001to get translation we are heading into our excuse me for one second put myself on mute okay sorry about that we are heading into our Clos session for tonight before we do we're here to listen to any public comment there might be about our Clos session items the public gets two minutes for public comment per speaker the close session items that we are discussing tonight we will be discussing Public Employee discipline dismissal release and complaint student discipline liability claims conference with labor negotiators and conference with labor negotiators staff do we have any public comment we have no public comment thank you very much everyone we will reconvene for open session at 6:30 tonight thank you good evening everyone we are going to extend our close session until 6:45 thank you very much I'm sorry for
002the inconvenience thank you evening everyone I would like to welcome you all to the board meeting tonight to access translation please click on the globe icon below or at dejon you can go to the corner of the room to get materials we are returning from closed session after our opening procedures the public will have the opportunity to make public comment the board has changed the public comment format we have opportunities on non-agenda items in person through Zoom app and by telephone at the beginning of the meeting the public comment will last one hour the time allotted for each speaker is 2 minutes if you are attending the meeting in person you will need to submit a request to address the board form to indicate your desire to speak on an agenda item after it's been
003turned into staff they are placed in the order of when they are turned in we also call on speakers one at a time in alternating between public comment at dejon and one on Zoom if participating via Zoom you will need to raise your hand by clicking on the appropriate icon in the Zoom app or by pressing star if accessing the meeting by phone no yielding of time or substitution of speakers permitted the public will also have an opportunity to make public comment on agenda items after the staff presentation for each discussion and action item the public will have 10 minutes per item and one minute per speaker 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 comments now
004let's move on to our opening procedures first we will have the Pledge of Allegiance if you are willing and able please rise ready begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it been one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you thank you very much ceao Johnson we are now moving to the land labor and body acknowledgement we have a video recogn that we are on the land of the inhabitants of the land we currently occupy thank you very much to Peno Valley High School we are now moving on to the labor and body recognition I acknowledge that the burdens of envi environmental exploitation and systemic Injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies in the building of
005this country and its institutions I remember that black and brown people were born and died working this land against their will for Generations also acknowledge that the continued contribution of Labor of survivors over the centuries to today of all immigrant labor including voluntary involuntary trafficked forced and undocumented peoples in what in the building of what we refer to as the United States we are now moving to item B4 the West contracosta Unified School District school board's anti-racism statement the West contracosta 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 West contracosta Unified School District education to carry
006wccusd education into the future we recognize that we must continually renew and reflect on the roots of racism and develop new ideas to meet the times unjust ideas and policies and the racial inequity they produce have shaped us our schools and our society we strive to uncover unconscious biases and practice anti-racism as individuals and as board members we challenge ourselves to persist through the discomfort necessary for growth and learning to deepen our understanding and our examination of racism and oppression and to develop a strong understanding of how our personal experiences and feelings fit into a larger picture of continual oppression each member of our school board individually and collectively is responsible for creating and nurturing an antiracist learning environment where each student staff member and Community partner is respected and valued member of wccusd community
007we are uniquely positioned and it is our responsibility to identify and dismantle racist ideas and inequitable policies in ourselves and across the district therefore we commit to supporting anti-racist policies programs and practices for our children's education and well-being while building strong and inclusive School communities we commit to holding each board member accountable towards these goals and moving the work of anti-racism forward we also commit to holding West Contra Costa Unified School District staff students and Community to living these standards of anti-racism in our schools CEO Johnson will you please do roll call president Smith FS good evening everyone present Clark Gonzalez Hoy good evening present trusty reckler good evening I'm present trusty Christian uh good evening president trusty Phillips here student trustees abdala par good evening present student Trust parar good evening president everyone is
008present thank you so much CAO Johnson we are now moving to report and ratification of Clos session do we have anything to report out yes we have two items to report out in Clos session the board took action to terminate certificated employee 11 12457 for failure to request a hearing following receipt of a statement of charges that their ex their EX this cause to immediately suspend without pay and to demiss dismiss a permanent certificated employee and directed the superintendent or design to send out appropriate legal notices the roll call vote was Christian trusty Christian yes trusty reckler yes trusty Gonzalez Hoy yes trusty Smith FS yes and trusty Phillips abent the next item is a 2.2 there was no report out and then regarding um agenda item a 2.3 the board voted to reject claim
009number 636 650 related to alleged personal injury the roll call vote was as follows CHR trusty Christian yes trusty reckler yes trusty Gonzalez Hoy yes trusty Smith FS yes and trusty Phillips and that concludes the report out thank you very much C Johnson we are now moving to agenda item B7 we are moving to public comment I'm going to read one more time how to address the board members of the public are invited to speak to the board about any matter that is not otherwise on the agenda and is related to issues affecting public education in wccusd public comment will last approximately 60 Minutes the time allotted for each speaker is 2 minutes individuals wishing to speak must submit a wccusd public comment form or participating via Zoom individuals need to raise their hand in
010the Zoom app individuals need to raise their hand in the Zoom app we are now starting public comment 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 staff do we have public comment for tonight yes we do our first public comment is Rosal Pat hold on friend push that little button it has a face of a person there you go thank you good evening all bu my name is Rosalina P I am the parent of a kindergarten student in the DLI program at Stuart school before I continue I want to thank you all for approving and proclaiming the month of April as the national bilingual multilingual learner advocacy month it's important to bring attention to the benefits
011of learning more than one language I am here tonight to do exactly that to advocate for the continuation of the DLI program at Stuart school and to bring attention to the issue that someone in leadership someone in a very important decision making role made the decision to face out our DLI program at Stuart school without family engagement or or to my knowledge public participation or input this deis has significant significant um implications on my family I have a preschooler who I am uncertain if he'll be able to attend the DLI program at Stewart as we had already planned to further I have a kindergartener whose future is also uncertain in the DLI program at Stewart I am here tonight with my two very young children asking you all to support our program so that it
012can continue for the year 2024 to 2025 and to place emphasis not only on a short-term plan but on a long-term plan so that we can ensure the successful so so that we can ensure the success and and ensure that we have a sustainable DLI program at store thank you our next public comment is Jean kinster please unmute yourself good morning board I'm here tonight to advocate for my school my community and my parents being a lowland School our community needs to be remembered and please think about the disadvantages we Face having any kids in grades one through three in combo classes is a real Challenge and it's difficult for our students they now have 30 minutes to learn Lear their math that normally gives them 60 minutes because a teacher's juggling two grades we
013traditionally have two classes of each grade from um TK through 3D and one class for each grade for four through eight because we're a tk8 at our school having students placed into a combo class for grades one through three is is very difficult for the students and for the brand new teachers the TFA teachers the teach start teachers or even credential teachers who are all working at the same time to earn their credentials please think about our allowed full-time teacher allotment to make sure that every effort to look at the numbers during the first three weeks of school and not just right now for next year please be transparent with the numbers of students needed for a TK the 3 through 8 class in our school last year for the first month of school from
0148:15 to 9:15 we had 13 TKS a class by itself we had 20 37 kindergartens an 18 and a 19 class by s we had 38 first grades a 19 and a 19 class by itself and we had 38 second grades a 19 and a 19 class by itself we were strongly encouraged to take out for students students were displaced we ended up with a one two combo which really is disadvantaging to our students please please look at our numbers again each year please try not to have combos at the younger a age it's really difficult for our students thank you and next public comment is Amanda Foster good evening school board and all here in person and on Zoom my name is Amanda Foster and I'm speaking again on behalf of Vista virtual three
015Vista virtual High School teachers are cut from our school they have been offered jobs in physical classrooms here in West condra unified the district knows where these teachers live 350 to 400 miles out of commuting range first off that's a big ask telling these teachers to pick an in-person placement knowing it would require them to move themselves and their families here second this decision negatively impacts currently enrolled students who will lose their beloved and talented teachers whether those teachers choose to uproot their lives for a physical classroom space here or choose to take another opportunity while far physically these teachers are closely connected to the students and families they serve as evidenced by previous Schoolboard meetings independent studies is a path to College and Career it is an actual no hyperbole Lifeline for our most
016vulnerable students please remember your actions have a direct and actual impact on student learning and mental health this decision negatively impacts colleagues as well who will be reorganized into new positions and who will miss the expertise these teachers bring this decision makes our school smaller with fewer spaces for students and continues the patterns of cuts to Vista virtual please consider supporting our school instead of undermining it I know budget is at the Crux of this decision this school can be a revenue generator students and families around the bay area in the state want this opportunity we should be inviting those students in we can be the alternative education resource families need and bring money into this District if given the chance thank you for your time our next public comment is mom a Vista Virtual
017Academy please unmute yourself hi can you hear me yes yes okay um uh esteemed school board members as a parent I've been the pro I've seen the profound impact of Vista Virtual Academy my child reading two grades ahead and tackling Al albra at 7 years old embodies its success Miss Kora second grade class achieved a Year's growth in Reading in just six months even for those starting below grade Vista virtual is Bridging the education Equity Gap retaining our teachers is crucial eliminating three High School teachers would disrupt the progress and require reallocating of resources I urge you to see this moment let's support Vista virtuals mission to empower students and revolutionize education thank you very much for your consideration our next public comment is J jaive jaive Moria hi if I can all please have
018your attention because I know there's a lot of other things going on I'm hakia and my daughter Talia attends kindergarten at the D program at Stewart Elementary my daughter was transferred from Lupine Elementary specifically for the DI program which has been amazing the DLI program is not offered at many schools in the area so closing this program would be a big disservice to the community my daughter is flourishing in the program I see her so proud to speak another language Stewart is a community-based school so we were taken by surprise when we were recently notified that a decision was made to vase out the program and major changes would be happening to the current class without Clarity the community did not get a chance to be involved we don't fear there was transparency and there
019was a lack of communication we want to know who made this decision and when and why this decision was made there are many studies that show how beneficial it is to have a second language and Stuart offers it all the way until the e8th grade which is so amazing but ending the Middle School programming without notice closes path to seal of biliteracy we need answers is this a temporary change or is this a permanent change we need a chance to keep this program going we have collected over 500 signatures from the community of people that do not want to see this program phased out I've spoken to so many proud families that have had children graduate from the Dual language program and they all say how great it was and speak of the benefits we
020want more families to continue to experience the same thing I'm originally from San Francisco and learned of the Dual language program from my nieces who graduated from the program and speak fluent Spanish in San Francisco the program is offered in many schools but in fortunately in our area there is not as many options so having this program at steuart Stewart is a value and gives families with different needs an option and I feel that will strengthen enrollment thank you our next public commment is Kenya cantes please unmute yourself hi can you hear me yes we can hi uh I'm here asking you to reconsider the cuts that you're once again making to Vista Virtual Academy this cut directly impacts 75 currently enrolled students who work with three teachers it then impacts the rest of our
021kids who will not have access to experienced teachers and subject matter experts because they'll be losing their Elementary or middle school teachers to fill in the gaps Vista virtual is constantly having to restructure and reorganize and it's not right nor Equitable for the students my soon to be sixth grader has been with Vista since third grade they came from your brick and mortar School having been bullied by both students and adults at their school site you are cutting a safety net for vulnerable youth independent study is invaluable for neurode Divergent students and kids who don't thrive in your usual classrooms my own child is able to do work that is several grade levels above their own at their own pace in a safe environment continually cutting funds from Vista puts our students at a disadvantage
022just look at your data and reconsider the cuts your Vista students are among the happiest in this District do WR by them thank you our next public comment is Carissa Provena good evening Bard my name is is Carissa provenza I'm a lawyer with public Advocates sorry um on January 31st we filed Williams complaints to address the teacher vacancies at stge elementary Helms middle school and Kennedy High I'm here tonight in response to the letters we received from the district on April 10th regarding our complaints the district has a mandatory duty to remedy these vacancies and we and our clients are entitled to a response that at a minimum sets forth a plan to fill each position with a lawfully assigned teacher unfortunately the district's response did not detail a plan or even attempt to remedy
023the vacancies in our complaints it it instead demonstrated a decision to leave the unlawful vacancies in place while hundreds of students wrap up their school year without the stability of a permanent properly certified teacher the fact that the educator shortage is a Statewide issue does not relieve West contracosta or any other district from its duty to assign each class of per permanent fully credential teacher as acknowledged in the district's response the practice of using long-term substitutes or day-to-day substitutes to cover these teacher vacancies is illegal this unsustainable practice also contributes to an unhealthy work and learning environment U that leads to more vacancies as stated in our appeal to the board sent on April 18th we expect a corrected response no later than April 29th which presents a targeted plan for addressing each vacancy in
024our complaint thank you our next public common is jasarat Carr please unmute yourself please unmute yourself our next public communist kathya arate hello my name is kathia and I'm part of the DLI pack committee representing Stuart K througha I spoke up last year when we did not have teachers at our school this year we were fortunate to have teacher staff for DLI that we didn't have last year unfortunately this past week we were informed that DLI will be phasing out starting next year with Kinder I have a son currently in the second grade that's in the program and my youngest would have been kindered the following year now because of whoever decision this is my child will either attend a different school or they will both have to be attending a different school at the
025same time and this is not only for my family but of multiple families that have younger siblings that would have been Kinder DLI my biggest issue is that we had no type of communication or transparency about this happening this this phase out is very unfortunate this makes the decision the the fact that the decision was made after the transfer process makes it harder for us too I joined the DLI pack because I believed we were trying to be a better DLI Community as a whole for our district so now it feels like our kids won't benefit from that d pack that we try to do for our whole Community because of the phase out I understand budget cuts happening and some schools being underpopulated but giving news after the transfer towards us is really just
026saddening it doesn't give families a chance to even try and figure out what to do at the end of the year I started a petition and as of today at 5:00 pm I printed it out that it was 607 signatures I just checked again and now it's 618 the high numbers show that it's not just our Comm Community our school alone is about 400 kids so this signature represents more than just our community it's our surrounding schools and it's our families trying to keep DLI I printed the list and I could give it to you guys to show the list of people that have the signatures thank you our next public commment is Daisy s please unmute yourself please unmute yourself next public comment is Sandra sto good afternoon my name is Sandra Soo I
027have two kids um at Stuart Elementary sorry which is very emotional because we were taken by surprise that um the DLI would be phasing out like I said I have two kids one in kindergarten and another in first grade and I've seen my kids thriving in the program and it's really great for them and it's just really a concerning for myself and all the parents here that that are here today because we want this program to continue it's not only knowing a second language but it's learning about different cultures and um it's really something special for them to have and also I just think it's really a dishonor that we will be doing for our kids if there's no Kinder and we're phasing out and then also my my first grader that we be going
028into second grade they would be now having to do a combo and I just think that's very unfair for them because since the beginning of 2022 2023 when they first started kindergarten they didn't have a teacher they found a teacher and then they were all split up I know these kids do not like it when they're split up because I hear them I volunteer at school pretty often and I see when their sad faces that they don't want to get split up so this has caused them some mental anxiety and they just say we don't want to get split up we want to stay together so I just please urge you I know there's been budget cuts but please just find it somewhere in your hearts to do this for the kids because they are
029our future and we just want this program to continue out for the next Generation thank you for your time our next public communist s deep SJ bonsy please unmute yourself hi can you hear me yes we can okay good evening board members my name is s Serge buy and I'm a Vista High School parent I'm here for the third time in a row to reiterate to the board that we need to keep our Vista High School teachers these teachers are high value resources that our students are blessed with having they pushed these childrens to levels they didn't even know they were attainable or just didn't even have a confidence to reach they are our confidence coaches and they work directly with families to help these children Thrive I would like the board to understand that
030removing these teachers who know how to navigate the virtual teaching setting and are credentialed subject matter experts would be a major disservice to our children and to our community as well as other grade levels in the virtual schools because it would cause a reorganization and just like another school had just given you data on how difficult it is with having a teacher teaching multiple children and having to split the time between those children it is so hard on the teacher side and I feel for the teachers in this because they are already spending so much time with our children and these three teachers that you're thinking about removing from the school because of budget cuts they do a lot for these kids and it's just really unfair and it's really sad that this school is
031consistently being picked on I want the board to understand that this is a very important and very impacting decision you're making please make the right one and please keep these teachers on staff thank you so much for listening to me our next public Comm is Rosario Ramirez Ram St for [Music] with our next public comment is Christina wera please unmute yourself hi um excuse my voice I'm getting over a cold um but good evening my name is Christina wera and I'm a teacher at Kennedy High School I logged on tonight to urge you to prioritize filling the teacher vacancy in our district uh we understand we've heard it that this is a Statewide issue but truly wccusd is facing far more vacancies than surrounding districts the school year is almost over and so many students
032at Kennedy still do not have a permanent teacher in their classroom my department I teach Spanish and my department was affected this year because we were not able to hire a third Spanish teacher so for 10 weeks at the beginning of the year students who were enrolled in Spanish one and Spanish 2 were just sitting in a classroom with no permanent teacher no curriculum they were doing nothing and it was well into the second quarter when finally the decision was made to enroll the students into uity courses however this was not and will never be an adequate solution doing asynchronous work on Edgenuity does not equal learning this was proven last year when we had two science vacancies at Kennedy we never filled them and students were forced to do what they could with online
033biology and chemistry curriculum we continue to see those struggles this year when students are now enrolled in a science class with a teacher but they definitely feel that they are behind the effects of the teacher vacancies are never ending because now for next year for whatever reason it was decided that the Spanish vacancy position was going to be cut so now there is no hiring being done for a third Spanish teacher for the 2024 2025 school year and if that position is ever opened we're going to have a really hard time filling it because we do not have give ourselves the opportunity to adequately find a candidate I urge you to fill these vacancies because they are affecting teachers who are overworked and students who are not learning what they should thank you our next
034public comment is Diana Mendes uh hi my name is Diana Mendes uh my first language is Spanish I I want to try to speak English but uh if I confus I speak to Spanish uh my son is in the first grade now uh he's studying last year in um kindergarten um I am Sandra mentioned he studying when we don't have teacher he is studying with um the whole class uh English class but for him it's so confused because he say why I going to now to the other class if I I have already my my group and I I try to explain to him now he got it now he have to go into a combo so how I can explain to him now because this morning he hear me speak to my husband and
035I try to explain to my husband what's going on in the school and he say oh I don't want to go to the other class I don't want to go to the H third grade and I am a second grade so how I can explain my child that that was my concern and the other um two months ago the teacher was absent for two days because she was sick and they split the the class uh in three uh classroom of kindergarten uh third grade and second grade and he go to the third grade and he going into the office and complaining and he explain oh you know what I I don't feel comfortable I have to call my mom to come to pick it up because my day is off and he cries so hi
036how I can play him now that big change in school it's not possible it's not fair I think it's not fair for the other kids because supposed to be they have to choose four kids going to a tour and get a second grade how I explained to him oh you need to go to uh third grade but you are in second grade our next public comment is D please unmute yourself please unmute yourself hi there hope you can hear me um I am Danielle Rogers I'm a parent from uh West County Mandarin School my son is in second grade there I'm just doing public speaking tonight here at the meeting um thank you everybody for your attention about our wonderful IB program I know that IB is on the schedule for um the agenda tonight
037it's the F1 agenda item and I just want to speak in support of our uh IB program that we have especially for Young Learners I think it's an incredible program that helps teach them about not just the world but our place in it and how to be a good citizen how to understand uh cultural differences interpret the world around them and be an excellent part of a functioning society and they really have done a very good job with our IV program and it's extremely important to keep these programs going so that we can raise up a generation of children that have a really firm grasp on the global kind of system that exists AR having meltdown um Beyond just you know our borders and and where we are in the world so thank you so
