Board of Education Meeting | March 12, 2025

001good evening everyone welcome to the March 12 2025 regularly scheduled meeting of the West contracosta Unified School Board the meeting is called to order at 5:30 1 to access translation in Zoom please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen if you if you are here in Deon you may pick up a headset for translation in the back of 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 closed session items if you're here in the auditorium and you haven't already done so yet please submit a wccusd public Comet card which you can find on the entryway table or if you are participating via Zoom individuals will need to

002raise their hand in the Zoom app if you're accessing the meeting by phone press star9 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 civy 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 respond to items presented in public comment the items listed

003tonight for close session [Music] are conference with legal council existing litigation clear versus West Contra Costa Unified School District constra Costa County Superior Court case number N24 d135 3 student discipline for stipulated expulsions conference with labor negotiators public appying appointment is there any public comment on Clos session items Rosa is there any public comment on close session items there's no public comment great uh the board will is going into recess we'll be back at five at 6:30 thank you okay we're trying one more time can you hear me in the back on this side hands up if you can hear okay that looks good in the front on this side can you hear me hands up if you can hear on this side in the back can you hear hands up if you can hear

004okay good in the front in the front hands up if you can hear me okay are we are we okay can I see some thumbs if we're good okay okay we are ready to go then good evening to everyone welcome to the Open session of the regularly scheduled March 12 2025 meeting of the West contracosta Unified School District School Board board is returning from Clos session and I'm closing I'm calling Open Session to order at 6:48 p.m. to access translation in Zoom please click on the globe icon at the bottom of the screen if you are 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 will begin the public comment agenda item members of the public are invited to

005speak to the board on any matter that is not otherwise on the agenda but is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the West contra cost Unified School District please prepare now for public comment if you're here in the auditorium and you'd like to make public comment please fill out and submit a wccusd public comment card you can find them on the table in the entryway if you're participating via Zoom please raise your hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda if you're participating by phone please press star n 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 public comment here and de and one on Zoom public comment generally lasts

006for one hour the time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes in the meantime we will move on to the rest of our opening procedures two Pledge of Allegiance if you are willing or able please rise I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for [Music] all three land labor and body acknowledgement land acknowledgement will recog that we are presently on the lands of the chel MMA kin aloney peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy laal and body recognition and acknowledgement I acknowledge that the B of environmental exploitation and its systemic Injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies in the building of this country

007and its institutions I remember that black and brown people were born in founded working this land against their will for Generations I 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 AR West Costa Unified School District board anti-racist statement Contra Costa School District Board of Education is committed to the work of anti-racism the conscious and active effort to identify Challenge and correct racial inequities in the systems and institutions within our schools and Community racism explicit or implicit stands in direct conflict to the fundamental principles of wccusd education to carry WCC education into the future we recognize that we must continually renew and

008reflect on the roots of racism and develop new ideas to meet the times unjust ideas and policies and the racial inequity they produce have shaped us our schools and our society we strive to uncover unconscious bias and practice anti-racism as individuals and as board members we challenge ourselves to persist through this discomfort necessary for growth and learning to deepen our under our listening and examination of racism and oppression and to develop a strong understanding of how our personal experiences and feelings fit into the 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 with each students staff member and Community partner as a respected and valued member of the wccusd community we are uniquely positioned and it is our responsibility to

009identify and dismantle racist ideas and inequitable policies in ourselves and across the district therefore we commit to supporting anti-racist policies and programs and practices for our children's education and well-being while building strong and inclusive School communities we commit to holding each each board me accountable towards these goals and moving the work of anti-racism forward we also commit to holding West contracosta Unified School District staff students and Community to living these standards of anti-racism in our schools board approved March 20th 2024 B5 roll call Dr Moses would you please take roll yes thank you good evening trusty Gonzalez hoy good evening presid trusty Smith folds good evening everyone present president reckler good evening I'm present clerk andana good evening present trusty Hernandez is absent this evening student trustee Baron good evening present and student trustee Espinosa

010Jr good evening pres thank you that concludes the roll call president reckler order uh I'm getting notifications that it's really difficult to understand you on Zoom it's it difficult to understand me or to understand everyone well I can't I can't understand you either in the in the in the um Auditorium but that in Zoom is difficult to understand you okay let's uh is anybody here on Zoom can you hear answer is yes okay please monitor that okay okay okay B7 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 contracosta Unified School District public comment will last approximately 1 hour the time allotted to each speaker is 2 minutes should additional speakers

011remain at the conclusion of 1 hour public comment may be extended the time allotted per speaker beyond the first hour is generally 1 minute individuals wishing to speak please submit a wccusd public comment card or if participating via Zoom individuals will need to raise their their hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning of this item on the agenda if you are calling in by phone press star9 speaking time shall not be transferred from one person to another there is no substitution of speakers speakers can also make public comment again for each discussion and action item on the agenda after staff presentations the public will have 10 minutes per item and 1 minute per speaker the same protocols apply public comment period is a safe space where diverse viewpoints may be expressed civy without

012interruption 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 respond to items presented in public comment is there any public comment yes our first public comment is Lizzie Oriana over here hold on okay I am a 10th grade student at Kennedy High I'm here to speak on behalf of my fellow students and teachers that will heavily be affected by the cuts it's important for you to know that by cutting some of these programs you will be taking away many opportunities for students by eliminating the tech and healthies you'll be jeopard

013izing the future of many young adults who are aiming for those professions the health Academy gets people ahead in their studies and prepares them for their medical future young adults achieve the skill of drawing blood and getting CPR certified it gives them the knowledge that freshman college students won't have unless they took that course getting rid of that program jeopardizes the future of medicine setting back many students who are going into med school we are always in a shortage of doctors so why are you threatening our future doctors by limiting their education your rash decisions jeopardize the future of medicine in our community Community you are rational adults making unnecessary Cuts just like there's a shortage in doctors there's a shortage in teachers getting rid of more teachers is putting students in a horrible situation

014where they won't have teachers educating them if there aren't any teachers then who will teach the students who are going into professional fields and will one day be in charge of everything students and staff should not be making speeches on why this is wrong you should know that off the top of your heads if your common sense is telling you that this is wrong and you make the cuts regardless of what everyone is saying then you obviously don't know what it's like being a student in today's day and age you will shame yourselves if you take these opportunities away from us we deserve more thank you I'm sorry before you move on I skipped report ratification of closed session B6 so just for a moment if it's okay with everyone I'd like to to ask

015the superintendent if there's anything to report out from closed session thank you president there is no report from closed session great okay we may continue with public comment thank you everyone our next public comment is Andrew wil please unmute yourself can you hear me can you hear me yes okay first of all I'm just going to say you have like a $20 million theater this District just built in panol with the state-of-the-art sound system but you're fussing around in Deon it's it's it's silly um go to your one of your facilities that can can adequately be heard in okay us I need to point out some stuff aboutus first of allus some of our schools have been doing them for decades this is work you pin getting that the teachers have been giving you on

016our backs not on your little 1.5 over is okay so you have no idea what it's taken you don't know because you have not built nothing we have built programs on these things that the kids use and need and benefit them greatly and benefit our district out out going outside of our contract and now you slap Us in the face after people have been doing it for decades we've been doing it for like seven eight years at Rich Mah high and after we've done all this work you just slap Us in the face it is ridiculous the value you get for those overages goes Way Beyond what those overages cost you next thing me specifically this is now going on the third year that we have had money at Richmond High School and all our

017schools to hire other music teachers this is the third time I have gone out of my way on my free time to do hr's job to find a candidate to come help me at that school where I teach six preps and have built multiple programs for nothing and with the third year in a row I'm being told we can't hire them we don't have the money you got $175,000 sitting in our prop 28 fund that's supposed to be sent on Personnel I have a person write them a contract or you could look at what's going on in LAUSD $77 million lawsuit for misuse of funds stop abusing me stop abusing my work I don't know why you don't want me in this District it is ridiculous I am a top performer good night F our

018next our next public comment is Alias Avalos in 1968 Cho students protested for the right to equal education they were they were placed underfunded schools denied the same opportunity as their white peers and left to struggle in a system that s them as less serving we find ourselves in that exact situation here in wccusd why is it that Richmond High School John high school and this and schols in this area of Richmond are depleted of their resources and their facilities While others are constantly renovated and receive tons of pram programs our funded our fundings are cuted by millions year by year by year but yet we see no benefit to our schools but we see the constant reestablishment of others John F Kennedy High School Richmond High School and Stage Elementary all have something in

019common is that their facilities have not been updated in over 50 years mind you sieg Elementary School was moved to this same middle school here at laan dejan Middle School only due to the fact that after 81 years a leakage of asbestos a cancer causing mineral was was found in that same facility how is it that we are putting our children in danger and you are sending them here cramping them with more students this is not a place where students can Thrive and learn you are depleting these children of what they're capable of and I'm here to tell you that we will not stand for systematic oppression in this city we will not stand for any other ways that you oppress us that you discriminate against us you reduce our funding I'm here to tell

020you that we will stand together and we fight against whatever causes you to think less of us thank you our next public comment is Christina KS please unmute yourself good evening board members I speak as tonight as an educator as a parent and as an Alum of this District cutting positions along with 90 more positions planned over the next two years is not just a budgetary decision is a decision that weakens our schools and our community we rely on these jobs to stay in our community and these job these Cuts make it harder for everyone to thrive here we are already losing students nearly 3,000 since 2019 families are leaving districts with more stability and opportunity these reactive Cuts don't stop the bleeding they make it worse when families leave funding follows creating a cycle

021of instability and what are we cutting programs like Hands-On CTE program special education and support systems CTE students are engaged and prepared for real careers and taking away programs from middle schools and not committing to these grants takes away planning for their Futures in high school meanwhile the cost of living here continues to rise housing costs are 82% higher than the national average by cutting instead of investing we make this District less appealing and not just for our students but for our entire Community as an educator is incredibly ult to remain in this community when I don't know if I'll have a job until June and by then it's too late this leaves our schools filled with open positions at the start of the Year long-term substitutes and instability for our T teachers and students

022alike how can we expect to retain Educators and be appealing when we are forced in this climate if we truly are a Community School District you need to listen to your community who is asking you to speak up for them we need real long-term 30-year plans that are committed to matching funding sustainable funding and invest in our students Kennedy High School students I am so proud of you for standing up for your community students and families this District belongs to you and I encourage you to continue standing up for your community we need a strategic leader not rash decisions that are reactive thank [Music] you our next public communist Kaye gkin hello board members staff teachers and fellow students my name is Kaylee and I am currently a sophomore Kennedy High School a month ago

023we began to hear about a severe and imminent threat to our community at Kennedy since then we have rallied together protested spoken out and worked together to make sure you hear that we are not okay with what is happening and something needs to be done even even if we were to accept your misleading data which you are using to manufacture a financial crisis it is important to take into account the specific students and Educators these Cuts will affect the majority of cuts have been proposed for Kennedy and Richmond High School two schools made up of many lowincome students the programs the district funds help produce are an important part of ensuring the best Futures possible these programs are also a key part of our schools and the communities within them an example of this is

024our cies at Kennedy which make up half of the electives the woodwork pathway was able to help the drama club last year prepare the set for their performance meanwhile the Internationals Academy helps around half the students at Kennedy get the best education possible and graduate even though English may not be their first language and the health Academy has helped me realize that I have lots of interesting options for a career that can help me make an impact the proposed Cuts pose a threat to Kennedy Community as well our community at Kennedy is fostered by the wonderful teachers who give everything to help us every day removing teachers in almost every Department would cut into that sense of community by removing places for students to feel safe and be themselves speaking of students the cuts of

025classes and staff would reduce would the number of students per class will go up at least 10% with an average of 40 kids per class which is a violation of the teachers contract and inequitable if there are if there are less classes offered as well as less teachers where will the Overflow of students go my favorite part of Kennedy has always been the powerful community that we become when we work together for something we believe in seeing everyone March make posters spread the word and come speak here today shows how strong that Community really is please reconsider these cuts for the sake of the students teachers and Community against them our next public comment is Edith Jordan mccormic please unmute yourself good evening board please forgive me I literally just put some food in my

026mouth my name is Edith Jordan McCormick and I'm the principal of the Vista family of schools and I came here today because I want to thank the Chamberland Foundation um my colleagues and Unbound Ed um I've been encouraged to share the Vista story so it's time um Vista High School is an incredible alternative education center that's existed since 1987 I ended up the principal there in July of 2018 and I'm not going to lie I remember crying and I spent a whole year apologizing because the power of Vista is you can't just walk in the building and just be you have to learn how to survive within the independent studies world and what makes the school so unique is you cannot directly transfer you cannot just walk in and say you want to go there

027we go through such an extensive vetting process to make sure that the school is such a right fit for the students and the families and I want to thank the families who have come out and just really spoken about the work that we're doing in November of 2018 the then teachers were so kind and they gave me this virtual project to work on and so I had the pleasure of doing the first iteration of the virtual school in November in 2018 and I wanted everyone to know that because we were never a covid school we were a planned response to a crisis and we did a really good job and what I want to encourage everyone on this board to do is to really re reach out and listen to the to families I know

028we're going through a really hard time with budget cuts but when something is really working allowing it to have its own voice allowing it to be a part of the school even though it a oneoff everything we do there is different and we know it but we share in the work with everybody and again I'm asking that you just please give the families their voice and choice and reach back out to them to make it clear about what the plan is going to be for Vista and the Vista family of schools thank you for your time our next public communist Kelly Cary good evening board trustees superintendent Moses and cabinet members my name is Kelly KY and I'm a proud kindergarten teacher at Pur K school tonight you here from teachers staff parents community members

029and most importantly the very reason we show up every day are students let's take a moment to recognize the incredible people in this room thank you for all you do I am here tonight with a clear and Urgent Message resend the budget cuts these cuts are not just numbers on a spreadsheet they are losses that will be felt in every classroom by every student and by every educator who works tirelessly to create a better future stripping away resources weakens our schools D disrupts vital support systems and sends a dangerous message that Educators is not priority our students deserve more not less we cannot claim to have prioritize education while gutting the foundation that holds it up we need leadership that defends our schools not dismantles them I urge you to make the right choice rese

030reverse these cuts and invest in our students our teachers and the future of our district District our students are watching our community is watching now is the time to lead with courage when we fight our next public comment is Marie please unmute yourself please unmute yourself okay hello can you hear me yes okay uh good evening um the Board of Education my name's Marie um I spoken several times I am a parent of two special needs children and I am also a speech therapist in the district I am um asking you to please dig down deep in your heart to consider taking away the budget cuts those are going to deeply impact our students in every school in every way I ask you to look at other Alternatives I know there has to be a

