001for good evening everyone sorry about that good evening everyone I would like to welcome you all to the board to ACC translation pleas go to the corner of the room to get happening at the same time okay let's try it again good evening everyone I would like to welcome you all yeah I still hear it too just everybody I got two of them one should be on it's all right here we go time a charm oh I still hear it we're waiting because we're hearing translation at the same time so just one second everyone thank you for your patience try it again okay good evening everyone there we go you want to try it now try it now oh okay good evening everyone there we go good evening everyone I would like to welcome you
002all to our 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 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 public comment the the board has changed the public comment format the board has changed the public comment format we have opportunities on the agenda items in person through the Zoom app and by the telephone at the beginning of the meeting 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
003on any on an agenda item after it's been turned into staff they are placed in the order of when they were turned in we also call on speakers one at a time and alternating between public comment at dejon and one on Zoom if participating via Zoom you will need to raise your hand by clicking the appropriate icon in the Zoom app or by pressing star n if assessing the meeting by phone no yielding of time or substitution of speaker if permitted the public will also have 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
004usually respond to items presented in public comment now let's move to our opening procedures first we'll have the pledges pledge of Allegiance if you are willing and able please rise Dr H if you would do the pledge absolutely ready begin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you very much Dr Hurst now we'll move to the land acknowledgement clerk Gonzalez oy will you please do the land acknowledgement absolutely we recognize that we are presently on the lands of the Cheno MMA car and alone peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabit of the land we currently occupy thank you clerk Gonzalez Hoy thank you we are working on the student
005video we think we found a solution where the students you will hear the students do the land acknowledgement so we're working on that clerk Gonzales oy again thank you for that now we're moveing to the labor and body recognition I acknowledge that the burden of environmental exploitation and systemic Injustice falls upon the labor of black and brown bodies in the building of this country and its institutions I remember that black and brown people were born and died working this land against their will for Generations I also acknowledge the continued contributions of the labor of survivors over the centuries to today all of all immigrant labor including voluntary involuntary traffic force and undocumented peoples in the building of what we refer to as United States that is by Dr relle Rogers art Dr Hurst may we
006please have roll call absolutely president Smith fols good evening everyone here trusty clerk Gonzalez Hoy good evening here trusty reckler good evening I'm present trusty Phillips this time he is absent trusty Christian good evening present trusty palar good evening here trusty Abdu gapar good evening president all present but one thank you so much Dr HSE can we now have a report or ratification of closed session absolutely regarding agenda item a2.1 by unanimous vote with trustey Phillips absent the board voted to approve separation agreement with employee ID number 51724 approved date February 7th 20 2004 regarding agenda item a2.2 the board voted to approve the special education settlement agreement in oah case number 202 311 0880 the board voted as follows trusty reckler yes trusty Christian yes president Smith folds yes trusty clerk Gonzalez Hoy yes
007trusty Phillips absent and that concludes my report thank you thank you so much Dr HSE Dr HSE before we begin public comment do you have anything that you would like to say absolutely we wanted to share to the entire wccusd community that we've received um some concerns about the postponement of middle and KH School athletic activities we wanted to assure you that these activities will continue again they will continue we have identified the necessary funding to support continue the sports programs please know that we do apologize for any confusion in this matter the sports games and practices will continue as normal please contact your school site for the next scheduled games We wish all student athletes a great game and a great season additionally we wanted to share with you that we have received concerns
008about a resolution coming to the board and being approved and I wanted to share with all of you and have responded as well that the board at no time has directed the superintendent to bring that particular resolution to the board for this meeting or any future meeting at this time we are reviewing boort policy and using boort policy 9322 to help guide us as resolutions do come forward and whether or not they belong on the agenda again just wanted to share with the community that particular resolution has not come to the board this time thank you so much thank you Dr Hurst for the clarity we are now going to move to public comment I'm going to read again about our public comment members of the public are invited to speak to the board about
009any 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 two minutes individuals wishing to speak must submit a wccusd public comment form or participating via Zoom individuals will need to raise their hand in the Zoom app prior to the beginning due to the brown act members cannot discuss items not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items presented in public comment staff do we have any public comment yes we do go ahead let's start with the uh in the room first and then we'll alternate our first public comment is Linda Johnson hold on one second ma'am if you look on your microphone in front of you there's a little person
010with a face if you touch that person it'll turn your mic on okay the stent the students that we serve are some of the most vulnerable in the community they are also some of the most resilient and inspiring when put in an environment that is safe and conducive to their ability to focus on their education they Thrive one attitude that the overwhelming one attribute that the overwhelming majority of new gateway to college students arrive with is unresolved trauma much of the time it is not only unresolved but unreported as well this is for a variety of reasons but one of the most common here is that there are no trusted resources they can access and don't feel as if anyone cares they are afraid to be exposed there were days when I showed up at
011Adams junior high after having just been sexually molested I arrived at school to be asked to focus on English math or history I quit school after my first day right here at Harry L's high school because of my mistrust of adults for obvious reasons no one ever knew what I was dealing with and I was just considered lazy and a problem every one of our staff members has their own story our Collective life experiences give us the intuition to recognize trauma our smaller size allows the staff to get to know each student personally therefore forging relationships this gives each student and adult an adult that they can trust one that will recognize when something is just not right although we can't measure it or quantify it this is what allows students at Gateway to College
012to succeed this is why the students attend classes from at gate way when they would not at other schools Gateway students are offered the opportunity to experience being a college student while still in high school they are taken out of the chaos and immaturity of the traditional High School experience where they were not successful and they thrive in a setting that makes them feel safe allows them to be who they are and to every extent possible learn in a way that works for them at the end of the day we have a group of students that are still hanging out in the office space when we get ready to go home hours after their classes end this is because they feel safe and cared for they can be found working on homework together playing games
013or just sitting around talking and being kids the alternative for the majority of these kids is hanging out in the streets and getting into trouble which is what many of them were doing before coming the Gateway closing this life-saving resource for our atrisk youth is unconscionable and our community needs to be informed of what is at risk our most precious resource I am here tonight to ask that the board reconsider the message they are sending to our community's most vulnerable students thank you our next public common is Robert Mandel please unmute yourself good evening W my name is Bob andelle I'm a member of The Adult School teachers United bargaining team the board had shown considerable leadership in the last 18 months by overruling staff recommendations to lay off K12 teachers and support staff and
014playground supervisors our union members are here tonight to ask you to vote to direct management to settle a contract with with us number one to honor 30 contract articles that it has long since signed off on and repudiated about a year ago number two sign the remaining five articles particularly the one that recognizes that our union represents every single adult head teacher that is what perb certified in 2017 that's what management recognized for four years and that too is repudiated and currently even says only eight of the 80 of our union members number three give us the raise we deserve management has spends $149,000 on legal fees in a year that would be an 11% rates and is here marched another 227,000 to try to break ups that would be 177% rat thank you please
015vote direct them our next public common is krie sorry hi my name is Carrie Shaka and I'm an employee at gate Raider College on January 24th there was an item on the board agenda here including many contracts such as copy machines online learning formats and out ofate track even food budgets for meetings however on line 23 of this expel Excel spreadsheet you will see the expiration of Gateway to College contract um all listed to be eliminated the way in which this was hidden within an Excel spreadsheet buried deep within an agenda item is disheartening and dishonest of the school board we asked that the board we consider the closing of such a valuable school for the district's most vulnerable students Miss representing Gateway to College as on a list of contracts with no direct student
016impact make it makes it appear as if Gateway to College is just another contract that will have little impact on students in fact Gateway to College is a School site we serve wccusd as most vulnerable students we are housed at Contra Casta College this eliminates any overhead costs the document claims that we are a cost of $601,000 however I'd like to show that we are not that money is money that we earn these monies come to Gateway to College as Ada payment some may try to claim that it is Ada that the district would be able to keep if not for Gateway to College here are some facts that will show that these monies are not monies that the district will be able to recoup by closing Gateway to College Gateway to College serves 16
017to 20 year old students that have already dropped out of high school are at risk of dropping out of a high school or will age out before graduation at gatew College our students actually attend their classes take college courses to meet their High School graduation requirements and get instructions from real teachers in the room with them as proven by our Ada for most if not all of these students at um this is the last opportunity they have to receive a high school diploma on the contrary students still enrolled in school within West contra cost unified simply do not attend for a variety of reasons including but incl why did my go off the two minutes is up Ma okay thank you thank you so much our next public common is Maris Arnold please unmute yourself
018muted good evening board my name is Maris Arnold and I'm one of your ESL teachers and a proud member of adult school teachers United which perb certified in 2017 your management bargaining team so far has spent almost $150,000 on legal fees defending their anti- labor actions that $150,000 from the adult school budget earmarked for adult school instruction could have gone to salary increases we haven't had a raise in four years the management team had signed off on 30 contract articles during the last five years of bargaining and then reneged on them they flout the rules and laws just like Trump they treat us as enemies to be defeated at all cost rather than seeing us all as one educational Community doing our best for our students please use your power and wisdom to see it
019to it that ASU gets a fair contract and our next public communist Molly Maloney good evening my name is Dr Molly Maloney of go public schools I'm also a Richmond resident and a parent in The District in our recent kids can report which we have copies for you tonight we have a special section on literacy outcomes in the district and one thing that really jumps out in the data is how little has changed over the past almost decade literacy rates in West Contra Casta have been largely flat over these years with just one in three students on grade level for ELA if we take into consideration the declining enrollment numbers we can see the actual number of students in our district on level is even lower 640 fewer students were on level last year in
020the esac compared to the first year of the esac in 2015 one in three students on level means two in three students are not translated districtwide that's over 177,000 students who are not meeting standards in ela what will their life experiences and outcomes be we may have become used to these numbers but we should not be numb to them for they're not just numbers but real kids the data shows us that what we are doing in literacy right now is not working and changes needed we cannot keep taking the same approach to literacy and just hoping that somehow things will get better but change really is possible research shows that making a commitment to effective systematic and explicit literacy instruction can make a huge difference in the outcomes and lives of children we have an
021opportunity to make real changes so that this can happen which my colleague Natalie walchuk will be speaking about in just a moment thank you our next public comth James nean please unmute yourself yes my name is Jim neeleman I'm an ESL teacher at dejon in the mornings I love my job but I'm here tonight to ask you to support ASU our Union Adult School teachers United and we it's been five years now or more that we've been trying to get a contract and other speakers have gotten into some of these details uh of the obstruction that unfortunately the district has been involved in um including five perb actions that the district actually had to spend almost $150,000 in legal fees for and that money was taken out of money earmarked for instructional programs did did
022you know this were you aware of this to me it doesn't even sound like it's legal and they have earmarked another 227,000 of our money that is earmarked should be earmarked for adult school programs to help the adults in our community people like my students from Yemen and from uh throughout Latin America and other countries around the world who are coming here to and to try to have a better life and learn English in our classes why is the district posing so many obstacles to us it seems like union busting to me when when I hear that the district refused to recognize teachers like me because I I teach a class that's not charging a fee that's their latest excuse they only support they only recognize teachers who teach classes where there's no fee and
023before that they were saying that our teachers who teach at night who are also members of utr couldn't also be in our Union even though the law is very clear on that that they could be so again I implore the the the board to take action tonight to vote in favor of directing the bargaining team for the district to act in good faith thank you very much our next public comment is Natalie Wat good evening my name is Natalie walchuk when I first started at go public schools in 2016 my youngest child was in the fourth grade and 35% of our district students were on level in reading today my son has graduated high school and 32 and a half% of students are on level over the course of these eight years we have changed
