001I am going to reconvene at 6: p.m. and as you can see we have a special guest tonight we would like to now welcome to the stage V Venture Academy's choir conducted by our talented teacher Carmen Gonzalez since its Inception in 2022 The Venture Academy choir has been a beacon of dedication and talent within the placent Yorbalinda Unified School District adult transition program under the nurturing guidance of Miss Gonzalez our adult students have embarked on a journey of musical Discovery honing their vocal skills per perfecting Melodies and embracing the joy of collective Harmony and this choir isn't just about singing It's a testament to the program's commitment to growth as part of the adult transition program our students are empowered with practical life skills and encouraged to thrive independently within their community Through the medium
002of Music These choir members learn the importance of collaboration resilience and the transformative power of artistic expression Mrs Gonzalez we now turn it over to you [Music] alls [Music] everybody mil dreams are [Music] away e e [Music] dream you [Music] keep I think world [Music] we going to [Music] [Applause] make e for e know thator the [Music] [Applause] [Music] for us are glor [Music] Amar apologies oh [Music] I'm not scared to be seen I make no apology this is me [Music] [Applause] I have to improv okay so um I am new to the program by the way uh I'm not new to the program I was and now I am in charge of pleas uh what I really love love love about this program is that um I get to meet the best people and
003they're behind me and they are talented and they are they have amazing skills I have amazing video editors I have amazing singers I have amazing performers and uh our program has grown a lot thanks to our principal Rebecca and I think she's the one is the the right person to talk about the prog thank you so much and I hope you like them I we have a lot of fun right have a lot of fun thank you as we know all of our students are amazing they all have special talents they can all do special things sters and everything students are if you're interested April 2 atain at 12 as of the Arts [Applause] app thank you [Applause] e e e all right after that it kind of feels like Jeremy am I on okay
004after that performance it feels like we should all just go home but we have some business to attend to so the report out a close session for tonight is that we have nothing to report and now we're going to stand and I'm going to lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay so next we are going to have an inspirational message and it's going to be brought to us tonight by Jack Jackson Bowski Jackson [Applause] [Music] Bowski good evening pind unified screw distri family I excited do know to stand here today I am sax Basi as at ES High School I am determin Hing
005commented and fun I ask to Happ to helpy B with down Sy room but let me tell you that does not define me and it does not limit what I can achieve I can do almost anything but I set my mind to it I I can read I can spell I can do math I I play football I want Dr I can see I can't I can ride a bike and I can drive a fourwh a fourwheeler again if Miss 156s W is me take me a little longer to learn some things I start everything do me I can do it I am successful because of the support of my classmates teachers and add many who who believe in me because of my family who have been my walk having me this strong Foundation when
006Jesus believe in me I can achieve remarkable scenes I Exel when expectations are high right know my favorite subjects are man Ving arts and new history I am very interested in the study of voice and day teach us about resilience and cous I think I about both and I this to my I I can't DX I have a a passion of all things wor but B is my favorite go say people us the first of Brotherhood and Leadership streng the importance of hard work and dation my teammates fire fire me and J support and upli Is Us on in of the field next year I will fulfill my dream of becoming the first p p at USD student with s to graduate with a [Applause] Pama he that many on so wasn't impossible being the
007first doing to acheve this honor me with huge Pride I is not just about receiving a PR it's about beinging vious the way of for us like me I of myself for never G me up as said leader I've shown that I teach to me nation and passion no no balance I Stand Tall just not just for myself but for every individual who deals to dream Beyond doents society and poost la and disabilities do not Define us it is our attitudes and sources that truly Define who we are we are all more un not differ and we are all un to God so I urge each of you to choose to believe choose to believe in yourself and your abilities and your dreams choose to to be in our youth and your potential and and
008your ability to achieve greatness to get we com and we say every to to get let continue to inspire up liveed and put each as we for exence thanking for being for being leaving in me and from being of my [Applause] pict comes e e okay thank you Jackson Bowski and um yeah once again thank you thank you to the football team thanks everyone who came to support him as well thanks guys thanks coach okay so will me moving right along and just a special um thanks to the parents um of students like Jackson who' never give up on their children and fight for them daily thank you for people like Renee gray who try to provide these type of Pathways and support um and he's just such a role model I think as to
009what the future is and it's Limitless and um we just need to be providing as many opportunities as we can so with that is uh is Sean calling is Sean on the phone he's not on the phone okay so um trusty Youngblood had to work tonight and so um I think he's on a a a call but I'm going to do a roll call um our student board member is present yay yes uh Miss Buck here miss Anderson here Mr Frasier here and I am here so we will show all members accept uh trusty Young Blood present tonight I don't know what they're oh okay and so I need an approval of the agenda I'll make a motion to approve the agenda for the April 16th um Board of Education meeting as presented second I
010have a motion by Miss Anderson I have a second by Mrs Buck is there there any comments so I have no comments okay roll call vote please um I is this this is for tonight's agenda correct you can vote it's the uh the minutes that you'll have to abstain from because you not here okay all right roll call here approve approve yes okay Miss Buck I miss Anderson I Mr Frasier I and I an I motion carries 4 to Z with a affirmative from our student board member all right public comment announcement public cards are available in the foyer cards must be completed and turned in prior to the designated time for public comment um you will be provided a maximum of three minutes per person if translation is needed an additional 3 minutes will
011be given please let us know ahead of time so we can ensure we are prepared we do have a civility policy Education Code 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 and now I need a motion to approve the minutes I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of March 12th 2024 is presented second I have a motion by Mr Frasier I have a second by Mrs Buck do we have any comments I have a comment actually um I have noticed in the a meeting minute since we started using diligent that our board reports just
012say our names and don't give us and don't talk about anything um and we do get information even if it's bullet points on what the superintendent is talking about or the student board memb is talking about so I'd like to see if we can do that again and just even if it's a bullet point or a small sentence just identify in there what we're doing okay from the reports in in the minutes in the minutes from the board reports correct that's it okay anyone else have any comments okay roll call approve the minutes yes okay we have to skip you I'm sorry that's my bad I'm all over the place go ahead Mrs Buck I I I and I'm an I that carries okay now our board our student board member Emily is going to
013give her board report okay uh good evening president blades trustees superintendent Dr chernes and executive cabinet members I'm excited to be here tonight to share recent happenings from our comprehens of high schools and alternative campuses at bavis academy uh the Virtual Academy is excited to announce that Hy NN and uh Leela Su siua were recognized as the top six finalist in the 25th Annual Chapman Holocaust art and writing contest to enter the competition students delve into research focusing on the Holocaust and era of World War II each student embarks on a journey through the personal narratives of Holocaust Survivors or Rescuers participants such as Hyde and Lila craft an original piece of Pros poetry art uh or film echoing and contemplating upon shared experiences at El Camino Royale High School the Raptors are proud to
014celebrate three students who have earned their state seal of Civic engagement um and on April 24th ecrhs will host a career day for students to engage with professionals from a wide variety of Industries at elderado high school they asked the question what if what if we knew everyone's name what if we were all on time to class what if we were all connected a little more this week the Golden Hawks answered these questions with a daily action for all students and staff Monday all student Hawks all Golden Hawks were named tags to say hi to each other on Tuesday they all received compliment clothes pins to pass and share all day on Wednesday they will wear coordinating bracelets to stay connected on Thursday they'll compete in the 14th annual rock paper scissors schoolwide tournament together
015and on Friday they'll ask her what if everyone wore black black and gold at ELO they don't just ask what if they answer it at esparanza high school exchange students from Osaka Japan visited esparanza on Monday April 15th to to get a glimpse into the American High School experience on Thursday April 18th esparanza will hold a distinguished scholar lunch for all students who qualified during the 2023 to 2024 school year at George key and Venture Academy George K will participate in the love Placentia project on April on Saturday April 20th to clean up and beautify their campus Venture Academy students will assist George key students in their upcoming walk in wheelon in carnival on April 26th they'll be pushing wheelchairs encouraging the participants and Manning the booth at the carnival at Parkview High School at
016Parkview school before spring break Parkfield proudly inducted 20 wo 11 students into the National Honor Society and on March 1 Parkview teachers showcase student work for their annual openhouse event at Valencia High School Valencia boy soccer and girls wrestling earned the title of Empire league champions and Andrea Ramirez placed eighth at the high school na school high school Nationals earning her All-American honors next week Valenta will host their distinguished scholar night to honor over 600 students who have earned distinguished Andor Collegiate scholar accolades the tigers look forward to celebrating their determination and academic success finally for yinda high school March 18th kicked off the Mustangs annual Olympics week they had lunchtime activities all week that led their Olympic rally were all classes and staff participated in a dance off staff won the dance category But
017ultimately seniors won Olympic week and on March 27th yinda High School welcomed incoming eth graders and their families at their annual Mustang Roundup families participated in their program Fair parent presentations and a min mini rally for students that concludes my report thank you Emily and we have a question for you yes what are some of the opportunities that pylusd has given you to grow as a student and a leader there have been a ton that I've experienced so far that I'm so thankful for but I think that the one that stands out to me the most is the opportunity to represent my school in the uh girl State organization um over summer this past summer I was selected to represent esparanza at a program that helps encourage uh young women to pursue uh political sciences
018and it was a sixday program it was full immersion and there were maybe 600 girls give or take where we built our own government essentially we created our own policies um our own party platforms planks the whole deal um um and I also created a lot of like long lasting friendships that I'm super thankful for so yeah so it's true that girls will rule the world pretty much but we can't say that I said it out loud and On video okay well thank you so much we really appreciate you and we appreciate your leadership at as bronza high school okay now it is time for 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 dial with speakers
019or make comments regarding the information shared we have 30 people wishing to speak tonight so each speaker will have one minute each and so we're going to call you up you have a seat in the front row we'll ask you as you come to the microphone that you repeat your name when you come up to speak and we'll call um everyone four speakers at a time so our first um set of speakers Gloria Johnson Jenny Bremer Linda Manion is it 30 speakers or 31 30 so it's one and a half minutes one and a did they change one yeah they changed it to one okay one and a half is fine okay Gloria Johnson Jenny Bremer Linda Manion and Heidi Chipman and yes at whenever you're ready just state your name again and take it
020away okay great uh hi I'm Gloria Johnson sixth grade teacher from Golden Elementary and proud member of the pil family for 31 years I'm here to combat the misinformation the vitriol and the fear mongering that surround the negative narrative about the union and its supposed dirty Politics the union is Apple the association of Placentia Linda Educators 95% of our teachers are Apple members this profession is selfless devoted to the service of others making us the heart and soul of this District we are Apple members because we advocate for all of our students and for our working conditions teacher working conditions are student learning conditions the union is composed of teachers and you cannot separate the two so stop scapegoating us and stop demonizing us because we're here every day answering the call to serve the
021union has never controlled a school board that's someone else's language and political agenda for decades Apple has been a part of the conversation regarding student programs curriculum and achievement because we are the Professionals in the room a recent social media post wrongly blamed Apple for the student walk out and public outes none of those events were sanctioned or organized by Apple stakeholders have the right to protest so let's be clear your teachers are here doing the work that contributes to everything in the good news report we have never been adversaries as others would have you believe we have always been and will continue to be the teachers of PUSD thank you Denny hi I'm Jenny Bremer and I'm a teacher at Eldorado High School this is my 19th year teaching here for this I was
022a parent of two students who went through this and I went through the school district as well um I emailed most of you guys on the dice here regarding our Naran training and I want to thank Todd Fraser and Carrie buck and Gina agular for responding to my email I appreciate that we I know you all started n can training on campuses thank you so much what a great start I attended training the week before spring break and I think there there was a group of nurses there and there's maybe six teachers there um again that's a start you're not done want to make sure that you know you're not done with this yet Narcan is literally saving students on our campus I mean like yesterday okay it's not something that could happen it's something
