Board of Education Meeting | June 4, 2025

001Good evening everyone. Let's hold a minute for translation. We're good now. Yes. Okay. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the May 28th meeting of the West Contraosta Unified School District School Board. The meeting is called to order at 5:01 p.m. To access translation in Zoom, click please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen. 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 public comment on close session items. Individuals wishing to speak on close session items listed. If you're here in the auditorium and you haven't already done so, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card, which you can find on the entryway table. And

002if you're participating via Zoom, individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app. If you are accessing the meeting by phone, press star 9. The time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes and the total time allotted is 1 hour. Speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another. There is also no substitution of speakers. We alternate between a Zoom comment and an in-person comment. The public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed civily without interruption or intimidation. Please listen attentively to each speaker's comment and respect their time as if it were your own. Be open to a different point of view if one is offered. Due to the Brown Act, board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually

003respond to items presented in public comment. The items listed on the close session agenda tonight are liability claims. Name withheld. Claim number 655120. agency claimed against West Contraosta Unified School District. Conference with labor and negotiators, public employee appointment, principal, director, superintendent, public employee evaluation, interim superintendent, public employee discipline, dismissal, release complaint, and then we will adjourn back to close session. Is there any public comment on close session items? We have no public comment. Thank you so much. The board will reconvene to open session at 6:30. Thank you. Okay. Good evening everyone and welcome to the open session of the regularly scheduled May oh June I'm sorry we're on June 4th meeting of the West Contraosta Unified School District. The board is returning from close session and I am calling open session to order at 6:35

004p.m. Thank you for your patience. To access translation in Zoom, please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen. And if you're here in the auditorium and 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. And members of the public are invited to speak to the board on any matter that is not otherwise on the agenda. but is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West Contraosta Unified School District. Please prepare now for public comment. If you're here in the auditorium and you'd like to make public comment, please fill out and submit a WCCUSD public comment card. You can find them on the table in the entryway. And if you're participating via Zoom, please raise your

005Zoom hand in the in the app and prior to the beginning of the item on the agenda. If you're 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 1 hour. The time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes. In the meantime, we're going to be moving on to the rest of our opening procedures. B2. Pledge of Allegian of Allegiance. If you're 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

006land, labor and body acknowledgement. We recognize that we are presently on the lands of the Chucheno, Moekma, Karkin, Aloney peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitant 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 during uh 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 B4 West Contraosta Unified School District

007Board anti-racism statement. The West Contracasta District Board of Education is committed to the work of anti-racism, the conscious and active effort to identify, challenge, and correct racial inequities in the systems and institutions within our schools and community. Racism, explicit or implicit, stance and direct conflict to the fundamental principles of WCCUSD education. To carry WCC 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 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

008to develop a strong understanding of how our personal experiences and feelings fit into a larger picture of continual oppression. Each member of our school board individually and collectively is responsible for creating and nurturing an anti-racist learning environment where each student staff member and community partner is respected and valued member of the WCCUSD community. We are uniquely positioned and it 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 and 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 living these standards of

009anti-racism in our schools. Board approved March 20th, 2024. B5 roll call. Dr. Moses, would you please take call roll? Yes. Good evening. President Record. Good evening. I'm present. Clerk Inana. Good evening everyone. Present. Trustee Gonzalez Hoy. Good evening everybody. I'm on Zoom but I'm present. We are unable to hear. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy is joining virtually. He's having issues with the sound at the moment. We'll work it out. Trustee Smith Foss. Good evening everyone present. And Trustee Hernandez is absent today. That concludes the roll call. Thank you. Can we check again? Trusty Gonzalez voice sound. Good evening. Can you hear me? Hold on. We still are not able to hear you, but Trusty Gonzalez Hoy is appearing on a just cause and so the board we're asking you to accept that he is

010appearing just on just cause tonight due to a work engagement. Does anybody object? Seeing none, we'll fix Trusty Gonzalez voice sound and continue. You I'm sorry. Did you say you can hear him? Oh, you can hear him online. Can you hear me now, President? Yes, we got it. Wonderful. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you. Okay, roll call is complete. Thanks again. Okay. B6, report and ratification of close session. Dr. Moses, is there anything to report out of close session? Yes, there is. I just want to apologize as well. I'm having issues with camera so video is off at the moment. Um during close session item number A 23 the vote the board voted to approve the revised job description for director business services state and federal programs. The vote was as followed. Um unanimous

011yeses with trustee Hernandez absent. Also in close session agenda item A23, the board voted to approve the appointment of David Luango as interim director of business services state and federal. The vote was as followed. Unanimous yes vote with trustee Hernandez absent. Same item. The board also voted to approve the appointment of Denise Steen as director of classified employee employees human resources. The vote was also unanimous with trustee Hernandez absent. Also agenda item A25. In closed session, the board took action to approve a settlement agreement with employee ID 12377 to resolve the matter of the dismissal of a permanent classified employee by permitting employee to use sick leave hours for May 2025, placing the employee on paid administrative leave from June 1st, 2025 to September 30th, 2025, and by accepting the employees resignation effective October 1st,

0122025. That concludes the report out. Great. Thank you so much. We're now moving on to B7, which is 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 Contracasta Unified School District. Public comment will last approximately 1 hour. The time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes. Should additional speaker at the conclusion of one hour, public comment may be extended. The time allotted per speaker beyond the first hour is generally one minute. Individuals wishing to speak, please submit a WCCUSD public comment card or if you're participating via Zoom, indiv individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of the item on the agenda. If you

013are calling in by phone, press star 9. Speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another and there is no substitution of speakers. Speakers can also make public comments 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 apply. 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 cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually

014respond to items presented in public comment. Is there any public comment? Our first public comment is Kantika Sasano. Good evening. My name is Kentika Sasono and I'm an algebra teacher at Richmond High. I am disappointed in the budget, specifically the $42 million spent on outside contractors and consultants. In my first year teaching, I worked closely with one of them called Stimulate. Yearning for any way to help my students learn math in my classroom, I eagerly agreed to work with one of their math coaches. Despite several meetings, some outside working hours, I learned nothing and the conditions in my classroom did not improve. I learned the most about the best and effective instructional practices and classroom management from coaches and teachers that know West Contraosta and know Richmond High. These consultants, outside contractors don't. I urge

015you to prioritize Richmond community members in your budget. Thank you. Our next public comment is Maisha Harris Dash. Please unmute yourself. Good evening everybody. Um, so I wasn't able to hang with y'all at the last board meeting because it got really late. So I am going to speak about the classified employees because there was like classified employee week and I really really appreciate our classified employees. So our custodial staff are he our lead custodians is Lance and we have Stan, we have Junior. Um, they are priceless. They are invaluable. Also, I have a evening custodian and when I'm at work just late enough, I see her. I do not know her name, but I do appreciate her and I let her know how much I value and appreciate her time. Um, Miss Alisia who is

016our registar and Miss Evette who is our attendance clerk. I appreciate and I value them because they also give me uh they help me with calling parents because they are bilingual. So, they're very helpful for me um in scheduling IEP meetings. Um, all of our campus security officers, of course, everybody knows that most of our campuses are underst staffed. Um, but these ladies and and mostly gentlemen, they do, you know, their best to to do what they do. So, I really really appreciate and value them as well. Um, one of my student is is on the autism spectrum and she has a onetoone aid. Um, she is wonderful. I can't get her to be a district employee. However, she is just wonderful. My student has blossomed and grown. Um, she speaks, she volunteers, um, she

017goes to rallies now, even she has her headphones on. I mean, it is just been amazing to see the growth of my student um, since um, she's had Miss Eileene this year. Hopefully, we can get her back next year. Hint hint. Um, and Miss Dixon. Now, I told Miss Dixon, she say she retiring, but I said, "I'm not going to believe you retiring until I come back to work in August and you are not in the office." Um, but just I want to say, you know, congratulations to Miss Dixon. She's been in the district for over I think 35 years. And I just appreciate all of our classified employees. Everybody have a wonderful blessed night. Our next public comment is Sam Clear. Hi, my name is Sam Clear and I'm a third grade teacher on

018release at Siege Elementary in the organizing chair for United Teachers of Richmond. My eight years in WCC have been filled with feelings of grief and frustration. I grieve for the students and families in WCCCD. Students deserve to go to their community schools without experiencing the this blatant level of disrespect. However, they enter classrooms with a revolving door of adults and get stashed in cafeterias and libraries. I grieve for the teachers that come to this district. They come here loving their jobs and the children and leave feeling completely depleted. Teachers get stripped of resources every year while classrooms continue to overflow with students. My frustration follows my grief. While budget deficits and the teacher shortage are blamed, other nearby districts do not face this severe level of dysfunction. Students, families, and teachers can avoid this agony

019and thrive with support, respect, and attention. This anti- student, anti-educator budget continues to fuel my grief and frustration. Students and families deserve better. Thank you. Our next public comment is Karen Armstead. Please unmute yourself. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. Uh my name is Karen Armstead. I teach sped at Kennedy High where I am an 8-year veteran. I am speaking up regarding the proposed hire of acting superintendent Kim Moses as head of the citizens bond oversight committee. Um, indulge me in some time travel. Last February 14, which was a Friday, we at Kennedy had heard we would receive a notice in our mailbox that morning if we were assured of rehire next year. Many competent and dedicated teachers who performed functions vital on campus didn't receive notices. The Valentine's Day Massacre, as

020we called it, um touched off an agonizing month of limbo that badly destabilized our campus community. It resulted because Kim Moses is acting superintendent and people at her direction uh was acting on a discredited budget forecast. Our jobs are hard enough. We should not suffer because of bad information inly communicated. Uh as far as I can see, Kim Moses has no place uh in charge of public funds. I urge the board to vote no on her hire. Thank you. Our next public comment is Chris McClennon. My name is Chris McClean and I teach sixth grade DLI at Dover. I've been working in the district for 9 years now as a teacher and some Dover families actually came to support us because I reached out and they know the gravity of what's happening. Our school is

021very successful in terms of family engagement, academic success, and student leadership. And this is uh in spite of what the district is doing to us, not because of it. I know what it's like to teach with 30 students in a classroom. I've done that before. It is super difficult to give every single student the care and attention they they need when there's 30 kids in a class. I heard that it's proposed to have 32 students in a class. That would make it even much more difficult. I could barely physically fit 30 kids in my classroom. I don't know how I'm going to do 32 kids to fit in a classroom, walk around, have flexible seating and all that. The the school district, the school board should not treat schools, families, students like a business. We

022are not a business. This is a service. We are providing an education. We are providing them with the tools they need to succeed. We should not be cutting any programs. We should not make classrooms more difficult. We should not make any of our working conditions more difficult than they need to be. We should be giving all the support. Make it as easy possible for us teachers to do our job, for schools to do their jobs, and for students to be successful in life. So instead of treating the school district, students and schools like a business, treat us like who we are, people, and we deserve service. Thank you. Our next public comment is Andrea Livinghouse. Please unmute yourself. Good evening. I'm Andrea Livinghouse, speech language pathologist in West Contraosta. As we are closing out the

023school year, I'd like to take this time to uplift the mission statements outlined in the district's LCAP and ask the board as they proceed through the next few meetings of the school year to make decisions that will enable the district to make good on their promises listed in the LCAP. I'm looking forward to welcoming our new superintendent in the fall. Since I began working in West Contraostasa in 2017, I've heard a lot of claims from the district about striving for equity and championing anti-racism, but I've yet to see them fulfill these claims. The root of these failures is severe understaffing caused by inadequate compensation for classified and certificated staff. With each passing year, it still feels as though students and educators are the lowest on the district's list of priorities. I'm hopeful that the new

024superintendent will enable us to make progress on fully staffing our schools and ensuring student and educator safety. I'd also like to talk about the district radio station KECG. It's disappointing that the district is being dishonest about why it's been off air since February. Since your claim is that it cannot be run on Elsa High's generators, how come it hasn't been moved to another site? It's a shame that the radio students had this abruptly stolen from them mid year. I hope that the board can end the year on a positive note and give students and educators the assurance that our schools will be adequately funded and that we have the resources we need to provide students with the quality education they deserve. Thank you. Our next public comment is Kim Chamberlain. Sorry, I couldn't hear. Hi,

025I'm Kimberly Chamberlain, if local 21 SSA chapter president. We have one week. Isn't that exciting? All of our students have been very successful this year. I am grateful for all of their work. I'm also grateful that they're attending school. We would not be who we are, staff, parents, community, board, cabinet, without them. Students, I know there's some of you out there. I know there's some of you in the room tonight. Thank you for attending our schools. Keep coming back. We're trying to achieve what we can. You have hardworking teachers. You have hardworking clerical staff, custodial staff. Your parents are very proud of you. Sometimes it's hard for us as parents to show it without being a little stern, but we are very proud of you. That's your job. Please continue it. You are important to

026all of us and I appreciate you coming to school every day. It makes everything I do, no matter what, worth it. Thank you. Our next public comment is Jean. Please unmute yourself. Please unmute yourself. The hand went down. Next public comment is Christina Werta. Good evening everyone. My name is Christina Werta and I'm a Spanish teacher at Kennedy High School. I'm here tonight to ask the board to reject the budget presented tonight. This budget is anti- studentent. It is unacceptable that this district is refusing to invest in creating safe and stable teaching environments. The budget needs to be rewritten in order to ensure that this district can attract qualified teachers and our students do not have to deal with vacancy after vacancy. What is going What is it going to take to stop spending on

027contractors? Why did WCCUSD decide to spend an additional $42 million on contractors, but teachers like me are constantly spending money out of our own pocket in order to have creative creative and engaging lessons? Why did WCCUSD spend an extra $42 million on contractors, but students are learning that their support programs are being cut? I'll give you an example. Kennedy High School has a pretty successful AP Spanish program with a passing rate for the AP exam higher than the California average. But we Yes. Yes, that is. And I am very proud of those students. But we have to fight as teachers every year to keep our AP classes open. There are only two language teachers at Kennedy and between the two of us, we have to teach between six to eight different preps. So suddenly AP

028classes are not a priority, especially if we're unable to fill them to what the district considers is an adequate number of students. But I remember a time when we used to have four language teachers at Kennedy and we used to offer two different languages and we didn't have to fight to keep successful advanced classes that empower our students to pass the AP exam and earn college credit. Maybe WCCUSD can actually, you know, try to put their students first and present the budget that allows programs to grow at our sites. The first step is to rewrite the budget that is being presented tonight. Thank you. Our next public comment is Ash Abbot. I don't need a microphone because I am a teacher. I hope you're annoyed. I'm ready to bug you. So, all right. I'm worried.