024superintendents central office leaders board members and textbooks numerous times and yet results have remain relatively constant what's clear to me is that while we have pockets of growth we do not have a district-wide solution thank you Dr Hurst for naming literacy as your top priority this year to date initial conversations and efforts to find A New Path forward have included only internal District Representatives when covid rocked our world medical professionals did not pull up their proverbial drawbridges to try to solve the problem solely within their internal team they welcomed input shared data transparently reported findings and vulnerably owned missteps as we face this complex challenge we must do the same we must seek out ideas expertise input and Innovation both within and Beyond District borders we ask that staff and the board welcome additional voices
025and perspectives to the table to develop a systemwide strategy to serve all children this strategy cannot be grounded solely in the selection of a textbook or curriculum rather it must be a clear definition of what every child's learn literacy Learning Journey will entail over the course of a day a month a week or a year what are the non-negotiable elements that will drive our pedagogical choices instructional calendar professional development focus and monetary Investments how can we ensure that every student becomes proficient in language comprehension and word recognition a skilled writer and a proficient public speaker and how do we ensure that our every teacher has paid training and collaboration time resources and materials to meet student needs thank you our next public comment is Jeremiah Rome please unmute yourself hello my name is Jeremiah ROM
026and I teach at Helms Middle School I'd like to update you on my concerns about teaching vacancies this year the introduction of teach start fellows and one credential teacher have eased some of the pressure that other teachers faced of to use their planning time in order to cover classes and many of my colleagues feel like they're once again able to do the things they need to do to function collaboration has improved and so has morale in what has been a very stressful and frustrating year um but we're still not doing right by our students every student deserves continuity and stability in their education they should not be forced to accept finally getting a new long-term substitute 100 days into the school year students at my site are losing years of progress in core classes waiting
027for a teacher it should not be an unfulfilled aspiration to have a qualified teacher in every class on day one that's the bare minimum and now there are threats of reduction in force which baffle me and it feels like we've entered a vicious cycle and when you look at why this district is hemorrhaging students I wonder what reason we're giving families to stay especially in Title One schools that are facing the brunt of these shortages these families who are leaving are exercising their responsibility to look out for their children because the district is not living up to its responsibility to do the same um as I have some time remaining I'd also like to express my support for the Gateway to College and the adult Educators present in speaking out tonight thank you our next
028public comment is Sam clear good afternoon thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Sam clear and I have been a site rep at siege for almost seven years I love working here and I love this community therefore the current conditions leave me speechless and heartbroken we started out the year with four classrooms without credential teachers and there are still four classrooms without credential teachers our vacancy crisis didn't start this year within the past seven years I haven't worked a single year with every teaching position filled for the entire year each year we have started with open positions or teachers have left within the school year at this point I've known many of the students since they were very young for some students at third grade I have been first credential yearlong educator
029I have had to watch these students work without a teacher at stge and then continue on to secondary without teachers as well the vacancy crisis is spread within the Kennedy family and specifically through tital one schools the inequitable learning opportunities in this District are unacceptable how are we addressing the vacancy crisis is what are we doing currently I'm trying to explain to Children and Families why they don't have teachers I don't have any answers except for the fact that they are being ignored we need to act with urgency thank you our next public comment is Maisha Harris gash please unmute yourself good even evening and happy black history month so one I wanted to say that I agree with the comment around literacy um I'm 10 toes down with that and support um but with
030this being Black History Month um just makes me think about some things that I have been through growing up um in my life and just like imagine if when I was 10 years old my fifth grade teacher told me that he did not like black people and as a 10-year-old I told him his name was Mr beard I said that's too bad I'm not going anywhere and that's one of the things that shaped my life and has shaped my career and when I worked with students I'm at Kennedy High School have black Latino Asian students and I want to empower my students to know who they are who they come from and what their history is so this month every day I'm doing like a today in black history but when I even share that
031I also tell my students who are not black to investigate to learn if you have Elders in your family to ask them where do we come from and they're remembering just because we say Latino does not mean Mexico so I specifically and intentionally say you know for my students who are from El Salvador from Guatemala from Nicaragua from Peru from Kuba you know so just I want to say it and I want to call it out loud I also want to thank my colleague who reached out to me because she has seen what I've been posting about Black Adventures and she was like you know I'm a third grade teacher what is that site because I want to um Expose and share that with my students so I want to to call that out and
032I thank her for reaching out um to me and so with all that being said black happy Black History Month know who you are regardless of what your background is where you come from own it love it and share it with others everybody have a great night our next public communist Carissa Provena good evening board members and superintendent Hurst my name is Carissa provenza I'm a lawyer on the education Equity team at public Advocates on behalf of three West contracosta teachers we recently filed Williams complaints to address the vacancies at stge elementary Helms middle and Kennedy High I'm here tonight because recently we have not seen the district properly follow the procedure of handling and Reporting Williams complaints and we'd like to ensure that these vacancies are remedied in a timely manner students are entitled
033to permanent and legally authorized teachers in each of their classrooms unfortunately that is not the case at Ste Helms Kennedy and some of the other highest need schools in West contracosta instead what we're seeing in West contracosta is the elal use of substitutes to temporarily fill these vacancies which has led to hundreds of students not having a stable and permanent teacher for the majority of this school year at Helms middle school there are vacancies in e8th grade English 8th grade math eighth grade science and a combination 7th eth grade math class in the newcomers Academy how do we expect these students to be prepared for high school when the district has failed to provide them with the permanent qualified teachers they deserve we understand that this is a Statewide issue but West Contra Costa is
034facing far more teacher vacancies than its surrounding districts illegally filling these vacancies with substitutes or having West Contra Costa teachers work additional hours to cover the classes are not Sustainable Solutions we urge the District to take immediate action to fill these vacancies and to solicit the input of teachers students and families of color in developing a comprehensive recruitment development and hiring plan thank you our next public comment is Betty Canal please unmute yourself please unmute yourself yes hello am I on yes oh thank you very much my name is Betty cono and I would like to speak in support of the adult student uh student teachers United uh contract and call for the support of the school board uh for adults adult education which is terribly imperiled and um it makes me so upset because
035because we're talking about so many what billions and billions uh going to Wars around the world where PE few people have visited or even can point to on a map and yet here there's a war on our streets in people adults uh seniors who are fighting for really uh nickels and dimes for their uh senior activities and I really feel that um it's shameful for this society that it's not providing those kind of basic um supports for all sectors of our community especially for seniors I mean we're you're going to be seniors too in 10 20 30 years and we'll want to have the kind of support from society that um you have deserve you deserve and have worked for all your life so um I'm just wanting to support the a ASU Union efforts
036thank you our next public common is Salon Harrison happy Black History Month board how are you guys all so it's a couple of things I want to start off with I want to tell you thank you for the decorations it looks lovely for those that can't see um another thing I wanted to share was we need our scow we need our Scout um our oasa scal has I've been coming to this board and complaining for y'all know how long about the apacks we have 44 apacks and y'all know that we have not had that in the history of our district and we need our Scout we also need you guys to make sure that our climate is taken care of we our children are overidentified in suspensions so please please make sure that you take
037care of our climate department and the uh director there and we also um want to make sure that our children's resources are kept in place for our activities and things that this district has done we ain't asking y'all to grow nothing but maintain what we have had for our children because that's important and I would just like to recognize all the people that the board and the people that met with us regarding our school we do want a Swahili language school for our children and we are fighting for something different in our district for our children something that will bring this a a district a destination district for our people to come and others to come to in our in this black history month and we want to make sure that y'all understand that we
038want a school something that recognize us and and make us feel a part of the school Community too so um I think I I think I got everything this evening thank you for your time I'm complete our next public communist brosa menar please unmute yourself good evening superintendent heart and TR of the school my name is Rosa menjivar I am manager of the community engagement and advocacy program of the John Latina future leader at the Latina Center I'm here today of behalf of the Latina Center and concern a student to say that we do not support the fighting of the middle and high school Community out work that will be take place place on March 15 we are concerned that only learn at the last minute that this could happen and on disappointment We There
039was little Community aage down to let family student and community organiz session know that this could happen it seem like you all will be discussing this under agenda item E7 and number seven where there is a PDF that say more than 6 60 Scouts will be fired before the end of the school year we didn't happen we didn't have reasonable notice around this as you may know the Latina CER as long as 12 communitybased organizations supported a successful student Le advocacy effort that last spring last spring to secure the positions of the Scouts in our West contracosta Community Schools I'm so proud of our students who wrote a letter collecting 653 signatures 576 students and 51 parents and presented it presented it on March 15 last year to the West Contra School Board we appreciate
040the board deciding to keep the positions of the scouts please leisten our voice of the RS students and organization and parents our next our next public comment is Pam our next public comment is Andre tan hello hello my name is Andre twatson um former graduates from Gateway to College graduating 2017 still amazes me that I could still say that because without them I don't think I'll be able to stand here and speak on their behalf I just want to say Gateway has um made a tremendous impact on my life and shape me to the person I am today um I was always a trouble kid growing up and going to school I always didn't want to be there and never really cared for it because I always thought these teachers don't care for me so
041why should I care so I was always trying to find ways to like leave school and trying to not be there at all so I came out here in 2012 from Indianapolis uh my first school I went to was Elso high school and as soon as I got there I was doing the same thing didn't care about school didn't want to be there always a chewing kid left there um because I was on the verge not graduating so I went to North Campus and try to graduate from there didn't graduate from there then I found Gateway and Gateway um I so glad I found that school because um sorry um it really it really made an impact on me and they took time to really understand every so-called troubled kid that was there and they
042made it um um like a goal for them to really understand everybody's perspective on life because everybody's going through situations and sometimes the teachers don't really care for it you know what I mean like growing up from experience in school was always like told that oh you're not going to make it you're not going to do this but and I don't think you should be able to hear that from from the teachers as as a student because it really crushes you because you're supposed to be there in a safe environment they're supposed to help you be be a better person in the future and Gateway they helped you and they actually understand every troubled kid that's there that's having problems they have a goal to do that and that's all I want to say thank
043you our next public comment is Ling Shay hi good evening uh my name is Ling Shay and I have been in this District since 2008 and I've been a taxpayer my kids grw up here and we love it here unfortunately we found out that the aquatic program in our high school is always teetering on un uncertainty is it going to be cancelled is it going to be on it it's caused a lot of stress with our athletes and there has been a direct correlation with kids and sports and academics these kids are most of our kids are 4.0 kids they swim and they and they're amazing in in school so I'm just I'm just not sure why every year there's always a budget crisis or or what not I'm not sure what's happening behind closed
044doors that the the program is always being sort of on the te on the on the line of being dropped and this just happened um the 2024 season is already three days late um and we find and you guys finally approved um for the kids to go swim at the swim centers because you guys chose not to build the pools at the high school so I I implore you to please build this budget into next year because I believe next year the budget hasn't been set and the and the programs The Aquatic program might be cut and that would be a tremendous loss and you can see there are all these swimmers here water polo players that we just they just finished their season they're ready to go into swim season right now and they're