023that is happening some suggestions that I made I am in no way shape or form a public health expert at all just a teacher who worked with kids and has worked with with training teachers before and many things some suggestions I have for you in case in case you my email got lost include this training in your pre-service options offer to train during PLC or staff time on campuses make this training in addition to the CPR first aid training require Narcan training for coaches promote this training as valuable and ENT IAL to the degree that you are promoting so many of your projects such as the sports academy the charter schools this is number one in our priorities in keeping our kids safe so fast thank you thank you Linda Manion I'm Linda Manion May
0246 through 10th is national teacher appreciation week as we approach this week take the time to think about the impact teachers have made on your life all of us got our beginnings in the classroom Guided by teachers dedicated to our future success it is a time in our lives that is often forgotten or taken for granted and yet our teachers have inspired us and helped us to be who we are today they serve as guides mentors and facilitators in The Learning Journey of our students Beyond simply imparting knowledge our teachers Foster a supportive and engaging environment where students can explore ideas develop critical thinking skills and Achieve academic success they tailored their instructional approaches to ensure that all students have the opportunity to thrive with their passion for education and commitment to student growth teachers
025leave a lasting impact on the lives of their students as I think of my own school years I remember Mr Wilson who recognized early on my passion for teaching and allowed me to help with a small group of struggling Learners at the age of nine I had my first experience with small group instruction and the feeling of joy that came with teaching has never left me as this week of the teacher approaches take time to reflect on the teachers in your lives take time to thank a teacher that has made a difference in the life of your family and for your children that simple act of kindness will be received with the greatest appreciation thank you Heidi Chipman good evening I would like to ask Dr chernes and the current trustees to address a rumor
026that's been circulating throughout our community is Cal State Long Beach considering ending its tradition of sending student teachers to our district if the rumors are unfounded please tell us if these rumors are true to any degree please let us know why they are considering this shift in policy is it related to CRT critical race Theory the ban that caused Cal State Fullerton to withdraw from our district have there been any other reasons discussed we desperately need to retain these agreements that provide an essential resource to our schools if these institutions continue to pull out shouldn't we all be informed about why they are leaving and what steps you are doing to to end this Exodus we want help but we can't offer any suggestions if you're not willing to be transparent with the community thank
027you thank you our next four speakers Billy Smith April gabri lovic Patricia Hanzo and Heather Brown Billy Smith thank you I had to write down I have lived in this district for 4 54 years I'm a lifer unlike many of you who are nothing but Carpet Baggers with no institutional memory and no horse in this race I raised my kids in this District my grandchildren went through the schools in this District I have seen the greatness of this district for decades no one on this school board sitting here today has been the one to make poena your blinda Unified School District great it was great before you got here how dare you insult the efforts of Educators that have been dedicating their lives to this community for Generations I would like to thank all those
028teachers past present and future who do everything they can to serve this community I also want to encourage all the community members including those like me who KN no longer have kids in our schools but care about public education and our property values to get involved find out what's going on and vote in November to turn this board back to one that we can be proud of again thank you thank you April minutes in appreciation there have been increasingly slanderous comments leveled at those in our community who are working to put kids first Satan is Alive and Well I will not encourage that presence with anger instead to Dr chest the highly skilled and diverse executive team principles and good teachers as well as you board members sitting in the crossfire I would like to
029extend to you appreciation and encouragement using the words of a well-respected teacher the documentation of his orations are arguably the most influential on the whole of humankind and his writings are from which our laws in nation were founded your gift will return to you in full pressed down shaken together to make room for more running over and poured into your lap the amount you give will determine the amount you get back do not get involved in foolish ignorant arguments that only start fights you must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone be able to teach and be patient with difficult people if you are wise you prove it by living an honorable life doing good with the humility that comes from wisdom but if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish admission in
030your heart don't cover it up with boasting and lying for jealousy and selfish selfishness are not wisdom for wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition there you will find disorder and evil of every kind true wisdom is first of all pure by creation parents have been tasked with raising their children for while not perfect but through experience we have learned how better to guide the children in love the goal of which is to prepare the way for them to find and fulfill their designed purpose they will begin to make their own decisions and they must be supplied with the proper tools may you have wisdom and understanding that you may follow truth as you guide for you will be successful if you carefully obey the truth that has been pass down be strong and courageous
031do not be afraid or lose heart thank Youk Patricia this is regarding item 1728 and item 1729 there is a proposal here to spend money three almost 3.7 million more dollars before the end of this June I hope the Board of Trustees pull out this item have discussions and make a motion to not approve money for a project that the community did not ask for I wonder if some of this funding was used to remove the eucalyptus trees behind PDA and buav Vista Virtual Academy from my understanding wov Vista Virtual Academy was told that they would relocate in Portables how is that going to be funded and why is the community not aware of that it is frustrating since the rushed Elite athlete program wasn't something that we asked for you can look at page
032311 of the agenda to see the budget of 3.6 82 million to be used from now to June 2024 we need more transparency and we should be helping the middle schools improve their fields and even create their own gyms versus creating something that is high-end service and it might significantly significantly be more than the Ada Revenue received which would drain the general education fund and leading to more to fewer opportunities for the rest of the district thank you thank you Patricia in continuation of my comment last month I actually want to thank this board and the superintendent for being so much more transparent and responsive to emails concerns questions that members of the public and parents are sending you prior to the November 2020 election I don't believe I ever had a single response whether
033from the superintendent or any of the board members one of our current members was also on that board that being said I do want to thank Leandra blades for fighting so hard for live streaming to come to this District finally and it took months and months before that actually occurred thank you all for that and thank you for your time thank you heather our next speakers are Angela isers Sarah cabalero Sam movich and Gary Gres hi my name is Angela isers and I'm the mom of two AP students I'd like to point out that AP teachers in all of our high schools are spending the next few Saturdays prepping their students for AP exams to make sure they are covering all the material with a few weeks left to ensure that these students are successful
034when parents and board members chastised teachers as indoctrinator and sometimes worse I'd like you to remember that these teachers are spending their Saturdays giving our students every opportunity to succeed I'd like to especially acknowledge Mrs Ferris Mr hipwell Mr walls Mr buan coach Bailey Mr cadra Mrs Shay coach dolman and Mr Bloom for going above and beyond for their students the the district's good news report routinely boasts about our students AP scores but never mentions how much time and sacrifice these students and teachers have made with no support from the board after parents and students begged begged for a few more weeks to our school year by beginning two weeks sooner to give our students ample time to prepare these students and these teachers deserve your attention too thank you Sarah since the creation of
035Life the responsibility of teaching children was assigned to mother and father it is through the evolution of society that schools were formed parents then yielded the responsibility of conducting children in formal instruction and supervision supervised practice of subjects on a regular basis to students of theory and practice of Education thus teachers and schools were born the union came about significantly later in time as a means of protecting not our students but the adults who seek to retain and negotiate terms of their employment regardless of Parental approval or the quality of their performance to you selfishly motivated retired teachers calling to Arms the community of past Educators defined by you as the respected connected and Untouchable please let me put you at ease if Fe not the parents we know what we're doing we are motivated
036by selfish selfless desires of others wishing to retain some last grip of celebrity once experienced in the community instead these Representatives you can condem have been placed in their seats by us we are the Helm of the ship and we are confident and steady in our course The Exodus of families who have chosen the home and private school over the past five or six years that contributed to the declining enrollment now not as you insist by as caused by the board or Dr chernes are returning to the PUSD school at a record rate the added burden to teachers and low moral you boost began at the breakdown of Parental involvement on campus the achievements of Q LUSD during an era when parents were openly welcomed in the classrooms sorry thank you Sam are you Sam
037yes okay perfect uh my name is Sam Mich I'm a retired teacher from this District last month trusty Frasier discovered something that tens of thousands of parents students and Educators throughout Orange County have known for decades two years into his term on the board trusty Frasier learned that Valencia High School has an outstanding science department had trusty Frasier visited the other departments he would have found comparably high levels of Excellence there as well the academy program at Valencia continues to bring many millions of dollars into the district annually the permanently recovered students from Troy alone represent around $4 million Valencia has also attracted students from over a 100 middle schools throughout Orange County and well beyond students who have transferred from parochial private Charter and homeschool environments add further Millions to the district annual revenues
038the success of the Valencia magnet program has few parallels anywhere credit should go to the outstanding leadership Valencia has enjoyed over the last four decades these leaders have included Jim Bell Rick Lopez Joey Davis Nancy Watkins and Jamie Jou we trust that the board we trust that the board is Consulting with these valentia Legends as it seeks to address the problem of declining enrollment in this District thank you and [Music] [Applause] Gary good evening my name is Gary Gres I've been a resident of Placentia for 18 years and I'm honored to speak to you today not only as a substitute teacher in the district but also as someone who retired after dedicating 25 years to teaching special education here in this District I am not here tonight uh at the behest of others but to
039speak from personal conviction about a matter of great importance to our community I wish to discuss the possible and pending departure of Matt sov and Carrie Walters the current men's and women's athletic directors at es bronza high school I have had the privilege of knowing both individuals since their careers began at ESP branza accumulating over 27 years of combined exemplary service it is profoundly disappointing to learn that these two dedicated professionals will not be returning to esparanza next year in their former capacity as athletic directors in my over 40 years in education I have seldom encountered individuals who embody such passion and commitment to their roles throughout their ten years Matt and Carrie have skillfully managed the Dual responsibilities of teaching and directing Athletics I have attended numerous athletic events across California where Bron's students
040coaches parents and staff have consistently represented our school and Community with distinction under their guidance esparanza has claimed multiple CIF titles each time upholding the highest standards of class dignity thank you thank you so much our next four speakers are Kathy Armstrong Brian kurzbard Carrie ber and Anita Lee okay no problem hello and thank you for having me here my name is Kathy Armstrong sorry I just had a major surgery and the painkillers are not helping me well in a positive way can we can we restart her time do you do you need somebody to help you maybe stand okay okay thank you yeah thank you Jackson I just want to say something he said together let's Inspire uplift and support each other guys we're here for our students we're here for one reason and
041one reason only I'm a mom a wife a businesswoman and an active member of the community I took my kids out of a private school just because I believe in our public system and I'm so glad I did that although I'm extremely disappointed right now there's always two sides to the story you guys exactly a year ago I was asked to chaperone for my students to go to a music festival up north what I witnessed was there and some of the things that our students witnessed the behavior of the teacher who was there are leader nobody should witness it was appalling I was in such a shock it took me a few weeks to even wrap my head around it I had to talk to a lawyer I paid out of my pocket I talked
042to I talked to uh counselors I didn't know how to handle it I fin decided to come forward I spoke with Mr Giles and I got the um District involved with the and the per the person who was there for me was was Leandra blades the teachers union bubble okay it's time the teachers union bubble it's time is protecting a pervert okay you're welcome if you would like to email the rest of your comment to the board um thank you for being here tonight thank you and I hope you feel better thank [Applause] you Brian Brian kurzbard retired administrator and teacher 39 years in P ylusd I'm here to talk about the school board's decision to withdraw our district from the California School Board Association currently 962 districts in California to which 96.4% are members