029I'm worried. Go ahead and raise your hand. Did someone help you learn how to read? Raise your hand. Anybody help you learn how to read? Awesome. Did anyone help you learn how to add and subtract this? Oh, I've noticed that no one on this side has learned how to add or subtract. I'm also worried about our literacy skills on this side of the aisle because we have a lot of wonderful readers over here. So, if you're struggling with reading, let me help you read. We are tired teachers. We are spending money. I had to get a babysitter to come and bug you all. These students need educators that are paid a living wage. They need educators that are ready to serve students. When you approve eight periods but don't make space for enough UTR members,

030what you're saying is you guys just need long-term subs. Now, I am grateful for the magic that those people can do, but it is not the same type of relationships that you can build over years after years, sibling after sibling, cousin after cousin. Kennedy is a small school. If I don't know your name, I know your sister, I know your brother, I know your ex. All right? I love teaching at this school. And what you are telling our kids is that they don't need to learn that they don't need to learn how to add and subtract. Your inability to do basic math skills is communicating that they are not precious and valuable. And I am so excited to yell at people when they are adults and they don't know how to do math. When it

031is my kiddos, I am so excited to do jokes. But guess what? Long-term subs don't always know how to manage hard classrooms. Please bring in longterm teachers with actual living wages. Thanks for the jokes. Our next public comment is Gabrielle Michelini. I want you to know the community is watching and despite what you seem to think, judging by your actions, they're not fooled by the gaslighting and deceit. You can talk in circles, say a lot of words that might sound smooth together or official when people ask questions, but that doesn't stop us from noticing you don't actually address the questions that are asked. It is blatantly obvious that what is said are simply words. You claim in public that we need to work together, yet in private cut off all communication to ensure that everyone

032is operating on their own little island without support. It is clear that WCCUSD leadership is not here for the students. If you're unwilling to invest in educators and the other crucial staff that work directly with students, then you are unwilling to invest in students. We're bringing in leadership that is paid competitively while our educators fall further and further behind. You receive all the same resources from the state as our surrounding districts, but year after year say you can't make it work. Meanwhile, you're spending over 150% of what other unified districts spend on outside services while skimping on educators. Yet you have the audacity to state that it is the educators working far beyond their contract in order to fill in the gaps your leadership is creating who are going to lead this district to the

033ruin you claim is always three years away. You keep saying we need to get students to come to school, raise our ADA, solve our structural deficit. Yet you sit here and cut programs, cut supports, and expect students to show up to school to classrooms with no teachers. Would you really accept that status quo for your own children or children you care about? It's time for district leadership to take responsibility and stop pointing fingers everywhere else. It's time that you create a budget that prioritizes students and know that we will never stop fighting for the schools our students deserve. Our next public comment is Michelle Schultz. My name is Michelle Schultz and I'm a teacher at Hannah Ranch. I've been in this district since 2003 and I am so tired of the dysfunction. It does not

034seem to matter who the board is or who the superintendent is. It is dysfunction and cuts always seem to come from the people on the front line. And I have come to the conclusion that it is all about values because what you do, what you propose shows what you value. You talk about wanting equity on your web page. You talk about raising test scores. You know what? Test scores are lousy because test scores are not appropriate in the elementary grade. But that's a whole different argument. Right now, I see my students learning because I have to work with them one- on-one after school on my own time. Where are the people? How are you getting people into this district? Because what I see are my staff. I have somebody who's on medical. Her children are

035on medical. I have a student, sorry, a teacher who is living outside this area and commuting because she can't afford it. These are awesome teachers. I get an email saying, "Oh, thank you for teacher appreciation day." But they can't live in this district. That's a value. You are showing your values by your actions. Our next public comment is Jeffrey Bean Jr. Good evening. Thank you for taking the time to hear me tonight. I'm Jeffrey Bean. I teach uh fifth grade at Shannon Elementary. This is the end of my 10th year there. Um I want to talk about two things tonight. First, I want to urge the school board to direct the district staff to negotiate fairly with our union. Um I've been to several uh negotiations meetings and I've been disappointed to see what the

036district has offered. Um there was a small salary increase offered which was confusing and hard to understand. There was a increase in compensation for uh medical expenses from 80% Kaiser rates to 85% which is very little. And then surprisingly I heard that this last week the district offered to increase upper elementary class size from 30 to 32. Over the last 10 years, we've reduced it from 33 my first year in Shannon down to 30, which is a small small decrease. And I find it ironic that tonight's uh LCAP documents state that class size reduction is one of your priorities. I don't see how that works if you're actually proposing a decrease an increase in class size. Um I've had 33 students in my classroom. I've had 27. There is a big difference. It allows me

037more time to reach every student. And the reason students stay in our district is because they have teachers and other staff members who know and care about them. And if I have 27 students, each student has that much more time. Um, finally, I'll take my last 26 seconds to address the overesting issue in our district. Um, my fifth graders get the brunt of it since they are in fifth grade and are subject to many state tests. Um, I know that the district doesn't have control over over ESBACK and the CASP, but you do have control over I Ready. And the fact that we spend weeks of educational time at the end of the school year when students are already burned out from CASP is unfortunately wrong. So, please change that for next year. Thank you

038for your time. Have a good night. Our next public comment is Francisco Ortiz. Good evening, trustees. Tonight, I speak to you not just as president of United Teachers of Richmond, but as a parent. My son is entering transitional kindergarten this fall. He has a speech IEP, and for the first time, I'm not just advocating for someone else's child. I'm handing my own over to our system. For over 10 years, I fought alongside educators, students, and families to push WCCUSD towards justice, toward equity, toward joy, toward the schools our kids deserve. And still, I find myself coming back to a question that I heard our community partners ask with raw honesty. Does the district hate kids? And more hauntingly, to what extent does the district hate kids? It's not a rhetorical question. It's a cry from

039families who see their children underserved, unsupported, and unseen. It's a gut check for a system that, despite all its equity plans and mission statements, continues to invest in contracts, not classrooms, in bureaucracy, not belonging. Tonight, you will hear two presentations, one on the district's proposed budget and one on the LCAP. And if you listen and watch closely, you'll hear and see two conflicting stories. The LCAP speaks of equity, student voice, support for multilingual learners and students with disabilities. But the budget, the budget speaks a different language. It's a language of austerity, of cuts, of increasing class sizes, of declining investment in the very stuff our children rely on. It's a budget that prioritize reserves over reading or reserves over reading, contracts over counselors, and convenience over child dignity. So I ask you, not as the

040union leader, but as a father, is this the best we can give my son? Is this the welcome we give all TK families, is this the legacy you want to leave? I will continue to fight alongside our educators in our community until every child in West Contraosta receives the education they deserve because I believe we can do better and we must do better. Please align your values with their dollars. Align your heart. Our next public comment is Don Gosny. Good evening. Let's have one of those one-sided conversations about communication. That is the ability of the public and committee members to be able to communicate with you all. Five of you are the chosen ones elected by we the people to represent us. But how can you speak for us when you rarely speak with us?

041And then there are senior staff members all the way down to school principles who technically all work for us, we the people. The problem we have is that is so very difficult to communicate with almost all of you. Maybe it's because I've been working with and sometimes against board members and staff for 57 years now. Or maybe it's because the community knows that I try my best to stay involved, either attending meetings or serving on committees. The bottom line is that I seem to be the go-to guy for a lot of people who are frustrated that they just can't seem to get a hold of any of you where they can get answers to their questions or even just a vent. Emails, texts, and phone messages seem to be ignored. Even letters and public records

042requests seem to fall into the district's black hole where it's as if those communicates were never sent. They reach out to me because I pick up the phone. I acknowledge and respond to emails and I try my best to get answers for them. Some of the more p more popular responses I get when I do reach out is, "Oh, I'm busy, but I'll get back to you." "Oh, I'm sending this to Miss Jones and she can get back to you." Except no one ever gets back to me. I probably have a half dozen public records requests where I never even got an acknowledgement that they were received. Of course, you all know that you only have a week and a half before by law you have to respond. At least one of those I've been

043waiting for for nearly five years for a response that was information for a story that would make the district look really good. I will I will sometimes make a public very simple inquiry but with no response. I'm compelled to submit a public records request. Now this simple request become a monumentally timeconuming and expensive endeavor except of course when you just ignore it. As you take money out of your classrooms for your parcel tax survey. If you were to listen to the responses, you would hear that there is no way they will support another tax when they don't trust the people elected or hired to represent them. And with communication comes trust. Thank you. Our next public comment is Mark Mitchell. Good evening, uh, Dr. Moses, President Reckler, and board. I wanted to congratulate the board

044on its vote regarding the RCA, um, non-renewal of their charter. That was a, uh, the correct and just decision for students in our community. Unfortunately, um the the the charter of course has appealed up to the county board of education and Superintendent Lynn Mackey and her staff have recommended that the charter uh renewal be approved. Um they're doing so in a very improper uh uh basis. They're they're not considering the financial misfeasance that was the the heart of your decision not to renew the charter. and they're saying that the um modest uh academic gains that were claimed by the charter are sufficient to renew the charter to recommend that the board renew the charter. I want to ask that uh President Reckler, Dr. Moses, and each of our board members that participated in that decision.

045It's really important for you to reach out and speak personally or, you know, reach out and email or however you find most effective to the county board of education members because they are not hearing the same information that you received about the very concerning track record of this charter management organization. And just like you voted to not renew um the AMPs charter uh for RCA, Oakland Unified also uh recommended, you know, revoked their charter in Oakland. The Alama County Board of Education sustained that revocation. And now we just heard this week the C the California Board of Education has issued a letter of concern for John Henry, which is another AMP school here in Richmond. Um, so we've got, you know, the potential to do what's right for students, for the community, and for our

046district. But we're going to need each of you that believe in this, um, uh, to reach out and speak to those board members, and also to ask Superintendent Mackey to call her staff back and redo the the staff recommendation. It's not based in the law. Thank you. Our next public comment is Sky Nelson. Good evening board. My name is Sky Nelson, teacher and parent. I'm thinking ahead to the upcoming election when we vote on renewal of measure T for which we need everybody to come together on the same page. This week, the the United Teachers of Richmond told its members that the district overran their budget for contractors by $42 million and we spent 50% more on than other districts in the state on such costs which don't directly benefit students. This makes me not

047understand what the story is. Not only the union, but the whole community needs you to explain this data from your perspective so we can align with you and and go for this tax. I can't get it out of my head that your explanations are not to be trusted. Why is that? For instance, I received an auto phone message saying, "Richmond, Elserto, Pinnol, these schools are closing for the summer. Please check your email to read the full update." So, I did. Although the phone message was directed at all families, my email was targeted only at my school. So, I'm implicitly being separated from engagement with the whole district. Why? I learned that my school closure is due to the power outage this spring. Okay, that's reasonable. But then why are the other schools being closed? I

048have no idea. I'm sure I could look into it and find a good explanation, but the way the information is divvied up and parsed out seems to always serve some kind of messaging or propaganda. I don't trust what's going on. I want to The continued impact of limiting information, encouraging disengagement across the district leaves a nagging question in my head and probably many voters heads, too. Is this the whole story? Is there some other underlying motivation? So, what am I supposed to do? vote for more funding. I'm on your side, but I'm telling you this is not going to work. We need people on our side. It's simple. Take the time to understand the questions being posed to you, understand the underlying concern, and communicate clearly and completely. 42 million in contractors overruns. How does

049this fit with your perspective? Please explain. Our next public comment is Kumi Yanagihara. Hello, my name is Kumana Gihara. I'm a fourth year science teacher at Kennedy, but I am also a first year master of public health student at UC Berkeley. And thank you. And right now I am in a summer class called health policy and policy and management. And in that class we are learning about budgeting in healthcare. And one thing I'm taking away uh so far from this class is that a budget reveals the priorities of a system. This proposed budget shows the priorities of our school district. And by taking a look, we can see that this district prioritizes paying contractors and consultants as proved by the fact that we spend 1.5 times more on contractors than other districts. We can see

050that this district doesn't prioritize teacher retention as evidenced by the decreased allocation for teacher salary despite currently being in negotiations for a new contract in which we are fighting for fair competitive salaries. We can also see that this district doesn't prioritize supporting our growing newcomer population. This budget should cover full support of the various newcomermies we have in this district, but it doesn't. So ELMA which is the English language or sorry English learner multilingual achievement department is left to scramble for grants to fund our small class sizes and teacher collaboration periods. This leaves ourmies, our students educations and teacher jobs vulnerable and volatile. I felt this personally a few weeks ago when I learned that out of the four newcomer positions at Kennedy, Elma could only secure funding for three. And it was my position

051that was cut. That's 75 students who next year will have one less class during their day that supports not just content acquisition but also language acquisition. This is unacceptable. This is shameful and this is unjust. Remember a budget reveals a systems priorities. What does West Contraosta prioritize? Thank you. Our next public comment is Priscilla Laauo. Please unmute yourself. Priscilla Lao, please unmute yourself. Sorry, I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you. I'm a parent of a TK student in the district. I'm also a speech language pathologist in this district and I have so many questions for our district leaders and board members. Why doesn't the district value our students? Why hasn't the district been working to attract more educators and retain our current educators so that we can have fully staffed schools?

052Why doesn't the district seem to want to help our students succeed? Why doesn't the district make any steps towards helping educator working conditions become more tenable so that we can actually support our students adequately? Why does the district prioritize their financial reserves instead of students? Why does the district want to increase class sizes, leading to teachers having less time to support their students? Why does the district spend so much on outside contractors instead of educators who work directly with our students? Our kids matter. Their education matters. Our educators working conditions matter because their working conditions are our students learning conditions. Please rep prioritize. Thank you. Our next public comment is Giorgio Constantino. Hi uh members of the board, uh Georgia Costatino, Hercules parent, former uh Richmond High teacher, current public health microbiologist. Uh let's see.

053One item that came to my attention today uh in Hercules is the uh the elementary schools uh in terms of the enrollment process. Uh some parents are being told even though they uh enrolled on time that they have to wait until the first week of school next year before they know which school their uh which elementary school their child would be placed in. And that has all kinds of um problems for these parents uh you know because they have to make other plans based on um you what school their child ends up in. So I was just wondering is there a better process that instead of waiting until the first week? I'd like you to take a closer look at that. Uh number two, I'm asking you to be patient with me as I make

054multiple public records requests. Uh and it's all geared towards helping students with disabilities. My focus is on uh students with intellectual disabilities. Uh um I myself I have ADHD and also uh central auditory processing disorder and I know what it's like to be on that journey. So now I am trying to help students uh and also adults uh you know on this journey and so that means taking a closer look at not not just what's happening in our schools but also the credential program itself. Okay. Okay, I want to find out what's going on with u what what are the how are the teachers being prepared that are coming through that credential program the program I went through uh almost 25 years ago when I ended up in the classroom I was not prepared to

055help students who had such challenges okay remember this not every student who has a disability has been diagnosed yet they're in the classroom and I think we have so many students falling through the cracks but this is a society issue So, don't take it personal when I make my public records request. I want to help. I'm ready to chip in. Okay. Thank you. Our next public comment is Sam T. Please unmute yourself. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi folks, my name is Samantha Torres. I'm glad I got a chance to talk to you again. Last week I waited five hours to be able to make public comment. Um, I am seeing a common thread here and I know that in the scope of everything going on with our kids and our schools,

056this may seem minimal, but this really does tie into public trust and the trust of our leaders using our tax dollars to the best of their abilities. Um, I am referring to the field access issues for the public. The public is asking to use the Kennedy High School field. I have spoken about this several times and I am referring specifically to the Richmond United Soccer Club uh who had historical access at this facility for decades and yet has been limited to only seven hours of use despite having applied earlier than the Albany Berkeley soccer group that you've been approving to use this field that didn't care about using this field until it was remodeled. So I ask you, does the residency of one or two adults who happen to live in our district override the

057thousands of kids that live in Richmond, that live in WCC USD and have relied on Kennedy Field for Youth Support because that's what it's been for the last year and a half that this district has decided that one or two adults uh as residents can override the needs of the community and the children that we serve. So, I know there's a governance meeting coming up. I am looking forward to participating and helping as much as I can. My concern though is that even if governance is changed, even if policies are changed, how can we ensure that you're going to enforce them if you're not enforcing current policies? Thank you for your time. And our last public comment is Tanetta Rockmore Thompson. Please unmute yourself. Hi. Um, this is Tanetta Thompson. I have a son at

058Elserto High School. Um, just to let you all know and the board and community know that our track team, our boys 4 by one last week at NCS broke a 44 year old record. No district recognition, no recognition from our own school, including the principal, no recognition from the district ad. This past Saturday in Clovis, California, our team placed second in the state championships in the 4 by 100 and there was no notice to the community. Nothing was said. Also, I want to bring up that last week you all violated the Brown Act by continuously uh taking close session to close down these four schools. And really, you don't care about the students. You guys never have. I have five outstanding public records requests and those have never and not even been complied with. Your

059reasoning for incompliance is because you said that there are thousands of emails when I've gotten specific records from NCS which shows your district staff violating FURPA and asking for football records. Okay. asking for the addresses which you all now created a form for me to sign so I can advocate for my uh football parents and my parents that have been vi their rights have been violated. You want them to sign a form. All of my community, all my parents, all my teachers ask for public business days and they have to comply violating the public record act, the Brown Act and FURPA continuously and are harming our students. and Title 9. The Title N violations are horrendously at Elserto and your Title N coordinator does not know how to conduct an investigation. Again, you guys are

060not in client with anything and you guys are harming not only these students. That concludes public comment. I'm sorry you said that. That concludes public comment. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you to everyone who gave public comment. We're moving now to number eight, standing reports. And I believe we have reports from AfricanAmerican Student Advisory Team ASAT. Sorry about that. Uh CBOC, the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, and UTR United Teachers of Richmond. Are there any are there any others? That's it. Okay. And is ASAP here or online? Okay, great. Thank you. She's online. Miss Alain Harrison, please unmute yourself. Yes. Can you guys hear me? Yes, we can. Oh, thank you. Good evening, board. Thank you. It's been a wild year. Thank you so much for um you all service. Um we are still dealing

