001to the September 24th, 2025 regularly scheduled meeting of the West Contraosta Unified School District School Board. I am calling the meeting to order at 5:00. To access translation in Zoom, please click on the Globe icon at the bottom of the screen. And if you're here in Dejon, you may 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 any public comment on close session items. Individuals wishing to speak on the close session items listed, if you're here in the auditorium and you haven't already done so, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card, which you can find on the entryway table. And if you're participating via Zoom, individuals will need to raise their hand in
002the Zoom app. And if you're access the meeting by phone, press star 9. The time allotted to each speaker is two minutes and the total time allotted is one hour. Speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another. There is 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 comment and respect the 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 closed session
003agenda tonight are uh one, student discipline stipulated agreement case number 252601, liability claims claim number 660580 conference with legal counsel uh anticipated litigation 549-56.9D one case conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation 549-56.9 9. Conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation 549-56.9 Conference with legal counsel existing litigation 54956.9D1 conference with labor negotiators public employee performance evaluation and then we'll be back for open session. Is there any public comment on close session items? We have no public comment. >> Thank you. The board will reconvene at 6:30. Thank you. Close session has been extended to 6:45. Okay. Good evening everyone. Good evening everyone. I'm calling the September 24th, 2025 meeting to order. The time is 6:55 for close session. The board is returning from close session at 6:55 p.m. Thank you everyone for your patience. To access translation in
004Zoom, please click on the Globe icon at the bottom of the screen. If you're here in the auditorium and you need translation, you may pick up a headset in the back corner of the auditorium. 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. If and if you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of
005this agenda item. If 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. In the meantime, we're going to move on with the rest of our opening procedures. We're moving now to B2, which is the pledge of allegiance. If you are willing or able, please rise. 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 and body acknowledgement. Land acknowledgement. We recognize that we
006are presently on the lands of the Chicheno Muqua 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 in 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. Author Dr. Michelle Rogers Ard B4 West Contraosta Unified School District Board anti-racism statement. The West Contraosta District Board of Education is
007committed to working 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 WC 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 understanding of how our
008personal 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 member, and community partner is respected and valued member of the WCCUSD community. We are uniquely positioned and is 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 well-being while building strong and inclusive school communities. We commit to holding 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 live these standards of anti-racism in our schools. Board approved March 20th, 2024. B5,
009introduction of new student trustees. Superintendent Cotton, I believe we're taking this off the agenda for this evening. Okay. So, >> for B5, our new trustees are not here and we look forward to seeing them at the next meeting. B6, roll call. Superintendent Cotton, would you please take Gonzalez Hoy? >> Good evening, everyone. President Trustee Smith Bold. >> Good evening. Present. >> Trustee Hernandez. >> Good evening. Present. Clerk. Adana. >> Good evening. Everyone present. And board president Reckler. Good evening. I'm present. Moving now to B7, report ratification of close session. Superintendent Cotton, is there anything to report out of close session this evening? Yes, we do have items to report regarding agenda item A22. The board voted unan unanimously to reject claim number 6, I'm sorry, to reject claim number 660580 related to an alleged personal
010injury. And in closed session, the board by a unanimous vote decided to initiate or intervene in legal action of power school databach litigation. The action the defendants and the other particulars shall once formally commenced be disclosed to any person upon injury unless to do so would jeopardize the district's ability to effectuate service of process on one or more unserved parties. or that to do so would jeopardize the district's ability to conclude existing settlement negotiations to its advantage. That concludes our report. Thank you. Board members, I would like to move a few things around in the opening procedures. If you are willing, I would like to open now with number 13, which is Hispanic Heritage Month. I would then like to move to the student performances and then I would like to recognize teacher of the
011year before public comment so that um we can get all that done in the beginning of the meeting. Does anybody have any objections to that re that reshuffleling? Okay, great. So then we'll move with uh uh we'll move up number 13 resolution 2526-22 Hispanic Heritage Month. Good evening board superintendent and community. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education and the West Contraosta Unified School District proclaim September 15th through October 15th, 2027 2025, excuse me, as Latinx Jakanx Hispanic Afroatinx Heritage Month and encourage all educational communities to commemorate this occasion with appropriate instructional activities. ities. Thank you. Are there any comments from the board? Is there any public comment on Hispanic Heritage Month? >> I can't hear her. There were seven hands up on Zoom for they were before we moved the agenda.
012So we believe that they were just for regular public comment. >> Okay. Do you want to Okay. >> There's an echo in here. Can we get that checked? >> Sure. >> Feedback. We're getting some feedback up here and it's from uh clerkana. So, do you want to test her? Ask her to see if it's better test. Is it better? Testing. I think it's fine. Okay, great. Okay, I think we're good now. Okay, I'll accept a motion for resolution number 2526-22, Hispanic Heritage Month. >> President, I move that we approve resolution number 2526-22, Hispanic Heritage Month. >> Smith second. >> Okay, so it's moved by Gonzalez Hoy, seconded by Smith Folds. Any additional comments from the board? We'll go to the vote. Trustee Hernandez, >> yes. >> Clerkyana, >> yes. >> Trustee Gonzalez Hoy, >> yes.
013Okay, now we have Hold on for just a second. We have uh inability to hear on the floor. Test test. Can you raise your Can you raise your hand if you can hear? Okay. In the front. Can you hear on on my right? Can you hear in the front? Hands up if you can hear in the front. Okay. So, it looks like we have some. >> We'll hold for just a second. Sound check. One, two. Sound check. Testing. Mic check. One, two. Sound check. One, two. Sound check. Okay, we're trying again in the back. right corner. Can you hear in the front right in my front right? Can you hear? Okay. So, it looks like we still have issues in the right front to my left. Left back. Can you hear? Okay. Left front. Can
014you hear my left front? Okay. So, it looks like we still have some issues in the front. Both on the right and the left. Right. Right front. Can you hear left front? Hold for just a second. They're still adjusting. Right front, raise your hand if you can hear. Okay. Left front, raise your hand if you can hear. left front. Okay. Okay. So, I think we're good now. Okay. We'll go back to the vote. Uh I believe uh Okay. So, we have Okay. >> Trust trustee Smiths. >> Smiths. Yes. >> Reclarama. Yes. V motion passes unanimously. Now we are up to number eight student performance celebrating Hispanis Heritage Month. Good evening, President Reckler, clerkyana, trustees, superintendent cotton and community. We are very excited to have Alma Latina performing tonight with students represented from Richmond High School
015and EM Downer Elementary School. Please help me welcome Principal Reyes and Miss Berdine to introduce our students. Good evening, President Reckler, board members, and Superintendent Cotton. Tonight is my honor during Hispanic Heritage Month to introduce a group that represents both the strength of tradition and the power of the Latino Latina community in West Contraosta Unified School District, Alma Latina. The history of Alma Latina goes back to 1985 when two student groups came together. Alma, that was at Harry's at the time. Those students were being relocated to Richmond High School and they came together with Latino Sunnidos that was at Richmond High. Together by a desire to share our culture and celebrate heritage through dance and community, they formed Alma Latina. And at the heart of their beautiful performances is their coach, Miss Maria Verdin. And
016if you and if you are from Richmond High School, we know her as Lolita. Lolita herself began in this very program as a student and then took the lead of the program in 1995. Since then, she has never left it side. In her many different roles in our district, Lolita has always been a community advocate who inspires countless young people to embrace their culture and their voice. It is also a program that keeps many alumni connected to a warm and unique community. We love and miss Lolita dearly at Richmond High School, but she continues to pour her heart into her community work as a scout at Downer and she continues to support Alma Latina after school and has increased um the ages of our students. I also now want to introduce Monser Gonzalez, um a
0172025 Richmond High graduate and current Contraosta College student who's going to introduce Alma Latina dances. >> Good evening, superintendent, board members, and special guests. My name is Mona Gonzalez and I'm honored to address you here tonight as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. A time to recognize the history, culture, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino community in our country, our state, and right here in West Contraosta. Tonight, we're excited to share a special dance performed by students from Richmond High and Downer Elementary. This performance shows the beauty of traditions in Hispanic dance and also the power of mentorship, cultural pride, and learning together. We want to give a big thank you to Principal Reyes from Richmond High and Princes from Downer Elementary for supporting our students and making a making school a place where they can
018grow not only as learners but also as leaders and artists. Through this partnership, older students are teaching younger students the dances of our culture, helping to keep our traditions alive and inspiring them to dream big in school and in life. Tonight you will see performances from our advanced learners. Some who once were Richmond High students and now look back as coaches and leaders of Alma Latina Data. You will also see performances from the students they have mentored. So now please enjoy the show and contribute to our a tribute to our roots, our rhythm and our shared future. Gracias. Thank you and enjoy. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Go down there. [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat.
019[Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Thank you. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Yeah, [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] Heat up [Music] [Applause] there. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Applause] Heat. [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Applause] That's true. [Music] [Applause] Let me hold on one second. What do you mean? We got scooch. A great [Applause] I know. Is that what I Come on. [Music] Hello. Okay, thank you very much. We are to recognition of teacher of the year. [Applause] >> Who's going to take Good evening. It is my honor to introduce Caitlyn Mari, one of our outstanding educators from Vista
020High School. [Applause] The former accompanies her. Miss Marzi was recently named the 2025 count teacher of the year. Selected from a group of exceptional teachers across the county. Miss March's commitment to equity, student voice, and transformative language, I'm sorry, learning has inspired not only her students, but also colleagues throughout the district. We are proud to share that she is one of only two county finalists advancing to the California State Teacher of the Year competition. It's those achievements that reflect the passion and excellence we value in West Unified School District. We wanted tonight for uh Miss Martini to come and share her speech that she gave at the teacher of the year celebration a few weeks ago. And we are so delighted that she's here. We are so proud of her accomplishments and we are continuing
021to cheer for her and listen to her. So please join me in celebrating Mrs. Marco. [Applause] [Music] Thank you so much. When I started this process, I was excited but also a little worried that my study wouldn't translate into site visits and rubrics. The truth is leaders and decision makers sometimes struggle to understand our school. A school where learning happens your way. A school where we believe and practice the world partnering directly with families in our three-prong approach. The Vista way alternative education schools are mandatory. >> Please let us know when you're ready. >> I apologize. Louis testing. >> If you haven't met Truden, visit Truden. Truman Vista High School Bara is full of training to work with students and he loves and he gets really excited to be around people. And so our translators,
022are you able to are you able to >> testing testing where from the translator? Go ahead and get started. All right. Um, so good evening. My name is Kayla Martesy. When I started this process, I was excited but also worried. It's so weird to not face my colleagues, you guys. I'm so sorry. Um, I was excited but also worried that my setting wouldn't translate into site visits and rubrics. The truth is leaders and decision makers often struggle to understand our school, a school where learning happens your way. A school where we believe and practice the role of partnering directly with family centered through strong approach, the Vista way. Alternative education schools are innovative and we move the needle of equity every single day. As part of this process, I've written a lot of speeches. So
023tonight, it's my honor to share with you what I have learned from my students. The first career that I ever dared to dream of was being the teacher. But in the end, this career chose me before I chose it. I've always loved the challenge and in college I tutored to earn money and I got pretty good at it. I loved presenting at things in ways that my students could understand. But my students taught me that teaching was the challenge that I was looking for. I'm a Girls Gorilla Parker. So when my friend wanted to chase her dreams, I stepped in to be her substitute teacher for what I was told would be just six weeks. But my students taught me that I belonged in the classroom. I had a business degree and dreams of law
024school. But suddenly I was reading books about etualize. But my students taught me that sometimes when you come to a fork in the road, you choose the harder path. It always has the better views. My principal told me I would be getting a student with autism. To prepare, I read a book about supporting students on the spectrum. I'll admit I was a little worried about how to maintain my classroom culture with a student who needed more support. But that student brought magic with him. He taught me that every student deserves a teacher who sees your ability before your disability. My students welcomed him and included him. And I will never forget the excitement that he and his family felt at his first classroom birthday party invitation. My students taught me to never underestimate a child.
