Copy of VCUSD Board of Education - Regular Board Meeting 01/14/2026 part 2 of 2

001Good evening. Welcome to the January 14th, 2026 regular governing board meeting. This meeting is reconvened at 6:07 p.m. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox, >> present. Trusty Hodes >> present. >> Trusty Young >> present. >> Vice President Flores >> present. >> President Amboy >> present. >> And our student trustees are absent. We have a quorum. >> Thank you. Um please stand for 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. >> For 5 C, report of actions taken in close session. The governing board met in close session and received information on anticipated litigation, labor negotiations, and the superintendent's performance evaluation. No actions were taken. Direction was provided to

002the superintendent and staff. Can I get in Can I get a motion and a second to adopt the agenda? Got it. Trusty Hodgees. like to make a motion to adopt the agenda. >> Trusty F. Um, Vice President Flores. >> Roll call. >> Trusty Fox. >> I. >> Trusty Hodes. >> I. >> Trusty Young. >> Hi. >> Vice President Flores. >> I. >> And President Envoy. >> I. >> And the motion passes. Five. Yes. >> Uh, we're down to board presentations. adoption of resolutions, memoriams, u community donations, acknowledgments, and recognition. >> So, President Amboy, I do want to um pause for a moment and just say a few words regarding the passing of one of our colleagues uh last week. So, we pause today to honor the life and service of Tamila Sullivan. Tamila joined VCUSD

003in March of 2008 and dedicated more than 17 years of service to our district. Always in support of deaf and heart of hearing programs. Over the years, she also served in the following roles. She was an educational interpreter three and a DHH pareducator too. Tamila was a dedicated interpreter, a passionate deaf advocate, and a steadfast support for students in the deaf and heart of hearing program at Pennyuk. She was an integral part of the Penna community, ensuring students were included, understood, and valued. Her commitment and compassion left a lasting impact on students, families, and colleagues. We'd hold her in our hearts as we observe a moment of silence in gratitude for her life and the difference she made. >> Thank you. Now, we're down to 6A. donations to VCUSD from our district partners and we

004have none. Um 7A uh inter agencies um none. Um 7B Valo Education Association VA. >> No. Uh we have none today. Uh, California's school employee associations cea. >> Thank you. And, uh, VSMA, >> no report. Okay. 7 C uh, reports of district advisory committees. >> Uh, no reports this evening. >> And for 7D, we have student reports and the students are, uh, absent today. Uh 7E community members. Um the purpose of the forum is for the staff and public to offer comments reports on items of interest within the jurisdiction of the board which are not on this evening's agenda. Um the public and staff are invited to make comments. However, no items brought to the board's attention under this section of the agenda may be acted upon at the meeting. Individual comments will be limited

005to no more than three minutes. Individuals may not relinquish their time for another speaker to add to the designated three minutes. Superintendent Reio, do we have any community member cards submitted? >> I do have some cards and I'm just trying to clarify if they're for exactly for this item. Uh Kashana Harmon Lee, is this the item you wish to speak to? So, you can please come to the podium. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. I'm here today on behalf of myself as well as advocate for my colleagues, especially one in particular that you guys honored tonight, Tamila Sullivan. Tama wanted to speak this evening, but sadly we lost her before she had the chance. I'm here to honor her request to speak the truth and demand change. My colleagues have experienced workplace hostility

006and denial of access over an extended period of time. They have been dismiss sorry degraded and spoken about rather than spoken with. They have been consistently they have consistently done their due diligence by documenting concerns and requesting support. Yet they have not been met with anything but favoritism towards staff and lack of accountability accountability and failure to take corrective actions. I can say this truthfully because I personally witnessed these behaviors and experienced some of them myself during my short time at Pinnick Elementary School. These these actions were not isolated incidents. They reflect a culture that is normalized. They normalize gossiping, disrespect and dismissal of colleagues particularly in the death of hearted hearing program. When this conduct by staff and outside contractors go unchecked, it creates a toxic work environment. More importantly, it creates an unhealthy

007learning environment for our students. Toxic adult dynamics spill into classrooms, create power struggles among staff, disrespect collaboration, and ultimately impact students. A central issue here is the denial of communication access. And when I speak to dei denial of access, I'm specifically referring to situations in where contracted interpreters refuse to interpret for deaf and heart of hearing employees and support staff working with deaf and heart of hearing students. My colleagues experienced denial of access by contracted in interpreters who were present by but refused to provide interpretation. Deaf and heart of hearing employees and staff are not asking for favors. They are demanding access. On multiple occasions, these interpreters were presented but refused to interpret, resulting in complete exclusion from communication. That is not a misunderstanding. That is a failure of access. And let me be clear

008that this issue is not only about interpreters, but also about the contact of other the conduct of other staff including teachers who actions have contributed to hostile and inequitable work environment. It is important to note that the interpreter company currently used by the district has been discontinued by other businesses in Solano County. A change in contracting companies is necessary because quality in the name does not always reflect quality and practice. Our experiences reflects broader challenges across the special education program in totality where there is a lack of adequately trained and qualified staff. continuing under the current model undermines access, accountability, and educational outcomes. Because of these experiences, we are formally requesting we are asking the district to provide written assurance that interpreters are required to interpret at all times to conduct a formal review of

009interpreter access failures and staff conduct to establish enforce the district-wide protocol governing access and professional behavior to review change the interpreter services provided and to provide written non-retalia retaliation protections. These requests are grounded in the Americans with Disabilities Act section 504, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, California Government Code 1135, and district nondiscrimination. I need you to employment obligations. Our students deserve healthy learning environments where adults model professionalism and equity and respect. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next card I have and I I apologize I'm trying to decipher. Is it quo middle? >> Yes. Perfect. Is this the the item you wish to speak on? >> Sure. Perfect. >> Okay. >> Just want to make sure we have in the right item. Okay. Good evening, members of the board, district, and leadership. I

010come before you today as a concerned community member and advocate for the students of our district. I want to speak directly to the individuals who set policy guide the direction of our schools. The board members and decision makers who hold the authority and responsibility to ensure that public education serves all students equitably and effectively. We face a critical moment. We have we face a critical moment. We have access to state, federal resources such as expanded learning programs designed specifically to support supplemental, academic, social, emotional, and skill-based growth for our students. These funds are meant to bridge gaps, provide enrichment, and ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive. Yet, all too often, the distribution of these resources falls short of its potential. Instead of instead of a transparent process that prioritizes equity and results,

011these and results, these funds are too often allocated through favoritism and or nep nepotism. While staff work tirelessly, many entrenched in routines that without proper oversight and accountability can become bureaucratic and disengaged. Despite the urgency of the work we face, I am asking the board today to challenge the status quo. I'm asking you to ensure that staff, consultants, and partners working with the public funds are held to the highest standard of diligence, creativity, and integrity. We need individuals who are fired up about the challenge ahead, not simply going through the motions. We need process processes that are transparent, equitable, and outcomes driven, including open requests for proposals that give all qualified providers a fair opportunity to serve our students. Our students deserve no less. We have a responsibility to use every available dollar, every program,

012and every resource to its fullest potential. I urge you as stewards of this district to exercise your authority boldly, demand accountability, insist on equity, and hold bureaucracies to a standard that puts students first. The challenge is significant, but the stakes, our children, our community, our future are far greater. Thank you for your time and your service. Let me know if you want. Okay, that's >> Thank you. Um, the last card for this specific item is Cindy Murray. This is a really difficult time for me. Um, this is my first time coming up and speaking. Um, but I'm normally uh Tamila was the one who was always advocating. Um, this has been a really hard and stressful work environment. Um, I was one of the deaf people that uh was previously mentioned having no uh interpreters

013uh or interpreters refusing to interpret for me. And so I'm here to formally request that you please drop the um the agency that the school has been partnering with because the interpreters who they're using have no training uh do not conduct themselves ethically and they're often we're seeing favoritism um power struggles and things like that and it's been really really awful. So please please for me for Tamila we need the change. We've been asking for it. Thank you. Thank you. That is all the cards for the community members 7E. So we can move on to the next item. Moving to um eight uh consents. May I have a motion and a second to approve consent items A through P? Vice President Flores, >> make a motion to accept consent items 8A through 8P. Trustee Dr.

014Young. >> I second. >> We have a motion by Vice President Flores and a second by Dr. um Trusty Dr. Young. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox. >> I. >> Trusty Hodes. I >> trusty young >> I. >> Vice President Flores >> I. >> And President Amboy >> I. >> And the motion passes five. Yes. >> Now we're down to information job classification and compensation explor uh exploration study proposal. Um Matt Chamberlain, assistant superintendent of human resources. >> Good evening, President Amboy and trustees. I'm here tonight to present a proposal for job classification and compensation exploration study proposal. Um we are looking to use the educational management solutions company uh EMS who would come in and do an unbiased and impartial uh comprehensive job classification and compre uh compensation exploration study to give Vallejo City

015Unified School District a clear, legally defensible and datadriven understanding of its workforce structure and pay systems. This study prepares the district to make informed decisions that improve equity, competitiveness, and long-term fiscal sustainability. What will EMS do for us? Well, they'll give us a clear and defensible job classification uh list in which they will review classified, certificated, and administrative positions to ensure that the job roles are accurate, consistent, and aligned with how work is actually being performed across the district. This reduces confusion, overlap and risk related to mclassification and outofclass assignments. In terms of uh legally compliant and uh job descriptions, the EMS will develop and refine function-based job descriptions to meet current legal standards. Um and the descriptions will strengthen the district's position in hiring evaluations, accommodations, grievances, and potential litigation. Using an education uh

016an education specific point factor methodology, EMS will analyze internal equity access of positions. uh the uh as a district we will clearly understand whether our jobs are fairly aligned with one another and identify compression inconsistencies and inequities before they become larger labor legal issues. In terms of structure of the compensation, EMS will evaluate current salary structures to identify system systematic issues affecting recruitment, retention, and placement. The focus is on practical sustainable compensation strategies that align with the district's goals and fiscal realities, not theoretical models. In terms of uh market positioning, EMS will identify appropriate local and regional market competitors, ensuring that VCUSD is prepared for a full market compensation study and understands where it stands competitively for key roles. and two of our local school districts in Solano County have already undergone undergone this process.

017Um, in terms of stakeholder engagement, EMS will use a collaborative process that includes administrators, supervisors, and employee organizations, our unions. Uh, this transparency will build trust, reduce conflict, and increase the likelihood of successful implementation. In terms of uh the capacity for building staff, uh the HR department will receive training uh with access to EMS's Nexus job description software enabling the district to maintain and update job data long after the study is complete. In terms of what the board will receive for this study, uh the board will receive a clear report of findings and recommendations outlining risks and opportunities and specific next steps for a full classification and compensation study. Now, EMS is not a company that that is just a startup. EMS has been around for 30 years. They have extensive work in California and

018uh many of the districts in and around uh Salano County have used EMS before especially in Contraosta County. They have proven success working with boards, unions and administration and they focus on a practical implementation not just analysis. So what problem are we looking to resolve? Well, we have inconsistent and outdated job descriptions, internal pay inequities and compression, mclassification and outof class work concerns, difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified staff and exposure to legal and labor challenges which creates um a district-wide um issue for for the HR department and the districtwide. Um how will this again work with our with our labor partners? Well, this is a com um a collaborative process in which EMS will engage the process with all of our labor groups in order to provide transparency that builds trust, reduces disputes over outcomes,

019improves acceptable um uh findings of of any concerns as well as defining well defining the roles and equity analysis that reduces grievance that are related to classification and compensation. So, um, overall what will we be getting? We'll be getting a district-wide classification analysis, a compensation structure review, a market compensation identification, stakeholder engagement, a detailed final report with recommendations, uh, training for the staff, uh, HR staff, and all of the travel and materials are, uh, within the expenses that are, um, included in the proposal. So again, this is for information and I'll bring this back next month for for your consideration. >> Trusty Dr. Young. >> Um I have a question. Thank you for that overview. Um the question is how many consultant uh firms did you consult before you decided on this one? >> That's

020question number one. >> Sure. Um there there are two u organizations that do this type of work that I'm aware of. School services being one of them and EMS being the other. Um I see that we are also becoming an ATM machine for out of state contracts too. This is an out ofstate contract. Do we couldn't find anybody within our state to to solidify this job? They they operate out of Nebraska, but they do have a local office in Murphy's, California. And so, um, in terms of of the overall cost, um, this company has worked with small, medium, and large size, uh, districts. And so, I think that they fit right within u what we're looking for. The study um will not mandate raises or structural changes but offer suggestions and recommendations based upon the

021market around us. And uh in terms of overall expense um I think it's a a reasonable expense that will help us to rightsize all of our uh compensation structures to make sure that we are competitive within the area. >> That that's fine. But that that didn't ask why why are we outsourcing again? We are don't don't we have anything in California >> for the study? I mean, we could certainly reach out to school services to see, but their proposal is going to be the about the same price as what EMS is charging us >> because one is based in Arizona, one is based in Wyomi. Um, I have a concern with that. >> Yeah, Dixon Unified, for example, they use school services. Thank you, >> Trusty Hodgeges. >> Thank you. So, so you said there