043we are the only District in Orange County that is not a member benefits of membership include setting standards for all School boards resources to help fulfill our goals analysis is of all the new laws and how to be in compliance educational alliances and collaborations with other districts plus much much more membership could potentially save this District in lawsuits but much more importantly it will return our District's Focus towards Excellence something this community expects you have to ask yourself why why wouldn't we want to be aligned and involved with our fellow school districts in Orange County and throughout the state this board should reinstate our membership as soon as possible not to do so would be damaging to our community schools and a disservice to our children thank you thank you hi my name is Carrie
044um I'm going to read two statements one regarding the Charter School uh at Bernardo yobra despite a drain on a district Financial Resources charter schools have not produced measurable gains in student performance a Technology Charter School is in opposition to the student needs the current technology training is is Antiquated for future job market that actually seeks liberal arts education the second the second one is regarding attracting students from outside the district if pylusd wants to attract students focus on content training and transparency with Schoolboard activities no one can figure out what this board is doing except targeting students that are not aligned politically with their extremist platform the school board oath squares swears to uphold the moral conduct and serve all the people of this joint District uphold the oath or resign both of these
045comments are written by two district teachers who wish to remain anonymous for fear of Retribution pretty sad pretty hostile work environment if you ask me an need [Music] Le hi my name is Anita Lee and I have two kids in the district and one who graduated last year uh buried as item number 29 on the consent calendar is the approval of architecture fees for the sports academy I hope that is raised and discussed the scope of work described is truly vague and I don't know how you can how we can be expected to render an opinion about this aspect of the project when the public has yet to see the overall budget feasibility studies or projections you are putting the cart before the horse the underlying project is still a mystery to the public at
046large there are conflicts between the recently released RFP and the proposed project taxpayers basically just want and need to know why when how and at what cost and truly how many students among our 22,000 students would benefit from this on a second matter I know the board says that it cannot discuss HR matters but you should know how shocked and unhappy our school communities are and families are about the unexpected pending departures of so many school administrators due to recent board actions all I'll say is you have poked the bear and that bear is Mama Bear and no one and everyone knows no one cares more about their kids and students than mama bear so I hope that you know that you've ignited a fire within the community and I hope you figure out how
047to put it out thank you so I believe this says Sally Beary Susan semigran Crystal Noble and Nelly rofael hi my name is Sally have some questions is the sports Institute another Folly of the superintendent shouldn't the study be done to make sure the sports Institute is feasible isn't it the job of the board to make sure the money is spent wisely and not just agreeing to project that someone thinks would be sustainable please be more cautious with the taxpayers money teachers are uncomfortable some teachers are uncomfortable speaking out because there might be retaliation from people at the district board members and people online that you talk to on podcasts that call out people this is not okay P ylusd used to be a family now it's all about egos Sports chaos let's get back
048to academics tradition of Excellence get back to where we were please stop this and do better [Applause] Susan my name is Susan semigran and I am going to read some comments from district teachers who wish to remain anonymous be for fear of Retribution as an alumni and parent and teacher in this District I've never felt more uncertain skeptical or horrified about the vision or lack of there of of the current board and District person the absence of trans transparency and addition of bias political agendas make it clear that personal interests are being put before student interests if we must keep politics out of the classrooms you should be keeping it out of your decisionmaking furthermore education is not run like the corporate world for a reason making quick and drastic changes like the removal of
049dozens of administ rators or addition of multiple Charter schooled without a pilot period or adequate rationale can have detrimental consequences on students and their Futures comment number two posing a question about a district administrator if assistant superintendent Richard M mcclenon wasn't fired why didn't he get the two-year raise the other assistant superintendent did it looks as if the board is waiting to fire him or else he would have gotten everything that the rest of the assistant superintendent did the third comment regarding the change to a lopsided semester calendar decisions being made are putting my child in academic danger thank you Crystal hello Crystal Noble I have three kids in the district I was just here um just to thank the board for um reintroducing Middle School sports I just attended the wrestling competition last week
050and it was amazing you guys everybody did such a good job the the coaches the PE teachers it was really good my son who hasn't really been involved in anything since covid he just kind of lost interest in pretty much everything um finally I was able to get him to do wrestling and he loves it so he can't wait to continue and then if it could be a few weeks longer that would be really great too um but I just want to thank you and also for the sports Institute I think that would be really good thing um my dad who just text me just a little bit ago who's actually more of a liberal um he just text me reading the um OC register and he's like have you heard about this this sounds
051really good he hasn't been Ted by some of the info that's been spreading around here so he's actually thinking it's a good thing because it is a good thing I don't see anything wrong with it um but that's all I have to say thank you thank you Nelly good evening Nelly Rafael here as a mother to two young children in this District I have become heavily involved trying to educate myself with the ongoings coming from the individuals who are elected to represent our children in California the unions representing Public Schools teachers and college faculty have acquired extraordinary political power they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past few decades to elect candidates that will do their bidding Lobby politicians once they are in office and reelect those candidates that support their agenda
052AKA Anderson and buck and almost everything these teachers unions have touched the consequences of their power has been destructive thanks to our superintendant Dr chernis president blades VP Frasier and young blood they aren't ones to be bought and paid for by the CTA which is a huge Advantage for us parents here in PUSD the CTA is now trying their hardest to recruit retired PUSD teachers and or administrators to call forarms by spewing lies and a letter that is being spread throughout social media from Mary Cummings as a parent who just recently requested an foia request from this board I've been exposing the lies generated by the individuals who are on a mission to destroy the credibility of our board majority and superintendent I will continue to speak the truth and against the rumors and the
053lies being pushed by certain individuals organizations APLE and CTA thank you guys okay our next four speakers are Debbie marotti Chris Holton Shanny Murray and Ben stubs Debbie is first hello my name is Debbie marotti and I am the head of the math department at sponza high school and Coach both cross country and track I tell people all the time after absolutely love my job I love the students of this district and I'm so blessed to work with such a great group of people and for the first time in my career I'm sad disappointed and really worried about the direction of our district you are letting go of so many administrators that have made this district one of the best in Orange County I can speak of two that have personally been an inspiration to
054me have t taken my teaching to the next level a spark of fire and drive in all areas of esparanza Scott Missouri and Jeff Giles both continued to the work that Gina agular started and Scott continued the work at El or El Camino and not only are you letting go of these great Educators for no reason but I am very worried about the people you're bringing in your new Deputy superintendent was overheard talking to a junior about next year's new semester schedule the student expressed concern over the unevenness of the two semesters and to that your new Deputy superintendent responded well it's only two weeks of Education it's not that big of a deal I'm not sure which is scarier that the superintendent doesn't value two weeks of Education or that he doesn't know the
055difference between a 15we semester and a 21 we semester is six weeks thank you okay Chris hi I'm a Community member I live in the pyl school district I have three grown children who graduated from this District in fact I moved here over 20 years ago so that my children would be lucky enough to attend school here I would like to first thank Carrie and Marilyn um for working hard on behalf of children and public education it is clear that you both care a lot about our community and our kids I'd like to say to parents teachers and other District staff who are listening right now um if you're thinking if you're thinking that things feel different in the district that it feels icky that a school board member says and posts very negative things
056about our district on social media that teachers are being doxed online for speaking up at meetings that small group of community members with a political agenda have have somewhat hijacked things around here and that this is creating an atmosphere of chaos and fear well I would like to say that you are not alone in thinking this we have an important School Board election coming in November when we realize that we are not alone We Stand Together We can restore School District to the awardwinning community we have always been the reason my family moved here 20 years ago thank you thank you Shanny hi I'm Shanny Murray uh my support for something is never based solely on who proposes it I was one of the first parents to State during public comment that I agreed with
057Leandra that El Dorado needs lights as a senior writer in the school of information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine I have publicly stated that I see potential for the computer science Charter however as a writer at UCI part of my job is to ask questions so although I would love for my son to have free access to an Elite Training Facility I can't help but ask at what cost I have questions about the time money and resources going into the Universal Sports Institute what is the budget why are we funding specialized athletic training when I thought we were prioritizing academics and learning recovery P's athletic programs and other extracurriculars help boost academic success by engaging and motivating students they also teach the value of teamwork why not find ways to better support existing programs
058and facilities for all students not just Elite athletes thank you [Music] Ben hi good evening members of the board Ben stubs uh parent here in the P family and I just wanted to give a big shout out to um uh principal uh Fraga and all the da teachers over at Glen View uh what they do is something that's pretty cool if you don't know about it um the da program the Dual language program is something that um where you have uh private schools basically don't have this kind of a thing where you've got you know they would have an equivalent of maybe like an hour a day of instruction of Spanish and and uh English but here at the da program at at uh Glen viw what they do is 50% of the day is
059English the teachers do 50% Spanish do that every single day every single day so this is like a a true value that we get for the um the community gets through our taxpayer money I think it's well spent and they do a great job and I think our our board our superintendent values our teachers and know that they're uh talented they're hardworking dedicated to our students that's why when all of the other districts in the county and the state really were laying off or uh getting rid or firing hundreds of teachers as far as I understand there was uh zero teachers permanent teachers that were let go from our district so congratulations for valuing our teachers and supporting our students thank you thank you Ben okay so Amber G Tim Marie Julie clink andberg and
060Shanny Boon Amber you're up first I'm a little shorter than that hi um okay let me get to the top here I'm a mother of three in the district and an employee and I just wanted to come and speak tonight because I have been very disheartened by the intentional chaos and disruption people in our community have been causing I understand that it is an election year and therefore it might be too much to ask but I think our community is better than this I will just say to those that are listening as I tell my own teenagers if someone tells you something that seems wildly off Bas go directly to the source and confirm the facts do not engage in The Dramatics do not spread the Wildfire find the route find the facts and make
061sure the telephone rumors end with you and then continue with the truth our school board has been more than transparent more transparent than ever before with the live stream meetings um that I usually listen to while I do my chores um to email updates and invitations to direct email responses if you really want to know what is going on in the district you don't have to look far so let's stop the divide and start coming together good things are happening you just have to be willing to see them I don't have much time oh actually I do have much time I was talking fast um but I did want to do um a quick on a positive note a huge shout out to um all the Middle School athletic directors and coaches they are blazing
062an amazing Trail for these student athletes and putting in countless hours to make these first uh time events happen I actually saw Mr Hune give the actual shoes wrestling shoes off of his feet to a student who needed them in the very first wrestling match um they're working hard they're putting in a ton of hours and they don't get paid very much maybe at least give them an extra prep period or something thank you Tim Tim good evening first off I want to make clear that my wife is is not a part of a cabal she really cares and although some may disagree with her on the issues she's always respectful never Anonymous and continues to do everything she can to support P students teachers and staff I'm here tonight to express my concerns over
063the Universal Sports Institute as a parent of a three- sport Varsity athlete and a 53-year member of the community I'm simply asking for more transparency I'm not against the Universal Sports Institute I can see how this can benefit our kids and be Innovative but I do have some concerns our current High School athletic programs are underfunded and rely on my donations my contributions and my fundraising efforts meanwhile you're advertising and pushing full steam ahead on a sports Institute for elite athletes many of whom do not reside currently in the attendance area will you pledge tonight to do more for our current student athletes will you make sure our coaches and athletic programs have what they need to be successful because if they're successful kids will stay I'm an elder Auto parent I know and I've