061with a lot of challenges. We know the district has made some efforts to address um the the racial disparities that's going on in our district with our students still being called the n-word, with our students still in the red and the indicators and with still not good communication with our OASA office. Um be with all that being said, we would like to meet with the superintendent and the board president and um make some efforts to start off with a better year next year with clear communication with clear planning for our black and African-American students with some input on how the programs and services that are going to be selected for our children to change the data in our district will be uh disseminated and not just at a few schools cuz this is a district-wide

062problem that we face here with our data. We want to ensure that all children are being educated in our district and receiving the right services. We have had a lot of barriers this year and last year and the year before with uh parents attending trainings, parents having access to the budget um that's on the in the Apex and the ASATs. School sites have had struggles with principles not doing the Apex or needing support to start the Apex. There's been a few bright spots where the apex have been started and there has been some engagement but for the uh broader community of our school district that's not been happening and we really need the board to support the district staff and seeing what what are the barriers of for that not happening. We don't want parents

063to get discouraged when they plan events and try attempt to coordinate with principles and site staff and then nothing happens. parents volunteer their time away from things that are important to them to participate in attempting to do do parent engagement at their school sites and it's been a lot of barriers. I just need you all to understand that you all have done this a lot pushing parents out the room that's been your mo but that we see the data doesn't change. I think a different approach is with bringing parents more into how you guys are planning things would be a better solution than to exclude parents. I've been told and some other parents have been told by district staff, we don't work with the parents. That's not okay. These are not you all's children. These

064are our children. If you guys could do better, you would. The data shows our children are failing horribly in this district. And that's why y'all data, the state's data. So I feel parent involvement and engagement can help with this area, all areas of our children's academic and it also builds trust for parents to know that we have educators who really want to look at the whole child and not just assume that they have all the answers because you go to college and get a degree in education. That's one part of it. really learning the job and knowing how to navigate and educate all kids is another part of it. And I really would like to see some difference in the district when you're communicating with parents and how you communicate with parents. Getting us information

065in a timely manner, allowing us to participate, building a year schedule of activities that we know is going to happen with a budget, a allocated budget with those activities. And we also want to know any uh monies from site and district that wasn't spent that was identified for black and African-American children for their events to be reallocated to those children and not to go back to general funds. Harm enough harm has been done to our children in this district. They need those resources and some more resources. Thank you. I'm complete. Next we have uh CBLC As reported before, one of the biggest problems the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee has faced is our inability to review the bond program financial reports in a timely fashion. It's not that the district has been withholding these reports. They

066just didn't have the manpower needed to process them in the limited time available. For instance, if the first day of the month is on a weekend, which is the earliest that the financial reports can be processed, the normal CBOC meeting day would be the second Monday of the month, just 8 days after that weekend. And here's the kicker, though. I need those reports by the end of business on Wednesday so I can complete the agenda packet. That's only 3 days to process all of this data. As we might hope, staff will not give us financial reports that have not been confirmed as being accurate. If there's even a simple error, the report has to be redone. One solution to this problem, a solution that will be considered at our next CBOC meeting on the 16th,

067will be to change our normal meeting night from the 2nd to the third Monday of the month. This will guarantee the staff will have an additional week. I can't speak for the CBOC on this, but I'm optimistic we'll find a solution to this problem. And if you're been listening to us the past 5 years, filling the allotted seats on the CBOC has been very difficult. Even if you approve of our newest applicant, which is on your consent calendar tonight, we'll still be three members short of the 11 allowed. We have one application being processed right now. I spoke with another applicant this morning that should be submitting their application in a day or two, and I have a third that is promising. We can still use some help, though, so anyone that might want to

068serve on this important committee can find an application on the CBOC website, which is a subsite of the district's website. In the lower left corner, you'll find links where you'll find an application. I also encourage anyone wanting to step up to call me at 510-69 or 685243 or email me at [email protected]. This contact information is also on our website. We're going to amp up our efforts with the first with the five city councils and those city uh city managers with the two county supervisors covering the eight unincorporated parts of West County so we can get the word out. We're going to utilize the numerous social media sites available to us which include Facebook and Next Door. We're going to reach out to the four online newspapers here in Richmond. I own one of them as

069well as the two patch newspapers covering Hercules Benol as well as El Crito. We'll reach out to Rotary and Kowanas clubs, the PTSAs. We might even stand on a few select street corners and yell at passing cars letting them know about the great opportunities awaiting them on the CBOC. I used to suggest smoke signals, but the sequel requirements are just too burdensome. We used to have a quarterly newsletter bailed out to every home in West County singing the praises of the bond program. It was called the reporter. Alas, it was shut down when the district needed money for more consultants. The primary function of the CBOC is to oversee the bond program's finances. Our job is to collectively look over the shoulder of the elected board members, the ones who make the decisions about where

070the money goes, and district staff, the ones who actually spend the money. Of critical importance, of course, is to make sure that the money is being spent properly and the terms of the ballot measures are adhered to. Of even greater importance, though, is ensuring that the public has faith in the board that in district staff and in the CBOC that are actually representatives of the people. Just as with the board and staff, if the public has no faith in their representatives on the CBOC, we're of little value to them. Whatever faith the public had in the CBOC waned a few years back when the size of the CBOC became so small that they simply could not do their jobs. Adding to that, communication between the CBOC and the public was barely existent. We're working to

071change that. To aid us with this effort, the district's director of communications, Michelle Forest, will be our featured guest at our next meeting, where we will discuss our desires and needs, as well as hearing what she can do to help us. We've met with her at a couple of joint meetings, but those meetings are not really designed for real discussions. They're more in the line of hearing reports. I fully expect this meeting to be very productive. We invite board members, staff members, and members of the public to join us so they can weigh in and hear what needs to be done and what can be done. I believe we just heard a public comment about some of the difficulties with communicating with staff and the board. Okay, if you've heard if we if you heard

072that a problem exist twice within a few minutes, even if it's coming from the same person, maybe it's something to listen to. Even though it's not as sexy as going over financial reports and hearing about the projects, the CBOC has several very important housekeeping projects we're working on. bylaws. About 15 years back, I drafted the first set of bylaws. And even though we have a board policy governing the broadstrokes overseeing the CBOC, we need a set of bylaws to govern the day-to-day business. We we can't discern what happened, but after I turned out about a dozen years back, the CBOC bylaws just got themselves changed. There's no record of the CBOC acting to amend them. They just miraculously changed all by themselves. Bylaws are a fluid set of rules that need to be updated and

073amended as necessary. The process of a amending may maybe a hundred different sections would take several many months of CBOC meetings devoted solely to this task. A much Thank you. And our final standing report is from Utr United Teachers of Richmond. Good evening again board and community. For the first time in seven months, intern superintendent Dr. Moses sat in the same room with UTR leadership. It wasn't here at this board meeting or any other board meeting, but it was at the final bargaining session of the year. We couldn't get any semblance of meaningful financial explanation from our interim SIBO after months of negotiations. So perhaps we could expect more clarity and solutions from our interim superintendent. We didn't get solutions. We got a 40-minute lecture. We were told that West Contraosta Unified School District cannot

074prioritize student success. That the district cannot ensure school stability. That the district cannot afford to value educators who show up for students every single day. We were told that the status quo is the only option. Let me say this plainly. Our students deserve the best. The status quo is not what's best for students. The status quo is what's driving educators out of this district. And the status quo is a choice. A choice that this district keeps on making. At that same bargaining session, we were told that if we quote work together, we can find common solutions. But what management means by working together is really accept less. It means bending the need to a system that underfunds classrooms while inflating central office contracts and handing out consulting deals like candy. WCCUSD leadership offered us $600,000

075across 1,500 UTR represented educators. Let's put that into perspective. That's roughly the same amount this district is spending on two superintendent contracts for two people, two administrators, one workforce of 1500 educators. Same budget investment. What message does that send? We were also told that WCCCUSD intends to increase class sizes in elementary school. Increase them while teacher vacancies are at crisis levels while our most vulnerable students struggle without consistent support. And if you look at the patterns, we can see that for four straight years, our district has failed to meet the statemandated minimum requirement for classroom compensation. We spend one and a half more times on consultants than nearby districts. We rank near the bottom in teacher pay, even compared to districts with fewer resources. So, let's be honest, this isn't about resources or money. This

076is about priorities. Neighboring districts with identical funding formulas who have similar working-class communities have made different choices. They've chosen to invest in classrooms. They've chosen to respect their educators. And they've chosen stability. Our district chooses chaos. And now for the second time in three years, UTR educators will start the school year without a contract. That's not just a bargaining failure, it's a failure of governance. You, our elected board, must ask yourselves, are you setting up the next superintendent for success or failure. Are you willing to continue down this path of delay, denial, and deception? Or will you demand a budget that centers students and stabilizes our workforce? Because while the district dithers, UTR is organizing. We're building sight by sight, zone by zone, and we are ready to escalate. This fight is not just about

077wages. It's about whether this district has the moral will to become what our students deserve. We do. UTR has a plan. We have the data. We have the people. And we have the power. We will not wait another seven months. We will not settle for crumbs from a table that we have built and we will not stop until we win the schools our students deserve. Boy, I got another minute. Cool. Um, also please remember that the medical billing um could also be done through the if you or the medical billing could be done through that counseling um effort that was uh previously headed by superintendent or associate superintendent Summer Sigler. Um, we also need that mental health grant um that job description to be um uh approved by the board. And um that's all for

078today. So we'll see you in the fall. Take care everyone. Thank you to everybody who gave standing reports. We're now moving on to number nine. Resolution number 2425-92. LGBTQ plus Pride Month 2025. Miss Forest, I believe that's your item. Yes. Thank you. And good evening. Uh, now therefore be it resolved that the West Contraosta Unified School District Board of Education declares the month of June as Pride Month and encourages schools to fly the Pride flag from June 1st, 2025 to July 1, 2025. And be it further resolved that the West Contraosta Unified School District Board of Education directs the superintendent and all district staff to support lessons and activities that engage students in meaningful learning, research, and writing about our LGBTQ plus students and families. Thank you so much. Is there any public comment on

079this item? We have no public comment. Great. Thank you. Are there any board questions on the item? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve. President Reckler, I did have a change I wanted to propose. Great. Thank you. Go right ahead. Thank you so much. Um, I did want to change the word encourages schools to fly to directs schools to fly, the pride flag in the resolution to our schools. Does anybody have an issue with that? Okay. So, we'll Are you making a motion with with Yes. Is it okay if I make a motion with that change? Okay, great. Uh, is there a second on that? Smithville seconds. Great. So moved by Gonzalez Hoy, seconded by Trustee Smith Boltz. Any further comments? If not, we'll go to the vote. Student trustee Espinosa Jr. Yes. Student

080trustee Von, yes. Hernandez is absent. Clerkyana, yes. Trustee Gonzalez, yes. Trusty Smith Vult. Smith Falls, yes. And I'm a yes. Motion passes unanimously with one absence. Thank you. We are now moving to B10, agenda review and adoption. Does the board have anything that they would like to change? Doc, go ahead. Yes. E3, which is the superintendent removal. Moving that up to E1. Got that. And then Dr. Moses, is there a um I think you were removing something. Yes. Thank you, President Reckler. Um staff are requesting that we table the public hearing for special education, the annual service plan, item number E1. And Oh, no. I'm sorry about that. You're right. E1. Got it. Yes. Okay. E1 to bring back at the next board meeting. Okay. Are there any other changes? Okay. Seeing none, we will

081uh accept the agenda with uh the superintendent's contract E3 moved up to the first action item removing E E1. And I'm sorry that I interrupted you on that. I got confused. Okay, good. So, we'll proceed with that. And then we will now move to C consent. Is there anything that board members would like to remove from consent? I am removing C6 fundraising for a brief discussion. Is there anything else that needs to be removed? Then we will approve consent with E6, I'm sorry, C6, fundraising removed for brief discussion. Terrific. Now we are up to D. Oh, I'm sorry. If we could go back to consent for just one thing. Uh, on C12, uh, the CBOC applicant, Mr. William Clauss, it's C L A US, no E at the end of his name. That's just a

082small correction on that item. And with that, if we could go to number D, superintendent communication. Dr. Moses, all you. Thank you, President Reckler. If we could bring up the live presentation, I want to give an appreciation to the communications team as we wait for the presentation to uh upload. uh their hard work and support in ensuring that our messages are shared with the public and that they are highlighting our district are much appreciated. So, thank you to the comm's team for your hard work on supporting these superintendent report outs. All right. Uh so, with that said, we'd like to share some of the information we've uh we weren't able to report at the last meeting. So, some of this information we had hoped to bring you last week, but we're going to bring it

083to you this week just the same. Next slide. We start our superintendent's report in memoriam. Um, we'd like to recognize the contributions of a special member of our school community who has passed away. Anna Blackman was our retired deputy superintendent for Wisconsin schools. She died on Monday, May 12th, 2025. Anna began her teaching career in 1966 as a math teacher at Juan Krispy Junior High School, which is now Betty Reed Saskkins Middle School. Eventually, she served as the department chair and she implemented one of the district's most innovative math programs. Her leadership journey continued as dean at Kennedy High School, vice principal at Helms Middle School in Richmond High, and principal of Elserto High School. She later held key administrative roles at the district office, including director of secondary education, associate superintendent for curriculum, and

084ultimately deputy superintendent, retiring in the year 2000. After retirement, Anna remained deeply engaged in education, serving on various committees, and as a member of the Council of Elders. She is remembered for her profound impact on students, families, and colleagues, and for staying in touch with many former students through Facebook. Anna is survived by her son Benjamin Falls, granddaughter, Courtney Blackman, and niece Leanna Foster. Please join me in a moment of silence for Anna Blackman. Thank you. In this next slide, we'd like to honor and uh recognize our classified staff. Um the week of May 18th was classified school employees week and we proudly celebrated the work of our classified employees recognizing the incredible contributions and the dedication that they bring to our schools and support with the running of our schools each and every day.

085Our classified staff are the backbone of the district. They serve essential roles such as office staff, custodian, instructional aids, food service workers, campus safety officers, bus drivers, technology specialists, and many other roles across our schools and district offices. Their hard work, reliability, and care directly impact the success and the well-being of our students, and we are deeply grateful for their unwavering commitment and the vital support that they provide for our school communities every day. We honor you and we thank you for all that you do. Classified staff of West Contracasta. Next slide. We have a very special staff member here today that we'd like to honor. And I'd like to ask the the board if we can um stop for a photo after the presentation with her. We have with us tonight Equator Sullivan. and

086Equator Sullivan is celebrating 51 years of service at West Contraosta Unified School District. Um, yeah, let's give her a round of applause. Thank you. Miss Sullivan began her career in 1973 as an instructional aid. She worked at several elementary sites and Miss Sullivan transferred in 2010 to become a special education pair of professional. This is her 15th year at Mirara Vista School. She loves working with the K to8 students and she has served us for 50 plus years. So I want to ask Miss Miss Sullivan if you'll stand so that we everybody can recognize you. What have Thank you. And at the conclusion of our report, we'd like to take a photo with Miss Sullivan and the board. So, uh, stay where you are, Miss Sullivan. We'll come get you momentarily after the presentation. Yes.