045four and these are 4.0 kids they're doing amazing and and it's just such a great program that I I just think that it should never be cut um we just want equal representation as the other sports like football basketball thank you our next public communist Kelly McLaren please unmute yourself please unmute yourself our next public comment is zoom user please unmute yourself good evening my name is Kate burkart and I'm a can you hear me can you hear me now hear you uh this is Kate burkart and I'm concerned about the principal for the adult school I understood that it was going to be announced and appointed tonight but I heard nothing from the closed session we've been struggling with the interim principal who um is leaving at the end of the month and I
046hope that we have a successful enthusiast FC principal that's been appointed by the district I'm also concerned about the community uh the older adult programs at the senior centers for the adult school we have some very active programs that have been very helpful for seniors keeping them in their homes and we hope that we can continue we hope that we get the District support for that thank you very much goodbye our next public comment is Andres Castro hello I've just recently got out of Gateway and what I'm not going to lie when I first got there I was super scared I was nervous and I felt like it was just going to be a repeated version of my time in high school I was scared to ask for help and even and it was never
047offered you feel like they don't really care about you and almost immediately after I got in the Gateway I knew that it was it was going to be different it was going to be the complete opposite because the moment I I went there it didn't feel like just another school where there's teachers that just want to show me something and then get me the hell out of there they actually care about me they want me to learn things they want me to learn how to succeed and the people that you meet there they they're just like you they struggle and they have problems and throughout my time there I got to befriend them and it's gotten to a point where I see gay way more like a family than I do a school and when
048I got to meet these people I got to see that a lot of them are troubled I've heard stories that shake me to my core that that sound like things that shouldn't be heard by people younger than me that are 15 16 years old and it's these same students that at the previous High School got nothing but fs and DS but they go to Gateway and with within their first semester they're getting nothing but A's and B's and that shows change that shows heart and that's not that's not that's she just shows the potential of the students if they receive the right help and that's students that weren't getting that help at their previous schools and that's something they got almost immediate Med a Gateway these students who were troubled and were having these problems
049and that were doing terrible at their old school were the same students that were encouraging each other to do their work to get to class on time and they actually wanted to show up they didn't feel pressur to show up they didn't feel like they had to and they just want to finish this and leave they actually wanted to go to school and to learn and to do better for themselves and that's because of Gateway and it's lovely staff thank you for your time our next public comment is Alo Brown please unmute yourself like to say good evening board this is Rodney Almo Brown community advocate here in the city of Richmond California there's old say my mother used to say and it was when I is replaced with we even illness becomes Wellness I
050really interested article today in the Ed source and I was a little disappointed at the same time but I also understand the severity of what's going on within the sector of the district there's psychologists who are getting burned out there's psychologists who are not coming back overall it's become a pandemic of sort for our children who continue to deal with the remnants and the residuals of the pandemic now we all understand that there's budget necessary budget cuts that has to be made I think in 2019 Mr Phillips mentioned that we continue to Kick the Can down the proverbial Road however the day of recking has come and we all have to make difficult decisions and choices now there's a lot that hangs in the balance here concerning teachers and folk who work at service providers
051within the sector of our district and these are things that's going to come to pass however I think that as we continue to do the Y's work and I'm speaking of those teachers who come to work every day through thick and thin through hell and high water and deal with the troubl things that's in front of them who continue to be great service to our community we have to understand the severity of it we have to get to the point to where we have to stop finger pointing there was finger pointing at last at the last meeting where the the indivisual stated that the superintendent should take a pay cut because he's high on the food chain well that's not necessarily correct when you look at the board the board is the first Pryor of
052the fruit the board is the highest people that's swn the food chain not the superintendent as we all know that the board is the one who choose the superintendent to become the superintendent so we can't place we can't scapegoat each other we can't put blame on one another we have to work cohesively together as a unit God bless you all and Happy Black History Month Alo our next public comment is Walden White good evening can everyone hear me clearly I just want to say number one we need our scous uh my name is Walden white I'm a HBCU uh attendee myself uh my daughter and my son went to elero high school if it wasn't for the HBCU tour they wouldn't have gone they would have been attending a regular school here my daughter graduated
053from prayview University she's now in Southern University in law school in her first Year my son has attended Fresno State uh in this first year of college and I know numerous other people I can talk to in a community that actually have never seen the HBCU they don't know what it looks like they've never been outside of their Community I've been in Richmond for 23 years this place was horrible there was a time at this time of night I would not be in this neighborhood outside walking and I've seen the changes I've seen the actual material changes when a child goes to school they see something other than their neighborhood and they can actually make a difference by graduating by coming back to that actual neighborhood by making an actual difference by sitting on a
054counsil by sitting on a board by having actual life experience by not being in the streets there is a school to prison pipeline that is very real very real and I want to speak to one particular person Wanita towns even in her own life her own son had he not been exposed to HBCU he would have not attended and right now he is a teacher he is a teacher teaching other people that is powerful coming right here from Richmond in one of the worst periods and periods and places in Richmond we need our scals and this HBC 2 uh HBC U tour has to continue has to continue we have to make room in the budget for people like this it is immaterial immaterial for black young people to see this just in places of
055Excellence not just Barack Obama on TV Michelle Obama on TV or on a poster they actually need to see someone that's actually in school supporting each other Greek fraternities and and priorities all of these things that go into Black Culture happy black history month thank you our next public comment is Kumi yanaga please unmute yourself hello um my name is H kumana Gara this is my third year at Kennedy and it's also the third year I've spoken during public comment regarding vacancies at my site um I also have an had a single school year where my site has been fully staff and in fact uh last school year I was the only science teacher who stayed from the previous year and as a second year somehow was already the most veteran Kennedy science teacher instead
056of filling vacancies the solution at our site has been finding teachers to period sub or even work 120 many of my colleagues myself included are working 120% FTE which means we've given up one of our prep periods to teach an extra class first and foremost these vacancies mean we are failing our students by not providing a full-time credential teacher for them but this is a burden on the staff too without prep time at school I have to lesson plan and grd at home spending hours of my weekday evenings and weekends working and I know the same goes for my colleagues as well and knowing that my colleagues and I carry so much of this burden on our shoulders it makes it even more difficult when one of us has to call in sick or can't
057come in due to whatever is happening outside of school we have lives too after all there have been times when I felt under the weather and probably should have stayed home to recover but didn't because I felt guilty about asking my colleagues to sub for my classes we are all stretched thin and exhausted our students deserve better and the teachers do too thank you our next public common is Ariana Medina hello everyone my name is Ariana Medina I'm currently still a student here at Gateway I'll be graduating this summer at the end of May I used to attend Richmond High School my time there wasn't as great the support system there wasn't great the teachers never really helped me when I would ask for help throughout my freshman and sophomore year they made me feel
058worthless the campus wasn't as great either I never felt completely safe when I would go school every day the beginning of junior year is when I started here at Gateway at first I was afraid of it being the same as Richmond High but the students and teachers here changed my mind it was nowhere near like Richmond High the students here had the same goals as me they seem they had a second chance and of getting a diploma we were all focused on the same thing the support you get from these students and teachers is beyond great miss Carrie has truly been like a second mother to me and to all these other students she makes us feel safe make sure we're we're doing everything we can to accomplish our goals and that we're doing okay
059mentally and physically where else would you find someone like that nowhere last semester I was truly going through it I lost a lot of important people in my life and the only person that was truly there for me and my family and helped me in every way she can was Miss Gary she helped me get through it helped me stay on top of my work and help me do my best to show up no matter how sad or drained I would my family and car are the reasons why I'm here standing the support she gives to her students is pure love she is the reason why most of her graduates and current students here gayway are where they are right now in life but most of you won't see her the way I see her
060or this program in my eyes my young brother picked at me and made fun of me multiple times because I was because I wasn't going to gr graduate on time and because I was dumb or and it made me feel worthless and and currently he is going through the same thing as I did at risk of not graduating on time and now he has decided to come to Gateway but he because he wants to make something out of his life with the choice you guys are making you are hurting multiple students and saw who saw this Gateway as their chck as their second chance my brother is devastated because you guys are not taking that chance away from him what is he going to do now our next public comment is Ethan sorcer just one
061second thank you sir just one second um staff how many more public comments do we have because we need to extend it a little 12 board I would like to propose that we extend the public comment to cover all 12 people that are here to speak is that okay without any objection thank you we're going to continue to have all the public comment thank you go ahead sir thank you my name is Ethan sorer and I am a teacher at montalvin Manor K8 Dr Hurst as part of the lcap process you solicited Community feedback when it came to Staffing the community was clear our students are successful when they have trusted adults they can count on in their schools at our school for both students and families one of the those trusted adults is Nelda
062Welton our bilingual clerk over two-thirds of our community identify as Hispanic or Latino and many of the adults speak Spanish as a primary language as the only fluent Spanish speaker on our clerical staff Nelda is essential to the day-to-day operations at our site when families come with questions when we need to communicate about students when students aren't showing up for school Nelda has both the institutional knowledge and the language skills to make sure our students and families are supported I understand that we need to make difficult decisions to secure our continued Independence as a district cutting bilingual clerks might make sense on paper but it will lead to long-term losses in October we needed families to fill out multi-purpose income forms so that we could continue to get funding for our school lunches and programs
063school and District based mass communications had been unsuccessful ultimately it came down to Nelda working outside her contract hours making call after call after call to our Spanish-speaking families to help them understand the form and complete it this is just one example of the many ways Nelda goes above and beyond to help serve our students and families and one that illustrates the shortsightedness of this decision without Nelda we would not have gotten the thousands of additional dollars per eligible student funding that far outweighs the cost of her position the most impactful positions in our district are the ones that work closely with our students and families please revise your fiscal solvency plan prior to March 6th to make fiscally sound cuts that minimize the impact on our students and families thank you our next public
064comment is Amanda Foster hello my name is Amanda Foster and I'm a proud tiger teacher this is my third year teaching at Vista K12 Virtual Academy I am currently a sixth grade supervising teacher specializing in math and science it is an absolute privilege to serve families from all over West Contra Costa Unified School District students come to us for many different reasons students come for joyous and exciting reasons students come for heartbreaking reasons facing challenges that children should not have to face no matter how or why they became a student at Vista virtual students have the opportunity to continue their learning in a way that is accessible and supportive for the unique situation they are in and the unique person that they are I have met wonderful people over the past three years students who
065have blossomed showing incredible academic and personal growth students who have told me Vista has changed their view of learning and their own future for the better parents who feel connected to their child's education in a in ways they've not before parents who appreciate the weekly one-on-one meetings for their students and increase teacher student parent communication that is inherent to independent studies teachers who are creative and flexible teachers who Empower students to go boldly into their Futures we are not as visible to the public and to others in the district by the nature of our work a school district is an ecosystem and every ecosystem has niches I'm here today to make the niche my students and I occupy visible we are in different physical spaces but our interactions have created a beautiful and productive learning
066environment thank you our next public comment is Maria Lara lemis good evening everyone I am here um to discuss the non-salary reduction list expiration to the Gateway College contract back in 2020 I wrote a letter in support of the Gateway a college program and today in the days that continue I will continue to support this program why you may ask I come from a family of Migrant Farm Workers my mom decided to move with my four siblings and I to the Richmond area for better opportunities she didn't know much about education as she only went to the third grade so going to high school I had no idea of what was my steps there I attended Peno Valley high school and I felt very alienated I didn't have any support or motivation but that truly