025I could tell you all about the academic growth I saw in those first four years in the classroom, but instead I'll tell you what my students taught me. and that is that I would much rather talk about the joy that I experience every day that I get to connect with and support the next generation. In 2016, while teaching a personal finance lesson, my students questioned my lack of home ownership in the Bay Area. I know I became their classroom case study. My students taught me that it's okay to be vulnerable, especially when it means that a classroom full of high school students are suddenly so focused on calculating how much money I could buy a house for that they stayed in their seat when the bell rang. Three months later, I was a homeowner. A
026homeowner who makes her tea at home. But my students taught me that sometimes we have to make sacrifices to reach our goals. Now with more than a decade of experience, I can confidently say that I have learned just as much from my students as they have learned from me. Whether they're teaching me life lessons or Gen Alpha brain rot, I'm here for it. This world we live in is complicated and messy, but there is magic. As we get older, we forget to look for it. But it's there. It's in every classroom. I see it every day. Never underestimate a child with a dream. I learned that from my students. So, thank you to all the teachers, current and retired. If no one has told you lately, I need to turn around for this. You have
027D1 RZ. No cap, a thousand aura points to all of you. And if you don't know what that means, come to my classroom. My students will teach you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh, does anybody from the board have questions or comments? Go right ahead. >> Thank you, President. Miss Marchie, I know you just left the podium, but I just wanted to say congratulations and thank you for all the work that you do for our students, for our schools. uh you are incredible, but I think that you also represent what everybody in this room does and just the talent and the amazing, incredible educators that we have in this district. So, thank you and thank you everyone for being here who are teachers, who are classified members. You matter. You choose
028to be here for a reason. Um and I know it's our students. So, thank you for your uh for your work. There's Mark Chasey. I'm wishing you the best. Can't wait to cheer you as you become state uh teacher of the year. Thank you. >> Are there any other comments? >> Um we'll call for public comment and then we'll go down and take a picture. Okay. Is there any public comment on the item? Okay, we're going to step down just for a brief for a photo and we'll be back in just a minute. Okay. So, I'd like to finish up on this item. We'd like to continue, please. I'd like to finish up teacher of the year by giving a shout out to Principal Jordan McCormack. Everybody should have an advocate like Principal Jordan McCormack
029whose enthusiasm at the dinner was Everybody should have an advocate like you. So, thank you for your enthusiasm. I hope to see all of you at the state when we win the state prize. Okay, we're moving now to 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 will last approximately 1 hour. The time allotted to each speaker is two minutes. Should additional speakers remain at the conclusion of one hour, public comment may be extended. The time allotted per speaker beyond the first hour is generally 1 minute. Individuals wishing to speak, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card or if participating by Zoom, individuals will need
030to 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 star9. 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 attentively 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 is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members
031cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment. We're going to call 10 speakers at a time to line up behind the podium. So, if you'll call the first 10 and we'll still alternate between Zoom and um in person and we'll see how that goes. Thank you. >> Kim Chamberlain, Eric Jepson, Sky Nelson, Eduardo Eduardo Martinez, Don Gosny, Priscilla Law, Colleen Valentine, Chanel Jose, Alex Wer, Walker Griffin, and Quana Parker Breitman. Good evening. I'm Kimberly Chamberlain local 21 SSA chapter president and I am your student information system services supervisor for the school district. Tonight I'm coming back. You know me, every year about this time I'm going to talk about EBF forms, educational benefit forms. One of the ladies that is our top very
032top is the lady that taught these children how to do these dances and respect their heritage by doing these dances. Miss Verdine, she is also at Downer and she's worked at Richmond High and they are at 95% in their EBF and their annual forms, which means they contact parents. They con make sure that information is out there and those parents are able to hear what is happening in our communities such as what is going on here this evening and listening tools. So, we want to make sure that all those EBF forms are available and filled out. And we also want to make sure those annual forms are filled out. The reason we want those is we want to in case of an emergency like that little shaker we had the other night and we need
033to shut down a school or we want them to know what's going on in our community such as this wonderful presentation by the students. We need those contact information updated. our top schools in all areas and it doesn't surprise me whatsoever. Bay View, Coronado, Downer, Ellahhurst Ford, Helms, King Lake, Leavana, Dejon, Obama, Middle College, Perry's Penol Middle, Richmond High, Riverside, Shannon Ste, Sylvester Greenwood, Valley View. Do you know that these schools are always in the top because they have the respect of their students and they value their students? So, let's keep valuing in them by keeping them with great teachers and great staff members. >> Our next public comment is Kelly Kari. Please unmute yourself. >> Can you hear me? Yes, we can. >> Good evening, board trustees, superintendent cotton, cabinet members, and community. My
034name is Kelly Kerry. For 16 years, I was a proud educator in West Contraosta Unified School District. And though I have since moved back to Pennsylvania to be closer to family, my heart is still with my beloved former students, colleagues, and schools. Tonight, I'm speaking as someone watching from afar. Someone who wishes I could still be in the classroom with my WCCUSD students, but who carries the same hope and the same fight for them. What I see infuriates me. Educators and support staff who show up every single day for their students, yet are met with delay and disrespect at the bargaining table. I know firsthand the toll one issue in particular takes on our schools. Vacancies. When classrooms go unfilled, students lose consistency, colleagues are stretched thin, and entire school communities are left scrambling to
035cover up the gaps. This is not just unfair, it's a betrayal. Every day a position sit sits vacant is another day students are denied the stability, support, and high quality education they deserve. And let me be clear, people are paying attention. Parents are watching. Communities are watching. Former educators like me, even across the country, are watching. And most importantly, students are watching. They see exactly how this district chooses to value or devalue the amazing people who guide, support, and inspire them. We can't wait. Every day this contract is delayed is another day of uncertainty for educators and students alike. WCCUSD cannot afford more stalling. It's time for a fair contract. Not next week, not next month, but now. Thank you. And when we fight, we win. I have four children, all of whom started kindergarten
036here in West Contraosta. My eldest two are graduates of the district. The younger two are in 11th and third grades. Let's talk about the 11th grader. We have a tradition at El Certo High. I imagine it's true of the other high schools, though I don't know that for sure. Every semester, a large codery of juniors and seniors wander the halls desperately seeking a TA position. Why are they doing this? Because we don't have enough classes for them to just take a class. And why do we not have elective options? A couple reasons. One, we don't have enough teachers. And as long as we offer first year teachers 10K less than other districts in Contraost Alama, as long as we slow teachers movement of the salary schedule, as long as we have teachers 20% fewer benefits,
037we'll never have enough teachers. My eldest, incidentally, was given a California state seal of literacy who without speaking a lick of Spanish. He had long-term sub after long-term sub WCUSD claimed he was biliterate after four years of Spanish, but he is not because we lack teachers. Another reason we don't have elective options is our class sizes. We have some of the largest class sizes in the United States. West Contraosta has larger class sizes than every single red state. And all these high schoolers acting as TAs are just a clever way for the district to pack more students into a room that's already at capacity. These two issues, losing teachers and enormous class sizes affect a lot more than my 11th graders ability to take some cool class we could be offering like philosophy and film
038or history of California or home or autoshop or linear algebra. This affects every student in the district. One of the district's proposals to the union for the upcoming contract was to increase class sizes on fifth, fourth, and sixth graders. Their already large classes are why we right now have rooms where two grades are taught by one teacher. This is not a serious proposal. West Contraosta Unified School District is funded the same way every Cal single California school district is funded. Gray-haired excuses about money are unconvincing. These issues have nothing to do with money and everything to do with priorities. You know this, Leslie, everyone knows it. Let's cut with the excuses. Let's work with the teachers. The education we offer our children is only as good as the teachers we hire and the conditions they
039work under. Everything else is details. Thank you. >> Our next public comment is Maisha Harris Dash. Please unmute yourself. Good evening. Good evening all. On May 22nd, 1962, Malcolm X stated, "The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman." He said this 63 years ago. How much has changed? This is my third time at a board meeting, Sharon, that these microaggressions are getting out of control. Where is the professional development of anti-racism and antilackness? I ask you. This also leads me to us, the United Teachers of Richmond. We are more than our employee numbers. We are not pawns to be tossed around and discarded at will. We are the ones who are 10 toes
040down in the trenches with our students. You, the decision makers, say that you respect us, then act like it. And finally, to my students, we've had a challenging 10 days. I appreciate you continuing to show up and know that I show up for you until the wheels fall off. We are egos. We soar. Peace and blessings to everybody this evening. Hi, my name is Sky Nelson, teacher and parent at Elsto High School. Our school is strong, but I want to share with you some details that you may not know of that uh you need to understand. I need you to understand that the impact. We started school with a teacher named I think Hari Brown, a math teacher, a wonderful person that I met the first week. And then he was taken from the classroom.
041I don't know where he went. No one I know knows where he went. And his students, I find in my classroom complaining about not being treated well in the classroom, in their math class. And it's simply because we have a substitute and no one's communicated with us about it. And I think all my colleagues here can resonate with these examples I'm going to give of not being communicated with about the people you're in charge of. Yes. So I would like to know what's the status of our teacher and how can I support my students who have a sub longterm in that class when we have a teacher that's that was available at the beginning of the year. There's another situation where the registar started uh was was promoted in our school and we didn't fill
042the position and uh so that's that's fair as someone you know is is subbing and but mistakes were made and I had a student crying in the hallway because they were dropped from their from the school the whole district they lost their ID number this is on I ready day so they couldn't take the test and they said they were kind of missing from every class so far and I checked their their agenda and they had been present every day in AP classes so these are mistakes but nothing was was addressed. And finally, our our counselor, Kayn Ta, was supposed to be appointed on August 27th. She was delayed until September 10th because she was forgotten on the agenda. We need to know these things. We need to make extra special care to to address
043these things beforehand and communicate with with the teachers. I want you to trust the people you work with. Please trust us. Trust us. Trust us. Trust us. We are the ones we've been waiting for. >> We are the ones. >> Our next public comment is Shalon. Please unmute yourself. Sorry. Hello, WCCUSD. My name is Sean Santiago. I went in front of the board for the first time in 2022 when my son's third grade school my my son's third grade class started the school year without a teacher. I went in front of all of you and begged and pleaded to help us get teachers. For seven weeks, my son went to school without a teacher. Those seven weeks taught me and my family that if we want our children to have equal opportunity to education, we
044would have to take it into our own hands. I decided to become a teacher. Last year, I entered into a master's program and credential program and Stuart became my mentor school. Our principal at the time, Mike Hamilton, was amazing and so supportive. Unfortunately, he left and we were assigned Charlotte Budson. She had many flaws as a principal and ultimately was a driving force to leaving Stuart without two middle school teachers to start the year off. See, last year when the school when two positions became available, I immediately applied. I went through the interview process, Miss Betton interviewed me and it went well. After many unanswered follow-ups, I figured I was not hired and I went on and I applied at another district and was immediately hired. Then Miss Betson announced her retirement. I was on
045the committee to hire a new principal to replace her because I was a PTA president and a very involved parent. In that process, it became apparent that Miss Bettson not only did not hire me, but she did not hire anyone. Stuart would soon start the school year off without two teachers for middle school and without a principal. Because of Because of her, Stuart's upper grades are without a credential teacher. WCC cannot fall back on the excuse that there is a teacher shortage or teachers don't want to work for WCC when you have a qualified teacher ready and very willing and you ignore her. Shame on WCCUSD. Now I'm at another district. >> Good evening. My name is Priscilla Laauo. I'm a staff member at Harding Elementary. We are speech language pathologist in the district. I'm
046also a parent in the district and I clearly should be home with my child right now, but here we are. Student centered is a phrase we hear often in this district, but actions suggest otherwise. Adequate staffing is a basic requirement. Yet chronic understaffing is denying students the legally mandated speech services to which they're entitled. The district cites a national SLP shortage, but has done little to retain or recruit qualified staff. Many of us are stretched thin across multiple sites with unsustainable case loads. Some have already faced multiple assignment changes just weeks into the school year. We've received inconsistent secondhand directives to prioritize younger students for in-person services and to use our professional judgment to select students for virtual therapy without clear guidelines or accountability. Yet, when we request when we request the district take responsibility
047for communicating these changes to families were met with absolute silence. This lack of transparency and direction shifts legal and ethical liability onto individual SOPs rather than district leadership. Students who rely on strong trusting relationships are being shuffled simply because they're older and deemed better able to benefit from virtual therapy. Does this sound student centered? No. It's reactive to a problem originated by mismanagement. It's inequitable and unacceptable. Our students deserve ethical, consistent, high quality services. They deserve more than overfilled groups, overworked staff, and constant disruption. This district must public comment is Cindy Orteon. Please unmute yourself. >> Hello. Yes, we can hear you. >> We can hear you. >> Okay. Good evening. My name is Cindy Orteon and I am the proud mother of three children who attend Vista Virtual Academy. I am here tonight to
048plead with you. Please stop cutting our school's funding and instead invest in the future of our children. Vista Virtual is in my eyes the best school in the Bay Area. It provides a safe, flexible, and effective learning environment that truly changes lives. Sadly, we've already lost kindergarten and first grade, leaving families shocked and disappointed. We also lost a beloved teachers assistant who taught so many children to read, likely because of budget cuts. These losses are heartbreaking. My own children are more advanced than other kids their age from other districts. Thanks to Vera Virtual Academy, where they've been enrolled since kindergarten. Please don't take that right and opportunity from other parents who want their children to learn from home. We have the best principal in the world, Edith Jordan McCormack, who has always advocated for our
049children and our school with love and passion to Mr. Andrew Brunetti and Mrs. Anna Hudro. Thank you for the single-handedly teaching our children under these budget cuts with the same dedication and care as when we first started. Our teachers are the best and Vista children are a reflection of that. Vista Virtual Academy is the only fully virtual public school in the Bay Area and it makes a huge difference in our children's lives. Our children cannot wait another year. Please restore the funding now. Thank you so much for your time. Hi everybody. My name is Chanel Jose. I am a special education teacher at Lupon Hills. I teach fourth and fifth grade. I am an I'm from this district. Like I grew up here, K to 12. And I see a lot of other people, a