038much for your time tonight and please support IB going forward it's incredibly important to keep us at the Forefront of education and also set our students up for Success on the global scale thank you our next public comment is Nira McCoy good evening to the board and the wccusd community here in attendance and uh virtually my daughter is in second grade DLI program at Stewart and has been there since kindergarten we enrolled almost entir based on the DLI program her enrollment was a result result of an intradistrict transfer which to my understanding makes up a good percentage of our school community and population how is this decision made to phase out this program without considering pending transfers we are aware of at least 12 which combined with confirmed numbers would result in a full class
039we are constantly disheartened by the challenges to such an amazing program for the district we have gone through Staffing shortages program uncertainty and now the decision to phase the program out which came as a complete surprise to our entire Community while we've been assured of the continuation of the program through next year unexpected and lack um unexpected and lack of transparency in the program decision leaves us doubtful it's uh and since it seems that it comes down to mostly money constantly undermining the confidence in the sustainability of the program discourages enrollment in turn affecting budget to effectively staff the program leaving us us in a cycle we can't win one of the things that attracted us the steward was the program which provides an important skill for our children All Families have different needs and
040a variety of in school offer and school offerings helps to attract families to our district and our school in general I was concerned my child wouldn't be at wouldn't be challenged and I love the interdisciplinary aspect of the DLI program as a black mother I appreciate the opportunity for my daughter to learn something I myself have not mastered the confidence she showed in her ability to speak another language is awe inspiring she is teaching me our next public common is Sarah barard please unmute yourself can you hear me yes we can okay hi thank you for in advance for your time today my name is Sarah Bard I have two students at Vista virtual I was disappointed to hear about the three teachers being cut from our Vista virtual family and I'm pleading with the
041board to please reconsider this decision West Contra CTIC unified has created a really special program with Mr virtual and I encourage the district to continue to invest in it by keeping the incredible humans who continue to dedicate so much of themselves to students and families like mine the teachers at vist of virtual are truly spectacular they really go above and beyond but I want to point out out that they are also human and there is a limit to the work that they can shoulder less of them on staff means the burden is greater and we shouldn't take that lightly I don't think that there's going to be less of a need for teachers anytime soon in fact just listening to the comments tonight it is apparent that there's an increased need for them and will
042be an even bigger need for the ones who serve programs like Vista one of the biggest things that I think Vista does really well is providing learn a learning path that's truly individualized to the student my family is enrolled into Vista just three years years ago because the district we currently live in does not in my opinion prior prioritize students and their individual way of learning growing and contributing to the community despite that being their published Mission both of my kiddos are thriving at Vista and I really believe it's because they receive individualized support from their teachers currently the teachers are able to give support specific to each student because of the classes are small I'm concerned that less teachers will mean bigger classes and less opportunities for things like small groups and other enrichment
043lessons opportunities like these and others offered at Vista have had a tremendous impact on my students and those that I've seen in person they make them excited about learning but also help sharpen their skills and further their ability to apply what they've learned to real life situations I strongly encourage the board to reconsider the decision to not invite the three teachers back next year they're not only needed in love but they're also the Cornerstone to a unique offering that sets this District apart from any other in the bay our next public comment is Christian Santiago in Mar sing St [Music] for me compress our next public communist Alam Mo Brown please unmute yourself can you hear me yes we can like to say good afternoon board this is Rodney Al Mo Brown the community advocate
044here in the city of Richmond California you know I understand that there's some severe budget cuts that has to be made and of course the proverbial kicking the can down the road has taken place uh through previous administrations besides this Administration and so here we are the Day of Reckoning I'm deeply concerned about what's going on at D of high school as president Smith fs and vice president Demitri hoy was there yesterday speaking with the student body as well as some staff members however I don't know who made the recommendation to get rid of Mr Damon Cole and Mr Tyrie uh Reed is making a grve decision and here's why when you have men when you have men like that especially black men who are at a school that is predominantly black or shall I
045say has the most black students in the entire District of the West country cross Unified School District this sets of Precedence this is not definitely good look there's a lot of things that could potentially happen on this campus that these young men were prevented from happening there was one incident that took place where a gun was brought on campus from an outside student that these two young men were able to Corral the gun and not allow any further damage to take place there could have been gunfire that could have erupted someone could have gotten killed on their campus but these two young men were there to save the day I don't know how this is going on or why this is going on but to remove them from a setting like this is going to
046be what we call communial suicide I ask the board as well as the CBO to go back and reconsider these two positions having these young men off campus is not going to be a good look for that for that school period and it's sad that there's a black principal who's there who's going to have to deal with the onset or shall I say the residual effects of what's going to transpire if these two young men don't return in the fall thank you very much God bless our next public common is Shalon Santiago hello WCC USB board I'm sad to say we have to meet again I'm Sean s parent to Ava and Christian you'll hear from Ava in a minute last year we started the Year off without three teachers our school Community banded together
047and we're were able to show you the inequality in our schools after weeks we were given teachers and our kids were able to finish off the school year strong this year we were so happy we were fully staffed all our students had teachers our students were able to go to school feeling confident and secure as all students should we were notified last week that the district is fa amasing out D at Stewart this came to a shock to us after we fought so hard for our program last year and so many District board members lended their support for our program it just suddenly gets cut tonight I'm here to urge board members to ask hard questions of our school district leadership team ask them this ask them why this decision was made earlier why it
048wasn't made earlier this year giving families time to prepare ask why wasn't this decision made with the collaboration of our school Community why were we not given the warning that our enrollment was too low to continue with phasing out of Stewart at or phasing out of DLI at Stewart what is in store for the rest of our wccusd DLI schools that includes your beloved Washington who else is in Jeopardy of losing their beloved DLI program will they be notified or will they be cut suddenly these decisions have been made behind our backs and closed doors without regards to our school Community you as a board member have the power and the responsibility to push these questions and require answers the most important question that you need to ask is with phasing out Stuart DLI at
049Stuart how is our school going to survive the following years with eliminating a class track every year we will get smaller how long can we sustain that how long will Stuart survive our next public comment is Kate please unmute yourself good evening everybody oh I'm a longtime board Watcher and these Cuts sound so familiar for what that's older parents with kids that are 30 40 50 years old went through hang in there it will it you do make a difference and I'm so glad that you're responding and you're being active I'm though however talk asking for some assistance on the other end K12 is important but the seniors should be in the mix too we don't stop learning and benefit from adult education classes not necessarily career ending but enrichment sometimes having one day a
050week at a senior center makes the difference for someone who's trying to stay at home and not have to move into a assisted living this adult education program at wcu USD has supported three programs that have hung on and we hope that we can continue to serve approximately four to 500 adults getting enrichment and encouragement and socialization before they have to move to Assisted Living so I hope that we're in the mix as well we're deserving a being educated and enriched as well and I hope that all of you that are parents now will get to be older adults as well it's not all that bad thanks very much good night everybody our next public common is Ava Santiago now I'm going to translate most of what my brother just said in English I started
051school at Stewart as a kindergartener with ma Master Martin Singh now I'm a second grader at Stewart with Master hi I'm AA Santiago and I think you should help us preserve steart thei for next year at home my mom doesn't speak Spanish my dad does but he didn't teach it to me I learned how to speak Spanish at school I know how to read and write it in both English and Spanish learning to speak Spanish has helped me communicate with my grandparents who only speak Spanish it helped me learn more about my culture and expanded my understanding of Latin America this year our teacher C taught us a FL floro dance from Mexico I love my school please help us save steart the our next public comment is Jen Douglas please unmute yourself hi I
052am the the parent of a kindergarten at Fairmont Elementary um with another one on the way um Fairmont has informed us that we'll be losing our Title One funding for next year uh combined with a site budget cut of um 25% we're going to have a 66% total budget reduction for our school uh we would like to ask the board to reconsider this last year uh when we did qualify our free and reduced price meal student percentage was 45.3% % and this year it is 45.2% so we only have a .1% difference um in terms of our uh demographic threshold need um and by losing these we will be losing um site supervisor staff during lunch and recess when we didn't have this funding we were unable to open the field unless we had appropriate
053parent volunteers so this deprived our students of a safe place to run and play sports and resulted in more injuries because they only had overcrowded black top um to play on it will defund our online licenses uh that our teachers use to provide better education within what our kids are trying to learn especially in terms of reading um and then less counseling which is very critical we have a 20% sped population and only one person who can review all of the iips in the entire Elementary School um we have a wonderful 79% minority student enrollment uh with 30% English language Learners and 30 different languages spoken we have a wonderful set of teachers and kids who really want to learn um but we are looking to the district to understand why we need this cut
054to happen at this time um when we use this money for counseling teacher professional development Material supplies and then teacher intervention hours um for student support meetings um and extra help for our high needs kids thank you our next public comment is Sam clear good afternoon my name is Sam CLE and I teach fourth and fifth grade at Siege Elementary School it is my seventh year at stge and every year the students have been severely impacted by teacher vacancies the treatment continues to be accepted and ignored even though students are not receiving an education and teachers cannot do their jobs there are four out of 12 classes this year without a permanent credential teacher each of these classrooms has experienced multiple adults come in and out students have also been split into different classrooms for
055months at a time the few teachers here are giving everything possible to make up for the problems caused by the shortage they take extra students from other grades giving them supplies from their own classrooms making room for them from their limited space and oftentimes creating weaks of material for them this workload is unsustainable and the stress grows toxic we need to recruit and retain teachers at Siege students deserve to go through school with adults that they love and Trust teachers deserve to work in a sustainable profession we need to focus on Siege instead of accepting the teacher shortage that harms the community every year the teacher shortage at Siege Helms and Kennedy reflects a systemic racism that targets these communities we need to Value teachers and community members we need to finally solve this problem
056thank you our next public comment is Naro please unmute yourself hello yes we hi okay thank you sorry hi my name is Danielle Navaro I'm a longtime educator teacher counselor in the district and also have three kids at Stuart a sixth grader second grader and TK student my kids SE sixth grade and second grade um have been in the da program and this has always been a source of Pride for me and my family I have a nephew in the Berkeley unified D program and I can truly attest that the steart program is just as good um my kids's first language is Spanish and the program only strengthen their speaking reading and writing skills and they they truly are an asset to this this program um phasing out the D program is going to is
057going in a different direction than the district's previous commitment to DLI and viol literacy we the parents have collected a list of in coming Kinders that submitted for transfer for the DLI program my TK daughter is also on that list please review the list and see if the numbers work we think we are pretty close to your targeted number also for the middle school grades my sixth grader had the privilege of having Miss Ortega and being taught math and history and Spanish this school year um next year it would be abruptly cut so let's work together as a community District to see how we can continue the D program thank you our next public comment is Noah yis yes say hi I feel nor you want to go down you want to be right here
058you feel embarrassed nervous okay hello All I'm gonna read this on behalf of Noah says hello my name is Noah yanes I am a second grade student at Stewart dual language imersion when I started at Stewart my brother and I didn't have a teacher I felt sad because I deserved to learn Spanish now I feel sad that my sister will not have a Kindergarten class to learn in Spanish please save the program at Stewart thank you our next public comment is Stephanie Duron please unmute yourself hello yes we can hear you hi I'm hi good evening my name is Stephanie Duran I am a mom to a kindergartner and a third grader at Highland Elementary and I was here just to talk about an issue that um my kindergarten class has been having with the
059room being um with the bad order and they had a change to another room so with having that issue I I'm trying to see if we can get the rooms remodeled because I'm also going to be having a new kindergarten coming up this new year um so I don't know how you know with budget cuts and everything and also it's not fair to her teacher also um and even other kids my third grader going into fourth grade next year with maybe all all Highland has to be remodeled so um I hope that you take into consideration seeing take maybe bringing somebody over to have it checked out cuz it's bad for the students and my daughter gets sick you know when she's at school and when she's at home she's fine and I've also heard
060from other parents that they're kids also so it's not fair you know to little kids even to her teacher and other teachers not just my class not just my daughter's class so um I hope you um take you know don't leave Highland behind you know have them get a new remodeled classroom for all new students coming because honestly Highland simy is a really great school my daughter has been there since kindergartener and I have a kindergarten going up first and like I said my new kindergarten coming this year so I hope that you know somebody can hear and go check Highland out and have it remodeled for new kids coming thank you very much our next public coming is J Maya Rome good evening my name is Jeremiah Ramen I teach at Helms Middle School
061where I've taught for all 16 years of my career I have read The District's response to the Williams complaint regarding teachers vacancies at our site many of the Sol Solutions listed in the response were in place prior to the filing of the complaint clearly these Solutions have not been enough the substitute teachers from head from teach who joined us midyear have been placed in the most difficult position I can imagine as a new teacher and we are burning out these aspiring teachers one has already stopped coming the Williams complaint response also cites that vacancies are a Statewide problem which is true however it is affecting our district schools especially our Title One schools to a greater extent than even neighboring districts trust me I've checked and lately I've been checking more students and families in
062our schools deserve to share in the expectation that on day one they have qualified teachers who will get to know their children and help them progress throughout the year I as a parent would absolutely demand that of my district of my child's District we cannot accept a response that boils down to we try our best since I'm up here with more time I want to express uh solidarity with Vista and the steart communities who clearly are impassioned about their programs and we should not be making access to wanted programs more difficult for our communities thank you our next public comment is Marlan Vasquez please unmute yourself hi can you hear me yes hi good evening to the board my name is Marin Vasquez and I'm speaking today as a West County Mandarin School parent um
063and as an educational researcher I'm getting my doctorate I'm also a daughter of undocumented Mexican immigrant parents and a first generation college student thus I speak as a woman with a very complex identity um I want to begin by saying unequivocally that my two Latina daughters are having a wonderful educational experience under Dr Peterson's leadership he has worked highly to run a school that provides a quality education to all students regardless of their socioeconomic status but I would also like to share my frustration and sadness that I must attend a board meeting to be able to share that Insight why isn't wccs USD surveying more parents seeking their qualitative input and using that input to make decisions especially budgetary decisions the board speaks about honoring racial diversity about understanding that black and brown students must
064overcome barriers to get their education and you speak of your commitment to combat in educa educational inequities so why aren't you all working harder to listen to the voices of parents especially black and brown parents and I mean truly listen I heard parents tonight their voices heavy with emotion and it saddens me that you all might just move forward in your decision making as of those parents emotions and perspectives don't matter why does it feel like when parents speak and this isn't my first board meeting with the same pattern so why does it feel like when parents speak including black and brown parents that their voices and their pleadings fall on deaf ears if you are all truly honorable on your intentions if you all truly care about all stakeholders in the wccusd community you
065will reflect on these questions that I am asking and you will start making concrete changes to connect to more parents to truly listen to their voices and to make decisions informed by those voices thank you very much for your time our next public commment is mcken go one my name is McKenzie Guzman I am a third grader in the DLI program as steart Elementary my name is McKenzie wman I am a third grader in the DLI program at steuart elementary I'm here once again to advocate for Di at Stewart last year I stood here and spoke to you all because we didn't have enough teachers for us and now I'm here because they have given up on D Al together Dei it's not just important to me it's a part of who I am I
066love speaking in Spanish and now I'm able to read and write in Spanish fluently if di ends and my little sister wouldn't have the same opportunity as me when she start school it would be unfair to have to transfer to a new school to be able to continue my educ ation with DLI to a school like Washington that has ongoing weight list to even enroll please help us save thei and steart the school that has been our second home thank you for listening staff before you call the next person boor with if there's no objections I would like to extend public comments so we can hear all comments staff we have about how many comments left about 15 15 thank you community when we at our hour mark we need to extend if we want
067to hear everyone so that's what we're doing so we want to extend the comments till we hear all the 15 people left border are there any objections seeing none public comment is extended go ahead please call the next person person staff thank you our next public comment is Ruth Salada please unmute yourself good night everyone uh my name is RO Sala I'm Isabella salar's mother um I would like to to reconsider it about this situation about the teachers from Vista virtual um the reason right now is like the program have been for us uh been a bless because we can find a school for my daughters and I would like you know the teacher Mrs malie she's an excellent teacher always helping her kids um and she support my daughter a lot and I I
068please please reconsider this and thank you so much good night our next public comment is hadasa daero damela hello good evening my name is hadasa Dello I am a student at deza High School in the 11th grade we're here to present our petition for the role of student support service super supervisor coach Dame we have all experienced the support and guidance of Coach Dame we are deeply concerned about the potential removal of one of our only African-American trusted adults at Deana High School in the West Contra cona County coach Dame was always there for us checking on our mental health our grades and overall well-being he did not limit his care to the students he reached out to every student regardless of their color or raise coach race is more than just an adult figure
069in our school he is a leader of support and Trust for all students according to data of the ncees students perform better academically and socially when they have excuse me sorry when they have a role model who share their racial and or ethnic background the district's decision threatens this diversity and could potentially impact the academic performance and emotional well-being for many students at dza high school we must ensure the decisions made by the West Contra Costa Costa winch West Contra Casta prioritize not only educational Excellence but also inclusivity diversity and mental health support we urge you to reconsider this decision keep coach Dame as the student support service supervisor at Deanda High School where he can continue his invaluable work with our youth I also wanted to thank president Smith fold and clerk Gonzalez Hoy
070for coming to deand and meeting with us yesterday also in under 18 hours we have successfully got 545 signatures thank you so much our next public comment is Nissa Bremer please unmute yourself hello Bard um my name is Nissa bramer and I am a parent at Fairmont Elementary School um I'm calling because we are um going through something where our Title One funding is going to be uh taken away this year this is our second year um having been under Title One um through the district I wanted to make a note that the federal number for title one is 40% of students with free and reduced lunch um Fairmont is at 45% as you heard um my uh friend Jen say earlier uh we're at 45.3 or. 2% based on the year um which means
071that we are obviously over the threshold we have a large number of in our community that are um free and reduced lunch we hit that number so I would love for the board to uh let us know why it is that we are not sticking with the 40% number the ferally mandated number problem is that for schools like ours that are on boorder we're very close which is we're B and not uh which as you heard Jen say earlier means that we have a um we have lost 66% of our site budget this year which means that all of the incredible work are teachers have been doing an intervention um after school tutoring Etc to work with our students who are of need who are of need this year next year will continue to be
072um are going to struggle to to maintain that level now where we lose that funding um and going back and forth year toe in this kind of Middle Ground is really uh difficult because we are not able to put together programs that are consistent for our students we have um 60% on duplicated count 30% of our students are English Learners and we have a 20% SP uh population our students need support please follow 30% number thank you our next public comment is Jennifer Gonzales good evening board members of the Board of Education I'm going to read a letter from the DLI co-chair member named Carla our dual language immersion parent advisory committee DLI Pac met earlier today to discuss the recent decision impacting current and perspective children and families at stort elementary school in penol
073in their future enrollment into tool language imersion course of study we are very disappointed that in the same month that WCC USD chooses to recognize this month as National bilingual multilingual learner advocacy month that highlights the importance of inclusivity and supports a diverse student body that this month's DLI decision at storeart elementary do not reflect this sentiment posted the goal or vision for our community a students and a family's right to choose a primary years program in line with their educational goals must be widely accessible to All Families whether or not they meet a threshold of number of seats at their schools if we can be transparent recruitment into current DLI programs have been challenged and limited by the time sensitive information that's made available to families at Early Learning programs via social media and