022were two other school districts nearby that used them. >> Get any feedback about the services they received >> at the last labor law consortium last Friday. Uh both districts mentioned that they've gone through the process and they they felt that it was a successful process for them. um not to to quote out of context Dixon Unified, but they've recognized that they're at the bottom level of compensation um across Solano County and they're looking to um aim for the the middle of the county. So, they're going to be doing some substantial work there. >> Okay, thank you so much. >> Okay, moving to 9B second quarterly report regarding Williams settlement of uniform complaints uh October 1st, 2025 through December 31st, 2025. Um assistant superintendent um Heather Deasio. >> Good evening, Superintendent uh President Amboy, Vice President

023Flores, Trustee Dr. Young, Trusty Hajes, and Trusty Fox. Um I bring before you the um item uh with the quarterly report for the William settle settlement and uniform complaints. Um this report does indicate one facilities complaint that was received right before we went on winter break. Um so it is as of yet unresolved, but it is my understanding that the materials and parts have been ordered to resolve the complaint. Thank you. All right. Moving down to item item 10. Uh consider adoption of resolution 5103 to approve renewal petition for Griffin Academy High School. Uh again, uh Superintendent uh Heather Tasio, please. >> Yes. Good evening. Um again I am joined by um coordinator Christy Gardner who's going to present with me. I'm going to open and she's going to go walk through the report with

024you. Um as you are aware the district received a petition on October 15th to renew Griffin Academy High School's charter for a 5-year term commencing July 1st, 2026 and ending on June 30th, 2031. Griffin Academy High School has been authorized by the district since 2020 and operates as an independent classroombased charter school serving students in 9th through 12th grade. Um, as you know, um, under AB550, we must have two public hearings. one to determine the level of support for the petition and two for the board to consider the approval or the denial of the petition and during which the petitioner um must receive equal time um and procedures as district staff to address the findings and any proposed recommendations. So um district staff has also published the staff report um and proposed the findings, facts

025and recommendations um ahead of tonight's meeting. Both of these requirements are being met this evening and um you may recall that there was an initial public hearing uh before we went on winter break with this being the second public hearing. Additionally, um the law that is applicable to an existing charter pertains to whether it meets certain academic achievement and performance criteria to qualify for renewal. Um, so the law now sets out a three- tiered system, whether a school is a high-erforming charter school, a middle performing charter school, or a low performing charter school. And those designations um uh guide the board on on whether or not they they are uh presumptive approval or presumptive denial. A high achieving charter um is eligible for at least a five-year term of renewal and up to seven-year term.

026A middle performing charter is um presumed eligible for a five-year term and a low performing charter is a presumption presumption of denial meaning they are presumed to be ineligible however could be authorized for a two-year term. So given that Griffin Academy High School qualifies as a middle performing charter school, placement in this tier requires that the district evaluate their performance uh on local indicators and the dashboard. Greater weight being given to um measures of academic performance and that there be clear and convincing evidence demonstrated by data that the charter school has achieved measurable increases in student academic achievement or u post-secondary outcomes. So, the only criteria if these criteria are met, the board must grant a 5-year renewal with limited exceptions. Those exceptions being if they fail to make sufficient progress toward meeting standards um

027that provide a benefit to the school students, if the closure is in the best interest of students, and if the decision provides greater weight to performance on measurements um of academic progress performance, excuse me. Um so if these factors are present then you could consider um a denial but un but in the absence of these factors there is a presumption in favor of renewal. Okay. I'm going to turn it over to Miss Gardner to share this staff report. Good evening, Superintendent Aurelio, President Amboy, Vice President Flores, and board members Young, Hodes, and Fox. The district has conducted a thorough review and evaluation of the Griffin Academy High School petition to determine whether or not the school should be renewed for an additional term. I'm here to provide you an overview of our findings in the

028district's recommendation. Griffin Academy High School is a middle performing school, as you've heard. And a middle performing school is a school that does not meet high performing status defined as a school where performance indicator colors are blue or green on all state indicators for two years. nor does it meet the low performance status defined as a school where all performance indicators are either red or orange for two years and schools that do not meet either of these criteria are considered middle performing schools. Griffin Academy high school performance indicators range from blue in ELA or English language arts to red in the suspension rate. An increase in both ELA and math has sustained their position as a middle performing school along with their verified data confirming at least one year's progress for each year in school

029or strong postsecary outcomes. As stated before, Griffin High School has originally approved in 2020. And although the managing entity and the affiliated schools have been around since 1999, Griffin High School or Griffin Academy High School is an early college high school that partners with community college to allow students dual access to C college coursework. And many of these courses are taught on their site or online. This model and partnership allows students the opportunity to attain an associates degree along with their high school diploma. The school uses the gradient learning platform which was formerly Summit Learning and integrates curriculum assessment and social emotional learning across core subjects and is compatible with their Chromebooks that they use on site. The petition also stresses CTE pathways, although the program relies on community college pathways rather than offering them

030at the high school. It is also noted that the enrollment calculations included in this pet petition have been significantly revised from the original petition to reflect enrollment trends experienced over the past five years. Based on Griffin Academy High School's multi-year projections, cash flow, and budget assumptions included with the renewal petition, Griffin Academy High School appears financially stable, and its budget is balanced across all years of the proposed 5-year charter term. However, recent concerns have been raised with GTA regarding interorganizational loans among the GTA affiliated schools, a concern that will be addressed in a separate meeting with GTA leadership. Based on the results from the CASP and progress being made, Griffit Academy High School as a middle performing school qualifies to be renewed for a 5-year term. However, through the evaluation process, there were areas identified

031that need clarification or action that needs to be addressed. The district is asking that a plan be put in place and included in an addendum to the petition in the following areas that I've identified. These include the clarification of credits needed to graduate. The petition offers two different numbers 240 and 245. Additionally, a confirmation of the number of high school credits students could earn during the high school career is not in the petition. There's no reference made as to how many students a a person a student could potentially earn through the four years of high school. The petition does not include a description of a guidance counselor's role in guiding students through their high school years. Even though the petition states in element B, measurable student outcomes, state priority 4, regarding student achievement sub priority

032E, their AP exam, passage rate under actions to achieve goal, it's listed, offer academic counseling and support to guide students in selecting rigorous courses that align with their college and career goals. Please note that there are no AP courses that are offered and this reference there is no reference to the counselor's role in the petition or it's referenced minimally. Additional information and actions also needed to address specific elements of the petition include the following. We need to amend element B measurable student outcomes subpriority basic services teachers with reference to their teachers. description of actions to take that support and ensure teachers are on track to clear their credentials and are current with their licensing as an example English learner certification. We need to they need to re-evaluate element B other student outcomes to ensure that

033appropriate goals address all student groups that there are measurable and consistent and in alignment with other related goals and outcomes for the student populations in reference to state priority number five and sub priorities C and D which are relate to science and social science. The current goal is for at least 70% of students pass coursework in science and social sciences. This could severely impact their graduation rate if only 70% of their students pass these courses as they're required for graduation. Amend element D, governments, to include a description of the selection process for filling vacant board positions and a description of how board will ensure active parental participation in the governance of Griffin Academy High School. This is the second request for this. This was identical verbiage that was used in the renewal petition for the

034the um MIT middle school that was the new uh term started at 7125. This recommendation was previously made in those findings. Amend element E, employee qualifications, and add job descriptions of the counselor, wellness coordinator, and wellness coach as key employees for a Griffin Academy High School. The petition only describes the role of the counselor as it relates to higher achieving students and does not include descriptions of the wellness coordinator, the wellness coaches, or the counselor. I'm losing my voice. Additional information is also needed to address the 2025 dashboard results in the following areas. Measures to take to increase and maintain future progress in English learners and long-term English learners. Addressing the reasons for the decline noted in the 2025 dashboard, the English learner uh progress indicator declined by 11.5% and the long-term English learner indicator

035declined by 9.8%. Development of a system of accountability with specific timelines to address the increase in the number of suspensions and the goal to reduce the current number to 3% in each subgroup. The 2025 dashboard for African-American subgroup is 24.4% which was an increase of 13% over last year's and socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroup currently is 14.8% which is an increase of 6.8% from the prior year. The plan for increasing college and career indicator it this declined by 32.4% from prior year. The indicator measures high school graduates readiness using multiple metrics which include the smart smarter balanced test scores, completion of A throughG courses, success in CTE pathways, AP IB exams, college credit scores, and their a military leadership program. Investigating why this indicator sustained a substantial decline will assist in creating an appropriate plan of action

036to address the situation. Currently, the indicator is dependent upon the smaller balance, smarter balanced test scores, um, A throughG course completion and students successfully completing college coursework, fleshing out the actions to offer academic counseling and support to guide students in selecting rigorous courses that align with their college and career goals, which was indicated in element B, measurable student outcomes. for student achievement in the AP category and developing a mechanism to track each student's college and career plan with checkpoints to ensure that each student is on track to graduate may serve to address both the decline in college and career indicator and the graduation rate as Griffin Academy High School is making sufficient progress towards meeting standards that provide a benefit to the school students. Closing closing the school would not be in the best interest

037of students and based on the dashboard progress is being made in English language arts and math. Although EL progress and career and college indicators also need attention. The district requests that should the petition be approved, the areas identified as needing attention be addressed and a written addendum be submitted to the district prior to commencement of the new term or by June 30th, 2020 for further evaluation by the district. That concludes my report. Thank you. My voice time to open a public hearing. You know, >> um, Trusty Fox, >> I have a few questions. I don't know who I asked them to, but um, first one, can you clarify that the attendance was changed throughout the report of the petition? What did you what did you mean by the the number of attendants at the site

038was changed in the report in the petition? >> Oh, the >> discrepancies. Yes. >> What discrepancies? >> What do you mean? >> You said something that the there was changes in the petition with the >> Oh, the new the enrollment numbers. In each petition, you have to anticipate >> No, no, no. The microphone. >> Oh, I'm sorry. In in each petition, you need to to identify the number of students that you anticipate for five years for the term. So in the original petition when it was first approved like the max would be it build out to 560 students and in the current petition it's much more realistic because they're starting with a population of only 170 students. So they're building it out to I believe 286. >> Thank you. And then what was the there's

039something about loans being taken. What was that concern about a loan >> inter agency loans? That's a kind of a financial situation that we're addressing with them currently. It doesn't have anything really to do with this particular petition. The information that they submitted in this was was adequate. >> Okay. And the next one is um how many current teachers you mentioned current teachers without valid teaching credentials. Is that a significant number or is that minimal? What are we looking at there? >> They all have teaching credentials that are either that have either been um through the state. So there they could be a long-term sub, they could be a temporary credential, they could be a um a clear credential. So but and but there are I think it's there's 70% are clear credential. So there's

04030% that do not have a clear credential, which means that many of them do not have an EL certification. Basically, >> be working with second language students. >> Correct. I mean, all teachers need an EL certification. And that leads me to my next one with the EL decline rate in their dashboard. Those that's very that correlates that's a strong correlation right there. Could be >> if you have 30% of your teachers that aren't trained with meeting EL expectations. Um then the next one is um what is the suspension rate? >> I think I the suspension it's I don't have that information right now. They have a their goal is for it to be at 3%. Like in the two subcategories for African-American and socioeconomically disadvantaged those are the two higher rates. One is 24.4% and

041the other one was I think what is it 13%. No 24.4 and 14.8%. >> Thank you. Sorry, >> we need to give the equal time to >> Yeah, >> we need to open the public. >> We'll get to your question afterwards. >> Like I'd like to open the >> um I have a question. >> We're gonna We'll We're going to open to open hearing first, then we'll get to your question afterwards, Dr. Y. Promise. So now I'd like to open um the hearing >> and then Dr. Young before you ask you you have a question for the district because we need to give Griffin their equal time to present as well. Do you want to hold your question? Is it just strictly for the district or is it also for Griffin? Okay. So, why don't

042we call Griffin Ford? >> Hi, Nick. That was 20 minutes, so you have 20 minutes. >> Okay. We prepared a 10-minute conversation with you, so we'll just stretch out every word for a little longer. >> I'm I'm joking. We'll try to keep it to uh the 10 minutes that we uh were originally allotted. Uh it is a pleasure to be here in front of you again with my colleagues uh several students um and a lot of uh our other community members are online. Uh my name is Nick Driver, superintendent. So superintendent Aurelio, uh President Amboy, Vice President Flores, uh Trustees Young, Hodges, and Fox. Good evening, and I'm really proud to be in front of you all with my colleagues to present our case for um for the renewal of our petition for Griffin Academy