050lot of educators here, too. We got prior mayor of Hercules here. He went to a school in Hercules, right? He's a product of WCC. So you guys have this amazing team of people who decided to come back to their home, to their community, to give back to the people that gave to them, to invest in the community, to continue to let these kids grow, to give them what we didn't have. But how come we have full-blown careers and we cannot live here? I am 31 years old. I've been in education for I don't know how long in this district for two years now and I still live with my parents. I cannot afford to live in the community I grew up in as an independent adult because I do not get paid enough. Okay. But
051not only that, I'm into education, special education. One thing I am so scared about when my fifth graders leave me, I don't know if they have a teacher in the next school year. I checked in with a student that I had moved to another elementary school cuz we don't have a sixth grade. tried to email that teacher. Guess what? He doesn't work here anymore. Why? I have no idea, but probably was done with the BS here. I stand here to continue to advocate for these students and these parents who have so much anxiety of trying to figure out what's going to happen next. Now, I'm talking to the rest of this community. Um, if you're listening at home, So if you don't know what language that is that's me we have a huge community here
052fully staffed schools mean student. Our next public comment is Riley. Please unmute yourself. Thank you. >> Uh, school board trustee, President, Superintendent Cotton. First, congratulations and thank you for honoring Miss Marches. This teacher of the year award is so welld deserved. At Vista Virtual Academy, we see every day that Miss Marques along with other Vista colleagues are truly among the best of the best educators. On behalf of Vista students, we thank her and every Fista teacher for their dedication. Tonight, I also want to emphasize why Vista matters so much to the future of our district. Just weeks ago, the CEO of Google Deep Mind said, "The most crucial skill for the next generation is learning how to learn." Because AI is changing week by week, traditional skills go out of date faster than ever. What
053students need most is adaptability, curiosity, and the ability to keep learning in new situations. This is exactly what Vista builds. Teachers there help students develop independence, self-direction, and the confidence to manage their own learning journey. Whether they're in elementary school or getting ready for graduation, these are the foundations for success in high school, college, careers, and in a world reshaped by AI. Vista is not just another option. It is a model for 21st century education, and it deserves to grow. I urge Superintendent Cotton to expand outreach so more families across the district learn about Vista's unique strengths and to invest in expanding enrollment so more students can benefit from what is already one of our district's most forwardthinking schools. Thank you again for honoring Miss Marques and for supporting the teachers who are not only
054changing lives today but showing us where the future of education must go. Thank you very much. Good evening, members of the board and superintendent Cotton. First, congratulations to the teacher of the year that I'm sure is underpaid. I am Alex Walker Griffin, a member of the Hercules City Council and more importantly, a proud Aloney Hercules Middle and Hercules High School graduate. Tonight, I ask that you pass an overdue contract to support our educators. It's upsetting to learn that the previous contract expired in June. Now more than ever, teachers are asked to do things that they've never been asked before. Therapists, de facto parents, and now the barrier between an unpredictable federal administration. These 70 vacancies mean that there's 70 missed opportunities to better serve our students. 70 missed opportunities to change a life and 70
055missed opportunities to give a student hope. I know this personally because I had those teachers, Miss Nom at Aloney Elementary School and Mr. Moreno at Hercules High School. I wouldn't be an elected official if it wasn't for them. Right now, we're at an intersection in our nation's history. Our moral compass is being tested. We have a president that wants this state to fail. And more importantly, he has we have a president that want our students to fail. But we still have our obligation to serve these students and serve this community. We can't fail the students and the families of this district. Every day, students go to and from campus worrying about their parents or even themselves, asking will they be abducted by mass federal agents. Schools need to remain a sanctuary for students to be
056free of worry. There is a way to do that. It's through smaller classrooms, offering competitive wages to keep our educators in the district, and increasing support, not hiring short-term contractors. Do the right thing and let's support our educators. Thank you. Our our next public comment is Don Harrison. Please unmute yourself. Please unmute yourself. Next public comment. Cana please unmute yourself. Hello, good evening. My name is Kantika Sasono and I'm a ninth grade algebra 1 teacher at Richmond High School and a bargaining unit member of Utr. I'm in year five with WCCCUSD. Too often I've seen and experienced over 70 vacancies and high turnover. Too many classrooms are without permanent teachers. When I first started, even some students asked me when I was going to leave because the high turnover was so normalized to them. Any
057teachers that are willing to be permanent and provide stability in our students lives are oftentimes not credentialed and lacking the support to successfully clear their credentials. Because of these vacancies, my colleagues and I are experiencing overcrowded classrooms and instability in student schedules as well as the subjects and grades for teaching. Instead of giving enough FTE to fully staff our schools, you've chosen to put the additional work on the other teachers who were already here. They were already at capacity doing their job. WCC must make really big changes in order to fully staff our schools and make the working conditions here sustainable. It starts with coming to an agreement with UTR and Teamsters. Thank you. Hello, my name is Colleen Valentine. I have been teaching special education for 21 years. 19 years in this district, 17
058years at Elohorst Elementary School. For the past 10 years, I've been on the United Teachers of Richmond Executive Board as a special services director as well as the bargaining team. This is not my first time at the school board. Hello, I'm back. So, here's what's happening. In the past six years, you guys have received a 34.4% increase in revenue. I have received a 16.5% increase in revenue. And some of that was even tied to additional work. Well, I cannot sugarcoat that. This sucks. I can no longer afford to use $5 words. I also cannot even afford a real leuoo. I had to borrow this one. My students can afford lab boooos. I cannot. This is sad. I often come with anecdotal things like this. I'm struggling with eggs. I've talked about that before. But the
059one that seems to kick is that I'm still living with my mom. I really love my mom. I cannot afford to move out. My daughter has afforded to move out because she quit her job as a teamster's aid in the district. She could not afford to live on her own as a team's aid. She was a paraprofessional in special education for five years in this district. As a par as a par one, you typically make somewhere in the range of $180 to $22 an hour. As a par three, you typically make $21 to $25 in an hour. Let me break it to you. She left the district and works now at an agency as a behavioral tech, which is basically a paraprofessional. She works at one agency at $28 an hour. At the second agency,
060she has two jobs. She works at $38 an hour. What does this mean? That means your teamsters and paraprofessional aids are paid like crap. Because of this, you cannot fill the positions that are mandated instead. my kids are not receiving proper services and I'm watching it happen on a daily basis. There's a revolving door of individuals that they bond relationships with and then we have no more public comment on Zoom. Mr. Donos, go ahead. I'm sorry. Can I ask you just to see if Salana is back? Can you ask one more time? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> Thank you. Don Osni here. It seems like it's been forever and a day that members of the public have stood right here begging the board, begging the district to please take the extension of
061the 2016 measure t parcel tax seriously. I know that a few people have been invited to serve on some sort of committee to make this happen. A couple of months back, I was invited to serve, but I have no idea whether that invitation is still valid. If the meeting is called, I know that the first thing I would bring up is that we absolutely positively need to get off our collective rears and get things going. If I were to attend one of those meetings, I one of the first things I would bring up is that we are out of time. The item needs to be placed on the ballot in the first week of January. Before that though, there are details about the survey that need to be brought up before the survey starts in
062a couple of weeks. For instance, the size of the sampling is the same as it was 5 years ago, even though the number of registered voters has increased by as much as 25%. Which languages will be used was brought up by a board board without resolution. More importantly though is the ballot language. The district is fond of reusing language from yesterday year as if it still applies today and no matter how easily the public might see through that old language. This is why bring in advisers when the decisions are being made without their input and when we then we have the actual campaign which must be independent of the district. Winning over the hearts and minds of the voters is not something that happens overnight especially when there's an embedded level of distrust that may
063be very difficult to overcome. Many of those that seem to be involved with this extension have admitted that their level of knowledge about local elections is limited. To that end, it might behoove them to listen to people that have more knowledge and experience. We're begging the district, begging to please work with us so we don't lose those funds, $9.8 million a year. Once lost, getting them back may be an impossibility. Thank you. Oh, good evening. My name is Quan Parker Breitman. I'm executive director of the United Native Americans. Just to give a brief synopsis of who we are as UNA. We were founded here in 1968 in the greater Bay Area, San Francisco. We were involved in the takeover Alcatraz, Wounded Knee, a couple long walks across country. led a group one time that took
064over Mount Rushmore and reclaimed it for my nation, the Lakota nation. Now, my father, my late father used to teach at UC Berkeley and he founded the first Native American studies program in the United States during the third world strike. And that is why I came here tonight is to bring voice to the voiceless as far as indigenous people. Now, there was a great man by the name of Martin Luther King. He said, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." And that is very true. Nationally, the Trump administration is illegally withholding funds to our public schools K through 12 across the country. The teachers of Richmond, California, need a living salary to be and to be fully staffed year round. We need the Richmond City Council to appropriate funds from the Chevron refinery settlement
065to help offset these insidious budget cuts that are going to hurt our children. Our teachers are just as valuable as firefighters, police, and other first responders. UNA would also like to add for the record, federal law prohibits the federal government from controlling public schools curriculum, instruction, staffing, and text material. And we do not support Donald Trump's le project 2025. And we do not support the displaying of the Ten Commandments in our public schools, nor this Christian fascism. Thank you very much. We can call the next 10 to line up. Francisco Ortiz, Alias Avalos, Jeffrey Bean, Karen Armstead, Gina McClean, Karen Van Winko, Andrea Livinghouse, Eduardo Martinez, Andre Brunetti, and Marie Anam. >> Okay, are you ready? Yeah. >> Okay. My name is Will. I need >> So, good evening, trustees. Francis Cortez, president of United
066Teachers of Richmond. This is my four-year-old son, Re. He has a speech IEP and every other TK and kindergarten student at Washington and Grant Elementary has gone without speech services this school year. >> Let me say that again. Our youngest learners in this district, children with special education needs, have received no services at all. I brought my son here tonight not just because this failure impacts him directly, but also because he helps me keep grounded. I need him beside me right now so I don't let the righteous indignation, the anger, and frankly the disgust that I feel towards the situation really overwhelm me. This is not an accident. This is the result of deliberate choices by business services and the sulfa department. Choices to understaff, choices to spend on outside contractors instead of investing in
067permanent district hired staff. Choices that tell families like mine that our children don't matter. The district can afford to do better. Last year, our district spent 22% on its budget on outsourcing. Meanwhile, children like Rey are denied their legally mandated service. This is not just bad management. This is a betrayal of our trust. This is about justice for the most vulnerable students in our system. And if you cannot guarantee that four-year-olds with speech IPS receive services, then what message are you sending out to families in this district? Our students can't wait. Our families can't wait. And you must act now to provide fully staffed stable schools and deliver the services that our children deserve. Thank you. Our next public comment is Heather. Please unmute yourself. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. >>
068Good evening. My name is Heather Harvey McNav and I am the proud parent of two amazing children that attend Vista Virtual Academy where teamwork makes the dream work. We shouldn't be sacrificing quality education for our children by continuing to make cuts. WCCUSD is not giving our students and teachers the opportunities or the funding and resources to grow this extraordinary program. We could be welcoming students from neighboring districts, but the district has not been supporting the school to create relationships with other districts. We could be reaching out to families in our own district that are experiencing chronic absenteeism and offering them an alternative way to learn by increasing our exposure and gaining new enrollment. It would only help bring more money to our district for increased attendance. More cuts again forcefree organization of teachers and change
069the entire school structure, leaving our children to pay the price and putting their education at risk. You should be investing in our children's futures, not robbing them of quality education. These are the future leaders. I am here tonight standing in solidarity with all my fellow teamsters as well as UTR members, begging that you hear our voices. Stop the plan cuts and invest in our students and staff. Board members who are sitting on the board tonight because your community voted for you to be there. We are that community. We are those voices. And I have yet to hear one person speak and say they support these continued cuts. Yet you keep voting yes. Hear our voices. Do what's right. Stand up for our children. Stand up for our staff. We're the ones that show up every
070day 10 toes on the ground to take care of our children. We want our children to be taken care of. Also, >> hello. My name is Elias Avalos and I am a senior at John F. Kennedy High School and I'm here to representation of my community and uh I'm here to talk about I guess the current educational climate right now. As you know, just this year there have been over 40 40 incidents of school shootings um in our in in the United States and that climate is not the best right now. Um I think my entire life growing up in Richmond, I've noticed that nothing here is guaranteed. Not your education, not your programs, and surely not your teachers. The educational environment does not say that we as students are ready to learn. No, that
071we are students are surviving just to learn. I mean, I can't even begin to tell you at the programs have been cut. The teachers have been cut. I guess it doesn't really matter enough for you to notice since we are basically just a dollar sign in your pocket. And I'm here to tell you that we we as students and youth, we care and we need the funding and the investment in our education that we are here. We are here. We want to strive and we are surviving. We are living off the breadcrumbs from that fall from your tables. We want to thrive, but we are put in situations where our schools are being defunded, our teachers are being cut. I'm here to ask you to work with us to collaborate to to not dictate but
072to facilitate our li not your decisions. I'm here to ask you to come to our school come to our campuses to get to know us. I have a face. I have a I have an aspiration. But when you cut when you cut our teachers, when you cut our programs, you are sending a message and it's a clear line that you do not want to thrive. No. But you want us to stay in this place to be a worker. I'm here to break through that cycle that has oppressed my people and my community for the longest time. Thank you. Our next public comment is Esmeralda. Please unmute yourself. Esa, please unmute yourself. >> Go ahead, Mr. Jeffrey. >> Uh, good evening. Uh, thank you for hearing my comments. I'm Jeffrey Bean. I teach fourth and fifth