087Thank you. If you can just sit right there, we'll be right with you, Miss Aguina. [Music] Wonderful. Thank you. Uh so in this next slide, we want to get through just the presentation. Um here the exceptional special needs students spring dance occurred on Saturday, May 3rd. It was a special event for our students held at Panol Valley High School. We want to shout out our special education department and all of the staff and parents and community members who made this event possible for our students. This is a third consecutive year that we've had this event uh especially for our special needs students and it's a truly magical night and we're appreciative for the experience not just for our students but for their families and our staff as well. Next slide. Cookies for Cameron held an

088o they held an open house to host prospective families um and to share the great offerings of their program with the community at large. It was a huge success. Over 250 people joined the Cameron community and learned about the program and engaged together um in in unity learning about those programs. So, we want to thank the Cameron staff and community for coming together and sharing um their collective effort to support our schools, our students, and our program. Next slide. Partnering with our community. Um this year uh we're celebrating our second year partnering with the Richmond Outdoors Coalition and the students from Verie K8 Nestrom Dean and Richmond High participated in these programs and and included um walking field trips and the watershed project at the Miller Knox Tilden Park. So congratulations to students who got

089the opportunity to participate there. Next slide. mentoring and science at Deshawn Middle School. We want to highlight this special program for our students in the afterchool program. Um they are partnering with the Oakland nonprofit that works to increase the number of underrepresented um groups and health as health professionals. So this was a great opportunity. Thank you for that at Dejon. Next slide. Hel Harding Elementary held a maker fair and the maker fair uh was a community steam night. It was organized by the fourth grade uh team at Harding and supported by the PTA. So we want to appreciate them and share the great uh work that they are doing to promote STEM at Harding Elementary. They had over 400 attendees the big their biggest turnout for this event. Next slide. We have a winner, the

090microgravity contest um uh that took place at um I'm forgetting where uh across our district. This winner is from Koramatsu Koramatsu Middle School. She also took first place in the Contraosta County Science and Engineering Fair earlier this year. So, we want to honor Shri Shria Sichia. Congratulations. I don't know if she's here tonight. Beautiful. Next slide. Lincoln Elementary enjoyed Camp MAC. This was the third year in a row that uh fourth and fifth graders from Lincoln attended the Mosaic Project. It's an organization dedicated to giving students community building skills and tools to create inclusive peaceful environments. So, thank you Lincoln Community for sharing that with us tonight. Next slide. Graduation season is here. Visit the district's Facebook and Instagram pages to see lots of um pictures from our events. We've had our reclassification ceremony, our

091African-American students of honor ceremony. We had the Kente cloth celebration with black graduation and middle college held their 33rd commencement. Next slide. We want to highlight Middle College High School for making history. Uh their results continue to impress their class of 2025 graduates. We want to announce that 98% of the middle college graduates earn their AA degrees as they earn their high school diploma. Great job. Yes. to highlight that. Also, 95% of them earned a STEM certificate focusing on science technology, science and technology. 100% of those graduates plan to continue their education at a two-year or four-year college institutions. And they had two validictorian and two salutorians due to the um high academic achievement of those students. So, congratulations Middle College. They were named a 2025 California Distinguished School and we are so very proud

092of that program, those students and that staff. Great job. Next slide. We want to remind you of upcoming graduations. Um, next week or actually uh this week, Friday, we are kicking off our our uh traditional high school graduations and we want to appreciate the graduations that we've had such f thus far. Please consult the list and join us and join in the celebration of these students and their teachers and their hard work graduating our district this year. Next slide. We have announced the temporary closure of some of our high schools during this summer season. Closing these sites during this period allows for scheduled maintenance and facility improvements. Unfortunately, it does mean that we need to limit and restrict access to these sites. But in order not to interrupt our interrupt the academic school year and

093the teaching and learning of our students, this is the time that we must engage in these improvements and also in um enact uh required closures as as deemed necessary by our district. Uh the closed campuses include Richmond High School, Kennedy High School, Elserto High School, and Deansza High School. We are working extremely hard to ensure that the disruptions to these closures disruptions due to these closures are minimal for our students and community and uh we will share more information as soon as it becomes available. Next slide. We also want to just add that uh the participation and engagement of our community and our parents is extremely important to the progress of our district. We invite you each time we have this presentation to join our committee meetings, our parent advisory councils and the uh re

094meetings that are held at your school site. So if you haven't been able to attend a meeting this year, there is still one two more meetings left. The uh CAC meets tomorrow night. That's our community advisory committee for special education and the CBOC meets June 16th. We invite you to those meetings and please continue to consult the calendar and consider joining us next year during these opportunities. Next slide. That concludes the presentation and at this time we are so very excited to again welcome up Miss Equator Sullivan and the board will come down and take a picture with her to honor her 51 years of service. the board. We'll be right back. We're going to the floor for a picture. Okay, if I could call everybody back for the next item, please Okay, I believe

095we're ready to start the next item. We're moving now to E3. E3 is to recommend approval of superintendent superintendent employment agreement. So, the board has engaged in an exhaustive search for a new permanent superintendent and has chosen an individual who will lead our district in achieving student success, employee engagement, and fiscal solveny. Miss Cheryl Cotton, would you like to come up to the podium, please? California's transparency laws, the Brown Act, Government Code 54950, applies to local agencies, including school districts, and requires the employment agreements involving local agency executives, including the superintendent and other highlevel administrators, to be approved in open session at a regular board meeting after an oral summary of the salary, salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits. The board is asked to approve an employment contract with Cheryl

096Cotton to serve as the superintendent of the district. The employment agreement has is attached to the agenda item online for review. The employment agreement provides the contract term is for the following time period June 20, 2025 to June 30th, 2028, slightly more than three years. The superintendent's annual salary is $325,000 with health and welfare benefits consistent with certificated management employees of the district. That is my required very boring oral required oral release. And now um do any board members have questions? May I Oh, does he have a question? Go ahead. Thank you for watching that. Uh, thank you, Clerkana. I apologize, President. I got too excited. I was ready to move to a motion. So, I apologize. I don't have a question. I will put it down for now. Okay. Well, we can move to

097a motion and then take uh well, let's take public comment first and then we'll uh we'll do that. Is there any public comment on the item? Yes. Our first public comment is Maisha Harris Gash. Please unmute yourself. Good evening and Miss Cheryl Cotton, welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back. Look forward to Granted they haven't officially I guess voted yet. Um but I look forward to your leadership. We've worked together over the years and so I am pleasantly surprised kind of halfway in shock. Um, but when it comes down to it, welcome back. Welcome back. Welcome back. And just wishing all the best for you um as you embark on this journey um from this level. Everybody have a wonderfully blessed night. Is there any other public comment? Our next public comment is Carolyn Whistinger. Please

098unmute yourself. Yes. Hello. Can you all hear me? Yes, we can. Hello everyone. My name is Carolyn Weissinger. I am the mayor of the city of Elserto. And I just wanted to give the biggest congratulations to soon incoming superintendent Cheryl Cotton. I could not be more proud. I have been supporting Cheryl the same way that she supported me when I was working in the district. And so I I you know I really said during the search that I hope that we get someone who's homegrown, who is from our district knows that the politics across our diverse school district and I could not be more proud and look forward to working for with you in the future as the superintendent. Thank you so much. Our next public comment is Karina Bonet. Please unmute yourself. Hi. Uh,

099can you hear me? Yes. I want to say welcome back. Um, you saw me grow in this district. Um, and I really really I'm excited that you're coming back and you've seen how much more I've grown because you saw me when I was um a secretary, a clerk, um an afterchool coordinator. You gave me my first teaching job as a teacher in the district and you pushed me through it. And so now as a lead counselor, I want to say all of the school counselors and college and career counselors welcome you and we can't wait to work and collaborate with you and um yeah push push more initiatives for our students for mental health and to have higher graduation rates. So we're excited to to continue this partnership with you. Welcome back. Our next public

100comment is Willie Robinson. Please unmute yourself. Yes. Good afternoon, President. Uh, chair chair of the trustees. Uh, Brook, I'm confused. I'm getting a little anxious here Cheryl Cotton's name as our incoming superintendent. obviously to be voted on, but to the rest of the honorable board members and the interim superintendent, I am president of the Richmond branch in ACP and wanted to take this opportunity to uh suppress my surprise and and and excitement about Cheryl coming back to us. Hi, Cheryl. Welcome. We pray that everything goes well with you coming on with the vote and we're looking forward to working with you to have better outcomes in our district for our students. God bless you. Our next public comment is Dr. Kesha Prior. Please unmute yourself. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. I just want

101to say uh Miss Cotton, the women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated are extremely excited and proud to welcome you back to the district and Dr. Moses, thank you so much for your service and I am super super excited. Thank you. Our next public comment is Alain Harrison. Please unmute yourself. Hey, I am so glad to hear that you will be leading our school and I look forward to working with you and the other parents in our district with you, working with you. So glad to know you're here. But I feel we're in some good hands. Thank you. And that concludes public comment. Fantastic. Okay. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy, would you like to make your motion now? No, I want to go ahead if I want a motion. He can be my second though. That's good.

102Well, I'm sorry. I was recognized first. So, I will fight you for the honor. I'm just kidding. I I will let Trusty Smith Falls have the honor and I would love to second. Perfect. Because I was about to put you on mute, friend. Um, I motion that we recommend the approval of Superintendent Cheryl Cotton. I am complete. I'll second. Okay. So, we have a motion by Trustee Smith Folds and a second by Trustee Genoy. Do we have comments from the board? Um, thank you. First, congratulations. I am so happy that you are the permanent superintendent. I would be remiss if I didn't say thank you. Thank you, Dr. Moses, for being an amazing interim superintendent. Thank you, uh, Superintendent Cotton for coming on and, um, continuing the good work of the district. I really appreciate

103it. I look forward to working with you and I am, uh, excited to see where we can go as a team in this district. So once again, congratulations and I look forward to all the great work that we are going to do. Um, I would caution the community like I did before, don't put no cape on any black woman. We are human. We are human and we deserve all the grace and the grace and wonderful uh motion that everyone else does. We are no one's superhero, but we are super at everything we do. But don't put no cape on us. I am complete. Are there any other comments from board? Okay, go ahead. I know I'm looking to the sky like it's heaven. Thank you. Sorry about that. Um, thank you. Um, I just wanted

104to say a couple things. I got the privilege of working alongside with Miss Cotton when she served as director of human resources a few years back in our district. I'll tell you everybody that she is someone I know who has high integrity with a proven record of caring about our students, our staff and families. Um I saw her work incredibly hard to be equity focused and student center always. Um she's also a mom of wonderful graduate from our district uh who served on our board when um President Reclar trustes Smith and I first joined the board. Um and he's just amazing. Uh, and I think it's a reflection of her as a mom and as a leader. Um, and I just want to finish by saying that I strongly believe that we needed someone who

105truly understood us that wouldn't take a few years to get to know our schools. Uh, someone who knows the areas of growth as well as areas of strength from a place of love and true commitment. Um, I know Miss Cotton will create a wonderful need of change for our district and I'm just so excited. She already lives in our district. Um, and she's coming back home. Um, which I'm just so truly thankful that you are making that commitment back to us. Uh, Miss Cotton. Um, and I also want to finish uh by thanking you, Dr. Moses, as well for taking on this huge commitment. Um, I remember when you, Trusty Smith, and I talked to you and that little back room at the Ansa High School. Um and and as and we talked to you

106first about this and um I just want to say thank you because um it is as we know not an easy job whatsoever. Not one I would do. Uh it's too late for you to back up Miss Con by the way. Uh but uh not one I would do and I just want to thank you for your commitment of doing the work last few months. Thank you. Anyone else? Good evening everyone. I just want to thank Miss Cotton for choosing us. I think that's something that we really instilled in making sure that the person who we hired on was committed, was part of this community and could be supported, but also is in line with some of the vision that we have for West Contracasta. I haven't had the privilege of working with you. Um,

107and I am also a new trustee. So, I welcome you and hope that we can solidify our team and that we could get on the road to better outcomes, educational outcomes, to bringing closure to some of the hardships that we've had within the district, and to really building ourselves up to be able to really embrace that partnership that we're looking for um with our parents, with our students, and with especially our unions. So, thank you very much and welcome and thank you, Miss Moses. I really appreciate the guidance that you have given me and the help and support throughout this turning point as well. And I'll close it out by thanking you and welcoming you home to WCCUSD. I look forward very much to working with you, learning from you, and seeing what we can

108do to lift our students and ensure student success. I also want to thank Dr. Moses for your work. I've really enjoyed working with you. Learned a ton. I think we had a few really good talks and were able to brainstorm, bounce things off each other. I don't know how you felt, but I enjoyed it. And um yeah, it was a it was very it was very hard. You know, we had a lot board had a lot of things to do, but I appreciate your openness and your your outreach. So, thank you very much. Okay, any other further questions? And with that, we will go to the vote. Student trustee Espinosa Jr. Yes. Student Trusty Baron, yes. Clerkyama, yes. Trusty Gonzalez, yes. Trusty Smith, absolutely. Yes. And I am a yes. The vote passes unanimously with

109one absence. Welcome home, Superintendent Cotton. Do you have any words that you'd like to share? and push push a little face. Oh, I think they got it for you. I got it. Good. Great. I just want to say thank you. Um thank you to the board. Thank you to Dr. Moses, interim superintendent. Um thank you to the cabinet, to I'll step back a little bit. Thank you to um just everyone. I am so glad to be home. I am a graduate of West Contraosta. I am a former parent of West Contracasta. I live in West Contracasta. This is home and I am so excited. I see our beauty. I see our strength. I see our assets within this district. And I also know that there are some things that we have to work on that

110are imperative. Um, and I am ready for that work. I bring all of that's okay. Okay. Perfect. Um, I'm bringing all of me into this work. All of my experiences as an educator, as a teacher, as a principal, as a uh human resources uh administrator, as a state administrator focusing on curriculum instruction and assessment. All of me is coming into this work and I am so glad to be home. I will close and just say that we are one West Contracasta and I am looking forward to our work together. Thank you. Would we like to go down and take a picture? Yes, we would. The board will be right back. We're going to take a picture. I know. Right. Okay. Okay, we're just going to take one minute and get everybody back settled. Okay, and

111we are back. Our next item is E2. Approve the combination of Kennedy High School critical needs project budget with the Kennedy High School modernization budget. Miss Payne. Yes. Good evening board um community. Um tonight we're asking the board Can you hold for just one second? Is it possible to turn her volume up a little bit here on the stage? I don't know about anybody else, but I'm struggling a little bit to hear her. Can you test? Yes. How does it sound now? That's better. Thank you. Okay. Terrific. Thank you. Um, good evening, um, board, uh, superintendent and cabinet and community. Um, tonight we're asking the board for approval of combining the Kennedy critical needs budget with the Kennedy modernization budget. Next slide. So the 2016 facilities master plan approved the Kennedy critical needs budget and

112at that time that budget was to relocate the 200 building into the portables. At the time that this budget and project was approved, we didn't know that we would have measure R in the future. Next slide. This next slide shows how now that we have measure R and the board has approved the Kennedy High School modernization project, these two projects are happening at the same time and in the same space. And so you can see here there are some green um there's kind of a green perimeter boundary that identifies where the new building's going to go. That's part of the modernization project. That's our new build. And you can also see in orange, those are the buildings that are scheduled for uh demolition this summer. And so now that we have the critical needs project

113taking place in the same space as the modernization project, we're recommending that the board combine these budgets into a single Kennedy High School budget. Next slide. which not only will um provide um for easier management of this project but also create significant efficiencies for us um that couldn't have been contemplated at the time when the budgets were originally approved by the board. And so with that, we ask and recommend that you approve combining the Kennedy critical needs uh project budget with the Kennedy High School modernization project since the scope of work is happening concurrently and in the same space to create efficiency and overall project savings. Thank you. Are there any questions from the board? Okay, I have a question. When you say efficiencies, would you be able to specify what the efficiencies are and

114if there are dollar savings, would you be able to estimate those? Absolutely. So, the 2016 facilities master plan project envisioned the demolition of the 200 building, but then it also didn't anticipate any other dollars. So, that space would have needed to be site work would have been done there. um finishing would have been done there because that is off of the major street. Well, now that we're building the new building essentially in that footprint, doing that work is no longer needed because as soon as the demolition is taking place, we're now doing that underground work. And so that's where it really creates some efficiencies and makes it very difficult from a project management standpoint to really keep those projects separate since they're essentially happening concurrently, which will also save us some time with a project.

115And anytime you can save time on a project, you're definitely saving dollars. So it's not only the reduction of scope that's no longer needed, but also the savings of time doing it concurrently. Got it. Thank you. Um, that's all the questions I have. Does anybody else have questions? We'll go to public comment. Is there any public comment on the item? There's no public comment. Okay, great. I'll accept a motion on this item. Hang on a second. I just lost it. Uh, so the motion would be to approve the combination of Kennedy High School critical needs project budget with the Kennedy High School modernization budget. Well, I'll go ahead and move it. Is there a second? [Music] It is. Hold on. Is that me? No, not me. Okay. So, moved by Inana moved by Reckler, seconded

116by Inana. Uh, anything else? Any comments? Seeing none, we'll go to the vote. Student trustee Espinosa Jr. Yes. Trusty Baron. Yes. Fernandez is absent. Clerkyana, yes. Trusty Gonzalez, yes. Trusty Smith Boltz. Smith Falls. Yes. And I'm a yes. Motion passes unanimously with Hernandez absent. Okay, we've finished all action items. We're moving now to discussion. F1, public hearing 2025 26 26 local control accountability plan. Okay. So, I need to open a public hearing on this item. So, I'm going to open a public hearing, make my introduction. We'll have staff do their presentation. We will answer board questions. We will have public comment on the item. And then we will continue with any board comment. and then we will close the item. So I am opening the public hearing for the 2025 2026 local control accountability plan.