043High School tonight. Um uh I want I want to also commend the staff, assistant superintendent Tobasio and charter coordinator Gardner for their reports. Um before I go into our presentation, which will start in a minute, um I do want to say that we agree with many of the findings uh that were were found in the staff report. And so um we are happy to address some of the questions that I'm sure you have and you already have had. uh as Trusty Fox also we will be sitting down as uh Miss Gardner said with the district uh to talk about the addendum that we are committed to provide. So among other things we we provide items that we didn't provide last year in in terms of governance. That is a an easy fix and we should

044have done it last year. Um but hopefully this presentation which um we compiled after the staff report uh a couple of weeks ago will answer some of the questions and of course we're happy to take questions. So I'm here uh with uh two of my co-presenters from last time as well as our interim site director Alex and Seraldi. So helping me with this presentation and answering questions will be my chief academic officer Margie Deorggio our wellness director um Crystal Crystal thank you Crystal for being and also Allison and CeRoli they're all right here and uh we'll be answering questions as well as speaking if you could go to the first slide. So again, thank you for your recommendation and the recognition that under the law that passed in 2018, we are qualified and eligible for

045a fiber renewal under a middle tier uh under that ed code and that we have had increased um ELA and math scores over the last year. We'll show those those scores. Um we are outperforming the state in both science and ELA. uh which um which which means that um we're doing quite well and and it is our highest performing school in those measurements. Uh the students feel safe and connected to school feeling a sense of belonging and as I said earlier we are committed both to working uh with the district on anou and to working on the addendum that was referenced by the in the staff report. If you could go to the next uh slide. So the mission of all of GTA schools including Griffin Academy High School is that it it prepares students

046for in Valo to be ready for college, career and life through diverse innovative instructional programs that focus relentlessly on student academic achievement and social emotional well-being. Uh we know from your questions last time how important it is and we know it already. Uh which is why we have a a wellness director uh and a and a number of wellness coaches. how important social and emotional well-being is. We added it to our mission. That's how important it was. Uh we added it um about four years ago when I first came on. Our vision is that all DTA graduates will have the self-confident self-confidence, academic knowledge, problem solving, and target technology skills to experience success in life and contribute locally and globally. And as mentioned in the staff report, even though Griffin Academy High School is only

047six years young, uh it is part of an organization that has been around for 26 years, used to be called MIT Academy, now MIT Academy is one of four schools, and we're proud to have Griffin Academy High School as the newest member of our four school mini district. Uh with that, um I'm going to pass it over to uh uh to Alex and Seraldi to talk about Abbott. Alex. >> All right. Thank you. Uh good evening everyone. My name is Alex and Seraldi. I'm the interim site director for Griffin Academy High School. I just want to talk briefly about AVIDS schoolwide. For those of you who are not aware of AVID, it's a framework for creating an academic culture across the entire school. Uh it it involves uh both AVID classes and also schoolwide um

048initiatives. Um for example this year we are doing focused notetaking which is a way for students to not only just take notes but also process and understand them as well as tutorials which is a way for students to learn how to solve problems and through questioning uh figure out how they can solve the problems on their own. So it's it's basically a way for a student to become a better student and become a self-sufficient student. Um in addition to this we also have um other initiatives. Right now we have uh claim evidence and reasoning. It's something that we're doing right now across both the middle and high school where students uh through all their all their classes are have to make claims of various of sorts depending on whether it's science or social studies or

049English and explain why which is a very important skill I think. Um and that's if you can go to the next slide after that I want to hand over to uh Margie. Good evening, board. Good to see you. Um, as we shared last time, our scores and our math continue to grow and this is something we continue to focus on. Growth is great. We've got a long ways to go and we want all of our students to feel competent in math. So, can go to the next slide because we talked about that last time. Um, and then our ELA scores continue to grow over time. And again, I'll restate that part of this is the integral way that all of our teachers work together. They plan together, they work together, they strategize together, and they

050figure out how they can find the intersection of all the subjects. Like Mr. Ensuraldi just shared, for example, claims, evidence, reasoning. They're doing it in all their subjects. So, it becomes second nature for them. We want them to be able to substantiate their claim. And it's evidenced by increasing scores in our two main content areas, but they're getting exposure and practice across all their content areas. Go ahead. You can see how we are stacking up against the state with our ELA and our some of our main subgroups. Keep in mind too with our very small population, some of our subgroups don't trigger enough students tested to populate a color on the dashboard. And so sometimes that gives an idea about how students may or may not be performing. But it's just, as you guys know,

051for protection of student data that we can only publish so much, which is one of the reasons why we lean heavily on our MAP scores to really be sure that our students are growing in their skills. If you can go to the next slide please. Our science again and our subgroups continue to outpace the state and are growing. Another area where we continue to focus on intersectionality of the content and how we can bolster it across all of our classes. So here's the map. This is why I was saying we lean a lot towards map because again we can look at the data internally regardless of the number of students in each subgroup. there with a few exceptions. Um you can see that over time our continue our students continue to demonstrate growth and the

052longer we have them the more growth they can gain. And again I attribute this to our very strong teaching staff and how they work together and how they intentionally plan and they come back and again the looping of students having the same students over and over. You don't relearn new kids every semester every year. you get to pick up where you left off and so the growth I think demonstrates that. If you can go to the next slide please. So this is kind of an eye chart. You guys have it you can see it closer. Um but this is our map growth. So keeping in mind that zero means our student a student would be at the typical average rate of growth. So we want um to see that students are achieving above that. And

053even the group subgroups again with a few exceptions some of them that start below continue to march forward over time. And now I'm going to hand it over to my colleague Crystal Con. Good evening. Um I just wanted to highlight a few things for you tonight with wellness. You all saw this slide before. Um, but all of our supports are interwoven within a three the three tier support system. Um, our wellness coaches, I know they came up earlier. Um, I'm the wellness director, so I'm in I'm leading that that whole group. Uh, our wellness coaches really do offer the support within all three tiers. Um, as mentioned last time, we have our social emotional curriculum that they support and work with our advisory teachers on implementing in the classroom. It includes tableling events, activities in

054the classroom, um, and monthly themes which have been very well received. Um, we also have our wellness coach who is clinically supervised as an intern. So, she also supports with tier three supports. And then the tier 2 are those check-ins as needed, opening our wellness room groups um that we offer to all students as needed by referral. Um we have our academic adviser who is actively helping students enroll in their college courses for next semester. Um she is new to our team and doing really really well. Um we have our clinically supervised interns who are operating by referral for the tier three support as well as the outsourced stepping stones um clinicians who do the same. Um our wellness program has been very wellreceived and one of the highlights if you want to go to

055the next slide is how it's been supportive with reducing our suspension rate. Um, it is something we're working on, something that our team really believes, uh, suspension is not always the answer. Um, sending kids away from school, going into an environment where they're sometimes alone and allowing them to really access their education um, if at all possible with alternative interventions interventions is what we are aiming for. Uh we have introduced wellness improvement plans which is really a wraparound restorative approach. Um understanding that there's always more to the story. There's always something that lies beneath. Um and it gives us an opportunity to work with all parties involved in whatever the conflict is. Um we have consequences as part of that plan. Um but sometimes that can mean campus beautifification and really working on like that

056that form of community service. Um it can mean you know enjoying lunch inside after um after enjoying lunch inside the NPR coming into the office and working on a project or an assignment and a way to give back as well. Um part of that also is restorative conversations. Sometimes that can look like an RJ. Sometimes that is just a restorative conversation about what happened either student to student, student to teacher, whatever that might look like. um really trying to build the community back up and um we have seen it be very productive with some of our uh students who have felt more of a challenge um behaviorally on campus. They're now coming back and seeing um this is why I'm doing this. This is why this is happening. So part of that is also that

057one-on-one support. Um and the projects or um lessons that are attached to that restorative plan are really focused on what the reasons are behind their choices. Um and again that R.J. potentially um has really restored community on our campus. Thank you. >> Okay. So um as uh as Crystal said with all these things that we're trying um we have experienced a decrease in the suspension rate and you know and you know quite you know as you know this is uh halfway through the year so this is not a final suspension rate. We have to wait till the end of the year before we really know. But we are very hopeful uh of the things that we've done. Uh I think that they've been very successful and uh you know every every kid is an an

058individual. every situation is is unique and we tr we treat it that way. We we and I would say that we try to work very very hard and we we've redoubled our efforts to work with the parents to bring them in as partners to figure out a way to change the behavior whe whatever that was. So um you know we we'll be as creative as we have to and we're going to keep trying and keep working with the parents and all the other things to continue to decrease these suspension rates. Um next slide. Thank you. This is the same uh rate but just broken out by by by demographic. So black a African-American low-income English learners and Latino students. And again, we're only halfway through the year. So we're going to have to continue to

059work on this and work with each each individual. Uh next slide, please. And and once again, we are an early college high school. We have a lot of things that we're doing here, a lot of things we're trying. Uh we know that we have areas of growth that we have to address and we will address those. and uh we just um are very thankful to be able to be here and talk to you guys and share some of the good things uh that we're trying. Uh next slide and I'm going to hand over to Marty. >> Hi again. So there is concern about the reclassification but as we know that that can be um more of a lagging indicator since the ELPAC scores are released over the summer and we have um not just an

060English grade but our MAP growth that has to be there a certain level of growth has to be demonstrated. It's different for each grade level. Um, and so sometimes students have got a four in the alpac, but if they haven't demonstrated growth in the other areas, then we continue to work with them. So, compared to last year, this year we've already um demonstrated a 19% reclassification at the beginning of this year. So, the the low rate from last year, which reflected the ELPAC scores from the previous year, um, we're doing better. This year we're implementing some new EL curriculum uh through the ERWC model and that's proving to be uh wellreceived. The teachers are loving it. We are training all of our teachers across all content area more and more on effective EL strategies to

061use in all the classes. I agree that's a huge part of when students can struggle is if not all the teachers understand how to help. And so we're having our ELD coordinator do PD with our staff to make sure that they have skills and strategies and that teachers are using similar skills and strategies in their classes so that it becomes again second nature for students. Um, and we're being more strategic with our use of our advisory to group English language learners together and then using our EL aids to help push in to help support in giving them that extra time and extra support in their subjects. Um, and the college career, you've heard a lot about that. We do, as Mr. Rinser Aldi say, we have some areas of growth. We're continuing to increase accountability,

062tracking, support structure, and um, organization again of how we use our support staff to help give students the extra help they need to track so that we don't find out too late. Students are struggling. We want to be on it right from the beginning and supporting them all along. So, we continue to focus on how we can improve that system as well. And so, our school, as you guys have read about in the petition, is a small but mighty, very committed group of staff, incredibly committed staff, students who are very passionate about their relationships with one another, with the staff, and committed to trying to find their path forward. And we're all in it together. It's definitely a community effort. So, we thank you for your time and we definitely ask for your recom so

063we can continue to do the work with our families that we've been doing. It's just getting good. Okay. Thank you. We have a few um cards that we um >> So, I'd like to these comment cards on this item and then turn it over to the board for questions and then um a motion after that. I'm going to go ahead and there's four cards submitted on this item. Yena Ortega Guzman if you can come forward and Carrie N Janiah Tagert and Ryan Shudary Shari. Good evening everyone. My name is Yasenia Ortega Guzman and I am a senior at Griffin High School. I am also my school's board representative and I've been a student at Griffin since seventh grade. So I have spent a large part of my life growing up in this school and community.

064One of the biggest reasons I value Griffin is because it is a small school. The small size makes it harder for negative or bad influences to take over and it allows students to be held accountable for their actions. This is one of the main reasons my parents decided to enroll me here. They wanted me in a school where I would be safe, supported, and surrounded by people who cared about my future. Another thing I truly appreciate about Griffin is the strong relationships between students, teachers, and staff. Teachers know us by name. They notice when something is wrong, and they genuinely want us to succeed. That kind of support is not something every student gets at every school, and it makes a real difference in our motivation and confidence. The friends and sense of community at

065Griffin are also incredibly important because the school is small and students build meaningful friendships and look out for one another. There is a strong feeling of belonging here and that creates a positive environment where students feel comfortable being themselves and focused on their goals. This sense of community is especially important in Valo where violence is common and many students face challenges outside of school. Griffin provides a safe and structured space where students can stay on track, avoid negative paths, and focus on their education. For many of us, Griffin is not just a school. It is a safe place. So, I really ask that you guys renew our petition. Thank you so much. >> You Carrie N. >> Hello and good evening everyone. My name is Carrie New and I am a sophomore at Griffin Academy.

066I have been attending a Griffin Academy for four years now and have been here to personally witness the growth of our school. Since I have gotten here, I have learned so many new things throughout the years with me being here with both communication and academics. When you attend Griffin Academy, you aren't just attending. You're being acknowledged and appreciated from the moment you walk onto campus. Most students have their own individual relationships with the staff, so it's much easier to address when things are bothering you, when you want something new for the school, or when you are enjoying something. The staff here don't just treat you like a number, they make you feel comfortable and like you have someone in your corner. Not only has the school helped me learn new things academically, but also socially.