067changed when I went to gate witer College I was one of the first 50 students who attended Gateway College back in 2011 since then I gained the confidence as a student to advocate for myself and for those around me who have been pushed out of the traditional High School experience since graduating from gate witer College I transitioned into a contracosta college then after attaining all the requirements I transferred to UCLA where I attained my bachelor's degree after graduating from UCLA I attended UC Berkeley where I attended where I received my Master's Degree I am here to continue to advocate for this program I can truly say and genuinely say that without this program I really don't think that I would be here so I truly ask that you help this program continue because there are
068many students out there that are facing challenges that the gwi college program can help with our next public comment is Jeffrey Bean staff before you call Mr Bean who may be here in person we have one person online that we need to get to Mr Bean give me one second because we need to alternate to go online so you'll be right after this person online if they're there Kelly McLaren please unmute yourself hi hope you can hear me this time my name is Kelly McLaren I am a parent of a student in the district who is also a student athlete um he Al actually does three Sports he is a water polo player he does swimming he does volleyball he also has done wrestling um I just want to express my deep deep concern about
069the district maybe cutting funding for the aquatics program U the kids there really work hard and they do a terrific job they all have really good grades and it's really important that we can keep this program running for these kids because they really need it that's all I had to say for tonight but thank you so much for listening good evening I am Jeffrey bean I teach fifth grade at Shannon Elementary um I love my job today we had a talent show in our class I had about seven students perform uh one of my favorites was a uh girl who's in fifth grade who uh is usually uh very quiet in class and she played her flute for our class it was good to hear um so thank you for not cutting our band programs
070I was worried about that and I'm glad glad that you decided to save that program uh two issues tonight uh number one um students at my school early in the year in the room next door to me were without a teacher for the first uh several months of school and they have a teacher now but I'm saddened to hear about schools in um less well-off neighborhoods in our district that are still without teachers that's um it was bad enough for a few months I can't imagine going all the way to February like that so I then I hear about our Union utr negotiating with the district on salary which is the thing that would help resolve this problem next year and that the district has not made much movement toward our proposals is problematic I
071hope you do whatever it takes to fix that issue uh second issue tonight um I teach fifth grade and we have a new test this year and last year called I ready takes a lot of time my students are working on it right now for math this week and it's tolerable now because it's February but when we get into uh May we'll fifth graders will have esbc English and math California science test California physical fitness test uh in addition to all the numerous California Health the kids Sur things that that are brought up in in May and then you add to it I reading and math that take multiple days to complete little teaching will take place in May and I hope you do something to lessen this burden on students thank you for your
072time have a good night our next public comment is Luke schals good evening uh my name is Luke Schultz and um I was a student trustey on the board about five years ago where I think some of you guys are right there uh keep up the good work keep um creating opportunities for yourselves so anyway um this evening my brother told me he's been a swimmer so he's been a swimmer for the last about 15 years and he just told me that his program in a senior year of high school is likely to be cut um on another note um Valley high school has had five had four band directors in the last five years due to a lack of job security because of the way that this district has handled its budgeting now recently
073I've also heard that we may see further Personnel Cuts in our Arts programs and across other athletic programs in the district um now I can speak to arts in a very special way because classes and arts are not frivolous and I know that because I make about $45,000 a year working 15 hours a week as a college student who's professional classical musician thanks to the training that I got in this District cutting those courses means cutting potential success for students in their futures um I also just accepted a position making a $100 an hour as a band director in San Francisco working a few hours a week so as a music educator I know I'm essential because I know that those kids need someone who's a professional musician to teach them how to play the
074instrument as a swim team back here they need a coach and they need a facility um now do you know who's not as essential is Administration the average salary of the people standing behind me is about $60,000 a year per person in the Bay Area and the average salary of this table right here is about $275,000 a year that is not Equity that's not diversity that's not inclusion and that I mean you got a whole group of kids right in front of you who are you're who you're willing to cut the program for if need but you've got music educators who are just trying to not live in a van who you're willing to cut so I propose that rather than continuing to cut essential and then we can have a conversation about the hard
075choices that we have to make about our budget please conclude your com our next public common is rockar Ray hello good evening board um my name is Rocka Ray and I teach biology and chemistry at Kennedy I also taught previously for four years at Helms um I'm speaking out to support the Williams complaint against wccusd and as I've B brought to this board several times we are doing a disservice to our students with the number of vacancies at our schools at Kennedy we are missing English and ELD teachers amongst others at a school where half the students are English language Learners Ed genuity and a string of substitutes are simply not cutting it Kennedy already has a graduation rate hovering around 50% Kennedy has a student body that is experiencing or has experienced severe trauma
076so for students who are already struggling an online program or a long-term sub is the equivalent of throwing their High School career to the Wolves I urge this board to prioritize teacher vacancies at Kennedy stge at Helms I suggest looking at our bloated reserves and our books and supplies budget thank you our next public comment is Todd Sagar there's an old adage that says how many people does it take to screw in a light bulb the point of being is how difficult is it to Simply turn on a light the more people you have fiddling around the bulb the longer it will take to get rid of the darkness with that said we must admit that some people like Darkness because because they can seemingly get away with misbehaving more easily Darkness Fosters confusion over
077the past few years the following individuals have rotated as Sela directors in West Contra Costa County Steve Collins Nick berer Kristen Hardy sonan Neely Johnson and now it's Guthrie Flashman the lack of stability in this role hurts the special special education community that is supposed to be served each change that takes place is a short um in short succession undermines the community for example a person knowledgeable in seasoned in this position would know that the right to review records that pertain to a student past or present is a right parents have I was recently copied in an email from the current interum selfa director stating that there are no records concerning a student from 2019 to present covering nearly a fiveyear span how is this even possible either the district is destroying records in contention
078of record retention law and policy or the selfa director is attempting to deceive hoping that parents grope around in the dark not having a clue about the rights parents and students in the district have the merry go around of SOA directors does not absolve the district from complying with Regulatory Compliance as an African-American man I see members on this board that look like me and I'm frankly perplexed and appalled that you would allow this Behavior to take place in addition I noticed that in the email valid valediction from the Sate director it says toward equity and inclusion before you can even think what about Equity it absolutely necessary to know the history of the specific population where Equity concerns arise I think this is lacking certain regulatory requirements such as the right to view certain
079records are in place specifically to promote the very Equity ideals that interum director claims to Value we need to do better our next next public commment is Kelly Guerrero our next public comment is Marie Corso please unmute yourself hi I am a student from penol Valley High School I'm a junior and I have recently transferred from cian College Prep to Peno Valley and I just want to say that the water polo and swim team have really helped me make friends and just feel safe at the new school and it would be real like a a real shame if you cut this program because there's so many dedicated students and people on this team that are just amazing people and dedicated swimmers and deserve to have a swim team and a water polo team and the
080coaches are dedicated they want to see everyone get better and better and it would just be a real shame to um pet the team thank you our next public comment is roselina Logwood um I'm here to address the situation at um Elso high school with the head u basketball coach the varsity coach Nicholas Brown he has been verbally abusing our students that play on the team um also retaliating against them once we uh something has come to our attention and we address it with him trying to follow the chain of command so we've went from speaking to him speaking to the vice principal and then speaking to the principal and it seems as though everything is being brushed under the rug there's a few of us here I'm representing some of the other players one
081of the players is here my particular son is a senior he couldn't be here because he was had a prior engagement um I really don't want to say exactly what the coach has said but I the nword has been used uh he has told some of the students that to get the F out my gym shut the f up what the f are you looking at me for so none of the kids feel comfortable to going to him to address anything we just got word that one of the other students that couldn't be here that's playing tonight he was told that he could not play in the game he could not suit up and coincidentally was because we had a meeting yesterday to address some of these concerns with uh other administrators at the school
082so one of our teammates are being retaliated against as we speak we have one of the students here right now he was kicked off the team for no apparent reason he made an example of him at a game in inao Valley and kicked him off the team told him in front of his teammates give me your uniform you're off the team for no reason that's not a discussion you have in front of other students you you pull him to the side explain to him what he did wrong and explain why he's being kicked off the team my son feels unsafe he told he had told the coach he said I don't feel safe I'm verbally abused you disrespected my mother he's done a number of things he's yelled at me gotten aggressive with me and
083no one at the school seems to want to take care of the situation now I will bring my son back when you have another meeting so he can speak to his own situations thank you our next public common is Francisco ortis good evening board members superintendent Hurst community and staff my name is Francis orz I'm an alumnist of our district and fifth grade teacher at Ford Elementary I'm also the vice president and Community Schools organizer for United teachers of Richmond I'm here tonight to urge you to prioritize the in of teacher vacancies in our district although districts around us are experiencing teacher vacancies West Contra Costa experien a higher proportion of teacher vacancies um than any other surrounding districts we're more than halfway throughout our school year and students at stge Helms and Kennedy still
084don't have a permanent certificated teacher in their classroom our students further from opportunity are having their educational experiences uh dis or furtherly dist franchise because we don't have the necessary supports for our multilingual learners for our students in transition for our fit and Foster students and also for our black students teachers are one of the most important predictors for a Student Success in school and research shows that having permanent and more experienced teachers increases black and Latin student achievement filling teacher vacancies with string of substitute teachers is illegal and does not provide our students and teachers with the stability and support that they deserve overwork an our teachers by having uh to rely on us to cover these vacancies as unfair and unsustainable West Contra Cost needs to invest in long-term solutions to attract and
085retain teachers from within the community who reflect the diverse backgrounds of our students please take immediate action to fill these vacancies that have led to disruptive unsafe and unhealthy School cultures and instability across our district thank you for your time our next public comment is Annette Pano um good evening the board of West Kosta Unified School District my name is anano and I have a senior currently at Peno Valley high school she's also a 4.0 student who has been involved at least two sports for the whole year um each time she's been in in each year in school and we're asking the district to stop stalling whenever it comes to approving the of Campus rental agreements for the off-campus facilities for the athletic departments athletic School clubs and music programs tap into the development of
086oural student especially coming out of covid they build communities enrich their imagination move their bodies to help them lower their stress levels and improve their overall health they meet new friends learn new skills and improves their time management to balance their academic mic and extracurricular activities life lessons commitments to an activity that will last them a lifetime the stress and threat to these students is unacceptable the last three of the four years there's been a delay when it comes to the aquatics program or for them even getting into the swimming pool um the delay of the rental contracts wasn't approved for penol Valley high school until today and that's unacceptable penol Dian enrichment and cusions and in the past St Mary's have all practiced that Contra costal College not only is it important to have
087the practices that Contra costal College it shows how easily higher education is accessible because some of them do take public transportation from Peno Valley High School to Kosta college at penol there's approximately 40 swimmers and 30 water polo players they are one of 11 teams in our swim link this year the aquatics program at penol Valley High School has been around since early 1970s multiple students have swam and competed at the Collegiate level become athletic directors at universities and returned to the schools at referees in water polo or in swimming and in the last five years Peno Valley has produced four League MVP water polo players so please please put your students first also why doesn't Kennedy have a swim team they have a beautiful indoor facility right at the foot of their door thank
088you our next public comment is hea Eddie hello I'm senior at penol Valley high school and I swim I swim and play water poo I'm I'll be reading a statement from one of my teammates that was unable to be here um this statement is on West Contra Costa's website the West Kosta Unified School District prohibits discrimination intimidation harassment or bullying based on person's actual or perceived ancestry color disabled gender gender identity gender expression immigra immigration status nationality race or ethnicity religion sex sexual orientation or association with a person or a group group of one or more of these actual perceived characterist characteristics this is the argument if west across the Unified School District prohibits prohibits discrimination not paying for water sports in the year of 2024 to 2025 is discriminating against us students who play