074current District website and District sponsored events that have had low attendance participation by our prospective Families Our DLI pack collectively and urgently request the much needed extension of time and space to meet and provide discourse with perspective and interested families in order to confirm next year's families enrollment at store DLI pathway program as of this evening it is estimated that at least 14 students are interested in the program please find it in your heart to preserve store Elementary's DLI program our next public comment is khila Williams please unmute yourself good evening um Bard I am happy to be here tonight to represent my kindergarten Micah Williams and the steward D Community um I'd like to start by saying thank you for hearing our voices tonight and just to give a little background I am a
075parent of children who have been in in the West County District for over six years now I have an older child who's graduating this year with special needs so I've been in and out of the district and seen a lot of dispar dispar uh disparaging actions and things that have really disillusioned what I expected uh my parenting process to be with my kids I I really expected a lot of support I really expected our kids to be um appreciated and valued and dedicated um but it's really disheartening it's really frustrating it's angering it's saddening it's heartbreaking to see um the people who are supposed to be supporting our children and wanting them to a achieve these high goals not holding themselves to the these same standards the lack of transparency the lack of inclusion and
076the overall lack of or respect for these families and their time and commitment um to this to this district is is really appalling um I'm a parent volunteer I spend many many hours with these uh children and I see how they appreciate it I see these families and everything that they go through so I urge the uh committee and the district to re evaluate what this decision has uh the decision that has been made to cancel the DLI program thank you our next public common is Kamaya Hill Paul good evening my name is Kamaya Hall and I'm a junior and cheerleader at deanza high school I'm here to speak about the student Support Services um student Support Services with Damon Cole dam is a great support system for me and many others I've been through
077a lot of difficult times and Dame has been able to help me with it you know a young teenager with relationship and family problems Dame was the person I was able to go to the position being taken away can be a high risk for any other teenagers has gone through difficult times teenagers years are almost the highest stake for mental health issues you taken away Dame in his position can damage students and for more students as a whole Dame is not also a staff but he is a father figure uncle and brother to deanza deanza community he's also helped past students like my brothers Rico toy and Kyrie Hall Dame also helped many other students with their mental health abilities and issues I also want to advertise the roles of Jerome Fletcher head security and
078Tyre Reid making a change for theza community and other high schools for mental health and their ability to have an advocate shouldn't be taken away thank you our next public comment is Lan Harrison please unmute yourself hello can you hear me hello oh you can hear me okay good hi Bo good a good evening I'm glad to be here with y'all today I was in person but I had to come back so um my concern is that you guys are this the district um level cabinet level is dismantling the oasa office and they're not talking to us about what we can have left and our scal she's helped us a lot y'all hear me coming all the time talking about our apad she's helped us organize our apack she's helped us get our parents involved
079and set up more ways for black parents to have a voice in our district so um I'm concerned about why you guys are not communicating with us and letting us know what's going to happen with our kids and how we're going to fit into lcap budget and we filed the ASAP executive committee have filed a Williams complaint for our budget because we have not received it yet and we asks for that well was a request for information act I'm sorry it wasn't a Williamson plate but we want to know where are the expenditures that are going towards our children this year so we can make recommendations for next year and we want to know how are you all planning to service our kids to change the suspensions and the absenteeism in our district what's been
080found on the dashboard so can you please communicate with the ASAT executive committee so we can communicate with our APAC parents and our at our sites level we would appreciate that and also we would like for you to support us in starting our DLI Swahili school so we would like to meet with you all soon regarding that also okay thank you I'm complete our next public comment is Hannah love hi my name is Hannah love I am a junior in BSU member at deanza high school I have been at deanza for a year now and I've learned that coach Dame has a huge impact on students academically and mentally he is one of the most talked about and looked up staff members and I feel that coach Dame deserves a continuing title as a student
081support services supervisor at the ends of high school he is is a huge role model for not just our African-American students but all students and losing coach them will create such a big gap in our community looking at all the students and people he has helped improve and the good that he brings there will be nothing but loss by removing him from our community I am here with other support to ask and follow through with the non- removal of Coach Jam's position thank you our next public comment is Katherine Turner please unmute yourself hi my name is Katherine Turner thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight um I am also a parent of kids at Stewart I have one son who is in first grade and I have a son who's currently in TK
082at Murphy which is our uh neighborhood school and have submitted a transfer for him to come and participate in the dii program at Stewart um which I just recently learned will no longer be possible my son who's in first grade has um pretty extreme anxiety social anxiety is a big task to get him to school it's a big task at the start of the year to get him comfortable with the teacher and pretty much every day going to school is a difficulty um is a challenge for him and when he started in kindergarten at Stewart he was in the cohort that didn't have a teacher and so when we got put into the English class when the time came that they did ultimately find a teacher for the Spanish class I thought it would be
083too disruptive for him um too difficult for him given his personality and his emotional struggles to move him over um and so he joined last year um or this is his first year excuse me but uh I'm concerned that the program as this is already evidenced not having the teacher the program and the lack of support that it's receiving from the district makes us continue to not be set up for success I am concerned that if I choose to keep my child in this program that um the numbers will dwindle and who's to say that the promise of continuing the program through the current kindergarten all the way through sixth grade will actually hold if we have people drop out or leave I think my my child's cohort is one of the smallest and again
084I think that's due to not having um not being staffed when the program started um I know for me having a son having my kids at two different schools right now to transfer one of them and not the other would be it's logistically such a nightmare and I just want them to be able to have the same opportunities our next public comment is cim Chamberlain good evening I'm Kimberly Chamberlain ifte Local 21 SSA chapter president I am a worker be in this District also today is administrative assistance day thank you very much for all of the success that we have in our schools for those people successfully supporting our student staff and each other for all you give for all you do for working hard for being you for being there day in day out
085thank you is what this day is about what is an administrative professional they are a Communications Master a scheduler a Record Keeper budget reports person trying to squeeze a lot out of a little bitty Penny travel organizer especially for those that have study trips at school sites and that goes from the school site all the way down to the district level inventory tracker wears that special Band-Aid that's pink or blue or green or has that happy face on it to make somebody feel better office routine maintainer negot Ator if you just please go to the classroom and participate today I'll have a sticker for you at the end of the day and that's for every teacher administrator and per custodial anybody that really needs that sticker for the day not just our students me included
086presenter they present the best of what we have to give in this school district it doesn't matter what the day is what they are doing they try to put on a smile and make sure that they present the best and they do what no one else can do they listen and we appreciate that so much our next public comment is Sujin Jess please unmute yourself good evening um I am sujan Jazz and I am a parent of an a black student or two black students at West County Mandarin school and I wanted to say having access to the international baloria program in the public school system is very rare and we definitely feel very fortunate the IB program is a reason why our child is thriving at West County Mandarin and while we've decided to
087enroll our kid in this school and not a charter school or in a school outside the district my children love learning and they ask great questions they're caring compassionate they feel safe and understood in their school and community and that's because of the IB program and its philosophy this type of experience is a blessing for my students they've experienced different cultures they're learning another language that we don't speak any manin or anything close to that at home and I hope that the IB program can be made available to all schools and all children District um I think it makes better citizens for our world and I feel like with our current climate um in our state in our country in our world this typee of of Education will be a game Cher for so many
088students and for our district to be able to offer that to our students would be amazing um and finally I just want to wrap up and say that this is a draw for students and I know that um there would be more students in our district if we could offer an IB curriculum at more of our school sites thank you our next public comment is Francisco Ortiz good evening board members staff and Community my name is Francisco Ortiz I'm a homegrown educator and a fifth grade teacher at Ford Elementary and Community Schools organized for United teachers of Richmond I come before you today to Advocate passionately for the successful implementation of community schools and the imperative of having a certificated teacher in every classroom as an anti-racist practice these two initiatives are not just policies
089they are moral imperatives that hold the power to transform our educational landscape and dismantle systemic inequities Community Schools embody the ethos of equity inclusion and holistic support for every student and family by providing comprehensive services and resources that address the social OT and academic needs of our students Community Schools create a nurturing environment where all children can Thrive they serve as hubs of empowerment where families and communities are actively engaged in the educational journey of their children community schools are not just buildings they are beacons of Hope and opportunity in underserved communities furthermore the presence of a certificated teacher in every classroom is not just a matter of policy it's a matter of Justice research has consistently shown that act access to Quality teaching is the single most important factor in a Student Success by
090ensuring that every classroom is led by a qualified certificated educator we send a powerful message that every child regardless of their background deserves the very best education possible this is not just about closing the opportunity Gap it's about dismantling the structural barriers that perpetuate racial and socioeconomic disparities in our schools as we strive to build a more just and Equitable Society we must recogn ize that education is the Cornerstone of that endeavor by embracing Community Schools and prioritizing the presence of certificated teachers in every classroom we affirm our commitment to anti-racism and the social justice next public comment is Megan raceport hi my name is is Megan I'm a senior at Elser ohigh and I'm here to talk about the bathrooms they are often locked at lunch which California Ed code says is not permissible
091except basically for safety or repairs uh I do not believe either is the case so on February 28th I filed a Williams complaint with principal Norrington actually this isn't my first complaint it's been my white whales and sophomore year um last time I jumped through all the hoops and under our previous principle things got better but now everything's slowly slid back to square one Mr norrington's first response was to email me he said we close restrooms when they are inoperable or unusable and once restrooms are repaired we reopen them for use however when asked both the custodian and vice principal told me it was due to student behavior um I wrote back to Mr Norrington and I said that I if it was not within his power to fix the problems that apparently necessitate locking
092the bathrooms he should have immediately sent my complaint to the school board a month later he now says yes student behavior is the reason but he will not be investigating further so my main reason for being here is to request that the school board investigate the issue I think it's important to convey the reality of the situation at DC if you want to look at the letter of the law You could argue that technically this is cents but it hasn't solved the problem in fact everything's worse now there used to be certain bathrooms where people would go to smoke or vape or whatever and there would be some with people went for you know traditional bathroom purposes um but the school closed all the bathrooms that people Vape in and so the people who Vape
093have simply moved to the remaining bathrooms unless EC wants to close every single bathroom locking any only makes things worse for the students who behave especially disabled students because people hang out in groups in the wheelchair accessible stalls to summarize the ultimate goal should be to reach a state where we can unlock the bathroom again instead locking the bathroom seems to be the first and only thing EC is willing to do which does nothing to address the core problem and in fact makes the situation worse for everyone else the school has no way to actually address these behaviors except begging parents to volunteer to hang out in high school bathrooms thank you our next public comment is Mark Mitchell good evening president Smith folds uh Miss Neely Johnson board and cabinet um I'm here as
094the executive director of the United teachers of Richmond to support the statement of our Ally Carissa Panza of public Advocates and UT's president-elect Mr Francisco Ortiz that what's going on at Helms stge and Kennedy uh is an emergency the lack of permanent certificated Educators for our students in this district is at an alarming level and in these three School sites particularly it's just an educational emergency for the students that are not receiving the education that we are bound to provide for them but this is not an isolated situation it's not an anomaly in this District it's business as usual in West Contra Costa unfortunately and this board is not without responsibility I just want to remind you that in uh just a few weeks ago at one of our most severely understaffed schools Perry's Elementary
095school with five vacancies this board approved an administrator's recommendation of three non- reelection of Educators that were willing to show up every day and provide instruction to our students if we have three certificated Educators that are willing to show up and provide instruction I would ask that this board s you know seriously review any reason why they cannot continue to provide instructional services to our students because there's nobody else that's willing to step up and fill those spots that school now has six vacancies so let's look at all of the things that are going on here to contribute to this crisis I wanted to also call the board's attention to a letter that I passed out I asked Rosa to provide to all of you and it it regards a teacher that we are referring
096to civil court for her to be able to receive the pay that's due her under the Union contract it's a sad day in West Contra Costa when an educator who shows up every day to provide instruction to her students is denied the provisions of the contract to to pay her we ask you miss Neely Johnson on behalf of the District staff to direct the staff to promptly and respectful our next public common is Kathy s please unmute yourself good evening are you able to hear me now yes we can hear you perfect good evening everyone I'm Kathy and I have a kindergarten at high school elementary I want to shine light on the importance of environmental health and safety at Highland Elementary I want to advocate for our children in room one also known as
097K1 while my child suffered from multiple headaches and Asthma flareups prior to moving rooms I want to know what are the plans to improve the health qualities for our students at the campus are there any plans on building better air quality within the rooms why does it take our teachers being ill and principal to be hospitalized for the for the district to take some sort of action if my neighborhood Elementary School is suffering like this how many other elementary schools are suffering with them not just with teacher shortage but with the health and safety of our student and staff let's protect our amazing staff and students and take the steps to improve the campus at Highland Elementary thank you our next public comment is Jen our next public comment is Robin Mills hello everyone um
098oh hello board members and everyone online my name is Robin Mills and I'm here to speak about a situation that's happening at Murphy Elementary I have a TK there and I am very upset with the policy that I'm being told is a district-wide policy it's policy 6.3 and IT addresses school and classroom visits we are currently on our third principal this year and our third principal has decided to um send an email on Monday evening um immediately going ascending into effect this districtwide policy that's currently preventing parents from walking their children to their classrooms um I have thoroughly reviewed this policy after requesting it from the principal and I can't see anywhere in the policy where it states that parents should not be allowed or cannot walk their child to their classroom so um what's
099happening I feel like is the um enforcement is not being applied um districtwide because I have another kid in this district and that has never been our situation at the other school that my child has gone to I spoke with the principal today and I was told that this policy is being enforced due to four parents who have assaulted um her and other staff on the campus and while I am sympathetic and empathetic to what they are experiencing I do not believe that that is an adequate response to I do not believe that preventing all parents from walking their children is an adequate response we are Title One School school and that means that we should really be encouraging our parents to be involved in education at all levels so our current practice under our
100principal creates an unnecessary barrier to that parental involvement in our kids' lives if the policy can't be rescinded for any reason it definitely needs to be readvised because it was actually written in June of 2007 and if nothing more maybe parents who are district badge approved should be able to walk their kids and our last public common is jasar Carr please unmute yourself hi can you hear me yes okay hi I am a student of retel wsta high school I am talking about the cut of three teachers here in WIA I don't agree with this cut because my teacher Mr s has to leave that educ cares helps and checks in on me with my work and how I'm doing Mrs s also helps me with any subject and gave me the understanding I can
101reach out to her whenever knowing I can get help on my work my teacher always helps no matter what time or day virtual WIA is a good place for me because since I came to the school I seen growth in my education knowledge and grades virtual wsa is the best place for me because I feel safe I can concentrate more better it will break my heart to see a great teacher like Mrs S leave please reconsider this lastly to the four word thank you next public comment is Christina Rya please unmute yourself yes hi my name is Christina Ria um I have a k a kind I grew up in a household where only English was taught and even though both parents spoke Spanish and English they made the decision not to teach any of
102us um so when my daughter was born I made the decision that she was going to learn Spanish whether or not I spoke it you know correctly or not um so her going to the DLI program at Stuart um the program has like gone way beyond my expectations um we love Stuart and it was very stressful trying to transfer her to Stuart um I had a lot of issues with my job I had a lot of issues with Transportation the school she was going at before um she had the issues of of you know the social emotional part transferring she was heartbroken she was moving from one school to another basically so she took some uh it took some getting used to and when I asked her how she felt about having to go to
103a different School uh if things change she her her quote was very mad and upset and this is coming from my kindergartener um besides myself signing a petition to keep the DLI program at Stuart a lot of my family has also signed it as well um keeping her in speaking both languages and I I'm also very proud of of of my daughter because you know she corrects me a lot of the time um I just hopefully we can keep the program going thank you so much staff thank you community for your public comment thank you to all the kids and students that spoke tonight um we are now moving on to B8 agenda review and adoption for do we have any changes to the agenda I would like to take off number 10 resolution 2324
104d61 school lunch hero day and move it to May 1 our May 1 meeting are there any objections to that change seeing no objections are there any objections or changes to the agenda seeing none the agenda is now adopted we are now moving on to B9 approval of the minutes approval of April 8th 20124 minutes are there any changes trusty reckler go ahead thank you if you'll give me just a minute okay I have two very small changes on number five wccusd public comment Jack Weir is spelled Weir and then in the implementation Plan update uh there's something about a annual knob audit no idea what that is why don't we just make it annual Audits and if those are approved I'll just send them in thank you any other changes to the minutes from
105April 8th seeing none can I get a motion I'll go ahead and move the minutes with the changes noted thank you is there a second second thank you board we're going to go straight to the vote trusty pal Carr yes thank you trusty Abdu gafar Ro yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you Clark Gonzalez Hoy say thank you excuse me and I'm a yes thank you we are now moving to our resolutions we are skipping resolution number 10 is going to come back on May 1st and we're going to resolution number we're going to agenda item number 11 resolution number d62 Miss Forest this is your item please yes thank you and good evening uh president Smith FS trustee CEO neie Johnson and
106Community this is recognizing April 21 uh 15 excuse me through 19 2024 as National Public School volunteer week now therefore be it resolved that the West Contra Costa UniFi School District Board of Education and wccusd superintendent recognize and commend volunteers to and join the nation in celebrating National Public School volunteer week April 15 through 19th 2024 be it further resolve that the West contracosta Unified School District Board of Education and wccusd superintendent encourage activities to recognize volunteers this week thank you board is there a motion I'll move resolution number 2 32462 National Public School volunteer week 2024 is there a second I second thank you very much board any comments staff could we put one minute on the clock for comments trusty reckler I see your hand if you wait for the clock please I
107could have made my comment faster than the clock coming up um I just want to take a moment and thank our volunteers uh they do not get enough support or recognition and the district would literally fall apart without them so thank you for all that you do in the millions of ways people who show up who don't even have kids in the schools anymore and show up and do lunch um it's really admirable and unbelievable and I thank you all for your efforts thank you thank you very much any other comments trusty Phillips go ahead please I'm sorry wait for the clock for me thank you uh very much president Smith folds um I just want to say thank you to all of the volunteers uh that we have in the district I know that
108um it's not easy to volunteer um and I don't mean because of just because of time and schedules but sometimes it's literally not easy to get into the system uh to be able to volunteer but people uh persevere because they understand that it's important um and that it's actually critical to the success of the district so for all of you out there including my wife Angela uh who don't hear it enough thank you so much for the time that you spend not only working with uh your own children but your children's classmates as well thank you so much any other comments I would like to make a comment parent volunteering and guardian volunteering Community volunteering it's the backbone of our school sites and I want to thank every volunteer that comes into the school I
109encourage everyone to get badged so you're able to come into the school to volunteer you're able to come in to do lunch duty you're able to come in to do yard Duty you're able to do traffic Duty you're able to go to your your students classroom you're able to go to other classrooms start that volunteer process now go to our district website and type in volunteer and it'll show you exactly how to get your volunteer badge that volunteer badge you get it once and you can keep it the entire time you only have to do the process once so I want to thank you and again I encourage you to go ahead and start that process so you'll be ready for not only next year but the years that your students are enrolled in school
110and Beyond um one of our strongest groups of volunteers are are uh grandparents so please don't think that once your child graduates that you're no longer needed at the school you're very much needed at the school I'm complete he board we're going to go straight to the vote we are voting to accept resolution number 2 32462 National Public School volunteer week 2024 trusty pal Carr yes thank you trusty abduka parro yes yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you and I'm a yes we are now moving on to number 12 res agenda item number 12 resolution number 2324 63 National poetry month 2024 Miss Forest this is your item yes thank you now therefore be it resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified School