067It's helped me learn how to communicate through my emotions, how to have a better work ethic, and of course, with the help of our college courses, stay on track with everything else you have on your shoulders. I'm asking that you renew our petition so that many other students like me can continue to have a safe space academically and continue to feel comfortable while at school. Thank you. >> Thank you, Janiah Tiger. Hello everyone. My name is Janiah Tagger, but I go by Nia. And I'm a sophomore at Griffin Academy. I've been here since last school year. And in that time, I've seen how much this school truly supports it students. One of the biggest strengths at Griffin is its small classes. Because classes are smaller, teachers can give more individual attention, which helps students understand

068the material and get help quickly when they need it. Griffin has pushed me and my peers to grow both academically and socially. The environment encourages us to work hard while also feeling supported. The school also offers extracurricular activities that bring students together, and I enjoy being part of that community. Griffin is a diverse and welcoming place and it and it has felt supported from the m the moment I stepped onto campus. While there is while there is also room for improvement, there's also positive impacts that the students Sorry. I'm proud to be a student here and confident that Griffin Academy deserves to continue serving our community. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Ryan. >> Um, good evening. My name is Ryan and I'm a sophomore at Griffin Academy. I've been attending this school

069for 5 years now and while there's always room for growth, there are also very good things about the school. Two things I like is the way they support initiative and how they listen um allowing us to bring our ideas to life. For example, I have always wanted to be on a science Olympiad team and when I proposed this idea to the school, they support the staff supported me in bringing my ideas to life. Now we have over 25 students um committed to expanding their STEM knowledge. Attending Griffin has helped me and my peers get an early start on college courses and be active in community service. Volunteering leaves a significant impact on the community and the way that Griffin encourages it is really meaningful. Um, my extracurriculars at Griffin include playing on varsity volleyball, serving

070as captain on the soccer team, starting the nature welfare club in addition to the science Olympiad team, and being active in ASB as 10th grade president and ASB publicity chair. Griffin should continue to exist because of the close-knit community and academic success it offers. Um, Griffin fosters academic excellence by encouraging dual enrollment, supporting initiative, and maintaining a small teacher to student ratio, allowing individualized support. Um, therefore, I believe renewing Griffin's charter petition is not only beneficial, but necessary to preserve a school that empowers students academically, supports their ideas, and prepares them for success beyond high school. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. That's all the public comment on this item. So, we can turn it back over to the board for questions or do you guys have any questions? Trusty Dean, >> I

071have a question for um for Griffin. It's about the wellness program. >> As I said, I'm I'm not usually going to be the right person to answer these questions, but that's why I have three colleagues. Miss Okonnell is going to be the best person to answer this question. Mr. Hodgees. >> Hi. Thank you. I I really like um your restorative justice practices and when you showed the slide for your decrease in suspensions, it was do you do you um count for well do you think your your restorative justice practices counts for that that huge drop in suspensions? I do think a number of things account for it, but I think our restorative practices is a big part of that. Um, coming up with alternatives to suspension and not just using that as a band-aid, but

072understanding that once you rip the band-aid off, the problem's still there. So, really being able to come back to the table after whatever consequence has to be initiated because well, let's be honest, we always there's a time and place for everything. Um, but even if there is a suspension, for instance, um the goal is no. But even if there is, we come back and we say, "Okay, so what happened? What do we do? How do we resolve the conflict in avoidance of it happening again or the likely decreasing the likelihood of it happening again?" >> Okay, >> thank you. Vice President Flores, >> I got a few items I want to just kind of get some clarity on. Um during the the district's report they they mentioned something about 70% graduation and can you clarify

073that a little bit more about what what what was meant by that? Yeah, I think I think um that uh is a admittedly very low number given the fact that we have an 87% graduation rate and our goal is 90% plus and we believe we are on track to increase from the current 87. Um so I believe that was just a not a typo but you know something that got in there that we need to fix. We will be happy to work with the district and fix that in the addendum because it is an unacceptably low number. >> Okay. Uh I I think one of the the main concerns going over the the report hearing is it feels like Griffin is building the plane as it's flying it. you know, there there's a lot of

074things that need to be added to this addendum that in my opinion I think the school should already have in place should have had in place. So, you know, one one of the things I was looking at was you're going to require all students to have 30 college credits to graduate. And it was mentioned that there's no set number on what the actual number of of credits required for graduations. It's either 240 or 245. I mean, I think that how can something that simple not have already been established, taken care of. But um and and one of the one of the concerns that's brought up is that in the in the um in the ask for renewal, it it it specifically calls out high achieving students, but what about the rest of us? You know,

075that that that's that would be my my take. um on on on paper when I was going through high school I was not considered a high achieving student even though I I could have handled it you know but so so again I think my my concern is that we're it it's goes back to that that that antidote that I said it just seems like the school is being reactive instead of proactive in in how it approaches education where it's kind of just slapping things together as things pop up. Oh, let me fix this. Oh, let me fix that. Oh, let me take care of this. whereas our our high schools are required to have things there by law, you know, and um so I you know, I just there's a lot of work it seems

076that that Griffith needs to to have, you know, and and and it's just it's worrisome that By law, there are certain only certain criteria that that allows us to to deny your your petition, but based on the information I received tonight, I you know, I I couldn't in good conscience vote in favor of it. But by law, there's certain things that only allow me to vote no or or would allow the board to vote no. So, um, a lot of work. I mean, at the end of the day, these students still are Valo residents, are still citizens of Valo. They're they're going to interact with our students. We're they're going to become the the doctors, the teachers, the uh the painters, you know, um, uh, of of our community. So, um, I just see a

077lot of work that needs to still be done that should have been done in my in my opinion. Thank you, Vice President Flores. Um, even though that I don't think there was a question there, I'm happy to um just respond with by saying that because of COVID uh and because of demographic shifts. I would say that all public schools in California and maybe the country are always looking to improve and in some cases, especially with COVID, have to be reactive. it just you know something that is much more powerful than we were was co um we introduced uh a whole wellness program partly because our students all students but our students also were struggling bec with with uh you know social and and emotional health issues. Um we are a very high performing school so

078we're the this is the highest performing school in um in our network. So, we knew we know we're doing something right. Our test scores are up. Our MAP scores are also up. So, we are definitely not just targeting high performing students. We're targeting all of our students. Our commitment is to every single one of our students. And it shows in the data that we are doing well. We're not doing as well as we want, but we are doing well. We know and you heard it from the students, you heard it from us, we've got a long way to go to make improvements um that need to be made and some need to be made and and you're right. In some cases, they should have already been made. In other cases, we have a constraint of

079having 170 student high school. It's it's going to grow next year, but 170 students is a very small um number of students. Therefore, we have a smaller budget than most schools to be able to do everything we want. So, I would I would just um leave it there. I don't know if you have anything additional, but I appreciate the concern. We have many of the same concerns as you do. >> So, I I think if there's a question there because I saw that there's a a a deadline of July 1st to have the written addendum in place of everything that needs to be done. Will it be done? Will it be ready and in place and and the program's going, you know, and and I will argue that having an 18% preparedness for college career,

080I wouldn't call Valo High a successful high school if that was the case. you you know so um but so the question is July 1st is the addendum is everything going to be planned and ready to go and and and met. >> Thank you for your question. Um, last year, as you recall, we prepared a 400page document for MIT Middle School um that we successfully uh worked together to approve for a new 5-year charter. That was a mountain of work. Uh, we did that again this year, this last summer and fall. And uh, and produced um, and you've had a chance to read another 400page document. The addendum that we're talking about is probably not a 400page document. I'm guessing it's a 10 to 50page document. We are absolutely committed to and will abide by

081that deadline. Um it it uh it feels like a meeting between uh BCUSD staff and GTA staff would be helpful in in us um understanding everything about the addendum. But if that's um not something that is possible, we we we will do it ourselves and absolutely submit it by the deadline and hopefully well before the deadline so that we can get feedback and improve on it. Y >> I noticed um well I've been on on here for a long time but this for this the last time you came up for a proposal some of these same things that we identified were then they're still there now. So, I'm trying to figure out why because they were supposed to address within that window of time that we gave you in order to address them, but they're

082popping up now. Um, the suspension. Did you ever do a rubrics that did graduated suspension of what you do before you suspend? >> Yes, we did >> something. Okay. Yeah. Um, so the 1% suspension rate that had I think is one point some I in one of these slides >> I think it was the African-American percentage has gone down to 2.9%. So under the goal that we we set for ourselves down from you know 24%. So pretty dramatic >> um drop down. Is that the percentage you're talking about? >> Uhhuh. >> Yeah. We're we're very proud of that. And as was stated before, it's only halfway through the year, so we know that it might not stay at 2.9%, but we're committed to working on all of our subgroups um suspension rates and getting them

083down as close as we can to 3%, which is our goal, or lower. And um we uh we've got practices like our wellness director, Miss Okonnell, said that we're working on. We're working on a number of things. And part of it is due to uh the wakeup call from the state around the importance of suspension rates. So we appreciate the state, we appreciate the district's focus on the lowering of suspension rates because those are important. You you are important partners for us in making sure that we are focusing on the right things. So we appreciate the oversight and the partnership. >> Um the other question is that um one of the suggestions had to do with a academic counselor. Yeah, we have an academic adviser which is slightly different job description than a school counselor

084but that position uh that person in that position >> they have a counseling credential. >> They do not have a counseling credential. That's why they're called an academic adviser but they provide uh many of the same services. We also have counselors like Miss Okonnell uh who can speak to that side of of of the counseling >> because actually the description of the the the advisory should be the counselor's job description because that's what they're credentialed to do. Um the other question is how are you going to address some of the concerns that we have that we presented to you? Um because some of them are duplicated because I would look back over the last uh submission and some of them are are still there. So how are you going to address those again? um that

085that was a different school and I think the thing that the district is doing differently this year which we appreciate is asking for an addendum. Last year there was no addendum requested and admittedly things like the selection of a new schoolboard member was not addressed and it absolutely will be addressed. Now that's something that will be a fix for all four schools because all four schools have the same governing board. So we'll fix it for Griffin Academy. It'll be in the addendum. will also fix it for MIT Middle School, which you noticed last year was a problem. It'll also be fixed for the other two schools as well. Um, I would say that's that's a really strong mechanism. Uh, I will also note that um, Miss Gardner will be coming out at some point in

086the spring uh, for three to four days um to do a thorough oversight and I believe that um, that will help us have a dialogue about the addendum and have a dialogue in general about how our schools are running. So, we we look forward to that oversight. Uh it on on-site oversight. >> I never I guess I never asked you this. Do you guys have a strategic plan? >> We have a fiveyear strategic plan. We're about two and a half years into it. Almost halfway through it actually. >> So, some of those things should have been in your strategic plan that we're addressing now. >> Are they? >> Yeah. Pretty much all those things. I mean that strategic plan was developed two and a half years ago by a bunch of community members and staff

087members and we have seen things more recently than two and a half years ago that we need to add to whatever plan it is to make sure it's on there. >> I was just to say you need to add some of the things. >> Sometimes things need to be added to. Yep. Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Fox. With all that's been said and you are going to be working on the amendments, um I'd like to make a motion to approve action item 10A, resolution 5103. >> Um do I have a second? >> Trusty F. Um Trusty Hodes >> second. We have a motion by Trusty Fox and a second by Trusty Flores. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox. >> I. >> Trusty Hodes. >> I. >> Trusty Young. Vice President

088Flores. >> No. >> And President Amboy. >> I. >> And the motion passes. Four yes. One no. >> Thank you so much. >> And this concludes the public hearing. Item 10B, approval of resolution 5105 in matter of discontinuence of classified positions due to lack of work and or funds for the 2026 2027 school year. Um Matt Chamberlain, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources. >> Thank you, President Amboy. Vice President Flores, trustees. I am seeking approval of resolution number 5105 in the matter of the discontinuence of classified positions due to lack of work and or lack of funds for the 2627 school year. It is recommended that the governing board approve resolution number 5105 in the matter of the discontinuence of the classified positions. Resolution 5105. Whereas education code sections 45114, 45117, 45298, and 45308 permit the

089governing board to reduce or discontinue classified services and terminate the employment of affected classified employees not later than the beginning of the following school year due to lack of work and or lack of funds. And whereas the governing board of the Vallejo City Unified School District has determined that it shall be necessary to reduce or discontinue the classified services of the district as described herein no later than the beginning of the 2627 school year due to the lack of work and or lack of funds. And whereas it shall be necessary at the end of the 2526 school year to terminate the employment of certain classified employees of the district as a result of this reduction or discontinuence in the classified services. And whereas it is of the opinion of the board that it is in

090the best interest of the district, including the welfare of the district's schools and pupils to reduce or discontinue the classified services and as a result terminate the number of classified employees of the district herein set forth. Now therefore, be it resolved by the governing board of the Vallejo City Unified School District that the foregoing recital are true and incorporated herein by this reference. Two, that the following classified services be reduced or eliminated as indicating as indicated commencing with the 2627 school year. Three, that the number of reduction or elimination of classified services set forth herein um and the number of classified employees of the district be reduced pursuant to education code 45117. Four, that the district superintendent or designate be directed to send appropriate notices to all employees whose services shall be terminated by virtue

091of this action pursuant to education code section 45117. Being here this evening, it's important to mention as previously stated since the start of the school year, no one wants to take part in reduction in force proceedings. It certainly doesn't feel good and no one is happy about it. That said, I want to remind the board and inform the listening public about the conclusion paragraph from the re recent correspondence from the Solano County Office of Education. Quote, fiscal year 2627 will be a pivotal year for the district. The district's multi-year projections indicate that without the full implementation of the 214.95 FTE in staffing reductions, the district faces the risk of negative fund balances in 2627 and 2728. While reducing this level of staffing will be challenging, it is achievable and necessary to restore long-term fiscal stability.