073grades at Shannon Elementary. This is my 11th year at Shannon, my 12th year in the district. Uh when I started at Shannon in 2015, I had 33 students, which was the maximum number allowed by our contract at the time. Now our maximum is 30. Much much better. Uh I was disappointed when in negotiations we proposed lowering that number to 24 and the district countered by offering to raise the number to 32. That's not okay. And neither are the other proposals or lack of proposals that we we've received. Um we're not asking for much modest salary increases, classrooms that aren't 83 degrees during the school day. Um reasonable class size, pay and benefits that are close to what other districts in the area uh offer. Um, I'm lucky this year to be in a fully staffed
074or almost fully staffed school, but it makes me sad to see that there are schools in my district that where students lack teachers. Um, there's no reason that our district can't provide the same things that are offered to students in other districts. And I know that because our students are just as valuable as any student. They deserve the best that we can offer. Um, one more thing I wanted to point out to you is there was an item for tonight for additional money for the company that makes I Ready an assessment. We've spent the last several weeks doing I Ready. It takes hours of our time. And imagine being a 9-year-old in a classroom for hours, day after day doing I Ready and the classroom is 83°. That's not okay. It's wrong. And I encourage
075you to to not appropriate additional money for this program because it's not good for students. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Gina Mlan and I am a former WCCUSD employee and former UTR member. I love partly because of poor wages. I am now the president of Contraosta County Schools Education Association who is also part of the East Bay Coalition for Student Success. We are here for student success. I am in disbelief of how many teachers you guys decided to lay off even though there were empty classrooms. I remember three years ago when there was a breaking points podcast. They have 1.2 million uh followers and they talked about a manufactured teacher shortage. Districts are hiring three admins when uh formerly it was only one admin that would do the job. I have an agreement
076with Mr. Ellen Musk. I know he's an unpopular person, but my agreement with him is that contract workers are barnacles. Your same SLP, those uh SLPs that you contract online are getting paid $40 more than they are, and you are contracting these people for years, and I encourage you to walk these halls, get to know your teachers. The fact that you did not know Miss Maresy's name tells me that you do not know your teachers. You need to walk around and understand what they are going through and what uh what with what what very little resources you give them. They are still doing an incredible job. And I just want I cannot believe that you speak of an equitable statement when do you know the makeup of your students and your teachers and how you
077want to talk about equity but you're willing to save your money for future students and not your students. Now I encourage you to serve the students that you have. Thank you. Come to the podium, please. Good evening, school board members. My name is Karen Van Winkle. I'm a third grade teacher at Murphy in Elsa Breny. I've taught in the district for 27 years and I'm a proud graduate of West Contraosta. I have three kids. One is a West Contraosta graduate and he's studying to become a teacher. And I have a senior and a freshman. And my freshman both are both senior and freshman are at Hercules High. And my freshman is studying to become a teacher. Super proud. I have three numbers for you tonight. 89, 7, and 82. Starting with 89. My classroom in
078Elsa Bronny was 89 degrees yesterday. Teachers, raise your hand if you had a hot classroom yesterday. Keep your hand up if you've had to teach several days in a hot classroom. Seven. My classroom has been above 82 degrees for seven days this school year. 82. 82. California law labor law states that employers are required to adopt safety measures that go into effect when indoor temperatures reach 82 degrees. Where are our safety measures? Where is an AC in every classroom? What's going on? We can't wait. We can't wait. We can't wait. We can't wait. We can't wait. My name is Andrea Livinghouse and we are the speech language pathologists of the United Teachers of Richmond. Once again, the West Contraosta Special Education Department and other district leaders have normalized the severe understaffing of the speech therapist
079department to the point in which I wonder if this is a deliberate union busting effort. The district is choosing to make virtual teleaotherapy contractors a long-term fixture in our district because they will do seemingly anything before they improve our contract to recruit and retain district employed speech therapists. Parents and the community. The district has directed us to make recommendations as to which students to bump off our case loads to make room for incoming students instead. These bumped off students will supposedly be served by a virtual contractor instead whose employment is by nature more transient and temporary. Additionally, district employed speech therapists are being spread as thinly as possible and we've been taken away from our school communities as a result. The district views our labor as being interchangeable. that it is okay to shuffle us
080around as if we haven't already established roots and connections with our students. I know the community values us and recognizes that we too are educators who make lifechanging, extremely positive impacts in our students lives. We ask you to stand with us in our fight for fully staffed schools of district employees so that our students can receive the stable quality education they deserve. do the right thing and put students first. >> Hi, uh, I'm Andre Bernetti. I work at uh Vista Virtual with Katie Marquez. Thank you. Uh and I'm here to reiterate my proposal for a solution of uh for a fiscal crisis. Uh I already mentioned this to uh hi to Superintendent Cotton. Um I'm trying to think outside the box and I'm asking just uh you all to do the same. We have a
081chronic uh epidemic problem in our district and it's chronic absenteeism. My solution is that we give all of those kids that are absent from all of those schools around our district a tablet and make it mandatory that they join our virtual school. These kids are not making it in person anyway. And I'm confident that we can give them an get them on board and give them a much better education than they are getting right now. In this way, the district could conceivably make a ton of revenue, thereby fixing the crisis we are all in right now. It's a win-win for all. Okay? We could be at a place for those who are uh temporarily doing independent study who would would normally not even turn in their work. For those who need refuge from ICE, we
082are the solution maybe, right? Sadly, what is it? What are we doing here? Last year, the board made the decision to stop enrollment for K3. We had 10 kindergarters coming in. What's going on, guys? They already started shutting down our school. But I'm not here just to discuss our school. Obviously, people are people are upset, right? I'm here to urge you to think outside the box. Look at what other districts do as models. Free spending on so many consultants. Be an ally of staff, not an adversary. I love the one WCCUSD idea. I love it, but I'm not feeling it right now. I want to work with you guys. We should be on the same team, right? Why are we not on the same team? I love your vision, but but clearly there's a there's
083a disconnect. So, let's fix it. Let's work together. Let's sit down and work together. I love the listening sessions. And I love I love that you're in there, Cheryl. I really do for a third meeting in a row. Tell me why does my special TK graveyard heavily hardly happening with material. You know A mini basketball with shapes and dubbers. And don't you dare you. Treat us with respect and dignity. Continual as we experience discrimination and racism. We are abandoned here to fend for ourselves with limited resources. I proudly live here. Again, I'm going to say stop hiding from me. Someone from facilities needs to meet with the principal and I the tip site. If you feel uncomfortable about the meeting table for Lydia, her parents and teachers you Following people, please come to the podium.
084Amelia Calderon, Christina KS, Promise Rose, Kristen Kase, Isabelle Gil Garcia, Michelle Milford, Jessica Cabrera, and Ash Abbot, Emilia, right? I'm first. Okay. Good evening. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful performance by Alma Latina from Richmond High School. Lolita, their teacher, isn't she just a treasure? She is just one example of the valuable but unpaid labor that our classified staff offer our students and community way outside their contractual hours. I'm Amelia Calderon. It's my 11th year teaching at Richmond High School and I see daily proof of how our classified staff give their whole heart to supporting our students and staff. Security guards, office staff, paras, nutrition staff, and scouts. They're all the reason why you can sit here enjoying our kids' performances while offering classified staff an insulting 1% raise. Boo. How can you honestly
085stand there with big smiles on your faces and take pictures with Lolita and our kids when you value them at 1%. Ew. Shame. I also want to thank you for the gracious 0% raise that you offered me and my colleagues here at UTR. Y'all are acting like we're asking for the moon when we're asking for a raise. With a 34.4 for increase in overall revenue over the past six years. Choosing to offer us a 0% just shows that you're either incompetent or you just don't care. Yeah. Don't tell us that you care. Show us. >> Hi, I'm Christina Coons. After this year's FTE stunt, I expected a large exodus of teachers, but in reality, we got an exodus of students. An an acknowledgement at the start of your meetings is not enough on this indigenous
086land. Your investment in our community and our children and all staff and and safety should be the priority that you prove sorry that you prove your equity is your value. It will be the proof proof that you value us as humans. It will be the proof that you are releasing practices of oppression that you plan for the next decade. Please stop being reactive. Our budget is not your pawn. When a quarter of your budget is spent on consultants, it tells us that you don't know how to do your job. Instead of spending a quarter of our budget on consultants and bloated administration, invest directly into your community, your classrooms, your teachers, your staff. Please stop being reactive. Build a multi-year plan that strengthens student learning, well-being, and improves student and family retention. Our district is
087patched together with band-aids. And right now, you're losing losing your greatest asset. Who is with your kids in your classrooms? Your teachers. And guess what? We're not afraid to strike because you will always You may not always fight for students, but we will. Equity isn't shown in land acknowledgements. It isn't shown in your little pictures that you take with our people. It is shown in how you invest in our people, our children for the next decade. Our again, our budget is not your pawn. Please reenter your values. Trust the community that's showing up for you, for our children today. And remember that we elect you. Thank you. >> Oh, I'm Yes. This is my emotional support buddy. Hi, I am Promise Rose. Uh Betty Reed Saskin, five years. Leavonia Dejon by six years. I I
088can't say much more what than what everyone else has already said. My classroom was over 89 degrees into the 90s in the first couple weeks with hydrometers telling me that it was over 50%. I have suffered heat exhaustion because of this which has triggered anxiety. I have suffered things being thrown at me, poisoned, and administration doing nothing about it. Then I am still standing here begging you to take your priorities and look at them. Not just at the teachers, but at safety. Look at your students. They are the reason why we're here and why there is payment. You say there's not enough money, which is why we're at an impass. And I am saying San Diego could do it. Let's go ahead, take a look and see what they've done successful. Let's make it work
089for us. Stop funding the charters who kick kids out because they're not neurotypical, because they're on the spectrum. Because you know what? We have all these SLP needs. We have all these fed needs because we are the ones dipping into our pockets, ripping our families apart, going through anxieties, putting ourselves on the line, having what someone could consider a cluttered room, but a student walks in and goes, "I'm going to learn something because look at that. I recognize that. That is something that teaches me. Look at the priorities and it is our students. We support them. Please support us supporting them. Thank you. Good evening board. My students at Richmond High School know me as teacher Garcia where I teach history and ethnic studies in the media academy. I love what I do and quite
090frankly can't fathom the idea of doing anything else with my life. But I find myself burning out after only eight years into my career due to the unsustainable working conditions and being unable to afford the quality of life that is often promised to people with a professional degree. All five years in this district, I have had to teach three different subjects at any given time without additional preparation time and while receiving the same compensation as my colleagues with only one prep. In case you didn't realize, that's about nine lessons a week that I need to prepare and execute. The history department is consistently one of the most impacted by budget cuts. The most recent being nth grade ethnic studies. This is not by accident. The district would rather pour 50 freshmen into a second PE
091class rather than pay for an essential course. As the years have worn on, I have also had my class sizes and numbers increase due to business-like decisions and budget cuts that do not benefit students. This year, I have 196 students. 196 students. Please tell me, how am I supposed to do all of the things that I'm pressured to do like family engagement, differentiation, and timely feedback with nearly 200 students this year? I also had to support in subbing long-term for a class, losing my prep period for three weeks because the new teacher felt so unsupported that she quit before even finishing a month. The slap in the face that are these working conditions are compounded by the blatant disrespect this district has shown us during contract negotiations. We are 18th out of 19th lowest paid
092districts. I mean lowest paid in the whole contraosta district. And y'all had the audacity to offer us a 0% raise. Seeing the financials of it, it is clear that it's not a question of having the funds but how they're being used. This district frankly seems more interested in spending on contractors and raises for those on top than doing what they always Yes. Hello. My name is Kristen Kase. I have been working for this district for 30 years in five different schools. And pretty much every year for the last 30 years, we've heard the same district message. Sorry, we don't have the money. We value you so much as educators and our students, but we just can't afford to give you a competitive wage or put a qualified teacher in every class. It's the same thing
093every year. What you never admit is that you get the same revenue as the other 19 districts in our county, but you just choose to spend it differently. >> Yeah. We're tired of being the second lowest paid educators in the county. We're tired of the fact that you don't even spend the percent of your revenue required by law to pay for teacher compensation. And we're insulted by the 0% raise that you have offered us when we're already one of the lowest paid educators in the county. I teach at Kensington, which is probably the best environment for teachers in the district. And every single dis teacher in Kensington voted to be willing to go on strike if we do not get a competitive salary. I cannot imagine the level of dissatisfaction in the rest of the
094district if every Kensington teacher is willing to go on strike. I urge you to reconsider how you spend your revenue. Look at districts like Sacramento and San Diego that chose to offer high salaries to educators and they got positive result with higher achievement. Our district consistently. Our next public comment is Esmeralda Martin Singh. Please unmute yourself. >> Good evening. My name is Esmeralda Martin Singh. I am a former student and former teacher of West Contraosta Unified School District. My daughter attends school at Mount Talvin. Last year, she had five teachers. It was so hard to see my bright and happy child dread attending school because she didn't know who was going to be there and for how long they would stay. Thankfully, this year she has an amazing educator who has shown her how to
095love school again. Teachers matter. Miss Patadus is a rock star. Miss Libunau was a rock star. I'm here to urge you to pass a contract that respects the work of teachers in our district. When you invest in the educators that serve the students of our district, you are showing your priorities. Invest in your teachers and they will stay. I left the classroom because of how challenging it became and not having the support of the district. I miss teaching, being part of a school community, but more than anything, I miss the kids. Do better and your teachers will thrive. Your students will also see the results. Budgets reflect our values. Show us where your values lie by investing in our educators and our students and the services that the communities deserve and they will support their
096learning. Please thank you for your time. Good evening. My name is Michelle Milford and I am co-bargaining chair of the United Teachers of Richmond. I am also a school psychologist in our district and I would like to share my experience with virtual special education services and contractors. These temporary outside providers do not know our students. In fact, I had a student in our extensive support needs program go months without receiving speech services because the contractor was pulling a gened student with a similar name by mistake. Unfortunately, this error impacted both the ESN student and gened student who had a 504 plan and was already struggling to keep up. Our students deserve better than this. I urge the board to prioritize highly competitive compensation for our SLPs, psychologists, and nurses. Vacancies and special education are vulnerable