111District Board of Education and the wccusd superintendent Proclaim April 1st through April 30th as National poetry month be it further resolved that the West contracosta Unified School District Board of Education encourages activities to recognize and celebrate the cultural riches our community has to offer and to recognize the important role poetry plays in creating and sustaining the the this great nation with appropriate ceremonies activities and programs thank you so very much Bard is there a motion I move to approve thank you so much is there a second second trusty pal car I heard you you're a second thank you so much trusty Reckless trusty pal car is our second board are there any comments trusty Phillips go sorry trusty Phillips go ahead can I get a minute on the clock please communication is uh extremely important
112and poetry is one of the ways that you learn to communicate and express yourself um I was actually uh I actually majored uh in English literature um well I double majored but one of my Majors uh was English literature so I have a a in English literature and I've spent a lot of time uh reading and writing poetry and I think that it has helped me tremendously uh in my walk in life uh particularly my communication skills and I see how that training and that experience manifests itself every day as an attorney and I encourage people to read and write poetry it is a great thing thank you very much uh truste Phillips trusty Phillips what was your second major political science thank you very much um I majored in literature so we have something
113in common any other comments I have a comment um thank you so very much this is a great resolution I encourage everyone if you don't know the poets linkston Hughes gwindel and Brooks Amanda Gordon Nikki Giovani uh Jericho Brown Lucille Clifton Margaret w Paul Lawrence Dunbar look them up they are just a few of our amazing black poets but they are just a few of our amazing black poets we have so many more so please take this month this time to look up those poets and to understand their poetry and what they wrote about and how it was a reflection of what they lived I am complete we are now moving on to B13 resolution number 2324 -64 national student leadership week April 22nd through the 26 2024 Miss Forest this is your item thank
114you yes now therefore be it resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified School District board of education does hereby adopt this resolution to designate the week of April 22nd through 26 2024 national student leadership week and be a further resolve that the West contracosta Unified School District Board of Education recognizes and encourages our student leaders to continue to advocate for student voice and Leadership and education throughout the wccusd system thank you very much is there a motion I move to approve thank you very much is there a second I can second thank you very much Bor are there any comments trusty Phillips go ahead I would like to begin by thanking the dynamic duo for the first of making the motion and the second um student leadership is extremely important um we have to learn
115and I think it begins when we are youth uh to have ownership and control right of our own past and our lives and I think that students uh should take every opportunity that they can not just to sit up here which is great but also to do leadership roles at their schools um when I look back on my own Journey one one thing that I would have done differently um is I would have participated in student government because I think that it is a great thing so for those of you out there who have the desire to do that please do because I think it will serve you greatly in the future thank you so much is there another comment from the board let's go to trusty reckler and then I bounce back to the
116student trustees trusty reckler go ahead wait for the wait for the clock for me please uh oh hold on a minute thank you go ahead so I want to thank the two of you for showing up every week you guys are doing a great job you're finally getting into the swing of it um and I'm very appreciative that you're here and forther comments that you make and I'm also appreciative to a pass board that actually created these seats and one of the things about the West contracosta Unified School District is that we were one of the first boards in California to have student trustees and so a wonderful first a wonderful opportunity for students and uh I'm glad you're here and I hope that you'll tell those that are coming behind you about this opportunity
117and how to apply and sit on sit and get to it uh in real life so thank you thank you very much trusty pal car go ahead um I would like to thank you all for your acknowledgements um I also wanted to I wanted to um encourage all of the people watching um through zoom and here to really get involved in student government because I have been doing it since I was in Middle School and I think that it's a really really really valuable experience you're able to represent the thoughts of your peers and do the advocacy yourself and it's just invaluable skills to have and um we need more representation in this District so I would really like to push forward and advocate for students to go forth into their School site councils or
118to join all student Congress represent their school their Community it's just it's really important in this day and thank you very much trusty abig gapar yeah well I would love to Echo camil's um thoughts I think that it's also really important for students to involve themselves in student government not only for the um experience but for like the knowledge that comes with it because there's so many times I've come back from board meetings and I'm like that was dealt with in such an interesting way and it made me like think about like how I want to mature and grow up and I think it like left me with a lot of thoughts and I think it's really amazing especially at this age it's important like this is such a crucial age for development and like
119seeing Role Models like handle things and such respectful and like but also in like a direct way is really like a really good um model to set and I want to thank the everyone for acknowledging but I also would like to thank you for giving us this opportunity so thank you thank you very much trusty Christian yes I want to go the same thing to thank our student trustees um for them to step to the plate to be to learn uh leadership and being involved um in aspect of the board and this is what take them into the future and so and for all of our young people um leadership is very important to be great leaders and that you would be able to step to the play for any task um and to see
120things done thank you thank you very much trusty Christian um my comment is uh similar to everyone else's but I want to thank you uh specifically ABD garro that was the nicest thing that has been said in a long time about how we handle things on this board so thank you very much it was well said um student leadership is Beyond important from student councils in elementary school to middle school and Leadership classes and student counsil was there to high school and your leadership classes in all student Congress and it's not just those student leaders but it's also the ones that we saw tonight the ones that come in and advocate for their School site and they may not have a position they may not have a title but they always have a voice you
121were Road models to those second graders that were here and did a speech and said they need and they were looking at you they were not looking at us they were looking at the people closest to their age group and that's you so you really are a role model for all the students and all of the adults in our district because it's your voice and you are the people who we are supposed to Center and serve so thank you for continuing to use your voice we can't wait to hear more from you and we are greatly appreciative of all you do I'm complete thank you board we are now moving on to agenda item b14 resolution number 2 32465 Arab American Heritage Month 2024 Miss Forest this is your item I'm sorry point of order
122I think we need to vote on that we absolutely do thank you so much I was so excited I forgot to vote all right here we go we are gonna go with trusty pal car yes thank you trusty Abdu parro yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you I went out of order trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Christian yes and I'm a yes thank you now we are moving on to resolution number 2 32465 Arab American Heritage Month 2024 uh Miss Forest this is your item yes thank you now therefore be it resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified School District board joins the Arab American foundation in celebrating April as 2024 National Arab American heritage month and recognition of the many contributions Arab Americans have made in our society thank you so
123much B is there a motion I'll move resolution number 2324 d65 Arab American Heritage Month 2024 is there a second second thank you trusty Christian we are now moving on to comments are there any comments trusty Phillips go ahead thank you I I don't like to compare people's pain because everyone has their own Journey um and everyone has their own experience and I think when you do that um you take away um from someone else's experience but I do want to take this moment uh not to just acknowledge the contributions of the the Arab American Community but also to point out some of the parallel struggles um that they've had and that they continue to have um I understand even though I am not Arab American um discrimination and racism and all of those things
124are very real and they have been very uh in yourf face uh during recent times for the Arab American community and our I would like to acknowledge that thank you so much any other comments trusty ABD gapar um yeah I want to Echo trustee Philip's thoughts and also I think it's important and I think that it's great that we have Arab um heritage month this month especially what's going on in Palestine I know I've have a lot of Arab friends who are advocating and it I'm sure it feels nice to have a month designated to them especially because I feel like a lot of um I feel like they kind of go overlooked like Middle Easterns really get overlooked it's kind of grouped into like they're not really grouped into anything actually um so I
125think it's good and really um good timing to have um um an acknowledgement of them at this time so I appreciate that thank you very much any other comments um my comment on this resolution is we are a diverse District we are a diverse country and we have to find that intersectionality that Mr Phillips spoke of and we also have to shine a light on those who are the most marginalized which our student trustee spoke of so I think that we not only need to pass resolutions like this but we need to take those ideas into the classrooms and onto the school sites I am complete we are now moving on to resolution number 232 4 -66 no oh we didn't take a vote ha I got it all right let's take a vote all
126right here we go trusty pal Carr yes thank you trusty Abdu karro yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Christian yes and I'm a yes thank you now we are moving on to resolution number 23246 Dolores perta day uh miss fores this is your item please yes thank you now therefore be it resolved that the West contracosta Unified School District board of education does hereby adopt this resolution to honor Dolores wera a national civil rights and labor leader and be it further resolved that the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Education directs the superintendent and all District staff to support lessons and activities that teach about the life and struggles of Dolores wera and to conduct celebrations honoring her life as a powerful force for
127social justice and empowerment for all thank you very much board is there a motion I'll make the motion to approve very good is there a second second thank you very much Bor do we have any comments trusty Phillips go ahead um even though I highly doubt she is listening um I would like to thank her uh Dolores Cora for being a role model um and a role model not just for women um but also a role model uh for men um she's a role model period She is a great person and she has done tremendous work um past um and present uh and will continue to do so uh so I just want to honor uh that Legacy um and give thanks for the fact that it's continuing thank you very much are there any
128other comments um my comment is I met her twice and every time that I met her she has an amazing Spirit of um good trouble she is a walking example of good trouble and it was amazing to see her come in she's real small she's real tiny so I was very tall over her but her spirit was seven feet tall and the way that she spoke about not only the past but the present and the future and the need to continue to make good trouble and continue to turn over tables and continue to speak truth to power it was absolutely amazing so if you ever have a chance to meet her um don't miss that opportunity um if you have a chance to research well we all have a chance to research about her and
129to um look at all the amazing feats that she has done as a civil rights leader it's it's a great legacy that she's creating I am complete vote here we go to the vote trusty pal Carr yes thank you trusty Abdu gapar Ro yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you truste Christian yes and I'm a yes thank you very much board we are now moving on to resolution number uh resolution number 2 32467 is item number 16 on the agenda National bilingual multilingual learner advocacy month Miss Forest this is your item thank you now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the West Contra Costa Unified School District hereby proclaims April 2024 as National bilingual multilingual learner advocacy month thank you board is there a
130motion I'll go ahead and move resolution 2324 d67 National bilingual multi multilingual advocacy learner advocacy month thank you is there a second second thank you so much board any comments okay we'll start with Mr Phillips and work our way this way Mr philps go ahead I have 7 seconds I was going to try to do it um I have said this before um I think that steuart um and I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about Stuart because it's on subject um I think that Stuart has struggled that DLI program for quite some time um and different things have been tried over different superintendents to boost that program but it continues to struggle um I don't see how that program honestly is sustainable um based on what I know to have happened in the
131past and trying to get it to move forward but at the same time I don't think that it's appropriate to announce that a program is being cancelled after the transfer deadline that to me just doesn't seem fair so if that happened um I would request or do request that the staff actually look into that thank you so much trusty Phillips we are now moving to trusty pal car and then we'll work our way around trusty pal car okay well um initially I did just want to say I wanted to Echo the importance of um languages in our community being being multilingual myself is it's just it's a great great great connector you're able to like communicate with people from various different communities and countries and it's just it leads to such an expansive mindset so
132I would like to um really encourage the board to support language curriculums maybe expanding it supporting it um with the DLI program if there's a way to just provide students with extra support in um really fostering these languages it's just so important and I really I really do think that this is such a such an um a mind expander for things and especially something that our students in our district could benefit from so thank you thank you so very much trusty Abdu gapar yeah I mean I completely agree with both um trusty Phillips and trusty po car I think that um I do also want to reiterate with all these people came here today today to talk about about the DHL program I mean DHI program at um St Li yeah Stuart um because clearly
133these little kids are coming because it matters to them like I'm sure this is like past their bed time or something and like so many of them like had the courage to come up here and express their feelings like I don't know what happened has happened in the past but that doesn't matter like we should focus on improving it now um and also we had like a previous presentation at one of our meetings about like um like um like having like more classes at the elementary level for like language immersion especially for students who are like International students so if we're going to recognize that that's important how can we like not also recognize how learning Spanish is also important and other languages is also important in the same way thank you thank you so
134much trusty ABA par of we are now moving to trusty reckler go ahead thank you so I don't want to take up this time talking about Stuart but I do want to just say in case board comments get cut that the board is informed exactly on what's going on there and also to schedule a session on what the vision is around DLI because I'm not sure we have one um so I'll just stop there with that as far as knowing two languages or multiple languages I mean to me it's imperative that everybody knows at least another language fluently this is especially Spanish and Mandarin I mean this is the way that the world is going and if there's besides English Spanish and Mandarin three of the most popular languages and in order to really have
135culturally competent students that can are globally competent they need to speak more than one language or and understand different cultures uh it's it's diely important and it's something that I miss out on as a child because my mom's language wasn't taught to me because they wanted to americanize so you know we've come such a long way and I want to see that supported in the district so thank you thank you very much trusty Christian yes and I just want to elor the same words because it's very important um to know with languages so um and like Stuart you know seeing things um seeing the language are there you know for our students so they can learn so um I I I'm I'm for all of that so uh yes I Echo the same words what
136everybody uh saying up here on the dasis thank you thank you so very much um CEO Johnson if we could schedule a DLI specific study session to where we are bringing back all of our DLI programs creating and talking about or going over the vision that we have for DLI and the next steps and looking at speciic specific programs I think that that would be valuable thank you so much um thank you everyone for your comments I don't have anything to add I think that we are um we have all spoken to the DLI program and multilingual and how important it is for our students I am complete we are now moving on nope vote all right here we go trusty pal car your vote ma'am yes thank you trusty Abdu kapar your vote ma'am
137yes thank you trusty Phillips your votes sir yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Christian yes and I'm a yes thank you so much now we're moving on to agenda item B17 resolution number 2324 D68 adult education week Miss Forest this is your item thank you now therefore be it resolved that the governing board of the West Contra Costa Unified School District does hereby proclaim the week of April 7th 24 through April 13th 2024 adult education week and salutes the administration teachers and students of the West contracosta adult school and honors their efforts and accomplishments thank you so much board is there a motion I'll go ahead and move resolution 2324 D68 adult education week thank you is there a second I second thank you so much B are there any comments
138we'll go around this way again trusty Phillips go ahead thank you very much um I just want to give kudos to the adult ed teachers uh and the adult ed students uh Once Upon a Time uh I taught a GED class so I was an adult ed teacher for a moment when I lived out of state um it is extremely important uh for folks to be able to get back into school uh to get uh their geds but not just that um to also better and Advance themselves and their families and Adult Ed does all of that so I'm glad that we have an adult ed program I'm glad that uh it is thriving and that we make uh I believe good efforts to reach out to the community to participate so thank you to
139everyone who is a teacher or student or an administrator in that program thank you so very much trusty pal car did I see your hand no trusty Abdu kaparo go ahead ma'am yeah um I think it's really important that we're acknowledging this because I think it's also like a really small section of our district that kind of goes unrecognized um but it's really important because it shows that there is still Pathways to education even if like you drop out or like things happen I think that's really um admirable um and kind of came to my mind right now but speaking of different Pathways I also want to advocate for Vista because that's also a different pathway that people like go to when things don't go their way also gateways so I just want to keep
140encouraging having alternative education ways because not everyone um fits with the traditional learning style so I want to keep advocating for that and I think this is a great start but we should also think about this to in Gateway thank you very much trustee Christian yes uh yes the adult education is very important um it's it's a way for adults to get back in to finish their education so they can move on and do other great things um down the road so you know when I look at this I I have encouraged so many young people who have basically gave up but I encourage them to get back in into the uh educational program that we have in this district and we have a wonderful wonderful uh Adult Educational program and um and for all
141those uh who teach the adult education who spend time with those who who are getting back in trying to make things happen and I really appreciate that because it it gives a vehicle for them to move in the future thank you thank you so very much trusty reckler go ahead thank you so one of the things that I've been most proud of about this district is that it has consistently offered something birth to death literally from teeny teeny kids all the way through the older adult school program there's always been even in the most challenging fiscal times something for every age adult education plays a very important role whether it's people who are coming back to get a GED or whether it's uh English language learning for adult newcomers or whether it's naturalization or auto
142mechanics or knitting or whatever they offer it plays an important inexpensive role in education for the entire community and I myself took my food service permit at our adult school and it was excellent and it was as good as anything I got in the fancy Hotel school so it was a great program and anybody who needs to get food service certified do it through wccusd thank you thank you very much thank you to all adult Educators thank you to the adult students and remember our adults start at 18 so we have students in adult education as young as 18 the baby adults and we have them all the way to probably a 100 years old so thank you very much for all that you do thank you uh wccusd with your partnership with adult education
143I would like to see um the classes back at the elementary schools I know that nrom used to have an adult education um class during the day so um when we're in our physical state and we can move a better physical state and we can move that I would love to see that back into our elementary schools because it's there when parents drop their students off they go right to class too so I think that adds to our um number of people participating in adult education um programs if you have not seen the adult education at night I went last year to Richmond it is an amazing program going in there and seeing all the learning that's being done and amazing teachers who some come from school teaching school during the day to teaching school
144at night and it's an amazing thing to watch so I encourage you all to go to that I am complete we are now headed to the vote trusty pal Carr yes thank you trusty Abdu kaparo yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Christian yes and I'm a yes thank you very much we're now moving to B18 resolution number 2324 d69 National Public School month Miss Forest thank you now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of the West contracosta Unified School District hereby recognizes April 2024 as public schools month and urges communities and educational instit institutions to appropriately observe the efforts of students teachers and administrators of the public school system thank you so much and pardon me director Forest not miss Forest director Forest
145thank you uh board may I have a motion please I'll make the motion thank you so much is there a second second thank you so much Bard are there any comments okay trusty Phillips go ahead I want to take this opportunity to recognize all of our schools um but I want to point out two schools in particular um and those two schools are Vista virtual and the Mandarin school um both of those schools um have done a great job both of those schools have had weight list um and both of those schools need to be able to Thrive and and move forward and continue to thrive and in all honesty and transparency I'm a Vista virtual parent as well um I think the district needs to recognize when it has done a good thing and
146sometimes when we've done a good thing the best thing that we can do is actually get out of the way uh and let it continue to thrive some of the things that I have heard regarding the Mandarin school and Vista virtual um I think uh could actually hurt those schools schools that have weight list we're talking about uh enrollment going down and losing you know Ada and all of those things um but we have two really good programs that we're messing with um and sometimes I think this district is so used to sometimes it's so used to messing up that it doesn't get it when it's doing something good and I think that may very well be what's happening with Vista virtual um and the Mandarin School the district is doing something good there's no
147reason to change things when they're not broken thank you so much any other comments sorry my comment is very simple thank you to all the public schools um nwcc USD you're the reason why we sit here we sit here to serve you we s sit here to serve those parents and students who don't have a choice that this is their District these are their neighborhood schools so we work to make sure that we are centering their experience and what we want them to um come out with after 13 years so thank you to all those who choose wccusd and thank you to all of those who choose our Public Schools I am complete to the vote truste pal car yes thank you truste ABD gabar sorry Abdu kaparo yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes
148sorry I skipped you trusty Phillips my bad trusty Phillips it's okay yes thank you trusty Christian yes and I'm a yes thank you so very much we are now moving to b19 resolution number 2324 d70 School library month uh director Forest thank you now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education of West Contra Costa Unified School District does hereby Proclaim April 2024 as school library month in all of West Contra Costa Unified School District and calls upon School administrators teachers students and citizens of West Contra Costa to recognize and support this action and to participate throughout the month of April in the celebration of school library month thank you so very uh much director Forest board is there a motion I'll move resolution number 2324 d70 School library month is there a second