092It is equally important that these positions not be added back in 26,27 or future years as prior experience demonstrates that doing so undermines the district's financial recovery efforts. The district cannot continue to operate at a staffing level that exceeds its fiscal capacity. Continuing the right size of the organization is essential to stabilizing finances, avoiding further fiscal distress, and preserving the district's ability to serve students effectively. Sincerely, Dr. Nicole Parr, County Office of of Education Superintendent >> and we have um two comment cards. >> Yes. So, let's do the public comment on this item and then we'll turn it over to the board. Uh, Edwin Crane and then Mary Crane Mororrow after that. >> Hello, my name is Edwin. I go by Butcher Crane. For the last seven years, I've held the position of the senior

093lead grounds. All of the leads are working positions, not office positions. I've been employed by the district for 14 years now. BCUSD has a no bullying policy. Yet the superintendent and the executive board are doing just that. Sending out emails that state all of these jobs are either being eliminated or realigned to something else, but not saying what is going to happen. And do by doing so is creating major panic amongst the employees. If the district has a plan already on however it's going to play out, why hasn't it been attached to the original email? If they don't have a plan figured out completely, why did they send out the email in the first place? By eliminating all these positions, you will be losing a lot of valuable information that the employees who gained from

094all the years of service to the district that outside contractors won't have. I can't see how you as a governing board can vote yes for this plan without the next phase being shared by the district for everyone to see. And if you have seen it, why hasn't it sent out to the employees? CEA didn't create the budget deficit, but is being pushed to the burden of financial burden on their own backs by either losing their jobs, possibly having to do someone else's job plus their own jobs. How do you expect us to keep the morale high with everyone not knowing what their future will bring come July 1st? We are all dedicated hard workers, but the lack of information is making it hard to keep up people motivated. By eliminating these jobs, the district will

095spend more money to have the same work done handled by outside contractors considering the fact that they have to pay prevailing wages. Plus, they will add profit and overhead to their contracts. Prevailing wages are higher than the district employees are paid. If the district is in such financial trouble, why are we still renting this building when we have empty district-owned properties in town that are sufficient in size to accommodate this district office? Thank you. >> Good evening, superintendent and board members. I am Mary Crane Morrow, born and raised in Valleo, and I retired from VS VCUSD one year ago after 26 and a half years of employment. Retired, but still a concerned community member. I have seen a lot of changes come and go in those 26 and a half years. I'm very concerned about

096the proposal proposed elimination of so many CSEA positions. How can you vote in favor of this without clear direction of what is next? Who will do the work? Mr. Chamberlain just said earlier that this EMS study will build trust. Yet, this potential review of all job descriptions at a reasonable expense is coming after the vote to eliminate so many positions, which equals even more employees. This says the clear direction has not yet been identified. In the meantime, how do you expect employees to come to work with the same high morale when they don't know if they will be employed in July? How do you expect parents to want to bring their kids to our schools with all this uncertainty? Yes, the community sees and hears what is going on. CSEA are the lowest paid positions

097in the district, the smallest savings in that budget reduction you have to make. But they are hardworking, dedicated, and connect with students daily. The numbers that Mr. Chamberlain just shared, the list on the board said 139 point something FTE are classified, but Skoey says 214.9 FTE reductions are necessary. That's 64% of that is csea, the lowest paid employees. Who are the administrators that are highly paid and no disrespect meant, but who are they going to supervise if all of the classified employees are gone? Who's going to do this work to protect the students and help encourage them to be at school and learn what they need to learn? I am a retired active classified employee and very much a Valo community member and I will be here the long term. Thank you. Um, may I

098have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 5105 >> or any qu Oh, excuse me. Um, um, President Fox, we have questions. >> Mr. Chamberlain, I wanted to ask you to come back. Um, you mentioned negative fund balance rating for the district with the county or the state. Can you clarify that more? What does that mean or what would that mean to the district? >> Uh, that means that our budgets would not be qualified and we would have a negative budget rating with the county. >> But what can that in turn? that can trigger um going back into receiverhip or at least pushing us towards that direction again. >> We just came out of receiverhip last June, >> correct? >> After being in it for 20 years and we've worked so hard to get

099out of receiverhip to stay solvent. What is this? So the state and the county are both telling us if we do not make the cuts necessary, they will take us over and they'll make the decisions instead of local people who live here, which we're local people that live here. >> Correct. >> To make the decisions, >> correct? >> It would tie one hand behind our back. Definitely. >> Thank you, Trusty Young. My question is um the the number that we're cutting >> um that number was based on how many um student population where where did it come from? How was it accumulated? because we as this is a key word declining enrollment. I've been in the district 40 plus years so I know it's declining enrollment but I haven't noticed a declining in in well

100some cuts. So how does that fit into that aspect? >> Yeah, the the the budget determination was based upon this year's budget. Uh we don't have a crystal ball to be able to determine what next year is going to look like. We certainly hope that uh we're in a a better financial situation. We have more students and our ADA is increasing. Um but again, we have to rely upon the numbers that we have. And so we're using this year's numbers to reflect the the need for meeting what the expectations are from not only last year's cuts that were not made, but also the cuts that this year to uh need to be made to continue to make us solvent. So the letter that we received from the county >> is saying that we need to

101do 21 and something >> 214.95. >> How many are we doing? >> 142.256 classified. Next month we'll bring back the certificated uh reduction. >> Okay, that was the next question. When are we going to bring back certificated? >> Yeah, February 11th. >> Okay. You're welcome. May I have a motion and a second to adopt resolution 5105? Trusty Flores. Make a motion to approve resolution 5105. Trusty Hodes. >> Second. >> We have a motion by Vice President Flores and a second by Trustee Hodes. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox. >> I. >> Trusty Hodes. >> I. >> Trusty Young. >> I. >> Vice President Flores. I. >> And President Amboy. I. >> The motion passes with five yes. >> Thank you. Resolution 5106, retroactive confirmation of publicly available salary schedule in compliance with the California Code

102of Regulations. Um, thank you, President Amboy. Um, I'm seeking uh approval for resolution number 5106, retroactive confirmation of publicly available salary schedules in compliance with the California Code of Regulations. uh some some points to to bring up before I read the resolution. This item is being brought forward at the discretion of Kalpers. Uh and Kalpers notified the district that our salary schedules needed to be clearly identified uh the of the time base for each uh pay rate hourly, daily, monthly, and annual as required by California code of regulations title 2 section 570.5A4. Kalpers further requires that the clarification be approved by the governing board retroactively for four fiscal years. The action before you does not change any salary amounts. It is strictly for compliance and documentation to meet the regulatory Kalpers requirements and avoid audit

103findings. Key points this does not again change any salary information. it as required by Kalpers and um if the board does not approve the district can be subject to Kalpers's audit findings or corrective action related to the compensation reporting. So uh let's see here. Whereas the Vallejo City Unified School District is contracting the contracting employer with the California Public Employees Retirement System, Kalpers. And whereas government code sections 20630, 20636, and 20 again subsection 236.1 uh that require the compensation be reported to Kalpers uh be based upon publicly available pay schedules adopted by the employees governing board. And whereas California Code of Regulations, Title 2, Section 570.5 establishes the requirements for publicly available pay schedules used to determine compensation earnable. And whereas CCR section 570.5A4 requires that each pay rate clearly be identified um by the

104applicable time base. And whereas the district received notification from Kalpers directing the district to demonstrate compliance with CCR section 570.5A4 retroactively for fiscal years 22 23 23 24 25 and 2526 and whereas Kalpers required the revised pay schedules be presented to and approved by the governing board and the documentation of such approval be submitted as evidence and compliance. And whereas the district revised its classified salary schedules to clarify time-based information without changing salary amounts. And whereas the district also revised its certificated salary schedules as proactive measures to align formatting and content across all employee groups and to ensure accurate retirement reporting for certificated employees and previously who who participate previously participated in Kalpers and elected to continue Kalpers membership. Now therefore be it resolved that the governing board of the Vallejo City Unified School District

105hereby adopts and approves the revised publicly available classified and certificated salary schedules for fiscal years 2022 23 23 2425 and 2526 as presented to ensure compliance with the California code of regulations title 2 section 50.5 A4 and be it resolved that the superintendent or designate is authorized to submit this resolution revise salary schedules and related board documentation to Kalpers as required. And be it further resolved that the district shall continue to maintain publicly available salary schedules that are transparent, consistent, and compliant with applicable retirement system requirements. >> Thank you. Um, Trusty Fox, >> late a motion to approve action item 10B, resolution resolution 5105. Trusty Hajes. >> Second. >> Just to clarify, uh, Trusty Fox, you mean 10 C5106, correct? >> That's the Yeah, perfect. >> Sorry. No worries. Just >> We have a motion

106by Trusty Fox and a second by Trusty Hodgeges. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox. >> I. >> Trusty Hodes, >> I. >> Trusty Young, >> I. Vice President Flores, >> I. >> And President Amboy, >> I. And the motion passes five. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Action item 10D, adoption of resolution 5108, school attendance boundary change, Cooper Elementary, Federal Terrace Elementary, Stephan Mander Elementary, Gleno Elementary, Warlaw Elementary, and Patterson Elementary. Uh, Superintendent Heather Deposio, please. >> And >> good evening. and and my colleague, assistant superintendent Fernandez, we're going to be um sharing some information with you um regarding the resolution 5108 of the school attendance boundaries. Um as you know, with the closure of Highland, Lincoln, and Penny Cookook, it was necessary to redraw district boundaries. Um, so over the last several weeks, district staff

107and our partners at GFS have worked collaboratively to develop a boundary adjustment report and recommendation that provides us the best opportunity to meet the facility and programmatic needs of the district and serve community needs. The adjusted boundary map before you maintains adequate space for key programs and minimizes transportation impact. Assistant Superintendent Fernandez and I will share the key elements of the proposed boundaries. GFS was a natural partner in this work as they've been engaged with the process through the equity impact analysis and their engagement in the community through the 7-Eleven and study sessions. The report marries the efforts of the original 7-Eleven and the EIA site capacity analysis um with the detailed analysis of room usage at each site that was completed by district staff. You may recall me talking about what really can fit

108and what reasonably can fit. So those two different ideas were um were married together to make sure we came up with a map that um takes into account the needs of each school campus. As an overview, this report and resolution reflect the closure of Highland, Lincoln, and Penny Cookook elementary schools boundaries adjustments to Glen Cove, Wlaw, Patterson, Cooper, Federal Terrace, and Stefan Manor to welcome new students to their new school of residence. Um the boundaries for cave dan mini salano weedman and balleo chart are unaffected by any of these changes. By way of background I want to make sure that we revisit the timeline that brings us to today. Uh in August and August 20th the 7-Eleven committee completed their report in November. On November 19th the EIA report was completed and of course on

109December 17th the board took action on school closure. On January 21st next week, the district staff intend to open registration. Successful opening of registration requires that the new boundaries are approved. Any delay in opening registration could have a negative impact on enrollment and our ability to welcome our new families. Additionally, we have a legal obligation to provide ample notice to the families who are impacted by closure. We also want to remain competitive with the private and charter schools for new enrollment. So we want to open soon. Lastly, making this decision today allows us to finalize the plans for the best possible placement of all the specialized programs like special education, child development, ensuring that staff is prepared to accept students on day one. Beginning next week, we will be meeting with parent communities from the

110schools impacted by closure. One of the pieces of information that families will require is the location of their next school of residence. Assistant Superintendent Fernandez will now provide an overview of other key elements of the report. >> Thank you. Assistant Superintendent Tasio, uh, board superintendent community, from an operations and facilities standpoint, uh, timing and planning are very critical. We have a big program ahead of us to manage and and make sure our families and our students and our staff um are comfortable with their new locations. Uh the boundary recommendations before the board are grounded in a roomby-room capacity analysis completed by district staffed and updated with assumptions originally developed from as assistant topazio mentioned earlier our 7-Eleven committee and our equity impact analysis. Uh those processes um and the work examined how classrooms are currently

111used and where our flexibility exists while protecting our instructional and support spaces. Uh this approach ensures that receiving schools um have adequate general general education capacity can thoughtfully place specialized programs such as special education and child development and avoid repeated classroom or program moves in the future years. Try to limit that as much as possible. Approval of attendance boundaries tonight also allows the district to open registration on schedule and plan those staffing and classroom um placements responsibly and really align a lot of the facility work that needs to be done um and short-term improvements that we're trying to bring um this summer. Moving on to transportation. Um transportation has really been a key consideration throughout this process. You heard it during the 7-Eleven process, that report. The EIA also had some some pieces of information.