064been in this district for a long time and I hope you see my concerns we're being told you put students first when in fact you're attracting Elite athletes from outside the district the current athletes you have are not being given priority thank you [Music] Julie Julie kinken Berg I am here as a 23 year resident of Y Belinda I'm a homeowner and a Community member and I'm a proud mom of three grads from this District but man am I so relieve my children are grown and flown I cannot believe the culture chaos and the Christian nationalism that the current board majority has brought to our beloved once revered placenti y Belinda School District this is a public school district I am a devout Christian and a proud American who believes in our United States Constitution
065and separation of church and state public education means each student in this District deserves quality education when you're Banning books and dumbing down curriculum and taking away important apps and learning tools instead of trusting the highly qualified Educators who built this awesome District you're stealing children's learning and you're taking away the choice from parents in the community we've lost student teachers and a long-standing positive relationship with Cal State Fullerton morale is low with our dedicated staff and many Educators in our in our district are afraid to speak up because of the hostile work environment and fear of Retribution so I'm speaking on their behalf I yeah it is shameful and embarrassing and quite perplexing of what is happening in this district and um the sports uh the majority of the board thinks the Elite Sports
066Academy is only sorry it's for a select few and that's more important that's a priority than lowering class size ensuring the mental health and safety of all students with counselors wellness support staff and adding more teacher aids and Personnel who can directly touch lives Anderson and buck thanks for voting no on thanks for voting no on the raises they haven't proven themselves I was cheering at my house thank you hi I'm shanie Boon and I am a mom of two boys that graduated last year in the year two years before that I don't think they can hear you can you just speak a little closer there you go Sor my name is Shany Boon I am a mom of two boys who've graduated from our district as well as an employee as a speech therapist
067with little preschoolers whom I love and I love my job thanks Renee um what makes a school district great what do the parent parents and kids remember about their school years it's the teachers they're the backbone of the school district their greatness will leave an impact on students and in my case that was exactly what happened from Mrs hendin and Mrs plant in kindergarten in first grade giving my two boys a great start to Mr leaport Mrs Parmenter helping them adjust when they had to move to a new school in third and first grade then the Major Impact by Mrs fast and Mrs reel on my youngest to want to become a teacher and all of the Rose Drive staff impacted my boys then on to Middle School Where Mrs Bremer made all the eighth
068grade students feel welcome and nourished and then there was your Belinda High School's Mr hipwell who left a lasting impression on both me and my son as he was one of the first teachers who actually told me that my son was doing a great job in school and it warmed my mama a heart I always knew that my boys were in good hands in P ylusd because of the teachers we need to give them more credit than we are for being just amazing thank you teachers thank you our last our last two speakers are Brianna Trump and Jeff Brun you can come up to the mic and my name is Brianna Trump um we are third generation here my parents uh I and my kids went here can you move closer um I'm here tonight
069Dr CH uh dear Dr chice esteem board Linda Manion and on behalf of apple and all those in attendance tonight I'm reading this from a teacher who could not come tonight and speak for herself I really wish I had the courage to stand here before you and read what's weighing deeply in my heart but I am sure you will understand why once you hear the foundation of my speech I want to start by thanking you all as a 15year plus certificated teacher and parent students enrolled in our incredible schools I have nothing but gratitude for the leaders who work tirelessly on behalf of the employees and most importantly our students and to ensure a safe supportive collaborative environment that puts the the core of our district first you are all appreciated thank you I speaking
070tonight to clarify the generalization that is perpetuated at these meetings and social media platforms by unbiased speakers who claim to represent teachers I appreciate the annual Apple in conjunction with the district leaders for all positive work they have they do for the teachers contracts I think the misunderstanding though is the mindset that all teachers align politically and ideologically with the political positions locally and Statewide of Apple while political campaigns are supported thank you if you can have the teacher she's comfortable to email the rest of the speech to us thank you Jeff you'll be our last speaker tonight can everybody hear me okay feels like this is not on um this district has changed my name is Jeff Brun I've been in this district for for a long time for both my son and my
071daughter uh this district has changed I've seen it for from my first child to my last child and it continues to change the pandemic saw a steep decline in this district and we are just now recovering Dr chernes thank you for all of your work transforming and future proofing this District as the world around us changes we have to adapt our district to meet the needs of today and the future otherwise this district will continue to decline and you will need to continue to lay off District Personnel teachers administrators and so on teachers I appreciate all of your efforts to serve this district there are so many of you who have done amazing jobs throughout your careers and especially for my own children always adapting to the changes coming to you further Upstream things that
072aren't within your control I truly appreciate all of you however your Union is a mafia looking to silence any opposing opinions or approaches spreading lies and doing whatever it takes to AE their objectives can we have a little bit of respect please than can we give him like 30 seconds it's called Free Speech go back to 30s I I ask that the audience please be respectful and let everybody every everybody that's spoken so far has had a chance to speak without cat calls please please let this gentleman speak please put it 30 seconds thank you your union is a mafia and it is looking to silence any opposing opinions or approaches spreading lies and doing whatever it takes to achieve their objectives don't kid yourself they are not here for the kids they are in
073it for themselves and their own political agenda talk about fearing retribution more conservative teachers and administrators have been working in this district for years silence for fear of being outed by the longtime liberal school board that pre preceded this thank you [Applause] [Music] Jeff okay thank you to all of our speakers tonight we're going to move on to our action item and that will be for human resources and I will need a motion for the resolution for California week of the teacher I'll make a motion to approve resolution number 2324 California week of the teacher I'll second I have a motion by Mrs Anderson I have a second by Mr Frasier Dr Gates thank you president Braes members of the school board superintendent Dr chernes my executive cabinet team tonight we bring forward a resolution
074for the school board's consideration to designate May 6th through May 10th 2024 as California week of the teacher the placenta yinda UniFi school district is proud to have phenomenal teachers who devote themselves each day to the success of our students and in doing so the future of our nation it's my pleasure to introduce Apple president Linda Manan to read the resolution good evening resolution number 23-24 California week of teacher Proclamation whereas California's teachers are among the best educated most credentialed and hardest working Educators in the country and whereas the prosperity of our state and our nation is determined by the skills and abilities of the Next Generation and whereas our students depend on Educators to guide them on the road to success and whereas the innov creativity and problem solving skills needed to maintain California's
075Leading Edge derives from the quality of its teachers and whereas teacher quality depends on a citizenry that values education and provides the resources needed to support it and whereas good teaching grows in value and pays dividends far beyond the classroom now therefore be it resolved that the Placentia Belinda Unified School District Board of Education designates May 6 through 10th 2024 as California week of the teacher the board encourages all students parents and School District employees to participate in celebrations that Express and show appreciation to the amazing teachers throughout the Placentia yal Linda Unified School District thank you thank you Linda okay uh roll call vote please Emily vote to approve or not approve oh can we have oh do you guys want to talk about this yeah I just want to thank all of our
076teachers and all of our community that's out there please thank your teachers coming up in May and I hope there's going to be lots of um special events and hopefully I'll see lots of pictures of everyone being honored I'll start I I I I and I an I the vote carries 4 Z and one um I from our student board member unanimous did I say I said four Z you got don't mean to do the next one he's always making me so second guess myself keep toes okay I need what was that keeping you on your toes I guess um can I have a motion for resolution 2325 I'll make a motion that we approve resolution number 2325 classified school employee week I'll second I have a motion by Mrs Buck I have a second
077by Mrs Anderson Dr Gates please thank you tonight we also bring forward a resolution for the board's consideration to designate May 19th through May 25th 2024 as classified school employee week the placenta y Belinda Unified School District is grateful to have amazing classified employees who daily support the success of our students St staff and school Community it is now my pleasure to introduce CSA chapter 293 president Chris Lawyer to read the resolution thank you for that amazing introduction Dr gate you're welcome whereas classified school employees are extraordinary work workers who provide essential services and contributions to Everyday operations of the school and whereas classified school employees are often the first faces who greet the visitors at our school district that'd be the best every morning and the preschool whereas classified employees are hardworking dedicated professionals
078many of who are often behind the scenes keeping our operations running and smooth that's all 12200 of us whereas classified employees are important members of placenti Y Belinda School District team now therefore be it resolved that the placenti Y Belinda School District Board of Educators designates May 19th through the 25th 2024 as classified school employee week the board salutes our classified employees and encourages the community to thank them for being extraordinary workers who provide essential work they make p an enjoyable place to go to school and I am honored to be their president thank you thank you are we ready okay we're ready for a vote all in favor I I I I I that's unanimous vote and a vote from our student board member I we've only got consent huh are are we're good
079to go keep going okay okay uh truste Anderson needs a five minute break I'll take one I'll I'll take a break we'll take a five minute break let's come back at 7:40 all right okay we're resuming our board meeting after a longer break than expected at 7:43 and sha Youngwood is now on the phone Sean are you there I am thank you okay man I hear yeah he's Jeremy's turning it up okay next on our agenda is the consent calendar actions proposed for the consent calendar are consistent with approved practices of the district and are deemed routine in nature the trustees receive board agenda backup information in advance of scheduled meetings and are prepared to vote with knowledge on the Block vote items does anybody have anything on the consent calendar that they would like
080to pull I do and what are those items I'd like to pull as a block 177 through 1727 just the full block do you want to add and oh you want to add five and six to that those I I don't know if they're together I guess I don't know i' have to look at what five is um so after that 1824 okay one second Sor can you explain as a block you mean um what you mean like all of them together uh 177 through 17 27 as one vote so you don't want me so not each one of them okay okay it is Taco Tuesday 17.7 to 17 what now 27 27 okay so that is one block yep okay um the next one is 1729 and that is not a block that's individual
081just one okay uh 20-1 20-2 20-2 and actually 18 18-24 as well 18-24 and then Maryland did you say you wanted to pull 175 and 176 nope oh yeah I do 175 and 176 together but I think they could be part of the block so you a part of that bigger block yeah I believe they part of oh no 175 I do not want to pull and I do not want to pull 176 so so that was a false alarm that was false alarm okay all is good um I want to pull 20.4 and 1728 and that can't go in the block with the 1727 no it's different okay so if you're ready I'll move that we adopt the consent calendar excluding all of those other items I'll second okay all those in favor of
082anything or everything except I'm going accept that um roll call vote Sean's on the line Emily I miss Buck I Mrs Anderson I Mr Youngblood I Mr Frasier I and I'm an I vote carries 5 Z and a yes from our student board member okay so we'll start with I'll make the block of 17.7 7 okay we'll start with that I'll make a motion that we approve 17-7 to 17-27 I a second on that Sean oh I heard it thanks Sean so and young okay go ahead um so there's a lot of uh modulars and ground um Geo expenses solar panels inspections all of that encompassed within all of this could you talk a little B bit about what those projects are and and what's involved AB absolutely uh thank you for the question um
083so as you're aware we're we're putting in a lot of new portables for preschool and ex expanded learning opportunity uh programs we've got that going on at opz Ruby TI Morris Glen View R Ranch Wagner um and so with that what what happened when we went out to uh we asked the board for approval to use a piggy vable bid to purchase the Portables um what's happened after we purchase them is when they go to DSA for approval DSA actually changed their requirements so they added the solar panels and they changed some of their requirements uh because we have at our preschools we're trying to aim for two years plus which adds additional requirements onto those Portables so these changes we couldn't because we had to separately have those proposals sent to us individually that's
084why you're seeing such a large number of them when normally they would be under one um are to not only uh prepare the portables for the for the younger uh um students who are going to preschools but it's also that we're required to put solar panels on that's never been a requirement of any of our uh Portables before so this is brand new requirement from DSA uh so what you have is is uh additional servic for doing that we have electrical we have other things that need to be all part of that in order to get those sites up and running thank you um we talk a lot about uh declining enrollment and and how we're trying to boost um when we are looking at putting preschool and after school programs in did we do