149second thank you so much uh Bard or their comments trusty Phillips go ahead I want to rephrase the last thing I said I think that this district is so used to things not working the way we want it to work that sometimes when it is working correctly we still think we have to do something um we still think that we have to play with things and change things and that's not true what I was trying to say is that Vista and the Mandarin School are working and they are not broken so we don't need to be trying to fix them they are working and they are actually shining examples of how you can create a new program or new programs and actually generate new excitement um in your schools so it's a little clearer I
150spoke about communication earlier and on School library month I will have to come back later and fit that in because it is extremely important but I wanted to clarify my last statement thank you thank you so very much are there any other comments um I'll have a comment this is a very important resolution um as someone who started out and struggled to learn to read uh the this library was my savior I uh you don't know about Dewey Decimal System if you're of a certain age but I had to learn the Dewey Decimal System in shelf library books and it was great it was a great experience it immersed me into books um which is absolutely amazing so please thank your librarian please go and use your Public Library please use the school libraries and
151in an age where people are baning books we have to ban together to say no no book should be banned every book should be read and every book should be absorbed because that is the knowledge um if you haven't seen uh TV shows like Reading Rainbow I suggest you look at them they talk about books it's amazing um and again go to your local library and get a library card and use it I am complete board to the vote before I go to that vote I need to ask the board a question did we vote on poetry month we did some of us say no some of us say yes we don't know if we voted on it so we're going to go back and vote on The Poetry one just we didn't do it
152okay just to make sure so we're going to roll backwards and we're going to vote on The Poetry one miss Rosa did we have a we had a motion and we had a second so the first vote I'm going to ask for is for poetry okay because I don't think we did it so trusty pal car your vote for the Poetry resolution yes thank you trusty Abdu kaparo you vote for the Poetry yes thank you truste Phillips for poetry yes thank you trusty reckler for poet poetry reckler yes thank you trusty Christian for poetry yes and I'm a yes for poetry now we're going to go to school library month trusty pal car for Library yes thank you trusty Abdu karvo yeah yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank
153you trusty Phillips oh nope trusty Christian sorry yes thank you and I'm a yes all right now we are moving on to sent items are there any items that we're going to pull trusty reckler go ahead yes C8 approval of fundraising activities and C9 contracts please both of those in their entirety yes please I'll be quick go ahead I cut you off what did you say yes I'll be quick with them okay thank you so very much any other items to be pulled trusty AB karvo well I had a question well can you define pulled cuz I thought it meant like taken off the agenda but I remember last time something was pulled but then it was brought back at the end is that what it is yeah so when we're saying pull something off
154the consent item we're saying we're going to pull it off so it doesn't go to like yes everybody agrees with it but we're going to pull it off to talk about it at the very back of the agenda and then we'll take a vote because we're pulling it specifically off so consent item is like we look at it and we like yo okay I agree with that we don't have to have a conversation about it but if we want to have a conversation about it we'll pull it off and put it at the back okay thank you you're welcome any other items to be pulled nope board can I have a motion to approve the consent items with items eight and nine pulled I'll go ahead and move consent with eight and nine pull for
155discussion thank you is there a sec is there a second second thank you uh board let's go straight to the vote trusty pal car yes thank you trusty Abdu kaparo ripin thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty regler regler yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you and I'm in yes we are now moving to item D the superintendent communication report cool okay um so we have two parts of the um superintendent report um first we're going to just have an overview of some things happening and then our student trustees will be reporting out this evening um so could we pull up great thank you very much okay so um first slide second thank you so um we want to just thank all of our Administrative Professionals this week week so let's give them
156a hand right now um today was the official celebration but they can be celebrated all week long so if you did forget please um either call show up with flowers candies Starbucks gift cards for your Administrative Professionals and in our district that means our office managers our secretaries our admin techs all of those wonderful people that support our school sites in our departments so um thank you for your dedication to student achievement and for all your support so thank you next slide um next we have some events that are coming up we have our 17th annual transition and special education resource fair this is an annual event just it's a wonderful event for parents of children with special needs but to specifically come out and learn about offerings um specifically for our students that are
15718 I want to say 18 to um 22 and it will be held on Saturday April 27th from 10 to 12:30 p.m. at the vista Hills education center um we also have our wccusd chess tournament it's also going to be on Saturday April 27th at Dean middle school and it is from 10:30 to 2:00 next slide and now I'm going to turn this over to our selfa director kathri fleshman to review thank you Miss NY Johnson um I want to uh or we want to remind our community that April is autism acceptance month um as you see on this slide here uh neurodiversity is uh very real um and it is just as real as any other type of diversity that we have um here in our very very diverse Community excuse me um like
158any other aspect the human brain uh functions in many different ways and is it it is all of our human brains are not the same and there's diversity among all of us next slide please um just some some key points um uh some fundamental truths as I like to talk about neur neurodiversity is biodiversity um like I said just like any other part of our human body the brain is a diverse um organ um people's people whose neuro neurology differs from dominant societal Norms are described as neurode divergent that's a really important point to make um and that is that um uh again the neurology the way that the brain work doesn't always function the same way and for folks who um it doesn't align with our societal Norms are are thought of as and
159describ desribed as neurode divergent and autism is just one form of neurod Divergence um there's some graphics there for for future um reference I'm not going to talk through all of those right now because there's a great deal of um information there next slide please um also want to just acknowledge that the um the way in which we talk about autism the way in which we um uh acknowledge autism has grown and shifted and changed like many other things um there are certain uh emblems and and um Insignia that have been uh initially and potentially um universally accepted that have been challenged and so that's what this slide is there is to acknowledge um that there have been challenges and and um uh an evolving conversation around the representation of people with Autism next slide
160please um and this uh last slide is just to acknowledge a couple of things if you look at the bottom right um it shows one type of spectrum a straight line Spectrum um but it's to acknowledge that the autism spectrum isn't just a straight line spectrum because it is a spectrum that moves in many different directions and so that that bottom right graphic um in many ways represents the autism spectrum uh much more uh uh appropriately and also just to acknowledge that um like any other subgroup of our um diverse Community people with Autism have succeeded in in all sorts of fields and uh contributed TR tremendously um to many different fields um just as any other subgroup has so um that's the the purpose of this slide here um and that uh concludes um
161the conversation here around Autism Awareness um just a a quick introduction and and a much longer and very important conversation that we need to continue to have I'm complete thank you um next we just want to acknowledge um our administrators Association of California school administrators is a large organization um it represents all of the administrators in the state of California and um every District that has a charter um recognizes their own local winners but then um for westca we're part of the um region six which represents Alam County and Contra Casta County and so these are our winners and I just want to read them off by name so for secondary principal of Richmond High we have Rosio Reay Middle grades principal um from saskin I'm Betty Reed saskin we have Jay Irving Elementary principal
162who and now um executive director for um Area 1 Katherine aasta for prascus um secondary co-administrator um of Betty Reed saskin Jason laau and our business Business Services administrator our CBO Kim Moses and I want to highlight that she not only won for our district but she won for the entire region of region six so we want to congratulate her on curriculum and instruction administrator um our science coordinator um John eaki and continuation Ed options administrator for um Phil Johnson Who is the principal of Greenwood Academy so those are our winners and we just wanted to acknowledge and congratulate them this evening next slide that ends the slides so um we can do questions after the students report so we'll wait and we'll get the students report and then we'll do questions as a board
163so um now I'm going to turn it over to our wonderful student trustees to um present their report for this month okay um good evening to all I am student trusty palar and tonight me and trusty Abdu karov will be presenting our report on students voice for Quality education and how it relates to funding so our trustee report aims to enhance the school experience through targeted funding and because this this has been a huge topic for discussion as of lately so we first start by identifying the specific areas within schools that suffer due to in inadequate funding so by gathering ample information we can discern where funds should be directed for Maximum Impact according to student priorities um could you go back to the previous slide thank you um okay so in addition to identifying
164areas lacking adequate funding our commitment extended to finding viable Solutions uh we aim to Think Through each solution meticulously to create a specific and narrow list for Maximum Impact throughout our report we were dedicated to exploring um all different types of solutions including reallocations of funds and seeking out potential Partners whether they be local businesses community organizations or governmental agencies overall we wanted to present a comprehensive set of Pathways to empower schools to thrive and provide students with all the resources they need next SL thank you so we start off by suring um students and principles so we had a thorough conversation with all student Congress members to gain insights from our student representatives and our goal was to gather diverse perspectives um on the issue of funding at different levels um their input was
165invaluable in understanding the various challenges faced due to inadequate funding for example several students expressed their dissatisfaction with the unsanitary conditions of the restrooms um actually Megan was one of them that really stood for that and they came today to um reiterate that point which I wanted to um note and say that was cool um and they also think that the new technologies that have been implemented were unnecessary so to quote one student from Hercules high on our forms they said um why did our school buy promethium boards there's usually one for every class even though we have whiteboards end quote this made students feel like the district's priorities were out of order and to ensure a comprehensive view of the issue extended our Outreach efforts so we created forms for both students and principles
166aiming to gather perspectives from all different stakeholders and the questions were carefully crafted to pinpoint the areas where funding was lacking the most um and we aim to understand how these funding gaps correlate with the student needs and experiences so through this process we gained a deeper understanding of the specific areas where student short funding shortages have the most significant impact um so in addition to collecting data we took um proactive steps to gain a deeper understanding of our school's budgetary process and processes um this involved reaching out to the finance committee and School principles while our work on the panel provided a brief um introduction to our District's budget we needed to delve deeper to properly interpret our data we recognized the importance of understanding how our school's budget functions therefore we reached out
167to gain insights into the intricacies and expenditure engaging with the finance committee allowed us to see actual numbers and comprehend the realm of possibilities through our meetings we got a more personalized idea of different schools data and how each School handles their finances or what committees they need to go through so through this analysis we identified reoccurring themes and priorities that range from the need to provide more resources for sports to enhancing the hygiene standards on our campuses such as renewing our bathrooms so these challenges hold significance in our organizational ecosystem because it shows where students require and desire from their um School experience with this information we could cultivate appropriate Solutions so addressing these issues isn't just about improving specific aspects it's about enhancing the overall quality of life and productivity within our community
168and after engaging directly with the finance committee of the board and conducting oh can you go back to the last slide sorry we'll say next slide when we want you to move I'm so sorry okay um so after engaging directly with the finance committee of the board and conducting personal interactions with School principles and studies and students we narrowed down the the data into um key findings keeping in mind the processes we had learned about how money is allocated and distributed within our district and this allowed us to provide a comprehensive overview of the financial landscape of our schools throughout the process we consistently referred back to the student data to ensure our Solutions were grounded in the needs of students and we ensured that our proposed Solutions aligned with the district's guidelines and policies
169and by adhering to the established Frameworks we aimed to create solutions that were not only effective but also feasible by the end we developed a range of possible solutions to to address the identified challenges next slide okay so now I want to move on to reviewing the data that we collected next slide okay so this data infographic represents the first priority of students across various categories so let's break down this analysis so as you can see the highest percentage of students chose Sports as their first priority so this indicates a significant interest or concern among students regarding sports related activities which could include um access to facilities equipment coaching staff or or opportunities for participation in sports program one student stated that quote and I think that Sports at our schools are very important and
170it helps students bond with each other and pursue new things many sports like volleyball soccer and basketball are very popular at our school but it's hard to find a coach since it's volunteer-based if we can put funding towards Sports things like the boys volleyball team won't be have to be canceled again I know that many of my friends were disappoint pointing that they couldn't get a chance to try volleyball end quote so Sports clearly create Community for students especially if they have trouble making friends along with encouraging a healthy lifestyle so it's crucial um to part of the school experience so the next highest priority of students was campus related issues so this could Encompass a wide range of concerns such as campus safety cleanliness infrastructure improvements or environmental sustainability efforts um many students Express
171their disdain for un sanitary conditions of several errors on their campus along with wanting to have more sustainable practices um and onethird of and one5 of our students identified Staffing as their main priority um this suggests that students are concerned with the quality and quantity of teaching staff which obviously is coming to be a big issue in our schools that there's a lot of lack of funding um and it shows within the students because one student on our form said um quote I believe it's important to prioritize funding staff and school supplies over clubs and Sports although it adds to the student experience we should make sure that they're getting the proper education before extracurriculars as a senior I've had to struggle with teachers which greatly impacted my learning end quote funding to address this
172issue could include hiring more teachers counselors support staff and administrators to reduce class sizes provide individualized attention and improve the overall student support services and speaking of school supplies it ranked fourth as a priority among students this can include concerns about access to necessary educational materials such as textbooks notebooks techn technology advices or other resources essential to learning and a smaller percentage of students prioritize electives um indicating a interest in expanding or improving the elective course offerings within the curriculum so many students um stated that electors would greatly benefit them as it would give them an opportunity to discover what they enjoy before going into a certain field and I also want to note that the most popular elective was cooking we saw that so many times and a lot of people talked about how
173they appreciate Mrs man I don't know who that is but I do want to highlight whoever that is because they clearly made an impact and the other category encompasses things like St study trips which two people voted for um events like prom which three people advocated for special education one person advocated for and language um classes for bilingual students which two people advocated for and the lowest percentage but not the least uh important identified school lunch as the first priority so however this is the lowest I know that school lunch is widely discussed among students and it's crucial because it affects reflects students concern about nutrition and food accessibility so I often hear complaints from my peers and members from student Congress um who feel like there isn't much variety and it isn't an enjoyable
174lunch so funding this area could support initiatives such as improving the quality of School meals expanding meal options and addressing food insecurity among students so overall this analysis provides valuable insights into the priorities and preferences of students which can form decision-making processes for school admin policy makers and other people in addressing student needs and improving the educational experience next slide so in that same survey distributed to students we aim to understand their secondary priorities following their primary Choice which overwhelmingly represented Sports um by EXP Bing the second most important aspect to students we sought to discern if there were if there was a clear consensus on additional areas of significance or if the range was diverse uh so while Sports remained a prominent choice for students as their second priority the largest consensus emerged for
175improvements related to the campus environment one one student expressed the desire for more outdoor spaces with adequate shade to shade and Rain cover highlighting the need for enhancement Beyond indoor facilities to quote one to quote that student they said it would be nice to have more shade rain cover and just more spots to be outside rather than just being inside additionally students raise concerns about the Comfort level within classroom specifically mentioning the need for better heating and air conditioning systems upon closer examination of the data we identified a group of students whose perspectives were underrepresented in the initial analysis these students emphasized the importance of a more expansive curriculum with a not with a notable majority advocating for the introduction of again cooking classes um next slide so these quotes um Echo the previous points
176we made about the priorities of students so we're going to read out a couple of them so the one I wanted to read out says quote I also want to focus on campus Because cleanliness and the amount of safety a student feels in their school can be a big drive and academic success having a clean and well-maintained campus will discourage students from littering because they won't see pollution elsewhere that can validate their actions there are also fights vaping and smoking that I feel should be more scrutinized they don't make me feel safe and it sucks to see that the top priority of our school isn't even directed at the well-being or safety end quote another student says this lack of academic support hinders developing students from finding their true potential and passion in learning there
177were a few academic programs at our schools years ago said as math counts Science Olympiad or AMC but had to unfortunately get cut because of a lack of funding as an advid learner myself it'd bring me and others who share the same drive for learning great joy if we could have a a broader range of academic opportunities next slide through our survey distributed to principles a significant finding emerged regarding the allocation of funding within our schools a striking 40% of principles identified the second let me identified the um sorry I just need to okay the general FTE and lcff um as lacking adequate funding this observation stands out as an overwhelming majority as it doubles the percentage of other categories consistently mentioned which hovered around 20% next slide so now we want to talk about
178the quotes that principales provided us with where they think that the school needs more funds so one principal stated that quote counselors really a shift in case load numbers Staffing not dramatically but the lower class sizes would be beneficial and give our students more options period instructional supporta I I think to really improve the to really move the needle you need adults supporting in and out of classrooms Elementary principles need another admin on site just to help with the ipes alone so this um principle is clearly talking about how they think um Staffing could improve the overall experience and the flow of um their school so I did want to Echo their thoughts to Echo the Greenwood principle says Greenwood students deserve the right to have the same Sports and activities as other high schools
179we need money to support our enrichment classes and sports also more support with mental health issues therapy secl and conflict mediation oh never yeah so now we were transitioning to possible solutions to align the school district's funding with these per student priorities such as Sports campus Improvement Staffing and school supplies next slide addressing attendance um during our meeting with Finance officials we learned about the direct correlation between attendance and the funding in our schools um that they receive each day our analysis of of data from online schooling from the covid period revealed a significant reference points our highest attendance rates since then ABS absenteeism has increased we propose implementing me measures such as allowing students to attend classes via Zoom when they're sick while acknowledging that not all students will comply those who do could
180contribute significantly to our District's finances so Partnerships Partnerships with businesses and corporations can help supplement existing funding and support initi initiatives aligned with student priorities for example the Richmond promise and donors choose have ways to request funding or resources and additionally neighborhood councils and local community colleges typically hold fundraisers that and Supply drives to support local um schools and Educators so possibly getting involved with them could benefit us and there's also a lot of local organizations such as West County Reeds I volunteer with them amazing that support Educators with by providing a multitude of free books for classrooms and they're very sustainable because they're all donated by people from the community um and there's also a lot of city rotaries and I'm sure that would be willing to support our district um and leveraging these
181collabor collaborations present an intriguing opportunity to save funds by strategically reallocating these savings we can effectively adjust various issues across our district encour ensuring that resources are distributed where they're needed most um fundraisers we believe that organizing fundraisers whether at a district level or within individual schools could be highly effective um if schools chose to conduct their own fundraisers they could then reallocate the processes dur directly back into their students in schools um from parent donations to bake sales car washes or fundraiser dances there are numerous possibilities for fundraising initiatives that could possibly make an impact on our school's financial resources um publicizing the finance committee so to address public concern and confusion regarding assumptions about the availability of additional funds we propose taking proactive steps to increase transparency one one effective measure would be
182to publish the yearly budget on the wccus website by making this information readily accessible to the public we can provide Clarity on how funds are allocated and utilized within our district this trans this transparent approach not only Fosters trust and accountability but also empowers people to make informed decisions and engage in constructive dialogue about our financial priorities and challenges so grants can be an excellent way as we all know to support initiatives aligned with student priorities for example seeking gr grants that are specifically aimed at enhancing Sports programs within the district could fund the per um the purchase of new sports equipments upgrade athletic facilities uh and the hiring of qualified coaches because as we know students clearly really want to prioritize um Sports as they previously stated that it's really hard to find coaches
