001So am I talking directly into the laptop? Not this laptop. >> Good evening everyone. >> 19 2025. We are atum yet. >> Uh so I will check back in in five minutes. So the next check-in will be at 5:05 to see if we have quorum and we can start the meeting. Thank you. >> Welcome to the November 19th, 2025 meeting of the West Contraosta Unified School District School Board. calling the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. To access translation in Zoom, please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen. And if you are here live with us in person, you can pick up a headset for translation in the back corner of the auditorium. The board is about to go into close session, but before we do, we're here to listen to
002public comment on close session items. Individuals wishing to speak on close session items listed. If you're here in the auditorium and you haven't done so already, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card which you can find on the entryway table or if you are participating via Zoom. Individuals who need to raise their hand in the Zoom app. If you're accessing the meeting by phone, press star 9. The time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes and the total time allotted is 1 hour. Speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another. There is also no substitution of speakers. We alternate between a Zoom comment and an in-person comment. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed civily without interruption or intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's
003comment and respect their time as if it were your own. Be open to a different point of view if one is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. The items listed on the close session agenda tonight are conference of legal counsel existing litigation two cases Brandon William Lawson versus West Contraosta Unified School District case number C25-02043 Massie versus West Contraosta Unified School District Superior Court of California Contraosta County case number C22-01717 2 conference with legal council Anticipated litigation one potential case student discipline stipulated expulsion one case 252603 liability claims small claims RSC25-02282 and RSC25-02283 public employee performance evaluation and conference with labor negotiators is there any public comment on these items We have one
004public comment. iPhone 18, please unmute yourself >> and if we could get a um a counter up for two minutes, please. >> Yeah, I'm sorry. This is not about one of those items. Should I wait until uh we get to a different part of the agenda? Do you have do you have comment on uh close session items that were just announced? >> No. And I'm sorry. Yeah. >> And you wait until the public comment period and open. >> Yes. Sorry. >> No problem. Thank you. Okay. Seeing no public comment, uh we are being recessed to close session. We will be back at 6:30. Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the open session of the regularly scheduled November 19th meeting of the West Contraosta Unified School District. The board is returning from close
005session and I'm calling open session to order at 7:36 p.m. To access translation in Zoom, please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen. And if you're here in the auditorium, you can pick up a headset in the back corner. In a few minutes, we're going to begin public comment. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter that is not otherwise on the agenda, but is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Contraosta Unified School District. Please prepare now for public comment. If you're here in the auditorium and you'd like to make public comment, please fill out and submit a WCCUSD public comment card. You can find them on the table in the entryway. And if you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand in
006the Zoom app prior to the beginning of the item on the agenda. If you are participating by phone, press star 9. After your comment card has been turned in, the cards are placed in the order received. and we call on speakers one at a time alternating between a public comment here in Dejon and one on Zoom. Public comment generally lasts for one hour. The time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes. And in the meantime, we are we are moving on to the rest of our opening procedures. B2 pledge of allegiance. If you're willing or able, please rise for the pledge. 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. B3 land, labor,
007and body acknowledgement. Land acknowledgement. We recognize that we are presently on the lands of the Chuchchinu, Moa, Mamikua, Karkin, Aloney peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy. Labor and body recognition acknowledgement. I acknowledge that the burden of environmental exploitation and systemic injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies and the building of this country and its institutions. I remember that black and brown people were born and died working this land against their will for generations. I also acknowledge the continued contribution of the labor of survivors over the centuries to today of all immigrant labor, including voluntary, involuntary, trafficked, forced, and undocumented peoples in the building of what we refer to as the United States. B4 West Contraosta Unified School District Board Anti-Racism Statement. The West Contraosta
008School District Board of Education is committed to the work of anti-racism, the conscious and active effort to identify, challenge, and correct racial inequities in the systems and institutions within our schools and community. Racism, explicit or implicit, stands in direct conflict to the fundamental principles of WCCUSD education. To carry WCCUSD education into the future, we recognize that we must continually renew and reflect on the roots of racism and develop new ideas to meet the times. Unjust ideas and policies and the racial inequity they produce have shaped us, our schools, and our society. We strive to uncover unconscious biases and practice anti-racism as individuals and as board members. We challenge ourselves to persist through the discomfort necessary for growth and learning, to deepen our listening and our examination of racism and oppression, and to develop a strong
009understanding of how our personal experiences and feelings fit into a larger picture of continual oppression. Each member of our school board individually and collectively is responsible for creating and nurturing an anti-racist learning environment where each student, staff, and community partner is a respected and valued member of the WCCUSD community. We're uniquely positioned and it's our responsibility to identify and dismantle racist ideas and inequitable policies in ourselves and across the district. Therefore, we commit to supporting anti-racist policies, programs, and practices for our children's education and well-being while building strong and inclusive school communities. We commit to holding each each board member accountable towards these goals and moving the work of anti-racism forward. We also commit to holding West Contraosta Unified School District staff, students, and community to living these standards of anti-racism in our schools. B5
010roll call. Superintendent Cotton, would you please take role? Yes. Student Trustee Brooke Miles, >> good evening, present. >> Student Trustee Sasha Han, >> good good evening. Present. >> Um, Trustee Smith Foss is absent. Trustee Hernandez, >> good evening. Present. >> Trustee Gonzalez Hoy, >> good evening. Present. clerk inana waste and board president Reckler. Good evening. I'm here. Moving now to B6, report ratification of close session. Superintendent Cotton, is there anything to report out of close session this evening? >> Yes. Regarding agenda item A21, Massie versus WCCCUSD, the board in closed session approved a settlement agreement with the plaintiff for the a payment of $500,000 paid by the district's insurer and the district in intending to perform work to increase the oh goodness to increase the stability on district property below the plaintiff's house. The members
011voted as follows. Four yeses, one absent. In closed session, the board took action to approve the request for small claim number RSC25-02282 through Keenan Settlement Authority claim number 655120. The vote was as follows. Four yeses, one absent. In closed session, the board took action to approve the request for small claim number RSC25-02283 through Keenan Settlement Authority claim number 655120. The vote was as follows. Three yeses, two absent. Thank you. Moving now to B7 WCCCUSD public comment. Members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter that is not otherwise on the agenda but is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Contraosta Unified School District. Public comment approximately 1 hour. The time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes. Should additional speakers remain at the conclusion of one hour, public
012comment may be extended. The time allotted per speaker beyond the first hour is generally one minute. Individuals wishing to speak, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card or if participating via Zoom. Individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda. If you're calling in by phone, press star 9. Speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another, and there is no substitution of speakers. Speakers can also make public comment again for each discussion and action item on the agenda after staff presentations. The public will have 10 minutes per item and one minute per speaker. The same protocols recited above apply. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed civily without interruption or intimidation. Please listen
013attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time at the podium as if it were your own. Be open to a different point of view if one of one is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. Is there any public comment this evening? >> Yes. Our first public comment is Liz Deans. Good evening to the board. Thank you for making this time. Um I am a parent of a fourth grader at Mirror Vista. just for context. And I wanted to bring to your attention the removal of the peacemakers group from our campus recently. Well, not that recently. It's been a month and we'd really really like them back. We need them back. Um I'm
014not familiar with the complaint in detail that um was in being investigated and had them removed, but I can say that their value to the Mirror Vista community far outweighs any misstep that they may have taken. um which I understand has already been remedied and they want nothing more than to come back to the campus to support the kids, the teachers, the parents and the whole Mirror Vista community. Um, on a personal level, they've incredibly helped my fourth grader who in third grade started to have some real problems with his behavior on campus. And the empathetic uh interventions that they could bring to his situations helped us get to um solutions that we otherwise wouldn't have got to. Um, their presence on campus is absolutely needed for the diverse range of kids we have at
015Mira Vista. Um, and I wanted to bring this to the attention of the board to just hopefully smooth the process of getting that issue resolved, getting that in investigation concluded and having these guys come back. Um, I see how stretched the teachers are on our campus and with particularly challenging personalities in the class. They need the support of the peacemakers to do their work there. um they embody the kindness, the respect, the empathy that we are trying to get embodied in our in our kids and across all campuses. So with that, I think I've got my time. So thank you very much. President Re, I was wondering if we could pause until the audio was fixed, but literally it just got fixed. So ignore my comment. think yet. >> If it happens again, just interrupt.
016Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Kelly Kerry. Please unmute yourself. Good evening, board trustees, superintendent cotton, cabinet members, and community. My name is Kelly Kerry. I taught in WCCUSD for 16 years. And although I now live in Pennsylvania, I continue to follow this district closely because of what happens here matters to families, to educators, and especially to students. Tonight, you will be hearing special education teachers, families, and advocates speak about the instability, mismanagement, and harmful decisions that have directly impacted our most vulnerable students. I want to speak to another area where the district's choices are creating instability and harming communities. The treatment of our international educators. Two of my former colleagues at Puries, both dedicated, beloved teachers, traveled to the Philippines, one in 2024 and one just this past summer. For one of
017them, it was the first time her relatives would ever meet her children. But when they tried to return home to their jobs, to the community they served, they were told they could not come back. This is devastating and it should never happen in this district. International educators uproot their lives to fill vacancies that would otherwise leave students without consistent qualified instructors. They bring stability to classrooms in a district that has struggled year after year with high turnover vacancies and disrupted learning. Yet the district has failed to provide the most basic protections needed for them to safely travel, reconnect the family, and return to the jobs they love. That is why article 54 international educators is central. These are fundamental commitments to the very people helping to keep cast classrooms open. Just like in special education,
018students pay the price when the district neglects its responsibilities. Vacancies grow, services are disrupted, communities suffer, and yes, students are watching. I urge you, urgently and clear, approve article 54 as written. Protect international educators, protect their families, protect the stability of our students that our students deserve. Thank you. Our next public comment is Mariah Fowler. Good evening to the board and everyone in attendance. Um, I'm a fourth grade teacher at Mirror Vista and I'm here to talk about the Peacemakers. I have watched the kids grow and become leaders and become confident in themselves interacting with little kids in lower grades. just having that foundation because of the peacemakers. They are excited. They're excited to learn. They are shining. And the kids from last year, I've heard stories and they're in my classroom today and they
019are completely different kids. And I would hate to see all the work that they're putting into themselves to have them go back. The kids are excited. They do the work that they need to do. They learn tools to have help with their um conflicts with big emotions, learning about how to deal with things in the classroom, outside the classroom. They are able to express themselves and they're overall leaders in our community. Thank you. Our next public comment is Priscilla. Please unmute yourself. >> Good evening. Can everyone hear me? >> Yes. >> Thank you. My name is Priscilla Laauo and I'm a parent and a speech language pathologist at Harding. I'd like to start with some good news. This year's district mismanagement of special education has been truly impressive thanks to a long list of avoidable
020decisions. The district is on track to lose at minimum a 1.2 SLP FTA next year. A bold strategy considering students still need services. But at least the district will save Oh, wait. That's not right. It's going to cost the district. Actually, it's going to cost the district experienced and dedicated professionals who know our students and school communities. It will cost the district in compensatory services when vacancies go unfilled. And it will quite literally cost the district in more dollars as they continue to staff two contractors to take the place of one SOP in order to provide virtual speech therapy. These questionable decisions have impacted our students the most. students have endured revolving door service providers, missed services, and SOPs who are stretched thin to the breaking point. But hey, we can keep pretending this is
021all due to a mysterious national shortage rather than the district's own actions, like ignoring potential new hires and then scrambling to hire virtual contractors. The reality is simple. The instability students are experiencing is the direct result of mismanagement. And unless the district changes course, students will keep bearing the consequences of leadership choices that prioritize everything except the children they serve. I urge the district to correct their course and rep prioritize. Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Cheryl Teasley. Well, good morning and good afternoon uh to the board. Um I am a grandparent and a great grandparent of children at Mirror Vista and I have seen the changes that has been made with the peacemakers that were on campus with the with them gone. I also volunteer and I help out with them sometimes
022and I help out in the classrooms every single day. I need them back because the children don't have anyone to go to to explain what's going on with them. The kids come to them when they have issues. They do solve the conflicts. They need to be back on campus. And the sooner you can get them back, the better our children will be on the campus. I really hope that you can solve the issue and get them back because the kids need them. The teachers need them. I need them. And all the parents that goes to the that send their kids to that school, they need them. So, I need you to bring them back. We do have issues, but they can solve them with the help of the parents, the staff, the students, and I've
023had peacemakers that were my grandkids were peacemakers, and they really did solve a lot of conflicts at the school. They need them back. So, let's bring them back. Thank you. Next public comment is Maisha Harris Dash. Please unmute yourself. Good evening everybody and happy two days until Thanksgiving break. So once again, district leadership, what are you doing about these microaggressions, these actions of bias and discrimination that are taking place within this district? Where is the anti-racism training? Hopefully, it is not going to take someone getting sick and tired of being sick and tired for you to take intentional, and I mean intentional action in this area. My next thing is about Kennedy's construction tech program and our teacher, Mr. Henderson. So, are you aware that Mr. Henderson has two pieces of new equipment still in
024the boxes that each of these items weigh about 2,000 lbs. It's some type of power tool. The one our students are currently using was made in the 1960s. Now, some of y'all know I graduated from Kennedy in the late 80s. So, that means when I was at Kennedy, this piece of equipment was still at Kennedy. But yet, in Mr. Henderson's room right now are two of the updated versions of this piece of equipment that have not been put in and emails have been sent going back 2 years to put this in. This is not a oneperson job cuz these things are about 2,000. So I don't know who's supposed to do it, but our kids deserve to have what they deserve to have. So then it also had me thinking were these purchased with that
025money that remember a couple of years ago I remember member of the US House of Representatives came to Kennedy High School had the big paper check I was there I got pictures with the check I got pictures with the person from the House of Representatives. Was that money used to buy these two pieces of equipment? I don't know. But what I do know is that our kids do not deserve to be treated like they're secondass citizens. That's not a priority. So, please, I implore you, district leadership, to figure this out and make it happen as soon as possible because our kids deserve to have the best that's waiting for them in boxes in Mr. Henderson's classroom. Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Eugene Teasley. Good evening everyone. I'm here because um the peacemakers.
026So the peacemakers were a good um like people. They were good people and we need them back because one person called me a [ __ ] at school and then I felt really bad. So we need them back. Thank you. Our next public comment is Jean Kinster. Please unmute yourself. Good morning board. I am Jean Kincher, teacher at Verde Day. Many schools here are community schools. Parents, teachers, staff, and students. We are one and we can't wait for the services our students need. I find it interesting that the district does not seem to comment on any sped services when talking about negotiation updates with UTR. Our students have been receiving online speech services for 3 years now. Two of these years, our students have only received online services. No inerson speech therapists at all. Many of my
027students have received speech services for articulation with a focus on how they say words and sounds. when they have online speech services, there are three or four students in a room all looking at the same Chromebook screen. They are to be um they are to be able to see the mouths and shapes and hear the sounds that the speech teacher is focusing on. I don't know how that happens with that tiny little screen of three to four kids. The teacher teach speech the speech teacher is also supposed to be able to see the students mouths and hear the way they are saying sounds. How can this happen in a room with three to four students all using the same little tiny Chromebook, one Chromebook for this s session? And this is what my TK and
028kindergarten students have had to go through for two years. Sure, this allows the district to check off a box and say that they're providing services, but does this really help make the gains and progress and their speech needs? I don't think so. I saw a student and his brother regress during these two years. The parents agreed that the boys regressed and did not benefit from these services. There were no progress reports. There were no new assessments of children I referred. It It's crazy. Parents, teachers, and teachers, staff, and students. We are one, and we can't wait. We need the services that our students need, and we need them to be stable. Our next public comment is Riley Turner. Okay, good evening anybody. I am Riley Turner and I am a eighth grader and I am
029one of the grandchildren from Cheryl Teasley. I'm here to ask that Mer Vista received the peacemakers program back. They have made a huge impact when they was around teaching kids valuable conflict resolution skills, empowering students to master emotions, build strong connections, and overcome life challenges. I have spent eight years at Mav Vista and I witnessed students get expelled or suspended due to lack of support. As students, we need help mastering our emotions and resolving conflict. Overall, our peacemakers have created a safe atmosphere for the kids by learning how to deal with conflicts. Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Andrea Living House. Please unmute yourself. >> Hi, can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Hi, I'm Andrea Livinghouse. I'm a speech language pathologist with the United Teachers of Richmond. Firstly, I want to say
030thank you to Trustees Gonzalez Oi and Jonah and Arnandez for attending UTR statu statutory impass hearing yesterday. I want to speak on the mismanagement of special education West Contraosta and their efforts to normalize privatized virtual speech therapy. The district's recent decisions to ignore district employed SLP applicants, cut our FTE positions, and hire contractors instead speaks volumes about their true priorities. They have made it clear that they prioritize SLP and paraprofessional contractors whose companies are tied to private equity firms that supported Trump's cuts to the Department of Education at the expense of our students. It feels that these efforts are purposefully done to union bust the speech and language department of Utr. The district claims they're broke and yet overspents on contractors. They lie through their teeth to divert taxpayer money away from schools at the
031detriment of students and educators. We're at a crossroads. UTR is prepared to declare and maintain a strike forming picket lines across our 50 plus schools in the district alongside our teamsters and SSA union siblings. If the district recklessly decides to keep schools open, students will be there with minimal supervision. Our district values students and safety so little that they're willing to put our students in these vulnerable, minimally supervised situations before they agree to a reasonable contract that enables us to have a stable livelihood and protects the international educators the district recruits for hard to fill special education and dual immersion positions. um please do the right thing and um support safe fully staffed schools. Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Rakia Atkinson. Rakia Atkinson. Next public comment is Rodney Brown. Please unmute yourself.
032>> You hear me? >> Yes. >> Like to say good evening boys. This is Rodney Brown, a community advocate here in the city of Richmond, California. If we can take a brief moment to acknowledge a longtime Laney football coach John Bean uh and his moment of silence that will be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm here to speak about the Peacemakers and the great value that they bring to our school district. I'm a former employee of the Peacemakers and I can say when I worked with brother Hank it was great it was a great joy. Uh anyone who sees the various works that they do can duly appreciate their reasoning for being on campus to hear that young man say that he was called the n-word really brought a large vibration through
033my body especially with the climate that we're in now uh in society. We send our children to school to learn. We send our children to be social. We don't send our children to be verbally abused. Sadly, with these individuals uh are using this n-word very loosely nowadays, it's become for some folks a badge of honor. For me, as an elder statesman, hearing that word at my age of 59 years of age, it really really upsets me. No matter what your skin color is, no matter what your your race is, I think the word shouldn't be used period, especially on a school campus. I ask that you all, the board, Miss Cotton, to reinstate these individuals back on campus, to bring the climate back to civility, to bring love, joy, and peace, as the name peacemakers
034is what it's truly about. The Bible speaks of the peacemakers inheriting the earth. I ask that you all do the right thing and resubmit them as once. God bless you all. Good night. Shalom. Our next public comment is Maicio. Good evening. My name is Mauricio. I'm a eighth grader from Mirror Vista and I'm here to speak about the Peacemakers and why they should be allowed back to Mir Vista. Well, because they help me in several different ways. They help me in school. They help me in class to get on point. They help me and my friends to get my work done and and to stay in class. They helped my friends with their grades and everybody at Mir Vista would like to have the Peacemakers back because they impacted everyone at Mir Vista. Thank you.