085an assessment on the available space in any of these schools and are we at capacity and that's why we're doing this so so when we go out and we we visit the sites we do meet with the with obviously we meet with staff at the district but we meet with site Administration as well to assess the needs of that site we wouldn't put a portable unless unless there was no more space to use for that expanded learning program or that preschool I will also say Dr Lopez um and I and and um and Gary we've been real strategic in where we want to put these preschools where we have existing preschools um a great example is Bryant Ranch right where here's a area that is fairly isolated um we want to boost enrollment there there's
086space for a preschool program so that's where we put it so that Wagner we had the space um and so what we're looking at for next year at the the preschool locations are um strategic in where they're going based on where we have others and based on uh um where there's a waiting list so we we want to we want to continue to open as many as we can and what we're finding is and I'll speak to a little bit is enrollment in TK andk is far higher this year than where we were last year almost double and a lot of that is in these areas where we're opening new preschools thank you if if we build it they will come in a sense like if they start in preschool then it's likely that they
087will continue with us so I like that strategy um it triggered another question and I forgot what so I got a question while the solar panels like are they tied into the grid are we feeding the CLS only does theol get the benefit like it's only for the classrooms just for the classrooms themselves yeah but they still have power to them so we're not ring to the gr it's just supposed to uh alleviate some of that uh utilization from the grid so we should see some benefit from those specific rooms but you know on a site where we don't have any other solar it's it's going to be minimal it's negligible okay but it's a requirement now it's a requirement now for for all of our Portables moving forward yes not retro right not retro
088okay thank goodness um are all these projects in what phase are all these different projects in so these are all I I believe in ask max if I have um I believe that we've gone through DSA approval or we're about to get DSA sign off on them but we are we've already broken ground on a lot of these sites um meaning created the space where we're going to start installing the Portables these are supposed to be ready ready for us for uh the fall so we need it to be ready for to be occupied yeah we've broken ground on uh Ruby and Ruby and topaz as well as Wagner um just prepping the sites with temporary fencing some of the grading that we can start um prior to DSA approval um and then we're just
089waiting on those stamps from the state so that we can hit the ground running and uh have them ready for August so which ones haven't we begun yet uh that would be Morse Glen View uh um Ruby Drive you said Ruby Drive was in process s let me sorry uh yeah ties Glen View Morse and Bryant Ranch and and what was the other one Bri those are the ones that we haven't haven't and Bryant Ranch did you say on yes okay I remember my question if you're okay if I can jump in I think it was the movie quote that threw you it could be um child care so um working with families that are um in a housing crisis we have some schools that have um after school care and we have some that
090have preschool and sometimes those don't all interact um to the point where we have families that um that may struggle with putting their child in a program that might have a head start but they don't have an after school program there's a lot of and I don't I can't tell you exactly what's school it is because I don't recall but I would like us to look a little bit further into that to make sure that um that we're addressing those needs if they don't have a Child Care Program is that something that we should be looking at and I believe Dr Lopez is looking at making sure that we're coordinating services in that area yeah to try to provide that full circle yeah okay I'm all for building these preschools I've been asking for that
091for years but with these increased amounts I'm wondering if we should just hold off on on the four that we haven't broke ground on get budgets because all these are going up and really re-evaluate where we stand because we don't have current budgets on this everything's going up we know next year we're not getting a cola and um we're building a lot so I think I feel comfortable moving forward with the ones that we've already kind of started but then just pausing and re-evaluating relooking at our budgets um and seeing how much these are really going to cost and and where are these dollars coming from so these projects are are being funded through the ELO program they're being funded through we have money actually in the uh preschool budget preschool fund 12 right so
092we have money there that's contributing to it and then there RDA so it's a blend of funding it's not all coming from a general fund or anything like that but I just want to make sure that we're not overextending on any of those funds well and I would say we're not so because these were part of the plan at the beginning of the year um and so and the the Portables have actually already been purchased right so um those will be landing and and so if we if we were to I don't think we can cancel the order at this point okay so we would need to move forward with these but we we've certainly we we've had discussions about you know for next the next cycle do we move forward with with preschools or
093do we focus on TK like we we're we are having those conversations yeah so we are looking at 2526 but the board this board did approve Portables already for these projects so this is work to prep to to have them right so I appreciate that we're going to look at this because I just I'm I'm just worried that we're that all these costs are just I don't want to bankrupt this and I have financial responsibility I appreciate that yes I I don't think any of us think anybody wants to well we're using facility money we're using ongoing money and none of it is general fund yeah excellent and then I just wanted to quickly add we are already enrolling and registering families for the three new preschools and there is already overwhelming demand so we
094have a lot of families signed up so more than two3 full at all three which means additional funding like these build like if you build it they will come is like real in this situation yeah it's not a not a corn field in where was that Iowa iow Iowa yeah okay I was right I should have just been strong when we get those redone budgets can you send them over to us all yes absolutely thank you perhaps that should be our preschool slogan if you feel they will come more than preschool slogan okay so was that the whole block or do we have more okay awesome okay so 17 points and you know what too and I'm glad you pulled it because I think everybody heard the explanation so that was good and we did
095get backup material that concurred with everything that you said but it is important because it's such a a huge project and all the intricacies to it just to be able to say that in public so it's a huge project has a lot of little projects and so it's like yeah okay so we'll be voting on 17.7 to 1727 all right all those in favor roll call please I I I Sean I I and I'm an i the motion carries 5 with a vot you know oh my gosh I can't speak our student board member agreed okay so I think we have next would be 17728 was that you Mrs Anderson or is that Mrs Buck yes okay so I need a motion for 17. 28 okay I'd like to make a motion to approve 17.28%
096all right I have a motion from Mrs Anderson I have a second for Mr Frasier can you explain this one as well absolutely um I I want to make sure that we call out its New Dimensions and Easter days this is a a number of different vendors these are our unit uh unit price vendors um that we use for various construction projects um the so along with these projects that we just talked about all of these Portables there is a um a challenge that we have with meeting that time frame typically what we would do is after we get DSA approval we would come to the board and we would actually go out for bid for every single project and so you see everyone separated if we do that um we won't hit the deadline
097for August so the majority of of what you're seeing in that increase has to do with um with those preschools so and for each one the construction estimation is you know upwards of either you know $420,000 to uh well to 400 $70,000 per uh preschool that we're dropping or pre per portable project I'll say because it's not just one classroom it's usually a few and there or bathroom and a shade structure and different things so um each of these projects because we we don't have the time to go out to bid we we need a a a construction company that can start right away this is what we're asking for authorization to do is to use our um our the board's approval to use our current uh contract contractors and and start the project as
098soon as we get DSA approval so that's majority of of what this increase is are we required to go out to bid for a certain price point and do this is this something we're supposed to do for this one um we we typically would but we're we're since we've already done the we went out to bid for construction Serv back in a sense it is because we went already went out for for a unit price bid uh and so we did an open bidding process to get the construction services once we have that you provided us authorization to use up to a certain amount we're just asking you to extend it yeah because this is a not to exceed amount this isn't saying we're going to spend 3.7 right we're going to in addition we
099probably yeah we'll get close but yes we will so this is not branding new program this is only for like the pre- schools this is not for any new build this is the there I mean there there there is a component of it uh that would go to the USI but it's very small um how much is that um if I'm looking 80 990,000 if I'm estimating okay this is this is where we get into to Sticky Waters um how so well we don't have a budget yet on the USI and we were told in our February meeting that a budget was coming we haven't seen a budget um we haven't I want to be clear nothing's been started though so this is it's just an estimate no he said that 90,000 of the 1728
100is for the US USI the of the $3 million 3 million yeah would go towards USI for pro can we amend it potentially we haven't the bid hasn't closed yet we haven't even got to that point yet yeah so I I just would like to pull that out of this and have it a clean so that we are you know being transparent with the public um you know it's hard to start something when we don't even have a goalpost when we don't know well we have an RFP out to bid right and but we don't know we don't have a budget because we haven't gotten the RFP back right and when we get the RFP you'll have an opportunity to vote on it yeah based on real cost so let's just wait on this 990,000
101and do it all upfront and so that the public knows that's all I'm saying but the public does know they know right now the project isn't so it's not this is just the authorization or an estimate right it's not it has there aren't any projects underway it's just an estimate at this point yeah but so this is an estimate of construction services this could be projects we haven't even discussed yet what we're doing is we're increasing the amount not to exceed for this contractor before we spend that money we'd come back to the board correct yeah I I feel like this is what a lot of people were talking about that we're putting you know the cart in front of the horse so we can come back okay in the next meeting and add another
102one for increase it for 90,000 but do you understand what they're saying is that this isn't going to be spent this giving the authorization for future I I think this is we're we're very confident in the staff recommendation I think the board should just vote on it this is our recommendation okay okay you have anything else Mrs Buck okay our student board member LCI a student board member says I Mrs Buck I Mrs Anderson no Mr Young Blood I Mr Frasier I and I an I so that is a 421 and a I from our student board member okay so we're going to 17 29 29 that's a horrible sound um okay 1729 I will make a motion to approve the architectural services agreement for architectural design service for the Universal Sports Institute Studio Plus
103architecture Corp effective April 17th 24 through December 31 24 project number 160486 I'll second okay I have a motion from Mrs Buck I have a second from Mr Frasier go ahead um I have so we're back on the budget so I have questions about the budget and the RFP provided um that we haven't seen yet on both of those um this is for the proposal for the the um architectural services and since I don't have a a budget or an RFP that I can compare to this and I think again this we're putting our cart before the horse if we approve a proposal that has the architectural design where pseudo approving all of the things that are embedded within that um and and I have concerns with some of the items that are in there
104for example um the VO2 max test um something that shouldn't be considered for kids um according to Olympic um swimming um experts a small jet pool is not preferred for training um so there are I just am worried that well I'm not going to approve it because there's not enough information and not a budget with it and there's inconsistencies with the RFP and I think that we're just too close Okay so this is $99,000 for renderings this has nothing to do with the RFP correct okay so again this is our recommendation to approve this okay I I have also some stuff to say say um if we send out for architectural designs now without getting the RFP back and knowing what the equipment is we actually have a potential of having to redo we're not
105sending out this is not for architectural designs this is for renderings right like pictures not designs that go into DSA okay um that's why it's only $9,000 okay it's probably an hour or two of work from an architect so we have 400 and 669 athletes participating in sports in all of our comprehensive high schools and I've just feel again that our money could go to better use than to um Universal Sports Institute which according to the website is only for students that are State national and Olympic level um I really feel like we need to find out how many athletes are in our district are even compe meeting at this level um can we do a query and figure that out well point point of order we will We happy to agendize that topic this
106is for architectural renderings okay well I'm just saying I'm giving reasons why I'm not voting for it okay staff recommends approval okay and um so this is really not for our everyday athlet um I have a friend who is an athletic trainer okay we need to we need to move to the vote because this is for 9,000 for an architectural design is not about the sports Institute so I'm calling for a vote can I'd ask a follow-up question after Dr chis you said we could have a study session and go over all of this no I didn't I said we can discuss it at a future time it's not appropriate for this item okay for architecture design is not giving reasons why not which is f apprciate point of order the board president called for
107a vote I'm calling for a vote student board member I so um student board member is I Mrs Buck no Mrs Anderson no Mr Youngblood I Mr Frasier I and I an I so three to two and an I from our student board member okay what is the next one is it 18.24% appr Garner Holt education for design and consultant Services professional development and assembly setup and calibration of specialized equipment for ocscs engineering and design through arts and automation lab April 26 through 24 through June 30th 25 I'll second I have a motion from Mrs buck and a second from Mr Frasier so I'd like a little bit more information on this maybe you could talk about it now um this is not the purchase of any equipment it's just the Consulting the professional development