183because it's volunteer-based it seems like not a lot of people are willing so grants could tackle this issue um and campus is another area where people have um prior showed PRI their prior prioritization so renovation and beautification grants could include Landscaping enhancements outdoor seating areas and installment of public art and which creates a more inviting um learning environment for student and staffs so I also want to recommend that we pursue gra graphs that prioritize staff development and retentions uh initiatives to fund professional development opportunities for teachers and staff mentorship programs and incentives to attract and retain talented Educators um so investing in staff development can improve teaching quality and job sa satisfaction uh ultimately ultimately benefiting student learning outcomes there are several different grants to choose from and a good website that I've been looking
184at uh to find them would be California Grant watch so specifically applying and utilizing these grants uh in these areas um can help aid and you know um alleviate the funding prices while simultaneously enhancing the quality of education and support services provided to students I also want to recognize that there are like jobs within the district that do have to do this like find Partnerships and do have to um find grants so I do want to like highlight those positions um I also learned a lot from our um all student Congress adviser laws um who previously had a job like this where they did have to find um communities to partner with and create like mutual benefits so I think that having more roles like that does immense good because I could see how hard
185they work and how much it pays off and how passionate they are so I did want to reiterate that so our last suggestion is holding School drives um so setting up drives for resources in different Community hubs or in schools themselves um with the most foot traffic can help collect the Necessities for students because lots of people have excess items that I'm sure that they would like to get rid of and um additionally it's a very sustainable practice because it promotes the repurposing of items that otherwise would have been discarded um lastly in general we would like to say that continuously monitoring and evaluating the impact of funding decisions on student outcomes and adjust priorities and allocations as needed um to ensure that resources are effectively meeting the needs of students and and enhancing their
186educational experience would be the way to go because overall we are doing we are trying to make this District work for students um so I think that continuously checking that their priorities are aligned with how we're spending our money is really important next slide please General consensus next slide so this is our summary and what we hope to see after identifying reoccurring themes and areas of concern we found consistent patterns in the data the numbers overwhelmingly represented the following groups the administrator's concerns so school officials were concerned on Staffing mostly this includes hiring long-term professionals retaining counselors and providing academic support to ensure a robust educational environment students concerns Sports and clubs students Express a need for adequate support and resources for sports and clubs including providing space stability and overall support to foster a
187vibrant extracurricular environment the campuses were also at the head of student priorities as students expressed a desire to feel safe and provided for on their campus indicating a need for overall improvements in campus infrastructure and safety measures to enhance their overall well-being and academic experience from our experience in student government we found curriculum to be an urgent issue among student representatives from a variety of schools there is a strong EMP empasis on focusing on electives that are more engaging for students and on support in the language Learners curriculum additionally there is a need for enhancing College preparation resources and ensuring access to academic materials and resources that support student learning so to summarize our suggestions forging Partnerships with local businesses corporations and Community organizations through this schools can access additional resources funding and support along
188with financial assistance in kind donations and opportunities for collaboration which can help alleviate the strain on school budgets and address funding gaps so seeking grants from community- based uh organization foundations and government agencies can also provide schools with um additional funding opportunities to support specific programs initiatives and projects so also increasing transparency around the school's finance committee's activities and decision-making um processes can build trust and encourage Community engagement and it's really important to get the feedback from the families because a lot of them might not know what's going on funding committee like I didn't even know that was open to the public um and I think that people can bring a lot of their useful suggestions especially because it impacts them directly uh and so publicizing the community's efforts and inviting input from the people
189who are directly impacted schools can foster a sense of ownership and accountability and it leads to more effective Financial management and resource allocation okay so fundraisers and school drives generate revenue and essential resources to support School operations programs and activities so by encouraging students parents teachers and community members to participate in funding efforts schools can raise money build community spirit and also address funding challenges in a sustainable and impactful way so overall implementing a combination of these strategies and initiatives schools can diversify their funding sources which I know we already have a lot of different funding sources but I think that looking for additional ways can never hurt um and maximize available resources and address funding challenges in a proactive and sustainable manner ultimately enhancing School experience and fostering a community of support and engagement
190so that's all we have for you today so thank you for your time I hope we could shed some light on what's going on in our schools what students care about and hopefully provides some sort of new Solutions um thank you for your time yeah thank you for your time thank you for your thorough report and then I'll turn it over to you thank you so very much that was really good and really good as an understatement it was very informative it was very spot-on so thank you very much for that and I can't wait to see your next report board it is 9:52 we're going to have to extend I don't think that we will um need to extend all the way to 11:30 but I would like to put 11:30 as our end
191time so can I get a motion to we're halfway through the agenda we have four more items can I get a motion to extend to 11:30 yes I move to 11:30 thank you is there second I'll second that board let's take the vote to extend to 11 :30 with the hope that we won't go to 11:30 um trusty pal car yes thank you trusty Abdu kapar roain thank you trusty Phillips yeah thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Christian uh yes thank you and I'm a yes thank you very much Bor we're going to go back to questions for the superintendent report we're going to do three questions superintendent report including the student trustee report so if you have questions we'll do three questions are there any questions trusty Phillips go ahead my
192first question excuse me my first question is to the student trustees did you discuss any advanced programs like gate can you expand on your question please um was there any discussion about harder are more advanced academic programs um there was a lot of requests for more AP support and AP test testing support uh we know that students in pin valley are really enthusiastic about their IB program but as far as um kind of curriculum wise what students wanted was more support to S succeed in college and hopefully not have that much of an academic Gap thank you my next question is is [Music] to director [Music] Flashman the page that you showed uh with all of the individuals who have autism was enlightening do we do anything or what do we do to let students
193know whether they're autistic students or students with other um um issues or whatever it is that they're what do we do to let those students [Music] know that there are people who have the same experience as you and they're doing great because and I'm asking because that page that you showed that slide that you showed it was really great what do we do to recreate that districtwide not just for autistic students but students period uh thank you trusty Phillips um excellent question um that slide many of those uh images and things that were were included in that slide deck um actually came from um one of our uh autism full inclusion programs so that's that's directly from what was shared with a group of autis autistic students um so that particular example was shared with
194students for whom they may have similar I don't I want to be careful saying the same experience because like we said it's it's a it's a it's a spectrum so similar similar experience and and um so that's one example of where it's shared with students it's sorry I got a little feedback there um it's definitely something I think across our whole system that we can put energy and time into and and uh bringing forth representation we know representation matters um for all subgroups particularly those that have been historically marginalized so it's something that we can put energy into um elevating those stories thank you I I think that's really cool um and then my last question I'm not sure who this question is for um maybe it's for the CAO um so context for the
195question the students were talking about funding and how they believe that District funding could be better allocated to serve student needs what role do do students have in the lcap process and I'm asking because like while they were talking that's what I was hearing right so what is their space whether it's these students as trustees or whether it's the Congress what role do they have in that process um so I'll just be transparent right now I don't I do know in the past we did have students that served on the DL cap currently I don't think we have students that serve on the DL cap but um through our packs um if our packs have students that serve on those packs they recommendations to for example um mdac um specifically SSC we get recommendations from
196all those an AP pack we get recommendations from all those packs so we may get some student voice but specifically um when we're doing the recommendations to the lcap it's coming mainly from our DLC cap but our DLC cap gets recommendations from all of those different packs so um that is something I can look into to find out if some of our schools do have student Representatives thank you thank you so much trusty Phillips are there any other questions from the board trusty Phil thank you trusty Phillips are there any other questions from the board go ahead trusty Christian h is going to say is great job to student Trustees for delivering that information and the Very elik on a lot of areas thank you thank you so very much I have two questions uh
197student trust I'm sorry were there any other questions before I ask mine nope student trustees what would you want to see from your fellow board members what do you want to see from us what do you want us to do next what do you want to see from us is there something that you would like to see agendize is there other steps that you would like to see your fellow colleagues take because we're we're a policymaking uh board so what would you like to see and if you don't know don't worry about it you can come back and tell us but that's the question I would have yeah I think that's a really good question um and I think it's subject to change um I think for now like like I said they continuously checking
198that our priorities are in line with the student um the student voice because I feel like sometimes forms get submitted and people don't really look at what students are saying and especially as a student in the district it's easier um to really know where things are um have the most like discussion even if they're not like recorded on forums so I think like trying to identify disparities more often like especially like I think it's just so odd to me how so many students um say that don't like promethian boys and they're not being used um just to Circle back and but then all these teachers are saying that they're amazing and they're never used so I think maybe continuously having checks to see like how is this working like actually like I think I know
199that some board members like actually like visit the schools which I would like to encourage more there's like plenty of different ways to approach this topic but I think starting from there actually understanding like what students want um I think is a really good first step and then moving from there like maybe having like more meetings about like what students think because I know like we don't really like hear what finance committee does unless we ask um or if they come Finance commun comes to us like the board with um reports like or like anything like we don't really have the context so it's hard to like provide our insights um so I think just more transparency more um communication um is a first a good first step but I can I think there's a
200lot of ways that I can we can approach that and I think we might have to come back to that so yeah um I also I agree I think that well first of all really good question um there are multiple points to hit and we will probably come back and address it but just off the top of my head I I would like to see more um more student advocation and listening to those students that Advocate just because I think that I mean we sit on this board to be kind of um to serve for your guys' cons conscious when you vote when you take a vote but I feel as if a lot of times after we ask for clarification on things you know at the end of the day the students prefer something
201but you're going to do what makes sense in your adult head and I would just like to see more weight more weight to our suggestions and our thoughts and our comments and um more changes more changes towards what we suggest yeah um I completely agree to r at that point um I remember one of the meetings when we were discussing um like the topic of the um demotion of Kibby kimman one of my friends from pel valy was like do you think that the board will actually like does like anything that we say will actually change their mind and I thought to think about it and I was like I'm sure that you take in so many things into a lot into consideration but sometimes because we don't see the behind the scenes we don't
202see these words carrying any weight and that doesn't only apply to that situation that can apply to the funding that can apply to so many other situations um and I can see why like sometimes certain um comments or like feedback you feel like um isn't isn't always very well informed so it might be hard to take that into consideration but I feel like if we were to like it would be nice to see like like K said the our our wordss and the Public's World words like holding weight because I think like it's kind of disheartening to see so many people take their time to come up here and like sometimes with tears in their eyes like really say how they feel and what's going on and like what they want to see from the
203board and then sometimes feel like that doesn't go anywhere but again like I'm sure you guys take it all into consideration just we don't see that and I feel like maybe seeing that more will help create a more a better connection between the board and the community members um I hope the main SS thank you that made a lot of sense sorry goad just like just to Echo really in general like transparency just because a lot of times students do come up to me and Lola and ask like about certain things that go on during close session and we can't really s because we don't know what happens so just more transparency I think at the end of the day so part of what happens at the board level is board education that needs to
204extend to you too right so then you'll understand how to communicate back to your peers about things that happen at the board level so what I'm hearing you say is let us know the why and the how decisions are made and then make sure that we feel the value of and the weight of what we're saying right so what you are eing back to us so it has to be bilateral communication that was excellent thank you for thank you so much for that um director Flashman I have the same question for you and if you just want to say do what they did fine but the same question for you is what do we do on sites to or what do you need from the board for us to ensure that sites understand the the
205incredible need to go beyond inclusion right to go beyond inclusion when we're talking about all students and to make sure that they're aligning their sites to include all students what can the board do to make sure that that is a value that's seen at the site level for example ensuring that all students are represented in the yearbook for example making sure that all students are invited to homecoming dances or representing in leadership or at the elementary school level that they have someone to play with that they are that um all behavior is communication right no matter what you're doing behaviors your communication what can we do as a board because we are a policymaking body to ensure that that floats all the way down to our sites uh thank you president Smith folds um really
206really intriguing question it it really kind of gets to the heart of the work that that we do every day in special education um honestly you you mentioned that you're a policymaking body the policies are there the policies exist and it's it's not a matter of policy what I think the board can do is continue to elevate the stories continue to elevate um and and um publicize um events like our transition Fair like our ESN prom like our Special Olympics um and also Elevate our programs where uh students um with disabilities students with neurodivergence etc etc etc are afforded opportunities that they have a fundamental uh human civil and and citizenship right citizenship rights too um and to continue to uplift that ethos that we are not giving anybody anything we are merely removing barriers
207to what they already have a right to to exist in the first place so um as a DEC as a as as a policymaking body it's my opinion that the policies are already there it's our job to elevate the stories and to uplift the ethos thank you very much that was excellent um Bard saying no more questions we're going to move on thank you very much to um CAO Johnson in the superintendent report thank you very much to director Flashman and thank you very much to the student trustees this was an excellent superintendence report we are now moving on to action items the public will have the opportunity to make public comment on each action item after staff presentation the time allotted for public comment on each action item will be no more than 10
208minutes and one minute per speaker action item E1 student discipline sorry director Flashman this is your item yes this is a um stipulated expulsion agreement between the district and the family thank you so much student trustees with this one you don't have the information because it get comes in Clos session so that's all the information that's presented so we are going to go straight to public sorry um that's the presentation is are there any public comments on action item E1 no public comment thank you board are there any questions seeing none we're going to a motion is there a motion I will move um stipulated expulsion case number 232404 for approval thank you is there a second second thank you so much we're going to go straight to to the vote student trustee pal car
209abstain thank you student trustee Abdu kaparo abstain thank you trusty Phillips abstain thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you trusty Christian Christian yes thank you and I'm a yes we are now moving on to discussion items and reports the public will have an opportunity to make public com on each discussion item after the staff presentation the time allotted for public comment on each discussion item will be no more than 10 minutes in one minute per speaker our first discussion item is F1 the international balarat program update or otherwise known is IB CAO Johnson and M and Dr chilcott this is your item okay so um good evening president Smith folds and trustees um cabinet and Community we have director um Gabriel chilcott excuse me Dr Gabriel chilcott and coordinator Dana Dio um to present
210our International Balor program review thank you Miss Neely Johnson uh president Smith folds trustees um so as Miss Neely Johnson mentioned I'm the program manager for international Balor um and I'm proud to introduce uh Dana Dibble who coordinates uh the the program between the three schools uh who will'll be uh presenting to you tonight thank you good evening CAO needle Johnson president Smith folds student trustees area trustees and colleagues in the district um I will say next slide we're perfect here and then I'll just say next I don't know who's controlling my deck uh the international baloran is a global leader in International Education developing inquiring knowledgeable confident and caring young people through four programs in more than 150 countries the West contracosta Unified School District proudly became part of that group in 2019 my
211name is Dana Dibble I am a product of this District graduating from penol Valley High School in 1986 I've been employed by this District since 2001 first as a substitute teacher then as a Spanish teacher and most recently as a project assistant lezing between the West contracosta Unified School District and the IB I'm pleased to be here tonight uh to give you an update on the program next Slide the international balat offers four educational programs that span TK through High School the primary years program for TK through fifth grade the middle years program for sixth through 10th grade and the diploma program in the career program for juniors and seniors in high school the wccusd is currently authorized with one school in each the diploma and primary year program and has three schools in candidacy
212for the middle years program next Slide the primary Year's program is transdisciplinary inquiry based program taught through six themes who we are where we are in place and time how we express ourselves how the world Works how we organize ourselves and sharing the planet the West County Mandarin School became an IB candidate School in 2018 and was authorized in the spring of 2020 next slide please the primary years program is a whole school program taught by all teachers to all students there are currently 20 teachers and 351 students teaching and learning in the pyp at West County Mandarin School in February of 2021 the school board approved a motion for the West County Mandarin school to share a campus with panol middle school and introduced the notion of a full K through2 IB Continuum connecting
213the the primary years program already in implementation at West County Mandarin school and the diploma program in implementation at P Valley high school with the middle years program next slide please the middle years program is an interdisciplinary program for students in sixth through 10th grades it consists of eight subject groups language acquisition language and literature individuals and societies Sciences mathematics Arts physical and health education and design the myyp expands on the themes introduced in the pyp and ask students to link their learning to six Global contexts identities and relationships personal and cultural expression orientations and time in space and time scientific and Technical Innovation fairness and development and globalization and sustainability it is a whole school program again taught by all teachers to all students pen middle school and Peno Valley High School were granted
214candidacy as partner schools in the spring of 2022 and were joined by West County Mandarin School in the spring of 2023 when the board approved its growth to a K8 school all three schools are currently under consultation with the IB and meet weekly with an IB design as they move through the required standards and practices it is important to note that the possible limitation of a six period schedules in secondary schools as well as the decision not to offer a language other than English at penol Middle School will disqualify penol middle school and penol Valley High School from authorization and render the three-way partnership invalid next slide please the diploma program is an internationally recognized college preparatory program for juniors and seniors known for its rigor depth and breadth there are two kinds of IB
215classes standard level and higher level and two kinds of IB students course candidates and diploma candidates the IB diploma program schools are required to offer at least one course in six areas of study plus the theory of knowledge for diploma candidates penol Valley High School currently offers IB language and literature IB Spanish IB Mandarin IB history of the Americas IB psychology IB Biology IB computer science IB environmental systems and societies IB math and IB visual art penol Valley High School was authorized as an IBU World School in 2019 began its first teaching of IB classes in the fall of 2020 completely in the pandemic and will graduate its third cohort of students later this year it is up for reauthorization in the fall of 2025 next slide please this is viewers choice though the DP
216program is still in its infancy at penol Valley High School the IB culture has become embedded in house students think and learn there's a video here that was created voluntarily and crafted edited by students but it will add three minutes to this presentation so I will let you all decide whether to press stop pause or play that play press play please all right uh oh are you're sharing your video I mean your sound I is a distinct way of approaching critical it helps them become better critical thinkers good to ear your college application so that means you take the most difficult challenging course and it shows your ability if you don't care about college they they give you like a GPA boost it's pretty cool it helps them work hard teaches them how to work
217hard and helps them become a better it's a nice Collaborative Learning environment where we're here to work and cover material and enrich ourselves people should take IV because it widens a person's perspective on on global scale and with the support of the teachers you are just thrown like a lot of information and assignments they really give you support to fully understand the topics I just feel like it creates a big sense of community between us uh the junior class is a lot larger than the senior class with means obviously is better my favorite part of IB is probably the support system of the teachers because they really care about in depth with topics and making sure students understand the material we are learning they become well-rounded they become deep thinkers they build skills in research
218communication organization self-management my favorite part is probably the community and the senior class everybody is really close-knit and I just love how everybody can get along with each other and we all do things together outside of classroom and how there's like basically no freshman in there sh fire sh [Laughter] [Music] fire because history is fun everybody should want to do a in-depth history class in the way Mr Bedwell myself along with Miss Carlile are the three teachers of the IB diploma core so any student that's wishing to pursue an IV diploma has to enroll in the theory of knowledge creativity activity and service and the writing of the extended essay m is the most spoken language and for job opportunities like if you speak there's people in China I think we have enough fun in