097to contractors that can cost three times as much compared to a district employee. According to the unodudited actuals, we spent 8.6 million over budget on sub agreements for service. That's our 5% raise right there. Not only do these companies love to increase their prices, such as ProAre, they also love to hire our widely underpaid staff. Now is the time to invest in our amazing SLPs, psychologists, and nurses because our students deserve the best. Thank you. Hey guys. So, uh, does anyone think it's interesting? The person that was able to get teacher of the year only needed to wait three months to buy a house. That is a beautiful, beautiful thing. I don't want to say anything bad, but for five, sorry, for every five pennies that a black family has, my people, the whites, hello
098Leslie, we get to have a dollar in our family. What is hard is that we are setting up a district where children that want to come back and teach and buy homes here cannot buy homes. What kind of people are you that you want to deny the beautiful person that was speaking in m a house? Why are you asking her to stay at her mom and dad's? Why are you asking these students? Elas, maybe he wants to be a teacher. Have you thought about that? This is the third time he's come up to talk to you. Does a child need to come up every time and say, "Please respect us as ch What is happening in our country? You are living through the Trump era. You are living through a time where children are seeing
099loved ones kidnapped and you are choosing to act like Trump. You are saying hello to your friends as the contractors. Here's the money. Instead of serving the people, a part of the colonialist project is to take away resources, then take away language. again. It's cute that you took pictures with the one white lady that could buy a house here. I'm psyched that her allowed her to teach better. Heck yes for her. Heck yes. But it's disgusting that none of you are asking why none of us are able to buy more homes here. It cost me $500 every month to drive away from Bayjo. I used to live here. I lived here. I would run into mommies and daddies at Safeway and get to tell them how awesome. >> That concludes public comment. >> Thank you
100to everyone who gave public comment tonight. We're moving now to item 10, ad agenda review and adoption. Are there any changes to the agenda that the board would like to put forward? >> President Reclair, could we take a fivem minute recess? >> Sure. >> All right, we'll take five minutes. We'll be back at uh 9:02. 9:02. Okay, everybody. We're back from recess. We're up to number 10, agenda review and adoption. Is there anything the board uh wants to change on the agenda? Yes. Go ahead. >> Thank you, President Reclar. Um I would like to move E4 as the first action item, please. >> Okay. Anything else from anyone? Okay. So that will be it. Uh we'll move now to B1, approval of the minutes. Does anybody have any corrections to the minutes of August 27th,
1012025? Okay. Seeing none, we'll accept them as presented if everybody's okay with that. Okay. All right. We did 12 and 13 up to number 14. Resolution number 2526-24 celebrating the uh information technology professionals of West Contracasta Unified School District on IT Professionals Day. >> Thank you. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board hereby honors and commends all IT professionals employed by WCCCUSD for their dedication, professionalism, and technical expertise in maintaining, supporting, and innovating the district's technology systems. Be it further resolved that the board expresses gratitude for the invisible and often underrecognized work of these professionals enabling the community to stay connected. Does anybody does anybody on the board have questions or comments? Is there any public comment on the item? Yes. Um, Maline Croninberg, please unmute yourself. Please unmute yourself. Jean Kinster, please unmute
102yourself. Good evening board. I wish it was true that all of the communities were connected through these wonderful IT people, but sadly they will no longer be serving TKRK students as the district made the decision to snatch away computers, which is part of our studying for careers and tech and next generation standards. But TKs and K's no longer get to have their hands on these computers in onetoone in our classrooms. very very sad state of affairs. I hope you really rethink this and allow these youngest students to be able to use computers again and to start growing and expanding their tech brains. They're already on cell phones inappropriately. Let's get them on computers appropriately in the classrooms. Thank you. >> Okay, any other any other comments? I just miss Wong Roberts and to our tech
103team, I just want to thank you for everything you do and really appreciate your efforts and you know, you don't realize how good you have it until it goes down and then you realize how great it is. So, thank you very much. I would like to also say thank you to thank you to the IT team. Um, Richard, Karen, Louise, all of them, Miss Long Roberts, they are just absolutely amazing and they are some of the best people in the district and we are just so lucky to have all of them. So, thank you very much for everything that you do and every uh and the people that you are. So, thank you. I'm complete. Okay, with that I'll accept a motion. President, I'll move resolution number 2526-24. Excuse me. Anyways, celebrating the information technology
104professionals of West Country Unified School District on IT professional day. >> Smith second. >> Okay, it's been moved by Gonzalez Hoy and seconded by Smith Olds and we'll go to the vote. Trusty Hernandez. Yes. >> Clerk >> Kinyano. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gonzalez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Smiths. >> Smiths. Yes. >> And Reckler is a yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Moving now to resolution number 2526-23 in recognition of recognizing community school director appreciation week. Now therefore, be it resolved that the West Contraosta Unified School District Board of Education designates the week of September 14th through September 20th, 2025 as Community Schools Director's Appreciation Week. Thanks community schools directors for their work that they do to serve students, families, and communities and encourages students, parents, school administrators, and public officials to participate in events that celebrate
105community schools directors appreciation week. >> Thank you so much. Anything from the board? Any questions? Go ahead. >> I'm sorry, President. I don't I had a comment, not a question. >> Okay. Uh, great. Is there public comment on the item? >> We have no public comment. >> Okay. Uh, you want to move it? Make comments. >> Sure. I move that we approve resolution number 2526-23 in recognition of recognizing school community, excuse me, recognizing community school director appreciation week. >> My phone seconds. >> Okay. It's been moved by Gonzalez Hoy, seconded by Smith Folds, and comments for anyone. >> Thank you. I did want to take just a quick appreciation for all our community schools directors um and all this work that happens in the ED services department to support them and support our schools. There
106was just a national study that came out, I think like only a few days ago, showing that schools that have community school innovation and community school uh visions actually are moving the needle on academic achievement. So, I thought that was incredible because I hadn't seen an actual study done like that and it came out to show very positive results. Um, and I see it in our schools every day with parent engagement, student engagement that happens, the events that our community school directors uh throw. Um, so thank you. Thank you for all the efforts and thank you for all the work. >> Thank you so much. Anyone else? >> I just want to echo what um Trustee Boy said. Um, also congratulate I am in the schools frequently and I get to interact with a lot
107of our community schools directors and I see the essential role that they play inside of our schools. So I just want to congratulate them and say thank you for the hard work that you guys provide for our staff, for our students, um, for everyone on our site. So, thank you and congratulations to our community school directors and anyone else. Okay. Well, I'm going to do on all those comments. Thank you. And we'll go to vote. Trusty Hernandez. >> Yes. >> Clerkana, >> yes. >> Trusty Ginsoy, >> yes. >> Trusty Smith folds. >> Smith votes. Yes. Reckler's a yes. Resolution passes unanimously. Moving now to C business items. Is there anything on uh business items consent? Is there anything on the consent uh agenda that board members would like to pull? >> Thank you. I would
108like to pull one contract out of C4 curriculum associates. >> C4 curriculum associates. Okay. Thank you. And is there anything else? No. Okay. Will we can we accept the rest of consent with C4 for after? Okay. Seeing none, consent is approved. Moving now to D. Superintendent communication. Superintendent Cotton. All you. >> Thank you. It's all updated now. Rosa. >> Good evening everyone. I'd like to make this as quick as I can, but there's lots of things that have been going on since our last um board meeting. Next slide, please. First, I just want to take a pause. I was um saddened this morning reading the news um and learning about a uh UPS worker who was tragically killed. It was even more devastating to learn that she was a mother uh five children, three who
109attend Chavez Elementary School. I'd like us just to take a moment um a moment of silence. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Raina family and their friends during this difficult time. Thank you. Next slide. So, since we last met, next slide, there is new California law AB49 and SB98 that I wanted to bring to everyone's attention. It now prohibits school officials from allowing immigration enforcement agents without a valid judicial warrant um to come onto our campuses um across the state. and if agents are present that schools must notify our school communities. I have to say that we are already engaged in this work. Um, it's great to know that the state is once again following the good work of West Contraosta Unified School District, but just want to lift up these two um new
110laws as well as a number of um supports that we are receiving from the California Department of Education. Um there's a toolkit that some of the flyers are here that will be um disseminated out to our sites and shared with our families. But we definitely have some support around again the work that we have already put into place to support uh immigrant families in our communities. Next slide please. We also concluded can we talk and that was our community listening sessions. I still want to say thank you to all of our board members who attended, all of our community members who attended, and all of our cabinet members and staff who were there to support and facilitate some really great and rich conversations. We ended up with 222 surveys completed with over 300 community members
111present over our five sessions. Next slide. We learn quite a bit both from the paper surveys or the electronic surveys, but also from the table conversations. Um, and we lift up some really critical issues, issues around staff staffing shortages, issues around equity disparities between our schools, uh, our resource disparities, and also communication breakdowns. But we also want to lift up some bright spots. Um, our communities share that there are truly dedicated staff and community uh across our district, that there are outstanding student programs, including those like Middle College, DLI, Vista Virtual, and our newcomer Academy, and then also community engagement. So, there's lots that we've learned, lots that will be shared, but I wanted to give you a little taste of what you'll be receiving um in a published document soon. Next slide. I also
112want to lift up and acknowledge our union on our workforce relations. Um just a negotiations update. Uh district leadership met on Monday, September 22nd with Teamsters for mediation. Uh the second of both mediation sessions with Teamsters and UTR will be happening on September 30th, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I just want to say that we are continuing to meet with our union representatives, continuing to work through challenges and issues that exist. Um, but also committed to good faith bargaining. And I just want to say that we value every member of our West Contraosta family. Um, as we move through these challenging times, it's important to remember that we are still one and we are one, West Contraosta. Next slide, please. We also continue to push around attendance advocacy. We have three
113events that have happened since our last board meeting. One is our systems change collaborative planning session. We're preparing for a session on October 14th. This systems uh collaborative is a group of city leaders. So, we will have mayors or city council folks from across um the district from Hercules to Elserto um joining us with the support. This is in partnership with Supervisor John Joya um to come together and we're going to focus on talking more about attendance. What do we need to be aware of? How do we support our students? How do we make sure that our students are coming to school to learn to grow and that the resources are available for them as they are here? We also have met as an attendance task force. So a cross departmental internal group across all
114of our departments in West Contraosta coming together as a task force not for one conversation but multiple. So this is the beginning of a a conversation and um planning around what we will do to address chronic absenteeism across the district. And then also we worked with our schools and neighborhood action team, SNAT, which is made up of community partners. Um and they facilitated actually a root cause analysis session with uh West Contraosta and again across uh community partners um to really look deeply at chronic absenteeism. They introduced an idea of targeted universalism and really work that's rooted in our belonging um and support for students. So, I'm really excited about all of these these bodies of work coming together to really impact our students. Next slide. I also had a chance to visit the West
115County Forum. I was uh on the the list that day and had a chance to meet and talk to city leaders uh from across our county. Um responded to a number of questions. questions came up around parcel tax, around environmental education and and civic learning, around financial literacy and volunteering. Uh it was a really rich and deep conversation that also ended with the importance of homegrown leadership. So homegrown folks are there. So it was a really good conversation, really exciting and excited to be there. Um hopefully it's the beginning of of additional conversations with this team as well, this group. Next slide. had a chance to visit back to school night. We had back to school night on oh my goodness, I just forgot the date. It was two Thursdays ago, but I can't remember
116the date. Um I decided to visit Washington Elementary School and it was a wonderful time. Good things are happening across our district and the back to school night was a great time to connect with parents. Um so in terms of informal listening sessions continued got a chance to learn um how things were running. Had a long conversation with the PT PTA president there at Washington but really good conversations. I appreciate it. Next slide. also had some fun um the Fiesta Patrias parade and oh do you see do you see in the corner that flag my goodness and the students were watching in awe as as trustee Smith Foss waved her flag she brought back her her flag days. Yes. And she says she played the clarinet as well. So it was a fun day to
117be had. Um, and just a really wonderful way to really lift up our community um, and show the great things that we're doing. Um, we had our students who performed this evening from Downer. They were out in full force. About 60 students um, danced and marched and our robotics team from Richmond High was there. It was amazing. A number of our elementary schools were present as well. was a wonderful celebration of um Hispanic heritage, a wonderful celebration of community. Next slide, please. I also had a chance to visit, it was a busy day this day. Had a chance to visit our ninth period welding class. What's ninth period? It happens way after school is out. But it was an interesting group. was interesting one because we had representation from almost every high school. Students were
118there to learn welding. They were interested in this. They brought themselves from across the district to Kennedy High School working in their welding facility. Um it was also really exciting that there were I think more um female students than male students in this welding class. And I'd love to look at that in terms of of equity and and breaking down concerns and disparities around um access to our trades. So really exciting. Really exciting. Next slide. Also that same day had a chance to visit um Elso City Council and celebrate with our interns. We had the stars program stu summer training for and ready for success. They had about seven or eight um Elserto High School students who had a chance to work six weeks as a paid internship learning about government operations. I thought that
119was an amazing program. We're hoping to expand it in the future. Next slide. Same night. Telling you it was a long day. Same night ended up at got to the quarterly STE community meeting. Um yes. Woo! Excellent job. I'm so glad that our community folks were there. Melissa Payne and her team um just led an excellent conversation about design and making some design choices with the community. So, it was a really exciting evening, a really uh productive conversation with our community around what will happen with STE Elementary School. Next slide. And that day finally ended. But last Saturday had a chance to um celebrate Richmond High School with the groundbreaking ceremony. Again, I I think Miss uh Melissa Payne and her team are busy busy busy people. Um we were had a chance to celebrate.