089water sports it isn't the students fault that we don't have a pool at our schools poor yearly maintenance costs up to 1,800 dollar there are nine high schools in this District Four schools in our district use contracosta Community College po if all nine high schools had their own pools they would cost rough the district roughly $16,200 a year since four schools are using a CCC pool the school district is paying $3,000 instead of $772,000 saving $4200 $4,200 there should be no delay in starting a swim season our swim season started on Monday and we can't get into the poll tomorrow because it was barely signed today and the funding that is for sports shouldn't be just towards football just towards basketball just towards soccer because for all water sports water a water polo and swimming
090we don't get transportations to our games we we have to work together with our parents to find rides tournaments and away games when football my sophomore year had buses to practice it's overlooked we have same numbers as other sports such as soccer we may not be as big but coming out of covid we had we have added so many more swimmers and for some this is their only Sport and it's discrimination and non-inclusive if this keeps happening our next public common is Kelly Ki good evening board members Dr Hurst and cabinet members my name is Kelly KY a kindergarten educator at Perry's school I am here this evening to discuss the continuing crising crisis facing our district one that has been present for several years now ensuring that all classrooms are filled with highly qualified
091cert certificated Educators I've witnessed this crisis firsthand as an educator at pies for the last 11 years I have seen dozens of teachers either leave the profession or leave the district as well as have had and continue to have vacancies leaving our community greatly impacted more specifically last year our PE teacher was non- reelected as to date this position has not been filled leaving our middle school students without a highly qualified certificated PE teacher one of the missions at wccusd is to strengthen our community how can this be accomplished when our Scholars continually see a r revolving door of Educators which directly affects the education ational prosperity of our community I urge the board to recognize this crisis headon and commit not only to aggressive recruitment strategies of new teachers but also focus on retaining
092our current Educators through support respect and fair compensation every student deserves to have highly qualified teachers in every classroom the future of WCC USD Community depends on it PS I always think about how would feel if my children didn't have a highly qualified educator in their classroom think about how would you feel and what would you do thank you that concludes public comment thank you everyone thank you for your public comment um board let's take a five minute break if there's no objections we'll take a five minute thank thank you so much staff can you put a five minute timer or let everyone know we'll be back in 5 minutes thank you e thank you everyone for that break uh we appreciate it we are going to move on after public comment we have a
093um on B7 we have a request to address the board from the Ed fund so we will take the request to address the board from the Ed fund if the Ed fund is here or on oh they're on Zoom okay board remember there's no questions or comments we just receiving a report thank you all right good evening superintendent Hurst Madame President members of the board thank you for inviting us to present tonight my name is Robert buns I'm the executive director of the West contracosta public education fund the Ed fund is thrilled to be celebrating our 40th year of working in partnership with the district to create possibilities for our students and schools it is my pleasure to be here to share some highlights from our work from the last year next Slide the Ed
094fund is dedicated to forging Partnerships for the district mobilizing resources for the district and supporting equ equitable systems within the district to ensure that our students and families have what they need to realize and achieve their biggest dreams I'm incredibly lucky to work with a small but dedicated team who lean into our mission every day on behalf of our students alongside me tonight is Shakira Reynolds our director of strategic Partnerships whom many of you have had the priv privilege of working with Shakira is going to kick off our presentation good evening everyone next slide thank you so no the last one thank you so as many of you may know Ed fund is the primary nonprofit Community partner for centralized funding in the school district we also sponsor over 5050 fisal projects which bring programming
095and added value to our school sites and so through our three major areas of fund development fiscal sponsorship and programming we cultivate and drive resources to bridge gaps especially for initiatives that Center students furthest from opportunity next slide please this is an overview of our highlights from the 2223 school year we brought in over $4 million for fiscal projects we raised an additional $75,000 for wccusd initiatives we granted $119,500 to direct Ed fund grants including $28,000 in Grants for back to school app grants that went directly to teachers $ 28,34 for Bradley Arts grants for 40 passion projects we also did Bradley Arts again this year $27,000 in Black History Month grants and $19,500 in scholarships awarded to 13 students pursuing higher education that picture is some of our scholarship recipients for last year and
096we included a QR code for you to meet our 20203 Scholars next slide please right as Shakira shared one of the key roles the Ed fund plays for the district is coordinating fundraising we work in close partnership with District leadership and school leaders to identify key initiatives and then find funding partners for those initiatives this past year the Ed fund helped secure $375,000 to support district-wide implementation of I ready we were also able to secure over $200,000 to create systems and partnership in the roll out of the full service Community School initiative through Partnerships with corporations and individual donors we're able to raise another $75,000 to support the welding Department the Fab Lab and stem professional development for our teachers none of this work would be possible without our funding Partners the Helman Foundation Cal
097Foundation Chevron IR Scali Foundation Kaiser leer San Francisco Foundation Chamberlain and the City of Richmond and city of San Pablo next slide as Shakira shared perhaps one of our biggest contributions to the district is the Fed fund's role as a fiscal sponsorship organization as she mentioned we have over 50 individuals and organizations working in our schools that work through the Ed fund we help coordinate Contracting back office support payroll Insurance a whole host of things that enables people to work in our schools um you know just five years we had just a handful of organizations working through the Ed fund and like I just mentioned now we have over 50 um and that is a total of you know 4.6 million uh in programming going to our students going turn back to Shakira who's going
098to share some of those uh projects with you in a minute there you go so as you saw on the slide that Robert was discussing that was a picture from Rob skate Academy we also work with the West Coast chess Alliance um many of you in our community should be familiar with TC ball also known as the Black Knight um students and families have really greatly benefited from his chess instruction and also the exposure for many students who might not have otherwise been given the opportunity to participate in in learning to play chess and also West County reads which was founded in 20 in 2001 but now runs the book Depot at stge elementary school which provides free books to any professionals working with kids she also gives um gives books for free to to
099Children and Families at various or various um events throughout the school district and so those are just three if you check out our annual report um or scan the QR code you can also see highlights from our many other fiscal projects next slide please one of the other things we do in terms of our um our specific programming is we give scholarships and since 2005 if fund has awarded almost $2 million in scholarships to over 570 students in the school district we manage five scholarships which are all donor funded the McKenna pulle scholarship which is for Greenwood Academy students the schroer scholarship which is for Els Sero High School our African-American scholarships which are for students districtwide um for Gario which is Richmond High School only and then the Contra Costa Corral scholarships which are
100districtwide our scholarship applications will be open in the next few weeks so please keep an eye out for those and one of our favorite projects for the last 35 years the Ed fund has recognized the outstanding contributions of teachers in our district through the teaching excellence awards and we will be announcing the winners of those awards for this year next week it is one of the highlights of our years and lastly one of the cornerstones of our programming is for the past nine years we've partnered with the city of Richmond to run Camp achieve and we also supported three additional programs last summer um at nrom at King and at verie for to help pres Prevent Summer learning loss next slide please thank you uh you know when I joined the Ed Fund in 2010
101the Ed fund's budget was just $250,000 so when I look at the financials now I'm Blown Away by the scope and impact of the organization How Far We've Come how much we've grown um and I also just want to highlight that all of that work is done by a very small team with just under $600,000 in Staffing um and expenses we contributed nearly $6 million to the district last year uh and some of the highlights that you see there $75,000 in Foundation grants secured to support WCC USD initiatives $4.6 million to support our fiscally sponsored organizations $147,000 to support our grant making uh direct grants from the Ed fund to our students in schools that included like Shakira said the Bradley Arts grants back to school grants black history grants and our scholarships next slide
102so again we thank you for the opportunity to present tonight and share a little bit about the great work of the Ed fund I hope you all take some time to get to know our work a little more through our newsletter and our social media feeds um or reach out to us directly uh we look forward to getting to know you more and we look forward to you getting to know us more um and since there's no questions we hope you have a good night and we thank you for this opportunity thank you so much for the report we really appreciate it thank you for for having us to support the District board we are moving on to B8 standing reports we have standing reports from mdac and ASU mdac if you would like to
103come forward for your standing report president Smith FS I believe that um the one of the co-chairs for mdac is online thank you so much are they able to be unmuted there it is I see her Erica uhuh okay um for [Music] back to [Music] school for El Elma Stephanie she's been promoted Miss St can we time back to roll their time back because we were waiting for stepy thank you am I good to go now yes okay so good evening board member we just wanted to provide feedback from our last mdac meeting and provide a quick update um we got a few updated information from our Elma department they wanted to provide that information to you prior to Cuts being made uh we were understanding and look at at English only students there's about
10412847 our Ells there's about 7,915 those that have been recently reclassified as fluent English but we are still required to monitor for 4 years there's 1,69 92 students and those that have reclassified and we don't we no longer need to be monitoring them are 2039 so these are currently about 9,607 students that are considered Ells or R District it is our hope as mdac that budget cuts will not affect the Elma Department that there is a tremendous amount of active work needed to be done to support the students we know very well that this is not an easy task and that it can be done in a it can't be done in a blink of an eye data and numbers of students should be a factor prior to Cuts being finalized the needs of our
105students and how there is minimal to no disruption to their academic success should be taken into consideration we want to remind everyone that all schools with 21 or more English language learner students are legally required to have an active elac committee and parent membership should be proportional to the percentage of the amount of the El students that currently that the school currently has hoping you all can have our superintendent have their EDS hold principles accountable or principal can accountable to themselves to date out of the 52 schools schools legally required to have an active elac 33 have have stated that they have an active elect formed in the district 10 are still in the process of being formed we're not sure as to what process that may be knowing that we're in February andc and
106budgets need to be discussions need to start happening within the schools themselves and seven that have not responded and we don't have any clue about where they stand and two that did not respond at all what whatsoever so if we can bring these discussions to make sure that that someone is holding our sites accountable um I'll follow up with providing the data that states the number of students that are in uh as a whole at the school sites number of students that are considered elel and the percentage of what that we consist of which should until like how many parents we might need at as at an elot committee which at very must at school sites could be just to one or two parents U meeting to discuss what are the needs to then provide
107recommendations at our s level thank you thank you so much mdac we're now ready for the next standing committee I'm sorry the next standing report not standing committee next standing report Miss parley there's a little button that you push with a person's face on it see it can you hear me now I can hold on one second till we get your timer up for me please yeah okay thanks sorry you're good okay good evening foror my name is Kristen kurley I'm the president of adult school teachers United thank you for this opportunity to make a report I would like to start by thanking you for funding The Adult School older adults program for this year and last year thank you for recognizing that educational opportunities are Central to the health and well-being of older adults
108the state of California is also beginning to realize how important it is to serve the state's fastest growing population the state now has a master plan for aging and the counties are looking for ways to implement it Contra Casa county has already identified the adult school older adults programs as an excellent resource and has awarded them some money with opportunities for more we ask for your support as we continue our efforts to put our older adults programs on a solid Financial footing and we also ask you to spread the word about the importance of educational opportunities for seniors you have shown that you understand please advocate for us however you can as you have the vision to see that Elders who many in government have found it easy to Discount belong in the education family
109we hope that you will have the same vision for the adult school as a whole there is a ruul joke that goes around in adult education circles we are the red-haired stepchild of Education unfortunately here at West Contra Costa are stalled an endlessly contentious negot negotiations deepen our feeling of being unwanted Outcast after 5 years of negotiations we still don't have our first contract we have urgent issues to resolve we haven't had a raise in four years our starting pay is $12 lower than the lowest starting pay of adult school teachers in nearby districts like der Berkeley and Oakland we need a contract that provides the protections that other teachers have academic freedom safety a fair process around discipline instead we have an unending battle on constantly shifting ground as a member of the negotiating