219this class that it makes the difficult work EAS if you're interested in how the mind works how we make decisions or emotions psychology IB psychology could be a really nice course for you to take and because I students love [Applause] [Laughter] us than next [Music] SL the IB diploma program at penol Valley High School is open to any and all Juniors or seniors there are no applications no admissions requirements and no prerequisites Beyond those required by the discipline such as language one before moving on to language 2 there are many ways to IB penol Valley High School is building an IB for all program with the intent of raising levels of academic engagement and achievement of all students across disciplines to that end all students reaching level three in math or visual art level four
220in Mandarin or Spanish enroll in the IB course for that subject juniors in the engineering Academy take IB computer science as part of their Academy pathway students interested in Psychology or environment Al systems and societies study that at the IB level penol Valley High School has three guiding goals for the program that 70% or more Juniors and seniors will enroll in at least one IB class that 10% of a graduating class will attempt the full IB diploma and that the demographics of IB courses and sorry IB course and diploma candidates will match those of the school next slide students receive messaging about the opportunity to choose I courses through multiple methods counselor presentations to eighth graders large group presentations for freshmen and sophomores hosted by the diploma program coordinator that's me emails morning announcements remind
221groups teacher encouragement and family engagement at back to school night in open house IB student panels and onetoone meetings with counselors Andor myself working with equal opportunity schools and a targeted Outreach list 63% of Juniors and seniors enrolled in an IB class in the 202 1 2022 school year the percentage dropped in 2022 2023 to 40% largely due to remediation and Credit Recovery needed from the pandemic online years the schools the current school year which is shown sees some recovery at nearly 49% senior numbers from the class of 2024 who spent their freshman year online and are still in recovery are lower than Junior numbers projected enrollment for the 2024 2025 school year is at 59% based on course requests in power school next slide both the IB and penol Valley High School agree with
222and support the West contracosta Unified School District's Equity statement that all students can achieve at high levels of proficiency and that the effects of institutionalized racism can be mitigated we recognize that there is work to be done and are working hard to ensure that support and belonging measures are in place and that any barriers to the program have been or are being mitigated or removed full demographics for the last three school years including race gender special education and English language Learners have been shared through email current demographics are seen on the slide and projected demographics for the 242 school year are 46% Hispanic 11% African-American 10% white and 29% Asian projected numbers again are from course requests in power school percentages of sped students in IB courses are roughly 9% in 2324 and English language
223Learners make up 6% of the program students purring the full IB diploma in 2023 2024 are also shown on the slide and are predicted to be 11% African-American 40% Hispanic 25% Asian and 23% white in 20242 diploma candidates in the current school year include 3% sped students but no English language Learners support and belonging reports from the 2021 2022 school year indicated that African-American students in IB classes reported lower numbers of feeling like they didn't or wouldn't belong in IB classes and in two to four year colleges and higher number and sorry two and four year colleges and higher numbers of having at least one trusted adult and one adult they could go to for study support than their non IB enrolled peers additionally they answered agree or strongly agree to the questions students like
224me are welcome in IB classes 74% teachers know their students well and are interested in their lives 73% my teacher believes that everyone can learn the subject matter 90% the IB recently asked do policy considerations have a benefit for students or do they exist to make things more convenient for adults that's a conversation that we are continuing to explore in terms of scheduling as we move forward next slide all IB classes are either honors or college level classes and all students passing those classes with a C or better receive an extra point toward their GPA IB certificates are awarded to all candidates that register for and complete the end of course exams acceptable scores vary from state to state and college to college but generally speaking a four or better out of seven is considered
225a credit awardable score IB diplomas are awarded to candidates that earn a total of 24 points or more across six subject exams and who complete the Three core elements of the theory of knowledge the writing of an extended essay and the participation in creativity activity and service there is an arrangement across all uc's that candidates earning 30 or better will be granted 30 college credits the the class of 2022 our first year had eight candidates that attempted the diploma five earned it the class of 2023 had 13 candidates that attempted the full diploma eight earned it there are 11 candidates in the class of 2024 that will find out their diploma results in July and 27 members of the class of 2025 are completing their first year of candidacy just now the number of diploma
226candidates who will begin candidacy in 2024 202 5 is unknown at this moment but ranges from 28 who committed on Power School to 29 on my interest list the unknown factor is dependent on scheduling decisions yet to be made by the district as the IB diploma requires seven classes the IB oh sorry next slide thank you the IB believes that education should be transformative coordinating the program has certainly allowed me to have a much deeper and richer relationship with both students and families than I ever had as a classroom teacher IB diploma graduates returned to campus and Report feeling prepared for College's readers writers collaborators contributors and critical thinkers I thought that I would be able to read some of those testimonials to you but I can't see them from here so you can't see
227them on your screens next Slide the GPA boost College admissions college credits and scholarships are an obvious benefit for students but schools and districts benefit from IB as well passing scores on IB exams improve the College and Career Readiness standards on the California state dashboard the requirement of four years of study of a language other than English increases the number of students eligible for a California seal of biliteracy if the U if the wccusd chooses to participate in the California seal of Civic engagement IB students would qualify for that as well and it should be noted that while there are Financial commitments necessary to run the program it is a program that both attracts students to this district and retains students in this District making it possible for the program to pay for itself I
228would encourage the wccusd to streamline the interdistrict transfer process for this program to publicize it and to use it for its benefit next slide also of benefit to the district are elements of the IB program that support the newly release strategic plan all IB programs pyp NP DP and CP aim for Learners to develop the 10 attributes listed in the IB learner profile these align closely with The wccusd Graduate profile attributes of both 2022 and those recently released in the plan next Slide the IB approaches to teaching and learning ensure that educational practices are aligned that there is cohesive language and that common standards using Global best practices are used to assist students in developing the skills that will allow them to succeed in both College and Career this supports the wccusd and its identified
229six are key areas of improvement particularly number one the alignment of rigorous instructional practices its purpose and Future Vision of providing academic opportunities that are future focused preserving our students ability to thrive as our world and economy continues to change and its Vision to be learner centered community that Fosters passion-driven lives next slide IB World schools must meet the standards and practices at the time of authorization and are re-evaluated every five years by monitoring our purpose environment culture and learning through the IB lens we contribute to the WCC USD mission to empower Learners with the Knowledge and Skills necessary to choose their own Pathways and and follow their passions with courage and confidence last slide in closing I would like to acknowledge that the IB and its programs are complex to understand I was asked
230to present an informational update and hope that I've highlighted program strengths in areas of growth well I would be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to also say that all three of the schools currently authorized to teach or in candidacy for an IB Program are feeling some anxiety with all of the unknowns at the moment we all know that there are impending budget cuts but we need shity on our campuses that the basic needs to run this program these programs are being supported these includes a coordinator for each program teacher trainings and collaboration the teaching of a world language in middle schools and at the high school level a seventh period counselors at penol Valley High School are not scheduling students into the full diploma program at the moment because they do not know
231if the school will be supported with the seventh class I would like to highlight key area of improvement number four from the Strategic plan that reads in part to fund schools and schedules to support equity in student achievement for all and I ask that I leave this presentation with renewed support for the IV program in the form of the funding and scheduling that it needs thank you for your time this evening and thank you advance in advance for your continued support thank you so much for your presentation we're going to move to public comment are there any public comments yes our first public comment is Jenny DeLuna hi good evening I'm Jenny dumo I'm a Richmond resident I'm also the mother of a kindergartener at West Mandarin school and I'm here to voice my whole
232family support for the district's IB programs it's integral to West County's program and it's key to Student Success not just in support of dual learn language learning but because it Fosters critical thinking um social emotional awareness and it teaches students to be good citizens of this ethnically and culturally diverse District that we live in and the world Beyond it IB is and can be inclusive when it's part of a school's Mission and a core tenant of their curriculum as it is at West County my son is engaged he's supported he's nurtured and I know this because he's excited to go to school he ask me challenging questions they're thoughtful questions and it would be detrimental to remove the district's IB programs um and rather We should strive to provide this opportunity for all schools and
233all students who want it thank you our next public common is k burkart please unmute yourself yes I'd be interested to know if the company or the people that are promoting this program are a for-profit or a nonprofit and are they providing any funds or inservice training free to the district I can see that this could be a very expensive program and as someone said it would be important to have continuation of the program and not on a one twoyear and then a we have to cut it so that would be a problem uh I'd also be interested to know how is are these classes different from AP classes that are offered at most of our high school as well so thank you next public comment is Tamina share my name is Tamina shareif of
234West County Mandarin school as an africanamerican student I love the IB Program because it gives me an opportunity to learn about the world and different cultures IB made learning fun for me and has improved my writing and critical thinking skills I hope all of you can continue to support the IB program and let more children have this same chance as me to excel in my learning our next public comment is Alon Harrison please unmute yourself can y'all hear me yes we can okay thank you that IV is perfect for the Swahili school so y'all have to become a destination District so we have to do things like this to increase our enrollment so with the Swahili school we could just this is so lovely and you know this budget issue is causing everybody to come
235out and show all the wonderful things our district really offers and my daughter is is um she's home Peno High School is her home school so this is very good to hear I just would like to hear more about if you have a child with uh special needs how will how do they fit in if they want to participate in something like this but I think it's really good and like all the other speakers said some of those questions is it private how is it funded and we do need to keep it in the district because our district does not do well with black and African-American children so we need things like this so we can excel don't have access to resources like this I'm complete our next public comment is Odessa Cooper lardi and
236I am the proud mother of a fourth grader at West County Mandarin school and a member of the school's APAC Community I understand that there is consideration of eliminating IB funding in part for fiscal reasons but also because the program is perceived to be exclusionary to black students I recognize the concern about Equity but eliminating IB programs in this district is not the solution it sends the wrong message to black families implying that lowering expectations is an acceptable option for the pursuit of equity maintaining the IB programs is crucial for cultivating a diverse pipeline of students who can succeed in higher level education and Beyond it's about giving black students The Experience confidence and skills to thrive in this world and it's also about ensuring that all students regardless of background have access to the
237curriculum that reflects their culture and prepares them to be Global Citizens thank you our next public comment is Maurice kraton uh hello uh my name is Maurice kraton uh I am a parent of two uh daughters African-American daughters one in kindergarten one fifth grade and I'm here on of my family to ask for your continued support um of the IB program as I believe um and what it has done and will do for our students um IB programs teach students to be critical thinkers excellent communicators open-minded Risk Takers principled reflective knowledgeable and more culturally aware I want our children to have an International Education to me it simply means just looking at thinking critically about and connect loal local and Global issues and successes um I think that having the opportunity to learn from and
238practice with each other in more than one language um provides a grand stage for academic and personal growth I ask that we continue to build and not destroy I ask that as Leaders we continue to uh remove uh obstacles and figure out ways to duplicate successes thank you our next public communist Erica Ian good night everyone I'm a parent from West County Mandarin school I have two kids my son is in fourth grade and my daughter is in sixth grade has a Hispanic speaking parent having access to the international bored program in the public school system is so hard to come but definitely I feel very fortunate the IV program is the reason why my childrens are driving in West County Mandarin and not in any other Public Schools or Charter School my children love
239learning ask great questions they're caring and compassionate they feel safe and understood in their school community and that is because of the IB program and its philosophy this type of experience is impossible to come by in a traditional setting my children have experienced different cultures and learn a third language even when when we do not travel out the IB program should be made available to all schools and childr thank you and our last public common is Eric Peterson West County Mandarin school was approved by the district to become an IB School in 2018 that was less than a year after West County Mandarin opened for almost the school's entire existence it's been implementing the IB Program either in candidacy or as a fully authorized School the IB and Mandarin learning are not separate programs at
240our school rather Mandarin learning is one Inseparable part of our greater IB Program learning a second language is a requirement for being an IB School it should be noted that the IB budget for West County Mandarin pays for an IB coordinator that handles curriculum and Mandarin and other sub other subjects and languages assessment and professional development tasks that the central office normally provides for its English only in Spanish di schools the IB Program also reduces the district's textbook budget for our school the West County Mandarin Community is grateful to the board for approving West County Mandarin to be a K8 school last year families were excited that becoming a k school would enable them to continue the IB manderin Merion program through 8th grade West County Mandarin school is already implementing the IB Middle years
241program in candidacy is hoping to submit for full authorization next year for its IB Middle School program well I hope it's not the case if penol Valley High or penol middle school were not able to continue with the myp candidacy West County Manor would still be committed to achieve the IB authorizations for its middle years program through an alterate route but again we we hope that all three can go ahead and do this together we're stronger together so thank you for your continued support um we hope for that thank you thank you very much everyone for your comments we are now moving on to questions board we're going to do three questions and two minute comments does anyone have questions trusty reckler you have questions go ahead trusty reckler three questions and two minute comments
242yes thank you very much thank you for the presentation thank you for being here so late um I want to come I want to cut right to the chase can you very succinctly tell me what you think is in Jeopardy and how much money you're looking at across all programs was it specifically what we think is in what I think is in Jeopardy yes what's in jeopardy with the IB Program all the way Valley High School has traditionally run a six period day with an optional seventh and it has been rumored among the the cuts of the district that secondary schools will only be allowed to offer six periods and so in in cutting that and not having the seventh period required for the full IB diploma program we not be renewed at authorization so
243the entire cost of the program is about for all for the IB diploma program at the high school or all three programs well what I'm most concerned about is what's in Jeopardy oh cost to to do that I that um so in terms of I mean if we we are going to talk about the cost of the program would want to gather that and come back with more exact numbers and I also will give a similar answer to um she's speaking about the need for uh or the possible need for another class um and I couldn't give you a sum as to what it would cost to be able to run that program at penol Valley high school but I could tell you that it would be an extra expense on top of the existing
244IB budget okay um okay uh all right I'll save that for comments um I think Miss burkart called in with a really good question what's the difference between AP and IB couple of things um the IB offers two levels of classes and the AP offers one um so IB classes are either standard level which are onee class or higher level which are two-e long classes iy tends to go for more um breadth of knowledge and looks under con looks for Concepts you know as opposed to memorizing for example dates and names and people that were in Wars it would be what was happening in the world when this War began and how do we prevent it from happening again uh in some other place in the world IB students will take exams off for a
245standard level course at the end of course so it could be at the end of junior year or at the end of senior year or both if they take two different level standard level classes higher level classes take exams at the end of a two-year period and AP classes are Standalone classes in the IB Program aims to offer a Continuum of programs that kids can earn a diploma from okay thank you that's all I have and then I have comments thank you so very much truste Phillips I saw your hand thank you very early on in your presentation um you said and I'm paraphrasing um you said something would disqualify us and I didn't hear what the something was and I started doing like this and I was like it's not time to ask questions
246um can you restate that yes it has been rumored that there will be no language other than English offered at penol middle school and the middle years program requires a language and so if we're not offering lotes at penol middle next year that will disqualify them if penol Valley High School cannot offer the full diploma program which requires seven classes in either junior or senior year that will disqualify penol Valley as well what if you want to get an IB diploma um what year freshman sophomore junior what year do you officially have to start working towards that the program is only open to Juniors and seniors and so you don't start your IV classes until junior year but I try to start working with students their freshman year to plan a full four years pathway
247through penol Valley High School especially because they operate on a six period a day which is only the opportunity for 240 credits of the 225 needed so we've got to plan everything very carefully to make sure things fit the last two years you said that you would like the district to streamline the transfer process into I'm presuming panov valy high for IB um can you speak to the demand that you're seeing um are there weightless can you just talk about what the demand is i c to some extent I can but only to the extent that the they come to me before going to the transfer office so there hasn't been a really clear communication between the transfer office and the school in terms of programs um but I hear I get contacts from just
248the other day I got a contact from a family from Nevada who is moving to the Bay Area and looking to transfer for IB Program um I got a contact from a family that's living out of the country that is from this area and is looking to move back so the demand is out there and where I think that we could do better is attracting students from very close neighboring districts that are looking for something more for their students as well you want to steal kids I'm just joking go ahead thank you thank you so very much any other board member have a question trusty pal car I have a comment okay um hold on one second for comments any other questions trusty Christian yes yes I just want to ask a question far as
249uh how would you you know like advertise or bring in I mean what what uh method would you use well I would like to see I would like to see all of our district website updated a little bit there's we don't have any IB information on the district website and although the IB is housed at Penola Valley High School for its diploma program we do consider it a program for the district we consider penol Valley High School the IB hub for the district so I would like to see District putting out information uh I would like to be hosting Zoom meetings in the evenings for families that are interested um I would like it to go out on parent squares and student panels I think are actually the most effective ways kids talk to kids
250okay and then um I guess just that um would you consider like um like Facebook Instagram you know in those areas absolutely or even TV advertise absolutely okay thank you thank you trusty Phillips is it a question you have no I'm ready for comments okay just one second question or comment question go ahead if I may so I asked what was in Jeopardy and you told me it was the high school but hearing you answer it's also the middle school because there's not a language program correct correct okay thank you thank you so very much I just have one clarifying question and then one question around strategies the first clarifying question is um once they once a school goes through the process and their application is approved and pardon if these are not the correct
251terms I can't remember the slide exactly but once they go through the application process and a school is approved approved through that process does the implementation start the next year or does the implementation start inside the year that they're approved so if they're improved in May does the implication the implementation of it start in may or does it wait till the following school year it depends on the program the the NP program the middle years program asked that St schools start a trial implementation immediately upon candidacy and so as soon as well as soon as teachers have their trainings they write subject plans and they go to work in their classroom and trial implementations in the diploma program implementation would begin the fall after approval after authorization because they require all the classes require either
252150 hours or 240 hours of curriculum so it' be impossible to start in the middle of the Year thank you so much my second question is about and I think trusty Christian hit on this so if it's a repeat forgive me your what are the specific recruitment strategies that you have for not only kids entering the IB for all but completing the program all the way through diploma so what are the Recruitment and support strategies that you have in place um for contacts let's say that 15 students enter IB for all but you want all 15 to hopefully go for the diploma track and or the IB diploma and to stay in the IB program so what strategies do you have in place to not only recruit more students in but then to sport them
253all the way through the program to receiving the diploma recruitment generally happens at any phase in in a kid's four years of school the earlier the better um and that really involves creating a four year plan that Maps out everything that they want to do um in their four years which may include an IB course in their area of strength and interest pursuing the full diploma program being part of an academy and an IB taking band so on and so forth um I I have created a Google document that any kid that comes to my informational meetings and they come to those through invitations in over the loudspeaker or once they've checked an interest box I have their emails and I send out email blasts and I hold um weekly informational meetings for freshman and
254sophomores during our collaboration time during penol Valley High School's collaboration time and those students actually own their own documents but I walk them through high school graduation requirements a through G requirements and now junior year here are your choices IB English English 3 so on and so forth down all subject group and so I monitor those along with their counselors throughout their whole years to stay in classes you know one one two three IB classes um are not difficult but the full IB program is a heavy lift between sophomore year and junior year um kids are going from taking zero honors classes or maybe one if they're in Academy student having four or five honors classes and so we need to do a lot of monitoring on time management on Mental Health on emotional health