117The time is 8:38m. Uh the local control accountability plan is a three-year plan that describes the goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes that address state and local priorities. The LCAP represents the district's comprehensive plan of goals, actions, and services and leverages resources to meet those goals to improve student outcomes. From here, I will turn it over to district staff for their presentation. Great. Thank you. Good evening, President Reckler, Clerk and Jana, trustees, and members of our community. Tonight, we are excited to share our 2526 LCAP as part of our annual public hearing. Each year we update the plan to reflect on progress, refine strategies, and ensure resources are in place to support our student needs. And this year is an update of year one of our three-year plan and deepens our

118focus on continuous improvement and equitydriven decisionmaking. Next slide. So before we dive into the details of the plan, I want to note that the full annual update and the complete 2526 LCAP are available in its entirety to the public. This includes all actions, strategies, and associated budget allocations as well as the updated metrics and reflections on the progress to support accessibility and transparency. And because the full LCAP is 253 pages, we've also prepared an executive summary available both in English and in Spanish so that our educational partners can easily access uh the key components of the plan. Attached on the agenda, you'll also find the written feedback from our DLC caps and pack committees alongside the district responses that explain which recommendations were incorporated and how they shape the current plan. And tonight's presentation really

119provides a high-level overview of implementation effectiveness and focuses only on the proposed changes for the upcoming year. And an appendix is also included on the deck that I'm presenting which contains the supporting data to inform effectiveness and other re resources like our acronym list that's really there to make sure that that educational lingo that we often use um is available for the public. Next slide. So this year we've engaged in a robust and inclusive LCAP development process. We began with a session focused on the review of each LCAP goal implementation um and completed both uh the data that supported the effectiveness and were able to do this in two rounds of review for each goal. These sessions really allowed us to dig into the data and begin shaping what the revisions were going to look

120like. And in addition to that, we also hosted two LCAP town halls to ensure that all of our educational partners, families, staff, and community members had an opportunity to directly share their insights. And we added a session for our site leaders and central office leaders and labor partners to provide us inputs. And then we went back to those partners to make sure that we got the feedback right. So today we're host uh holding the hearing and then the approval of the ad cup will come back uh with the budget for the scheduled board of education meeting on June 25th. Next slide. So, like you heard at our last board meeting, this year our partnership has felt much more inclusive and impactful. And this is really for ours attributed to the expansion of the DLC's meetings

121that went from six sessions last year to 13 sessions. And we're really proud to have increased the number of meetings that achieved quorum that expanded the membership to 17. And as was presented again at our last board meeting, you saw a lot more engagement at the cabinet level with associate superintendent Summer Sigler deepened collaboration on all meeting agendas, our program directors having developed detailed data informed presentations for each meeting. And it also included active participation from myself, from Dr. Moses as the interim superintendent and of course summer prior to her leave and this really demonstrate that sh that shared leadership commitment to our authentic partnership and accountability. Next slide. So as part of our LCAP development process, directors, program directors reviewed the data, the feedback from the packs and at the May principles meeting, we

122held a dedicated session and did a consultancy protocol for directors to review with principles the proposed changes. And this really allowed for a deep discussion and reflection on how the updated strategies aligned to site level needs and realities. And this feedback directly informed the final revisions that you're seeing today um to make sure that we're being really responsive and grounded on what's happening at schools. Next slide. So you can see here that we received a total of 47 recommendations from our packs. Of those 19 were fully included in the LCAP. 16 were incorporated with some modification to better align with district priorities or available resources. Nine recommendations were already part of existing actions and we are continuing them into the new this new academic year and three recommendations were not able to be included at

123this time due to budget constraints. Next slide. So let's begin our review of our goals. Uh we're making strong progress in goal one, authentic engagement. In year one, chronic absenteeism has declined by 6.2% putting us on track to meet our three-year reduction goal. We're really proud that our tiered fidelity inventory walkthroughs, the TFI, um happened at all sites and expanded PBIS coaching also occurred at school sites. suspension for African-American students did decrease from 2.7 to 2.3 and other means of correction also increase by 83%. So that's exactly what we want to see. However, disproportionality remains a concern and the data still reflects that our black students and our foster youth students have a significantly higher suspension rate when compared to other students. And this continues to underscore the need for stronger early interventions and restorative

124practices. Next slide. So for full transparency, we wanted to make sure to include the feedback that informed our work received from all of our educational partners. So this is packs across the board from our students and our principles and they shared the cleared priorities that were aligned to goal one. There's a strong support for increased mental health staffing and funding for a district grant writer. Comments also emphasize the need for better access to instructional materials in connection to home and the effective use of parent square and stronger site-based art programs. Additional feedback also called for improved transportation options, streamlined volunteer processes, clearer district systems, and better tools to address chronic absenteeism. And while it's outside of the scope of the LCAP, concerns did come up around community schools transparency and the need for more sight

125level autonomy uh in the feedback. Next slide. So we tried to follow the same format and really contain all of the pieces as part of the LCAP update and um the new changes proposed in a single page. So here are all the strategies within program 3010 which support positive school culture and climate and were implemented as planned this year with no material changes to the program budget. As part of our continuous improvement process, each strategy has been evaluated using the effectiveness indicators that you can see on the top right part of the page or the screen. Green means that the strategy is on track to achieve our three-year goal. Yellow means that it's not effective but shows promise with adjustments. And red indicates that it's not meeting the goals and needs significant revision. And so

126you can see that three strategies within this program are not yet effective. They're labeled yellow and three strategies are on track to meet the three-year goal. And again, the full LCAP of all of our strategies are listed um and attached in the full LCAP, but based on our needs assessment and the input, we're proposing the following changes to the strategies for 2526. Strategy two for social emotional learning. We're really wanting to expand our evidence-based social emotional learning curriculum and really focus on professional development of our climate teams. And as a result of the feedback we received from our students, we want to make sure that those plans really integrate brain breaks and fun Fridays to be able to build focus and mo motivation for our students, creating more connective, responsive learning environments. For strategy four,

127climate coaching, um we're really looking to reduce suspension disproportionality and improve safety. So, we want to make sure that we're providing our sites with direct coaching around PBIS, restorative practices, trauma informed care. And new elements include feedback from our pack around creating expectations-based assemblies for students and staff, teacher workshops on addressing harmful language, creating visible behavior norms throughout campuses from elementary to secondary, and doing a district roll out of our anti-slur policy. For strategy five, attendance and engagement, our goal continues to be to improve attendance by 2%. Um, but what we want to make sure that we're doing a a tiered outreach um focused support to make sure that our attendance technicians are really centralizing data systems to make sure that we're tracking both the trends and interventions are and are using a needs analysis

128to do so. We also want to introduce based on feedback programs that celebrate improved attendance and and to do so consistently throughout the school sites. For strategy C six, reducing disproportionality, we want to make sure that our principles, both our elementary and secondary principles and our assistant principles participate in a monthly professional learning community. focus on analyzing that suspension data and implementing alternatives to suspension. And we want to make sure that our high-risk students are proactively referred to our care or cost teams to make sure that we're consistently and equitably providing both intervention and are doing so with our discipline practices as well. For strategy seven, strengthening authentic engagement through teacher capacity. We This is an added strategy around smaller class sizes and how they allow our elementary teachers to build stronger relationships with their

129students and families. This strategy is backed by research that links smaller class sizes to improved engagement, attendance, and academic outcomes. And it's funded through our learning recovery emergency block grant. For strategy eight, it's also a new strategy around safety staff support to support safe learning environments. We're allocating dedicated safety staff both at elementary and secondary. And so for elementary schools, um yard supervision really supports this. And at secondary schools, campus safety specialists help maintain secure and welcoming campuses. And really together, these changes and revised strategies reflect what we've learned and heard. And our goal is is to build school environments that feel safe, inclusive, and centered on belonging and success for our students. Next slide. You'll also notice that goal one has the most changes because we receive the most feedback about goal one. Um,

130under program 3120, parent engagement and volunteer outreach, um, all strategies were implemented as planned and no material changes were made to the budget. These, uh, three strategies are on track to meet the goal and three uh, require some refinement. For strategy one, we want to expand the use of survey monkey and mentee meter to support multilingual outreach to reduce that staff need for processing time of feedback and to improve our volunteer access. And we feel that these tools are really going to support engagement and digital literacy. And we've tried out some of them this year with a lot of success. For strategy two, we want to make sure that we're focusing on parent capacity building through district-wide workshops, resource centers, and supports like ELD classes and digital literacy training to uh strengthen our family school

131partnerships. For strategy four, we really want to continue to build on the efforts made this year with DLCAPS and want to include the recommendation of ensuring that our LCAP funding staff is trained to exactly what they're intended um to do as part of the LCAP as well as uh work towards their goal and metrics throughout the year. For strategy five, we want to build on the parent build of rights and aim on rolling out a toolkit and training support consistent at every school site and make sure that we have a really equity centered implementation across all of our school sites. And for strategy eight, we really want to expand our strategic communications. This is based from feedback from DLCAPS and from our DLI pack. We want to add a dual language web page that's dedicated

132to supporting and promoting our DLI programs. We want to enhance parent square usage by creating uh clear training for that two-way communication platform that we use. And we also want to incorporate the great feedback that we got last week about leveraging our parent leaders to be able to support training of parent square across the our families. And these updates really aim to deepen trust, to improve access, and to increase meaningful engagement across the district. Next slide. All these U strategies within 4240 were implemented as planned this year with no material differences to the program budget. And you can see that we are uh doing an update to strategy one for VAPA. We received some feedback and would love to include it really focusing on expanding the promotion of our student performances which are amazing across

133the board. So we want to really focus on boosting visibility and participation in family engagement of our VAPA programs as well as adding a more aligned metrics to increasing student participation of these extracurricular programs by 10% of June 2026. And we do want to note um that this strategy is really grounded in research showing that strong arts programs are linked to better attendance to lower suspension rates and to stronger academic outcomes. And this is why VAPA is nested within goal one. Next slide. So you can see that we are expecting to fully expend the funds planned for each action within goal one. And next slide. Here are the 2526 planned expenditures for each action supporting authentic engagement. Next slide. Okay. So under goal two, we aim to ensure that every student has access to a

134highquality educator in inclusive anti-racist and accessible learning environments. been uh we're excited that we've surpassed some of our three-year goals for reducing chronic absenteeism, doubling the target just in one year. And these numbers will be updated once we conclude the year. For teacher retention, we increased from 66 to 68, marking 25% progress towards our goal of 80. And while that's encouraging, more work is needed to sustain and build on this momentum. However, we did see a 2% decline in the percentage of teachers with three or more years of experience and now that number is at 82. So, this signals a need to create stronger strategies to retain our more experienced educators and support that workforce stability that we know is so important for our student success. Next slide. So for goal two, our educational partners

135emphasized the need to strengthen recruitment pipelines for our black educators and to expand our in-house credentiing through university partnerships. There were calls for improved operational systems like access to supplies and time cards and to increase transparency around who were the LCAP funded staffing. partners really also stressed aligning professional development with impact to better support underprepared staff and create stronger mentoring for our new teachers. And some concerns were raised about that um gap of reduction of ice principles because that pipeline was really important. And finally, they highlighted the need for um a stronger site climate support including um more culture building uh resources. Next slide. So for a program 1760 additional staff for high percentage of UP schools and duplicated propucle um there were no material changes to the program budget and both strategies are on

136track to meet the goal. Um however we did update the language for the strategies to be more specific about what support um is being added. So for strategy one, this um invests additional certificated staff for our high concentration on duplicated pupil schools. The roles that are included in this are vice principles, instructional specialists, prep teachers, counselors, CTE leads um and these um really support targeted academic and social emotional support at our schools with high percentage of UPP. We also added another strategy for staffing stability of rural enrollment schools. And so to make sure that we're protecting the instructional quality of uh schools that have low enrollment, we provide targeted funding to stabilize staffing and ensure that students have consistent access to highquality instruction. Next slide. For program 2315, employment employee recruitment and retention, we've uh

137implemented strategies as planned with no material differences to the program budget. However, we do um see that we've got three strategies that are on track, one that's not yet on track. Um strategy four in particular, recruitment and retention for our diverse educators. Um, we did partner with asset uh to be able to gather strategies. We want to plan to um collaborate with local churches and civic groups to be able to expand our outreach to recruit black educators. And we also really want to strengthen that retention through mentorship, through community building, and through targeted supports to create an inclusive supportive environment for these staff members. And then this is a new strategy, strategy six, as a result of feedback we received from the DLI pack around dual language teacher recruitment and retention. We know that we

138want to sustain and grow our dual language programs and that's possible through our DLI teachers. And so we want to launch a targeted strategy to recruit and retain highquality bilingual teachers and efforts to support continuity, reduce vacancies and advance achievement for our multilingual learners. Next slide. So here you can see that we are expecting to fully expend the funds planned for each action of goal two. And on the next slide you can see the 2526 planned expenditures for each action. Next slide. Okay. So goal three is a our focus on really preparing our students um to graduate college and career ready in a multilingual technological world. This year we've really expanded our paid internship placements from 20 to 65 across our six high schools which really broadens that realworld learning opportunity that we want to

139create for our students. Um, our I Ready results show strong early gains and while the data on this slide reflects our midyear update, um, because right now we're only at 80% through our administration of I Ready, um, our current data that I just looked up a few minutes before presenting do present that we're well on track to meet our goal with right now 14% of our students having grown in reading are um being meeting and exceeding uh and 19% in math by year's end. And so we expect that those numbers are going to continue to increase as we finalize those assessments and we look forward to presenting those numbers, but I couldn't resist not sharing that data already. We were initially at the midyear point also concerned about our reclassification uh data. You can see

140on the slide that we saw a decline in our reclassification numbers but I met with uh director Orosco today and he shared that currently as of today we are at 11.4 4 reclassification rate which is already point4 increase uh for this reclassification rate from last year and we do anticipate that as ELPAC scores continue to come in that we're going to see an increase to rise to about another percent. And so once those results are final, we will uh present them to the board. But this really for us marks a clear momentum in the progress that we're making uh towards achievement and goal three. Next slide. So, the feedback we received for goal three um really shared some concerns and elevated concerns about the lack of a common uh ELA curriculum. Um about limited use

141of the current tier 2 SIPs program and a misalignment of assessment um particularly of I Ready in our early grades which as you know we've addressed now with the implementation of MClass. We also saw that um our educational partners wanted to see strategies to improve outcomes for our African-American students as well as wanted to see a better connection for professional learning. Um they want to see us bring back those underused uh buyback days and they want to see us bring back more structured support around the ILT, the instructional leadership team at school sites. sites also support or reported limited central support at the school site. Um they're hoping to um see an increase of vice principles to support achievement at school sites and they want clearer roles for prep teachers and more para educators to

142support at elementary school sites. And then finally, staffing really remains unstable and we know that staffing really impacts student achievement. And so, um, site leaders and our packs really want to see, um, new teachers limited. They want more experienced teachers and they want stronger pipeline and competitive pay as needed to retain talent. Next slide. So for program 1250 elementary school support all strategies were implemented as planned with no material differences to the program and we are um on track of the strategies for the three um listed here. We did add some strategies uh class size reduction. So again, aligned to goal one and coming from the same funding source that smaller class sizes really allow for a more inclusive and engagement learning environment as well as an additional strategy um strategy five for combo class

143compensation initiative. We know that it is difficult when we have combo classes and when elementary teachers are assigned to these combination classes, they receive an annual stipend. And this targeted professional development that is needed to be able to teach a class that is combined um needs to be in place to help our teachers to effectively differentiate instruction and manage a multi-grade planning. And so we've added that strategy to make sure that those teachers get those supports. Next slide. for program 1251, our secondary schools program. Um, our strategies were implemented as planned with no material changes to the program budget. And you can see that three strategies are not yet effective and need revision and two are on track to meet our goal. and we've updated our strategies to really strengthen our secondary academic supports as

144well as our college and career readiness. For strategy two, we're reabling that strategy to really focus on what we're doing and focusing on which is secondary counseling. And so we want to make sure that we're aligning expectation across sites so that every student is receiving consistent academic career planning and that we're really building on that strategy of four-year plans for students for CTE Academy aligned staffing. We know thatmies are really important and academy purity allows uh allocations allows the um ability to be able to promote interdisciplinary planning to create stronger relationships within to have that instructional coherence at our secondary school sites. And we think that this is a really important strategy to write into the alcap for strategy seven. This is a new strategy around adding intervention and class size reduction to our secondary