110committee I go to the bargaining table every session with a sense that nothing will happen after making slow but good Pro progress between 2019 and 2021 we have not reached a single agreement in two years by June June 30 of 2021 we had reached agreements with the district on 30 out of 35 proposed articles we sunshin in 2019 but in July of 2022 District negotiators presented us with extensive changes they wanted to the agreements and started saying that we had no agreements with the district at all district negotiators also began endlessly questioning who we can represent they asserted incorrectly that we could not represent our teachers were members of utr and teach for the adult school at night that held up negotiations for 10 minutes after they had to resent that claim they started insisting
111that we only represent teachers in the vbase classes recently they asserted that we can't represent part-time teachers even though almost all adult school teachers are part-time utrn Teamsters represent part-timers why wouldn't we be able to this constant harassment gaslighting and moving of the goalpost has a subtext that Adult School teachers don't deserve a union but all other Adult School Employees administrators classified staff and school supervisors are unionized they get raises when their Union gets a raise they have salaries paid vacations and health care we have hourly pay unpaid furlows when there's break and no health care we are glad they have the protections they have but with without our work their work would not be necessary we deserve at least the equity of having a contract please direct District negotiators to bargain in good faith
112with us and get our contract done this does not mean them telling us to hurry up in capitate because the board wants a contract done please direct them to stop trying to figure out how to exclude members from our bargaining unit stop complaining that our proposed language is too much like qtrs and yet somehow also so to unlike it please direct them to honor the 30 articles give us written counter proposals if necessary on the articles that remain so that we can reach a clear agreement and negotiate a fair race thank you thank you so much to our standing reports board we're now moving on to B9 agenda review and adoption Dr HST would you like to make a comment before we go to agenda review and adoption absolutely ma'am we would like to pull
113two items please and that will be item F1 F2 and we would like to ask the board if we could bring those two items back at our next meeting it's due to time thank you so much board if there's no objection to uh trusty Phillips is it possible for us to leave those items on for discussion purposes because I do have some things that I would like to share in the group and it may or may not be helpful um when it comes back let me make sure I understand is it both F1 and F2 or is it just one of those that you would like to move up to discussion and I should have F1 and F2 are the the layoffs I'm sorry they are the discussion items so F1 and F2 F1 is
114special education curricular presentation and F2 is The Chronic absenteeism presentation I'm sorry I think I was talking about E1 okay and E Yeah E1 and they're they're there okay yeah so Bo with the superintendent's Guidance Do we have any objection to adopting the agenda while removing F1 1 and F2 to be brought back on February the 14th are there any objections seeing none the agenda pass with those uh edits thank you so much board we're now moving to approval we're at B10 approval of the minutes January 10th and January 24th yes sir I'm sorry yes clerk Gonzalez thank you um the minutes for January uh the roles of the president and clerk um are incorrect for both set of minutes um that was my only change thank you thank you so much trusty reckler yes
115on January 10th I have a very small correction on B5 um there's a sentence that says the approval of proceeding with the rid rid of mandate it should be RIT writ of mandate filings and I'll send that in should it be approved thank you so much for any other do we see any other Corrections okay can we approve the minutes with those two Corrections see no objection yes ma'am um I just wanted to ask so to clarify our next meeting is February 14th not the 21st yes ma'am so our next meeting is because February is a short month our next meeting is going to be on the 14th and not on the 21st and and because of the school break there's a break in there so you guys are not in school starting on the
11619th I believe so we moved it up and then will we also be meeting on the 28th no oh okay thank you thank you Bard are there any other questions or no with objection we're going to adopt the minutes with those two Corrections that were previously stated by Clark Gonzalez Hoy and trusty reckler so adopted we are now moving to B1 resolution number 2324 d52 honoring African-American history month 2023 nope that should be 2024 2024 so on the agenda it says honoring African-American history month 2023 we need to change that to 2024 and Miss Forest I believe this is your item yes uh good evening board president uh trustees and superintendent Hurst whereas the West contracosta Unified School District Board of Education recognizes the need to educate on and work against the systems of Oppression
117racism Prejudice dehumanization lack of basic human rights and violence again a against African-Americans that are still prevalent in today's society and whereas the history social science framework of California Public Schools kindergarten through grade 12 states that the history curriculum of community state region nation and world must reflect experiences of men and women and of different racial religious and ethnic groups throughout the K12 educational program now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Education and the West contracosta Unified School District Board of Education acknowledges the month of February 2024 as African American History Month and encourages all educational communities to commemorate this occasion with appropriate instructional activities be it therefore resolved be it further resolved excuse me that the West Contra Casta Unified School District and its schools will display the Pan African flag during
118the month of February 202 24 consistent with the district's policy and administrative regulation thank you so very much board do I have a motion uh trusty Phillips uh I move the resolution thank you and I remember uh our parliamentarian you move the resolution number 2324 d52 yes ma'am thank you is there a second second thank you are there any comments go ahead clerk Gonzalez Hoy thank you president Smith BS um I just wanted to appreciate um a few people um this month I wanted to appreciate you president Smith BS trusty Christian trusty Phillips um and majority of our cabinet uh because I think that it's a big deal that our governing board and our cabinet is mostly people of color especially African-American uh uh individuals and that's something that I feel I'm very proud of
119and I'm thankful for every single one of your leaderships uh for being here because I can't relate to what you have experienced in your lives but I know that our system sometimes pushes against individuals that look like all of you um so that you are in your position I think it's a huge deal um and I wanted to just say that out loud and appreciate you all uh s Ally um so thank you and uh this month I celebrate All of You our administrators our teachers and our classified staff and students who um are black African-American thank you thank you so much clerk Gonzalez Hoy anyone else let's go with trusty Christian and then trusty Phillips please go ahead trusty Christian uh yes thank you appreciate it um clerk Gonzales ho appreciate that a lot
120um yeah this month here you know we celebrate African-American Heritage you know from slavery through reconstruction through gim Crow laws to the civil rights movement and to where we are today we stand on great shoulders who have fought D diligently and hard throughout history and we stand on the shoulders of all those who paid the way for us today and it's so much to be grateful and thankful for because they they shed their tears and they shed it they gave themselves up they sacrificed themselves to fight for freedom and so as we celebrate uh africanamerican um History Month uh Black History Month we we celebrate all those and even to the present of this day and um hopefully I can work on getting Martin Luther King great niece out here uh to California and she
121I spoke to her recently and she looking forward so um and I'm connected to the king family so I appreciate that too so um but yeah that's it thank you thank you so much trusty Christian trusty Phillips thank you very much for the resolution uh Mr clerk thank you uh for your words um I think that when we come into months uh like this one um and other um months that support uh other uh ethnic communities um I think it's important to do things right I think it's important to to act uh when we can um I want to take this opportunity to bring up two things um that I think are very fitting um I think one that we should revisit the conversation about uh an ethnic studies program uh in our district not
122just uh for African-American students uh but for other students in our district as well uh because I think students do better when they know about themselves and when they feel better about themselves so I think we should revisit that uh as soon as possible um and then the other thing is I heard uh of what I think is a good idea I know when I came in um people probably thought I wasn't listening but I have my computer in the back and I was listening and I believe that I heard Salon Harrison talk about a language School an African language school I think she said Swahili um I want to say that I think the Mandarin school has been a great success I think that we have a model um a very good model for
123language schools in this District um and I support uh an African language School uh wholeheartedly and I hope other board members will uh as well um we have an opportunity to when we have an opportunity to do um I think we should um and I think that's the way that we celebrate best uh these kinds of months thank you thank you so much trusty Phillips any other comments from the board I would just like to say thank you for the resolution I also want to say that African-American history is American history it should be celebrated every single month it should be taught every single month it should be honored every single month also want to say that a lot of people love to talk about Martin Luther King because he's pable but I want to
124read a quote about my Martin Luther King my Martin Luther King said the negro's great stumbling block is in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens counsel not the klex clanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to Justice when you listen to and read about our African-American figures make sure you take them in totality not just what's pable and not just what history has deemed to be digestible Martin Luther King was an advocate he was a staunch Fighter for freedom and always and just to remember him as a pacifist is to do him an injustice not a Justice thank you everyone I'm complete we are now moving to consent items board are there any Smith sorry we have to vote on the resolution a hot mess thank you
125friend um we are now going to go towards the vote we are voting on The Resolution we are starting with our student trustees student trustee pal car what's your vote ma'am yes thank you student trusty Abdu G pararo what's your vote ma' yes thank you did I get it right no um the first part you get right but it's always the ending part yeah so Abdu Ro yeah okay Abdu gar Ro thank you thank you so much thank you for your vote trusty Phillips yes trusty Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you clerk Gonzalez oy yes and I'm a yes thank you everyone now board we are moving to consent items does anyone have a consent item that they need to pull trusty reckler yes thank you I'd like to pull C4
126ratification of negotiated non-bond change orders and C6 contracts for for discussion thank you any uh trusty Phillips I wanted to pull a contract but is Trusty reckler pulling all of them she's pulling all of them okay anyone else board can I get a motion to approve the consent item with a poll of C4 and C6 I move for approval thank you is there a second second thank you board to the vote trusty uh pal Carr yes thank you trusty Abdu gapar Ro yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you truste Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you clerk Gonzalez Hoy yes thank you and I'm a yes thank you board we're now moving to D superintendent communication Dr H this is your item thank you so much can we put up the
127presentation please and if we can go to immediately the second slide we do have a memorium the district would like to take the time to recognize the contributions of members of our school Community who passed away I regret to inform you that former Richmond mayor Irma Anderson passed away mayor Anderson was a remarkable leader and her commitment to serving the Richmond Community will always be remembered her tireless efforts to improve the lives of those around her are a testament to her dedication and passion for public service our thoughts and prayers go to the family and friends during this difficult time please join us in a moment of silence thank you like to take the opportunity to thank um Miss Karina Pon for your patience and I invited her here as part of National School counseling
128week and we wanted her to um share what our counselors do across the district in the role of the counselors so we're going to invite Karina up and have her speak for the remainder of the superintendent presentation thank you for your patience Miss say thank you so much for the invitation superintendent and thank you boor um for having me here tonight um I really W to take this time to appreciate our counselors this National counseling week as you know I've been very vocal over the last few years about counselors um and now in this role as lead counselor I'm very proud to present our counselors that you see up on the screen some of them you may not you may know some of them you may not so I really want to encourage you to
129go out to our sites visit our counselors and see all the work that they are doing um if we could go to the next slide please so as the superintendent mentioned this National counselor's week we really want to take um this week to recognize the extraordinary work that they are doing the service that they are helping not just our student um also our staff our school Community they collaborate amongst each other um and they collaborate with other departments next slide please um so here is a job description that we have for our counselors that was passed not too long ago and I just want to put it up there to really emphasize that our school counselors are not just our traditional what we used to see as guidance counselors our school counselors are working as
130mental health providers they're working under the multi multi-tiered systems of support and their number one thing is really to be 80% facing with students and that's really really their ultimate goal um next slide please and so as I have mentioned we went from guidance counselor to school counselor what does that mean that means we're actually serving every single student student no matter where they're coming from no matter um their educational plan because we know every single student has a different plan we are working with every single student to make sure that they all get served next slide please and so where are we and this is really the slide that I I want you to focus on how many counselors do we have in total we have 40 counselors we know that but we're all
131spread apart we have nine in Middle School two in K through um eight we have 21 in high school and then we have nine um College and Career counselors next slide please and so taking in those numbers we have our school counselors that are serving 10,801 students we have nine College in counselors that are serving 7,4 7,46 high school students just take a moment to take in those numbers of how many students we're serving and how many counselors we have and so the next slide please data driven I really just want to show with share with you that our counselors are really using data to be be informed this year we were able to send 14 counselors to Cask um thanks to Miss Jessica petr's a through G Grant she's the coordinator um and our