035Our next public comment is Sarah Parks. Please unmute yourself. >> Hi. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Sarah Parks and I am an extensive support needs teacher at Tara Hills Elementary. I'm also a voter, a taxpayer, and a parent in West Contraosta. I understand that there are limits to what the district can financially do right now. However, the most obvious cuts are the ones that directly affect students such as mine who are some of the most disabled in the district. For example, my students, they are profoundly disabled. They all have diapers. My classroom requires nitrial gloves. When I first started with the district 10 years ago, we could simply go to pupil services and take what we needed. Then there was a Google
036form that allowed us five and we would have to wait approximately 10 days to have it shipped to us from the warehouse. And now we've been reduced to three. So let's do some math. We're at a schoolboard meeting. There are 100 gloves in a box. So that's 300 gloves. 300 divided by two is 150. 150 divided by 9 because I have nine full-time students right now is 16. So that is 16 pairs of gloves per student. 16 changes minimum two times per day. That's eight days of gloves per student. We also have two students who are G tube fed one to two times per day depending on their medical orders. So this comes out of those 16 pairs. This math is also assuming that nobody needs more than two changes that nobody is bleeding per
037our Keenan training universal precautions. Nobody throws up etc. Luckily um I am fairly well known in the local mom groups so they like to donate to me to make up the difference. And also thank you Kaiser. Every time I'm left alone in an exam room, I literally will clean the place out. That is what I am reduced to. If I relied entirely on the district, I would not have enough gloves to change my students. The kids deserve better than this. Stop the spending on expensive contracts that do not support students. That 90 million going to there could be used to buy way more than 300 gloves at a time. Thank you. Our next public comment is Corey Jeff. Good evening and thank you for your time. Um, I was originally going to get into my
038feelings about uh our exodus from Miraab Vista. I'm a uh site site coordinator there, but it's really not about uh my feelings. It's about these parents and these teachers and the kids that go to this school. And I would recommend for those of you who haven't been to that school to come visit sometime. You'll see it's a United Nations of culture there at this school. and the kids that we serve there um are kids and kids say things sometimes they're hurtful but they're never with malice. We don't have any racial issues there. And so, um, the reason why I'm here right now is to just acknowledge the fact that when kids have problems, one of the main things that we do is we help them learn how to solve their own problems. We use healing
039circles. We contact their parents. We do everything, all the checks and balances that it takes to keep these kids uh headed in the right direction. So, uh, without knowing all the circumstances, I'm not sure how many of you know all the, uh, extenduating circumstances, but I can rest assure to you that our intentions are always with the kids first. The kids first. We support the teachers. We contact the parents, but the kids are the only reason why we're there. It's not always about money. I'm retired, but I love kids. So just I just again recommend that you come up there and visit and see what the atmosphere is like that is like up there. Kids will graduate, new kids will come in. There will be es and flow with problems and things like that, but
040you have to have some support there outside of the teachers and the administrative staff. Thank you for your time. Our next public comment is Angela Silver Lima. Please unmute yourself. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Good evening board. Uh my name is Angela Silver Lima. I am a parent of two students in our district and I am the chair of the CAC. Um I'm calling in tonight to ask you to please come to the CAC meeting and hear some of the stories of special education families in our district. Um the meeting is open to all board members, all staff members, all members of the community. We have a lot of vacancies in sped right now. Some of our classes are being taught via Zoom, which requires the district to provide two staff members,
041one on Zoom and one in the room with the student. Um, this is not meaningful to our students. Um, we also have uh SLP vacancies. Um, and also I would like to speak to the district not acknowledging the demands of UTR in their public statements. The community deserves to know where the district stands on the sped issues in the uh contract negotiations. There has been a huge silence there. Um, and all of your messaging focuses on the um, pay increase, but our community would like to know where does the district stand in terms of the sped demands in the UTR negotiations such as case loads, the way um, teachers are treated, the vacancies, um, double paying staff members. those issues have not been stated from the district side. Um, thank you. >> Our next public
042comment is Grady Carson. Thank you. Good evening. Uh, I'm Grady Carson, a fourth grade teacher at Mirror Vista Elementary School. Um, I'm here to uh put a plug in to get the peacemakers reinstated to our school. Um, hoping to support the board in making a efficient decision to get them reinstated. Uh, the peacemakers are allies to our most most at risk kids and our most vulnerable students. Um, they support the students on the ground when they're having conflicts in the moment. They teach them skills to avoid those conflicts and how to nurture relationships so they don't have those conflicts. They also teach them life skills for when they are on their own outside of school. Um I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with them talking about what's going to happen to this
043kid when he graduates high school. How are we supporting him to do that and live in that world because this world's a little different. Um one way um they support the students in this is through the peacemakers leadership program and students can become peacemakers and be on the ground supporting their fellow students in resolving conflicts. Um and so here again you are giving our most at risk students opportunities to be leaders. Those kids don't get those opportunities very often and they're not getting them right now because they were in training and now they're not. Um another important strategy um is uh parent communication. They are um regular communicators with parents in my classroom for the kids were struggling the most. Um and uh we know we all know how valuable that is. Um uh lastly
044um I miss having them in my classroom. They sit at our table groups. They work with the students. They help them with their academics. They help them with cooperative work. Um they care about these kids like you you can't even believe. and it really is um a loss to Mer Vista not to have them. I urge you to do your best to uh resolve this issue quickly and please get them back to us. We meet we miss them and we need them. Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Taylor Crane Haynes. Please unmute yourself. >> Hi. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Hi, my name is Miss Taylor. I'm a kindergarten teacher here at Mirror Vista. Um, I'm going to speak on behalf of the Peacemakers. I just want to say that we do
045need them. I've had the pleasure of working with them for the past four years, and man, have they made a tremendous difference with some of the students um that they were working with in my class, but just not even my class, just around the school. You notice a difference in the students. You notice a difference in behavior. They have become a safe space for students. um they work with the students. You know, again, um we have students that are training to be peacemakers and I would hate to see that end. I really do believe that we need the peacemakers at our school cuz they really do make a difference. Thank you. Next public comment is Marie Ana. I come with big concerns about the safety of students in the bed buses. Cameras and the GPS
046app needed to be added immediately to those vehicles. If you knew the stories that I'm being told and have witnessed, IT WOULD SHOCK YOU. We must put the safety of students first. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS WITH VARYING ABILITIES. US PARENTS are trusting the district to have proper and updated safety measures in place. The transportation handbook needs to have come BACK OUT YESTERDAY. TOO MANY MISTAKES ARE HAPPENING. NOW, ON TO MY HOT TOPIC. YOU KNOW WHAT THE WILLIAMS REPORT WAS PRESENTED ON OCTOBER 22ND. IT NEEDS TO BE RELOOKED AT. IT'S VERY FRUSTRATING THAT IT SAID THE WILLIAMS COMPLAINTS WERE RESOLVED. Y'ALL KNOW IT WASN'T RESOLVED. I STILL GOT FOUR THINGS TO WORK ON. >> Good morning. >> This is my son here. Ignore him. This is a clear example OF HOW THE STAGE FACILITY
047doesn't receive proper resources from the FACILITIES DEPARTMENT. OUR LEGIT CONCERNS ARE NOT taken seriously and then covered up and buried. The report is incorrectly telling the CCC that everything was resolved in this district. I still have concerns about recess equipment, SHADE, SINKS, AND THE PLAYGROUND. It's downright wrong how this district justifies its reasons for not sending resources. The baloney needs to stop now. I saw the potential possib possibilities at the lake school tour. Our temp campus needs some TLC. I'll again follow UP WITH LEADERSHIP. I HARDLY GET RESPONSES BACK. PEOPLE MIGHT NOT LIKE THE QUESTIONS THAT I'M ASKING, BUT I DO DESERVE A RESPONSE IN A TIMELY MANNER. Y'all have been elected, nominated, and appointed into these positions. PART OF YOUR JOB IS TO GIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE, even to the parents you don't like. This
048is MY SEVENTH MEETING THAT MY kids and I have attended. Our next public comment is Sarah Taka. Please unmute yourself. >> Sorry about that. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. I'm a school psychologist at Lincoln Elementary in Richmond, an elementary school with some of the highest needs across the district. This is my fourth year at Lincoln and working in the district. I have witnessed firsthand the drastic decline of our special education services and programs in the district in those three short years. The first year when I and my IEP team petitioned for classroom aids for students with high needs who were not able to effectively engage with classroom content and participate in class instruction without the support of a trusted adult. program specialists were able to use their experience and discretion as
049special education ed educators to determine for themselves as educators which students warranted these services. That year, I secured aids for at least three students who desperately needed them. As a result, our classes were able to function more smoothly and our students began to grow and thrive with the support and meet their academic goals for the first time. I have been horrified to hear this year from program specialists who tell me that now, even after we fill out a 30-page plus application, compiling many sources of data over weeks to justify the need for an aid, these applications for classroom support aids are now being stalled by business services and that these applications have to go across 10 desks before being approved. My own program specialist told me that at the beginning of the year, he submitted
050five applications for AIDS, but only one of those applications had been approved. This is incredibly frustrating and disheartening for our students, families, and teachers who so desperately need the support. When we are told that we are about equity inclusion, this is a complete contradiction of the statement. How can students with the highest needs be expected to function and fit into our classrooms without these extra supports? put the decision-making in the hands of our educators and special education support staff. We can't wait. Our next public comment is Amber English. Hello. Good evening. Um, I am here to speak on behalf of Peacemakers. I have um a 13-year-old eighth grader at Mirror Vista. He's been there since kindergarten. I also have um a third grader who was just starting off in her training for Peacemakers. Very excited
051and super disappointed that that had to end um without explanation. Um, but for the most part, Peacemakers was an advocate for me and my son. During his third grade year, he was diagnosed with a couple of learning disabilities and he was given an IEP and that was a new territory for me. I was feeling a little defeated and peace makers gave myself and my son a voice. They were sitting in meetings with us, making sure my son's educational needs were being met. On top of that, any issues that my son had behavioral wise or just needing somebody to talk to, Peacemakers has always been that for my children. They have been a very positive um just they've been a very positive um addition to the environment that Mirror Vista already has. I feel like it's
052a disservice to remove them and not allow the kids to continue to growth, to learn the um deescalation skills, the open-minded thinking. everything that they represent has been positive and I hope you guys do um your due diligence and learning about what they actually do for our children. Come up there and actually experience it. Um but our kids need them back and I hope you guys make the right decision. Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Francis Ortiz. Good evening board members, superintendent, and community. I want to begin tonight with sincere appreciation. Thank you to the three trustees who attended yesterday's statutory impass hearings. Your present showed a real commitment to understanding the depth of our staffing crisis. And as you heard and saw, UTR has provided the district with a clear long-term roadmap
053to stabilize our schools and rebuild the educator workforce our students deserve. We look forward to the panel's recommendations on November 28th, and we urge the district to swiftly and responsibly um or to act swiftly and responsibly when they're released. I also want to thank the family, students, and community partners who joined us at last night's town hall. Your love, advocacy, and solidarity reflect the community our students deserve. We look forward to seeing even more families tomorrow in Kensington. Tonight, I'm here to share the will of the United Teachers of Richmond membership. Our educators have voted overwhelmingly and unanimous unanimously a vote of no confidence in the leadership of special education department. This vote is not personal. It is a professional accountability for a pattern of harm that has affected students and with disabilities, the educators