031rainy day fund somewhere there is money because I know that when I was going to all the stge meetings all of a sudden there was money so that you know this whole new um relocation school could be set up and I'm like where did all this money come from aha it was somewhere in a r day fund so I just know that if you guys really look down at the budget and look at these different funds there is money somewhere please stop the budget cuts also I'm asking can you guys please restart the sub budget committee um I understand that it stopped a while ago but in these committees I understand that you guys are able to talk to the different unions and to different people and you can come together you can speak to

032the teamsters and to the utr um reps and you guys can discuss things because from what I'm seeing there's no discussion between the different um the different organizations and when there's no communication that is when all the breakdown happen rumors happen but I really urge you please start to communicate thank you very much our next public comment is Mark Mitchell well I didn't sign up for this public comment I signed up for the agenda items so I signed up for the consent agenda president reckler the problem is that Mr M sign up for C9 which is in consent so we don't do public Comon in consent so that's why I had asked staff to put in public a regular public com is that okay Mr Mitchell yes all right good good evening uh president reckler

033and uh superintendent Moses uh board and cabinet uh I wanted to address the um the issue of the uh letter of concern issued by the district to a method Charter Schools um regarding um the middle school they run in our district the the letter is a good start IT addresses one significant area of deficiency of that Charter organization and that's finances but there are other significant areas of concern the letter does not addressed so I would ask president reckler and Dr Moses to request the file from Oakland Unified School District which just uh revok the charter of a uh sibling Charter School in that District run by the same Charter maintenance organization um there are significant issues regarding governance self-dealing uh the appearance of corruption family members getting contracts and being placed on the board

034of governance um so those issues were of utmost concern to the Oakland Unified School District which in fact revoked the charter of this uh Oakland Charter High School um those same issues exist for the Richmond Charter Academy because it's run by the same Charter maintenance organization it's not a separate organization here in Richmond it's the same group so I would ask that another letter of concern be issued in that regard there's also a very suspicious pattern of student achievement going precipitously upward from the 2223 to the 2324 school year after years of less than acceptable student achievement below District standards all of a sudden student achievement uh skyrocketed um the year that the charter is up for Renewal but that is uh very suspicious because the number of students tested is much much less than

035the previous year seeming to indicate that they could have just tested the higher performing students while the others were not perhaps tested we need to look into this and hold this Charter accountable thank you our next public comment is Zan Harrison please unmute yourself good evening boy thank you guys for um letting me speak um I just want to say that there's some new policies going on right now that is calling people to have to um have to um put in requests for trips and programs and things that where you taking eight weeks six weeks and we're eight and six weeks in the school year you can't get a program or an activity and most of these things are that are being stopped are things that are affecting black and African-American children and I'm concerned

036the HBCU tour at Richmond High has been stopped because there's a request for fingerprints and that's new there's um vendors that's servicing our children that have been stopped because now we have a new way of fingerprinting and I feel starting that in the middle of the school year when we're waiting on Services is a disservice to our children and whoever decided to do that and then put these weights parents are not being able to go on Title One trips that we should be able to get training for so we can better serve and work in partnership with the district I just feel that this has created chaos it's created a way that our children won't get things that they are they're supposed to get and then the money can re be reallocated to something that's

037nothing to do with our children and I feel that the district should have thought about a better way to enroll this out so that the children won't be getting harm that we can um get the needs met of fingerprinting without it being a new system that's going to take eight weeks and take away from our children's activities and take away from parents um training experiences that we are supposed to be planning in August so if we're going to do a new system of how we pay we should have rolled it out so vendors and parents and students can have that information in a timely manner where the money is not allocated because we didn't have the information we needed I'm complete our next public communist Sky Nelson I think what we're up against is a

038lack of cre ity it may feel like we have options no options we feel like we have no options I don't buy that in the past month since realizing that community building is Central to the budget crisis handed out flyers to a thousand people connected with parents teachers and students started a new online group each day I'm overwhelmed by the number of things I could do to help got a few suggestions go where the people are GR stores movie theaters Chuck-E-Cheese every interaction is a chance to make people feel like they matter second stand with us in challenging the unfair school funding system based on average daily attendance challenge Ada instead of just telling us to cut back tell the state and the people of California that this is not working third show the community

039respect use your your influence to boost attendance at board meetings improve the zoom experience so people aren't scrambling to unmute and consider moving your seats down from the stage stand with us Community is fun and creative if you have the words with you in the back I'd like you to sing with me [Music] I'm a Dreer but I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us our next public communist Pedro please unmute yourself good evening everybody especially the students in the auditorium the teamsters and the utr board you have failed this students and they're here to let you know that you're failing them you're spending way too much money on consultants and other stuff that's where your cut should start I'm a taxpayer I'm a property owner my taxes are being wasted you

040shouldn't be taking away the programs like you've taken the trades training for from the high schools you're taking more now that's just failing the students and I guess the best uh thing to do is is to cut Consultants have the people in those positions do their job make sure your contractors are doing their job and not give you something deficient and then have to spend more money to fix it you you know Robin Williams said at best politicians are like diapers you need to change them frequently and if you don't correct this attitude and uh not giving the students what they need it's for you for the board to be changed cuz this is ridiculous you cut and cut at the lowest wages instead of cutting from the top where you have the Surplus thank

041you our next public comment is Mariana calvario please call the next speaker Mariana calvario good afternoon ladies and gentlemen my name is Marana calvario and I'm the vice president of the class of 2025 at Kennedy High School I'm here today to express my frustration towards what the district with the decisions that the that are being made at The District board which is not only affecting the our teachers but our future of our students who will walk through Kennedy doors at the at the recent board meeting the United teachers of Richmond shared that the district is legally required to save 3% of their funds as a reserve however the the latest cour show that the district is saving four times that amount this is not only a misuse of our taxes but also the money that

042that should be reinvested in our education it it feels as though the very thing that we need the most better resources for our students is the last thing on your minds Kennedy is a path Kennedy's pathway such as ITA Health welding and others are what makes our schools stand out these programs are the reason why people people even consider Kennedy when they talk about high schools so why are we looking to take them away the ITA Academy has a profound impact on me personally not only because not because I'm passionate about technology but because of the environment Miss Perez one of the teachers you want to cut off from the from day one in her class I've been encouraged to explore my creativity step out of my comfort zone and learn valuable skills such as

043computer literacy editing and phot manipulation as a student who gives tours to newcomers many of whom are non-english speakers I've seen firsthand the relief they feel when they're introduced to a Spanish speaking teacher it makes a huge difference in their transitioning to a new school and it's something you can't put a price on in conclusion I ask you to reflect on what truly matters the future of our students and the quality of Education we have our next public communist Sundeep please unmute yourself good evening can you hear me can you hear me okay good evening board members my name is s surge buy I'm a parent of three students at the vista virtual schools I'm here to stress today the positive impact the school's made for our family and the importance of keeping our teachers

044every year I've spoken and every year we've lost more teachers I'm tired of being reduced to nothing I feel like our school needs some mercy um we're dwindling away at your hands you have money it's somewhere it's being misrepresented please look deeper into those pockets and please give our teachers back they have made such an important contribution to my kids' lives I have the most personalized education I could ever ask for that I can't find in a in-house school where my kids had to go to school every day they're schooling from home they have personalized education they have a a teacher that actually cares about them knows them so well and can walk them through any item they're having difficulty with the teachers are amazing at Vista you can't keep these teachers out of our

045hands I feel for Kennedy I feel for Richmond I feel for all these other schools but I really am hurt at seeing my school dwindle away we have lost so many teachers over the past few years just please so some mercy thank you our next public comment is jesis Viera Sanchez good evening board trustees and everyone here tonight my name is Jes V Sanchez and I'm a senior at Kennedy High School I stand here before you tonight not just as a concerned student but as someone who is angry angry at The Reckless decision to cut our teachers the very people who shape our futures these cuts are just not are not just numbers on a budget sheet they are real people mentors role models and Educators who decide who dedicate their lives to helping students

046succeed now they are being pushed aside as if their work doesn't matter but let's be clear this isn't just about teachers losing their jobs it's about students losing their education it's about overcrowded classrooms exhausted teachers in a school system that values cost cutting over quality learning my young brothers are still in this District what kind of future are they being left with future fewer teachers mean less students uh less attention for students fewer programs and weaker education for the next um generation we are told that Educators that education is the key to success so why are we slamming the door shot on those Who provided why are we treating education like an expense instead of an investment these decisions don't just hurt teachers they hurt students families in the entire community and here's what makes

047it worse these teachers dedicate their entire lives to these students they work long hours they spend their own money on supplies and in the most tragic situations they are conditioned to take a bullet to protect us they are asked to put their lives on the line and yet they are treated as as though they are disposable I refuse to accept that this is the best that the district can offer us I refuse to watch my brothers my peers and future students pay the price for decisions made considering the not considering their Futures these Cuts take away not just jobs but opportunities dreams and the promise of a better tomorrow you must do better our next public comment is hey1 please unmute yourself please unmute yourself good evening school board members I'm here tonight to address

048the critical need for increased awareness of Vista Virtual Academy currently Vista Virtual Academy suffers from a near zero public awareness this is a significant missed opportunity for our district just this week we welcome two new elementary students one coming from a charter school demonstrating the clear overlap and demand for virtual option this lack of awareness is concerning especially when we consider the challenges some families face we know that in-person learning isn't always the best fit for every student chista Virtual Academy offers a safe flexible and highquality online learning environment that could be a Lifeline for students facing issues like bullying re-engaging the disengaged students or needing Alternative Learning my concern first transfer office inconsistencies we've had numerous reports of inconsistency including misinformation regarding School closure this directly impacts enrollment and we need to ensure accurate

049and timely information is provided second communication team potential Vista Virtual Academy is viable and in demand solution for our district community and students it offers a powerful concrete and long-term sustainable solution that could benefit the entire J district with more enrollment and funding it offers a powerful strategy to reverse enrollment decline Aid in teacher Recruitment and Retention and re-engage the disengaged student population through the learning coach model enrollment equals funding at at approximately 23,000 per student the return on targeted marketing for fista virtual is substantial capturing just one % could mean 26 million for NE our district and neighboring four neighboring districts or 35 million for our district and neighboring 7 District I want to ask you how do we leverage the com team to send out a parent Square announcement so people know about

050the choice and how can the community effectively help and assist in raising awareness I will follow up with an email thank you so much our next public comment is Alexia Gonzalez next public comment is Jasmine centrance hello hello okay hello my name is Jasmine Sanchez um I'm currently a senior at Kennedy High Here We Stand today as a United Community demanding the education we deserve in January 75 teacher layoffs were approved and over 200 positions remained vacant and the district claimed that there would be no layoffs yet our teachers and programs are at risk that's money meant for our teachers our classrooms and our future I care about all of our programs all of our students deserve the opportunities given and the fact that you want to take that away is appalling our school has

051the most colored people with the most newcomers shouldn't we be supported instead of being left with breadcrumbs and the long end of the stick our education is non afterthought our teachers are not something to just throw away so we ask what are you doing to support your students what are you doing to protect our teachers and we are here we are watching and we will not stop fighting thank you our next public communist anet Boyd please unmute yourself please unmute yourself next public communist Michelle Seymour please unmute yourself hello can you hear me yes hello my name is Michelle Seymour and I'm the college and career counselor at Els Sero high school today I had a conversation with the director of HR where she informed me that being cut and I do not have a

052job next year she told me that because the board approved the solvency plan with the approved cut of one counsel or FTE that I am being that FTE and that I'm being cut she told me there's no funding for my position next year since I do not have a case load but serve all 1,441 students at ecchs by cutting me as a counselor you are removing vital counseling supports and services from an entire school by cutting me you have opened a college and career counselor position when the utr contract stipulates there must be one college and career counselor per High School site you will now need to fill my position if another counselor transfers in then their position is now open and after all the shuffling that could happen is done we are still left

053with an open counselor position that needs to be filled when we are already underst staffed and there are current ka8 counselor positions posted in edjin along with an empty point 7 at EC and several points over at other schools I do not understand how I'm being cut as your one counselor FTE I relocated here in August to your District over 400 miles and I cannot believe the dishonesty and lack of transparency I'm experiencing I chose wccusd because I thought they cared about the students and they understood the necessity of School counseling services the district has proclaimed that they want to give all students Equitable access to services and education but please explain how cutting counselor Services is accomplishing that goal furthermore the counseling department has offered up several opportunities for Grants to be uh committed

054and connected with you guys and you say there's no funds from no money or funds available but we're giving you options to take advantage of those funds and you are selling us no or making us wait I have loved being the college and career counselor for ECS and I'm sadly deepen that students next year will not have the same opportunities that students have had this year I would like to speak to the assistant superintendent of Human Resources to better understand the board's decisions our next public comment is cherish Starks School Gra our next public common is a brunetti please unmute yourself good evening can you hear me yes we can awesome I am here to uh discuss promoting our online virtual school by the way has everyone uh here in attendance or listening heard about

055the K12 Vista Virtual Academy I guess by now you have we've had a few wonderful speakers if not our District offers a K12 online comprehensive independent study program come check it out if you think it would be right for you and your child I thought that I'd put that plug in for us in our program uh because strangely many people in our district haven't even heard of us and that's why I'm here to promote our virtual program to be clear this is not a distance learning program but an alternative hybrid independent study program uh I also have a few I proactive ideas Dr Moses would it be possible for you to talk to all of your principles at the principal meetings and have them reach out to those families who have chronic absences and ask

056them to check out our program maybe we are better fit a better fit in for uh than in person excuse me for them in this way we would increase the Ada that we are losing from their absences and most importantly the students would actually be learning I have heard there's a fear that we are poaching from our schools but on the contrary if we were to enlist students with chronic absentee uh abs it' be a win-win for everybody secondly can we reach out to those students who are thinking about or already attending Charter Schools we're already serving students from other districts and I just got a couple new students this week that came from Charter Schools let's keep those students here okay uh let's get some of those uh who are not satisfied with our

057in-person offerings and give them better options instead of losing them to Charters let's get this program advertised to everybody in this District at every school and around the community so that everybody knows what we offer we are Virtual Academy we are the wave of the future we are successful we are an alternative school use us advertise us and I don't believe that any of the board members with the exception of one nor the current superintendent has ever even visited our classes definitely not mine our next public common is Julissa Bland good evening fellow board members I hope you are doing well today because I'd like to tell you that my school isn't in fact we live in fear fear for our teachers for my fellow students and for my future my name is Jula Lon