145schools and it aims to support smaller class sizes and expand access to ADG courses to c uh CTE to dual enrollment and enrichment in secondary schools. And it also builds time for secondary schools to be able to have targeted intervention in areas like the arts, STEM, and leadership. And then finally for strategy 8, this is also a new strategy that we felt is really important that we documented as part of our LCAP college and career readiness culture. So we're going to continue to build a strong culture and careergoing um culture in our campuses by supporting the PSAT access by encouraging college and career site visits to all of our students and then providing targeted professional development for our staff. Next slide. So for program 1290, uh, supplemental instructional program, again, all of our actions were

146implemented as planned with no material changes, and all of our strategies are on track to meet the goal. We've updated one strategy, strategy 2, equitable data and assessment review, to strengthen how we use data to support student success. And really this strategy focuses on improving MTSS multi-tered system of support implementation by enhancing tier one instruction identifying student needs and evaluating intervention impact and as a result of the feedback we received from our P plans or our packs. We want to make sure that we shift our lens and celebrate the whole child by really focusing on first highlighting student strengths and then growths and creating plans, not just areas of need. Next slide. So for program 1102, multilingual support program, we've implemented it as planned with no material changes and we've updated two strategies. the first

147educational technology and supplementary curriculum. We're going to leverage Mclass lectura and amplify chaminos to address those gaps that we've had in telling us the story of bi literacy at our DLI schools. And so we're excited to finally have data that aligns and provides us access to how our students are doing in Spanish and in English. And then for strategy four, dual learn language immersion DLI program. Um, we are really proud of our DLI programs in the district and felt that it was really important that a strategy was written in our LCAP about strengthening our DLI programs to make sure that our students are not only taught by highly skilled bilingual educators, but that our district is also supporting targeted PD curricular resources and collaboration time, which is what we heard from our principles as needed

148to make sure that our DI programs are delivered. delivering rigorous standards aligned instruction in both English and the target language. Next slide. So all strategies under 6110 professional development were implemented as planned with no material changes to the budget and we are on track um to meet the goal with all strategies. We're most excited to share that the number of our CSI schools, comprehensive support and improvement schools, dropped from nine to just one this past year, which reflects a really Yeah, we can clap for that. Reflecting a strong progress um around the strategies that we're using. Thank you. Um we are continuing to act on these strategies but also want to refine strategy three to include instructional learning walks which we've been using and want to continue to expand on. And so our curriculum and

149instruction staff partners with site leaders at the K through or the elementary and secondary level and we use the instructional practice guide, the IPG to observe classrooms and provide standards aligned feedback and this data really informs our site level and district level professional development and strengthens our instructional quality across the system. Next slide. So for program 5260 evaluation and program monitoring all strategies were implemented as planned and there were no material differences. We are on track to meeting our goals. We did however uh update one strategy specialized training and system support. Um we will continue to provide that specialized training through our staff funded by this program mostly that comes out of state and federal. Um, but we also want to make sure that we're working with that team. And this is as a result

150of feedback from both our principles and our packs that there's a a space to be able to improve our internal systems for ordering supplies, for processing contracts, and for time card reporting and processing uh system requests. and streamlining these processes is going to reduce that administrative workload and allow our school staff to focus more directly on supporting students. So, we'll be working closely with that staff to focus on how we can streamline that. Next slide. So, you can see here for goal three that we are planning to fully expend the funds planned for each action of goal three. And on the next slide, you can see the 2526 planned expenditures for each action. Goal four focuses on accelerating academic growth for our students with disabilities by providing adaptive resources and providing targeted support. And we're

151proud to share that the district is now below that 3.0 0 disproportionality index and has officially exited disproportionality status for our African-American students identified as emotionally disturbed and white students placed in separate settings. Academically um our students with disabilities are making steady progress particularly uh with our local metrics of I Ready. We saw an increase in K8 of 5.6 six in reading and six in math and it shows that you know so supports are moving us in the right direction. However, we do continue to see that disproportionality in disciplinary incidents even though we are not um disproportionate um and particularly under the category of other health impaired for African-American students. We continue to see that disproportionality and so we will continue to remain focused on this as a key area moving forward. Next slide. So

152our educational partners voiced strong concerns about staffing and wanting to make sure that um we were focusing on the effectiveness of special education services. Sites um said that they want more full-time psychologists at elementary schools. They want more RSP teachers, more uh speech language pathologists. They want more uh support and intervention on site. They did note high case loads especially for speech therapists and there was some concern about retention of uh being able to keep our um people on the ground. They wanted more behavioral and early intervention support and they wanted clear RTI frameworks or MTSS um s frameworks. They wanted to make sure that we were focusing less on compliance and focusing more on ensuring student success. Next slide. And so for program 4260 multi-tered system of supports um we did implement as planned

153with no changes to the budget and our one two strategies are on track and one is not um yet. We wanted to make some edits um to strategy three to really focus on ensuring that we're focusing on the graduation rates of our students with disabilities and making sure that we're leveraging adaptive online instructional tools to launch credit recovery for these students. We also wanted to make sure that we were responsive to feedback and really focused on that inclusive instructional support that our educators are asking for. So, we want to make sure that we're strengthening that early inclusion and that the special education team provides more coaching and resources to help educators to be able to deliver highquality instruction um and inclusive classrooms, particularly in our early grades. We got a lot of feedback about TK

154and so we're going to make sure to provide targeted support there. Next slide. And you can see here we are planning on fully expending the funds in each action of this goal or of goal four. And here are the planned expenditures. For goal five, we want to accelerate academic growth and we want to reduce disparities for focal student groups. And we are seeing some positive trends. Um, again, African-American students in K8 have made meaningful gains on I Ready. I have the latest numbers. The numbers on the slide are um the midyear update, but this early data of 80% completion indicates that we are on track to increase achievement uh for K to 12 for African-American students by 14% in reading and 15% in math. and for English learners showing that we're projected to be at

15516% for reading and 20% for math. So again, um some early reflection of um stronger academic growth um for our students in goal five. Next slide. So for the feedback that was emphasized for goal five was um mostly around curriculum and wanting to make sure that we had curriculum and professional development that was targeted for newcomers for long um term English learners to be able to support our DLI sites and particularly a call for a comprehensive ELA curriculum to be able to provide support for African-American students. Um we're wanting to see more mentoring, more behavioral supports, um more counseling support at school sites and really expanding um our BSUs and career pathways access. We also got some feedback that there's a need to improve communication between central office and our sites. Next slide. Okay. So,

156all strategies under program 4170, which is our English um language learner support, were implemented as planned with no material differences. Um and we are on track to meet our goals. We're making some edits to strategy two um to really address that professional development um need that was identified in the feedback. So, the Elma department is going to be very intentional about providing targeted PD to strengthen um strategies both for our designated ELD and our integrated ELD to make sure that our English learners are able to access content in both of those spaces. We want to build on the internationals and newcomer program that we're very proud of. Um, and based on feedback that we got from our MDAC, we want to launch a buddy and mentor system for our newcomer students to be able to

157help them build that peer connection that is so needed when students arrive into a new country and we want to do so to ease their transition into our school communities. For strategy seven, um, this is a new strategy into this program. This one used to stand alone and we feel like it's important that it's incorporated into um this single program and it's around making sure that we're providing a longterm English learner professional development for our sites. Uh really focus on analyzing data to improve um instruction for program 1180. Um we did implement as planned with no material changes. Um we are on track and we are um for strategy three literacy achievement. Um we are currently operating in seven schools and are looking to expand to 10 next year and really focusing on those additional

158three based on site needs and on data. And so we want to use the data um from reading um at the beginning of the year to identify where there are additional needs and then provide support based on that. And this recommendation was a as a result of our asset team. Um, in terms of strategy 4, um, we incorporated great feedback we got, um, from our pack around the need to create a longterm engagement plan, um, to s to support our families, um, and to develop this from input from our families as well as from our students. So really leveraging our um, leaders uh, in the secondary schools, our student leaders. And we also want to make sure that we roll out a toolkit at every single secondary school to make sure that we have a

159consistent and successful launch of black student unions at every one of our secondary schools. For strategy five, college and career readiness, we'll enhance support through drop-in tutoring. We want to create transportation for college. And we want to partner with Contraosta College to host an African-American leadership summit. For strategy six, this was as a result of great feedback we got. We want to make sure that we have a a multimedia campaign to make sure that our AfricanAmerican students and families are very clear and all of our families about what the A to G requirements are and what college pathways students have access to. And then last but not least, we've incorporated a strategy around anti-racism and culturally responsive practice. Um, we want to make sure that we are providing intentional professional learning for our educators to

160focus on anti-racism and bias awareness to support our staff to build a more inclusive and supporting supportive school environment for our students. And we feel like this is going to directly support the strategies of goal three and goal five. And next slide, you can see that we are expecting to fully expend the funds planned for each one of these actions. And you can see the planned expenditures for next year. So we do present as part of our hearing our equity multiplier school. So Lincoln Elementary School um has a goal to increase um on the ESPback and as you know we don't have those results yet but we have seen some early signs of progress where we've seen Lincoln um they had 166 behavioral incidents and 83% were addressed through other means of correction like the

161restorative conversations and support interventions which is really really positive among English learners. The percent the percent of students who were performing three or more grades below in I Ready have dropped from 25 to 14% and those with two levels below dropped from 48 to 30 which signals really great progress. In math we saw students that were three or more grades below fall from 43 to 23 which is a 47% reduction. again signaling major gains for students that need the most support which was their focus. And so these outcomes really highlight the positive impact that targeted academic and behavioral strategies have been implemented at Lincoln. Next slide. So you can see here that their strategies were implemented as planned um and there was one strategy 6.5 um that was not able to be implemented as a

162result of staffing vacancy and that's why that is marked as not effective. And so for the upcoming school year, they're hoping to invest in a leadership role through elementary vice principal to help strengthen that instructional coaching and professional development and family engagement that we know is so important and to be able to lead schoolwide systems and support academic progress. They also want to incorporate action 6.2 instructional specialists of culture and climate. This role is meant to really foster that safe inclusive environment that we're seeing good momentum. They want to make sure that recess and um the classroom is really reinforcing that school climate practice of PBIS and that it's tied to their multi-tered system of support. Next slide. So you can see here the estimated actuals for equity multiplier for Lincoln and you can also

163in the next slide see the planned expenditures for each action for the 2526 school year as well as the total allocation for the school. Next slide. So for Greenwood Academy, our second equity multiplier school from this academic year, um they're seeing great indicators of progress as well. Their overall graduation rate rose from 76.7 to 81.6, which is which is huge. Um we saw that African-American students made especiable especially notable gains with graduation rates increasing from 76.1 to 92.6, six, which is a really powerful step towards equity. We saw suspension among homeless students decline um by.5% which is a sign that their targeted supports are working and o however overall suspension rates did rise by 2.9% highlighting the need to strengthen those behavior systems and early interventions as part of the strategy. Next slide. So you

164can see here um that the effectiveness shows that two strategies are not yet effective but three are on track and as a result Sylvester Greenwood is proposing some changes. Um they also align to Lincoln and would like to provide an assistant principle that's really focused on teaching and learning to support improving academic outcomes. They want to add some classified uh hours to be able to continue to track attendance and identify trends and do that communication that's very needed for families. They want to add an assistant principal really focused on culture and climate to urgently address that increase of suspensions. They want to also um provide support through professional conferences to continue to build um support of inclusive practices for their educators. And on the next slide, you can see the estimated actuals as well as

165the 2526 planned expenditures by action and the total allocation funds for Sylvester Greenwood Academy. And then finally, our last goal, our new added goal to the LCAP is STE Elementary School, our newest equity multiplier site for the 2526 school year. Their goal is also to improve the average distance from standard for ELA by five points. They're hoping to do so by investing in a dropout prevention and chronic absenteeism um intervention. They want to focus on English language development support to accelerate language acquisition for our students through content. They want to create class size reduction and early learning per uh personalization to increase instructional quality and student engagement particularly in kindergarten. And they want to build in a robing sub to make sure that there's instructional continuity and flexibility across classrooms to be able to um

166observe each other and get um coaching from their peers. And so these efforts really are designed to create the conditions for sustained academic growth at STEG. Next slide. And so here you can see their planned expenditures by action and the total allotment. So in conclusion, this year's LCAP process really reflects our commitment to listening and responding. We've straightened engagement, expanded opportunities for input, and made real changes based on what we heard. This work is ongoing. It's not done, and we do continue to invite the public to give us feedback. Um, our educational partners can share additional input by emailing, and this is anytime, lcapwccusd.net. This is also available through our website, our LCAP page, because together we really are shaping a plan that reflects our shared priorities and keeps students at the center. So, thank

167you so much. I know that was a long presentation. Thank you so much. Yeah, you can clap for that. I heard clapping out [Laughter] there. Okay, we're going to go to board comments and then uh public comment. Are there any I mean board questions and then public comment. Are there any questions from the board? Okay, I have a couple. So, oh, you do too. Oh, go ahead. Oh, Demetrio. Oh, up there. Okay, go go go ahead, Trusty Gonzalez. Thank you, President Regler. I love how you point up. Uh, I appreciate it. Um, so my first question, uh, Miss Gascus, first of all, thank you for a wonderful presentation. It's one of the best I've seen since I got on the board around on the LCAP. Um, I wanted to point at page 37 for goal

168five. You talked about strategy 4 for internationals and e-commerce programs. One of the new strategies is incorporating the buddy system. I was wondering if you could talk about how sites are going to do that and what the process is going to be at the school site since we have newcomers in so many of our schools. Thank you for elevating that. And um while we will encourage every single school site to do this as a best practice, we know that sometimes you want to think big but start small. And so we want to begin to pilot a process through our newcomers academy in particular where we know we have support and guidance from our central staff. And so I've been in collaboration with director Orosco um and we want to learn from the practices of our

169grant elementary school newcomer program that actually has very targeted strategies um and also from our internationals program both at Helms Richmond High and Kennedy to first try out some things at those school sites um to be very intentional and then to create a toolkit based on what we learned from those sites to then share out with the rest of our sites. Thank you. Um, you headed straight into my second question which is about the newcomers academy. So, as you know, we've been I've been pushing many of the boardrooms pushing to expand the newcomers academy at grant. So, could you talk about how we're expanding the current program next year and how we're leveraging ELAP funds to hopefully do that? Yeah, thank you for for highlighting that. We definitely know um that the data is suggesting

170that that program is really effective and so we're really um continuing our commitment to providing that resource for our newcomer students, a grant which has the highest number of students who are newcomer in the district. Um, we also know that there are more needs out there and at this time, unfortunately, because of our budget constraints, we're not planning on expanding on that. But we are learning great strategies that um the sites are you that that site in particular is using and we've noticed that many of our school sites are collaborating and learning from that model and currently are using their own site funds to be able to create versions of that model. So, for example, we have Lincoln Elementary School and we have King Elementary School, both that have staff that are targeted um to

171be able to support newcomer students. And so, what we want to create right now, while we have some fiscal constraints, is to create that collaboration space so that we're learning from the investments we're making at Grant at other school sites. And hopefully, we'll be able to at some point expand that same program to other school sites. Thank you. Uh and my last question is for strategy seven. Um how will we provide that professional development around anti-racism for our staff? Thank you for that. Um we've got several ideas and we haven't yet identified exactly how we're going to do it, but um we're in early conversations about making sure that we are providing um intentional space for our new hires. And so, um, we have a, uh, collaboration that we engage with with human resources where

172we train all of our new teachers coming in and teach them things about how to log in absences and how to um, meet their union leadership. And so in those spaces, we plan to create workshops to make sure that every single new hire is also um trained both um by um adding culturally responsive strategies to their toolkit as well as really leveraging that partnership and um work that we have started with Dr. Rogers. Um, we also want to make sure that we are providing opportunities both in person to continue the work that immersive schools has started as well as virtual so that our educators have opportunities to be able to receive their 12 hours of self-directed PD through um both again um reflection of unconscious bias that we know exists and really providing the space