255and we're we're talking about different strategies like subject group one which happens to be English you know can you do all of your tests only on Mondays subject group two can you do your tests on the second days of the week how can we balance out um timelines and help students do their their self management thank you so very much thank you board we are now moving to comments if we could get a two-minute timer on yes sir can I ask one more question sure go ahead um these rumors that are floating around and there's three that I heard um one is about the period for the high school um the other one that I heard is the language for the middle school and I can't remember what the one was for the ele well
256I guess to who said these things like where did you hear this like who said it and I mean like who with authority said any of this I mean because we're talking around stuff so who said it um so the two that we're talking about for the secondary schools um this is more FTE related and so um I don't know that I would use the term rumor but it is the idea that uh the number of FTE that are needed to build an effective program um is in question as to whether that can lead to the World Language at Middle School um and the needed courses in the Junior and senior year in order to um get the IB diploma so specifically that's where where those are coming from in terms of who said it
257I'm sorry you're not answering my question who said well it's not a said it's a an allotment of FTE that are not sufficient as per the administration at those sites to be able to build out the program in support of of the needed just number of courses I'm not trying to avoid the question like it I mean maybe somebody's saying it I'm just telling you like it's on paper with the number of FTE is the the assertion that's being made and then for the elementary oh we don't feel free but we H we can run the Ft penol Valley High School can run the program with the FTE allotment it's been given but it can't run the program within a six period day and administration there has been told that they would not be able
258to offer an optional a period any longer okay that's true yeah sorry I did misstate that in the way that's a much better representation of the high school and then um I couldn't speak to the elementary in terms of just the the the rumor of who can somebody speak to the elementary rumor coming from that you may be defunded um there's I know that there's a lot of deliberation happening at the district level about you know some some uh budget decisions that have to be made I'm sorry I I know that there are some um uh decisions that are having to be made you know by the district with the board about you know some tough decisions about budgets right now we all know that and so um I think there's there's been some conversation
259you hear it just through um you know through different channels that you know many things are on the table including the IB Mr Peterson who did you hear it from um I you know I've heard people say that they think that maybe it shouldn't exist I I'm just not comfortable saying saying that the name of the person uh or people here in this forum sir whenever you're ready for comments I'll refer to people above me to maybe say that thank you so much before we go to comments I see CBO Moses you would like to speak to something please sure um good good evening board I just wanted to address some of the issues as it relates to Staffing and funding and and the the IB program but I want to preface this by saying
260any program that brings um additional learning opportunities for our students is a great program so this isn't about the program however um what's being discussed are the issues around the budget and the impact of where we are with our budget um based upon the spreadsheets that I have the IB Program uh this year cost $1,165 but that only covered the assessments the curriculum the fees associated with the program the cost of professional development and the cost of the coordinators the program currently has 2.5 FTE coordinators at the expense of about $300,000 which is about half of the cost of the program the conversation we're having about Staffing schools the reality is when you run a special program you need additional FTE in many cases not in every case but in many cases um and so
261the FTE that we've allotted to schools matches their enrollment and is enough FTE to run a quality program for students however special programs typically require additional Staffing or in the case of um some of our high schools additional time now as it relates to the sixth period day we have not given high schools the direction that they can not have a seven period day the direction that we've given to high schools and to labored is that if they can be creative and create a seven period day without a fiscal impact we welcome that for example El serito is able to do it with her block schedule so there are creative Avenues to build these schedules for students the real issue I believe is that they also take extra teachers in addition to the $600,000 we
262already have allocated to the program so we did not allocate additional FTE for special programs and we're having conversations with principles individually and taking those to Cabinet um but the reality is any FTE we add we have to find a way to uh balance that in the way of other reductions um due to our fiscal situation um so we're trying to be creative the reality is it is a program that uh is costly however it's also a valued program so we're hopeful that we can be creative and find some solutions to continue it thank you so very much board we're going to go to two-minute comments thank you so much board we're going to start with student trustees so student trustees if you have have comments about um this agenda topic and we are again
263talking about International balarat go ahead please um okay uh so I do have I do have stuff to say about this so um when I was first entering High School I really really really really and I emphasize really wanted to pursue an IB um uh get an IB like degree um diploma what they call it but my school didn't offer it and so I did explore the chance of possibly going and taking courses at penol Valley just because this was something that was so important to me because I knew that it held a lot of weight when you're applying to college I mean it's something that's so rigorous and it's just really prestigious diploma to hold and to have on your common app and that was really important to me but my school didn't have
264it and I just this is really I think personally because it holds so much weight to me if this funding is restricted this is possibly the most like disheartening thing that we could have that we could do for this District I mean curriculum is just so important sending sending students to these pre prestigious universities really elevates our status as a as a school district and we should not be taking away funding from something that is already just like extending students realm of possibilities it's just it's something that does not make much sense to me but um I also think that it's so important to provide these underrepresented students of color students of low income with this opportunity because it's something that the the privileged school districts have and it's it leads to the systemic issue
265of those kids getting in to to better universities and then getting higher paying jobs and just contributes to this socioeconomic Gap that we have and it's just so so so important that we keep this and that we keep the funding and that we expand it too because I'm sure a lot of kids don't know what it is but they would love to take it thank you thank you so much trusty pal car trusty Abdu karvo do you have a comment thank you so much trusty Phillips you have a comment and then we'll just work our way back around trusty Phillips go ahead so earlier I talked about the Mandarin school and Vista virtual as examples of good programming that's working I consider IB to be another example of that and so I am making a
266general statement of support in the same way that I made a statement regarding Vista and Mandarin if the district is doing something good that's working like the gentleman Mr kryon said earlier continue to build and not destroy but I feel also like something else is going on right now and I feel like we're having to conversations at one time I feel like we're having a conversation about IB but I also feel like we're having a conversation about penol valy high school and I kind of feel like we're having a conversation about Kibby kimman to be honest with you I feel like all of that is wrapped up in this one conversation and that there's a lot of subtext and so I want to be very careful about what I say right now and I think
267the board should be as well my suggestion is that we actually have have a special meeting to talk about IB and Peno Valley high school and I understand that there are some issues concerning the Middle School uh and the West County Mandarin SCH and I think that those should be included I think it should be a very in-depth conversation I think the things that these individuals have said tonight uh at the podium should be specifically addressed by Administration as well but I think that's where this conversation needs to go thank you so so much for your comment trusty Phillips trusty Christian yes and that's when I at the same thing um hearing what uh trusty Phillips is saying and um and I just want to Echo the same thing you know you know these are
268vehicles to help our young people to proceed on in in in the future and really I just look at it you know really if our whole District was to uh really St to the plate to really make things happen for our students because you preparing them to go to college or either trade or somewhere um but if we you know don't look at it that way or and it's it's about monies we just need to look at how we can get more monies in here you know we need to you know knock on the door of our state senators and congressman's and and Tony Thurman and so forth many other people but you know our you know it's it's it's I would like to see this happen too is where if a student tends one
269school like Kennedy see a opportunity to take something over there to be able to go over there and take that course and still be a Kennedy student we did it back in the day and the 880s and it happened here in this District you got to go back and look at the history history is important because it it it showed that you know these things happened where uh students were able to go to different schools to get different um um uh lessons you know in know and then go back to their school site so there a lot that we need to do we got to be proactive thank thank you so much trusty Christian trusty reckler okay thank you I want to thank you too for the presentation I want to thank Dr Peterson for
270his tireless advocacy for his Mandarin school and for the IB Program he is just amazing I couldn't say more about this program this is exactly what our kids want and this is what they're asking for thoughtful rigorous cont lative critical thinking collaborative interdisciplinary this is going to prepare them for the future and we absolutely need to have this program once again here it is a first we have a mandarin IB Program nobody else has that that I know we're certainly first we might be the only these are the kinds of things that people want these are the programs that have weight lists these are the schools that have weight lists this is the way education is moving and tonight was a very difficult meeting because all the bright lights the online program regardless of what
271the results are people are asking for it DLI IB all of these things are hanging by a thread and this is where the major Investments need to go uh to to keep the district alive but to educate kids this is what they need to succeed in the future so I don't want to see this program removed and I you're right we need to have very serious discussion about what we're doing with all of these so that these gems survive and thrive um the other thing is that I really want to understand the budget so when you said that you were going to come back with it a lot of times you guys say you're going to come back with it and you get busy and I understand that but I really want to understand the
272money and what it's going to take to fund this and the people that you need to keep this program going thank you very much thank you so much CBL Moses did you need to say or want to say something else I just wanted to be clear on behalf of Dr Hurst who isn't in attendance tonight that he has not um given any direction to reduce what we've been doing for IV or DLI um and so we haven't made any cuts to these programs however the programs are asking for more and we also haven't made any increases so I think the followup with evaluating these programs and what's needed to continue to have them to thrive um has to start there and I just wanted to be very clear that as we made fiscal Cuts these
273programs were not touched thank you so much uh CBO Moses I think for my comments first thank you so much for the presentation thank you um to Mandarin school thank you to poo Valley uh middle school if you're here I'm sorry Peno middle school and thank you to Peno Valley High School I think that one of the things that I want to see when we're talking about programs that increase students viability outside of high school is that we talk about how do we ensure that that's reaching more students all students students where the numbers are so high right so if there's a a school that has 700 Kids 6 99 of them are inside this program because it increases the viability of their future so when we're talking about programs I would like us to
274start centering ourselves of how do we increase the attractiveness and the resources of the program to include more of our students than not right so so how do we continue to remove barriers increase Strat strategies increase Recruitment and then inrease retention when they're in those programs because it's one thing to get in a program it's another thing to complete the program we see that in our AP classes students take AP classes but they don't take the exam we see that in some of our IB classes students get into IB classes but they don't complete it to diploma we see it at elementary school some elementary schools that have d uh DLI they'll come in but then they don't have parents don't have the resources to feel comfortable to keep their kid in it because parents
275need to be educated also right so how do we get those strategies in place and keep those strategies in place to help our entire District Thrive inside of these programs that benefit because we cannot say that they don't benefit but how do they benefit more I think that's the question that we need to lean on how we do it for more students um thank you very much again for your time thank you uh to the audience members that stay so late we really appreciate it thank you to the administrators that we know you have to go back to school very early in the morning um we appreciate it thank you we are complete board we have 15 minutes to get through Mr Free's presentation Mr Freeze I hate to rush you but I'm going to
276rush you um we're going to get through your presentation uh oh hold on Mr Freeze yes Mr Phillips is it possible um to do this presentation to save this presentation so we can do the stuff that's still on the that got pulled off consent and maybe have a minute for for board comment Mr Freeze is there a time constraint on your uh presentation tonight we do have legal councel here with us to make a presentation to the board um we hoping to present tonight and be able to bring back a resolution in the next board meeting is it a half to or is it a hope to if it had to roll it could roll oh the dude is here in the back all right I'm sorry Mr F could you just repeat what you
277said I couldn't hear you I said it it had to move uh one week or it could move to the next agenda if it had to Mr Freeze how fast could you do it not that fast Mr Henderson said he could speak fast Mr Henderson you can speak fast like five minutes fast if you make sure he's advaned so he can bring up his presentation point point of order though my my issue with this is that this is listed as a discussion item it's not listed as an item to give direction or to vote to to authorize resolution so he's the lawyer maybe he's familiar with the brown act but parlamentary procedure we're tick tick ticking on the clock guys go ahead Mr Phillips if we're just taking it in for information we could do
278it in five minutes but if it's we're actually going to ask questions and discuss I don't see how we can do that in five minutes can we take in the information and then can you come back on Zoom if we have further questions to ask you he can come back on Zoom great five minutes Mr what's his uh Mr Freeze what's his name Mr Henderson Mr Henderson thank you so much for being here thank you for staying late we really appreciate it give it to us quick and then if we have questions or concerns we'll definitely bring you back go ahead please um did you want me to share my screen ah there we go got it okay okay I will speak very quickly and try to keep this at a very uh Quick Clip
279we're going to talk about lease lease back which is a construction project delivery method um I know there will likely be questions and like we said we can we can if you'd like hold those questions till the next time we get together there are three basic options for constructing large construction for K12 school districts that's design bid build it's formal bidding normal stuff design build which you have done before and Lease lease back we're just going to be talking about lease lease back tonight for the visual Learners I'm one of those this is design bid build district has an agreement with an architect hires a contractor and there subcontractors underneath remember that image for a moment you've done design build before in that case we hire one entity who's a design build entity and they
280have subc consultants and subcontractors underneath them that's not what we're talking about tonight tonight we're talking about least lease back this picture looks REM markably like the other picture we're hiring a contractor who has subcontractors underneath them the difference in lease lease back and design bid build is that we get to use not just a formal low bidder but a competitive solicitation process we get to evaluate contractors based on their past experience their ability to do large projects other factors besides just price we get to evaluate experience as well now there is competition and the board adopts criteria Etc which is what we're talking talking about doing at the next board meeting and subcontractors also must be formally bid by the contractor at that time so there is an injected competition into the process it's
281not formal bidding but there is competition and frankly we inject even more competition than the statute requires and there must be advertising in the newspaper just like a formal bid so how this normally happens which would be happening presumably in the next few weeks if the board wants to consider it the board would take action to adopt criteria then the District staff would issue requests for qualifications or requests for proposals and get and part the way your local um capacity program would be part of that your pla would be part of that that solicitation goes out there's an ad in the paper um and there's pre-qualification requirements just like the bidding process in this The District staff receives all those uh proposals uh um s soqs statements of qualifications and evaluates them the criteria that
282we use to evaluate those is very important I would spend time more time on the slide if I could price is still our number one factor we ask all kinds of pricing factors we ask what the markup is we ask what their General conditions are we ask almost every pricing we can the only thing we can ask because design isn't done is what are your subcontractor prices everything else we ask for in this initial solicitation then ultimately The District staff would come to you with their uh recommended and the board would act to um hire that particular contractor and because this is during design you enter into a preliminary Services agreement and that contractor then works with your architect through design to hopefully and this is the whole one of the main points of Le
283Le's back to find cost-saving and other best value factors that come into the construction process that's the reason why boards consider this again they enter into those preconstruction services and work with the with the architect throughout design and when there's a final price as I said a few minutes ago an ad is put into the paper that contractor must advertise and solicit subcontractors they don't get to pick and choose who they get subcontractors would just like they do on the formal bid process have to bid to that contractor and those The District staff works with the with the contractor to evaluate those bids and those bids are selected and then ultimately the least leas back contract is awarded by this board I was going to spend a few minutes talking about the structure of a
284lease lease back why am I calling it a lease lease back UNS it's a best value selection process it's been around for decades you in essence lease the property to the contractor they build something and lease it back to you you still use all your funds you're using bond funds for it um it's just one of the statutory process CES it's a little bit silly but it's the process that's in the statute to do this best value selection there have been challenges for Le leas back over a decade ago and they were based on a validation action I'm not going to dive into that tonight we don't have time for that suffice it to say that all the cases uh that came were for the district except for one in that one case it was
285called Davis versus Fresno the court found that there must be some financing in a genuine lease all the lease lease backs we put together now even though it's just the case have true lease factors and have a small component of financing consider yourself maybe financing the final 5% of the contract that's a common structure for this and you in essence enter into a lease with the contractor to lease it back and you uh get the facility during that time I will have to explain that in probably more detail at the time um there was subsequent Decisions by the Supreme Court I won't dive into it it was in my view irrelevant to whether or not leas lease back is valid the statute was Rewritten in 2017 it has all kinds of factors your School District
286board members you might have written seen some stories about leas Lee back written by some people that I think have got it wrong so the bottom line is at this point we do least leas back probably 50% of our districts if the board wants to select it we're somewhat agnostic about it but it's a tool that could be used to get a Best Value selection I'm going to stop now I've got my FAQs on the screen if you have questions great if not we're going to do questions later earlier in the next evening thank you so much Mr Henderson you uh did well it was 5 minutes um thank you so much we're now moving to consent items and we will have you back thank you so on Zoom but we will have you back
287thank you so very much we are now moving to the pulled consent items trusty reckler if you could do it a minute a piece it would be great we're moving to consent item C8 you approve approval of fundraising activities you pulled this one go ahead I did it'll take me one second I want the chance to vote no because not everything is align nothing h some things don't have full dates on them and um I'm I'm not going to personally approve that and that's that's the end of my statement okay so is there a motion for approval of fundraising activities I'll move the approval of fundraising activities is there a second can I make a suggestion um I actually said to myself that I was going to abstain on all the consent items t which
288means that this will fail so is it possible for this to just come back with the information that trusty reckler is talking about so it actually passes CBO Moses is there information that's lacking in the fundraising activities I reviewed the backup and I reviewed the summary sheet I did see some discrepancies with a couple of dates and the naming of a couple of the activity sponsors in particular the one that I think we had the most issu with is El Cero's Multicultural Night Celebration they did not name what they were selling but with the exception of that one I believe that the rest of them are um issues of um the way in which they're written in this document which I will address with staff thank you so much trusty Phillips so is it okay
289if I if I just move to table this so it could come back and and the stuff doesn't fail that's what I would like to do yes sir hold on one second reckler was the was what trusty sorry trusty reckler was what CBO Moses said satisfactory to you to be able to move it forward or no nope because it would fail CBO Moses we're gonna motion to table I I move to table this agenda item is there a second sorry go ahead CBL Moses I just want to make it absolutely clear that every one of these fundraisers that's proposed by County Mandarin Richmond High Peno Hercules high elero high deanza high and Valley View we will need to call all of those sites and tell them to Halt all of these activities and they will
290not go forward if there is no approval tonight um if you choose not to approve we're happy to notify schools but I just wanted the board to understand that tabling this means that none of these activities will go forward and most of them start um pretty soon thank you so much for that trusty Christian yeah based on the fundraising these students need their fundraising so they can do things April is over we about to march in to May time is moving the students need their stuff we've got two minutes so this is what we're going to do there was a motion on the floor I I had a motion to move the fun the approval of the fundraising activities are you putting a second motion on the floor trusty or trusty Phillips I was just
291trying to help I know are you putting I know sorry are you going to put a second motion on the floor I moveed that we table item is there a is there a second to trusty Phillips tbling the item I'll second it you're seconding that motion and I'll put another motion on the floor are people willing to approve the fundraisers that are compliant I yes trusty reckler and your motion is to approve the fundraisers that are compliant yeah so I'll I'll so you second that you seconded that but you should list the fundra the fundraisers that are compliant what fundraisers are you speaking of okay so I'll list the ones that are not how's that DEA High School selling snacks current to 6724 I don't know what current is Els High School 422 that started
292two days ago Hercules started today I'll let that one slide anol Valley High School coffee and tea service every Friday Richmond High School march to September that goes into the next school year so those are the ones that I would pull ladies and gentlemen unfortunally it is now 11:30 um we can only extend one time and we have reached that time limit we are now moving to adjournment we are now joining the meeting at 11:30