108that goes along with all of that is that correct can you tell me a little bit about that uh yes so it's you know part of the part of that lab or creation of the lab is the design work there's also the um I don't know how to how do you phrase that the the wrapping of the walls that the the it's an entire design of the inside of the lab so there are materials attached to that um there is also Consulting to to install everything so all of the equipment um that will go into that lab uh and organize everything there as well and calibrate for for students and also there is uh quite a bit of professional development for the teachers who will be um leading classes in those Court in those labs
109do do you know what specialized equipment has that all been identified yet um there yes and and I don't know them all off the top of my head I I can we can provide a list um I'm not going to vote on this as as well I'm going to vote no um because I want a bigger Budget on a complete Budget on this including what the installation and all of the equipment um would entail you said bigger do you mean more detailed or more money more detailed okay more detailed um with $155,000 for this I want to know what the equipment is as well and what that cost us so I think it was at um the big showcase where we had all of the staff that was all talked about there I wish we
110had the video for that cuz we could play it but there was a a big description like out I think I was the one there and the rest of us were here and um they did lay out exactly what it was we had pictures there was videos of who they are partnering with and so the specialized equipment is actually for the school that would have been great to be able to see well as a board member I mean not yeah to provide that to us how about provide that I can't provide the video I was in the audience I just meant maybe the organization could provide it to us since we can't make everything I have um some questions about this as well in the February meeting it was reported we got an additional 300,000
111revenues out of this this um block grant and the and so we were able to up our expenditures for the charter school for the purchase of books on February 29th I emailed Dr chernis and um in that meeting I asked for an updated budget for the Arts and Music blogr and in that meeting I was told that we would receive it on February 29th I emailed Dr ch is asking for the updated budget again and if you want a copy of my email you can definitely public records request it and he sent his response to me on March 4th is this about the equipment basically the respon denies my request so on April 2nd I did my own public records request asking for an updated Arts and Music instructional block grant and other things that
112I had been denied so on a side note I just want to say a word about denying my requests because it like I keep getting um as we will be sure to my voters who elected me to represent them and therefore disenfranchising their votes and their voices many of my community live in the poorest neighborhoods in Orange County and most are of a minority descent and socially economically disadvantage I happen to get my response yesterday so I compared the two budgets here's February's and here's September February micone oh in February um thank you um so I compared the two visits and I noticed that the new budget as of February 23rd had a brand new line item on it and the line item is for Bernardo Yorba Innovations labs for the 2425 school year for
113$1 million so this1 54,000 is just the first payment for this also I noticed that upgrade in classroom technology to support music education at secondary schools was down 900,000 early education education expansion down 440,000 and miscellaneous instructions up 630,000 are just a few of the highlights to be clear the board has Tak action the board has taken action on this grant money in the September 2023 meeting and tonight we are voting on the first expense for the for 154,000 out of the Arts and Music grant for the $1 million innovation la lab this is just for Consulting and design to a million dooll lab is this the total cost of the $1 million or is there going to be additional funds coming out of other budgets to pay for this lab my understanding is that
114is the total okay as a another side note today in our lcap review We budgeted 2.5 million for all of our CTE programs throughout the district and you can find that on the lcap on page 48 we need to put this on hold until the board can have a presentation on the lab before we start at a minimum of a million doll project for one Middle School additionally I would like to have the total cost that we have spent on Bernardo Yorba middle school to become a charter including Administration costs attorney fees books professional development equipment Etc and I hope I don't have to do a public records request for that as well okay let's move to a vote does you know but first of all there kind of seem like there are some allegations
115about maybe misuse of funds and so I don't really does anybody need to we're happy to provide the block grant information to you there's nothing to hide I'm sure Olivia sent it to you and excuse me can you stop in the back or we need to escor you out this is so rude so uh I don't appreciate the aspersions but I I will save that for different time let's move on okay um Mr Stein and Mr Dr ches you guys say that we're fine to approve this and this is a needed thing for our school fiscally we're fine everything is fine yes okay and it's okay even though the board voted on the budget originally and now it's all been changed on the Ami MBG Grant or the vot V we voted for it in
116the September meeting and we unanimously approved it and I have all the materials right here yeah so I it it's obviously am BG is a the The Proposal of how we're going to spend the money is is a proposal brought to the board um the budget itself was adopted by the board that's why we're the these purchases are being brought to the board to make make sure that they come to light and that you have an opportunity to vote on them so because they were part of the budget that we approved that's correct so we approved a budget in here and now we're spending within that budget as no there was no Innovative can you let people finish please can can we respond please thank you the board approved in September the block grant the
117total amount with categories the specific expenditures within that block rant are brought to the board like now you have every right to vote yes or no on it can we escort her out thank you I'm gonna call for a vote no Mrs Buck no Mrs Anderson no okay you know what you're interrupting our public meeting I'm asking you to step out okay all right I called for the vote Mrs Buck no Mrs Anderson no Mr Young Blood yes Mr Frasier yes and I am a yes vote carries three to two yeah I'm going to stop the meeting until she is escorted out thank you I figure can you please move the can you please leave the room okay thank you now we are moving on to the next item that needs to be pulled it
118was 20.1 I believe yes so I'll make a motion that we approve the certificated Human Resources board report I'll second I have a motion by Mrs buck and a second by Mr Frasier um so I'm requesting this and it'll carry over into 20.2 as well um in the past we had would you like to combine them um not necessarily I'll just leave it at that um so in the past we've had the opportunity to talk about new um positions that are going to be approved in close session right before the meeting and I would like to continue that practice um it's not really appropriate for us to talk about people that we getting ready to hire and I would like to have a little bit more background and have the opportunity to ask those questions
119yeah usually we these are brought into Clos session and we discuss them and actually we make motion and second and then we report out on these the board has given no direction on um the the higher level employees that are listed in the HR report we've never talked about them I've got notifications of announcements but we have not had any discussion about them I'm just requesting that we do that at a we continue that practice that we used to do and have that opportunity in close session as far as discussing these list of employees yeah we would get a picture I mean we get the picture and we get the little snippet now but being able to talk about it a little bit and ask questions of the people that were on the um of
120HR and on the hiring committee that would be great cuz there's a lot of people in here that I would love to make the motion for to have them appointed to those positions and um I just think it's important that the board is giving direction on this and we're not um moving ahead of where we're at well we do give direction though by how we're voting but I don't disagree with saying more conversations about it would be good this is a huge list and I I don't mean the entire list I mean when you're talking about administrators principles all of that yeah and then we usually have our principles here and we introduce them and you know we we make a big deal to and we just don't put it in a report okay so
121you're not so are we ready to vote what we I think Dr Gates has a heard you not okay thank you okay let's vote Mrs Buck I Mrs Anderson I miss Mr Young Blood I Mr Frasier I and I'm an i motion carries and so next is 20.4 20.2 20.2 I'll make a motion we approve the classified Human Resources board report second I have a motion from Mrs buck and a second from Mr Frasier um on this um Human Resources report we do have a director that is here um that we're going to be um approving tonight so it would be great if we could meet him and introduce him to the community our facilities great thank you you know um for this introduction I'm GNA kick it up over to my colleague Mr Gary
122Stein sure I'm happy to uh to introduce our new director of pending board approval maintenance of facilities uh Ralph Figaroa who um comes to us from the Orange County Department of Education where he's been the last years and uh but he's I think how many years before that uh he was with Anaheim uh Union for 30 years short time yeah and then um went to uh L joint for a little bit he's got a wealth of experience uh we're very lucky to have him but R Figaro uh thank you um glad to be glad to be here and glad to join in the team look forward and working in the uh facilities department and helping obviously you have a lot of needs that I can see um uh but um happy to be here again
123uh I do have approximately 37 years in the school district system uh 22 of them in facilities I am a licensed electrician so I will be able to help in in that regard but uh glad to be here and so tell us about your history with p uh so I've been here I'm actually a a Community member I live I live in Yorba I've been here for uh 16 years going on 16 years years um a little bit about my family they couldn't be here tonight because it was prior commitments but I have seven children oh okay so the youngest is 12 and because we need a little bit of divine intervention he's at St Francis uh but um I do have uh you can always come back here I do have got some of
124that too I do have a nephew at at Travis and a nephew a senior at uh esparanza high school so two of my two of my kids graduate from esparanza high school so you know glad to be in the community well thank you you know Ralph you you came so highly recommended um my apologies to the county for stealing you um but uh we're really excited to have you here there's plenty of work to do um and it's going to be really exciting work and hopefully we continue to be a um a district that's growing and expanding so thank you thank you thank you again likewise thank you so much and we look forward to small is at Christmas time welcome okay are we ready for the vote all right roll call Mrs Buck hi
125Mrs Anderson I Mr Young Blood I Mr Frasier I and I myself I'm an I vote carries 5 and so now it looks like we're at 20.4 I need a motion okay I'll make a a motion to approve the revised agreement between placenta Yorbalinda Unified School District and Plum second there he is all right I have a motion by Mrs Anderson and a second by Mr Young BL okay can you give us um details because we we voted for one in February and now we're changing it and I I just think we need to uh let the community know why we have pivoted Absol absolutely absolutely and um while this is under HR um it really um speaks to business services so I'm going kick it over to my colleague Mr Gary Stein one more
126time thank you um so yes we we we took a an agreement uh to the board month or two ago the um and it had uh the plum membership being separated into receiving two different types of of increases one with an on schedule and a smaller off schedule and the other that we're all off schedule um after working with uh the county and working with Cal Pur and Cal stur uh we were informed that um because Plum is considered all one unit we can't there was not a possibility to to have that separation so we would need to provide um every everybody with the same same increase uh or none and so that's why we're bringing it back to the board uh for approval to uh to make sure that the our our staff members
127are are provided that increase um in order for it to be pensionable compensation and and count towards their service okay so when I read my agenda this weekend this was the first I'd heard about it and I think when we're doing stuff like this we need to keep the board updated and um the other question I have is I've asked to see what our out years are because a lot of what we approved in February was onetime raises they weren't continua and so I know we're good for this year but what about the two out years because we haven't seen any I I didn't get any budget I asked for one but I didn't get one so I just want to make sure again that we're being fiscally responsible and we are and and so
128we've already the staff are already putting in well pending board approval we haven't run the numbers yet right we know what the estimates are but we haven't put them into the budget yet uh once the board approves we will be running those numbers and you'll see them on June 4th obviously when we bring the budget and the uh lcap back uh everything will be factored in there including our multi-year and then um we'll bring it back again June 18th but okay so you haven't worked these raises into the next two years is that correct is that what you just said no no so let me let me be clear is it is it when we do the when we do the ab200 and we send it off to the count we do factor that in
129when we when we send that up okay um what I'm saying is it's not in the official budget that that we've brought to the board we have run the numbers yes we have projected it out we just don't have it in a in a budget form that I can provide to you tonight okay I'm not sure if I feel comfortable voting for this I I've got to think about it because I don't have I mean I believe you say we're okay but I just like to verify sure I think it's it's kind of my job understood Gary you say all as well yeah yes it's essentially the same money um the the the difference would be the the variant in the oute of about how much well no 2% 6% yeah well actually it's four