058a senior and Leadership president of Kennedy High School and I'm one of the organizers of our two student Le rallies I'm sure you have seen if you haven't gotten the message yet the proposed budget cuts as we have clearly shown hurt us you have seen and heard all of our voices yet you coward to do the right thing these Cuts will irreversibly change the future of our students and teachers every year the district makes promises our teachers won't be cut and yet here we are other districts stand with their teachers and have chosen no teacher cuts why couldn't the district do the same when will these promises be kept Kennedy High School is exhausted of receiving nothing why don't our schools in Richmond deserve the best you want student voices yet you get any chance

059to silence us our Pathways ITA program construction welding and the health Academy are in danger a future career path and example for our fellow district for our fellow students in this District my teachers have inspired me and pushed me to Greatness and I'm here on behalf of them the ones you refuse to answer to I ask of you to do your part because our teachers do theirs we ask you to listen and listen clear to the voices today who speak to you because these voices are the reason you all have a job you may have you may have the power but we have the voice lastly what are your values if not your District it's time to reflect it's time to listen it's time to adjust and it's time to say no to cut thank

060you our next public communist Julia Hart please unmute yourself can you hear me yes hi um I'm a parent in the district of hopefully a future West Contra Costa student and I was really disheartened to hear about all the layoff notices and budget cuts that were going out to teachers and then at the same time I saw on Facebook that you're hiring and what it reminded me of is what Elon Musk and his cronies and Doge are doing they're laying off people demoralizing the workforce your teachers are going to leave when they get layoff notices and at the same time you're going to need to hire them back so it really does not give me confidence as a parent that this District knows what they're doing I really hope that you will consider resending these

061layoff notices and budget cuts so we can give our students in this District the stability that they deserve thank you our next public comment is Emily Pacho Emily Pacho that's me I forgot my name thank you thank you thank you hey guys hey um go ahead go ahead raise your hand who knows how to multiply go ahead show me do you know how to multiply multiply I want to know do you know how to multiply what about some addition do we need to work on our math skills because I actually uh I happen to be a math teacher can I see any other math Math teachers in the house let's do it all right so we are angry you're annoyed go ahead and open your ears open your heart start figuring out where the money

062is where it went how to add how to subtract figure out what a percentage is so you can save a little and use it in the future for these amazing kids go ahead and give it up for okay my time's up thank you so much have a beautiful night everybody when we fight okay good night our next public comment is Harvey McNab please unmute yourself hello can you hear me yes we can my name is Heather Harvey McNab and I am the proud parent of two amazing children that attend Vista Virtual Academy where Teamwork Makes the DreamWork we shouldn't be sacrificing a quality education for our children by continuing to make Cuts wccusd is not giving our students and teachers the opportunities or funding and resources to grow this extraordinary program we could be welcoming

063students from neighboring districts but the district has not been supporting the school to create relationships with other districts we could be reaching out to families in our own District that are experiencing conic absenteeism and offering them an alternative way to learn by increasing exposure and gaining new enrollment it would only help bring more money to our district for increased attendant more Cuts again forc the reorganization of teachers and change the entire School structure leaving our children to pay the price and putting their education at risk you should be investing in our children's Futures not robbing them of the quality education they deserve these are the future members and leaders of our communities our children are thriving and without this program many children will suffer this program is truly unique and absolutely Irreplaceable cutting the elementary

064program in any way may save a few dollars but it will undoubtedly be at the sacrifice of the students current and future this did not only creates independent and successful learners but it also is a way to retain some students who would otherwise give up on school all together how unfortunate it would be to begin the path of taking away the one thing that keeps some of these students in school I implore you each you to reconsider the detrimental effects making these cuts to the Virtual Academy will cause to our students our teachers and our communities it is essential that our children our Future Leaders receive a quality education that prepares them for becoming successful adults I ask all of you to think long and hard about the decisions you are about to make your

065decisions will last a lifetime I am here tonight standing in solidarity with my fellow Teamsters as well as utr begging that you hear our voices and stop the plan layoffs and invest in our students our next fell comment is Daniel Lopez kundra Quadra Daniel Lopez Francis Fisher Francis araseli Velasquez okay sorry um um my name is arquez and I am a student at Kennedy High School I want to start off by saying that when I heard about these budget cuts I was not happy about it you expect your own children to have good grades have enough credits to graduate and learn new things in high school have EV have every night nice thing thank you have every nice thing that the district has to offer at their school but when it comes to other schools

066like Kennedy High School and Richmond High School specifically those two high schools you expect them to just keep going to school even when you take away our Pathways and get rid of teachers but how can students continue to keep going if you're going to get rid of our teachers have you thought about the new freshman how will they feel when they get to see ior year and find out they can't graduate because they won't have enough credits how would they feel when they find out they won't be able to experience being in a health class or welding even though they were told they would be able to experience that would you then be proud be proud of yourself for cutting off teachers getting rid of those Pathways will that make your ego feel any better

067you see yourselves all high and mighty that just because you have money and power to cut our Pathways we won't do anything about it but in reality you only have money you lack of power students at Kennedy High School and Richmond High School have the power because we are united as one when we set our minds when we set our minds to a goal we go for it together we don't want you to get rid of our electives and our teachers we will make sure you won't we will keep fighting for what is right we'll keep fighting not just for our sake but for our future our next public comment is Decker please unmute yourself please unmute yourself Decker next public comment is khawi Nar please unmute yourself hi this is kushal naren I'm a

068parent of a hill a student at Hilltop um I'd like to First just say thank you to Lizzie alas CI Mariana Genesis Jasmine cheris Julissa I might missed another one but all the students who have spoken today your voice is strong and powerful you are the future and I'm proud to be a part of a district that has student voice like this um to the board um I come here uh just asking you for a few things one hear the voices of your community it is clear that the decisions that were made in the last board meeting are not the ones that reflect this community and two um to do this to take action is to first actually stop and resend the cuts that are going forward and to actually have something that um shows

069the community all the thought and um all the thought criteria comparisons analysis done for what cuts need to be made I do understand that the district is in a budget deficit and there are tough decisions to be made those decisions should not come at the cost of our students and our staff who are working so hard tirelessly for our students um and so I ask for Clarity on why these Cuts why not something else does this actually represent the values of the district um and is this actually going to make a difference there's plenty of research that shows that mass layoffs are detrimental to any organization let alone school districts um the voices again are very clear here and I ask for a stop on the cuts Clarity and openness on the process for the

070budget um before moving forward with anything else thank you for your time next F comment is Finley Oriana Finley Oriana Michael Gonzalez hi my name is Micha and I'm from Kennedy High School I'm a sophomore and I'm here speaking to you today about what the school board is doing to our school and how it affects us in this District the School Board needs to understand that they are in control of our future and our Comm community and how it affects us and our teacher teachers at Kennedy High they want to take away our electives Pathways English teachers Math teachers and special educational teachers and for what just for you guys to get money and feel better about yourselves how does that make you have happiness knowing that you want to destroy people and how they

071want to become in their lives you have nothing but your money to make you feel better people that want to be in journalism theater band and Engineering won't have the community they have to be what they want to be when they grow up and for what just for you to have money in your pockets and feel better about yourselves this is Step this makes me angry because it's not even someone it is just a sub that wasn't even voted in her priority as a student that is in a lot of classes but there's no teacher just because of Subs cuz you guys want to cut I hate when teachers take their jobs too seriously and I hate when Subs especially take their jobs too seriously because you guys are not the bosses and you guys

072don't know anything I have learned a lot from the teachers that I have been in I know my rights and I know what I want to be knowing that I might not have body systems upsets me because I want to help people unlike you guys I just want to make people that I'm sorry if I can interrupt I believe we're at the one hour mark would you be able to tell us how many more public comments are left I'm sorry I can't hear that 36 board would you like to continue for another hour that's just in person what's can you tell what online okay so would you like so there's like 70 would would you like to continue for another hour at 1 minute per we'll start down at this end yes a strong yes

073yes sorry President we couldn't hear you what you I'm sorry would you like to extend public comment for one more hour at one minute per yes and yes okay yes okay go ahead we'll continue for another hour at one minute next public comment is Shelley Wharton please unmute yourself please unmute yourself good evening hi um I'm here in strong support along with many other amazing Educators and awesome student voices tonight um toin the budget cuts that have happened this year and um every year that I've been in the district um they are it's threatened um I'm a teacher in the Internationals Academy at Richmond High um it's I'm so proud to be a teacher in the international academy I've the best students and we Thrive because we have um a seven period schedule where our

074students are able to access electives um with those seven periods now that we are moving to six periods because of the budget cuts um students will not have access to elective so they'll have ELD as their only only choice um I don't see that as any way to dream or have access to um you know the choices that matter in this life um yeah anyway I am I'm here to um stand in strong support with my colleagues and the amazing members of the student body at Richmond High and Kennedy thank you next public comment is Rando Diaz Rolando Diaz Hector pz figeroa good evening members of the Board of Trustees my name is Hector fore gracias Miss Perez Mr reil Miss Danel Miss Yan Gara and Mr Porter and many teachers of our school okay

075I'll go ahead and allow it go ahead all right so many of us are benefiting from these Pathways benefiting from our teachers and all of a sudden you want to remove that okay look we all care for our teachers we care for our pathway ways and all those names I just mentioned you probably don't even know them you probably know them as oh the ITA teacher oh the history teacher yeah let's just get them away no they are our teachers like I said Miss bz miss Mr beill miss miss yanara miss Porter and so many others they are our teachers and we're not about to lose them our next public communist Carman Martinez please unmute yourself good evening board members students and community members my name is Carman and I'm a proud former WCC USC

076student a Richmond resident and a community advocate who has done workshops and trainings at these schools that is why I'm speaking tonight to urge you to reverse the devastating cuts that will destabilize our schools Harmon students and drive families and Educators out of our district that is not what we want these acmis and pathways are at risk of being eliminated these programs are lifeless lifelines for our students providing them with opportunities mentorship and career Readiness the district's recent communication claimed there would be no immediate teacher layoffs yet the resolution before you tells a different story the fiscal solvency plan originally called for the 26 reductions now that number has tripled to 75 utr Ed Educators with no communication or collaboration with the Union classify positions including aids with scals instructional support staff and other critical

077student resources are also on the chopping block yet Teamsters were not consulted either our next public common is Camille cachini good evening board members and especially the student board members I really appreciate you guys uh in what you do so thank you um my name is my name is Kil soluchi and I'm a parent of an El Sero High School freshman um who's been in the district since she was Kinder and um we uh love this district and we especially love the incredible teachers and staff that give tirelessly and extensively to our kids to make our kids Futures brighter um you have an incredible opportunity right now in a world of so much uncertainty to create some certainty things like signing the memorandum that's 94% 94.4% approved in this case you'd actually save money because

078that allows teachers and staff to plan next year instead of not having certainty and creating extra anxiety so please um Dr Moses sign this memorandum for them and take take the advantage of doing some our next public common is Crystal banagan please unmute yourself hi can you hear me yes we can thank you so much good evening everyone I wanted to come and speak again at this board meeting because um I can see how many people are passionate about these board Cuts but I have to say community I'm disappointed I feel like every board meeting there are so many people who come and yell at the board for things that might be beyond their control right you never know and these are Community people these are our neighbors as well that you're yelling and scaming

079at because they are doing a job and the real way that I feel you can make a difference is to get on your school's SSC get on your school's apack talk to your school's principal where are you guys at those meetings I don't see you I don't see students on the do cap we need students on these um boards and commissions I I'm with you but come on get with me boom our next public comment is Ron soon all right um I'm a teacher at Kennedy High School for 27 years go all right anyway uh first thing um I'm really concerned about the budget cuts the one that concern me the most should also concern the whole District as a whole that is a CTE Career Technical programs we cannot cut them that's a future

080of Education all right two uh can you guys actually trust the budget the district provided for example uh I kind of been looking at the actuals every year the actual number the budget numbers and if I remember correctly for four or five years running we run a what's the number $126 million uh cash balance all right so I don't know what happened to it all right maybe you guys should look at the numbers all right see what we actually our next public comment is C origon please unmute yourself please un can you hear me yes we can my name is Cindy I am a proud parent of three children who proudly attend Vista High School K through 12 Virtual Academy my daughter was introduced to Virtual learning through her first form of Education because of

081covid after seeing how successful my daughter Michelle was I knew this was something we wanted longterm now all three of my children have been getting their education at V virtual Vista Academy and excelling more than their fellow friends who attend other school districts this should be our priority for our district to keep funding and help promoting this school to other schools who have students with attendance problems or have had problems with learning in large classroom settings this will bring more Revenue to W ccusd I have so many parents interested in enrolling their kindergarteners and second graders after seeing my children's success in bilingual reading and writing mathematics and history knowledge but now I and other parents are concerned and angry to think that the people who we voted for please don't take away please don't

082take away my school or teachers be BR academ is our family keep our teachers our next public communist Kumi Yana Gara good evening board trustees and interim superintendent Moses ector gave me a pretty fantastic introduction but my name is kumana Gara and I'm a fourth year teacher at Kennedy I I teach in two areas that are affected by these approved budget cuts the science department which is losing one teaching position and the Internationals Academy nothing really said say we don't care about kids the way you'all have decided to only provide funding for Bare Bones graduation requirements in this day and age with the competition for higher education fiercer than ever before students take more than just the two years of science required to graduate high school our kids know that there is so much more

083that a public school education can offer beyond the bare minimum or there was until budget cuts year after year after year have stripped our schools to what we have today by only giving schools enough funding so their students can graduate with the minimum number of credits you're saying you don't care where they go once they graduate by not providing funding forem and Pathways you're saying you don't find Value in programs that support specific student wants and needs whether that be English language support or a future in the fields of medicine or Tech or welding or construction our next public comment is Maisha Harris gash please unmute yourself good evening can you hear me yes yes we can okay so one I want to say to the students of Kennedy High School you guys have been

084so inspiring the last two days and I want you to know that one of your classmates was on my case load and she is on the autism spectrum she has been in the streets with y'all today and she walked out with y'all yesterday so you don't know how great that is for her and her development as a young person also to the people who are going to be demolishing Kennedy you need to give us another day for Kennedy Alum to come y'all act like we don't plan our lives people got kids and grandkids and their kids have activities on weekends and you gave us very little time to plan for that y'all not g to tear the school down as long as we're in the building and I think at least Kennedy graduates on June