054who serve them, and the legal and ethical obligations the district holds. Tonight, we also share an updated finding that shows WCCCUSD has doubled the spending on private special education contractors over 14 million in this year alone, including firms with direct ties to the Trump aligned national movements to dismantle the Department of Education and undermine special education protections. These are public dollars leaving classrooms instead of strengthening our own workforce and supporting our in-house educators. Educators have done our part. We've identified the harm. We've offered solutions. We've brought forward evidence, testimony, and clear vision for rebuilding stability. Now, we call on the board to take action to realign leadership with the values of transparency, legality, and student centered service, and to ensure that public dollar support. Our next public comment is Sierra Eri. Hi. Uh, it's actually
055Clara. I am a speech therapist, uh, who works with preschoolers in this district. Um, I think that some of my colleagues have really well covered the situations at places like Verde and Barry's where, um, staff members, students are simply not receiving speech therapy or only receiving speech therapy with virtual contractors. Um, this kind of thing is persistent. the really poor working conditions for our speech therapists and you know simply losing forms is leading to a situation where students are simply not receiving services or are receiving completely inappropriate services. Likewise um the getting the dismantling of the full inclusion for TK has resulted in many kids going to TK kids who were originally intended to be in full inclusion which means they're in a gened classroom they're with their gened peers and they're on a graduation
056track. Those students were placed into RSP which means they're pulled out two or three times a week rather than having in the class support to help them with their socialization and you know managing any behavioral needs. This is you know completely inappropriate and is leading to kids being placed in special education who might have been successful in gened if given the correct support. It's also taking people a lot of time and energy holding IEP meetings to reassign children to other classrooms instead of working with these children to you know help them in the best way possible. And yes, about what is the district's response on special education? Nothing. They've said nothing to us about our special education demands, but allegedly some uh some something was slipped into the binder at factf finding which said that
057all of our demands, the red the increased aids for classes, the reduced case loads for speech therapists and the reduced case loads for ESN and MMSN teachers, all of that had been rejected and we are being left with apparently nothing and our children are supposed to continue to receive no services or limited services. Please listen. This is a desperate situation for these children and their families. Thank you. Next public comment is Hank Roberts. >> Good evening. Hank Roberts, uh, CEO of Peacemakers Incorporated. I I believe what you've witnessed witnessed tonight is an amazing array and and and actually a diverse group of people at Mer Vista that support Peacemakers. And Peacemakers is is is really excited to be at a school like Meab Vista because you have all this diversity. You have all the different
058types of races, colors, ethnicities, and I imag I'd imagine you would probably say, "Wow, that that that school has a lot of problems." But you'd be amazed if you come came to me Vista and saw all this diversity and saw how these children play together, dance together, sing together, share language together. And this might shock you when I say this, but last year Mera Vista only had one suspension and the population is over 500 students. And so and so despite these differences that obviously would be a problem, these students at Meav Vista, they they feel safe, secure, and they feel connected. And many of them are also inspired to go to school every day. Why do I say that? As a result of last year, when you look at the percentage of attendance, Marav Vista
059ranked among the highest schools with percentage increase over the prior year, which says something is working right because these kids want to go to school. And and I and I think that from the evidence you've seen tonight, obviously Miraba have found out something. they they've learned how to collaborate the key components of the school which is the parents, the teachers, and the students because each of those key folks are heard at Mara Vista. But as you know, when you have something that's working so well, unfortunately, when one member is absent, that hurts everybody. There's no unity. And I stand here to say that one member that's missing from that collaborative at Mirror Vista is Peacemakers. And so tonight, we are asking you, the school board, to support us to get us back into that school
060so we can continue to create that unity. Our next public comment is Helen Kaine. >> Good evening everyone and welcome to our newly elected school board trustees. I'm here tonight to speak about um some of the challenges in the special education department. Though we've been talking about special education, it actually affects every student. At a school where we have had successful full inclusion programs and multiple special education programs uh where many different types of students with different diagnoses have been successfully mainstreamed and some even exited from their special education programs. Um, I think I speak from personal experience about the type of conditions that are necessary for mainstreaming and full inclusion to be successful. In order for that to happen, students and teachers need support. You cannot move students who need a great deal of
061classroom support, especially when they're in preschool, TK, kindergarten, and put them into RSP programs. RSP teachers are tied to their schedule. If somebody goes if a student elopes from their classroom and goes out to the playground, there just isn't enough bodies on campus for RSP teachers to leave the small group that they're working with. You know, because they're trying to help kids with dyslexia learn how to read as well as other challenges. They can't leave those groups and then grow run after a child who's loped from class. So the the situation has just been incredibly unfair for everyone involved for the special education students, the general education students, and all the staff. We need to consider FAPE, free access to public education for every student. And that sometimes we make decisions that actually are not
062FAPE. We need to prioritize students. And our last public comment is Tasmi Johnson Tashi. Good evening. It's my first time doing public comment, so it's got to be a special night. Um, my name is Tashi Johnson. I've been an active advocation for our SPED students for the last decade. I was a sped parent before I was an advocate. The first child that I have ever had to advocate for was my daughter who has a dual diagnosis of autism, ADHD, and ID. Our experience with our public schools can be best described as dehumanizing, depressing, debilitating, and traumatic. Lack of adequate resources between what our teachers knew our kids needed versus what they knew the district would pay for. I cannot say too much, but I can say that my daughter now attends a nonpublic school in
063Liverour and has recently met her second grade IEP goals that were set forth many years ago. She's 12 years old now. at one of our public schools. She is reading, she is learning, she is thriving, and she is excelling at everything that our sped program didn't have confidence that she could do. Unhappiness and inequities amongst our teachers and students is a degenerative cycle that attacks everyone in his path. Can you imagine how many parents don't have the wherewithal to walk this road and access education? It shouldn't have to be survival of the fittest. I am asking for our sped program to be re-evaluated for e efficacy and for our district to pay these people their worth. Our kids need in-person SLPs, ABAs, psychologists. They need in-person interaction, which is why we continue to walk through
064the fire of being a parent advocate. This is not to say teleaalth is not needed at all. Last school year, my son's teacher suffered from several awful awful vertigo spells. We had to pitch in and purchase her an adequate air conditioner. Not only was this the right thing to do, but each day would have been uncertain uncertain with her without her as subs are hard to come by. Happy teachers make happy classrooms and I thoroughly believe that and I've seen it with my daughter now. >> That concludes public comment. Thank you very much. Thank you to everybody who made public comment this evening. Superintendent Cotton, can the board get an update on Peacemakers and can somebody please look into the glove situation for ESN classrooms? >> Yes, we will um look into both of those.
065Thank you. >> Great. Thank you very much. Okay, we're moving now to B8 agenda review and adoption. Does the board have anything on the agenda that they want to move adjust? Seeing none, we'll proceed as the agenda is printed. Moving now to C business items, consent. Is there anything that the board wishes to pull from consent? Seeing none, we will accept C consent as presented. Moving now to D. Superintendent communication, superintendent cotton. All you thank you and good evening everyone. Next slide. Thank you. I want to begin with the labor negotiations update. I attend it. I'm sorry. I attended factf finding for the last two days, Monday and Tuesday. And first, I want to tell you why I was there. As a superintendent, I wanted to hear all voices, all concerns, and all recommendations for
066how we move forward toward more collaboration and better problem solving for our students. I heard loud and clear in the factf finding hearings from both teamsters and UTR labor partners. When I came back to West Contraosta 4 months ago um to a place that I know and I love, I knew hard work would be necessary and I also believe that it could be done. Let me be clear. The district office must support our school sites, our education professionals, and our classified support employees. Some solutions will not be easy, and I'm asking all of us to work collaboratively. I am deeply committed to evaluating issues from all perspectives and ensuring voices closest to those issues are heard with respect. A healthy district has systems to address site needs long before the negotiating table. I'm committed to
067genuine discussions that bring together the right people, including our labor partners, to address issues in real time, and we do that on a weekly and monthly basis. We have those conversations. I'm hoping to bring back our solutions team. That's one of those ways that we can have those conversations and I'm inviting all of our labor partners to come together to help me in restarting that committee. There is urgency to begin this work together. I I hear your concerns about special education recruiting, retaining, and investing and growing our own talent and operational issues. I I get it. I hear it. And while many many urban districts face similar challenges, we have to get creative to solve these. These are systemic problems requiring collective solutions. And again, I'm committed to accelerating effort in that area. Some of
068the action items that we're already taking right now or will take in the near future include short and long-term recruitment, requiring us to address salaries for our newest teachers so that we're competitive and attractive. We're working on this with our factf finding team this week. We're looking at investing in pathway programs so our members of our classified team who want to teach have an option to earn their teaching credential board approved. Um and actually tonight the board will be um approving anou with reach university, one of those universities that help connect and provide both access to a BA as well as access to a teaching credential and induction programs. I also have met recently with leaders from Contraosta College to discuss and develop other educational pathways. Other ways that I can support or that we
069have been working towards supporting is increasing support for our newest teachers so that they have the scaffolding, the mentoring and the access to resources that will help them succeed. in addition um really focusing in on TK. We've expanded TK in this district and we want to continue to support our our youngest learners. We're also reviewing our contracts with service providers. We know that we've got to pair things down. We know that we need to tighten things up um at I'm sorry, we need to tighten things up with our contracting with our staffing. We need to revisit our staffing matrix and make sure that we're following what we've committed to do through our bargaining unit agreements and make sure that we're staying on track with that. It's easy to say, "Yes, there's a need here. Here,
070we'll help you." But it's also a challenge to sustain something that does not fit within our budget. We're also continuing to build our internal capacity. I've asked our team to help develop training and professional development to recruit for these positions within West Contracasta. Again, the focus on growing our own. We can't address these issues overnight, but we can commit to sharing goals that will get us to a resolution, but also get us to collaborative work in the future. We must be responsible with resource allocation to avoid losing our ability to make these decisions ourselves. A balanced budget benefits us all. A responsibility I can't ignore. And I know that you don't want me to. Together as a strong community with shared beliefs, I believe in our ability to problem solve and be a united force.
071As a former teacher and a former principal, I know those closest to students are closest to the truth of what's working and what demands our attention. We support that. We are listening and we will continue to work together. Next slide, please. I do want to start us off also with some recognitions. We are in the midst of American Education Week and also um November 20th, not tomorrow, is National Parent Involvement Day. So, let's definitely uh when you're out and out out and about tomorrow, hug a parent who's there at school supporting students. But we thank you for all of the work that our parents every day and supportive of our our students. Next slide. I also want to lift up the BTPDP grant um and make sure that we are lifting this information up to
072our community. There are ways to become um to gain your bilingual authorization. And we want to encourage we want to encourage our educators and those who are interested in becoming an educator to consider this pathway again to become uh bilingual. to obtain your bilingual authorization. Next slide. And now to spotlight our students. Next slide. All student congress. And I think we acknowledged our last. You guys see yourselves. You see our student trustees up there. Um we celebrated them last meeting. They had just come back. They had a full day in Sacramento at the California Association of Student Councils conference. Um, but we just want to lift up and acknowledge all of our students who were there. They had a chance to meet our our state superintendent. Um, engage in workshops and and uh leadership development.