130ongoing for next year um um I'd have to get the numbers but it's I think roughly I forgot I put it in the board board update is that what it it's three 350 is is the cost 350,000 is the cost of that for next year so as as a district yes we're we can absorb that okay any other questions let's move to vote Mrs Buck um I'll approve but I'd like the update Mrs Anderson I'll approve but I would like the update Mr youngl I Mr Frasier I and I'm an I vote carries 5 Z and I don't think we have anything else pulled I that's it I've got a scribbled mess on this page so just want to make sure okay and I'm going to turn it over to Dr chernis for superintendent report
131and I really wish we had a full audience at the beginning and I really really wish we would have everyone would have stayed so they can hear um a lot of this factual information that that's come out tonight well I will do my best to to be factual um and yes I too wish that there would be more people here for these reports um first of all it's great to see those that have stayed and and those that have come um there are some retired teachers here which is great I'd love to get a chance to sit down with you and talk to you about the great things that are happening in this district and urge you not to believe everything you hear um I've been here for about a year and uh it's not
132an easy job to be a superintendent but it's also an easy job because the decisions are always based on what's best for kids uh great example is the lights at El Dorado we never had lights at El Dorado not when a lot of our retired teachers were here never had them I was here for a few months someone brought it up to me I looked at both sides I heard some people say it's a terrible idea I heard some people say you're moving too fast some of the people that say you're moving too fast on other things said hurry up on the lights and so I find that interesting too that a lot of these uh issues that come up um can't be uh necessarily um let me just say some of them can be
133biased at times so we put the lights in now are they in yet no but we just actually this week DSA approved them so took 6 months for the state to approve them we're going to have lights why because it's best for kids there'll be plenty of people that don't like it and there'll be others that do um but there's an urgency in our district today to serve the students we have and that makes me at times go fast I went fast with the lights and because of that our kids are going to have lights next year um Anna Jimenez I went fast with her I decided it's important for the district to hire Venture graduates as employees of the district I didn't create a committee and talk about it for a year or two
134I said we're doing it and within two months we hired her she's an amazing instructional Aid in our elementary school I went fast and I don't apologize for that I don't think her family does I don't think she does Thomas Cornelius Dennis conet and Daniel Ver villal graduated with a diploma these are students that finished uh um special education students that otherwise would go to venture for the last 20 plus years and not get a diploma and be in a non- diploma bound program I sped that up and in December I went to their graduation they got diplomas I don't think they're telling me you went too fast this year hundreds and hundreds of kids went to outdoor Science school that otherwise in the last 20 plus years never went we had a handful of
135schools that would go and we had the rest that never got to go I could have created a committee and talked about it I could have come to the board and had a study session but it was what was best for kids so this year hundreds and hundreds of kids got to go to outdoor Science school the district funded it and they had an amazing experience and I went fast on that and we're seeing the results last week I went to a middle school wrestling duel tournament at Valencia High School the stands were filled hundreds and hundreds of parents hundreds of kids competing kids cheering for other kids they otherwise wouldn't have even known their name it was one of the most inspirational moments of my career that started this year we implemented five sports
136all the programs competed against each other and the kids benefited we went very quickly we implemented it and our kids benefited so I'm a young parent I have three young kids I know what young parents want they want school districts that are Innovative and not stuck in the past they want new exciting programs that's what young parents want in our district well let me let me start with USI the current facility where USI will be housed has 184 students in What's called the bua Vista Virtual Academy I've never heard get rid of be bua Vista Virtual Academy because there's only 184 students it's a niche program why do we invest in it why do we have how many teachers do we have in that program bu Vista 11 why do we invest over a million
137dollars in Staffing for that program for only 184 kids less than 1% of our school district why why do we spend time on it we have a program called Parkview we have less we have 150 students I never hear I want to see the budget for Park View I want to see the facilities for Park View I want to see what we're putting into Park View why are we investing in a homeschool program for 150 kids but all of a sudden when we talk about utilizing the same facility that's us that's being utilized for buav Vista Virtual Academy and potentially having more kids being served there than we have now all of a sudden that's an issue but I can tell you why we invest in buav Vista Virtual Academy and why we invest in
138Parkview and why we're going to invest in USI because young parents want options for their kids not every kid fits the same mold and guess what there are facts behind what we're doing to date we have 400 more new tknk kids enrolled than we did last year at this time 400 last SE September of this year we had 1,200 new TK andk students at this time right now in April we have over 900 already so for all of you that are saying well we're we're we're we don't appreciate the history and we're we're going too fast and and we're not valuing this is how we always do it and you don't know the way it it happens here because I've heard that I've heard all of that well it we do it a certain way
139here I've heard that quite a bit well that's not the way I do it I do what's best for kids and building preschools is best for kids developing computer science schools is best for kids and if nobody was showing up to enroll maybe I'd have second thoughts and maybe you should too but maybe you should believe that the fact that new families are coming at record numbers maybe we're doing something right here and maybe we're actually here for kids we gave teachers raises we had a multi-year contract we didn't we didn't uh we didn't cut any teachers this year and I can tell you and I I I'm not going to speak to to academics because I heard someone say get back to the basics get back to academics I want you to come back
140in September let's go over our test scores let's see how we did because I think our scores are going to go way up because we've also spent over a million dollars in free math support for kids this year that we haven't done in the past many many years this year thousands of kids got free after school support so to all our retired teachers I want to meet with you I want to give you the facts and I want you to know my door is always open because facts are what it's all about and the fact that families are coming here please believe there's something to that it's not just luck okay so now I'm going to get into uh that's my Off Script pce here's my script pce uh um the 26 this is the
141boring part but some people like it um I shouldn't say that uh so we have the artworks 27th annual pyl student art exhibition this is actually really cool it's known as artworks it began last week at the PDA I got to go with my son it was the artwork was incredible we got great kids great teachers um uh and so the gallery will be open for one more day 2: to 800m um please go check it out UniFi track meet I also went to that one of the best things we have in this District um Bradford Stadium it was amazing our special ed kids our incredible teachers you know some of the best teachers we have in this District are special education teachers and special ed AIDS unbelievable they I I just can't speak more
142highly of them and the the you saw that today with the choir um we just have amazing Educators so um anyhow if you could have been at that event you would have seen it incredible the kids seen them compete with their typical peers um it was the first time we did it um this way and it it came off great we have an artist of the year uh 2024 nominees for the awards artist of the year Awards through the OC Register um it honors the top junior senior artists in Orange County and each artist is nominated for a specific category fine arts dance film TV theater media arts uh 77 of our high school kids were nominated by their teachers in six of disciplines all the nominees were recognized by their teachers for outstanding abilities
143um and let's see the awards semi-finalists are going to be published April 21st artists of the year for discipline May 8th at Chapman University so really exciting congrats to the Valencia Academic Decathlon team um they did amazing division two they took first place overall and first place in the super quiz um the team scored so well they beat more than half of the division one teams um so that's really cool we just had last Saturday something called a bus rodeo never heard of a bus rodeo until now but apparently this was the 61st 61st annual the competition was was held at Garden Grove uh Unified School District the driver trainer advisory Council put it on we had a lot of districts compete we had six D six bus drivers they spent much of their free
144time preparing for this thing uh several mornings they sharpened their skills the main focus is really school bus it's school safety right and so um the ders all competed in different skills and uh our bus drivers didn't disappoint Jorge Ruiz won the best score on the chp's written test Linda Jackson won the best score in the right turn event and the team of Jeff voy Jorge Ruiz and Zach zodo earn first place overall let's give it up for our bus drivers finally I had a great meeting with Jim Byron the president of the Nixon Library we're going to uh work on a Civics course in the meantime though he's agreed to up to five internships so um tell your kids it is amazing for not just an experience but for a college recommendation so send
145me a letter tell me why you want to do this what a great opportunity to have a summer internship at a Presidential Library so please take advantage of it um I'm really excited and thankful for our community partner something we have not tapped into in this community for many years is a Presidential Library in our backyard so we're going to make sure we we take advantage of that thank [Applause] you okay now this will go to our Communications and board report and I was looking through our bylaws and we actually we have time limits and so it's supposed to be 30 minutes for our board and so it should be about a six minute board report for each of us um I won't put us on the timer but Jeremy can you maybe do a
146timer over there like six minutes and just kind of give us a head when the six minutes is up I we won't put it up this time if if if everybody goes over we'll put up next time all right Carrie so let them know when you want to start the time um well since our last meeting I've visited quite a few schools um Brook Haven and I mentioned earlier in our lcap um I got to see uh talk to one teacher about the science of reading and what that could potentially mean um as well as Orton Gillingham which has a lot of um helpful tools to to test and screen for dyslexia that will be required in the upcoming years um I had a chance to uh visit esparanza and walked around with assistant principal
147lean Farm uh we went into the Jazz class which was um amazing they had a um uh a professional group that had come in and they were giving instruction to the Jazz class uh the students um I also went into art and the special education classes and the library update is in progress and I can't wait to see when that will be done um I went to visit El Dorado and visited the classes that I didn't get a chance to see when I went uh with the North Orange County ROP uh including language arts and government classes as well as um a couple of different Spanish classes um I visited Glen View this week and toured with Mrs froga and two young principes of the day Kinley and Trina and got the opportunity to go
148and visit all of the classes there as well as um the classes that Kinley and Trina were in and they were quite the um the hit in the class everybody wanted to um to come over and talk to them because they were the principal of the day it was very cute um I attended the Eldorado was visit um and just most notably um we got a chance to to sit down with them and um Mrs Anderson was there and Dr Gates um Mrs Young a few other people I can't if you were there um Mrs Gray was there as well um just to note what I thought was interesting that they told us which we sort of alluded to a couple of meetings ago that they need more space for orchestra and band um and
149that they need additional bathrooms they've got three sets and it's just not enough for 3,000 students in a s minute period uh or passing period agree um I attended the artworks opening uh last week and if you didn't go please go see that right away it's um before the it ends tomorrow so it's just amazing art out there from TK all the way up to our kinder or to our seniors last night I attended the Avid senior standout awards at UC Irvine um seniors from four of our Comprehensive High Schools were recognized and Mazy slim was awarded a $5,000 scholarship um and all four of those students um received recognition that night um through Avid lastly I want to clarify statements made and questions that I received on January 16th 2024 the board minutes show
150and president blad's report out of Clos session State quote the board took action and close session to non- reelect probationary certificated employees for the 2425 school years school year as identified in resolution number 2318 that vote carried 5 to zero any actions or comments made by board members or staff pursuant to the January board meeting that are not consistent with the approved resolution 2318 to non- reelect probationary certificated employees for the 2425 school year is false the resolution to be clear is is specific to probationary certificated employees and does not extend beyond probationary employees action the board took in close session on January 16th 2024 was strictly for probationary student employees thank you thank you Mrs Anderson good evening everybody I'm going to try to go fast because I have a lot of information but
151first um I'd like to share something that um I didn't get to share in as we were discussing things um and this is a fact that there is no school in Orange County that offers specialized training for free the um Rancho School in Anaheim that's generally referred to costs $580 a month to attend I've spoken to a parent and she has confirmed that that is what she pays her son goes to school in the morning and then um a a van picks them up and takes them to the school and it's 589 $580 a month also another school that is widely um used to compare to USI is the IMG school in Florida the starting tuition for that school alone is 86,00 ,000 a year the price only goes up depending on what program your
152child is in so now I like to get to the fun stuff the part I really like about my job um I got to go to Valadez middle school and tour the campus and I got to see great math interventions in several classrooms and I loved um the detail lessons that I witnessed to help kids reach their math goals I got to check out the stem lab um the mental health room and while I was there I got to actually meet a student um that had been receiving Services there and he got to tell me a story and tell me how much Valadez has helped him and how he feels welcomed and he's really making strong improvements I also got to tour Morris Elementary and it was fun to visit a school right after open