085the 6th so we need a date in April and whatever y'all need to do to pre-plan to demolish it fine but that is so disrespectful there's no care and no concern so I strongly encourage the board to push for a new date for Kennedy to come our next public comment is Christina wera thank you if you didn't hear my name is Christina wera I am a proud proud teacher at Kennedy High School and I'm here representing the hundreds of students at Kennedy who are being told that they do not deserve electives and a well-rounded education students who thrive in our career pathways are suddenly learning that their plans have to change because opportunities are being taken away those hired and elected to represent them have made decisions that destabilize schools how is it that so

086many who claim to serve this community don't understand what our community needs I hope you have listened to all the students and community members who've spoken tonight and if you need more clarity come to Kennedy sit down with our students they would love to talk to you listen to what they need and actually do the job you're supposed to do but if you decide to continue with the cuts then I'm sure I'll see all of you subbing at Kennedy in August our next public comment is Rodney alamoo Brown please unmute yourself can you hear me yes we can like to say good evening boy this is Rodney Alo Brown a community advocate here in the city of Richmond California I don't know if anyone NOS it but today is the fifth anniversary of the W

087West country Unified School District was shut down be it co uh and here we are talking about releasing teachers unfortunately as we all know there's districts that's around us that's dealing with the same epidemic of releasing teachers based on budget concerns I think we all need to come to the St strong real realization of what's transpiring not only in the department of education but what's going on within the sector of the White House as well we're all under immense pressure I think the board is doing the best that they possibly can as we know every so often these situations occur where there's budget cuts this happens but we all are aware of the proverbial kicking the can down the road and unfortunately these things have to happen in order for the school to continue as

088such thank you very much good evening our next public comment is Jeffrey Bean Jeffrey Bean next comment is dongne thank you you know utr recently made a 74 minute presentation to the Richmond city council sharing data and opinions and for all we know this was 100% accurate and to the point my concern then and now is that it this was a one-sided presentation to a council fully in support of their Partners in the utr no one from the district was invited to respond when I brought this up to Dr Moses she replied that she would be presenting at the next meeting that was last night and we heard and saw nothing if the district wants utr to be the only voice heard so be it the council came to this meeting predisposed to support their

089political Partners fair and balanced right trying to explain your viewpoints at these meetings is not the same the audience is different and and we really can't hear or understand what's happening here and that this could be a real needs to be a real discussion any anyone familiar with the checkout stand Tablo is familiar with the slogan inquiring minds want to know and this is certainly the case here by the way some members of that City Council have already reached out to strong armed board members our next public common is Claudia Jimenez please unmute yourself good can you hear me yes hi my name is Claudia gimenez I am Richmond City Council in district 6 and I am here to advocate for not having these cards I think the School Board needs to be more transparent

090to show the finances the real finances to the community as the last speaker spoke we have UT presenting uh some of the information and I had been asking ER the staff at the school board to send financing Finance information like what are the assumptions what are the balance sheet to be more transparent about what the really H finances are and see if these cuts are really needed I think the Board needs to be more firm to show that before making any cuts to the really need the services that we really need in our communities it will be a chain if the cuts are coming tonight without having this our next public common is Sarah KY my name is Sarah KY I have been teaching with this district for 33 years I have two children both

091who have gone to our Public Schools their whole life my son graduated from deanza he's a journeyman now he graduated in 2011 my daughter graduated uated in 20133 from Hercules high school they had so much more than what you are giving these children today it is wrong it is wrong they don't they had shop they had science teachers they had Math teachers now students go to science and math they have a Chromebook it's unforgivable it is not okay it is not okay I was a special ed teacher it is not okay that you are cutting speech and you're cutting one-on-one AIDs that will help autistic children be able to be in class in mainstream class you are hurting children my sign says help wccusd students don't hurt them you are respons our next public comment

092is Andrea Hernandez please unmute yourself hello can you hear me yes we can good afternoon my name is Andrea Hernandez I'm a third-year health teacher at Kennedy High School I'm also a wccusd Alum I graduated from Richmond High School in 2015 and I'm aoud product of the health Academy at rhs I started the health health pathway at Kennedy High School three years ago with only one class and I poured my entire heart into expanding the program and providing the best resources I can as a oneperson pathway I now teach three courses we offer Technical Training hands-on experience internship opportunities connections to local programs and so much more today as students walked out and arrived the district office they were not allowed to enter the building and on top of that all the windows were immediately

093shut they weren't giv the platform to speak their concerns or acknowledged but I'm sure you still heard them loud and clear stop trying to instill f with contradicting messages it isn't working students actions the last two days have demonstrated that students at Kennedy High School I'm so proud of you thank you our next public comment is Karen Armstead our next comment is Valeria Bona uh good night school board teachers and families uh my name is Santiago Rodriguez uh I'm from Columbia and I'm Valeria bar and I'm from Salvador and today we will speak on behalf of the students in Richmond High School International Academy to ask the they do not eliminate M and the international program electri classes allow the students to discover their talents and to prepare for the future we don't all learn

094a the same way unlimited or education harm us if you don't allow or school to have an mou then we can take an Alf the classes the international program is essential for those who have been in the country for less than two years if not only teaches English but also helps to integrate into the culture and adapt to the educational system without this support many students will face barriers that will H hinder their success we ask you to reconsider this decision or diversity is a strength and our and our education must reflect it thank you our next public communist Jackie aend Danel please unmute yourself he don't start the time my name is Jackie abendano and I'm an alumni from WC USD I went on to graduate with my bachelor's at UCLA and received my

095Master's in education from Stanford University I decided to return to my community to teach students at Kennedy High School who I see in myself just like my younger self students at Kennedy High School and throughout the district deserve qualified teachers and a quality education instead of trying to put fear in students who decid who decided to walk out listen to our youth at Kennedy High School and Richmond High who are using their First Amendment right to peacefully protest for what they deserve it is no secret that Kennedy is stereotyped frown down upon and critique for every little misstep it is no secret that our schools alongside Richmond High has been unjustifiable unjustifiably left on the back burner of the district's priorities and broken promises keep your promise to not cut teachers and support the work

096that passionate and caring teachers are doing at our sites at Kennedy we are risk and losing Pathways our next public communist Sarah to talkot please unmute yourself good evening to everyone my name my name is Sarah talot I'm a school psychologist at Lincoln Elementary I'm a wccusd LM as well grew up in what was then Richmond Unified School District that faced bankruptcy when I was in Middle School I'm here to speak out against the proposed budget cuts to our already underfunded special education program in particular to the cuts to our speech pathologists par professionals and Mental Health Services we need better training and support for our special education teachers and support staff who work tirelessly to support students with disabilities we know that the incoming presidential Administration does not care about us about educating Our

097Youth and especially not our students with disabilities I expect the leaders of this District representing some of the most diverse and Progressive communities across the country to do better for us our students and families deserve better thank you our next public communist Sue Wilson good evening Schoolboard I'm here tonight reading a com a a comment from city council member Sue Wilson who District 5 as well as myself Doria Robinson from city council member district 3 so we are here tonight to stand with our students and with the corageous utr teachers and to speak out against the budget cuts that will hurt West count West County student students and hurt the present and future of the city of Richmond meet with us my understanding is that the district has not met with the city of Richmond

098for almost two years in our collaborative space if we never meet we cannot explore how we might work together being an elected official I've learned very quickly that budgets are an expression of values and you fund what you believe in budget cuts to teachers and critical programs expresses that you do not believe in our teachers or our students or the communities they come from my invitation tonight is to all the elected officials whose residents will be affected by these cuts and next public communist Allan please unmute yourself I'm sorry we're moving on to public comment online go ahead please Alan please unmute yourself please unmute yourself next public comment is Zack Porter hello board members my name is Zack Porter um I'm a proud teacher and utr member I want to talk to you about

099Kennedy High School um even before the cuts were announced the situation in Kennedy was Dire programs have been cut mental health support staff have been pushed out hardworking and beloved leaders have been ousted from above our thermostats are broken our restrooms sometimes have no warm water and of course the vacancies our students sit patiently month after month year after year as teacher vacancies go unfilled until one day the class has collapsed with no explanation despite our students need in French or need ELD the district tells us there's no longer a vacancy um aancy by the way they didn't even bother post on Ed join the lack of care and attention and experience of gaslighting that follows from being told again and again that there are no vacancies we know there are makes these Cuts all

100the more painful I present to you 600 signatures that we collected this week six 600 sign I'm sorry put 10 more seconds on the clock for him he didn't start I'm sorry just hold for a second I'm trying to give you some more time yeah all right go ahead all right 600 sign signatures in just over a week um our numbers and anger are growing every day um we are committed to the fight uh there's no coming back from where you're going and we deserve better Richmond deserves better you must stop the cuts our next public our next public common is David B please unmute yourself uh hi I just wanted to uh just note that there was a budget committee uh that met on numerous occasions last year it included uh two trustees from

101the board uh representatives from the budget office and representatives from teamsters and utr they did a lot of work they did do a deep dive into the budget there were a lot of questions asked and answered um recordings of this are of every one of these meetings are on the wccusd YouTube page I would encourage uh everyone to actually go and watch those they were not very well attended by the public even though they were open to the public that's all I have to say next public comment is Amelia Calderon hi y'all I teach MAA Richman hi and I teach International kids and if you would please get off your phone Mr Hurst I'd really appreciate it my students know well how to use their phones and when not to use them anyways um I

102just wanted to say that not allowing us to have seven periods at Richmond High and same thing that Kennedy and Elso are dealing with it actually impacts our black and brown students the most cuz our kids who come from other countries have to take ELD classes so they won't be able to take choir Valia who just spoke she's not going to be able to take choir next year if you guys don't allow us to have anou my other student Alejandra won't be able to perform in band because they won't be able to take any electives they won't have enough a through G's so the anti based on your anti-racism statement please actions speak louder than words please don't do this let us have our M it's only 1.8 FTE more for Richmond High I know

103it's similar for the others just for the sake of anti-racism allow us our M thank you our next public comment is Jeffrey Bean please unmute yourself good evening uh Jeffrey being here I teach fifth grade at Shannon um I want to tell you about my first year in the district my first year I taught at Grant Elementary in Richmond and I taught third grade and the other one of the other third grade classes had no teacher they had no teacher until they finally found someone several months into the year until then they had a sub um the situation has not changed much in those uh 11 years every year or every couple years is a situation where there some drastic for of teachers I just I can't find people uh three years ago I had

104to have my class split up partway through the years due to cons consolidation uh then following year that same class had uh had a uh no teacher for a few uh weeks and we all know you know I know we all know that next fall we'll be again trying to find teachers so layoff don't make sense you know they don't make sense we all know that please resend these notices thank you our next public comment is Natalie walchuk good evening trustees and Dr Moses my name is Natalie walchuk from go public schools I stand here shocked and saddened to learn that District leadership denied or delayed $10 million in materials and services desperately needed by our students and Educators these free dollars would have provided for long overdue math curriculum and related staff training and

105vital Mental Health Services for our most vulnerable students sadly this these two examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to squandered and forfeited resources offered by Our Community Partners eager and willing to pour into wccusd the CR will only be solved by engaging our entire Village instead once again District leadership has pulled up its drawbridge freezing out our invaluable union members passionate families and dedicated Community Partners everyone who showed up tonight is working tirelessly to give our students all they need my question is are you are you willing to put your ego aside and give our Educators staff and students what they need to thrive anything less is a total failure in leadership our next public comment is Dana Ramos please unmute yourself please unmute yourself can you hear me yes

106we can hi my name is Dana Rama oop sorry um I am a parent of a third grader and also of a fifth grader who attends school with within this district and for the past two years they were both virtual students oh and for two years they were both virtual students at Vista I am also a former wccusd student and one of the first graduating classes at Hercules high school and we also had Cuts back in 2003 and I hope today that we can make the same change that we made back then for my babies the staff at Vista and principal McCormick and our entire Vista virtual family in recent weeks my daughter's teachers alerted us that our beloved Vista virtual school is at risk of being cut from The District this news shook my

107daughter and our entire family and every day my 8-year-old was worri sick and asking me if her school is going to be taken away from her my daughter has been a student at Vista since she began school back in the fall of 2021 she's developed relationships and bonds with her teachers classmates and even even with the screen in between the staff and principal have fostered relationships as well and my daughter is reading at a fifth grade level and receives our next public comment is Elizabeth Meers are you listening I'm Elizabeth Meers I'm a teacher Kenedy high school and part of the Internationals Academy a program that supports 75 plus newcomers unfortunately we have been told that due to budget cuts you are cutting essential components of our program this is wrong in addition in order

108to have effective Pathways andies we are dependent on adequate core Provisions cutting English math science and social studies disables Equitable access to Pathways andies what spec what specific actions will the board take to ensure that funding and resources for core subjects like English math science and social studies are protected to maintain Equitable access effective to effective Pathways and academic opportunities for all students I ask are you listening thank you our next public comment is Eric jeffson all right good evening board I'm here as a representative of el High's fa faculty to announce we have pass our mou with a yes vote over 94% continuing a 30-year tradition president reckler and I can both speak to the value this mou has provided our own children through conversations with members of the board and the superintendent we

109believe our mou will be signed soon and we encourage the board to encourage the superintendent to sign theou as soon as soon as possible to alleviate our community's concerns we also ask the district to work with our sibling high schools trusting in the expertise of their Educators allowing them to determine how they can best serve their own students giving their own circumstances one of the Geniuses of wccsd has been allowing high schools to adapt sight by sight to student need speaking of great Traditions next year the district's radio station will celebrate 50 years on the air although there's an irony here as kcg is currently off the air as the teacher who keeps the Machinery function has not had her time cards paid since January it's like 3 hours a week it's tragic easily solved

110it's easier to keep a great institution alive than attempt to Resurrection please save it thank you for your time our next public comment is Fabiola Galos Fabiola Galos MIT Paris Caro hold that for me thank you my name is MIT pis gutle and I am an eight-year CTE teacher at Kennedy High and a second a second generation WCC Alum I have been attending these school board meetings regularly since before any of you considered being on this dis 10 years ago I know that what happens to people when they don't listen to their constituents you vote to cut teachers and scare them off by putting their jobs at risk yet you say that you are hiring you say that students reserve the right to express their first amendment rights yet you call the police and try