112And so staff has evaluated transportation impact using um existing board policy thresholds for elementary schools. That's 1.5 miles. And based on this analysis, approximately 134 students based on a snapshot of demographic data that we have, the most updated one um are estimated to newly qualify for transportation services uh under those proposed boundaries. If the board approves those boundary updates, we will evaluate um walk zones, route safety, uh pickup, drop off, potential impact on ride times, especially for our younger students, and the operational and fiscal implementations implications of expanded transportation services. Our planning will also consider students who may require additional support, including students with IEPs and other unique needs. Um and moving forward tonight really allows us to engage in that route planning. um dive deeper into that, coordinate safety and walkability reviews and communicate

113clearly families with families on on what those expectations are, how they're going to get to school. Assistant to emergency mentioned, we need to tell them where they're going to go. We also need to tell them how they're going to get there and and what's what's what's there to welcome them at their new um schools. Uh so adequate planning and time is essential uh to ensure that um we can communicate safe predictable uh routes to school. In closing, tonight's recommendation reflects a clear and intentional sequence. You know, understanding our fiscal and enrollment realities. Um our process for engaging the community and conducting these analyses, uh making uh those difficult decisions and now taking the operational step required to implement those decisions properly, responsibly. Uh for our families, this means clarity. For our staff, that means adequate

114time to prepare. I think one of the things we learned is um providing more time by approving these um these difficult decisions earlier gives us additional time to plan, prepare, and really improve upon what we've done in the past. Uh and for these reasons, uh staff recommends the board approve the proposed attendance boundaries. And uh we're prepared to answer questions at this time. board. Do you have any questions? Uh, Trusty Flores. Thank you for uh your report. Is it premature to have some sort of dollar figure a as to transportation cost going up or down based on the proposed boundaries? Is has anything like that been looked at yet? >> Yeah, so we we've done um an initial analysis of the operating or the uh proposed boundary um that we have tonight. Um to put

115it into perspective, um we would need at least three more buses and three more bus drivers. So um you saw the cost for two buses tonight. Um additional capital funds can be dedicated to that end to pick up another bus. Um we may have others we want to replace. Um but it's been um several years since we purchased a new bus and there are some needs there. Um so continuing to invest in that is is important. on the uh on the on the driver's side, it's important that we begin that recruitment now and we continue to um cultivate training and and um those staff members um sticking with us throughout the next process. So those will be some jobs that will be available. So just kind of follow up with that is so far as

116the purchasing of of the buses, does that factor in does that come from money that was going to be saved by the school closures? Because I think that's what the community would say, you know, hey, we closed schools to save money, but now we're spending money for buses. But now knowing how money how how a school budget works that not everything comes out of one bucket that there's assigned things the the money for buses aren't going to impact the proposed savings of the school closures of the staff reduction etc. Is that correct? >> That is correct. that comes out of a capital fund and we're for the buses tonight we used fund 40 which is capital outlay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Trusty Hodes. I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution >> 5108

117>> 5107 >> eight >> got the wrong ones on. That's what it is. >> Can I get a second, please? >> My god. >> Trusty Dr. Young. >> I second. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox. >> I. >> Trusty Hodes. >> I. >> Trusty Young. >> Hi. >> Vice President Flores. >> I. >> And President Amboy. >> I. >> And the motion passes. Five. Yes. >> Moving on to action item 10E. Adoption of resolution of 5104. intention to consider a future bond election and the authorized preliminary feasibility activities. >> Thank you, President Amboy. Uh tonight's item um is about long-term stewardship of our facilities and ensuring that our schools are positioned to support teaching and learning well into the future. This is a strategic initiative. As the board knows, one of the pillars of

118our strategic plan is providing safe, supportive, high-quality learning environments for our staff and our students. Many of our facilities are aging and while we have made important progress with prior bond investments, the scope of capital needs exceeds what we can reasonably address with existing remaining capital funds and through our operating budget alone. Uh this includes modernizing classrooms including safety and security, addressing maintenance and ensuring our campus support a 21st century learning environment. Um, this can be significantly addressed with extensions of our current bond tax rates as my colleagues will will talk to in just a bit. Uh, this agenda item is intentionally proactive. This is really about strategic foresight. The purpose of tonight is not to ask the board to make a decision about a board bond measure, but rather to ensure you that we

119have the information, the analysis, and the options you will need to make an informed decision in the future and in the coming months. Good governance requires that we understand our capacity, our financial capacity, legal parameters, and community considerations well before an action is considered and contemplated. Uh to support this work, we've invited two experienced adviserss to provide context and and guidance. First, I'd like to introduce Jeremy Hower from Team Civics. Um Team Civics specializes in strategy, communications, and community engagement for school facility funding measures. Uh Jeremy uh will help us frame districts how districts think about aligning those facility needs with community priorities in the importance of early very early feasibility work. Uh Jeremy's firm worked with us in 2018 on the last bond. Uh joining him is Jeff Picket from ISM Adviserss the district's

120municipal uh I'm sorry the adviserss works extensively with California K12 school districts uh with bond capacity tax rate scenarios and long-term financial planning. Jeff will walk us through high high level information about bonding capacity, legal constraints and potential scenarios. Again, strictly to inform and equip the board not to recommend a specific course of action tonight. Um again, a clear high level context is the goal tonight and outline some options and considerations available. Um and if the board chooses to more move forward at a future date, uh we are grounded in solid analysis and data. With that like to introduce uh Jeremy Hower and we have a presentation. >> Thank you Ruben. Thank you President Amboy and board of trustees for having me. Uh my name is Jeremy Hower. I'm a founding partner with Team Civics.

121We are a political consulting firm that specializes in helping school districts and other public agencies uh determine the feasibility of a revenue measure um and uh undertake this the next steps to place that measure on the ballot. Um, we're going to take a few minutes tonight to walk you guys through a little bit about our firms. Um, the dos and don'ts for a bond measure. Uh, as Ruben alluded to, your current bonding capacity and future tax rate options, and then next steps should you decide to move forward. So, first a little bit about me and my firm. As I mentioned, we have developed an expertise in doing this exact work, helping uh, public agencies achieve their revenue goals through public ballot measures. Uh oftentimes when folks think about a bond measure or a parcel tax

122or another ballot measure, they think about a lawn sign in someone's lawn two days before election day. But in our experience, that work happens long before election day. And understanding first and foremost what your community is comfortable supporting uh understanding that in terms of a tax rate, but also in terms of potential projects to be funded with a bond measure. And that's really communicating your facilities needs to the community before you act as a board and decide to place a measure on the ballot. Uh as Ruben mentioned, my business partner worked with this district previously on Measure S in November of 2018. Uh we were very happy to be successful in that election and actually exceed the twothirds mark uh for approval. And as you can see on this slide, you know, we really have

123done work throughout the Bay Area and state really helping districts achieve their revenue goals. um proud to have raised over $25 billion for schools uh through public ballot measures. And with that, I'll kick it to Jeff to talk a little bit about his firm as well. >> Great. Thank you for having us this evening. Um as mentioned, my name is Jeff Picket. I work with IM Adviserss. We're a bond financial adviser and we work with schools and colleges throughout the state on bond measures uh sim similar to what we are going to be talking about this evening. Um a little bit more about myself. I've been doing this for over 25 years now. I just, as I think about that, I don't feel that old, but I've been doing it a long time. Um, just

124some of our credentials at our firm. Um, on this slide right here, we work with many of the local districts. You see, um, some of the ones highlighted, uh, ones that are nextdoor neighbors and ones that are regional neighbors. Um, we have a lot of experience doing this in the Bay Area, the East Bay, and up and down the state of California. We work with districts of all different sizes, types, political leanings, the conservative counties, the liberal counties. Um, again, up and down the state. Um, ISM Advisors is the leading uh firm who does this work in the state and we have been for over 10 years. We've worked with hundreds of bond campaigns uh working with firms like Jeremy um and team Simics very often and uh once a bond campaign passes we assist

125districts in selling their bonds um working with the county and various uh parties to successfully sell bonds. >> Yeah, I'm going to just take a few minutes to kind of orient ourselves to the legal parameters of a bond measure. I think it's important context as we start looking at numbers and and potential timelines. Um so I've just got a slide here to kind of talk about that and then I'll kick it back to Jeff to walk us through your tax base and and what might be available to you in the future. Um so first with specifically Prop 39 bonds and we're talking about Prop 39 bonds tonight because they have a really key approval threshold. Unlike other special taxes which require twothirds vote, a Prop 39 bond requires a 55% yes vote. We found that

126that 12 percentage point difference can oftentimes be the difference between winning and losing. And so we're going to be talking tonight about the parameters of those measures specifically. So as a unified district, you are limited with how much you can seek in any one election. Uh you can seek up to $60 per 100,000 of assessed valuation. Uh you can always ask for less, you cannot ask for more. Um Prop 39 bonds must also be held on regularly scheduled elections. You cannot call a special election to conduct a bond measure like you can for a parcel tax. Our next upcoming election is in June. It's likely a little too soon for us. Uh after that, we've got uh the gubanatorial general election in November. Uh Prop 39 bonds are required to have an oversight committee that

127checks uh the use of funds against your approved project list to make sure everything is being spent appropriately. Um bonds are limited to facilities and capital improvements. They can't be used for salaries or compensation or programs. They must be used for buildings and facilities. Um, and they require a twothirds vote of the board in order to be placed on the ballot. So, with a five member board, you need four out of five yes votes in order to get on that ballot. And then this last note here, um, is just to stay that they can be levied district-wide or you can draw what are called school facilities improvement districts, which are subsets of the district, and only levy them within those areas. So, with that, I'll kick it back to Jeff to walk you all through

128the numbers, uh, and your current bonding capacity. Okay, thank you, Jeremy. And as I walk through these slides, uh, feel free to stop me, uh, raise your hand or just yell out at me if you have any questions. Some of this stuff, if you're not used to it, not used to the terminology, it can be a little bit confusing. Um, just starting on this side, uh, on this slide right here, we're talking about general obligation bonds and the repayment of general obligation bonds is placing that tax that Jeremy mentioned, um, on property owners within the district boundaries. So, it's important to look back at what your assessed value, what your property values have been doing over this past several years. And as you see and as you probably experienced being community members here, your tax

129base um is very robust and has grown significantly over the past 10 years and even past 20 years. Um you see here since 2012 nearly 5% assessed value growth rate. Um that means people are moving here, homes are turning over, there's new development and there's assessed values are continuing to rise. That's important again because when we look at a bond program, we look in the future and what do we expect that tax base to do? And again, that tax base directly impacts the repayment of the bonds and how much your community can afford. Um, we talked a little bit about uh historically in the district, the district has passed two bond election um elections in, you know, the past 20 over 20 years, 25 years. uh most recently with uh the 2018 election and as

130you see and I think Jeremy mentioned or Jeremy did mention um we're looking at a Prop 39 election 55% voter threshold and if you look at your past two elections you're well above that level well above that level. Uh so a lot of community support uh for the schools. I mean that's really a testament. It's a community support for the students um and the schools in the community. One thing I'm going to I do want to point out in the little box, the last bullet, um the tax rates. Again, we're setting a tax rate on the property owners. The current tax rate is about $75. That's going to be important because I will bring that up a little bit later in future slides. Jeremy, if you want to move on. Um I'll be real quick

131here. This is just your outstanding debt. Um, you have several bonds outstanding, about five bonds outstanding. Um, again, most recently, you've sold bonds from that 28 election. You have no remaining authorization, so no facilities funding for any future projects or facilities that you need. Um, I have the the graph at the bottom right there, and that just shows projected tax rates based on what we expect your tax base to do in the future, where we expect tax rates to go in the future. and you see a significant drop um in the next two years. And again, that's going to I'm going to bring that up in just a moment here. Okay. Jeremy mentioned earlier that um as a unified school district, you can um sell bonds at a tax rate or you can support a

132tax rate, a facilities bond at a tax rate up to a maximum of $60. You can always ask for less, but as a Prop 39 bond, you can ask for more. So, we just look at your tax base, make some assumptions about how it's going to grow in the future, and look at various tax rates and what your community can support financially, what the property owners financially can support with a bond. And as you see here, at various tax rates, uh, ranging from 49 to $60, the maximum, you can generate a bond program, uh, that raises between 250 and 315,000 or million dollars. 250 to $315 million. So significant proceeds. However, like most districts, and I assume it's the same here, looking back at some old facilities planning here, you know, most districts have needs

