8:35 this morning I texted or I called to the Orange County Register reporter and who was ABS I um what the conversation the 20 or 30 minute conversation that we had yesterday she actually misquoted me um kind of big and so I did ask her um as you know has been done before to you know either remove the comment or change it to what was actually said um she decided not to use my actual written statement that I
311gave to her um and so just I would say that if you see something in the Orange County Register that um seems a little bit like I I didn't say what she's trying to say I did in fact I welcome utri cantero um I'm glad you stayed for the whole meeting and in fact one of the things that my comment was to her was I don't believe that politics are playing a role because I haven't heard anything so when you said your public statement I had heard anything about you firing a superintendent and so I said these contracts had nothing to do with you know politics at all because I didn't even think you had any intention of coming in and trying to fire anybody I'd heard nothing from you on that so that was
312a discussion we had so just so you know um and then Shawn I met Shawn in 2003 and I it's going to sound really weird I met him at a crime scene and then suddenly I was in the back of his param his his um ambulance taking a suspect I think it was to like Martin Luther King or something um and that's how I met Sean and so we actually we worked together you know obviously I mean as you know as much as cops and firemen too I was usually waving to him as he was staging and I was going and to handle the issues um but uh it was always nice to work with Sean you know he was always super helpful um super friendly in the field um and uh you know I
313didn't you know you kind of get to know people in the job a little bit but then I really got to know him when he called me in 2020 and was asking me to run his political campaign and I said well I can't run yours I had to do my own so that was kind of what just a a weird a weird situation but um I'm really happy I to know you even better we went on a couple trips to Sacramento together um especially during the um covid with the mask mandates and vaccine mandates we advocated in Sacramento together um and so I really got to know a different side of you because you know you kind of don't really get to know anybody personally um I mean we've been barbecues together and stuff but
314you know when you're on a board sing on a board you're taking trips and you're on conferences together you really get to know people and so I really respect you as a man you're a great family man you're a man of integrity um and I think you you know always tried to lead the district with integrity and with honesty um and I think you always tried to be fair and so um I just really appreciate the last four years and um I know you are probably going to be fleeing this state but um you know while you're still here I'm going to look forward to you know maybe a couple trips to Kelly's um but um I do I appreciate you I appreciate your family um I appreciate your wife's sacrifice especially through these trying
315times and um just know that we appreciate you we'll be thinking about you um but you know too we're also very you know we're looking forward to walking Trisha on and uh you know moving forward so with that thank you Sean I will miss you I will miss your goofy humor so I [Applause] will much appreciated all right and with that I am going to ask for a okay hold on let me read my script because I remembered see I did remember I believe uh Mrs Anderson wanted to adour the meeting in memory of Jessica farino did you have some words you wanted to say yes thank you tonight I'd like to um adjourn the meeting in memory of Jessica farino who tragically passed away on Tuesday October 8th 2024 Jessica was a special education
316intervention assistant at Rio Vista Elementary School and a valued member of the PUSD family for 3 years she will be greatly missed by our district and Community thank you and can I have a motion for adjournment please I'll make a motion to adjourn all second I have a motion by the motion oh I'm sorry I'm sorry I second okay go ahead no I already made I I I already made the motion Sean seconds Anderson and then Young Blood to finish us off okay 11:12 is the time we're calling this we have to vote okay let's vote on that all those in favor I I all right and Luke Luke