111to scare them off your students are imploring you to save teacher positions instead you say that you need to input have input on DLC caps you say you encourage students to advocate for themselves yet you Bolt the doors and block students from speaking to you you need to be transparent you need to appreciate the courage it took for these students to advocate for their our next public comment is Sylvia Alvarez please respect the time of the next speaker please move to online Sylvia Alvarez good evening I am a district SLP and a parent wccusd Community our children's right to public education is currently under direct attack by the Trump Administration This is Our Moment to be strong for them to stand up and demand fully staff schools at wccusd but the district passed a budget

112without an active budget committee five SLP positions were cut by the board with no prior review of data on current SLP case loads or the students who are already behind on or not receiving their legally mandated speech services the this does not reflect good decision-making or adequately standing up for our students rights we need leadership that understands what's at stake here our right to education in this nation is under attack wccusd Community please stand up and fight back thank you next public comment is Allan please unmute yourself hello can y'all hear me yes we can all right so I am a future CHP officer and I am speaking within the health system because I know y'all are going to be cutting the health system very soon and I know you guys are willing to do

113but this will not happen I am a future CHP officer I have a little brother at home and how about the newest people in Kennedy or Richmond High like how is that even possible as a as a CHP Explorer this will not tolerate anybody including our future officers future medical and our students as well why are you guys even trying to do this this is the one ridiculous thing y'all could ever do when it comes to health and everything shout out to to miss a Andrea Hernandez and to everybody here at Kennedy thank you next public comment is Sylvia Alvarez uh Jacqueline Gallardo DTE my name is jacn gardo and huge shout out to um Alan conas I I know him for like three years now and he is a good student he's a CHP

114member and um I love him a lot because he's my boyfriend but not that's not the reason why I came up here and spoke about that the reason why I came up here and SP book was for every every human every human has a right to speak no matter what consequences it has I would say that uh voice matters and no matter the ethnicity the race and color will not be discriminated and power will always be powered by this future of everyone thank you next public comment is Maria Pon Maria Pon um good evening my name is Maria and I am parent in alna at kenned high school the budget cuts that the district has chosen to approve are Dam are damaging to our students teachers staff and Community why must a budget be cut

115if there is plenty of money in reserves are our kids and teachers not good enough to dip into that money because that is what it feels like time and time again Kennedy High School gets the short end of the stick CTE Academy Pathways it are all vital programs that allow students to explore other career opportunities and who may not be interested in attending a four-year institution it is as the school board wants to hinder the success successive Kennedy High School students also I'm sure that you're aware that Kennedy High School is getting remodeled because of course we don't seem to be good enough for a full rebuild again short end of the stick but anyway here we are one of the focuses of that rebuild is CTE how are we to ensure that the success

116of these programs without our instruct our next public commment is Aon centine Kennedy that was 18 years ago when I started working there I remember the students walking out two or three times when this board when our superintendent then said I'm sorry there's no money for you there's no money for this program I remember how people talk about Kennedy because I spent my first nearly decade teaching there now I teach at Vista I am here to be your conscious if you can't hear it if you are sitting on that dis if you are sitting at the side tables I am begging you if you if your budget experts don't have any better ideas than to cut from students and families maybe it's time to get better budget experts maybe it's time to get a little

117bit creative maybe it's time to ask what are we spending our money on if it is not literally these kids you saw today it is unethical what we are doing everybody talks about the District budget this is our money spend our next public common is Chris el Eldridge hello I am here tonight as a concerned community member I looked up the interm superintendent salary is more than $315,000 the district salary schedule has six listings for associate superintendents that will make up to $254,000 annually if those positions are filled that is $2 million a year that the district will spend on just seven employees for the same amount of money we could hire back 60 of our structural assistants that our special education classes are missing hire 30 full-time teachers to teach the core classes students

118need and to coach and volunteer and help grow programs that students want or retain 20 veteran teachers teachers who know our communities have been fighting for our students for decades or hire 23 new full-time speech and language Pathologists and early childhood education experts does the administration understand that their job is to serve the students it is time for leadership to get creative and stop telling the community that cuts must be made on classroom Staffing our next public comment is Robert Ratner oet hi my name is oet I'm hoping that you being on the board on the school board want a similar big picture as we do a healthy thriving School community that provides the quality education to our students the community we are all striving for can't be built in a climate of mass layoffs

119instability breeds fear not Community firing today hiring tomorrow I've heard rumors about the motivation for the cuts from the district from the district trying to look poor to get more funding to trying to create the appearance of being on budget when it isn't regardless of the reason making the numbers work by messing with people's lives is not the answer cutting and then hiring back those positions does not provide stability it is transactional it uses people it says the ends are justified by the means it seeks to build community by damaging the community and it Community doesn't work that way help us imagine stable futures within the district for ourselves and our students stop the cuts find a better way by respecting the lives and livelihoods of those in the community you rep and our last

120public common is promise Rose hello I've been here for the past uh promise Rose uh Betty Reed hosin Middle School I've been here for the past two meetings asking you to listen to your constituents your students to find out and we're still waiting I think this time you need to hear from a teacher of why they're here at this District when I came out of my program I had many people offering me however I chose this District because this District looked like the school I grew up in and it was the teachers at those schools that really made it bearable for a child who had been going through many different schools and many different districts in the system with high trauma and high learning disabilities they gave me places to be safe to be comfortable

121and start to open up to my own intelligence and and accept who I am one thing that I regret was I lived too close to my high school because I didn't get into their pathway because I Liv so close Okay that concludes public comment thank you to everyone who gave comment tonight we are moving onent re could we take a five minute recess pleas sure uh is everybody okay with the recess yes yes yes yes okay we'll be back at 858 back from recess and we are going to start with standing reports so tonight we have uh the Council of Elders uh Asad the cboc United teachers of Richmond and CAC which is special head group um the community Advisory Group for special education excuse me about that and uh we'll go ahead and start

122with um who do you Council of Elders first are they online Miss Scotti please unmute yourself Miss Smith can you please unmute yourself yes can you hear me yes we can hear you now yes I'm sorry um another member was supposed to speak with the uh speak tonight and since she is sick and I did not have a chance to communicate with her in terms of what was going to what we were going to discuss uh you we can move to the next person thank you thank you next report from ASAP Miss Harrison can you please unmute yourself Miss Harrison can you please unmute yourself hello can you guys hear me yes we can hear you now okay can you go to the next one and I can you come back to me please I'm

123trying to get my um report up okay um Mr Francisco Ortiz thank you good evening board members tonight I stand before you not just as a president of the United teachers of Richmond but as a homegrown advocate for our students who are right now showing you exactly what it means to be civically engaged you've claimed to Value student voice we tell our community that you want to listen to Young People well tonight you don't need a survey or a report to understand what our students are saying they are speaking to you loud loud and clear they're speaking with their feet walking out of schools across the district not because they want to but because they feel they have to students are appealing to your Humanity are you listening at the root of these walkouts as

124District's leadership's failure to lead with a moral compass the district has repeatedly chosen chaos over stability fear over collaboration and austerity over Solutions the dysfunction we are witnessing is not just frustrating it's dangerous these cuts are unnecessary they do not serve our students they deepen the harm that has already been inflicted by years of poor decisions failed priorities and broken promises at a time when students need more mental health support District leadership has effectively turned down $5 million in a counseling Grant a Lifeline for the Kennedy and Richmond School communities a program that would have brought counselors into siege for the first time ever at a time when our students can use more math support District leadership denied a $5 million math curriculum Grant rejecting nearly 4 million in curricular materials and 1 million professional

125development that could have set students on a path for success and prevent Cuts there's also on the agenda tonight an mou with pepperd and University so it's really easy how some mlus can move through with universities but others cannot at a time when we already face crippling vacancies you have chosen to increase instability by cutting staff driving even more Educators out of this District when schools aren't fully staffed students suffer this is is evident in tonight's presentation where we see the highest number of vacancies in richment and San Pablo schools correlate with higher rates of chronic absenteeism and let's be clear not all students will suffer equally these Cuts disproportionately impact black and brown students immigrant families and English learner students the very communities that have been historically underserved by our district the very communities

126that rely on school-based Services the most the very students who without intervention will face the harshest consequence of an unstable school system eliminating critical positions especially those that serve our most vulnerable students is not a budget solution it is an equity failure the students walking out today understand this even if this board refuses to acknowledge it but how does this District respond not with reflection not with accountability instead with a thinly veiled attempt to suppress student activism the district's official statement claimed to quote respect student rights while simult simultaneously warning of law enforcement intervention and ref using to excuse absences this is fear-mongering plain and simple a tactic historically used to delegitimize protest movements led by black and brown youth instead of ensuring students had a safe way to exercise their first amendment rights you

127chose to paint their activism as dangerous and while we're on the topic of dysfunction let's talk about the financial shell game that you're also playing to destabilize our communities the second interim financial report was not shared with this board before the March 15th deadline this is not an accident this this is the pattern of our district requesting an extension for the third time from the conspiratorial county superintendent by way by the way the county letter that you used to justify the cuts in your last board meeting is riddle with inaccurate information and the county sent you an updated corrected letter on March 3rd and you have not published that publicly the district strategy of withholding key financial documents while making drastic Cuts is not fiscal responsibility it's an intentional move to obscure the truth and

128it's incredibly distressing given that we have a highly quile of highly qualified Chief business officer as tted by Mike fine the overseer of our district and CEO of fmat the district has an obligation to be transparent the community deserves to see the full Financial picture not just the version that justifies more Cuts this pattern of observation of mismanagement and refusal to acknowledge alternative Solutions is precisely what drives Educators away and makes it impossible for families to trust this board's leadership so I ask you again you had the power to prevent these Cuts you have the power to reverse them the question is do you have the will the community is watching the students are watching will you continue down this path of dysfunction or will you step up to lead the moral imperative is clear

129reverse the cuts restore trust and respect the students who are fighting for the schools they deserve thank you Kennedy students thank you Richmond thank you everyone for being here tonight thank you we'll go next to the cboc citizens Bond oversight committee Mr Don gney good evening the West country colost Unified School District has a 2.4 billion dollar Bond program using the power of their vote the good people of West County passed several Bond measures over the past quarter Century to raise the funds necessary to repair or replace all 53 schools in West County as you might imagine with the cost of this enormous project increasing dramatically with demands from our neighbors and unexpected budgetary increases the approved funding isn't nearly enough and close to 19 schools may not get the funding those communities deserve in

130November of 2000 the good people of California passed Proposition 39 which lowered the threshold for passage from 2/3 down to 55% one caveat in prop 39 is that for any bond measure utilizing the 55% option there must be an oversight body to ensure that the funds are spent following the prop 39 restrictions and and are not misspent I've been with a bond program since 1998 even before it was an official program I've served the cboc for 11 years as long as legally allowed this is my fourth year as a as a chair of the cboc the primary function of the cboc is to review the monthly Financial reports as well as periodic reports on the bond program projects the district has five major projects right now a new multi-purpose sh room at Shannon Elementary a

131total rebuild of Lake Elementary a total rebuild of steg Elementary and repairs at Kennedy and Richmond highs which include massive Replacements of large parts of the campuses as much as possible the cboc visits the sit so they can see firsthand where the bond funds are going due to the fact the sieg has been closed staff has deemed it off limit to us we are trying to schedule a visit at another site this coming Friday turns out that's not going to happen with steege JFK and Richmond High it's important to see things from start to finish so we can see why the district is spending $621 million of our tax dollars how can we explain these expenditures to the public if we're relying only on a few photos every now and again the financial reports have

132been a problem though it's not that they're not included in these reports it's not what's not in it's not what's included in these reports it's the fact that for a lot of reasons the district has been unable to provide the cboc with the financial reports that we need and in a t timely manner at next Wednesday's joint meeting between the Board of Education and the cboc we will review this problem with a hope that we will all can determine what it will take to assist staff so they can provide the financial reports needed to help build the Public's trust and and faith in the district and the bond program as great a job as Miss Payne and Miss mher Cooper Hooper are doing there simply aren't enough hours in the day at that same meeting

133draft audits for the Bond program will be presented and discussed these include a financial audit but more importantly a performance audit this latter audit is one that has been been a bone of contention for about six years with the when the district's Chief business officer convinced the board that they didn't need the type of performance audit the cboc had negotiated several years prior he convinced the board that they only needed an audit that met the barebones and requirements of the government auditing standards one of the key components of the earlier performance audits included interviews with key stakeholders of the cboc so they might illuminate the performance Auditors with information about the bond program that they might not otherwise get from staff very people being audited the newly accepted scope prevented the Auditors from even speaking

134directly to the cboc as a result the oversight of the bond program has at least in my opinion suffered a lot it was decided that discussing an expansion of the performance audit scope at next week's joint meeting was not as important as other suggested agenda items I obviously disagreed but a solution to this pressing problem has was not agreed upon it was suggested that the private discussions be made be held and that at a later date these issues might be made public there is a scheduled joint meeting in September so we'll see if the issue can be discussed at that time between now and and lat that later date I invite members of the board and the public to reach out to me if you want to learn more about the deficiencies of the current

135scope of their performance Audits and what the cboc used to used to receive I can be reached at 510- 68524 3 or dony comcast. net we will also be discussing the stats of status of the 112 recommendations from the multi-million dollar forensic accounting investigation that was conducted almost 10 years ago there were initial discrepancies between what the district said were completed and what could be proven to be completed since then we've had numerous followup audits to validate whether this money was properly spent but wait for it we don't really know the status of those follow-up audits so we'll talk that one over too the cboc is working diligently to train their members on how to use the tools that are disposal so they can be more prod proactive in the oversight of the bond program

136this is timec consuming and laborious but extremely necessary we're still looking for a few more volunteers to serve on the cboc so I invite you to reach out to me to learn more about what you can do to be involved this is way too important to sit back and leave it in the hands of others before you get too excited about helping out though the cboc has no say of where the money goes that's in the hands of the elected board members also they don't actually get us let us play with the money thank you we'll move now to CAC Community advisory committee for special education not online either okay Miss Harrison can you please unmute yourself yes thank you can you hear me yes we can oh thank you good evening board um I'm

137zon Harrison I'm the chair of the African-American side advisory team and tonight I just have um want to share with you all some of our concerns and you know things we would like to make sure you address first um we want to make sure that our students in time enough um have resources for the summer so we want to haven't heard any information on where Freedom school is going to be held and Freedom School for our children is a good way for our children to experience black Educators and to also get black Educators um interested in teaching in our district so that's something that I feel you all should invest in and also utilize as a pathway to get more Educators in our district and summer programs need to be you know available now so