133much greater than what their community can afford. But at least with this, you can make a dent in what those needs are. This is with a whole new tax rate um going up to that $60. Um, and Jeremy will talk a little bit about it there, but part of this survey, part of the exploratory process is looking and talking to your community members, doing a survey, and seeing what they would support. Would voters be willing to go up to that $60 tax rate, or would they want something less? Go ahead, Jeremy. Thank you. Now, I think something much more compelling here and in this district, and it's a very unique opportunity that you have is this idea of a tax rate extension. So, you're currently paying tax rates, as I mentioned before, of about $75

134um per 100,000 of assessed value. Doing a tax rate extension, wouldn't it increase the tax another $60? what you could do under a Prop 39 election. But what we would do is we would cap the tax at what um current property owners are paying at $75 and cap that going forward, telling the community um that based on our estimates, we would raise, and in this case, you could raise over $200 million of by doing a tax rate extension, keeping the tax rates level, what they're currently paying. Um, again would allow you to raise over 200 and uh over $200 million about $210 million. Now, this is a very unique opportunity. It doesn't come off come up very often for districts. Why this is happening here is because you have some prior bonds from that 1997

135election that are falling off the tax role in the next two years. So, you can only take advantage of this now. If we waited, you know, and did consider an election in the future, you wouldn't have this opportunity again because the 2018 bonds don't fall off for several years thereafter. But because the bonds are falling off, the 1997 bonds are falling off the tax roll in the next two years, by extending the current tax rate, um not raising property taxes, uh at from the current levels, you could raise over $200 million. Any questions before I turn it back over? Yes. I'll just go across. There's a trusty fox. >> You're saying what people are paying now. It would just continue instead of the bond the US falling off from take. It would just continue. What

136people >> It would continue. So, um, if you back up one slide >> tax, it would just continue. >> It would continue. It would be a new bond election, but we wouldn't levy up to that $60. We would look at $75 where you are now. So that that that's a first column on that bottom right chart. And if you look, we expect a little bit of a blip up next year, but conservative conservative conservatively speaking a little bit slowly slowly tonight. Um, if we kept it at that $75, um, you could generate $210 million. >> Do we would we be eligible to have state matching funds? >> I would turn that over. Yes, >> it does allow you to have state matching funds. I don't know what your eligibility status is >> um or where

137you are in any line to get funds. >> Yeah, absolutely. We have a I think it's bi-weekly meeting I think with King Consulting who is our state facility funding adviser and oftent times the many of these programs do have matching funds. So as those eligibility requirements come up as those facilities come up um there there is an opportunity for that. So with the about 200 million that could raise with continuing what we're already that taxes are already paying we also can get state matching funds. So it' be more than the 200 or 210 million. Correct. >> Potentially. Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. And then can you give me some ideas what kind of things would the money be used for? >> I mean, >> right. So, just to give you some perspective, our

138last master plan, which was done in 20 2019, um, indicated over half a billion dollars in need, $500 million. Our last bond was $200 million. So, if you do the math, you add some escalation there, we're even with um a tax extension like this, we would still not have enough money to meet our facilities needs based on a 2019 study. So, um this would ensure some stability within our facilities going into the future. Thank you, >> Vice President Flores. >> Just a couple of questions. When you're talking about extending it, how long would it extend for? We would we would extend for about another 30 years. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um and one thing with this extension and going back to knowing the tax rate can get up to $60 for every new Prop 39

139bond election, we would extend it for this bond election. You would actually be well below that $60 maximum. You'd be in the $35 range uh for this election alone. Um, again, putting it on top of the other tax rates, you would extend the current tax rate. >> Okay. And a quick question right now. You mentioned something about the the the 2019 master plan study. I would assume that was based on the amount of facilities that we had at that time. So, would >> would that be a possibly less or is it a different amount? I would argue that it would be if not um more it would be the same because of escalation costs 2019 construction costs um compared to 2026 or yeah 2028 potentially when we would actually begin this construction 2728 um would

140um I would call it um probably about the same amount of needs despite those facilities being um being closed. Those facilities still need to be maintained if they're an asset to the district whether we sell them or not. We still have work to do to keep the roofs um up the safety uh of the facility in a place that is safe for our community and if it's used for alternate reasons uh we have the ability to to do some light work there. So, >> thank you Hels. >> You guys help me understand why the the um tax rates fluctuate, why the projected tax rates are expected to go down. Yeah, bonds are being paid off. Those 1997 bonds that were again originally sold in 97,98 and subsequent years are being paid off. >> What does

141that mean? >> That mean that means you have no longer any obligation to repay the bond holders that lent you money. It's like it would be like paying off a mortgage. You pay it off over 20, 25, 30 years. >> And you f you finally paid off your home. So, you have no more payments. So, you're paying off those obligations. >> Gotcha. Thank you. >> And I would add, you know, these bonds live out over a 30-year term. So, Jeff and his team are making assumptions on assessed valuation growth today, and they're being pretty conservative in those assumptions because I think that's the right approach. But over the course of the 30 years, it's paid back on the actual assessed valuation, not those assumptions. And so, sometimes we'll see tax rates come in lower than

142expected because growth has been faster or stronger than we were anticipating. And that's also why you see some fluctuations in those charts. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Firstly, Dr. Young, >> your projections are kind of healthy because uh you go from um 2026, do you do it every every year or every two years? No, you don't because then you go 2028 and 2030. But my question is, how are you projecting those tax rates with the the state of the union is in now? >> It's that it's not even a possibility to do that. >> It is both difficult and easier than you would expect. >> I don't expect anything. It's not pay more property tax. That's all. What we do is we simply look back what historically has your tax base done. And over

143the past 12 years, over the past 20 years, your tax base has grown. And if we back up, oh, there it is. Thanks, Jeremy. Um, if we look, you know, since 2012, your tax base has grown uh nearly 4.9%. Almost 5%. Um, so we use that to look forward. What could your tax base do in the future? just assuming normal turnover. Now, when I did these projections on your future tax rates, I'm assuming a taxbased growth of about 3.75%. Over the long term, every year, it's going to fluctuate. And that was part of the answer to the prior question about tax rates. Tax rates fluctuate because we're never, you know, we're not going to hit 3.75% every year or 4.88% every year. There'll be some fluctuation um in the yearly changes but over the long

144term we expect you know and we project here about 3.75% average annual growth rate over the life of the bonds. So yeah there will be some fluctuations but that's how we come up with those projections. We just look at the historical facts here in the district. My next question is the property tax. What explain break it down a little bit more of the $60 $60 or whatever it is that how is that done $60 added to the Yeah. >> Yeah. And whatever tax rate it is, what we do is when we sell bonds, we provide the information to the county. So the county, we sell bonds and there's a repayment every year to bond holders who loan you the money. And every year, you know, the county has to levy, they have to set a

145tax rate on the property owners of the district such that they raise enough money to repay the bonds of the district. Okay? So they're looking at every year, let's say, let's let's just look forward next year to pay bond holders, you owe bond holders, district property owners owe bond holders $10 million. You have to repay $10 million to the people that lent you the money. Well, to do that, you have to share that $10 million and the property owners across all the property owners in the district um have to give in, you know, $50, $100, $10. And you combine all that with all those property owners in the district and it comes up with that $10 million. So the county is looking at what the obligation is every year, what that tax base is and

146comes up with a tax rate and every property owner will then make their property tax payments. >> Does that does that help you to say? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Because that do that is an increase in property tax. No. >> Can I can I walk a scenario just? >> Yes, please. >> Dr. Young, let me let me paint a scenario. I own a home in Valo. Let's say my house in Valo is assessed at $500,000. I own a $500,000 home in Valo. >> Okay. >> At $60 per 100,000. That means every year on my property tax bill, I'm going to pay five times because $500,000 home for every 100,000 five time 60. So $300 is going to be my tax bill for that year. >> Is that correct? >> That is correct. >> Correct.

147>> Okay. >> And >> if we if we go to the $60 rate, >> an increase in tax. >> Well, and Dr. Young, I think the the secret sauce here is on this slide here. You see the red lines? >> Yeah, >> you're already paying that. >> Yeah, those red lines are on everybody's property tax bill today, as are the yellow lines. >> Let me jump in here. you have a >> yeah pointer in in 2028 in 2028 that red line is dropping because those bonds will be paid off um and there will not be there will not be a need to levy that tax anymore. So by default property taxes will drop. What we are talking about tonight is a measure that would continue the current tax rate so that when that drop was

148supposed to happen in 2028, it does not. So, you are correct that taxes could go down and they won't be, but they also would not be increasing over what they are currently paid. And that's all we're talking about tonight. And it's um it's a it's an opportunity to maintain what folks are currently paying and bring in a little over $200 million for the schools >> property in Madero. They have all kind of bonds on their on my tax thing and I every year my taxes went up up but there were still some dropping off but it was still going up because they were adding more. >> Yeah. And and that we actually work with those districts. That is because they sought additional authorization on top of what they were already asking for which is a

149little different than what we're talking about tonight because we would not be asking essentially what Madera did is if you look at the red and yellow they added a green on top of both that was higher than that and they continued that out into the future. what we're talking about tonight, I mean that is an option, but what we're talking about tonight is just continuing essentially the top of that yellow line as a is currently being levied into the future to bring additional revenue into the district. >> So my next question is what type of B are these restricted that we can use them anywhere because there were several bonds on my taxes? >> Yeah. and Madero that I could use that I saw was going to the school that was going here that was

150going there to going to a playground. It was all kind of bonds. Yeah. >> So, how restrictive is this? >> So, this this would be very restricted. Essentially, I think it might be helpful if I walk through my final slides for timeline to kind of walk through the next steps because I think it'll help answer your question. Um, and I'm gonna >> these can only be used for facilities, right? They can't be taken by the state. They can't be used for anything else. These are purely facilities bonds. >> Yeah, >> Dr. Young, the difference here is if like let's say we we didn't go for a geo bond and we went for a parcel tax. A parcel tax could be used for other things like reducing class size for example. So hiring teachers and that

151would be a different type of tax on the community. >> That's not what we're talking about here. >> You all give me direction. >> Yeah. And and so for any any bond measure, essentially the culmination is coming back to you as a board. >> Yeah. With with a a full project list um and a full resolution calling that election. And included in that resolution would be the ballot question, this the 75word ballot question that all voters would read. There would be a full description of the accountability provisions written into the measure. And then there would be a detailed project list that defines in writing in law what you can and cannot spend the money on. Right? And so when you as a board adopt that resolution, you're essentially agreeing to put that entire package on

152the ballot, voters are going to get a ballot pamphlet with the full detailed project list and they're really voting to enact that. And if your measure is successful, then you have a citizens oversight committee that will review the use of funds on a yearly basis. and they'll come to you in the board as a in a board meeting and say, "Well, your project list said X, Y, and Z at these schools and you spent the money on that, so thumbs up." Or, "Sorry, you spent the money outside of this project list and it's not what the voters authorized." Um, all of that is decided before you place the measure on the ballot so that we can be really thoughtful and strategic about the types of projects we fund with this measure. >> Trusty Fox. Thank

153you. I' I've been through this with measure S. I think the only one that's been through and um it was a lot of work and we had to get it at a higher rate, but we did it. Um I'm I'm been reading your slide here about the timeline and what goes on each one. And um I make a motion to approve uh action item E, adoption of resolution 5104. Yeah, >> quick question. I know that when you sell the bonds there's like a bond rating um in the last goround we Valo VCS actually was higher I think than than expected. if we go the route of extending versus doing a Prop 39, does that factor in at all in in in the bond rating so far as uh going one one bond versus another type?