120I want to thank all of our board members um who were present that day as well as our city leaders. We had our Richmond High band and cheerleaders and and and color guard. We the robotics team was out. We had everybody out. It was a really good celebration of great way to to bring the community together to build excitement and anticipation for this new high school that we are creating. Next slide. Also had a chance to celebrate. How many how many of you know someone who is 104 years old? You do. Betty Reed Sask. There you go. she is to have a a living legend in our community um who is so rooted within our community um and and celebrating with our students. Our students had a chance to learn and see and understand what
121longevity looks like. Um she has done everything. um most recently I think retiring at almost 99 um from being a park ranger just an amazing person um and amazing role model for our students to be able to still see and access and celebrate but it was a beautiful celebration. Thank you to Principal Laauo and the Betty Bear team over at Betty Reed Saskin Middle School for their great uh celebration that they had. Next slide. I I wasn't able to get to this one, you guys. I get everywhere, but this one was the one I couldn't get to next year. I promise. Elsa Bronny Stroll though, we had a number of our schools out celebrating, enjoying the day, enjoying last Sunday, but again, bringing community together. Um, it makes all the difference. And you see our
122schools, school groups that were there to celebrate Hercules High Band as well as the Richmond Highest Band. Um and the Deanszadons were out as well. So it was a great celebration. Next slide. Had a great time actually yesterday. We are we are innovative. We are um leaders of the pack in so many different ways. We had an annual visit from from educators from Norway yesterday here at Perry's Elementary School. This has been an ongoing a long-standing um partnership that we have with um a group from Norway. They send their teachers, their new princip I'm sorry, not teachers, their new principles to Perry's every year as part of their um their uh exchange program. But it was really exciting for them to spend a day with Perry's educators along with uh Berkeley School of Education professors
123um and talked really deeply about um uh the power of walkthroughs and feedback for teachers. Thank you for Trustee Smith Fos and Trustee Inana for being present and actually most of the day you guys were there with them and really engaged in that conversation. So, thank you. Got a chance to visit sites as well. Um, had a wonderful time with my my new friends at Elserto High School. Uh, met with the leadership team. Had a chance to hear what each of the classes are doing and the committees are doing, but also being able to really do some problem solving about some of the challenges that they're seeing. I was um the previous board meeting I reported out on visiting Kennedy uh Kennedy High School. Um also had a chance to visit Lupine Collins Aloney um
124since our last meeting as well. So it's been a great visit. Next slide. In addition to that, I have to tell you football season is real. Football season is real. We were having a great time last weekend at Pol Valley High School the weekend before that. This captures me and Trustee Smith Fos who was working the concession stand um at the Hercules High School game, but please come out and celebrate our students. Um be in community with us as our kids are just having a great time hanging out and having fun. And so what's coming up? We have middle school back to school night is coming up on Thursday, September 25th. I do want to let you know that our high schools, you will need to check with your high school to find out what
125date your back to school night will be held. We have a few different dates that have have worked and not worked with our our schools and so we were able to um give them the flexibility of making the decision of when their uh back to school night will be held. Next slide. September 27th, the Kermy's celebration. And I'm not familiar with this, but I'm going to learn and I'm going to try and be there to learn to to be a part of this celebration um at Washington Elementary School, I believe. So, looking forward to enjoying some fun over there. I also want to lift up Principal Leadership Institute. There's an information session on September 30th. This is a leadership pipeline scholarship. There's a number I'm curious folks here. Raise your hand if you were a
126PLI graduate. There's I'm not but there are a number of PLI graduates. Dr. Moses, you're not raising your hand. Okay, there you go. Okay. Um but there is an opportunity for West Contracasta um employees who are interested in becoming a principal or getting their administrative credential. Um they have six spaces for WCCUSD employees. They're going to pay 90% of your tuition, which is up to $28,000. This is a really big deal. Um right now we don't have any new applicants that are going for that. So please get the word out. Um this work is going to be happening. Uh the information sessions happening next week and that what's required is five years of experience. Next slide. Budget updates are are here. We've got our fiscal Fridays report is coming up. Uh every week we will
127be sharing more information. I want to make sure that the community is aware and understands our financial situation and has a chance to provide input and engage um our our our leaders around what we are doing with our funding, how we're using those dollars. Um so, fiscal Friday's report will be coming out as long as as well as the district budget engagement committee which will be the next meeting will be happening on September 30th. Um, we also have been hosting our fiscal stabilization planning meetings. Session one has ended. We had three times we met to talk about the same content for session one. We're beginning session two now. If I could see, I would love it. It's a examining budget impact. Um, our first session will be held at Helms Middle School on September 29th
128of this session. again after that October 1st at Elserto and October 9th at Hercules High School. Next slide, please. Uh just want to lift up college and career night is coming up October 9th from 5 to 7:00. Please take a look. It will be held at Denza High School. But definitely come on out, learn more about how you access college, how do you get to college, how do you apply for college, all things to prepare you for college. So that is open to uh K12 students and their families. Next slide. We talk a lot about our teacher shortage. We talk about a lot of a lot about our our shortage around pair professionals. This is a job fair that's coming up. We are hosting it internally. Um and we want the community to be there.
129So really excited about our fall job fair happening on October 25th from 9 to 12. That's a Saturday. Please tell a friend, tell everybody you know, come on out and there are jobs available. I know that folks are out there looking for jobs. Jobs are available here in West Contraosta. Um, from teaching to pair professionals to uh maintenance and operations across the board. We are looking for you. And for your awareness, I'm sorry, next slide. And next slide. Um, there are public health immunization clinics available. So, this is information that if you're looking for a place to make sure that your child is vaccinated, check them out. We have this resource that's available for you. Also, next slide. Don't forget, complete your emergency card, sign up for parent square, update your P school information. You
130heard that message from Kim Chamberlain a little while ago. Um, also being aware of our anti-slur and anti-racism policy, our cell phone policy, our immigration policy, our visitor signing policy. There's lots of information in the student handbook for families to be aware of and and and understand how we do business here in West Contraosta. And then don't forget, take care of your technology. Take care of those Chromebooks. Um, they are expensive. Next slide. There are lots of ways for you to get involved. Schoolside council, our packs are coming together. Um, and we want to get those meetings up and running before the end of the month is the goal. Um, our our I'm not going to read them all, but when you see those packs, please get involved. That's another way for you to have
131impact on how we are spending our funds, how we are programming for students, and what our priorities are for our students. We want your input. We want your engagement in these conversations. That's the end. Any questions? >> Any questions for the superintendent? >> Okay. Thank you. Very informative. >> Great report. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> Well, well, thank you. It's amazing. >> Okay, moving now to action items. E, we're going to move up E4. approving the unodudited financial statements from 2025 to 2026 school year and also I don't think it's the approval I think it's we are going to accept that report not approve it so Dr. Moses, I believe it's your item. >> President Reckler, just I apologize for interrupting. Um, earlier in consent, I accidentally pulled the wrong item. It was the
132right contract. It was under C5, not C4. Um, so I don't know if that's okay. I just wanted to >> It's fine. >> Notify you. >> Is everybody okay with that? Right item, wrong item number. So, we can make it C5 curriculum associates. Is everybody okay with that? Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. Good evening, President Reckler, Clerk Inana, Trustees of the Board, and Superintendent Cotton. Um, I am Dr. Kim Moses, the associate superintendent of business services. And tonight we'd like to pres present to you the unodudited actuals financial statements for the 2425 fiscal year. I'd like to also introduce Mr. Jeff Carter, our executive director of business services who will be sharing who will be sharing this presentation with me this evening. I'd first like to start off by acknowledging our team. I want to
133send a a really heartfelt thank you to the business services team. The preparation of this report is a team effort. Um, everyone in our financial department has a hand in completing reports in order to put this final report together tonight uh not only for your approval but also uh to submit as our official documentation. Next slide. [Music] I think you may have the wrong version of the the slides. You're missing some slides here. Um but that's okay. I'll speak to them. Um nonetheless, >> Dr. Moses, do you want to pause and make sure that you got the right the right slide deck is up? That would be great if you just give me a second. And I um apologize for the delaying. Okay, Rosa, the presentation has been reshared. So, as Rosa is bringing up
134the presentation, I'll get started with um the first slide, which is an explanation of what the unodudited actuals report actually is. Uh it's an annual financial report that details our actual revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year which spans July 1st to June 30th. The it's called the unodudited actuals report because it has not yet for been formally audited um by our external auditors. Um the importance of these reports there we go. Thank you. uh they serve as a critical step of before the final independent audit and they provide a comprehensive overview of the district's financial performance for the last fiscal year. Next slide. Um what's included in this report um will be uh information on our revenue and spending for the fiscal year. uh specific details on the revenue by source and by expenditure
135and also details on transfers and other transactions related to uh financing sources. These are important because they provide financial oversight. Uh they're a part of our accountability and it helps us with future budget planning. It's a critical step in the process for budgeting and it provides the actual data that informs future budgeting and our interim reports. This report is the one time during the year that our numbers are exactly correct. We've closed our books and we're giving you the final numbers of what happened during the entire fiscal year. At this point, I'd like to introduce again Jeff Carter, the executive director of business services, and he will present the revenue portion of this presentation. Go ahead, Jeff. >> Good evening. Thank you for your time tonight. Next slide. Uh, so tonight I'll review the revenue
136funding factors. Uh, next slide. All right. So, the general fund revenue uh is based on enrollment and attendance. Our funding uh is based on average daily attendance for our students. Uh the ADA is our district enrollment times the rate of daily attendance. Uh that determines our funding for the year for LCFF uh local control funding formula. Uh due to our declining enrollment uh that's trending across the state of California. Uh our enrollment has been decreasing over the last few years uh as you see here on the graph about 1.9% over the past two years despite our growing transitional kindergarten program. Uh due to the decrease in student average daily attendance the LCFF formula uh we have received funding for 23,624 students despite our actual enrollment of 25,242 students. Uh, next slide. Uh, based on our
137declining enrollment, the cost of living adjustment that the state funded at 1.07%. Uh, even though we received this increase for cola, we did not receive an increase in overall revenue. So, uh, our district actually received minus 2.18% revenue or - 7.5 million less than 2324. So one year later, we've received 7.5 million less even though we did we did receive a 1.07 cola from the state. Next slide. Uh so next we'll do the categories and comparisons. Uh we're going to compare estimated actuals to our unodudited actuals. The estimated actuals uh were uh data as of April 30th, 2025. And now that we have closed the books as of 6:30, uh we'll do comparisons of where we're at. So next slide. Uh here you'll see uh our estimated actuals compared to unodudited actuals for our revenue
138sources. Uh the district received an additional 1% in unrestricted revenue totaling about $3.2 million. Uh this increase is due to uh increases to transportation and lottery funds as well as uh other local revenue such as interest revenue collected, local donations and grants. Uh next slide. Uh so here we have the restricted funds. Uh let's see go next slide. There we go. So here we have the restricted funds. Uh you'll see our comparison from estimated actuals to unodudited actuals. There's an increase of about 4% on the restricted side totaling 5.9 million. Uh this increase is mostly due to some restricted grants such as expanded learning revenue as well as a few local grants and additional medical payments that we've received. on a few on the couple slides, we'll go over some more details of where that
139six million came from. Uh next slide. Uh here you'll see a a graph a chart of where our revenue sources come from. So this is the combined unrestricted and restricted revenues. Uh you'll see that we get about 66.5% from LCFF sources, 5.8% from federal, 20.4% from other state revenues, and 7.3% from other local revenues. Uh our unrestricted general fund was about 358 million. Our restricted was about 148 million and our total combined general fund revenues was 507 million. Next slide. Uh so the combined revenue uh a comparison of what those changes and differences were. Uh for the LCFF formula based on the ADA and the unduplicated percentage uh you saw a slight decrease in revenue from estimated actuals. The federal revenue uh was decreased due to unearned revenue as a result of lower expenditures than
140estimated back in April. Other state revenues increased due to the transportation grant, lottery revenue, expanded learning revenue, transitional kindergarten allocations, and an adjustment to California state teachers retirement system contribution calculation or stirs on behalf. Uh and then local other local revenues increased as a result of interest revenue collected. Uh this is an adjustment to fair market value calculation as well as increases to uh medical payments and local grants. Next slide. Uh this is our combined revenue compared from estimated actuals to unodudited actuals. The combined general fund uh for 2425 were $9.1 million higher or 1.8% higher than estimated actuals back in April. Uh this is due to adjustments on the previous slide that we just mentioned. Uh, next slide we'll go to expenditures and I'll pass it back to Dr. Moses. >> Thank you, Jeff.