138parents can start you know planning and that the district doesn't say oh well you have to let us know six weeks ahead of time and that you know we can get the resources we need for our children also um I'm really concerned about how the budget is being done for um parent trainings and parent I don't know what's going on and we haven't had a lot of transparency about how things are processing and how they're going to be processed so that we can advise and we can let them know with things that we would like to do as far as parent training so I would like I encourage the board to support the district in making sure that parents have a opportunity to advise on correct information and not thrown things at the last minute

139and um I also would like to see the resolution that was written for um African-American and black children I would like to see the district really look at that and see how we can pull things out of there to ensure that our children reading and math scores go up CU since we've had our office the office hasn't had the current support that it needs to ensure that so I would like to see as long as I know we only have one staff in the office but if that one staff can have more focus on what they're doing so we can see data um about our children districtwide so we can see where their test scores are and we want to see what services and programs that have good data servicing our kids that are doing

140well we would like to see those things from the office and then also um there was a resolution that was presented at our Equity committee and I say again if you're going to keep law enforcement off the campus for one group of children you need to keep law enforcement off the campus for all children so I am encouraging the board again to ensure to ensure that that resolution includes all children not just one group cuz all children get traumatized by different type of interactions with law enforcement and every child go deserves to go to school in a safe climate so I feel that that should be given to everyone also the College and Career is um our centers are still our College and Career Centers and counselors are still not getting our children any information

141and supporting the children who want to go to HBCU and um their tour was celed again for the second year and I need the board to look into that and see why that this is we're back here every year with our kids not having the opportunity to explore other options outside of what's offered here in our district to have them come back whole and well-rounded so I'm encouraging that we look at our college and careers and make sure they're servicing all children and and I would um like also support around making sure that our school sites are having clear information about the principles are getting the support their to encourage and support our a apacks to be developed and started a lot of our apacks still have not started and a lot of principles are

142still wondering how are they supposed to start Apex like we're in the beginning of the school year that's my grandbaby sorry but um that's what I'm encouraging the district to do to support Apex at school sites and support principles because still here we are in March and there are some school sites who don't have apacks and still struggling to set up their s sc's and that's the law to set up those so I'm complete thank you thank you that concludes standing reports I believe right Council of ERS is going to come back next week in another time correct yes okay all right moving on to B9 agenda review and and adoption uh does anybody have anything on the agenda for review I would like to make a suggestion I'm just looking at the time at

143where we are now 9:16 um I have a recommendation that we either extend to 10:30 and see how far we can get or take off the quarterly update on Kennedy and Richmond and move that to the next meeting might save some time but I don't think we can finish all of this by 10 o'clock yes please thank you president may I suggest because I think that there are maybe people here for the stge and Kennedy items um could we postpone F3 it's very important but we're probably going to end up rushing through it anyway so do we really want that to like it's very right so maybe that would be my suggestion Dr Moses do you have a viewpoint on that moving attendance to the next meeting I think that would be okay Miss Ziggler

144any issues with postponing that presentation for attendance thank you okay so are we agreed to take F3 off attendance and move it to the next meeting is everybody in agreement on that okay and we'll see how far we get okay okay we're up to B10 approval of the minutes January 11 22 Feb 5 and Feb 12 of 2025 does anybody have any corrections to the meetings to the minutes seeing none will adopt the minutes as presented B1 superintendent search update I do have a small update which is since the online survey was extended to March 10th approval of the position description is moving to the March 26th meeting it was supposed to be at this meeting but it is moving to the next meeting and an updated search timeline is attached for informational purposes okay

145moving on to C Business items consent does anybody want to pull anything from the consent calendar seeing none consent is approved moving to D superintendent communication Dr Moses this is your item thank you as we are pulling up the report um be ready momentarily I just want to start off as we're pulling that report up by saying that uh it's really been uh last week in particular was really an exciting week where we were able to celebrate lots of things that are happening in the district many of which we're going to share with you through this report tonight all right next slide we'd like to start off with um recognizing a staff member in in memorium um we'd like to take time to recognize the contributions of our staff member who has passed away Alfredo

146Nora Lopez we regret to inform you that Alfredo Nora Lopez a building maintenance worker at Richmond High School recently passed away he started working for the district as a custodian in 2021 and became a warehouse driver for the Food Services Nutrition Center our thoughts and prayers go out to the Nora Lopez family and friends and the Richmond High Community please join me in a moment of silence thank you we'd also like to recognize that March is a month of many celebrations um March is international wh I'm sorry women's history month and we also celebrate International women's day during this month we want to take this time to appreciate all of the women uh not only who work within our district but who support our community and are a part of our families thank you for

147your contributions to our city to our district and to our students happy women's History Month next slide it is also nutrition month and I'd like to take this time to give a shout out to Barbara Jellison and the entire Food Services team for taking such great care of our district and I'd also like to um recognize their efforts to keep our students well-nourished every day and appreciation to to that team happy nutrition month next slide we are celebrating lots of art recognitions it's music in our schools month Arts Education Month and youth art month uh we like to encourage our schools to really dig into new projects this month and share them with us so that we can highlight them on our board presentation uh we celebrate the Arts this month next Slide the Richmond

148High robotics team is hitting the big screen uh we'd like to send out a congratulations Skywalker sound recorded authentic audio from the Richmond High robotics team 841 uh during their competitions and those recordings were used in a newly released film rule Breakers and not only were will our students be credited in the film but they were invited to attend an exclusive screening of this film on March 11th congratulations Oilers we also want to announce that coming up our um robotics team 841 will be competing in the San Francisco Regional Contra Casta Regional and East Bay Regional competitions good luck team um they're also mentoring and supporting the launch of a new robotics team at Peno Valley High we're excited to start this these efforts together and the addition of a second robotics team in our

149district is extremely exciting so shout out to the Richmond High team and their sponsors for car in this over to another campus and continuing to be a model of Excellence for this program congratulations to our talented student and the students and their hard work next slide it's Awards season and we'd like to recognize our change maker award recipient Robert I'm sorry Rob Kirker and Mr Kirker is uh representing Lincoln Elementary School uh Mr Kirker embodies so many qualities of the Julie right change maker award he manifests an unwavering focus on making decisions Guided by student learning and equity and he has a high bar for excellence and integrity we'd like to congratulate Mr Kirker uh and appreciate him for his 15 years of experience teaching at Lincoln Elementary School we look forward to celebrating him

150at tomorrow night's event next slide Ed fund winners we had a wonderful time I'm uh surprising our excellent teacher leaders last week uh we were celebrating their accomplishments in being recognized as teaching Excellence award recipients we'd like to congratulate Caitlyn maresi from F Vista vir Vista virtual K12 we'd also like to recognize from montalvin Manor Miss pasadas from Richmond High School Mr Hudson from Olinda Elementary School Miss baros and from Washington Elementary School M rolul congratulations to all of our recipients and we also want to um highlight that miss pasas and miss maresi will represent our district at the Contra Casta county level of the teaching excellence awards great job next slide we also had an exciting uh celebration for you make a difference Awards sponsored by our community advisory committee which is our special

151education CAC committee um those 12 members and students 12 members of our staff and students were honored for their influence and support for West Contra castas students with special needs congratulations to this year's honores Heather best Kathy R fette Williams Hill Mari Lisa Castro Sheri Lee Tama Jones josea escalara Barbara Bradford Mary Campbell K Kingsland Francine Marin and kaani deal congratulations to all of you next slide today president reckler and I had the distinct pleasure of participating in a press conference with State superintendent Tony Thurman to announce the Senate Bill 502 um president reckler joined the state superintendent in support of this bill which is a crucial step towards addressing the housing affordability crisis for our education ERS and School Employees across California this bill would provide much needed State funding to help our districts

152and districts like ours cover pre-development costs like architectural planning and permits to build affordable housing for our dedicated staff we'd like to thank the state for the opportunity to be a part of this press conference next Slide the D dlap Town Hall meetings are coming up on March 15th and March 25th and we want to encourage all community members and uh staff to join us and share your voice at these Town Hall meetings the first meeting is March 15th at Richmond High School which is a Saturday that meeting will be from 9:15 to 12:30 and there'll be a second opportunity on March 26th it'll be an evening meeting from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. um actually on Zoom so we encourage you to take one of those two opportunities to share your um ideas and

153learn more about our dlap committee and the great work that they're doing and um also revising our lcap as needed to meet the needs of our community next slide Kennedy is getting Windows everyone uh we are excited to uh continue down the path of uh remodeling Kennedy High School uh we are going to be demolishing the 100 wing and 200 wing and we'd like to invite Kennedy High Alum and the community to join us in celebrating its history and memories before the summer demolition um we did hear loud and clear we wish there were more time to plan this we are on a construction schedule and in order to stay on that schedule in order to make sure that the work happens during the summer we did need to um plan this event rather quickly

154we hope to see many of our community members and Kennedy Alum on March 15th at 2:00 for this celebration I'm extremely excited uh for this event next slide we have open house happening for our middle schools open houses will take place on March 13th and for our high schools open houses March 20th we encourage all parents to join us for these events to learn more about what's happening in our secondary schools next slide we need your input there is a survey for um input regarding the roll out of our new cell phone policy for our students in order to support the implementation of that at our school sites to have a more focused environment on learning uh please uh participate in the survey and have your voice be heard for this exciting policy roll out

155next slide we want to encourage our seniors to apply for the Ed fund scholarship these scholarships are now open uh please uh speak with your College and Career counselors and see the information on this slide and apply for those opportunities to support with your college aspirations next slide as well the Richmond promise scholarship is open as well we we encourage our students to apply for that opportunity this deadline is coming up the deadline is Friday March 14th so we encourage all of our seniors who are eligible for this opportunity to complete this process by that deadline next slide our graduations are coming uh this slide shows all of the dates of the graduations that will happen for West Contra Costa unified I want to highlight that we kick off on Saturday May SE May 17th

156with our reclassification ceremony and we will conclude June 14th with our final graduation uh prior to Summer which is Greenwood and also an exciting graduation for Extended Learning students in July of 2025 next slide and finally each each meeting we try and highlight our parent advisory committees and really encourage our community members to look into these committees and attend their meetings the Committees are listed here as well as on the next slide more committees and the final slide represents our district committees which is our cboc and our 7-Eleven committee which are instrumental to our bonds and and um construction program thank you for your attention to this presentation and with that I will conclude the superintendent's report for this evening thank you so much are there any questions for the superintendent okay seeing none I

157do have a request of the board and that is is that I received a little note from anhela Silver Lima who is with CAC leadership is everybody okay if we try and contact her now uh online and see if she can give her report everybody's okay with that so see if you can get her Angela silver Lima okay thank you we'll we'll move on um I I may have she may have sent it to me a long time ago and I wasn't paying attention Okay so now we are moving to action items um e E1 is student discipline um Pressler I can move him if you like uh yeah let me just see is there anything that you have to say about them at all okay and then they need to be moved one of

158the time right okay yeah I move that we approve the stipulated agreement on case number 2425 01 great is there a second on that item I'll second okay cler andana is the second uh there any questions or comments yeah we can okay so we'll go to the vote uh student trusty espanosa Jr yes student trusty Baron yes Hernandez is absent cler inana yes trusty Gonzalez Hoy yes trusty Smith Vols Smith Vols yes and Amy yes the item passes next one case 24 2502 president reckler I move that we approve the stipulate agreement on case number 24252 Great Is there a second on that item all second clerk andana is the second no comments um we'll go to vote student trusty espanosa Jr yes trusty student trusty Baron yes Hernandez is absent clerky yes Tristy Gonzales

159Hoy yes Tristy Smith folz Smith FZ yes Smith folz is yes in case you didn't hear it Nami yes moving on to case number three uh which is case number 24253 president rler I move that we approved uh the culated agreement on case number 24253 Great Is there a second on that item I'll second the item cler andan as the second and we'll go to votes stent trusty espanosa Jr yes trusty Baron yes Hernandez is absent cler andana yes trusty geloy yes trusty Smith fots Smith fots yes andom yes item passes unanimously oh she's on now okay so we'll finish this and then if everybody's okay we'll we'll go to her okay uh now we're up to case number four which is uh 24254 pres Rec remve that we approve the stul agreement on case

160number 24254 in is there a second on that item I'll second the item okay clerk andana is the second we'll go to vote student truste Espinosa Jr yes trusty Baron yes clana yes trusty Gonzalo yes trusty Smith F Smith FS yes and I'm a yes item passes unanimously thank you okay now we'll just switch to the C report if that's okay miss miss Angela silver Lima can you please unmute yourself good evening can you hear me yes we can okay thank you uh good evening board thank you for letting me come back on uh and speak uh umaro uh was not able to be here tonight so I will be giving the standing report for the community advisory Council uh also known as CAC um last Friday March 7th the CAC hosted the you make

161a difference Awards um the you make a difference Awards goes to individuals who have gone above and beyond to make an impact in the lives of special education students um we wanted to thank the board um Dr Moses and the cabinet for your support in this event um next year we are hoping to start the planning process earlier and and uh also look into uh exploring donations um to make a um greater event for greater people um this year um we had um you gave the uh you make a difference Awards to administrator Heather best of Fairmont teachers Kathy R from Hardin marilisa Castro from Elso High School Vanette Williams Hill from transition Sherry Lee from Hercules Middle School Jose escalera from Tera Hills Elementary tamaa Jones Collins Elementary Barbara Bradford at transition all Beach

162therapist Francine Danny F Morin at Olinda school psychologist kho Kingsland at Hardin Mary Campbell at Cameron school and L vocational nurse Kalani deal uh there's also two other Awards uh given one is the Jane Rockwell award and the Jake Rockwell award goes to students who have made a posit who have been a positive role model and helped promote inclusion within the general education Community with special education uh students this year um the the award winners were from Collins Elementary they were Emma Jaa Amara and skyin and then there is also the Brian retford service award uh who go and that award is given to a bus driver who demonstrates professionalism and compassion and sets an example for others in the treatment of special education students this year um the award went to yeli Gutierrez who

163is a bus driver at the transition program um again the CAC would like to thank the board for their support of this event as well as District staff who showed up and uh we would also like to say another congratulations to all the award recipients um the cic will next meet on April 3rd um at 5:30 we meet on Zoom we really encourage the community to come out and get involved and attend the meetings we would also like um special education staff to come out um it it takes a village uh and thank you again for letting me come back on and adjust the board I am complete thank you so much for for your report I'm glad we could connect okay we're moving on now to E2 acceptance of the work and approval of