132counselors really dove into data and really learning how to use it and we brought it back to the counseling meeting we started diving into Data this is from school links one of the platforms that we use this is our senior survey just as a sample of what we use to inform us what do we need to work on more as counselors to be able to serve our students next slide please and then we also look at our graduation rates that's really important for us and we look at our a through G rate as you could see our graduation has maintained steady but our a through G rates have went up they're actually higher than they were pre pandemic and this is something that's really um showing of the work that they're doing right now when
133we're meeting in our a through G meetings with Jessica patrelli and she's coming and meeting with counselors one-on-one at sites to go over how to look at your data how to use it um and making sure that we're serving our students next slide please so this is a breakdown of the domains that we work on so like I said our counselors are different than um when maybe many of us went to school when we had guidance counselors now our school counselors are working under academic social emotional and collegan career um and so under academic which is what we know they're making sure our students are graduating um they're doing classroom presentations but then we have a social emotional component that really isn't spoken about I have counselors right now in the district that are running
134groups they're doing one-on-one check-ins with students they're working with our at risk population and having those meetings with parents um and they're really making sure that they're serving the students mental health well-being and that they're their main out of a kit um along with that all of our counselors um for the first time actually they all received training for um being able to do suicide assessments our counselors hadn't received that all as a group but for the very first time we were able to do that um next slide please and this is an a highlight of what they're doing right now what they're currently doing we have a new FASA that was just rolled out all of our counselors um at one of our last meetings they were all trained on line by line items
135so every single site runs a cash for college night and they do it in the evenings right now El cero is running theirs it's from 6 to 8:30 um tomorrow it'll be at Kennedy um from 5 to 7:30 so every night during this um the next few months at least one night a week there is a high school that has a cash for college night and it's open to all of our WCC students so it's not just if you go to Kennedy you can go if you couldn't make the Kennedy one then next week there's another one available I mean that's really our Focus along with college applications right now for high schools and then there are events going on at middle school and high school they're still doing College and Career Affairs um among
136everything else that they're doing next slide please um so I wanted to throw in some pictures to give you a visual of what our counselors are doing we're doing College and Career events here are some College and Career events um from Richmond High School um one of the pictures is Miss Jan in red she is actually our veteran counselor she's been here for more than 20 years and she is really the one that um I even go to for support I send um new counselors to her new College and Career counselors because she has an EXC excellent model um at her site um next slide please um and then here are some more pictures these are um some pictures from dianza to give you an example of our counselors doing class Choice sheets and presentation
137at the middle school sites because they also do that from high school to Middle um and then going a college trips and doing a College and Career Fair deanza actually had one of their biggest College and Career affirs they've had to date they had 50 to no 58 tables full of colleges and careers for the kids to explore next slide please um and then I also want to really emphasize our professional development we we've really um taken the time to survey our own counselors to ask them what do you need um and a lot of them said we need more professional development we need more conferences we need to be able to learn about the latest in counseling um and so along with sending counselors to Cask our counselors also um go to the UC
138conferences the CSU conferences to learn about the latest in the application and admissions for our students um this Friday uh four counselors and myself will be going to the NorCal cast conference um to learn more about the latest in social emotional well-being in the Counseling World um and um you can see our middle school counselors on the side our middle school counselors are really working on the mtss framework um next slide please um so this this is a sample of the mtss framework that we're using this is ASA approved um and so we're working under um the three domains that I had mentioned academic social emotional and College and Career um so our Middle School is really looking at using the framework to work under an anti-racist lens that's really our framework we're looking at
139articles we're reading them um and we're making sure we're well informed so that when we set up our framework we are working under under that lens next slide please um so Middle School I really want to shout them out too because I know usually when we think of school counselors we think of high school but our middle school counselors are really working um to make sure they bring Early College access to our middle school students and get them thinking about taking college classes during the summer what do you want to do when you grow up um all of those questions that we really want to make sure our students start thinking about um and really start getting them curious about um the many possibilities that they have next slide please um and so I really
140want to thank you for your time um these are our counselors not only do we have our counselors but we have two interns and we have a few um in the wings that want to come over to WCC so we're really excited um we did a tabling at St Mary's and we have a few that want to come over to us for next year so we really want to expand having more interns um so thank you so much and I really want to thank our counselors thank you for all of the work that you are doing you are not um going unseen we all see it um and now hopefully you'll have some visitors coming to see the work that you're doing thank you thank you Miss Pon and this concludes our superintendent report thank
141you thank you board we are going to take questions if anybody has questions we're going to do three questions anyone have questions seeing none thank you so much thank you again for the superintendent report thank you um lead counselor Pon thank you so much for the report we are now moving on to E action items we are on E1 student discipline director Flashman this is your item thank you board president um we brought forth a um recommendation for a stipulated susp uh expulsion um based on agreement between uh district and parent after a disciplinary incident at high school brought forth to the board for uh vote of approval thank you so much is there any public comment yes our first public common is Kate burkart and just let everybody know there's one minute for public
142comment please unmute yourself miss burkart our next public comment is zoom user please unmute yourself please unmute yourself oh sorry that work thank you Bard can I get a oh sorry Bard are there any questions yes go ahead can you elaborate on this case please um actually for confidentiality reasons I cannot so do we just approve the expulsion without like knowing anything president Smith po maybe we can explain to our TR certain trustees uh for expulsions these are close session items um and because we're not allowed to discuss them in public but we have to vote on them in public um you both are uh could abstain if you would like because you're not part of the conversation okay thank you any other questions thank you for that explanation Clark Gonzalez Hoy board can I
143get a motion president Smith will I make a motion that we approve the stipulated expulsion agreement between the parties I'll second that board any comment trusty reckler go ahead I just want to include the case number which is 23242 thank you for that I I also don't think it was seconded UN oh you did I'm sorry president that's okay board any comments no let's go straight to the vote then trusty uh pal car I obain thank you trusty Abdu gar roain thank you trusty Phillips abstain thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you clerk Gonzales Hoy yes thank you and I'm a yes board we're now moving to E2 uh Mr Freeze I believe this is your item yes it is thank you president Folds uh superintendent H and the
144board tonight we're asking the board to adopt resolution 2324 d47 authorizing the design build procurement and construction for the stge elementary school modernization project pursuant to Education Code 17251 pursuant to the California Education Code 17250 point10 design bu design build statute the district May utilize the design build method of project delivery using either a low bid or best value procurement methodology for part for projects have that have an estimated construction of at least a million District staff has examined the possible construction delivery methods for the stge elementary school modernization project and and concluded that the use of design build delivery method for the project offers the following potential advantages to the district not available under other delivery methods one reduce change orders and claims because the designer and the build are part of the same
145design buil entity the district is not the guarantee of the completeness or accuracy of designed documents and thus and thus the district May avoid conflicts and disputes as well as the corresponding cost of these conflicts and disputes that may arise between the architect engineer and construction contractor in the in the traditional design bid build procurement two efficient and less costly construction the contractor invol is involved the design early in the process and the can provide helpful insights on construction materials and methods and can make the Project's design more efficient and less costly to construct three ontime completion because the design work and the construction work overlap to the to the certain extent in the design build process the project may be completed faster than the designed bid build procurement method and four qualified and complete
146qualified and competitive firms the pre-qualification process required by the design build statute lead to a qualified and experienced pool designed build firms to make a selection from an award to the project additionally because the project construction cost is estimated to be more than $30 million the project meets the monetary threshold for using the design build statute we're recommending that the board adopt resolution 2324 d47 authorizing the design Bill procurement and construction for stge elementary school pursuing to Education Code 172 250.1 thank you so much director freeze board are there any questions nope sorry are there any public comments yes we have one public comment Kate burkart please unmute yourself please unmute yourself that completes public comment thank you board do we have any questions see no questions is there a motion make a motion president
147Smith folds uh I move that we adopt resolution number 2324 d47 authorizing in design build procurement and construction of the St Elementary School modernization project pursuant to Education Code section point10 thank you is there a second thank you are there any comments trusty Phillips go ahead just that this is a very long time coming um and it is a good thing that we are moving forward I know that uh these last few builds that we're going to do with measure R um are not exactly or maybe not even close to what everybody wanted um but it is important that we're able to do something um that people can take pride in so I'm glad the board is doing that thank you so much trusty Phillips anyone else have comments seeing none we are moving to
148the vote trusty pal car yes thank you trusty Abdu gab far r yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you clerk Gonzalez Hoy yes thank you andama yes director freze we are moving to E3 acceptance of contracosta County Office of Education annual report for Williams settlement litigation sir this is your item yes thank you very much so we are asking the board tonight to accept the Conta County Office of Education annual report for Williams settlement litigation as part of the compliance requirements for the Williams settlement litigation the Contra County Office of Education has submitted its annual report for the fiscal year 2324 this report presents the results of the school site visits within the first four weeks of school instructional materials there were sufficient
149District adopted standards aligned textbooks and instructional materials visible and or documented in the class classrooms visited where applicable there were sufficient access to internet connections and instruction devices a plan developed by the Lea to assist access to the device in the internet for all students was filed with the county office school facilities there were no facility conditions that pose emergency threat or urgent threat to the health or safety of pupils or staff school accountabil school accountability report card the school sarc accountability accountability report reported the instrument the instructional materials used in the school and the condition of the facilities a teacher Miss assignments Miss Miss assignments and teacher vacancies teachers monitoring reports are now completed through the new California state assignment account accountability system set up by AB 1219 data regarding the Mis alignments and
150vacancies from these reports shall be publicly available December of each year and uniform complaints there were no complaints during this quarter charter schools are not subject to the uniform complaint policies and procedures thank you so much director freeze are there any public comments are first public comment is Kate Burkhart please unmute yourself that completes public comment thank you so much staff Bard are there any questions trusty reckler go ahead three questions please yes thank you I have a question I can't believe I have to ask this all the after all these years but would you please be able to clarify the difference between this particular document that comes from uh this the county superintendent which encapsulates the first four weeks of school then there is another resolution that comes to the board no later than
151the eth week of school about textbook sufficiency and then once a quarter Williams comes back again and I have to tell you that after all this time I'm actually confused by this can you clarify each of these Williams points in the calendar I could try to do that I so the annual inspection that we're talking about tonight is done within the four weeks of schools where the county comes out and completes their inspections for textbooks and Facilities um we are required to report Williams complaints that are received by the district every quarter so those complaints that are filed by parents or staff uh or in that particular quarter that we report out once we reported to the board that report goes to the county they approve it it comes back act again to the board
152to approve U recognizing that the county had reviewed it um I cannot speak to the one about the textbooks coming back in the eth week U possibly CEO Johnson can answer that one so we do the um textbook review every year it's an annual review and what we do is just as the year goes on we don't really come back to the board but we just maintain to make sure that you know we're continuing to make sure that all our teachers have their supplies um as you know we continue to hire teachers and so that's just something that we've Monitor and progress but we do that process at the beginning of the school year but that's part of Williams too is that correct correct so they so they come out in the beginning of the