141I'll review the expenditure categories and exp and comparisons. Next slide. Um, prior to reviewing the actual numbers, I'd like to explain what's included in the expenditures categories. Uh, we're going to review salaries paid to all employees, and this includes additional pay stipens and overtime costs. We're going to review benefits, which includes pension payments, required contributions, and health and welfare payments. We'll review the materials and supplies budget, which includes all materials and supplies across all schools and departments to deliver instruction, maintain facilities, and implement our overall district plan. We'll also review the services and other operating expenses. This is this includes the cost of service contracts, utilities, conferences and other expenses related to maintaining programs and services. And finally, the last category is capital outlay and indirect costs. And this speaks to expenditures for our buildings,
142our land, our equipment and other assets. And the indirect costs consist of restricted contributions to central administration activities necessary um to maintain and operate those grants across our district. Next slide. Before reviewing the numbers, I'd also like to share some of the changes that you're going to see on the following charts. uh you will see a change of uh $5.7 million related to certificated salaries and this is an increase in the unrestricted general fund due to an adjustment from the learning recovery emergency block grant. Uh this was necessary in order to support the multi-year funding of our K to3 class size reductions to extend that funding out for the final two years of this grant. The uh similar decrease is going to be seen in the restricted expenditures chart to show the offset. Also, you
143will find under classified salaries that there was a slight reduction in expected expenses due to classified vacancies during the final interim period. For books and supplies, you'll see a slight reduction due to previously assigned and encumbered expenses at schools and departments that were not realized. What this means is that there were a there were plans by departments and schools to spend this money, but because the money wasn't spent, it was put back into the fund. And for capital outlay, um there's a a shift due to the completion of maintenance in um in IMRAD, which is our maintenance and recreation assessment district projects uh for the 202526 school year. Next slide. So, we'll start by examining all expenses. And this chart shows by category um the amount that we had estimated back in April and the
144unodudited actuals amount, which is the amount that ended the fiscal year. And what you'll see compared to estimated actuals, WCCUSD saw a 75 decrease in combined expenditures. That total is $4.1 million. And these are both funds combined. Um the biggest decreases were in in books and supplies and um that was due to curriculum that was were we planned to purchase but we deferred for uh the following year. And uh next slide. This is a um pie chart that shares the same information but in a visual form. And here what I'd like to highlight is for the combined fund expenditures uh 74.9% are on salary and benefits which means the remaining amount 25% of the budget supported all other costs related to operating our schools. Next slide. We'll now break down the two funds that make
145up the combined account. We'll first look at the unrestricted funds. And if you take a look at the estimated actuals compared to the unodudited actuals, you'll see the change that was discussed or that was shared a couple slides back. Uh however, what I want to lift up is compared to what we estimated in April, uh WCCUSD saw 1.8 increase in ex 1.8% 8% increase in unrestricted expenditures and that was a total of $5 million primarily due to that shift in in um in salaries. And next slide. Uh this is a pictorial representation of the same uh information. And what we'd like to lift up here is in our unrestricted general fund, which is our principal operating budget, 84.2% 2% of that fund was expended on salaries and benefits. Which means for the unrestricted general fund,
14615.8% is the amount that was spent on operating costs. Next slide. Now we'll look at the same numbers for the restricted fund. And just as a reminder, the restricted fund is consisted of consists of federal grants, state grants, and other local um grants and contributions that are restricted in nature, which means they are assigned for specific purposes for a fixed amount of time. In our restricted fund, we saw a 3.3 decrease in expenditures totaling 9.1% I'm sorry, 9.1 million in restricted general revenue. Um 5 million of this is the amount I'm sorry 5.7 million of this is the amount that we have shifted back into learning recovery grant in order to ensure that we can sustain uh the cost of class size reduction using these one-time restricted dollars as a part of our learning recovery
147model for the next two fiscal years and this is a part of our fiscal state solveny plan. Next slide. This is the pictorial representation of the restricted fund and you'll see that the restricted fund does not have a large amount as large amount of salaries. 63.5% of the expenditures in the restricted fund are salaries and benefits. And I want to lift up that um the restricted fund includes our entire special education program. So the majority of these salaries and benefits, the 63.5% and this restricted budget, the majority of those are coming from our special education program, which we make a large contribution to in order to cover the costs of these salaries. Next slide. And this is the slide that explains the contribution to um our our restricted programs. So this year we needed to
148um make a contribution totaling $15.3 million to our two required restricted programs. The special education program required a contribution of $92.5 million in order to meet all of the financial obligations um that have um um been expended as a result of that program. We're also required to sit set aside 3% of our annual expenditures in order to fund routine restricted maintenance. This money goes back into our maintenance department to fund um the upkeep of our schools. This um these required contributions uh come directly from the unrestricted general fund and get deposited directly into the restricted fund. And this is an annual process. I'd now like to introduce uh Jeff back to the mic to uh finish up with our district reserves and final slides. Uh so for fund 17, our district reserves uh 2425, our
149beginning balance was 37.6 million. The interest we earned on that 37.6 million was 1.8 million this year. And we made a transfer out to the general fund of 11.5 million uh to cover our ongoing structural deficit. And that leaves our ending balance for fund 17 at $27.9 million uh at the end of 2425. As of the 45day revision presented in uh last month, 2526 transfer of unrestricted general fund is estimated to be 13.1 million and 2627 is estimated to be a 15.2 million. Uh and then the fund 17 will be exhausted in 2728. Uh these funds are planned to be used to cover the ongoing structural deficit uh in the fiscal solveny plan. Next slide. Uh so here you'll see the ongoing structural deficit and the ending fund balance for the unrestricted general fund. Uh
150you'll see our revenue is 358.7 million and our expenditures and contributions were 37 37.9 million. So we have an ongoing operating deficit in 2425 of 19.2 million. We spent 19.2 million more dollars than we received in 2425. As mentioned before, that fund 17 transfer in of 11.5 million to cover that ongoing structural deficit left us with a remaining deficit of 7.7 million. And then when you look at our beginning fund balance in 2425 of 24.2 million. Uh with that remaining deficit, that brings our new ending fund balance to 16.5 million. uh that 16.5 million is equivalent or equal to the 3% required reserve and stores funding that we have to keep on on hand. So uh in in totality we're spending 19.2 million more than we received. We used 11 and a half from fund
15117 and that brought our ending fund balance down to 16.5 million or the required 3% reserve. Next slide. Our next step is to present these uh all these numbers and figures and reports to our auditors. They will go through there and express an opinion. We are hoping that uh the results of that is that we are fair in all our material aspects uh for the 2425 school year. And our next steps, business services is currently preparing for first interim reporting which will be presented uh in December of 2025 for the 26th fiscal year, which will include the unodudited actuals, the adopted budget, the 45day revise, and any adjustments to expenditures and revenues that have happened since. Uh, next slide. And any questions for Dr. Moses Sarai? >> Great. Thank you very much for the presentation.
152Are there any questions on this item? Go ahead, >> President Recller. I have six questions. How many would you like me to ask now? Or >> go free then maybe you'll you'll spark somebody's >> and then we'll do a second room. Sounds great. >> Thank you. Thank you for the presentation, Dr. Moses. Um Mr. Jeff uh Carter. Sorry, I almost had it. I was like, it's right there. Mr. Carter. Um, my first question is on slide 20 21. Um, I saw there was a reduction of $6 million in certificated salaries under restricted funds um from the estimated actuals, right? Um, that seemed like a big change. Can you talk about why that happened? >> Absolutely. Thank you for the question. Um, so as we try and develop a fiscal solveny plan to meet the 3%
153reserve in our multi-year projection, we're looking at every revenue source to find out how to stretch those dollars. We received an additional allocation for the learning recovery emergency block grant. Uh, we initially thought that this grant would only um cover the current year, but with the additional revenue, it can cover two out years. So, in order to be able to use that restricted fund, uh, and I'll explain a little bit about the learning recovery emergency block grant, it's another it's, um, uh, a safety net grant that allows us to provide services to students, uh, as a result of mitigating the the, um, academic gaps of the pandemic. So, it can only be used for that stated purpose. And one of the purposes that it can be used for is to reduce class sizes for instruction.
154Because that is a stated purpose and because we got another large amount um in trying to become fiscally solvent over three years, we decided to use that allocation and expend it completely in years two and three. Um and so by doing that, we're closer to our goal of being able to meet the 3% reserve. >> Thank you. So that's >> one order. Just before you continue, >> we are at 9:57. I think we're going to need to extend. What would board members like to do? Okay. Maybe I'll help extend to 10:30. >> I'll second to 10:30. >> Okay. So moved by Reckler, second by Gonzalez, extend to 10:30. Any discussion on that. Okay. Trusty Hernandez. >> Yeah. >> Clerk. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gonzalez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Smiths. >> Smiths. Yes. >> Wait, what
155was that? Yes. Okay. Reckler. Yes. Okay, we're extended 10:30. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, so that's why we didn't see a reduction of benefits because it's not that the positions ceased to exist. It was just that you transferred the where the money was being paid from. It was paid is now being paid from the grant instead of coming from the restricted general fund. I don't I don't know if I can call it that, but does that make does that make sense? >> Yes, that makes sense. In essence, we're saving that money for the next two out years because because of the additional allocation and the way in which the budget lines up. >> Got it. Okay. Thank you so much. Uh my next question is a comparison of the estimates versus the actuals on
156the famous 5,000 the service and other expenditures. Um so last year we estimated that we're going to spend $83 million on the 5000s both unrestricted and restricted together. We ended up spending $116 million. Can you explain a little bit of why we saw such discrepancy and increase in from the estimates to the actuals? Are you speaking about the combined budget or I I don't see those figures. it. >> I see that in the combined budget our estimated actuals in the second interim were 117.9 million and our actuals unodudited actuals are 116.9 million. So there's a 1 million differential. Is that what you're speaking to? >> I was looking at the estimates from the adopted budget um to the unatted actual. So, um I did not look specifically at the first interim or second interum. Um
157I went all the way back to when we adopted the budget last year. Um and I can't find the page from the report on that piece. So, if you give me one second, I'll let you know where it is. Why don't you let me change my question for a minute and then we can go back to that one. Um, so we spent $16 million in service and other expenditures in the 5000s. Um, could you talk a little bit about what were the largest expenses in those areas, both restricted and unrestricted? Um, and tonight in public comment, we heard a few times of the San Diego example that in the total outgo it looks like we spend a lot more in a percentage compared to them even though there it's the scale is different. So why
158is that happening? Why are we spending more in our total budget compared to for example a place like San Diego? Um, and what are the largest expenditures in those in that area of the budget? >> Okay. Um, so I'll speak to the 5,000s first because there is one obvious reason for that, but to dig deeper, we would need time as a team to dig and look at what was expected in the initial budget and where we landed. Um, so when we plan for our adopted budget, we plan for every position to be filled by a staff member we hire. Okay? And so we plan we put all of that money in our budget in salaries and benefits. So when you see that we for example special education, those services must be provided legally. So if
159we aren't able to hire the staff to fill the positions, we do use contractors in order to fulfill our our obligations not only to our students but the legal mandate of special ed. So what happens with our budget across the interim reports is that we allocate all that money for salaries and benefits and then in the first interim period if we needed contractors and we didn't hire people we shift the money from salaries and we shift it over to the 5000s in order to pay for the contract. it would be irresponsible of us to budget for the contracts in both places because we know we're either going to have a staff member or a contract. So the money for that budget when we find out how many positions we need to contract with that money
160shifts out of the 1000s, 2000s and 3000s and over to the 5000s. For that reason, what we estimated at the budget adoption um looks different from where we land in unudited actuals because in order to fulfill our obligations, we needed to make those shifts. So, we don't start the year anticipating large contracts. Um we try and we make those adjustments along the way during first interim, second interim, and unodudited actuals. >> Thank you. Sorry. And part of that question was the uh can you talk about this comparison of San Diego? Right. So they spend 7% of their total budget in service and other expenditures compared to our combined you know between 20 and 22%. Uh is it due to that factor that we have some large contracts of No. Okay. Please share something. >> Yeah.
161I mean, I'd have to comb through San Diego's budget, but what I'd like to lift up is San Diego's budget is almost $2 billion. So 7% of $2 billion is a lot of money and likely fulfills their needs. Our budget, on the other hand, is not two billion. Our budget is only 500,000. So the cost of doing business is the same whether you have a $2 billion budget or a $500,000 budget. We all have to pay utilities. we all have to pay the costs associated with our our making sure that our buildings are clean and and ready for students. So, I would have to look and dig deeper. But I would say even though they only spent 7%, they spent a large amount because it's 7% of two billion, not 7% of 500,000. >> Okay.