153house because the rooms looked amazing thank you teachers um I saw students working on opinion essays whether they like the beach or the park better uh lots of small work groups um it was the week before spring break so there was many uh writing math and art projects that were all bunny themed and I was shocked the kids were on task even though they were going to Spring Break um I send attended the CTA stakeholders meeting and this was a great meeting where teachers students and administrators and indry Specialists come together to lift and Inspire collaborate celebr at and discuss CTE and I love the setup because each table there was a a student a teacher an administrator and an industry special list and so my big takeaway that night was um that St students
154leave with program in Industry certificates 192 students at p and um got and other Ro programs got Adobe certifications for free uh students take the OSHA residential constructional certific certifications and 109 food handler certificates from Valencia Alone um and then the ncct certification for medical assistance so thank you all the CTA people I also attended the 25th Annual Holocaust writing contest and it's been talked about enough so I'm I I don't want to disparage that I'm not talking about it but uh it was a great night a great event and our students excelled I attended the Shamrock and run and a big thank you to all of our volunteers that made this event so um special and started their morning super early and the reach Foundation raises money for Arts academics and athletes and thanks
155to kuanana club for providing breakfast and to all the sponsors and booths at that were there and special thank you to chicken nuggets on Tuesday and the turey drum line for the inspiring all the participants with their musical talents I also attend at the wasque accreditation meeting and I love bragging on our Eldorado and their amazing team and I also noted the major concern there of the lack of facilities um I attended the Orange County school board meeting um with the guest speaker of Christian Jackson and he talked about the AI education and um Mrs Buck was there as well I have visited Sierra Vista Ruby Drive Golden Elementary open houses and I saw many engaged uh children Turing their families around their classroom and showing off their work and they were so proud and
156the Beautiful classrooms by all those um teachers all the hard work that went into it it's a special thanks to all those schools I attended the principal Day lunch in along with Mrs buck and um Mrs blades and it was really a great day to be with our Community Partners um in the Chamber of Commerce and I loved hearing the feedback from our principles um I attended Valena High School pancake breakfast before spring break and I um flipped pancakes for about two hours and I love the dedication of the staff over there making um that morning special for them and it was just fun to see the kids and and be there enjoying it I saw the y blinda High School production of Oklahoma amazing I took a friend with me uh a young friend
157and um it was such a talented cast just act musically talented and um dancing was great I also attended the Unified sports track meet at Valencia and it was so great to see so many athletes participating and their fans there to support them thanks to everybody who made this help happen I attended a track meet at Valena high school and cheered on Valena athletes as they competed against the Pacific Mariners I attended the reach Foundation art works and I bought a calendar from y blinda Middle School student and it's all filled with original artworks and now you're saying Marilyn it's April it's too late no this calendar starts in July it's not too late so please contact your Belinda um middle school if you want to purchase this and also while I was there I
158talked to a young student and they've started a nonprofit at esparanza where they're selling esparanza hats and all the money that is received goes to student scholarship so it's students helping students and I saw so many great things um the memory Gallery I saw Tic Tac Toe boards created by um the unified art students and then the kids would play it um if you haven't gone like Dr Turner said I highly recommend you go check it out tomorrow um I attended the middle school wrestling tournament and it was amazing I loved watching the kids and the fans all there and I just like to thank Sarah Barton the high school wrestling coaches the high school wrestling teams and the many volunteers so two more things um congratulations to Valena high school kathon team as mentioned
159and don't forget love Placentia Saturday go to the website sign up to um volunteer and then if you can't go this week next week is Love Your Belinda and uh it's a great opportunity for your students to get um community service hours and that's all I have to do say okay um Sean had to leave because they had a fall victim so he texted me and said he had to go on a call so you're up so I guess I'm up you're up well I wasn't prepared yet I'd like to just uh I'm glad that everyone's here to celebrate another culmination of tax season give give yourselves a round of applause um that's been encompassing my life the last uh well three months um so I was extremely busy whether it was long days or
160late nights um so I didn't get to attend many of the things um that were happening I did get to see through pictures and videos that were sent to me um the wrestling tournament looked like it was uh I I wish I would have been able to attend that and the unified track me like there's just so much great stuff going on I did get a chance to go see Oklahoma at yinda high school um which again it's just great to see students using their gifts and um being really incouraged and edified in in their abilities and that's one of the great things that happen here at uh p uh last month at our meeting I actually got to have a conversation after the meeting with a couple people that I don't think that we
161feel the same about a lot of things but we had a really good conversation and I just wanted to encourage everybody to have conversations and talk to people that maybe you're not sure if you agree on many things because there's so many things that we are all fighting for and that if we listen if we don't listen to the noise and really hear each other out there's a lot that we can do together um I think there's there's so many times that we see things online or we hear things Telephone from uh did you hear this did you hear that and if you go to the source a lot of times it's not quite what it seems um I did get a chance to send a lot of email text and phone Communications about questions
162about the district um and I try to get on those as soon as possible so if I did not get back to you I apologize send another email um and I just wanted to say that it is a privilege to be here but it is not something that we do because we don't care all of us up here are here because we care and want to do what's best for the district and I just wanted to leave uh you with that tonight and if you did not get your tax return done I will not help you this week thank you very much okay so there's been so many questions like Todd said so I figured why not go straight to the source and that's why this is so disappointing tonight that so many people have
163left because we had a lot of our retirees here um and they've been sending out emails and they've been sending out text messages um and claiming certain things and so this would have just been a great opportunity for everybody to hear so hopefully they're at home watching the live stream um so we're going to start with this there was a email or a uh yeah an email or a text message sent out by a retiree in the community from esparanza and the claim was that the board is initiating the use of District facilities by outside charter schools is that true or false that's false it is false the only charter schools that are in our district are district run overseen by this board using our own staff there's one sorry one have we been imposing
164curric or were curriculum restrictions imposed that forced C Cal State University of Fullerton to discontinue student teachers to p yl USD huh no Cal State Fullerton so there was no difference in our curriculum no restrictions nothing nothing changed in our curriculum okay I think there's a letter that Cal State Fullerton wrote to us can we put up on the screen in January 7th of 2022 and this was from uh Mr Virgie or Dr vergie from Cal State ferton and we passed the critical race the in April of 2022 and this was sent to us in January of 2022 and it says and finally just as your graduates come to us we send our graduates to you indeed as a number one producer of K through2 teachers in Orange County we at Kell State Fullerton are
165honored to populate the classrooms and offices of the p ylusd with Titan teachers and administrators we are also proud that they come to you with the education to effectively explain and include CRT as well as ethnic studies in their classrooms as well as promote diversity Equity inclusion and social justice for all our r student teachers when they come to our classrooms are they expected to teach the district curriculum yes yes okay so nothing changed in our curriculum nothing was removed because there was no critical race theory in it and the supplemental curriculum has to align with our district curriculum if anybody would like to see this letter that Cal State Fullerton said that they are teaching critical race Theory and they're teaching their student teachers to do so here's what can be seen so three
166months before we understand it they were already sending a letter that was basically kind of saying we don't agree with your decision so then they pulled the student teachers when our student teachers come into the classroom they are expected to teach our children the district curriculum not something that the Cal State Fullerton curriculum is telling them to come into our classroom to teach that is a disservice to our students if that happens the next the next thing withdrawing from the csba I see the gentleman who came up and talked to our board about withdrawing the csba I don't believe he is here tonight or he's left the csba is only accessible to board members that's it teachers admin principes you have to log in to the csba they will send you emails and updates but
167it's the same type of updates that you get from Ed source that you get from their Twitter page because I've watched their Twitter page before and so before as you recall trusty Frasier or vice president Frasier he had us wait a month to ensure that we were not going to miss anything from the csba if we pulled out and saved our district 50 to $100,000 and so our attorney said no I get information and I will give you the updates and also the OC Department of Education says they get quarterly updates for all legal type business and so we are not missing anything by not being in the csba we are not missing any information we are not missing any of the things that he claimed teachers can't access it staff can't access it the
168only people who can access it are the board members so instead we chose to have that money go back into I guess the pot next question that was said in this email is there a mass release of Administrators and principles No in fact less than in previous years so why are people why are retired teachers why are they saying that this is a call to arms and why do they still say that there's a mass release of Administrators and principles this came out less than a week ago and yet we're still touting this how many teachers have we removed zero why are our teachers fearful for their jobs we have to start asking the questions who is causing teachers to be fearful for for their jobs because it is not me is it you is
169it you is it you is anybody here causing teachers to be fearful for their jobs who is telling teachers that they have something to be fearful of has the relationship between APLE and PUSD degraded because we are no longer Consulting with apple before implementing practices that affect teachers are we implementing any typ type of practices that affect teachers I'm going to take that as a no once again this is from a retired Union teacher in an email and that went out to the community have we banned any books in our curriculum we have not banned books in our curriculum can we stop saying that we've banned books here is it this is ours this is the head hono right here and she has said we have not banned books we have not banned book any
170books in the curriculum have we removed Dr Seuss in first grade per Sandy Santa Maria has Dr Seuss been removed from the district and their books no are we bringing religion into our curriculum the Christian nationalists we're not bringing religion into our curriculum huh interesting we do have a Bible class but it is we do have a Bible class but it is approved curriculum yes but we are not bringing religion into our curriculum how do you even do that how do we sit up here with all the curriculum reviews 30-day reviews all of the stuff that happens when you have to approve curriculum or approve books it all has to go through here it has to be out in the open for everybody to see how are we bringing religion into curriculum I have asked
171that question because somebody went on the channel 5 news and said that Dr chernis can I say what what your religion is Dr chernis Who is Jewish and I am Christian and somehow we've collaborated to bring Jew Judaism and Christianity into our curriculum please tell me how we've done that and I'm still waiting I am still waiting for somebody to tell me how that that has happened is is anybody going to tell me how this has happened all right all I'm trying to say I'm getting a little heated because I'm very very tired of this stuff because all of this these text messages and things like this are fear-mongering you're sitting here in the union retired Union people are saying a call to Arms a call to Arms what if I said a call to
172Arms what if you said a call to arms but it's a call to arms because what we're doing and they're accusing us of doing this and every day go in the supermarket oh my gosh you guys are fing hundreds of teachers no we are not we are fing zero nothing we're doing all of this stuff you've heard it right now you've heard it from all of them we are not doing it there's no Bann books the curriculum when we ban critical race Theory nothing changed so why are people saying what they're saying and so that's it I'm trying not to get too heated and so I also wanted to let people know because that was another question that came up about U USI we have a appr imately 4700 I high school students that are
173in athletics and those 4700 students will have the opportunity to access USI when you're sitting in here and they're talking about the during the day type thing Park View during the day is open to those students and so now after after school hours the 4700 students can somehow gain access to USI for training so it is part of our district and it is applicable for our students so let's say we're servicing maybe 5,000 students with USI and I think I probably hit my six minutes but I'm at nine crap you get three less okay three less next month and then one other thing that we did on the LC cap that didn't see girls flag football I did requested today as a middle school sport because at the wrestling tournament that's what the girls who
174were there wrestling said that they could really really really use to get them ready for the high school flag football and for the Olympics yes and for the Olympics and so that is my board report and next time I'll put a timer on myself all right I need a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn all those in favor I I