073It's exciting work and we're so excited and proud of all of our students um particularly our students who are taking on leadership roles. Next slide. The people united will never be divided. >> We enjoyed um earlier this week, oh goodness, you guys, the days have run together. I think that was last Friday, uh Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day. um acknowledging the work of six-year-old Ruby Bridges who bravely um worked to helped desegregate a school at six years old, a six-year-old. Um our students want to emulate that resilience, emulate that courage, and emulate that that commitment to inclusion um and care for each other. And so these are two examples, but it happened all across our district and we're so proud so proud of our students for engaging in that work. Next slide. Lincoln held
074their steam night on November 13th um where families, students, and their parents were able to come in and engage in different steam activities. Um, they were also uh connected with the California American Chemical Society. Um, and they also had to have a a great time with Chevron's slime making station. Thank you to all who uh were there to support um engaging with our Fab Lab as well. Next slide. And Washington also hosted their Steam night as you can see by the amazing photos here. Next slide. Hercules High School is on a roll right now. They are uh varsity dance team placed fifth overall um in the Prelude Dance Competition. Uh the marching band won outstanding music band in the 2025 Elsa Stroll. And the Hercules High Robotics team earned second place uh in the Pi
075robot re I'm sorry, reboot competition. Excellent work, Hercules High School students. Next slide. We also hosted our special education department and care parent network hosted an a an IEP and resource clinic at Chavez Elementary School. Our special education parent liaison and resource parents provided an individual IEP support and United Latino Voices provided assistance to families signing up for community services. The morning also included a resource fair and community agencies. So, thanks to the Care Parent Network and Chavez Elementary School for supporting this fun and educational event. Next slide. And finally, Cameron uh school has hosted their canned food drive or they're in the midst of hosting their canned food drive. Donations can be dropped off. They will be collecting items through November 20th. So any any um forms of generosity is appreciated. Thank you. Next
076slide. Since we last met, congratulations. Actually, I think it's happening today. Um our chief technology officer, Lori Wong Roberts, is completing her CTO mentor program in Sacramento, which is why she's not with us today. But we want to just say congratulations to her. It was a a long uh bless you long. Yes, a hand clap I think is appropriate. Thank you. Good job for Lori. Next slide. This was very interesting and I just want to share this. We talked about the recruitment piece. Um we have a district recruiter, Mr. Scott. Mr. Scott actually visited and he has been visiting multiple sites, but he was recently at King Elementary School working with about 30 parents who were interested in learning how to become an an employee of the district. So, if they're interested in becoming a
077pair professional, a teacher, um, or working in in any of the trades, I mean, we've we are trying lots of different things. Again, our focus is on growing your own and we just want to lift up great work that's happening within human resources. Uh very proud of the work that that we're doing to encourage our community members to join the West Contraosta family. Next slide. Not going to go through all these, but had it's been lots of community connection since we last met. um had a chance to meet both with our rich our city of Richmond staff but then also um was able to join their city council meeting last night uh which was great as we were able to secure um a waiver and ourou commitment to have our stage families uh be able
078to use the Booker T. Anderson Community Center for um uh after school program and parents meetings. We also have met with the city of San Pablo. We've um had our bimonthly meeting with uh our school and neighborhood action team which is led by Healthy Contraosta. We had our African-American student success network onboarding and then our November meeting. This is a statewide network of districts who are focused on ways figuring out ways to best support our African-American students. I had a chance to um which was really fun had a chance to meet with some of the deans of uh education programs for our UC system. They wanted to talk more about how they could be better partners to LEAs and to CDE and it was really really good conversation there. I had a chance to introduce
079myself to BWAPA the Contraosta County um chapter of Black Women organized for political action. They asked some great questions about our school district. Um and then also had a chance two nights ago to present to the Bayside PTA council. So it's been busy busy. Next slide. Internally we have hosted our DLC cap. Great job. Um to Katherine Aosta and Summer Sigler for your work with moving our our DLCAP and some of our other groups forward. Our governance committee, our board citizens oversight committee. Um, we had our joint meeting at Lake Elementary School last week. We also had so much fun a Eureka math uh walkthrough at Steuart Elementary School and then also I was able to sit in on their community of practice of professional development at Highland recently. Um, our ASAT team, I was
080not able to I can't get to everything. I wasn't able to get there last night, but our ASAP team met as well as um a fantastic conversation at Helms really focusing on our fiscal stabilization planning meeting. Really getting from goals to actions. So powerful work, excellent conversations. Next slide, please. And so what's coming up? Next slide. Fall break is coming up. Thanksgiving is coming. Um just a reminder that we will be out of school all of next week um from Monday, November 24th through Friday, November 28th. Uh we will see everyone the district office will be closed on Thursday, November 27th and Friday, November 28th. We look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday, December 1st. Next slide. Also, please mark your calendars. I had a chance, I think I mentioned earlier, to
081meet and meet with our president of the Contraosta College. Um, they are hosting on November 21st, this Friday, an African-American male symposium at Contraosta College from 10 to 2. I strongly encourage folks if you're able to um to take a look and and learn more about um developing that collegegoing mindset, but look definitely um consider attending the African-American male symposium. I believe that we do have some of our students who are planning to attend. Next slide. Also want to lift up and remind folks that in addition to Pol Valley High School who will be their band night uh performing at the Warriors game, we also have Hercules High School who um will be um they're participating in the school choir night at the Warriors game as well. If you're interested, please make sure you get
082a ticket. Next slide. Again, all student congress is coming up. You guys are meeting tomorrow, correct? It's very exciting that our student trustees helped to lead this group and lead this work. So, uh it's true leadership development. They're they will be together all day tomorrow for a student voice and agency leadership workshop. And so those students will be learning how to um learning more about the district's goals uh of being a community schools of how to facilitate how to advocate um and also effective communication skills. Next slide. And finally looking at the budget and finance meetings. Uh I do want to lift up that our district budget engagement committee will be meeting again on December 10th and the focus of the conversation will be around the first interim reporting and then our fiscal stabilization planning
083meeting. We have another meeting tomorrow evening from 6:30 to 8 at Elserto High School. We encourage folks to come out and participate. Next slide. and for your awareness. Next slide. Please don't forget your emergency cards. Sign up for parent square power school information. Uh updating your making sure your information is updated. Um I just want to continue to lift up every time we get together that we do have our anti-racism policy and our anti-slur policy. We heard a lot this evening about um an organization that is is helping to address some of those issues. And so we do we will as you requested we will take a look uh more deeply at that. But we also have our cell phone policy, our immigration policy and resources available for our families. We have our visitors signin
084policy. Please take care of your Chromebooks. And don't forget that we have a new facilities permit process. Next slide. We also have I want to lift up um the food assistance opportunities and resources that are available for families around um food pantries that are available as well as well as soup kitchens and senior food programs that are available throughout our district. Next slide. Don't forget to enroll your preschoolers age 3 to age five and little learners big futures. Um definitely consider enrolling in a West Contraosta preschool today or maybe tomorrow. We're closed at this point. Next slide. And there are many ways to get involved. Um as you can see, this information will be posted on our website so you can access this if you're interested in getting involved in any of our district committees
085um and councils. We also had our slide. Um, can you help me with that, Rachel? Our IDA 50 years slide. No, you just passed it. Right. Right there. I do want to lift up and and just let the group know that we are celebrating IDEIDA and actually I'm going to ask um soon to be Dr. Flashman, can you give us just an intro into IDA before we play this video? >> Certainly. Thank you uh superintendent. Uh thank you uh good evening board. um as what we now know as IDA um came into law on uh November 29th, 1975. Um it was the first time in American history that children with disabilities uh fundamentally and universally had a right to attend public schools. Um this is for me very personal. I I have an uncle who
086um and I was talking to I think board president, we had this conversation the other day. I have I had an uncle who uh was born before this law came into action uh who was deaf and was not allowed to go to public school um and had a very tragic um outcomes as a result of that. So for our family this is very personal. Um from from that moment till today um all children uh regardless of disability have had an opportunity um to uh to attend public school. And we continue to try to strive for um uh improving and and and growing and learning and and following research and following data and building our systems out not just here in West Contracasta but but across the country. um particularly in these times to make sure
087that we protect the rights uh of every student uh with a with a disability um and keeping in mind that students with disabilities are general educ education students first um and that they are all of our students just like any other student in our school district. >> Thank you. Miss Forest, are we able to >> Should I Sorry, I I talked about the law. I didn't talk about the video that we're about to see and I think um >> I saw familiar faces in that video. That was beautiful. >> Um >> but if we're able to play, >> here we go. And is there sound Okay. As we're working on on getting the video up, we're going to go ahead and continue on with the meeting. Um, if you can let me know, Miss Forest,
088when it's ready to to view, but we'll go ahead and move forward. But it is a very cool video and it has a lot of our students and our families. It's really exciting. >> Great. Sure. As soon as it's ready, we can just stop and we'll we can go back to it. No problem. >> Okay. So, thank you very much. Any any questions for the superintendent on the report? >> Okay. Then we'll move to action items. We'll move to our first action item, which is uh E1, student discipline. >> Oh, we're ready. I think I may be able to do it right now. One second. >> Come back to me. I'm sorry. No problem. Just let us know. Okay. We're going to move now to E1, which is uh our first action item, student discipline.
089Uh we have an expulsion case number 252603. So with these we don't do any discussion. We just move the item. >> President Reclar I move that we approve the expulsion case number 252603. >> Great. So it's moved by Gonzaloy. >> Second it. >> Okay. And it's seconded by clerka. We don't normally do any discussion. We'll start with our student trustees. Student trustee Miles. >> Yes. >> Student trustee Hung. >> Yes. Trusty Hernandez, >> yes. >> Clerkyana, >> yes. >> Mr. Gonzalez, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. Motion carries unanimously with Trusty Smith Bolts absent. Moving now to action item E2, board policy 5145.3, non-discrimination harassment. >> Good evening, board. I'm going to have uh Mr. Espinosa present this item. Good evening board members and Miss Cotton. I am Jose Espinosa, Title 9 Director for
090the Office of Educational Equity. Our department is requesting to update the language within board policy 5145.3 non-discrimination harassment to align with current laws and regulations. As part of the 2025 2026 California Department of Education federal programs monitoring audit, our office has updated the policy to reflect the updated contact information for section 504. We have added the suggested definition for harassment and discrimination for further alignment with legal requirements. We have also recommended that a previously proposed paragraph addressing racialized harm be removed to prevent implementation difficulties as it may not meet the legal definition of discrimination or harassment and instead refer to the language within board policy 0415.3 anti-racism as this language is within this board policy. Thank you very much. Does anybody have any questions? I feel like we've talked about this to depth, so it's
091really for you all. Any questions from any of you? Okay, great. Um, is there any public comment on the item? >> We have no public comment. >> Okay. Uh, we can we'll move to a motion. I feel like I want to move it since I um so I'll go ahead and move board policy 5145.3 non-discrimination harassment with a followup that we revisit the anti-racism policy and look at incorporating that language into uh the stricken language back into the anti-racism policy. >> Does anybody want to second? >> I'll second it. Okay. So, it's moved by Reckler, second by clerkyana. Um any uh Okay. So, we did all that. Okay. We'll go. Any further comments? >> Okay. We'll go to the vote. Student Trustee Miles, >> yes. >> Student Trusty Han, >> yes. >> Trusty Hernandez, >>
092yes. >> Clerk, >> yes. >> Trusty Gonzalezy, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. Motion passes unanimously unanimously with one absence. Trusty Smith folds being absent. Thank you. Moving now to F discussion items. Uh first one is board policy 1330 use of school facilities. I see superintendent Cotton, you're going to take that one. I could take it. I think we're ready. Here we go. Okay. So, we're going back to the video. We're going to hold on our discussion item for the moment. and we'll go ahead and pass it back to you and we'll come back in a minute. >> If you'd like to No, it's it's good. It's good. >> Oh, wait, wait, wait. Are we gonna get it? No. Okay. All right. So, we'll go to F1 board policy 1330. I see Superintendent Cotton,
093I see your name on it. Uh to discuss I can I can certainly discuss it if you want me to. >> The item. >> Yeah. Um it's 13:30 use of school facilities. So, I'm happy to introduce it. This really wasn't in our plan um as far as board policies to review, but we found a small loophole that we'd like to close up immediately. um which is to make sure that our properties are used for our purposes purposes and not for anybody else's um including um ice or we don't really know. So we have some language in here just to sew that up quickly. Um and you will again see this policy because it does need other significant uh revisions, but we just want to patch this over quickly. So, we've brought it to the board
094tonight um just to take a look and see if there's any questions from the board. So, on 13:30, do you have any questions? Is there public comment on the item? >> We have no public comment. >> Okay. Um and is are there any further comments? It's just a discussion item for this evening. Okay. Seeing none, we can move to board policy 0410, non-discrimination in district programs and activities. First read. And this one I see Mr. Fleshman. Oh, and he's not here. Okay. Get Oh, here it here it comes. >> Thank you, President. Apologies. Um, we are bringing forth uh policy uh board policy 0410 uh non-discrimination um in district programs and activities uh for a first read. Um the updates from uh previous policy um >> yeah of course sorry no worries. Uh so there's