164of the notice of completion for Hercules middle school high school science building project number one with a lot of Zer 4154 Miss Payne this is your item good evening trustees superintendent and Community uh tonight we're asking the board to approve the notice of completion for the Hercules middle and high school uh science building and I welcome Miss Mahia Hooper our director of facilities planning and construction to provide you with a brief presentation and celebration of the project but before she gets started I want to kick it off with a quote from a senior from Hercules Miss Elina who shared with us what this project meant to her and she described it as a Launchpad for dreams a sanctuary for curiosity and creativity and with that I turn it over to miss miia good evening board

165and and Community thank you for having us tonight we are proud to uh show the science building that was completed at Hercules high school this project was identified in the 2016 facili master plan and created four science labs for each the ele or the middle school and high school on the campus as well support spaces next slide please as so here's an aerial shot showing the amphitheater space that is just outside the building uh there were eight Portables uh classrooms removed as part of this project as well as a portable restroom uh the restrooms were replaced in the building itself and there was staff and student restrooms available for both the middle school and high school um and that's the space that you see in front of the building that will also allow for a

166future Garden if desired by the Science Program there's also outdoor cover stases on um both the middle school and uh High School sites next slide uh the interior of the spaces provide large lab spaces equipped with uh all of the safety measures of eyewashes and showers as well as access to uh mini sinks and a flexible design for the science lab area to allow for experiments to happen in the middle of the room there are many science expire inspired design features within the building itself one of which is the floor pattern which was inspired by electrons around a m a middle nucleus that is shown by the uh blue accent color next slide uh on the exterior we also had a lot of fun science inspired inspired pieces one of which is the reveals that

167run vertically across the spine wall so if you imagine the Sun as being the end of the spine wall you can go across and all the major vertical lines that you see across there represent the distance from the Sun for each planet uh so the third one over of course is Earth and there will be a label on there that says Earth so that um those science inspired mins can find that Easter egg uh we also have Boulders in the Sund dial quad that represent the three different types of rocks um the sedimentary metamorphic and Ignus next slide please uh we had a wonderful ribbon cutting ceremony I would like to thank uh the comm's department as well as everyone else that participated and especially uh the members of the Hercules band and cheerleaders who

168made it a very festive event um we really enjoyed uh the ability to celebrate the opening of this facility and last slide I would be remiss if I didn't thank all of the uh facilities department for their support to complete the project as well as our architect dsk and our Builder who was soultech um and our project management team which was Swinton uh this was a great project we're really happy to bring It Forward thank you the last thing that I'll share is there on the bottom of the last Slide the comm's team put together an Incredible video so if you had just a couple of uh maybe less than two minutes and you wanted to see the fund that was had you can click on the link um it was posted to the district

169socials and you can get a snapshot of uh the ribbon cutting event itself and with that we asked the board to uh approve the notice of completion uh for the Hercules middle and high school science building great thank you so much for that presentation is there any public comment on this side them we have no public comment great are there any questions on this item any comments well I just want to say it was a lovely event the building is beautiful and I'm uh very helpful for many many years of wonderful experimentation and evidence-based reasoning and thought and Discovery so thank you it it was really a lovely a lovely day and very unusual that a trustee that starts a project actually ends a project so this like a miracle that we got to approve

170it and then go see it so thank you very much for that and with that we will go to the vote um student trusty Espinosa Jor president R sorry we need ation sorry we need a motion thank you wor excited uh I move that we accept the work and approve the notice of completion for Hercules middle school and high school science building thank you is there a second on this [Music] item I'll go ahead and second it so it's a move by Gonzalez Hoy second by reckler and we'll go to the vote student trusty espanosa Jr yes trusty Baron yes hernandz is absent clana yes trusty Smith uh trusty Gonzales Hoy yes trusty Smith FS Smith FS yes and I'm a yes motion carries unanimously we are now up to F1 quarterly update on stage

171Elementary School rebuild project uh just a short Preface on December 18th and the resolution for updates to the community were promised per year and this is our first uh update so go ahead uh Miss Miss pay and I believe it's you president rler would you like us would you like to move to extend just these two items yeah go ahead okay I'll move that we extend until 11 with the copy that we will not get there but just so we have enough time just for these two items okay is there a second on that I'll second okay comments seeing none vote as Mr uh student trusty espena Jr yes trusty Brown yes CL canana yes trusty Gonzalo yes Smith folds Smith FS yes yes okay go ahead good evening uh trustees superintendent and Community we

172are joined here tonight by our design Builder um Alton construction on the line along with our architect of record Perkins Eastman we also have here in person with us tonight our project management team and I am going to be turning it over to our director of facilities planning and construction Miss Mahia Hooper so that we can share with you um and really introduce The Siege Elementary School rebuild project and share with you where we are at this time and I'll turn it over to her hello everyone thank you for having me again so the stge elementary school campus rebuild project is under way we are moving and so um so uh we are next slide please uh so tonight we're going to have a quick introduction uh and then the Architects are going to be

173brought on if so they could be promoted that would be wonderful um The Guiding principles will be reviewed as well as the building program and some site options with the uh results of the community meeting reporting out next slide so one of the key pieces of a successful project is gathering input we um we get input from a lot of different places including the site itself so the site itself gives us certain uh restraints and opportunities and we have our districtwide educational specifications and product and material standards that really set the stage for uh any rebuild project uh beyond that we of course have the input from our school site staff and community and families and then we also have our district departments and um throughout any process it is imperative that we get input

174from all of those stakeholders to be able to create the most successful project most of the time this is not within anybody's day job so we definitely appreciate and give a shout out to our it food service maintenance and operations as well as the School site that we perpetually bug um to be able to spend time with us and so we can learn how to best support what they are doing within the building by creating a building around them next slide please uh and then that really leads us to how that input is incorporated because we're not just building a school we are building a school for stge and so what does that mean and how does that work and so really we're looking at that Community culture the site accesses and areas of concern

175for this particular community and those are translated into the physical forms that create the feel of a space and that really comes from the scale of the buildings entry elements colors and and materials how the windows are placed and the architectural style of the school we also look at our circulation plats adjacencies and side elements to really bring forward and come alive that Spirit of stge next slide uh we have a various Outreach tools that we've been using we have mailed postcards we've sent construction newsletters we will continue to do such throughout the process there's many fun links here uh to keep you guys up to date we're doing our quarter report tonight um and we uh will continue to seek meetings um throughout this project to make sure that our community stays involved and

176engaged next slide uh for the timeline right everybody's favorite slide um so demolition package uh is in progress right now we plan on beginning the demolition process in late spring uh we also have split this project up into multiple phases uh Alton construction is uh finding us the best path forward to move it as quickly as possible and that includes the creating a building and utility package that allows us to establish grades and get some of that underground work done as quickly as possible and hopefully during the dry season uh while we are finishing the review of the building package with the division of State architect and allowing us to uh have a 2027 move in next slide and so I'd like to bring forward um our Architects from Perkins Eastman to be able to

177present some of the design uh principles as well as the remainder of the presentation hopefully there they have been promoted hi Ellen this is we should have Katherine Kimberly and heywell hey y all right this is this is Kimberly um thank you Ellen um can we move to the next side slide please yes um so prior to um winning this project we did some research on stge and these were some of our initial guiding principles that um inspired us as we were developing the project concept design um we want to celebrate the stege community um it takes a community to nurture a star and the new school will in turn nurture the occupants providing natural daylight thermal Comfort acoustic control and healthy materials we want to of course support our Educators and providing spaces that

178allow them to collaborate and work together we want to make sure that the design of the new school celebrates the community and its distinguished um aspects of the community so we're going to be doing some student workshops to explore that further as well as reflecting the surrounding nature the beauty of um the community and the surrounding nature will be embedded in the grounds as well next slide um so as part of our original feedback we met with the staff um Administration School site Council and our community meet meeting which was last week in total there's a approximately 60 participants so far that have influenced um the upcoming um uh principles that I we'll share with you next slide and those are um what we heard in those in the the Outreach was a community centered

179campus a focus on indoor and outdoor learning and play well-being and comfort of the student having lots of green and natural spaces um providing spaces that allow for appropriate play for the age groups Safety and Security and Equitable resources and AD specs and Katherine will go through the Equitable resources edpc piece next thank you next slide thank you Kim so now we're going to run through uh uh building programs which are Guided by the Ed specs as well as our feedback so far and you can go to the next slide and I'll start by explaining a little bit about what building program is for Architects it means the pieces and parts and the spaces that make up the design uh of a school um and the Ed specs help guide that they're a document that

180uh is a guideline for the whole District uh so that helps us on the One Hand In addition to the feedback we receive uh I want to point out the color coding on each of these next slides ties into the floor plans that you're going to see later in the present in the presentation um so first up is the administration and Library program we focused on a single point of entry for controlled campus access which promotes safety we thought about parent and Community Access in this part of the building in campus where parents can enter via the main Lobby there's a community room near the library with after hours parking access uh key facilities in this part of the campus include private offices conference spaces and small group rooms there's a Wellness Center as well

181uh in the nurses room adjacent to the admin area there's a library which has areas for books a story Nook and table space and staff amenities as well with a teacher workroom Lounge custodial office and storage staff restrooms occur in all buildings next slide so the orange color represents the multi-purpose room and kitchen area on campus the the multi-purpose room includes both dining area with a rais stage and perform a performance platform with a curtain and audio visual system uh used for performances there is a dedicated kitchen a large cook kitchen with a walk-in refrigerator and dedicated serving area so a dedicated serving line moving forward uh and there's also an outdoor covered dining area uh with an indoor outdoor event and dining space next slide so the blue color that you'll see on the

182plans is representing our learning Studios we have classroom clusters that are arranged around a breakout room uh with a learning Commons uh that has visibility from all classrooms for the ease of supervision there support spaces with project rooms available for steam Music Arts and Science and there's a learning center with student and staff restrooms adjacent to the learning area without having to exit the building uh and classroom features include sinks storage small group spaces for learning support and the images you see in each of these slides are inspiration images we haven't designed these interior spaces yet but these are what we're thinking about as we will proceed through the design process so you can go to the next slide and this purple color represents the transitional kindergarten and kindergarten building complex on campus so we'll

183have TK classrooms is how we refer to transitional kindergarten and kindergarten tkk large classroom spaces to support a variety learning activities classroom features include sinks plenty of storage access to restrooms and staff work rooms from the classroom directly and a dedicated play Space outdoor playground with a play structure black top and turf area next slide the green color you'll see on the floor plans represent the outdoor spaces there will be diverse activity zones and areas for structured and un unstructured play physical education and Outdoor Learning a welcoming entry with an entry Plaza Landscaping trees and park connections to the park across the street and just ample outdoor space the outdoor design will include trees Turf Playfield and a garden next slide now ho will take you through some of the options we've been looking at

184next slide please so quickly as we're going through these um Outreach meetings with focus groups we developed a set of criterias that help us guide us um for making certain design decisions so on the slide right here you're seeing sort of a a Google map view but cartooned out as color blocks and diagrams so were kind of flying over the campus looking down and each of these color blocks contain the building program that Catherine has mentioned on our previous slides um so I would actually given the time we have going to option four so if you flip three more slides forward I'll go through the kind of the criteria and design guidelines we develop specifically for stage um next slide please option four um so looking at this option there are a few things we

185are targeting so we number one for classrooms we want to optimize daylight for student for learning enironment so we are purposely trying to Warrant the classrooms and tkk classrooms to be warranting um East and West to receive the best Northern and Southern Lights to really Brent app the classrooms and let student have that environment um the the next one is we want to create views and access to Nature so it's really creating clusters of natural spaces and directly provide access for students so have them Andy close by so they're not far away from each of the program the next one we're looking at is um Trying to minimize efficiency so there are a couple things we designed from the building um to really looking in a long-term strategizing how to lower the operational cost by

186designing the building component eff fically um to save energy in a long run there's also storm water manager M that we're creating on site to collect the rain Waters and looking at strategies of how to ruce them um throughout the site there's a about 9 ft slope change so we're also looking at accessibilities on site from different access point and how people can go around the campus without climbing many steps of the stairs um then there's also single use restrooms were all the major building program spaces um including classrooms uh one thing we've noticed through the community meeting is that was really something we community and students want and we're definitely providing that um then the next one is also um about the site that we're relocating the staff driveway from the original one to

187the to um a new location to really provide a better access that um there will be over possibilities for parking and help to medicate um the traffic um concern we have they're all speed up a little bit more we're also providing a dedicated jop off area on surpress to help with um the traffic impact at the same time it's really um separating the traffic from a pedestrian access um so you can see down all the bottom of last plan there's a crosswalk that um people can safely cross the street without worrying about Vehicles driving through La whole space and then the admin building down the bottom is also close related to all the main access points and will be controlled um during the office um time um so overall I think we are um resolving

188all the issues and the concerns we have um on this option for um I'll pass it to Heidi to give a quick summary about [Music] Community thank you a so on March 6th last Thursday we met with the community and had a workshop and kind of an informational session where we shared these four different site plan options and heard feedback and we had the most support for this last option four the one that we went into detail over the reasons we experienced the most support were for the quantity of access so the ways that cars and people could access the site from both Cypress and petero as well as the open play area in the center and the way it was protected by the buildings kind of wrapping around the major streets and then also

189the visibility across the site for staff to keep an eye on students thank you all we appreciate your time thank you for the that presentation is there anything else from you two here okay uh can we go to public comment is there any public comment on the item yes we have Mr Don Gosney I re I resented my public comment to allow the teamsters to kind of have a takeover tonight but I can't sit still I want to thank uh the superintendent and our representative Guadalupe and Melissa and the tech team and The Architects and all of those who were able to join in with the community on March 6 I have received nothing less than great comments about how the meeting was conducted the participation was very uh well attended and we are just

190so happy and thankful and grateful for this opportunity uh to see a school that was built in 1943 to be rebuilt once not twice or three times like the others this is the first time Steve is having the opportunity to be built I remember when they built Kennedy I was 12 years old and this is the third bill for them and it's the third bill for Richmond High but it's the first bill Forge Elementary School and we are just so proud and so thankful for the work and the input that is going into this project thank you very much thank you okay so I'm sorry I was not paying attention there for a second is still a public comic card in for her that you've taken that you'll take out yeah okay and you move

191now go ahead okay Mr dongi good evening you over over the decades I worked Consulting with government agencies in a standard procedure when presenting options is to offer four options option number four with the government is always do nothing it's actually required option number one is though is usually so bad or so expensive that no one would accept it option number two is usually only slightly better but option three the option that they're all pushing you to accept may be great but it's or it may not be great but it's better than the other three so that one usually gets selected we're seeing four options for stge and many people have compared this to what I just described my advice is to look carefully at where you're being pointed and if you're not happy with