173for safe conversation for educators to talk about that but as well as um really recognizing the strategies that are most effective for students um in our district. Thank you so much, President. That was my last question. I appreciate it. Thank you, Clerk. Did you have questions? No. Okay. Anybody down? No questions, just comments. Okay. Thank you. So, I've got a couple of questions. The first one is to follow up on newcomers and uh students that do not speak English. I learned this week that Elsero High School has zero support for students that are newcomers or don't speak English. Is that accurate? We do concentrate our support at schools that have the most number of English um learners and newcomers. So that is correct. However, we have a toolkit that is available that we share with

174all of our educators. And so it's making me think that we need to, you know, better socialize those resources available. And so in terms of additional staffing like we do at um Kennedy and Richmond and Helms and Grant, we don't have additional staffing allocated, but we do have resources. Okay, I'll make some comments about that. IB at the secondary level that that was cut. So I read this document and I still seem to see secondary level IB international balorate in here. How is that program being supported? Thank you for asking that question. And so as the public knows we are um phasing out of the support for IB. However, we have made a commitment still to students. And so it it remains in the LCAP um to be able to um meet that commitment to

175our current 11th graders for the upcoming school year, but we have made some reductions to that program to reflect that phase out at Penol Valley High School. Okay. And next is about money. So if I'm reading this correctly, you spent every single dollar or you're projected to spend every single LCAP dollar 24 to 25. Is that accurate? there's no carryover. That is a money question which is outside of my wheelhouse. So, I look to um David or Jeff to be able to support that, but that is the we plan on spending all our money most certainly. Um I don't know if you want to add to that. Uh that's correct. We plan on spending every dollar of LCAP in 2425 and having no carryover for 2526. Okay. Okay. That is all I have. We'll go

176to public comment. Is there any public comment on the item? Yes. Our first public comment is Mark Mitchell. So, uh, thank you, Mr. Costa. I appreciate that robust and aspirational vision for our district. Unfortunately, United Teachers of Richmond wants to wants to point out that what's actually facing our students and educators is different. Um, as far as social and emotional support, added counseling services for our most ver vulnerable students, a grant for millions of dollars was cancelled by the district this year. Those services will not be coming. Counseling ranks are reduced. Some schools only have a counselor one or two days per week. Those students will never be able to form uh relationships with those counselors that are more meaningful. Um the uh in uh interventions for reading and other academic uh purposes have been

177slashed or eliminated at many sites. The few people who come back to do those work those jobs will be involuntarily transferred or reassigned when they arrive because we're going to start the year with over a 100 certificated vacancies as no one's coming to work here for 2023 wages. Our next public comment is Jane Kinster. Please unmute yourself. Hello. I'm really confused at listening to this presentation. Our union just told us that you're raising class sizes, but you repeatedly in this document said how there's research to say that smaller class sizes is what we need. Which is it? We can't say that we're going to have smaller class sizes or Lord forbid maintain the ones we have, but then be told, "Nope, we're raising your class sizes." That just doesn't make sense. Is there any way

178maybe in the future you can clarify that or make it make sense for us? Thank you. Our next public comment is Gabrielle Micheletti. I found some really interesting things in the LCAP report. For example, support goal 3 by decreasing class sizes in elementary. I'm sure you understand my shock in seeing this after our bargaining team was given a proposal this Monday from the district to raise elementary class size in grades 4 through six. The LCAP continues. Studies have shown that smaller class sizes facilitate better student teacher interactions leading to increased student engagement and attendance. I remember one of the district's responses when we proposed lower class sizes to be if you have empirical research that smaller class size supports student achievement, I want to see it. I'm so glad we brought that research back and

179it clearly influenced the LCAP goals to support students. On page 38, you mentioned that to ensure students receive appropriate services and support, the district added six clinicians to four existing social workers. That sounds excellent. I'm hoping that these four existing social workers are not the same force set to be cut as part of the district's 2526 solveny plan. I suppose what my question is, when are you going to align all these things that sound so great in the ELCAP to your actual behavior, decision-m, and proposals at the bargaining table? Our next public comment is Alain Harrison. Please unmute yourself. Can you guys hear me? Hello? Yes, we can. Okay. Um, I just want to know if you guys are planning to spend all the budget. I would like the board to request where is those

180expenditures because it was a lot of programs not done. I know for African-American and black children and parents. So if that money is sitting there and you guys plan to spend it on what? Where is it going to? Our debt is it going to some other thing? Where is that money going to be spent? And I think the board should ask for accountability on where is that money going to be spent? I'm complete. Next public comment is Sky Nelson. I was grateful to be part of the uh Elcap meeting a few times. Thank you for that update. Um and thank you President Reckler and board member Smith Foss for coming to Elsto High School for our meeting yesterday. Uh in response to Gonzalez's Hoy comment about anti-racism for staff. We I was really encouraged by

181the student turnout yesterday at our normalizing behaviors meeting and would like to expand that community building process next year if we can. It's just about talking together at our sites about what's important to us and the students. Um I want to point out the competitive salary comment. I'm confused by the competitive salary comment when there's no cost of living increase or any kind of raise in the bargaining table this year. Um, so I'm looking at the the optics for what what's being said and what's being felt by the community. And as a teacher and parent and community member, I'm confused by that disconnect. Uh, also the uh lower class has um it seems disconnected. So, thank you very much. Our next public comment is Francisco Ortiz. Please unmute yourself. Good evening again, board. Uh tonight

182I want to uplift the LCAP uh plan that was presented today by associate superintendent Aosta Verroscus. It reflects a a shared vision for you know what students in our district deserve. Schools that are inclusive relationships that are healing. Oh [ __ ] Um and classrooms where every child is seen. But this vision cannot live in a silo. When we examine the proposed budget alongside this plan, the disconnect becomes clear. The LCAP speaks to transformation while the budget speaks to status quo. The LCAP prioritizes student belonging, engagement, and academic growth. Yet, the bulk of our spending is locked away in areas that don't directly serve those goals. We cannot claim to be equity driven and then pass a budget that fails to fund the plan designed to deliver that equity. If we truly believe in the commitments made

183in the LCAP, then our budget must reflect these values. Our students deserve more than just a plan. They deserve action. If the Our next public comment is public advocates, please unmute yourself. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Cararissa Pvenza. I'm an attorney with public advocates. Last year, the district first submitted an incomplete and inaccurate LCAP showing over $60 million in unspent carryover funds because the annual update table wasn't properly filled out. This year, I'm seeing a similar issue, except instead of being empty, the table shows last year's planned and estimated actual expenditures as exactly the same down to the scent for all 28 actions. I'm concerned that these identical figures suggest that the district is once again failing to accurately report spending. Families are entitled to

184transparency. If the numbers are wrong, they must be corrected before adopting this LCAP. If they're accurate, the district should explain more clearly how the funds were spent, including last year's $ 1.5 million in carryover. I'll close by noting that it's 9:46, over 3 hours into your meeting. Holding this hearing so late does not reflect authentic engagement. Thank you. Next public comment is Maisha Harris Gash. Please unmute yourself. Good evening. So PBIS, I'm not going to say who the person I sent an email to at least twice asking for resources cuz my principal told me that we had funds that had to be used by the end of this summer because PBIS goes to our school uh culture and climate. But yet, I have not heard of any type of trainings or anything that I can

185go to. So, y'all probably know who that person is. Anti-racism. My thing is this. Are we pacifying adults versus empowering students? Adults need to get out their feelings because there are work that we need to do as educators before our students to make them feel whole. Also, black student achievement. I always have this question about where is the affirming academic literature. Why are we not be it black, Asian, Latino, Latina? We have a growing Muslim, Arabic population at our school in particular. Where is the literature that affirms them? Maybe if they feel more affirmed in what they see and hear in their classroom on a daily basis, they will be more engaged in their academics. Thank you. Last public comment is Marie. Please unmute yourself. Oh, yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Oh,

186thank you. Yes. I just had a question. Where can I find um last year's report to show exactly how much to show how the uh money in the budget was spent? I'm looking for a report that shows it line by line. I know there's a lot of good programs that are being implemented, but I'm wondering how much money is going into each site with with each program. Thank you. Okay. Thank you to everyone who gave public comment. Uh we'll go to comments from the board. Anybody have comments? Trusty Smiths, do you have comments? Um, I'll go after Demetrio. His hand was up first. Okay, go ahead. Trusty Gonzalez Gonzalez. Go ahead. Thank you both. Um, Miss Aasa Prescos, again, I wanted to thank you and your team for working on this so hard. I know

187that you have been working incredibly hard to uh engage with all of our groups and parents uh and staff. I want to thank them also for being involved. Um and I also see a lot of progress in a lot of areas. Um I appreciate all the data and the transparency around progress. Um and then this is more of a comment just in general. Um I I want to ensure that you know some of us on the board have been talking about expanding the newcomer schools for elementary for a long time. Um and I want to make sure that in the next couple years we actually see expansion happen. I know that we're not in a good place financially. I mean, we all know this uh very much. We're about to go into the budget conversation

188after this. Um but knowing that, I really think that our English language learners are falling through the cracks. And even though we're seeing growth in our classification and growth in progress throughout our district, uh we all know that English language learners are still not being served in a lot of our schools where they might not have a teacher or they have someone who doesn't know how to support them, who doesn't speak their language. That's why I've been advocating for the expansion of a newcomer program. Um and I want to make sure that we actually do it. So I don't care what we got to do next year, but I want to make sure that we do it. Um because to be honest, I'm tired of talking about it for the last five years. Um and

189this is not towards you, Miss Costa Pras. I just want you to know that, but just us in general that um I'm starting to like lose faith that we're going to do it. Um because I've been talking about it for so long. Um but we have to do it just because we have hundreds of newcomers throughout this district and teachers don't know how to support them. Um and many of us, I think including you, Mr. because of us myself have felt what it is to be unsupported as an immigrant to this country. Um, and I just don't want that to continue to happen. So, I want to make sure that you know this. Um, Dr. Moses, I know you're going back to your position thankfully as CBO and we have an incoming superintendent. I want

190you all to know this is one of my top priorities for next year. um and hopefully some others on the board apart from other things but this one specifically um I think we have to make happen. Um so that's it president. Thank you. Trusty Smith Bones. Um thank you so much for the presentation. I think one of the things that we could think about as a district when we're talking about parent engagement is we have um we have prime opportunities every year to catch parents when they are at the beginning. So at our back to school night when we send the brown envelopes home for students to fill out their emergency cards. These are prime opportunities that parents take the time to read the materials that they're given. So, if we had a one pager

191in there when our packs meet because they're all standardized dates, right? Third Monday, first Tuesday. Um, the Zoom links usually don't change. So, I think that and then telling them exactly like what does Apac stand for? What does ELIC Eli stand for? What does it do at your school? What does an SSC stand for? And you don't have to be a member to show up, right? So, I think that that's one of the first steps in engagement. some type of um saturating parents with information at the very beginning and then continuing to do that. But when we have parents or we have schools that do wonderful with parent square, we have schools that do wonderful with their newsletters either monthly or weekly newsletters, these are all opportunities to put in information about when the next

192path meets, right? Um, so I think for me that's one of the the parts of the LCAP I really want to drill down because I want us to have as many voices in the room as possible so we can get the greatest amount of information how to make the greatest impact in our district. So that's one thing that I've been thinking about. Um, I want to speak to uh supporting our most marginalized students. I think that we have to drill down on how we support our most marginalized students more and more and take more and more deep dives into that because the data does show if we can get that part right then everybody comes up and I think that comes a lot with our training with our teachers, professional development with our teachers and

193giving them time to talk to each other about best strategies I think will also also work. Um, to that point, we've heard from a lot of teachers that doing the anti-racism work requires training. It requires communication. It requires understanding. So, again, saturating all of our not only our teachers, our administrators, our parents, and our students. Our students are some of the greatest drivers in what we need in the district. So having more conversations with our students or when we're talking about student summits, when we're talking about town halls at school sites, having our student voice really be at the table with our all student congress with our presentation from our student trustees. All of this helps us really know what's needed. I think a lot of times adults assume what students need, but if we

194heard from a a newcomer student, listen, I'm sitting in a classroom and I don't know anything that's happening because I'm not able to communicate with my teacher or I have to wait for a student, my fellow friend to help me interpret. If we hear from a black student, you know, I can't walk up and down the hallway without hearing a slur. If we hear from one of our LTP LGBTQIA students that listen, it's not okay that I feel that I'm not seen or heard. Listening to our students helps strives what we need to do in the district to make better experiences. So that's all. Thank you so much for the work that you did. This is not an easy ball to roll up the hill, but I appreciate you doing it. I'm complete. Go ahead.

195I just had to remind you, we're at 9:54. We're going to have to do a motion to extend. So, do you have something brief? Okay. My comment will be really quick. I just want to thank you for the presentation. I think this LCAP gives us a gleam of hope. I think as parents, um, it really gives us an opportunity to say this is what we can expect for our students. And I would like to see more of the alignment within our budget because I think it has to align because we don't want to make that confusion. We don't want to our community to think that we are talking to different languages. So to me it's really important that you know just as we have hope as parents here on the dis with you know everything

196that the LCAP can bring to our students that we are committing to ensuring that we follow through with these things but I really do appreciate the presentation. I know the hard work that has gone out so thank you and that's my comment. Thank you very much. Okay so for my comments thank you very much. This is marketkedly marketkedly marketkedly improved. I really deeply appreciate it. I see how much work went into it. I really thank you. Um I would like you please to check the numbers that public advocates called in again if the budget for 2526 is an absolute duplicate of uh 242 um or from 23 and 24. So, I just want to make sure that they're that you are critically looking and not just copying over. Um, I also I want to share

197the newcomer comment and the comment about schools that don't have uh English learner support. I mean, that is like kind of stunning. It's like back in the olden days when I went to school. Um, so we need to figure out what how to support those students, whether they're moving to a different school, maybe they transfer to Richmond, how they're identified, how they're supported. I'd like to see the toolkit. Um, I think teachers need to see it. Um, because I'm on just at a recent conversation, not an awareness that anything was uh even present for students. Um, and uh, that is all I have. And seeing nothing else, I'm going to close the public hearing at 9:57 p.m. Okay. So, now to the board. We're at 9:57. We have two additional items. We have the budget

198public hearing, which must go tonight, and we have the quarterly update on Kennedy High School, and we have a small consent item that I pulled. What would the board like to do? We have to hear the hearing tonight. Do we want to table the Kennedy Richmond siege update to next week and let people go home? Does someone want to make an a motion with an idea? I can't extend past the 10:30 timeline. So, whatever we need to move and adjust the agenda to fit in, I'm not able to stay past 10:30 tonight. So, is there a motion to extend to 10:30? And do you want to table the Kennedy Richmond stage update? We do have three. You could leave early if you wanted to if Trusty Gonzalez is going to stay on. Um, I'll make

199a motion that we extend until 10:30 so that we can hear F2 and the pulled item from consent and then we close the meeting after that. I'm I'm sorry. Okay, just to clarify, I heard your motion. We have to have a quorum in person. Um, so Trusty Smith can't leave. So I think we're going to be done at at 10:30 as you said. Um, okay. So, you want to hear budget and you want to table Kelly Richmond siege. Yes. And and so we can hear also the pulled consent item. Okay, great. Uh, okay. Is there a second on that? I'll second it. I'll go to the vote. Student trustee Espanosa Jr. Yes. Trusty Baron. Yes. Yes. Trusty Gonzalez. Yes. Trusty Smith folult. Smith fault. Yes. Yes. So it carries with Trusty Hernandez absence. Okay. We're

200up to budget. Good evening. Okay. So I need to open the public hearing before we do that. So you guys are ready to go. And here here we go. Opening I'm opening public hearing for the 25 26 annual budget of the West Contraosta Unified School District. The order will go like this. I will make my opening comments which I'm doing now. Staff will make their presentation. board will ask questions and then uh we'll take public comment uh take additional comments from the board and then close the public hearing. So the public hearing is now opened at 10:00. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to present the 20 2526 proposed budget. Um, before commencing in earnest, I do want to recognize I'm joined by Jeff Carter, uh, who is supported by a very hardworking and

201gifted staff. Also want to recognize, uh, Dr. Morris. Uh, excuse me, getting nervous. Dr. Moses. Um, do appreciate the guiding hand that she has given during her tenure as the interim superintendent. uh her passion, her leadership is uh to be commended and recognized and uh personal thanks on that. Next slide please. Uh this is a uh presentation within the context of a larger budget cycle in the interest of time and knowing that you have seen a version of this slide before we'll uh uh skip to the third slide please. uh as I think is understood by most in the audience uh the school district's budget is a predicated upon uh the funding that we receive from the state uh as uh has been the case. January's budget uh proposal from the governor suggested that there