095just some updates in language um in protections uh regarding child birth um reproductive health um ancestry u military status and then there's added language around title nine um and providing information on an annual basis for parents um uh of students um uh parents uh rights to education for their students regardless of immigration status. Um, so there's added language about making sure that there's annual notice to parents so they know that they have a right to education regardless of that. So, um, uh, just essentially added protections that weren't in the previous policy that are relevant today. >> Thank you very much. Do any board members have questions on on this policy and the changes? >> Is there any public comment on the item? We have no public comment. >> And are there any further comments from
096board members on 0410? >> Okay, seeing none, we'll go to the next item, which I know trustee Gonzalez Hoy is quite passionate about. So, Trusty Gonzalez Hoy will take us through board policy 4033, lactation accommodation. >> Thank you. And Dr. Greenwood, if it's okay, let's just partner up. Uh, whatever I miss, please add after, which I'm sure will be quite a bit. So, um, uh, well, first I want to thank, uh, Super Cotton, Dr. Greenwood, and staff because, um, I brought up the issue that we did not have electation policy. Um, and then we brought it to governance. Um, and thank you, President Reckler, also for being supportive of this. Um, it's weird that the one male on the board is the one talking about this, but um, it it is an issue that I
097have noticed over the years is obviously incredibly important. Um, just to give it a little context, in the state of California, uh, you are not given time, paid time to express milk after you've had a child. Um, now in our district, I just want to clarify, current administration, which is all the folks here, don't penalize employees when they need to lactate milk. Uh, but I felt like it was really necessary for us to set the standard for districts around California. Uh, majority of districts don't have lactation policies. Um I believe it's a women's right, human right um to make it clear what the expectation should be in case there was changes of administration right in the future or change of uh of mindsets right um and culture. Uh so Dr. Greenwood and staff uh worked
098really hard for a few weeks researching what you see in front of you, which is um not just a set of expectations when an employee needs the space to lack data and the time, but also that we're not going to penalize them for needing that break. Um and that it can be outside of their regular break time. Um and I think that one of the things I felt like here was really necessary is because we have observed Dr. aging and I inconsistencies inconsistencies at times when administrators are the ones that are having to put in place the expectations, right? Um including um how to accommodate um a new mom that needs it. And we have had conversations with employees who have chosen not to return to work uh and be in the place that they
099love to be uh because of this one issue alone uh which some have a stigma right around uh being embarrassed or or or uh you know not being provided with the right benefits. Uh so all that to say I'm just really thankful uh that we're bringing this forward. Um I personally have served my wife gone through this twice with two different administrators. Um and I have seen um first of all not just Dr. Green but under you the difference. So I want to thank you for that because I think my wife has had two different experiences uh just in our district. Um not to put her on the spot but she has been obviously a big uh catalyst for it as well. Uh so that's that's about it. Um, I did want to point out
100the seven criteria or eight criteria in which Dr. Greenwood is going to train administrators on what they need to do in order to provide safe environments for uh any staff who needs to lactate um after having a child. Dr. An? No, I just want to reiterate that we just want to pro really seriously provide a safe um environment for women to expel milk and so that they know that they can come to HR or to their administrator once they're trained to be able to go through this process appropriately. >> Thank you. And back to you, President. >> Thank you very much. Does anybody on the board have questions on the policy? Is there any public comment? >> There's no public comment. >> Go right ahead. >> We have something Do we have something in place
101for our young females at who are breastfeeding or who have just had a baby? Do they have do they have space in schools to pump? >> Um that would be at the site administrator. So that would be part of this training as well. Thank you. I'm complete. >> Okay. Yeah, you can we can we can move to comments if there aren't if there aren't any more questions. Well, I don't have a question. I just have a comment. I want to thank the trusty Gonzalez Hoy for bringing this up as the only male I think on the board. Um, I think this is something that will in reality level the playing field. I think we've had conversations about how hard it is to be a, you know, a mom and come and try to get back
102into job mode and work mode and having just one more thing, you know, for us to think about um is really difficult. So I think anything that we could do when it comes to accommodating and leveling the playing field for us women who have to come out and do something that predominantly isn't thought about by males. I just want to thank you for bringing this to the board and you know being a little bit thoughtful around it. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. We definitely talked about that a ton in the governance meetings that this is basically a full another full-time job that you get to do in addition to having a baby and having a job and then having to express milk and feed another human being. So that was very important and
103I think that we can get and keep more women in the workforce if we have a good policy and it's well executed. Um which brings me to one comment I'd like to make. Um which I guess kind of got glossed over. I didn't catch it before, but it says that the policy must be included in employee handbooks and shared with new hires and indiv individuals requesting parental leave. Yes, but it's also the procedures. Um, so it's not just the policy, but it's you're back. This is how we work this thing. This is what you're entitled to. So, it's it's more than just the policy. It's uh the howto um of how an employee uh goes about with with those accommodations. more in depth. That's the only comment I have that I think we might need
104a little clarification on. And anything else from anyone? Okay, good. Good feedback on that. And moving now to 4131 staff development first read. And that one is Mr. Fleshman. >> Thank you, board president. Um this uh staff development uh board policy has some updated language as well uh regarding um uh staff development around um teacher supporting student well-being uh social emotional development and learning positive behavior interventions and supports. Uh strategies and and um uh professional development around civility uh mental and physical health and trauma-informed practices. Um, otherwise it is very similar to the previous policy just with those added uh pieces of language. >> Great. Thank you very much. Are there any questions from the board on the item? >> Is there any public comment? >> There's no public comment. >> And are there any
105further comments from the board on the item? Seeing none, we'll move to 614. We'll move to number five. 614.7 physical education and activity first read. >> Yes. Good evening, President Reckler, clerkana, trustee, superintendent cottonman, community board policy 6142 uh.7 physical education and activity is before you tonight for a first reading. The governance committee, the superintendent, cabinet, and our appropriate staff have reviewed the policy. As a reminder, in 2023, the board approved JOTC and marching band as eligible to receive physical education credit. And tonight's update adds cheerleading dance and drill team to that list so that we can take advantage of the flexibility provided within the education code. And tonight, we're open for questions and edits that you'd like us to consider before we bring it back for a second reading. >> Great. Thank you so
106much. Does anybody from the board have any questions on the item? Is there any public comment on the item? >> We have no public comment. >> Are there any further question comments from the board on the item? So, this was brought forth by a community member. So, I'd just like to thank the community member and um all for expanding what we can offer and I think this is great and I'm really glad that you guys took it seriously and worked on it. I I think it's terrific. So, I'm very happy to see it. I'm very happy to see it brought back. Yes, that too. Um okay so if we don't have anything more on that we will move now to uh F6 early college credit to ensure college and career readiness Oh, we have the
107video. Heat. Heat. And just to say that these were images um of our current and former students in West Contracasta. That was beautiful. So, thank you. Thank you very much, uh, Mr. Fasher, for sharing this with us. >> Definitely. And thank you for for the opportunity to share it. And I want to give a huge big gigantic can't make it big enough shout out to Janine Bishop, who is our parent liaison, uh, who put that video together. Um, we talk a lot about relationships. She she has connections to those parents still, and that's why she was able to get those pictures because she still communicates and and and advocates and has relationships with those folks. So big big uh thank you to Janine Bishop. >> Thank you. Worth the wait. Thank you, Miss Bishop. And
108I recognize Christian. I saw I saw Sonia's play. So that was great. Okay, moving now to Trusty Smith Folzer in there, too. Okay, moving now to F6. Early college credit to ensure college and career readiness. Is it plugged in? Um, good evening, Superintendent Cotton and board. Um I'm really happy to be here with you this evening uh to share a story of progress and more work to come. Um the college and career team is at the CTE conference. Uh and so I am the lone presenter but I do want to acknowledge uh that they are incredibly dedicated team who puts countless hours into this effort effort. Next slide please. So, I just want to situate college and career readiness into our LCAP. Uh, it falls under goal three, relentless attention to achievement and our desire
109to empower each students to graduate with the essential skills to be college and career ready in a multilingual and techdriven world. And we have set our sights on a 3% annual increase. And if you look at the purple metric on the slide, you will see that we are on track uh to meet our goal and we've made a 3% increase and we actually have moved to green on the recently released California state dashboard. Um and we are really excited about this progress. Next slide, please. So, one of the things that we want to make sure people understand every time we have an opportunity is how the state actually designates students as college and career ready. And so, there are eight different ways students can be designated by the state as college and career ready. um
110where a few years ago it was just about A throughG, this is an expanded definition which provides a lot more opportunity for our students. And so I have put green arrows on the slide at where our college and career team has really focused their efforts. Um there has been a huge focus on increasing access to dual enrollment programs. This is one of the standalone indicators, meaning that our students can actually gain um college and career readiness through just this indicator alone. And then we also in indicator 8 have looked a lot at how we support the recruitment of diverse students into AP classes. Next slide, please. This is a little tidbit of research. um 80% of students who participate in dual enrollment programs have gone on to enroll in colleges versus 66% of our total
111population. There's similar data that shows when students are exposed to early college credit, they persist through college at a higher rate. Next slide, please. Okay, there's a lot of little words on this slide. Um, what we want to do is think about that historically AP has been what we talk about. Access to advanced placement coursework. And there's pros and there's cons to advanced placement. It's a rigorous course of study. Students get a GPA boost. it is great on their transcript for college. There's also some cons. You don't get college credit because you took AP. You get college credit when you pass a standardized test that costs money. And so, even though we do a lot to support students with fee waiverss and access, this is a barrier. Concurrent enrollment is also a long-standing practice. It's
112great. Our contraosta college has been a wonderful partner and students can take classes outside of the school day and in the summer. But we do know that to concurrently enroll you have to have the time outside of the school day and you have to have the transportation. And so where we have focused our effort is in expanding dual enrollment and articulation agreements. Dual enrollment is where our college professors are teaching courses on our high school campuses during the school day and students have access and actually in a few instances our high school teachers have been certified uh as college instructors. This is amazing. Our students get the grade boost um just like they would for an advanced placement course. They have access during the school day to a rigorous curriculum and should they pass they
113earn college credit and they do pass at high rates. There is a con. We share the ADA. So that is something to consider. And then there's articulation agreements. Articulation agreements work a lot like dual enrollment, but students earn the college credit at the end of the course. they decide, I'm going to pass this assessment and it's going to audit me to get college credit. So, a little bit of back-end work for our team to work on the course codes and make sure students are aligned accurately. They still have to pass an exam, but it's a teacher created exam. This isn't an external bore pay test. Um, next slide, please. So we really believe that if our students have access to rigorous coursework and credit during the school day, then we will see an increase in
114the number of students designated college and career ready. And there's two strategies that we focused on. One is working with our counselors to ensure that they intentionally meet with all African-American students and language learners to ensure that they understand both the A throughG requirements and the opportunities available to them. Um, and this actually was a parent recommendation going into last school year from the DLCAP. Uh, and so the parents who gave that recommendation are really part of this success. Our second strategy has been to deepen the partnership with Contraosta College to increase student access to dualenrolled and articulated courses during the school day. Next slide, please. So, you can see our enrollment growth in dual enrollment and articulated classes has been huge over the last few school years, including over a thousand students enrolled this
115year, which is very exciting. Next slide, please. If you look at the enrollment by program and by demographic, you can see some notable patterns. We want to celebrate that we have largely um closed the gap of enrollment uh or af the enrollment of our African-American students has become proportional to the number of African-American students in the district, which is a huge win. But we also note that we have an equal number of students of African-American students enrolled in AP or dualenrolled or articulated classes where we have a much larger group of our language learners who are accessing the dualenrolled and articulated classes. And so we want to note that that access and accessibility piece is really important. Next slide please. So this is by student group and you can see that our dual enrolled and
116articulated students in our special education programs and our language learners are accessing these dual- enrolled and articulated classes. Next slide please. So, we want to highlight a really exciting opportunity from this year at Kennedy High School. They started a math class that has two functions. They took students who failed algebra 1 and they're putting them in college algebra to remediate the algebra 1 they failed as freshmen and next semester it will be algebra 2. So, the students who successfully complete this course will have made up a course they failed and be on track to be college ready by completing algebra 2 and they will be earning six college credits and 20 high school credits from this course. There is embedded tutoring. So, the photo that you see is students actually participating in that embedded tutoring.