192what's being offered send them back to the drawing board this when all is said and done staff and the vendors come and go but this is where we live we're the end users for the next 50 years so let's get it right settling should not be an option our next public comment is Mark Mitchell uh we're excited about the uh Prospect of a rebuilt stti but we understand the demolition of the current facility is imminent but Educators uh still have not had their instructional and personal materials liberated from from the site despite complying with the district's uh requirements to request uh their personal belongings and the instructional materials for stge students that that was submitted honor before January 31st as uh the district requested there's been no response it's 40 days later you're about to

193tear down the building it's time to be respectful of the contribution of these Educators and other staff to the students and families they serve and to liberate their materials or to at least grant them the respective response further the union is informed and believes there's a complaint against the district for five violations regarding conditions at stge includ including willful exposure of students and staff to dangerous materials we've issued a information request for this complaint and it has not been provided failure to do so as an unfair Labor practice president reckler please direct the staff to share the complaint with the union and the community thank you okay thank you to all that gave public comment uh we'll go to questions any questions here go right ahead thank you president uh first of all thank you

194so much for the presentation this is truly exciting um and I appreciate our wonderful folks that go to each one of the meetings uh I had a question about the fourth design um first question is what was the feedback from the admin staff about the admin building being so far from the classrooms thank you for the question uh we did have extensive conversations with the admin staff about the location of the admin building uh they did not have concerns over the location of it and we're excited for it to be uh in the front of the campus to be able to welcome visitors um and have adjacency to the TK Camp comp complex okay great um and then the blue section the classrooms grade 1 through six how many classrooms is that and how many

195per grade level so the overall classroom count for um that section includes uh there's four per pod um and so and there's three pods which gets you up to 12 and then there's also two additional beyond that um that does accommodate our resource program as well as our multi-use room which would accommodate our art and music program so that sounds like two per grade level it's just under two per grade level there is a project room that can be used as a standard classroom um which is a a flexible space got it okay thank you so much that was my last question are there any other questions TR smithf anything none at this time thank you anything on the side I have a couple questions um my first question is on the timeline so I

196know that we're to begin Construction in Winter of 25 um with the weather at that time have we put that into or have we put that into Factor into our timeline this is one of the reasons why we're doing the utility package beforehand and so that we would be able to get many of the underground utilities which is the majority of the trenching done beforehand in the first phase um of construction uh that will also allow us to complete Our rough grading um so we we are aware of a winter start and what that means we have successfully built through the winter at Lake um and had had very minimal weather delays thank you uh my next question is that I appreciated seeing the different um options that we had the different four options but

197I think I would have also like to have a little bit more context in sizing of the buildings I think that's really something that the community needs to know especially when you're talking about like the NPR the multi-purpose room like the capacity of that and how it's going to look different on every different um option that we've got and actually having that be labeled and I guess kind of giving them the idea of what our needs are like are we cutting down the multi-purpose room in one option to acquire for other things or you know the the classroom layouts and I think having a little bit more information around that around every option would have been a little bit more clear and for the community to actually grasp of what this is really going to

198look like when it comes down to like you um the different options and I I don't think that was a question I think that was more of a comment because I think that was one of the things that I heard that day at the um event that you guys held is like okay well what's the diff you know they're giving us everything over here but over here they're not able to and it's not just the shifting of the spaces but actually the capacity of each space and you know what's the difference especially like in the multi-purpose room are we going to give them a multi-purpose room that can fit 300 you know people here on in one of the options and are we going to cut that down to maybe 150 200 in another option

199to fit something else in so I think having a little bit more context to the different options would have been helpful for a lot of the community in that space um wait maybe she can answer that for you may may I so the every option has the same size space for each of the elements so it did not matter which option was located which option was selected each options uh like for example the NPR was the same size in all four options we will be coming forward uh at a later date with uh a more contextual uh look as far as what those buildings will look like in elevation uh but we needed to get through the process of sighting the buildings first okay well thank you for that um I think that's my last

200question student trust these anything okay I've got a couple so just to follow up on the Move in so it's still the original date at this time at this time okay just one well we we have a lot in front of us still so which but we are trying to our best to keep that date just want to do a little check in there um next is um I'm not really sure since staff isn't onsite now how many people do you have in our system who worked at stage who can give you some advice nice about the site um and feedback on what you're building I mean I think of Dr Moses who was there for years as a principal there are other people in the system are you talking to any of them besides

201current people yes we are um utilizing in all of our projects we consult at the district leadership level as well as the school side itself self plus this is where our community really shines um we have had many stories of alumni and neighbors um and we're happy to have them as part of the process because of their knowledge of the sites and the surrounding area Okay and then the word on everybody's lips tariffs what are you thinking about the cost of building we understand throughout every every day that um construction is a subject to the global market it's also subject to labor um changes and and so that's not something we're unused to keeping in the back of our minds as we move forward with the project one of the strategies that we have with

202this particular project because we have a collaborative design build process and our Builder is already on board they're actively looking at which products and pieces of the building we can purchase in advance uh especially things like our MSB which is our main electrical service um switchboard needs to uh that's one of the items that we know is a problem and that we need to purchase early um and so it's it's two part is one a cost and one Supply uh we are also making sure as we move forward with the project that we are able to have um specifications that allow the same quality of product to be provided but allow substitutions uh as products become more available and less available depending on where they are produced uh we have the ability to be agile

203and react to that market uh which is also why we are in contact right now with our subcontractors that are giving us advice as we move through design about what items look like they are going to go up in cost and which ones will be more relative readily available throughout the process obviously none of us have a crystal ball and we never have um and this is not the first time construction has been faced with these kind of issues um and so we continue to seek our partners and our professionals that are here um to help us navigate the situation the best we can okay thank you very much are there any comments from anybody okay anything okay good all right well thank you very much and we will move now to F2 which is

204the quarterly update on Kennedy and Richmond yes thank you so much um and so I'm going to welcome Miss Mahia Hooper up for her final presentation of the evening um but we really appreciate everyone's time and the opportunity to present on these projects she's going to share a little bit with us about Kennedy and Richmond High School one more time for the good times um so I'm back for Kendy and Richmond and tonight we're really focusing on phase one I know it feels like we've been in planning and design forever I get that I understand I've lived through it too um but we are here tonight because phase one is becoming really real and so we move on to the next slide uh first up is Kennedy uh and so our phase one project this

205is a bird's eyee view of the two new buildings that are part of phase one now while we're focusing on phase one that does not mean there's not a phase two and three because there is um so but phase one for this particular campus is a new classroom administration building and a combination dining and Performing Arts Building uh and uh the majority of the classroom spaces at Kennedy will reside in this new building so once it's open we are going to have the mass majority of classes uh actually in a new wonderful building so we're super excited about it next slide if we're looking at it from a campus perspective you can see the site plan here cutting Boulevard is on the the top of your page with Burke circling around the left side to

206the bottom of the page and the existing uh football field Stadium you can kind of Orient yourself too on the left side so over the top of where the 100 and 200 building is is where we are constructing what we're calling building a and that is the new classroom building with the administration space this is a two-story building uh then below it uh in the footprint of what currently is the 500 building we will be doing the new Performing Arts um dining and kitchen facility the cake quad is also part of this space next slide so building a we've kind of covered what the parts and pieces are uh there is a student Lobby that will come through uh an Atrium space uh the rendering here shows the administration entry which would be for um

207community and parents that are coming during the day and are coming through our single point of entry next slide we're working on the interior design we had a nice um activity with our students during lunch to help us uh select the uh color schemes we also went to an all staff meeting to present those options as well as had an online survey so we've had a variety of input we are definitely keeping the red so be ready it's coming in the interior um then there's also an interior rendering here of the um classroom space you can see we have nice high seal ceilings with indirect and direct lighting we do have Windows um and a teaching wall as well as um you'll see it in the back there there's a closet and that closet is

208holding the HVAC system which has air conditioning next slide uh Building B is our combination dining and Performing Art Space so at the top while it's not colored yet um it does show the persp perspective of if you were seating SE seated in the top of the um pull out uh seats that are along the back looking at the main stage area you can see the double perum happening here and that's because we do have an operable wall that allows for fixed seating to be in the front as well as a formal stage uh when that those seats are pulled back into the wall you're at the bottom image which allows you to have an open dining area um during the day and that's looking back out at the balcony uh where the lighting control

209Booth will be as well as um accessible seating uh for those who wouldn't be able to navigate the stairs next slide so this is what we call a crosssection so when you cut a building in half and you look inside of it this is what you see so on the right side you'll see the floor plan with the yellow triangle that's where we're standing so we're standing in front of the serving windows from the kitchen and looking out and this shows how the uh retractable seating system will work and shows how the space allows for the the seating in the middle there as well as the fixed seating in the second section and the stage as well as the back of house um areas behind uh so this will be a very Dynamic space and

210not um not like our standard multi-purpose rooms that we're used to in our elementary level next slide we are also approaching the K quad uh as part of our activities where we were engaging our student staff and and Community we had two options for the K quad um after going back to the steering committee with the two options we kind of have uh have looked at it again and made some adjustments to incorporate their comments uh you can see here that we have the students um the dining area to the right on the screen and the uh it includes an outdoor covered area for table seating and so that's what's going to border the east side of the Quad uh there's more trees in the quad as well as additional grass space which is the

211darker hatch area we are maintaining the Circle K that currently is on site um so that we can keep the historic um significance of this quad uh and then there's Outdoor Learning spaces that will support our art and CTE program that is in the C 600 building which is on the west side of the Quad next slide so timeline for phase one we are really close to demolition um during the Spring we will as soon as we have our community event we are going to open the building up to our maintenance staff to be able to reclaim any useful items from the building uh and then we are going to move on to um some interior cleanup as well as uh utility work and building safe off uh demolition is not a one event thing

212where you see the big Wrecking Ball come through there's a lot of pre- steps that have to happen which are planned for this fall or I mean sorry this spring uh once we hit real summer we are going to be taking down the 1002 200 and 500 building during the summer break so it will be a massive project um you will be able to see it from cutting Boulevard so it's going to be uh quite the show uh once that's done we did do the same strategy that we did at steg and we split the building uh packages apart so that we are able to do a pre-construct ction piece everybody's a little frustrated with underground work because you work and work and work and then you end up with just a dirt pad at

213the end um that will be the case here as well but those are all important things that are in the ground that make the building go once we have it so our sewer fire water electri Electrical uh low voltage all of these different utilities that we need in the ground uh and then also getting the dirt to the right level so that we can build will happen in that second package and then finally we'll get to the building phase with a final completion schedule for the winter of 2728 next slide we do have a community event in case you missed it during the superintendent report please come this Saturday it should be a good time next slide Richmond all right Richmond High School so Richmond High School's phase one is a two-story classroom building that

214wraps around the existing theater this is a view from uh 23rd Street next slide so this is the overall site plan of where we are going eventually um so the light blue are existing buildings that are modern getting modernized where the dark blue is the new construction components um we are keeping a section of the main building and you can see the theater there in the middle um 20 Third Street is on your left for orientation North is facing up and the new building that we're building in Phase One if we go to the next slide is highlighted in yellow um so this is wrapping around that existing theater and taking over the staff parking lot next slide so building e as it's referred to in the architectural plans uh is a twostory classroom building

215that also has a one-story element that is the m music program space we also have CTE spaces for health and law within this um building as well as student and staff restrooms and in the rendering you can see um some of the breakout spaces that are occurring throughout the uh hallway areas and circulation space uh there is the design element for this particular campus is to have an open structure in the hallways with um a more formal drop ceiling within uh the classroom spaces next slide uh so this is the stairwell within the space um at the end of the building near the theater uh so this is kind of facing out towards what will be the new parking lot uh and 23rd Street and uh again show some of these uh more more informal

216breakout spaces within the building next slide uh and here's some just some views of the classroom spaces next slide timeline for Richmond is um similar to Richmond and Siege however we don't need to do a demolition phase because uh the only part that we're demolishing to get going is the solar panels in the saf parking lot um and then we are doing a utility Make Ready package because all the utilities that are coming in off of 23rd Street and feeding all of the existing buildings run right over where we want to build uh so there will be quite a bit of underground work in order to reconnect all of the existing buildings to utilities outside of our building footprint uh before we can start construction of the building itself which is our building package and

217we're anticipating completion of the first building in Fall of 27 and that completes our presentation and we are here for questions oh I forgot to mention um hkit as well as DLR are on the line if there are specific questions for the Architects uh to answer and all of that those uh renderings and things that you saw were produced by those two firms great thank you very much is there any public comment on this item there's no public comment great does anybody from the board have questions I I have a question um so this is my Nostalgia question is anything being saved from either of these buildings for incorporation into the new sites one of the things I think of at KATU they took the old er uh doors and then they made a design

218on one of the stairwells is there any plan to salvage any anything from either we do have the Rock at Richmond um that is being relocated to a new home uh but would still be out in front of uh Richmond High so that component is planned to be saved uh there are quite a few murals across um Kennedy which are Incorporated actually on the walls themselves uh so one of the thoughts that we had was to photograph those and then reprint on a smaller scale on canvas so that they would be able to be placed inside the um the display cases or other locations um in the campus uh so those are our Salvage plans we do have a lot of boxes from Kennedy of all the the trophies and things um that are currently

219at the FOC uh holding until we're ready to bring them back on site okay and our both and are both projects still on time we do still have an overall time frame of 202 or 2030 to finish these projects and cost wise with tariffs we are doing similar strategies with our uh we have a lease lease back firm on each one of these and so we are working with our contractors to try to do the same strategies that have worked for us in the past okay thank you any any comments for anyone go ahead thank you uh thank you so much for the presentation and the update um it is truly exciting I just I I love the picture of Richmond High um I can't wait to see a similar one for Kennedy um and

220I actually would really appreciate if we could work if the superintendent could work with maybe the Richmond mayor's office and do this presentation to the Richmond city council um I do think it'd be beneficial for them to hear this information because they in construction we're going to have to partner with them um between the noise and the street support we're going to need the city right so um if we can bring him in early maybe could even give us some feedback uh now um I think that they will probably appreciate it so I just want to give that feedback see if it's a possibility thank you great comment any other any other comments okay seeing none we'll close out that item does and we are does anybody have any quick comments they want to make

221okay then with that I will close out the March 12th 2025 meeting at 10:33 p.m. thank you everybody have a good evening what was I say oh Am Pm sorry