202would be a more robust economy to support the state's uh initiatives going into 2526. In the course of the spring, uh matters have turned. The revenue forecast for the state has become more murky and as a result, our funding has been reduced from what we had anticipated based on January to now where we stand uh based on the May revision which we received on the 14th. We are uh very much uh waiting to see what comes through the legislative process. The June enacted budget is due to come out next week. uh the forecast of materials with regards to the June uh enacted budget are not included in the presentation tonight. Uh we do not have uh factual information to be able to incorporate that. We remain optimistic and that is a um update we will

203plan on giving when we come back on June 25th to the extent that detail is known to us at that time. I want to turn it over to Mr. Carter. Next slide. Uh so on this slide, Governor Nuome uh addressed the uncertainty in the state budget at the May revision. Uh as as David spoke to, uh we are expecting additional revenues in 25 in 2425, but we cannot build those into our 2526 budget until the June enacted takes place. The only thing we've built in from the May revision is the 2.3% cola for 2526. Uh hopefully that means that our forecasted revenues are slightly understated. Um but we won't know the restrictions on those those dollars or where they can be spent uh until the enacted budget. Next slide. Uh so this slide is also

204provided by the uh school services of California. Uh here they're pointing out the risks to the state economy and the state budget. Uh if any of these factors change, the state budget could be revised, which would mean that our district budget would also need to be revised. Uh the big three revenues for the state are personal income tax, corporation tax, and sales tax. All three of which are expected or projected to be down uh going into 2526 uh based on Gav Gavin Newsome's um May revision. Next slide. in term let's actually go to the next slide still. So the determining factors for a school district with regards to the local control formula uh which by the way now 10 over 10 years old are matters related to enrollment and ADA. Uh as folks I think

205are very well aware the LCFF replaced what used to be a very intensive categorical funding. uh at this moment in time English language learners uh low-income students foster youth are thought to require additional uh resources. So as uh this formula works, we have uh projection factors again uh being a little redundant here, but enrollment ADA and the unduplicated pupil count. Uh those values are then uh if you will multiplied against a a the base grant as well as the uh gradespan adjustments and the supplemental in concentration. uh those um values, if you will, those those outcomes are then adjusted on a year-over-year basis based on the cost of living adjustment. Next slide. Uh in the course of tonight's presentation, quick as it is, we will touch on on executive summary. In the materials that h

206have been submitted, you will find not just the executive summary, excuse me, not just the executive summary, but also a summary of all funds. We uh are in compliance with the state's requirement to use the SAX form, the standardized accounting, and there is included a multi-year projection. Next slide. Uh so these are factors that went into our budget development. Uh as you can see transitional kindergarten is slightly increasing due to our expansion in 2526 to TK at every school as well as uh an additional expansion at schools that have the demand to take the the attendance and enrollment. Uh cost of living adjustments or COLA has decreased as you saw on the previous slide. onetime funds uh will be that are used for ongoing costs or will be uh expiring or exhausting over this three-year

207budget period. There's been an increase to our utilities, our property and liability insurance and service contracts uh which is just uh the cost of business going up and our indirect costs which is in a way a revenue as well as our funded ADA are both going down. So, these are all factors that go into our three-year budget projections and estimates for 2526, 26 27, and 2728. Next slide. Uh, yeah. So, this is the effective cola. Here on the left, you'll see our revenues that are estimated for 2425 and our revenues that are projected for 2526. Uh, you'll see there's about a difference of $1.2 $2 million that is included with the 2.3% COLA that we receive. So even though we're getting 2.3% our ADA is going down to the point where we're effectively only getting

208a.37% increase in revenues. Uh in this in this box on the right you'll see our ADA funded ADA in 2425 at 23,622. You multiply that by the average base grant and you get about 252.8 8 or $252.9 million. You apply the 2.3% COLA to that $246. Uh that gives us a new average base grant and you'll see our ADA in 2526 is going down to 23,184 based on our three-year average of funded ADA. Uh you multiply that out and we'll get 253 million.9 uh in revenue. So you'll see that's only an increase of $1 million or effectively a4% increase in our revenues. Even though there is a 2.3% COLA being applied to the averagebased grant because of our funded ADA going down on the three-year average, we are not receiving a full 2.3% COLA that

209you would expect to see. Had ADA stayed the same, we would have received about $6 million more rather than $1 million more. But with our ADA going down, uh, the COLA is not 2.3% more in revenue. It's multiplied by your ADA adjusted for TK. So TK is increasing. Uh, you'll see that 23,184 um, funded ADA is including the TK expansion that I referenced earlier. Next slide, please. So in terms of the structural deficit, I think this is uh one of the places to spend some time. Uh to be clear, the district is uh has presented an a 25 26 budget that is balanced. It is important to note though that that budget is not a structurally balanced budget. And the distinction to be drawn is that the uh available revenues are requiring the use of

210our fund balances in order to balance the budget. meaning in-ear reoccurring revenues are less than the in-ear reoccurring expenses and the in-ear non-reoccurring revenues are less than the uh non um reoccurring expenses in some what we're doing is using our savings to support the current operations. It is also the case that when you look at the multi-year forecast, the year 2627 shows a deficit that is not able to be solved by the reserves that we have in hand and in 2728 that deficit uh grows. Uh the this is a matter of some importance. I know the district has been down this path. However, the reserves are a hedge against risk. And I think it is fair to say that if we heed the language that comes out of the legislative analyst office or governor Nome's

211uh budget office, uh there is some uh hesitancy about the forecast and uh it is something that we will want to pay attention to on a go forward basis. That said, it is conceivable. uh we as yet as I said earlier don't know the revenues that will come to us for 2425 uh that may uh by way of the June enacted budget uh solve for the deficit that we have in 2627 fingers are crossed uh but we will we will see what comes from that next slide please uh I want to be real clear right a structural deficit is not ideal but it is and can be an expression of prudence uh the use of fund balance in this instance for for the district in its current uh state uh is warranted. I think the

212issue is over time how is it that the district uh adjusts the expenditure profile against the forecast revenues to be able to restore uh replenish reserves and uh solve for the issues that are driving the uh deficit such as it is. Next slide please. Uh so here over the next two years you'll see the current budget is slated to fully exhaust fund 17 with contributions to cover the ongoing structural deficit based on current projections. Uh in 2526 the approved fiscal solveny plan contemplates the additional $6.4 million in reductions uh for 2627 and with the need to for even further reductions to get to a balanced structural budget without relying on reserves for a structural deficit. Uh, next slide. On this slide, you'll see the beginning fund balances and contributions from fund 17 over the three-year

213period needed to keep the 2526 balance uh, budget balanced. Uh, 2627 will fully exhaust fund 17 unless additional revenues uh, help delay the use of fund 17. Uh, but you'll see that we are ending balance of $0 in fund 17 as of 2627. Uh, next slide. Uh this is the current fiscal solveny plan that was approved in 2425. Uh you'll see the 7.3 million in reductions that were made in 2425 for the 2 526 school year built into this budget and in the future 2627 reductions that are built into the multi-year projection uh which you will see are not enough to balance future years on a future on the next slide. So next slide. The factors impacting the structural deficit are articulated here. There are a couple other additional points. One is the increased uh

214contractual services. I would qualify that phrase to say potential for uh the decrease in COLA funding. I I would offer that there is reason to be skeptical about the state's ability to fund what they have forecast. Uh in the same way uh there is a positive in the context of declining enrollment. If our enrollment does not decline in the manner in which we have forecast or andor our attendance improves that will buoy our finances. Uh I think do think there are a couple uh other matters to be uh noted. One is that the multi-year projections do not take into account the sun setting of the parcel tax. nor are any of the ne uh currently negotiated agreements um uh is there a set aside for that purpose? And I as we go to the next

215slide please. Uh one of the things that I think uh has been addressed uh before this slide is worth repeating. Uh the escalating costs related to the general fund contribution to special education uh has been growing at a pace that outpaces the growth in revenues we receive elsewhere. meaning that non uh special education programs uh essentially are being drawn down in order to uh fund the necessary services to those students in need. Next slide, please. Bear with me. Next slide, please. Sorry for the interruption. Just a time check here. I want to appreciate the team for this great presentation, but given that we can't extend the meeting, we do need to save 10 minutes for public hearing comments. So, I'm going to ask that we succinctly review. We understand. Thank you so much. Next slide,

216please. Next slide, please. Next slide, please. Uh those last three slides are just the numbers that are contained in the budget. Next slide, please. This is the unrestricted general fund multi-year summary. So, the three-year plan on the third line, you can see the operating deficit of 26 million, 23 million, and $23 million over the next three years. Uh, our beginning fund balance and where we would end up without fund 17. The yellow line, fund 17 being transferred in to give us a 3% required reserve at as the ending fund balance in 2526 and ending the year at zero. Uh you can then see in 2627 2728 that we do not have enough left in fund 17 to offset the structural deficit and we will end at 18 million and 41 million over the next 3

217years. Next slide. This is the com this is the combined multi-year summary. Uh this is the unrestricted plus the restricted. You'll see that the dollars are a little bit higher because of the restricted fund balance in the components of the ending fund balance. Uh the restricted values of 60.6 6 58.7 and say 52.4 uh are what gives the combined multi-year summary uh a positive ending fund balance but still negative overall due to unrestricted. Next slide. Uh this is the upcoming partial tax revenues that end in 2027. An election will be needed to renew the current funded services related to libraries, counseling, and athletics. We cannot project the revenues for 2728 for the parcel tax until that renewal is approved. And we've also taken out the contingent expenditures for the parcel tax uh that must be

218removed for 2728. Uh and then staff recruitment and retention. We need to identify budgeted dollars to negotiate competitive compensation offers with our labor organizations. There is nothing in this budget uh for raises just step increases for 25 26 26 27 27 28 but no additional dollars for raises or benefits. In the interest of time, that concludes our presentation. Thank you for the presentation. Are there questions from the board? Okay, just a couple of clarific clarifying questions. So, how much better do you think this is going to get by June 25th? I think at this moment in time we're anticipating it'll be in the neighborhood of $5 million give or take. Okay. So that's not going to dent that's not going to dent a $41 million deficit. It would only impact I think at this juncture

219uh the 2627 uh deficit. Uh it is uh also equally true that the state um in giving some may take some away in later years. So we'll keep you posted. Um but we're hoping that net net it'll be in the neighborhood of 5 to 6 million positive. Any other questions? We'll go to public comment. Is there any public comment on the item? Yes. Our first public comment is Mark Mitchell. Uh Gabrielle Micheletti. Here are some facts pulled from a Saber report made by School Services of California comparing us to many surrounding school districts that we know our members leave to work at such as Pittsburgh, Antioch, Oakland, Mount Diablo, and San Ramon Valley. Let's see how we compare. We are 15th of 19 in average benefits contribution, 17th out of 19 in average salary, 18

220of 19 in average total compensation, 15 out of 19 for highest number of educators at or above step 10 in the last column, meaning 14 of the districts have more members with more experience. 18 out of 19 for hourly pay. Yet we're 14 out of the 18 um for unduplicated pupil percentage. Meaning we are bringing in more money than most of these districts. So where does this money go? Cuz it's not going to classrooms. It's not going to students or educators. And those districts got raises this year. So by next year's document, we're even further behind. One additional note, there's an error on slide 15. 45.25us 3.25 would leave you at 42 unrepresented management for the 2627 school year, not 43. You're welcome for saving you $200,000. Next public comment is Molly Maloney. Please unmute

221yourself. Good evening. Uh I'm Molly Maloney from Go Public Schools. We've analyzed the governor's May budget and it had really good news for schools. TK12 funding was largely protected with major new investments in literacy, TK, extended learning, and more. But the district's budget proposal does not incorporate any of this. Leaving out millions of expected funding leads to making rushed, opaque spending decisions later instead of strategic student centered plans now. This proposal, therefore, does not set the new superintendent or our students up for success. The budget should prioritize classrooms and direct student services, not consultants, academic growth, recruiting and retaining high-quality educators, and building family trust through fiscal transparency. Every district is facing uncertainty, but can choose to protect classrooms first. If this budget doesn't, it must be rewritten. Thank you. Next public comment is Sky

222Nelson. Hello board. I'm concerned about the parcel tax measure T renewal that's included in the assumptions here that it's going to be renewed. Um, if I understood correctly, it reads, the text reads, to maintain quality education with local funding that the state cannot take, including protecting core academics, attracting and retaining quality teachers, supporting science lab materials and activities, providing lower class sizes, preparing students for the workforce and college. We are at do increasing class sizes apparently. I learned today from one of the teachers. Um, and also purposely decreasing enrollment. they had three almost three classes worth of kindergarters and we only allowed two. So there's this disconnect in the narrative between what we say we're doing and trying to increase enrollment and these facts about uh blocking enrollment at this school and uh class sizes.

223So we need to get on the same page and make sure the public understands what the decisions that are really being made are about so there's not a miscommunication around perception for me for passing parcel tax measure T next year. Next public comment is Jane Kinster. Please unmute yourself. Hello. I'm worried that when I raise my hand, it mysteriously gets lowered before I get called, having me having to raise my hand again. I'm also worried about this beautiful LCAP that got presented earlier in the night to parents and they go, "Oh, that's so awesome. Let's go to bed. I'm tired and now we have this." They don't hear all this. I'm also wondering when have you actually ever went into um fund 17 and used the money because it seems to get bigger all the

224time. And as for enrollment, our school is small and our principal is killing us. Last year or this school year, we started with two seventh grade classes of 15, but he would not do a TK or a K, a another a TK or um do a full K. and we would have had a TK, two K's and two first grades instead of the combo TKK combo and first one two combo that would have been full. We had to bounce kids away. How is this equitable to our students and helping our students as the only school in North Richmond? I just I don't understand what's going on and how these things keep happening. We have 23 kids wanting to get in TK next year. Ronda, that's the end of public comment. Okay. Um, any comments from

225board members? Okay. I I have a comment. Can someone please check on what uh Molly Maloney said about baking in everything from the governor's budget? I'm assuming you baked everything in that you knew already. Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure of that. Any other com any other comments on the item? Okay. Well, I'm hoping for really good news between now and the 25th because otherwise there's going to be a lot of discussions about what rolls forward in future years. Okay. And with that, I'll close the hearing at 10:24. Thank you everyone. Moving now to the pulled uh consent item. That's me. It's fundraising. Uh what I'm concerned about my good friend SNAP raise. Uh so we have an item here from June 15th to September. Panol Valley High School athletics is going to

226use SNAP to fundra. Once again, I do not have a problem with the vehicle, but it's unclear to me who is doing the fundraising. Is it all of athletics as a group and then all the money goes into ASB? Is it individual groups within uh athletics that get to do it? Softball, football, uh basketball, baseball, like what is the structure of that? And if you do that, who's running it? Is it the athletic director? Is it parents? Is it foundation money? Like how is this working? Um, and then it's fundraising equity. Does VAPA get to do it? Do libraries get to do it? Do uh this seems to me to be quite different than just an individual club, Latino club raising money for a student event. So, those are my concerns about SNAP and this

227particular item. And um that's my concern. So, if someone wants to talk about that for a second or move the [Music] item, no one wants to talk about it. Okay. Well, I if someone from the board wants to move it, I'll move that we approve the fundraising. Okay. That's cons trusty Gonzalez Hoy who moved it. Smith's final second. Okay. So, there's a second from Smith FS. Um comments comment is is that this needs to get work on worked on. I'm going to take responsibility. I'm on the governance committee. We have so many urgent things. We can't even address this, which I actually think is really important. And so until we can address it fairly and equitably and think about it in the right way, again, I'm not opposed to fundraising. I just don't understand where

228we're drawing lines on who is doing what. Um, and with that, we'll kick off vote. Student trustee Espinosa Jr., yes. Trusty Bern, yes. Hernandez is absent. Clerkyana, yes. Trusty Gonzalez Hoy, yes. Trusty Smith holds Smith holds yes and I'm a no motion carries everybody yes one absence regular no and with that I think we've completed everything and does anybody have a 30 second comment seeing none last meeting before the end of the year thank you everyone will be out the time we meet again and boy did that go quick Everybody rest up because we're going to be right back at it very shortly. And with that, I adjourn us at 10:27. Enjoy the summer.