117We're looking for more opportunities like this where we can help students both remediate and accelerate at the same time. Next slide, please. Another highlight is Richmond High School's early childhood development class. And as Superintendent Cotton has spoken at length about how we are growing our own, this high school program is definitely an amazing program that is taught by a graduate of Richmond High School working with students at Richmond High School in partnership with Contraosta College. And what you see in the photo is these students are actually learning how to teach phonics because they're going to downer elementary school to support in teaching phonics. Another fun fact, we're working with expanded learning to create work-based learning internships in our own expanded learning programs. And so really, we are developing our own workforce and our own systems
118of student support while these students are getting college credit. Next slide, please. So, these courses have a 90% pass rate. I want you to think back to the fact that this year we have a thousand kids enrolled. So, if we maintain our 90% pass rate, we are looking at 900 students getting early college credit. This is an incredible growth that's happening year-over-year. Um, if we think about in comparison students earning early college credit through our AP programs, last school year, 57% of students who took exams scored a three or higher. Three or higher is what gives you college credit should a university accept that credit. Some universities won't accept it and some say we have to have a four or higher in that 57% that's a duplicated number. There are students who took five tests.
119So if we think about early college credit as getting our students ahead, saving them money in college, making sure that they're college and career ready. We know that having AP classes is wonderful, but our dual- enrolled and articulated classes are actually getting us there much more efficiently. Next slide, please. I just want to look at this sort of shift in how we're thinking about early college access. What you see in the graph in the blue is the number of courses per campus that offer early college credit. And so as we think about equity, this matters, but all of our schools are actually different sizes. So we also need to look at the percent. And you can see on the slide in the bullets, we have the percent of each of our schools that are actually
120accessing the coursework. So when we as a team plan forward and we see that 48% of Elserto High School is the students are in some sort of early class that could offer early college credit and at Kennedy there's 17%. We're looking to close that percent and so that could mean adding coursework. That also could be looking at the number of students enrolled in courses and actually making sure that those courses are full um and being fully utilized by the students. And so as we look into next school year and as we move through this school year, we're looking at how we set goals around increasing the percent of student access, not just the raw number of courses. Next slide, please. We're really excited to have the opportunity to share with you this evening. Um, we
121know that our dual enrolled and articulated classes ensure rigorous opportunities, an opportunity to accelerate, to remediate, and to earn college credit before our students are there. And so as we build out these classes, we just want to make sure we emphasize that we really think about the alignment to our CTE pathways, courses that align to the colleg's course catalog, student interest, students don't take classes they don't want to take, right? So we always have to make sure there's both a need and an interest in aligning and building forward to help our students thrive. Thank you. I'm happy to take any questions. Great. Thank you very much. Does anybody have any questions? >> Um, I just want to say um I'm dual enrolled right now and I really really appreciate it and I really really like
122it and I think it's a much better opportunity for people who don't want to be in a classes AP classes. I know my school doesn't even offer them, but um I'm taking ASL1 right now and I'm really enjoying it and I'm taking it taking number two next semester. So, I just really appreciate it and I think we should definitely push it out to kids who might be involved. >> Are there any other questions? >> So, I had two questions. One, how can we make the process of dual enrollment smoother? Because when you try to enroll in DVC, that's the one that I've had experience with. It's a lot of like kind of going through the process and a lot of red tape. the kids have to make a a profile at DVC. They have to
123sign up here. They like there's little things that I think could be smoother and encourage more students to do it. Also, after they finish the coursework, how do we make it smoother for their transcripts to come back to the school so they won't have to have this? I've heard many students have to fight to get they pass the class, but have to fight to make sure that that credit is now put back on their transcript at their high school that they're in. That's the first question I have. The second question is, I don't know if anybody remembers EOS, equal opportunity schools. You remember when we had that in the district? Okay, we did a lot of work with equal opportunity schools. There was a lot of work trying to figure out how do we make
124AP classes more attractive to all students? How do we make sure that they feel welcome once they're in there? What are the resources and supports that we put in place to ensure their success in the AP classes? So I think that if we go back to that EOS model and what the work that we've already done, I think that some of that uh some of the partner think that you guys are doing now, it's the work has already been done for you. I'm complete. Okay, I'm going to answer backwards and you'll have to correct me if I miss any. Um yes, thank you for the comment about equal opportunity schools. We have the materials from when we worked with them and we continue to use those materials particularly um they have really excellent questions around
125surveying students when you do choice sheets and asking questions about academic mindset. So one of the things that came out two years ago at Richmond High um 85% of the kids said yes I view myself as a strong academic student. That's amazing data. Um, and then there were questions that drilled down and would help us to say, "Hey, you should sign up for AP Chemistry." And so we've continued to utilize those questions. And that's been really useful for us. When you talk about um DVC, that's the concurrent enrollment outside the school day. And so I agree. Um, we have learned through this process that community college enrollment is not any simpler than Harvard. Um, and so what we um, and then the transcript piece, the counselors can put it on the transcript, but we as
126a district don't accept more than 80 credits a year or 40 per semester. So what often happens is very high achieving students because they know those courses come in and give them a grade boost, they say, "Put another one. Put another one." And at some point the counselors have to say, "You have to make a choice. Um when we look at our dual enrolled and our articulated classes, the college and career team and the counselors do a huge work for the sign up. So when students are in those classes during the school day, they're seeing our team and their college and career counselor to really handhold through the process that you just described is a challenge and we agree it can be really complicated. >> Thank you for that. So the clarification is one is
127the dual enrollment that happens outside the school day like with your DBC or your CCC and then one is where you have a teacher who has the certification or whatever is necessary to be able to teach that college class during the day and that's not concurrent enrollment. That's the articulated >> dual enrollment or articulated. >> Thank you so much. I'm complete. >> Thank you. I have some questions. So, what is articulated versus dual enrollment? >> It's basically that they're enrolled in a high school class. Um, and then at the end of the course, they can certify. It's an agreement with Contraosta College around basically the coursework, what was taught, and there's an exam they can take to get the credit. And so what it does for us as a district, it gives us more ownership
128upfront of the course versus the college having more ownership of the course. It's more work. It's literally technically backend work for um L's team and the tech team to go in and change the course code after a student has successfully completed the course. So for the student, there's no risk of them getting an F on a college transcript because if they don't do well, they just never put in that they as a college course versus dual enrollment where they're in the class upfront. I think for a system, if we think about it as a bucket, the benefit to the students of the credit is the same. the way it appears on the transcript is the same. >> And so how do those decisions get made between articulated and would you choose between articulated and a
129regular high school class or would you choose between articulated and a dual enrollment class? Usually you're choosing between articulated and dual enrollment and that's going to have to do with teacher qualifications um hiring ability of the college at the moment and a number of technical pieces >> and who's making that decision is the college or is the >> it be a combination of the college and career team working with the college to determine the best route. And how are you or how is the decision made on what to offer in a dual enrollment? Um so largely we're aligning with our pathway programs and so for example the health academy at Dansza that senior class has been dual enrolled for 10 years. There's a phenomenal teacher who is one of our district teachers who's also hired
130through the college and it's a long-standing program. As we build new programs such as the ed pathway, you look for availability and if you're looking at a Contraosta College course catalog with their staff and our pathways, we're looking to actually build those connections explicitly. So many of these courses, what's really exciting is it's early college credit and a grade point average boost in courses that historically would not have offered that. So if a student is really motivated and they want to take AP English and AP math and AP history and this college class, they can take all of it or they can pick and choose. Um, so we're building out that way. And then the secondary piece is looking for opportunities such as the opportunity at Kennedy where it's like, hey, there's a really big
131need to catch these students up in math and get them college eligible and the college is coming in saying, we have this really cool opportunity. Let's test it out. >> And that was another one of my questions. What grades are are these kids in? I mean, for Kennedy, were those sophomores that were >> largely juniors uh in that class? Uh we prioritize seniors, but actually at Richmond High, the Ed Pathway, juniors and seniors are in um dual enrolled classes. >> And do all the credits transfer? You're right about the APs. Some of them don't transfer. Some of them are stipulated. Um for dual enrollment, is it guaranteed that those transfer either to community or to a 4-year? Yes, they are community college credits issued through Contraosta College. So 10 high school credits is three college
132credits. So one semester of a course a student receives three credits from Contraosta College. Two semesters it is six credits that is on they can call the registar. It goes on their high school transcript, but they also could call the registar at Contraosta College and be issued a transcript from the college. >> Interesting. Um, see what else did I want to ask? >> Oh, ADA. So, how does that work? So that is that is the sticky part. Um and the ADA for dualenrolled classes for that period goes to the college. That's why it's a sharing. So it shouldn't be all of the ADA, but for that period it does go to the college and that's actually we've done a ton of research on that. That's actually um in ed code. And does the is that
133how the the is that how the teacher gets compensated? I believe so. I mean, that gets really in the weeds for me. I'd probably have to go back and do a little more research. But when they're sending us their teacher, yeah, they have to have a revenue source. That's where the articulated agreements, the ADA actually stays with us because it's a switch you make at the end to the college course code. >> Okay. So that's how the teachers are getting paid. They're getting paid through the ADA there. Is there an agreement? I can't remember. Is there agreement with Contraosta College that and additionally the ADA or I can't recall? >> Yeah, we operate under the CCAP agreement. I would have to reread and do some digging um to answer exact payment questions. >> Just top
134level. I don't need the weeds. I don't need the blades of grass. I'm just >> If it's helpful, we can put together a just a briefing >> to get a little bit more more to share with the board if that's helpful. >> Yeah. I don't know. I just I just need top level. That's all I'm needs of. It's just interesting of of how that works. Okay. Um I also wanted to echo the um the sentiments about registering for I mean it doesn't matter if it's contrast college or Berkeley it it is impossible to register. Um so I don't know what you can do about that but it it I think I told my daughter no I'm not doing it because it was so horrible with my son. So, um, you know, whatever can be done
135to smooth that path forward, it's miserable. Um, okay. So, I think those are all the questions I have. Is there any public comment on the item? >> We have no public comment. Oh, we have one public comment. >> Oh, question. Go ahead. >> Wait. >> No. Okay. Yeah. Go right ahead. Um, so I do want to ask about AP testing grants that we have. So you give us the first test and then we have to pay for all the ones from there. Um, there are lots of other organizations that provide grants and sometimes schools give us resources to those. I think those could be really helpful. I don't know if you guys know about those or could put us in contact with those because of AB testing and how expensive it gets. really quick. Um
136I I have a I have a list and an order, so it's going to be a sec, but um I with the dual enrollment process and signing up for the classes, I think many times you guys have sent in a representative from Contra Costa College that provides us resources. I think that I don't know whether you're in the position whether you're the one sending this person or not, but I think it's important to notice the timeline of this application and send them based off of the timeline because sometimes they're they're there and then you sign up and it gives you this 48 hour window and you need them 48 hours later but they're not there. They're there 24 hours later. >> Yeah. Okay. Um, I have a question about taking 80 credits in a year.