154>> We'll go we'll go through that process again. And I could say adding another bond like this and being uh very conservative with what we're doing, you're not unlike any other district in the state and it should not impact your ratings. If you start adding two or three bonds down the road, again, very unrealistic, but just to prove the point, if you did something like that, it could impact your rating. But really, the direction of this district, and I I live over in WA Creek, I've known this district my entire life. I have family over here. Um, you trajectory is looking up. So, I could only see your credit rating improving and these bonds are not going to hurt it. >> Thank you, Trusty Hodgej. So since we need so much, it seems like you

155guys are suggesting that we um extend the current one. Why? >> Yeah. I I think what we're really asking for tonight is just direction to undertake the first phase in this process, which is the exploration, right? Understanding not are we going to put a measure on the ballot this year, um what are voters willing to support? In our experience, these tax rate extension bonds are a lot more palatable for voters. And we're doing a lot of work in the Bay Area right now, um, doing voter opinion research on similar measures, on different measures, and pretty consistently, we're seeing some tax fatigue and, you know, concerns about the cost of living. And so we see an opportunity for you in this district where you do have your tax roles dropping off in 2028 to bring in

156some meaningful revenue for your schools and your students and do so without increasing taxes on your residents. So it's why we're recommending the approach, but really we want to test that assumption, right? So you know, if we get approval tonight, our first action as a group is going to be to do voter opinion research to test that assumption and see if we're right. And we can also text test other tax rates and see if those are feasible or not and come back to you all as a board with a recommendation on next steps. And even after we do that, that presentation is not going to be a resolution calling an election. It's likely going to be a recommendation on how to potentially structure a future bond, but really how to do community outreach and engagement

157so that your voters and parents and community members understand why you're considering putting a measure on the ballot in the future. >> Got it. Thank you. >> You bet. This is this is the first step of many if as we sorry about that. This is the first step of many. Um just starting the research, getting the data, talking to the community, seeing what they're willing to support. >> With that in mind, uh may I have a motion in a second? >> You have a question? >> I do. I have a question. >> Dr. Young, >> thank you for your presentation. Of >> course. Um, how this how much is this going to cost us? You did a nice presentation. How much is this costing us? >> That's a great question. >> Transparent about this. How

158much is this survey costing us? >> The a survey ranges in in cost based on how long it is, how many voters we ask. >> No, no, that's not a good answer. >> I know. I'm getting there. Don't worry. Uh my guess is the first phase is going to be around $50,000 and at that point we would come back with a recommendation um based on the data and the opinion research of whether or not to move forward, right? Um but there there is an upfront cost in order to do the research scientifically and make sure we're getting good answers and giving you the best data and advice that we can. >> Well, I can help you with that research. I'm a local. Okay. It won't touch no $50,000. But, you know, at this particular time

159and what we're asking this community, I have a problem with doing researches and stuff like that and asking them in November to to to do something like this. We're cutting we're cutting salaries. We're cutting we're closing schools and then we're going to ask them to do something in November. Um, I kind of have a problem with that. No, I have a big problem with that because I am a taxpayer in this district. So, I have a it's not a good look right now to me. It's not a good look. We should have visited this maybe three years prior to this. It would have been a good look, but it's not a good look now to me. That's my own personal opinion. I'm very transparent and unapologetic. Thank you very much. >> Appreciate that. >> Thank

160you, Dr. Young. Um, may I have a second? >> Trusty Hodes. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox, >> I. >> Trusty Hodes, >> I. >> Trusty Young, >> no. >> Vice President Flores, >> no. >> President Amboy, >> I. >> And the motion passes with three yes and two no. >> Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Moving along to action item 10F, adoption of resolution 5107, approving the solution of community facilities district number two. Great. Thank you. uh adopted uh the adoption of resolution 5107 would formally approve the dissolution of community facilities district number two commonly referred as CFD number two. I want to start by providing a bit of context for the board. Uh CFD2 was established under the melo community facilities act to help finance school facilities

161needed to serve students generated by new developments. It functioned as a targeted capital uh financing tool allowing the district to collect special taxes within a defined area to fund those improvements. Uh based on staff's review of the most recent CFD administration reports, we've confirmed several important facts. All authorized improvements have been completed and are no longer required. All bond obligations and financial commitments associated with CFD2 have been fully satisfied. Uh, no future special tax levies are necessary or anticipated and any remaining funds are restricted and will continue to be used only for capital facilities projects consistent with the original formation documents and state law. Uh, given these conditions, CFD2 has fully served its intended purpose. The action before the board tonight is a responsible governance step to formally close out this financing mechanism, provide clarity

162to our community and affected property owners, and ensure the district's public records accurately reflect the current status of the CFD. Uh adoption of this uh resolution um authorized the district to complete a one time uh one final administrative levy if required to solely close out remaining obligations which we will be able to cover with the existing fund balance of um CFD2. Um we'll officially dissolve CFD2 once all statutory conditions are met and we'll record notices cancelling special tax leans on on properties within the district consistent with government code requirements. It's important to note that this action has no new fiscal impact on the district. It does not create any new de debt or impose any new taxes and does not affect the district's ability to pursue collection of any previously levied but unc uncollected delinquent

163taxes should any exist out there. Uh with that context, um staff recommends that board adopt resolution 5107 approving the dissolution of community facilities district number two. Happy to answer any questions. Trusty Dr. Young, >> which is >> what is this pertaining to? >> So there there's a there's a special tax district up in the the WL Jesse Bethl Hidden Brook area and it was >> Oh, the Hidden Brook area. Yes. This is the frog. Okay. >> Yeah. Well, that's the area up there. Yeah. And um so there's a special tax that has been existence since the 90s that has been funding um development um improvements in the area. >> So we're going to discontinue it. That's what we're saying. >> We are which will lower the tax rate in the in that area? >> Mhm.

164>> So was that a bond or or a parcel? >> So it's it's a tax mechanism that allows us to levy bonds in order to pay for facilities within that region. Only within that region. We've had several in the past. Yeah. And this is actually the last one from that era. >> So, they decided just to drop it. >> Well, we decided to make that recommendation today to the board. >> Okay. We're not going to continue it. >> We're not going to continue with it >> because they decided that they didn't want to continue it. >> Well, they certainly don't want to continue with any uh taxes ongoing in that for this particular >> conversation with the little frog. Huh. Okay. >> Thank you. Trusty Hodes like to make a motion to adopt >> resolution

1655107. >> Trusty Dr. Young. >> I second. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox. >> I. >> Trustee Hodes. >> I. Trusty Young. >> I vice president Flores >> I. >> And President Amboy. >> I am very happy to stop paying for the last 26 years. I >> The motion passes five. Yes. >> Thank you, Mr. Fernandez. Thank you. I have item 10G, which is the second reading of the November 2025 board policy updates. If we recall, last board meeting, we had the first reading. So this is the second reading and we are uh proposing adoption of the updated board policies. >> Vice President Flores, >> make a motion to approve uh action item 10G. Trustee Dr. Young. >> A second. We have a motion by Vice President Flores and a second by Trustee Dr.

166Young. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Fox, >> I. >> Trustee Hodes. >> Hi. >> Trusty Young. >> Hi. >> Vice President Flores. >> I. >> And President Amboy. >> I. >> The motion passes. Five. Yes. >> We're down to reports. >> Okay. Superintendent report. So, as we we return from winter break, I want to begin by welcoming back all of our students, our staff, and families. Uh the start of the new year always brings renewed focus and across the district our campuses have reopened with care, professionalism and a strong commitment to student learning. I am grateful to our educators, our classified professionals and site leaders for ensuring a smooth transition back for our students. January is also school board recognition month and I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank our governing board.

167Board service is demanding, often misunderstood, and always public. Our trustees continue to make complex decisions in the best interest of students and the long-term health of the district. I appreciate their leadership, their willingness to engage in difficult conversations, and their commitment to the Valo community during a time that requires both courage and clarity. So, thank you. This return from winter break also comes during a period of necessary and difficult work for our district. We're making decisions to rightsize Valo City Unified School District to ensure fiscal solveny and long-term stability. Staffing reductions and school closures are not decisions made lightly. They carry real human impact. And I want to acknowledge the dedication and service of the employees affected. These actions are driven by responsibility, not indifference. Failing to act would place the district at greater risk

168and ultimately result in deeper harm to students, staff, and the community. As part of this broad broader work, I want to fully tr I want to be fully transparent with our community regarding interd district transfer requests. Our transfer application window is now open and we are doing everything within the bounds of education code and the law to encourage families to commit to Valo City Unified. We are a powerful and dynamic community. If our school age students attended and remained in our district schools, Valleo City Unified would be stronger as a whole academically, financially, and socially. To be clear and consistent, no outofdist or interd district transfer requests will be reviewed until the application window closes on March 31st. Once the window closes, the district will engage in a thorough, unbiased review process aligned with board

169approved policy and administrative regulations. Our commitment is firm. We will limit the release of students to no more than 1% of our average daily attendance. Just for some context, this means that for the 2627 school year, we anticipate approving between 80 to 100 interd district transfer requests total. This process is about fairness, consistency, and protecting the long-term viability of this district while honoring family circumstances as allowed by law. It is also about sending a clear message that the Valo City Unified School District believes in its schools, its staff, and its students. As we move forward, we remain focused on minimizing disruption for students and families impacted by school closures and aligning attendance boundaries to create stability, continuity, and clarity. Fiscal responsibility and educational quality are inseparable. By taking responsible action now, we are positioning the

170district to sustain programs, improve outcomes, and honor our commitment to the Velo community. This is not easy work, but it is necessary work. We will continue to communicate clearly, lead transparently, and keep students at the center of every decision. That is my report. >> Thank you, Superintendent William. Um, reports from board members. Trusty Fox. >> Last Friday on Febru uh January 9th, I attended an event from Super Supervisor Cassandra James. She had her and city council. We have something very unique here in Valo happening that I don't think is happening anywhere in California. We are going to start partnership uh with the sheriff county sheriffs to help patrol in Valo. They will be here part of the week to help augment our police department. And there was a welcoming ceremony last Friday downtown Valo that

171I attended and um student trustee uh Jacob was there as well and her mom. It was a wonderful event. uh the city council was there, the mayor, the city uh the county supervisors. Um it was just a wonderful way the the chief ta and the sheriffs both spoke about this unique part partnership and how Valo is very unique um being able to do this since we have about 30 police short. This is going to help us with safety and to help um within our city. So, it's a unique partnership and it lasts one year. Um, so it was it was a wonderful event. That's my report. >> Thank you. Thank you, Trusty Fox. >> Oh, Trusty Fox, did she say what area um department was going to be covering? Did you find out what area

172they're they're going to >> All of As far as I understand it was all of Valo, but it's going to be Wednesday through Sunday is what I understand. somewhere um that they were delegated for east south. Anyway, I'll look >> I think it's all >> I'll look it up. >> Trusty Hodes, >> no report. >> Thank you. Um Trusty Dr. Young, >> no report. >> Vice President, um Vice President Flores, >> no report. As far as my report, um, thank you again. Thank you for you all having faith in me to taking on this leadership role with this board. Um, I couldn't be here without all of you. Um, in terms of my vision, I am looking at basically following the footsteps of the past presidents like um, Trusty Fox, Trusty Dr. young and you

173have laid the foundation of what our board should be and what it is and I I I intend to carry the same vision that we've always had. Um, it's important that the community understands that all of our decisions are not done last minute and it's done with with thought and we ask questions. We don't ask questions in in front of the public, but we do ask questions behind closed doors. Um, and we and we we have view in mind of what we what our intentions are, what what's best for our children, what's best for our community, because we we all live and work together. And it's important that we get ourselves out of this rut of being such a a negative um place because this this is not this is this is our home. Everyone

174here is doing everything they we take such passion of of everything that we do and it really comes to the point where we've we take those feelings and we take it home and we sometimes we end up getting getting sick and just because we we we take that burden and it's on our shoulders and we don't take take our decisions lightly. Um but all we can do is look forward. Um all we can do is look to the to our vision and and have faith in the things that we are doing is for the benefit of our our kids. And with that um that is my report. Um moving on to community forums. We have none. Uh we have no closed sessions as well. uh announcement of upcoming meetings. >> Do those. Okay. So, we

175did put a lot on here because we have a number of meetings coming up. Not that the board is attending all of these meetings, but I think for the public to know, uh, starting with Tuesday, January 20th, we have our virtual staff reduction town hall meeting. Number one, as we are doing these budget reductions, things will become clearer and clear to our employees, and this is an opportunity for them to attend a virtual town hall. On Wednesday, January 21st, um we are now doing town hall sessions and parent meetings for the affected schools on closure. So, this will be the first one at Highland Elementary. Um and we're planning both a morning session and an afternoon, so an 8:30 a.m. and at 5:00 p.m. Thursday, January 22nd is the 2 by 2 at the city

176uh chambers at 4:30 p.m. And that will be our the first go for our new 2 by two members. Friday, January 23rd will be the Penny Cook Elementary School Parents Meeting. That'll be at 9:30 a.m. Followed up with Monday, January 26th, a at Penny Cook at 5:00 p.m. So, we ask that hopefully those families come out to those meetings. Wednesday, January 28th, we have a Lincoln Elementary parent meeting at 8:30 a.m. and then followed up with the Thursday, January 29th, Lincoln Elementary School Parents meeting at 5:00 p.m. Our next regular governing board meeting now that we've switched to our new calendar is February 11th at 6 p.m. And then, as a reminder to the board, we are on our new schedule, we do a study session every other month. So February does have a second

177meeting that is a study session on the 25th of February and that the focus of that study session will be on facilities and master plan work and updates. So very connected to what we talked about this evening uh looking at a future bond as well. So that is all the meetings. >> Thank you. Um future board agenda items Vice President Flores, um, I'd like an update on what outreach or what work the Latino Parent Network has done with the district. I haven't really seen much, so I just kind of want to see where we're at. Thank you. Well, this meeting is adjourned at 8:50 p.m. Good night, everyone. First one.