162Thank you. I have more questions if we have another round. >> You're doing great. You're asking all my questions. So, does anybody have anything on this side? >> I have questions. Um, the report in the presentation lists different ADA counts. Can you elaborate? Because on the report it says 23,144 and on your presentation it says 23624. So, which number is correct? Or can you elaborate a little bit more where these numbers are coming from? >> Yes, I'll pitch that one to Jeff. Uh yeah, so the 23,624 is our funded ADA, which is based on a three-year average of our ADA. So we're actually getting funded on a three-year average of ADA, even though our true ADA this year uh was 23,213. So we're getting funded a little higher than what we actually have in ADA
163showing up just based on the new state law of a three-year average of ADA. So, you'll notice if you look at 2223 on that chart on slide five, uh the 3-year average was 25,857, even though our true ADA, even higher than our true enrollment of 25,736. So, uh the further back you go, the the more that benefits us because our three-year average was so much higher prior to COVID. uh over the last four years, our average is now catching up with our our actual ADA or getting close to it. >> Okay, thank you for that. I have one more question. Um you listed that we contribute $92.5 million to special education. Um how is this compared to prior years? Apologies. Um I'm I don't have those figures in my head. I can pull up a
164chart. I'm not sure if Jeff wants to take a >> uh I know last year 23 24 was 82 million. I want to say the last year before that was low70s. Um so it's it's higher. Uh we had an increase in our contribution projected at first interim uh due to staffing vacancies and contracts. um we've carried that on and from estimated actuals to unodudited actuals the sped contribution went up about just under about 187,000. So uh our estimated actuals were pretty close to what the unodudited actuals were. Um but it is a significant increase over the last two years. And I think I just add to that that the cost of educating our neediest students is increasing. Um we've seen a spike in needs and a spike in services since the COVID pandemic. We're working
165very closely with our special education team in order to um identify areas where expenses have grown and ideas and um just examining to see if there is any space to uh shift our staffing matrix in order to um control those those increasing costs a little better. I can provide you with a chart that shows you the last 10 years of contributions uh so that you can compare the amounts as well. I just can't put my hand on it right this moment. >> Are the $92.5 million all coming from unrestricted or is there >> Yes. >> Yeah. The contribution can only come from the unrestricted general fund and it goes directly from the unrestricted budget to special education and it matches exactly the amount that they are short in their budget. Um, and so just to
166put that into perspective, the special education budget is about 24 million a year and we're exceeding 100 million or better. And so 24 million a year is not enough to fund the the special education services for 4,500 students. >> Thank you. Those are all my questions. >> Can you anything? >> So on the fund balance and reserves we have an ending balance of 1.8 8 million unrestricted of 16.5 million restricted 91.9 million fund 17 is equal to 27.9 of the 108.4 how much is truly available for ongoing operations? Uh so for ongoing operations the 3% required reserve of the 16 so of that 108 million 16.5 is for the 3% required reserve we have to keep on hand based on our total expenditures then you have the additional 27.9 million from fund 17 and then
167the remain the remainder of that 108 million is on the restricted side budget. So, uh, certain grants allow us to carry money over yeartoear and, uh, all related to restricted funds. So, it's it's those three main categories, the 3% reserve, the fund 17 fund balance, and the restricted fund balance. Hey, back over here. >> Just a reminder, it's 10:09. >> Thank you. Um, a couple of my questions were asked. So, um, Dr. Moses, um, could you explain how fund 40 works, uh, in comparison to our bond funds? And then why were there so many shifts of funding within that fund last year? I don't recall seeing that before. So, I was wondering if you could explain that for me. >> I'm going to need to gather more information about that. Fund 40 is not one
168of the funds that we've dug deep into. It's primarily managed by uh bond and so we'll have to get with our um with Miss Payne and and Jeff and get those figures to you. >> Thank you very much for that. And then my last question >> sorry >> can I ask um Miss Payne, are you up for a conversation about that or would you like I I know that we talked a little bit about fund 40 earlier today and you were going to gather a little bit more information. Are you ready for a conversation on that? >> Um, I'll share that I'm also hoping that we get to the quarterly report. So, I'd like to second Miss Moses's recommendation that we get together and we provide you much greater detail after the meeting if that's
169okay. >> That's fantastic. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, okay. Well, that teed it up pretty well. So, I'm going to ask my last question. Um, so looking at fund 71, which is for retiree benefits. We don't usually touch that. Um, I saw it has $54 million, but then on the bottom it has a higher amount. Why did we see the increase such large increase last year on that? I thought it was only 40 million from previous estimates. >> I'll pitch that to Jeff. Uh so fund 71 has an ongoing cost for the for the retirey benefits. There is two main accounts in fund 71. One is the uh serp essentially bank account that is holding the funds that we've deposited into. And then there's the fund balance of fund 71 that is anything that
170is contributed more than our expenditures goes into the fund balance and those that fund balance can be either used to send to the ser bank account or remain in the fund balance and used for ongoing annual pay as you go retirey benefits. um it's it's just a combination of those two those two fund balance plus the bank account amount. So we contribute more than we spend then the the amount goes up. Uh the bank account also earns interest every year uh with such a large fund balance and such a large uh bank account was ser uh the interest rates are high or the interest amounts are also high in fund 71. >> Yes. And I'd just like to add that that is the that we're collecting funds now for future debt. So current employees are
171contributing to this account so that within their retirement um we're able to continue to support with our um contractual obligation to contribute to their health care. Um we're constantly analyzing that and um we've been working with the board as well to analyze that to make sure that we're getting um that we have enough in the balance in order to fulfill our future obligation and that we're not um under under or over funding. So we'll continue to examine that for that account with the board. >> Okay. Thank you. That's it. President, thank you. >> Great. Thank you very much. Okay. So, I think we are up to um a a motion to accept the unodudited actual financial statements. >> I move that we approve the unudited actual financial statements for the 2526 school year. >> Oh,
172>> sorry. You're absolutely right. I'm sorry about that. Public is there public comment on the item? Sorry, Mr. Nelson. Do you have public comment? Did you hand in a form? >> Okay, we'll take the public comment in the future. Please hand in a form to speak on the item. Thank you. >> He did. >> Oh, you Oh, he did. He Okay, never mind. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Hang on. Hang on. Put the timer up for you. Thank you. Uh I become I want I would like the public to know and I would like everyone in the board to know that there's a website that is available created by the board some years ago. So wccusd it's a connected string uh soa and it's got information about the budget and any any public member of
173the community can access it. I would like you to promote that. Let people know that they can access this information and ask questions themselves because empowering our students and empowering our our families and empowering our teachers and our community members is our job in my opinion. Uh and I am very happy to learn some of the budget details that I've learned and I think other people would like that too. So I would like that to be made more obvious to people. Uh I also think it's not a good idea for us to all always debate those finances because there is there are some judgment calls that need to be made at the end of the day about what our priorities are. So it's not only about those those dollars and cents, it's also about what
174our values are and we got to make creative. >> Thank you for the public comment. U I'll now go um well I'll now accept a motion on the item to accept the anoded actuals. I like the motion to I like the move to accept the unactual uh unodudited actual financial statements for the 2526 school year. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> My apologies. The way in which the item is posted is incorrect. It's actually the unodudited actuals from the for the 2425 school year. I apologize for the typo. Just want to make sure it's correct on the record. >> I'm sorry. I read it wrong off the agenda. Right. Okay. So, I would like to make a I would like to make a motion to move to I
175would like to make a motion to approve or to accept the unodudited actuals financial statements for the 2425 school year. >> Thank you. Is there a second on the item? I'll go ahead and second it. So, it's Smith Bolson Reckler seconds. Any comments from the board? Okay, we'll go to the vote. Trusty Hernandez. >> No. >> Clerkyana. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gonzalez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Smith folds. >> Smith Falls. Yes. >> Reckler is a yes. Motion carries. Hernandez is a no. The rest are yes. Okay. Moving now to E1 student discipline. So on this one we don't make any >> or President if you want I can just move it. >> I'm sorry. Go. >> I can just move it. Yeah, go ahead. >> I move that we accept the stipulated expulsion case for
176number 252601 seconds. >> Okay. Gonzalez Hoy Smith Folds public comment. Okay. Uh comments from the board. No, I'm going to do that. Uh Trusty Hernandez. >> Sorry. Point of order. What are we voting on? >> It's the student expulsion number one E1. >> Okay. I I couldn't hear you. >> That's okay. >> Oh, so yes. Clerky. >> Yes. >> Trusty Gonzalez. >> Yes. >> Trusty Smith fault. >> Smith. Yes. >> Recy. Yes. Motion passes unanimously. E2. Recommendation for provisional internship permit. >> Good evening board president and trustees. I recommend that we move um recommendation for provisional intern uh permits. Uh the PIP also known is also allows districts to hire individuals who have not yet met the subject matter competence requirements needed to enter into internship programs provided the district has made diligent effort to
177recruit fully credentialed teachers and none were available. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board? Any public comment on the item? >> No public comment. >> I'll accept the motion. President, I move that we accept the provisional internship permits. >> Great. Is there a second? >> I second. >> Okay. So, it's Gonzalez and Hernandez. Um, any further comments from board? None. We'll go to the vote. Trusty Hernandez, >> yes. >> Clerkana, >> yes. >> Trusty Gonzalez, >> yes. >> Trusty Smiths has stepped away. Reckler is a yes. It's four with one absent for the vote. Moving to three, recommendation for variable term waiver. Good evening again. Uh variable term waiverss allows the districts to either one grant applicants more time to complete credential requirements or two to provide district additional time to hire an appropriately
178credential individual and may also apply for while awaiting fingerprint clearance. >> Thank you. Any questions from the board on the item? Any public comment on the item? >> No public comment. >> Thank you. I will accept a motion on the item. >> I move that we accept the variable term waiverss. >> Is there a second on the item? >> Second. >> Moved by Hernandez, second by Trustee Gonzalez Hoy. Um, any further comments on the item? We'll go to the vote. Trusty Hernandez, >> yes. >> Clerkana, >> yes. >> Trusty Gonzalez Hoya, >> yes. >> Trusty Smith Falls. >> Smith Falls, yes. >> And Reckler's a yes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay, we are up to F1, quarterly update for Kennedy High School modernization, Richmond High School, Siege. There's 10 minutes. Do you want to We We
179also have an item C4. for consent. Can you do it justice in five minutes? Okay, challenge accepted. Good evening. So, with no further ado, I'll welcome Miss Mahia Hooper. And I just want to thank everyone for supporting us at some of the recent events as she pulls this presentation up. I think this update really stands as a testament to what we can achieve when we work together with shared purpose and unwavering determination. Good evening everyone. I'm pleased to be here again to give you an update on our uh major bond projects as soon as we share the screen. Um there we go. So this is the quarterly update. Uh STE elementary school has three phases. Phase one is or phase zero is complete. Yay. We completed demolition. We have a cleared site. Uh the design
180is moving forward quickly into um its final stages. We're submitting to DSA very soon. Uh the site plan has developed but the major buildings that were previously shown are still in place. We have our classrooms, our cafeteria, library, admin, TK buildings uh supported by our staff parking lot, playground space for both upper and kindergarten grades and the new dropoff zone off of Cyprus. Uh we continue to meet with uh varying committees uh communities as well as agencies to be able to complete the design. Our community meeting uh was uh a great um event and here are the updated renderings for STEG. This is the front entryway for the um new office space. We also have the multi-purpose room with outdoor dining area that will be adjacent to the amphitheater outside the library. Uh and this
181is Richmond High School. We did major changes at Richmond's High School uh recently. Uh we have many phases. Uh we're currently working on phase 1.1 uh which is supporting the new classroom building in phase 1.2 2 that has been submitted to DSA. So, the design is moving forward in review. Uh to support the construction of that building, we did need to move the main entrance. It is now on the north side. You can still access it through a new visitor parking lot uh off of 23rd Street. However, you do need to drive all the way past the main building to be able to get there. Uh, and the construction zone is now fenced off and um being actively demolished. Uh, here is a a peak at what the um new visitor parking lot looked like
182before and we had the groundbreaking event which was super fun last Saturday. Uh, we did look for the time capsule. We found the location of where the time capsule could have been, but it wasn't there. Uh, unfortunately it was empty. Uh but we were very careful when we were deconstructing the rock. Kennedy High School, we in the last update we covered this a lot. Phase 1.1 um is complete. Uh the building structures have been removed. Phase 1.2 where we're putting in the utilities is what we're currently working on. The construction zone is similar to what it has been over the summer. And this site is cleared and getting ready uh for the new buildings. join the CBOC. You'll hear more. I'll give a a slower presentation uh every month if you need to know about
183it. And please sign up for project newsletters. Uh those will also give more information. Thank you. >> Thank you. Questions from the board. Public comment. Our first public comment is Don Gosny. With all due respect, when you bring up an item at this time of night, might that whatever I have might have had to say in my 60 seconds, I know is not nearly as important to you as get the hell out of here. Go home. Next public comment is Sky Nelson. Okay. Uh, Marie Ana and Michelle Jackson. Good evening to our superintendent and to the wonderful staff here at West Contraosta Unified School District. And to our trustees, for the sake of time, I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you. And if it's in order, I would urge the
184board and the staff to look at that measure R for additional funding for STEGE. Everything is going so well. The community's input and participation is extraordinary and we want to keep this momentum going. So, I just want to say thank you for a job well done and we're in it for the long haul. You've done a wonderful job, Prestige, and we appreciate it. So, good night. >> Thank you. We have one more. >> Oh, one more. Jean Kinster, please unmute yourself. We're done with public comment. >> Thank you. Okay, turning now to the pulled consent item. C5, curriculum associates. Trusty Gonzalez. Hoy, do you want to take that? >> Thank you. I just wanted to pull it so we would vote on it. >> You just wanted to >> I just wanted to vote on
185it separately. Oh, >> okay. Got it. Um, yeah. Okay. All right, let's do that. Okay. Uh, and no questions, comments, nothing. Okay, we'll go to the vote. Trusty Hernandez. >> What was the item again? Sorry. >> It's C5, Curriculum Associates, is consent item that was pulled. >> C5. >> He said C4. The name was right, but it was C5 Curriculum Associates, not C4 Curriculum Associates. >> No. >> Yes. >> Trust Trusty Gonzalez. >> No. >> Trusty Smith faults. Yes. >> And I'm a yes. So we have two three. So the motion passes. I'm going to bring back an item on on that. I'm going to bring back discussion item on that. What we're doing with that. Okay. So the item passes, but we're going to do a we're going to bring it back as a
186discussion item. What we're doing with curriculum. We are up to G comments and future agenda items. Does anybody have anything quick? Thank you for all the celebrations. I'm sorry to miss them. I haven't been here. The pictures are fabulous. Thank you. And we're up to I Oh, H. So, the next meeting is October 8th, 2025 right here in Leavonia Jon Middle School. I adjournment. I'm adjourning at 10:29. And we're out of here. Thank you everybody. Good night.