137How does that work for summer courses? I know a lot of students take courses over the summer. Does that still mean that it eats away at their courses throughout the next year or how does that work? And then I have one more comment on the dual enrollment classes offered at my own high school. We have um I think we have African-American studies, something like that. It's not the AP one. It's a dual enrollment one. We have AP as well. And then we have African-American psychology. I think having this course virtually three times is not very useful because it spreads out the amount of people who take it and there's a lot of space with these dual enrollment courses to put in a course that is I don't know um more competitive on college applications. is
138more so maybe a way to inquire about to to reach out to students and inquire about the courses that are offered because most of the courses offered are very left field and not exactly courses that many of the students want to take which means they end up taking it solely for the GPA boost and less out of in I don't know interest in the course. I think that's all. Yeah. >> Okay. And embedded in there was a question that now I was listening to the rest of your feedback and I missed. >> Okay. So, I had a question about other organizations that could provide us AP testing grants. I'm curious about summer credits if someone were to take a course over the summer. >> Yes. Okay. >> And how does >> Yes. So 20 credits
139during the summer we would accept. Um so the cap during the school year is 80 credits. The standard high school schedule offers 60. Um and then during the summer summer school typically offers 10 and we will accept up to 20. Yes. If you have AP grant resources, please send them our way. and we welcome any feedback as we adapt and change courses. Um that's actually happening starting right now. Those conversations are starting on school sites and so your timing is perfect as we look at next school year. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> So my question is more around the communication. How are we um giving this information out to our families and our students about the different options when it comes to classes and benefits of each different class selection. So counselors visit every single
140classroom and they do a review of student transcripts as well as the courses offered the next school year. They do it in grade level specific classes. So, if you're in 11th grade, they're going to be looking at specifically offerings for 12th graders next year. We've also implemented four-year plans, which 95% of our eighth graders completed last year, which was incredible. So, we have our students annually now tracking their progress towards graduation and college and career goals in their four-year plans. School links is the platform that we use for that, and parents actually can have access to it. They can track their students four-year plans. They also for our seniors can track their progress on their college applications. I think this is underutilized by parents at this point. And I think that's where we need to
141keep pushing to support them in being able to see that real-time progress. >> Sorry. Sorry. We're ordered. We have to extend. We want to ask more questions. >> Okay. >> I think there's over here. So, >> I moved I moved to that we extend until 10:30. Just FYI, I'm voting. No, but I move that we extend to 10:30. >> What about 10:15? >> I'll second that. >> Which one? 10:30 or 10:15. 10:30. Okay. >> 10:30 to be >> moved. All right. So, it's moved by Gonzalez, second by clerkana. Um, student trustee Miles. No, student trustee home. >> Uh c can we we can leave whenever. So why not? >> I just got a a hate look from Trusty Hernandez. Trusty Hernandez. >> Stop asking questions. >> Yes. But I had to say that >> yes,
142>> it's my first no ever on extending. I just want to put that out there. I vote no. >> You're Smith Falls. Yes. >> Yes. Right. Passed. Okay. Continue. >> I do have a question about uh advanced placement. So the question about advanced placement, I know I heard about the cost and it is about $100 per test, right? So I guess that's not a question. That's a statement. That's a lot. So, if you're taking five classes, you're you're shelling out if the district pays for one, you're still shelling out $400. So, I had a kid that took and you can take the test and you're not in the class. So, my kid happened to take tests that she was not in the class. I was like, "Yo, that's $100 a pop." But it was the
143idea of getting that three or above that it can then transfer to certain colleges, not colleges on the East Coast. Let's just be clear. It doesn't transfer to colleges on the East Coast. just transfers for colleges in the UC or CSU kind of atmosphere. Um, one of the questions that I had and I forgot it. You threw me off my game. I don't know what the question was. Um, oh, how are we ensuring that AP classes are not being used as markers of segregation? A lot of AP classes, because the kids will get in AP classes, but they won't take the AP exam. they're just trying to get into the advanced placement classes for the GPA rock or to be around people that they think that they have more in common with or whatever it
144is. Part of the EOS was how do we create that stop gap? How do we make sure that that's not a boundary? Are you guys thinking and talking about how do you ensure that AP classes are not seen as tools of segregation? >> Yeah, absolutely. I think that's really important. Um, I myself in high school was try a teacher tried to counsel me out of taking an AP test that I then took and passed. And so we, this is where the grants that Sasha was talking about can be really powerful. There was a time where we did have a grant and every student could test for free. And as a teacher, you walked in and said, "Everybody in this class is taking the test. We're in it together. We are going to do this. If
145you don't pass, it's okay. You had a rigorous experience, but I want you to take the risk and try your best. When there's cost involved, that becomes a family decision. And I think teachers are very hesitant to push. Um, I think there also are a lot of reservations in our system around the validity of an external test and how fair the test is or if it's really a representation of the students knowledge. And so I think yes, that conversation is happening and we're leaning deeply into doing articulation agreements and dual enrollment because we're looking at the access that our students have and the success that we're having and the credit that they're earning and we're thinking that this is our equitable avenue. I remember my second question. How do we track students or do we
146track students once they graduate and they enter college? Do we track if they have to take remedial courses? Because that would be if we backwards look at it, that would be a marker or if we are doing what we need to do in their senior year or their junior year. because I know that there are some um there there is data out there that says if you go to college and you have to take remedial math your first year or remedial science your first year English then we need to look backwards and say are you getting the rigor that you need to be able to enter this college course and is that part of our readiness and before I forget friend because it's late um the other question that I had I forgot it answer
147that one and then I'll bring I I just took a note to myself. So, we get national clearing house data and the the standard that they said is can you get through college in six years, which is interesting that it's not even a four-year standard. Are you persisting in six years? Um, and they say basically if it takes a child longer than six years, they're they're unlikely to complete. The question that I wrote down that I'll find out is does that data actually get as granular to the courses they took freshman year. I'm not certain. Um but I certainly know if I send them off with 12 credits, they're going to do better. >> Yeah. I mean I have a >> just a quick response. We do have our uh cradles to career dashboard that
148is in the works. the the clearing house doesn't necessarily carry that information that we're looking for. That is a really good question and it is research that we want to engage in. >> We're hoping that cradle to career dashboard will be able to provide that at some point. >> Thank you so much for that. My I did remember my next question. At um some high schools you can only start taking AP classes in 10th grade. Is that universal across our system or is that just at particular high schools? It depends on how it's set up and there's an evolving mindset around AP. The historical mindset was that outside of English and history, you took precursor classes, right? So, you had to take biology and then AP bio. Um, a lot of schools are now saying,
149"Do you have to, if you're an advanced student, could you just take the AP class and go much faster?" They do that in history. They do that in English. We haven't set a uniform standard around that and that's something we could look at because literally we are setting up for next year's master scheduling right now. Thank you so much. I'm complete. >> Anybody else? >> How do you um support students who are taking an AP class but not the test? Something that's happened a lot in the AP Okay. No, in the AB class that I did take last year, it turned into a test prep class and the class sort of lost the learning aspect and more of learning how to pass the test. And it's not exactly the same thing. Many of the classes
150that do that many of the AB classes do the class you you learn the material and then you test the structure of the test. But some of the classes, they're just a test prep class. And what are we doing to make sure that we can support the the people in these classes that aren't taking the test so that they feel like they're taking an advanced class and actually getting something out of it other than learning how to pass an exam that they're not going to take. >> So I think that's a conundrum of AP because teachers have different philosophies about that. I think that um access to rigorous coursework is important for students outside of a test and many of our teachers are saying if I don't prepare students to pass the test, I've done
151a disservice to why they signed up for this class. So, I don't think I have a very good answer to that question. Um, I think it's where AP is both a wonderful opportunity and an equity conundrum, not just in West Contraosta, but nationwide. >> Anything else? You look like you have more. Um, oh, well, I just wanted to add to Smith Bold's comment about taking APs freshman year. With the classes like language and math, if you have the prerequisites, they almost have no choice but to let you take the class because they're not going to make you take a class again. But, at least at my school, they they really are against you taking AP classes. You have to really fight to get into one. So yeah. Okay. Any anything else? I I have a
152few um just closing comments which is first I think Kimberly Rogers at Contra Costa College is amazing. She's amazing. So I we should Yeah, she's great. So, I think that she'd be really willing to work with us and I think that, you know, the community colleges have issues with enrollment and I think there are ways to be very symbiotic and um yeah, so she's great. Um the other thing on APs, it definitely depends on which school. It's not just East Coast schools. It's all sorts of schools that have their own criteria about whether they accept APs or not. So um you know that that's just what it is. Um as far as AP classes, somehow they found me and they put me on their list and there do seem to be really interesting things that
153they're offering. Um just um just saw something on cyber security which I think kids would be really interested in. They also have some capstone which I don't know what that is but it sounded interesting to me. So I think they're I don't know how they get chosen either but it seems like they're coming out with new things that are um pretty interesting. Um and I think this is a really interesting idea also for school links. Um a a key word in that is that parents can have access. I think they should have access or they're I know that you're gearing all of this to the student but par I felt totally left out of the loop on what was going on what was available the options so I think that tying parents closer into this
154is what we offer this is you know some of the stuff that we have going on would be good for you know that triangle between teacher school parent to kind of bridge things together. Um, and I think that's all the comments I have. Does anybody else have comments on the item? Okay, we'll move to G. Comments from the board of education and future agenda items. Does anybody have anything? Thank you. Um, very quickly, I know it's late and I did not vote to extend. Um, I just wanted to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and thank all of cabinet for your work. Um, I'll be thinking that day I have this practice throughout the day. I think of all the people who I'm thankful for. Um, and I'm going to be having you all in my
155mind um, as well as the board um, and staff. So, just wanted to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving um, and a restful week for everybody else and staff who deserves it. Thank you. Anybody else? I also want to echo those sentiments. Thank you very much. I know this is uh very hard and a lot of times thankless work, but um I am really appreciative of everything that everybody is doing and anything else. All right, I'll close this out at 10:12 p.m. Everybody have a Good break. Good night. Okay.