153year the first four weeks and then it comes back again to the board no later than the 8th week that's correct so they we have the process where we actually go to certain schools and we look to make sure that all of the books that are on our state adopted list are present in our classrooms then there is a textbook sufficiency form that all of our teachers sign to say that they all they have all of their textbooks and supplies and so that all happens at the beginning of the school year as we hire teachers we continue to monitor the progress but it's more internal but each year we do that process and we actually have to submit information to our County okay thank you thank you so much trusty reckler any more questions no
154no bo can I get a motion I move that we accept the sorry the uh annual report for William settlement is there a second second thank you board any comments trusty reckler go ahead I just want to State it's for the 23 24 year let me just make sure uh director freeze is 232 24 that is correct thank you thank you trusty reckler any other comments nope to the vote trusty pal car yes thank you truste Abdu gar Ro abstain thank you trusty Phillips yes thank thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trusty rler reckler yes thank you trusty sorry clerk Gonzalez Hoy yes thank you and obain thank you so much board we are now moving to E4 Education Code 44258 do3 variable term ravers Dr Johnson this is your item good evening president
155Smith FS excuse me and board members um Ed code 44258 point3 allows the governing board of a school district to authorize the holder of credentials in the following areas multiple subject standard Elementary single subject and standard secondary with consent to teach departmental classes in grades K12 provided the teacher has adequate knowledge of the subject matter we're bringing to you nine teachers for this waiver thank you so much Dr John son are there any public comment Miss Kate Bart please unmute yourself no more public comment thank you so much Bor do we have any questions seeing none uh may I have a motion please I move the we approve the variable term waivers thank you is there a second oh reckler was second thank you border there any comments seeing none we're moving to the vote
156to approve education code 442 58.3 variable term ravers uh trusty pal Carr yes thank you trusty Abdu parver abin thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trustee uh reckler reckler yes thank you clerk Gonzalez Hoy yes thank you anama yes we are now moving on to E5 resolution number d48 exemption for retired cow st's member returning back to work Dr Johnson this is your item yes thank you this resolution is a separation form service requirement exemption it is the request for the listed re hired school psychologist to supply emergency services and or be a substitute for our school district thank you staff are there any public comments no public comment at the moment thank you board are there any questions seeing none may I have a motion I move resolution
157number 23 24-48 exemption for retired counselors memb for returning uh back to work thank you is there a second second thank you trusty Christian board we uh any board comments seeing no comments we're going straight to the vote trusty pal car yes thank you trusty Abdu par par roain okay truste Chris I'm sorry truste Phillips yes truste Christian yes trusty reckler reckler yes clerk Gonzalez Hoy yes and I'm a yes thank you we are now moving to resolution number we're moving to E6 resolution number 2324 D50 reduction or discontinuance of certificated particular kinds of service Dr Johnson this is your item yes thank you again this resolution focuses on the boards um being determined that this layoff should be based upon a reduction or a n mination of particular kinds of services that are listed
158in the resolution thank you so much staff do we have any public comment remember public comment is one minute yes we do our first public comment is Darlene Almeida so good evening Dr Hurst school board and cabinet members my name is Darlene almea a 30-year employee of this district and line item one out of four special education coordinators that you voted to remove as part of your need to cost cut I wanted you to see the person that you're cutting and not just to name or position on a line item my role as coordinator has been to oversee the 504 Department which is a federal law that is overseen by the office of civil rights designed to protect the rights of individuals with a disability that limits one or more major life activities I oversee
159this program and support School sites with the Implement implementation of appropriate accommodations and modifications of students who need an equal playing field for one of their documented life comprom compromising needs I understand that the special education department is purchasing the Beyond SST program that they feel will eliminate my position that is required by the office of civil rights under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 who will support these students their families and school sites with what they need a computer program is great for paperwork but no ways to supports it understand student needs I oversee the district's deaf and heart hearing and Visually Impaired programs I am the only administrator that can directly communicate with both our deaf staff parents and students because of my knowledge of sign language I have a teacher's voice I understand
160the needs of these low incident students and their families since I have my own children Sala thank you so much I apologize you're out of time but we thank you for coming and speaking with us we're going to move to the next public comment thank you so much next public comment is Jessica Ross please unmute yourself to approve a fiscally sound reductions list you need assurance that it's based on Trends from the 23rd day of the school year when the district becomes obligated to provide contractual educ cater to student ratios these data can be found in a simple Power School search I've done one what you have been given is a list of reductions Based on data from a low point of enrollment when the business office had to demonstrate its funding need to the
161state though using these numbers for both items is convenient it is fundamentally incorrect confuses Supply with demand and leads to a vast overestimation of possible utr Cuts represented in this recommendation tonight be the board tonight that stop stops its fiscally unstable cycle send this resolution back to the business office and ask them to rerun the data using the 23rd day also note that this resolution includes a 40% FTE counselor cut at Greenwood leaving them with an undesirable 60% FTE and even in that if that position is filled no counselor in sight two days a week is that what you want to make at Greenwood for the sake of $52,000 at our highest thank you so much for your comment and our last public comment is zoom user please unmute yourself that concludes public comment thank
162you so much board do we have I'm sorry board do we have a motion president Smith F I'll move resolution number number 2324 D50 reduction or discontinuation of certificated particular kinds of services I'll second that board any comments trusty Phillips go ahead did we have questions or did that happen when I got up you know what I don't think we did have questions um thank you for that let's roll it back board we are going to do three questions and three questions only just one round trusty Phillips do you have questions I do go ahead sir Dr Hurst can you please explain the importance of the position of director of positive School climate thinking about this particular position sir um this position holds probably six or seven responsibilities uh from transfer enrollment to expulsions um
163and several other responsibilities as well so it's very significant to our district however I will share also in these conversations um we have had to make some really tough decision decisions But to answer your question it is very important to our district thank you here's my second question when you came to this District I believe you filled the Ed positions why did did you do that I'm thinking about um the lack of accountability that's that thinking about all of the principles they were not being adequately supervised um I believe there was two or maybe three individuals uh responsible for evaluating 56 principles and we needed accountability within our system so I recommended to the board to bring on our executive directors my final question is can you talk to the board or describe to the
164board rather the importance of the school psychologist position yes I think um just as I shared with the director of school climate position those School psychologists are important for meeting needs of our students the social emotional well-being so again another difficult conversation as all of them have been very difficult another difficult conversation that we've had to have about school psychologist as well thank you board are there any other questions seeing none we are going to move back to we already motioned it's been properly seconded now we're going to move to comments board do we have comments and they going to be a minute and a half comments please please St let's wait for the timer to come up and board any comments okay trusty Phillips go ahead can I have my five seconds you like
165that man at the store that keeps your Penny thank you so few boards ago there was a big push uh to improve the climate in our district um and it was a push that was meant to last through multiple boards because we've had some very serious climate issues in our district and I think that removing the positive School climate director is a mistake I also believe that removing the Eds are a mistake um I seem to remember you saying that you brought the Eds back because you didn't think that the district could really function without those positions and you just talked about how not having them meant that there was an accountability so I don't know why we would we would be removing positions that the superintendent does not believe that the district can function
166without and then one position that I didn't say anything about and I'm going to close on this is the speech therapist position my son one of my sons I received speech therapy services from the school district um and he needs them and there are other children that need them as well um I don't think this list is right thank you any other comments clerk Gonzalez thank you president Smith folds thank you staff for all your work on this um I think that we are in an impossible position I think that tonight we heard a speaker at one point that was against something in this list right um and we we need more funding we need more resources for our schools we should be adding supports and Staffing to our schools instead of taking away we
167are like an impossible position that I think we've both shared we are losing sleep on um and at the same time having to make our budget solvent um which at this point we don't have onetime money like we've talked about to fill the Gap and push the problem forward right to reduce the impact um so we have to have we have to continue to have difficult conversations the budget committee is going to continue to meet I agree trusty Phillips that the position of positive School climate is important My Hope Is that through the contract budget committee we can find reductions again and maybe bring back that position and or other priorities from that list that the board feels is necessary to return um because I think that we all feel pretty strongly of certain positions
168but like I mentioned I think that we are an impossible place that whatever we take off this list we're going to have to cut something else or someone else right so I think that we got to keep that in mind in the next few months that even though we're making this approval now so we can start the process uh if we decide to cut something and bring a position we're going to have to figure out what to do about that so thank you so much thank you so much clerk Gonzalez Hoy any other comments thank you both seeing none we're going to move on to the vote truste pal car Iain thank you trusty Abdu garvo no thank you trusty Phillips no thank you trusty Christian trusty reckler re yes cter Gonzalez Hoy Gonzalez Hoy
169yes and I'm a yes thank you board that passes with 32 we are now moving to resolution number 23 24- 49 reduction of particular kinds of classified Services Dr Johnson this is your item yes thank you this is a resolution for our classified Services due to um a lack of funds for the 2425 school year pursuant to Ed codes 45117 and 45308 thank you staff are there public comments yes we have one public comment Monica Naf please unmute yourself please unmute yourself that concludes public comment thank you so much board three questions do we have anyone that has questions trusty Phillips go ahead Dr Hurst can you please describe what the importance of the African-American student coordinator is that position assisted um another individual that's in oasa to help support our African-American students across the
170district however I will share this that there is a plan moving forward um with another person within ed services two individuals as a matter of fact that will continue to support our African-American students across the district what's that plan specifically yes so we have a director um Miss Sanji Bale that's going to continue to help support along with our Darius McDonald that's going to continue support African-American students they'll continue the plan that's in place with our critical schools across the district so services will not um be dropped my third question is for probably Mr Booker what is or can you please describe the importance of the campus safety positions that are on this list good evening bort the importance of the campus safety officers are vital at the secondary uh level uh they provide uh
171all a support for safety uh on the campus they also build relationships uh with the students and assist the administration with uh any uh climate or and our uh safety concern that the staff and our students have thank you Mr Booker um Madame President um I know in question still but if you could think about giving us uh an additional 30 seconds uh for comments I would appreciate it thank you so much I will think about that so two minutes instead of a minute 30 yes ma'am okay any other questions seeing no questions can I get a motion person since false I'll move resolution number 2324 4 -49 reduction of particular kinds of classified Services thank you can I get a second I'll second that board we're going to move to comments who has comments
172just trusty Phillips okay uh can we get two minutes if we could put two minutes on the clock I'll just stop when it gets to 30 seconds um Madam president thank you very much for uh accommodating me with the additional time I want to start by saying I fully understand and that we need to make cuts um and I have been talking about balancing our budget since I arrived on the board but that was always under the assumption that I would be part of a discussion as to what the balancing looked like I fully understand and appreciate the board board um and the superintendent and other staff members bringing in members of the community to get their feedback on what the district's budget looks like but I am a duly elected board member and this
173came to me completely banked meaning there are some things on this list that I fundamentally philosophically disagree with like I'm not going to go home and tell my son that I voted to cut the speech pathologist that he needs but there was never a conversation among the full board as to what the final list would look like so it's not that I don't believe that we need to make Cuts but I do not as an elected official believe that I should just have to vote for cuts because they were put in front of me I believe I should have a say as to what those cuts look like and I haven't had a say so I'm not going to vote for this either just like I talked about school climbing earlier we removed police from
174this District because we didn't think it was the best thing now we're going to remove the school positive School climate person director and we're going to cut safety2 what are we doing I don't think these lists are right and that's why I'm going to vote no again thank you for the time additional time I appreciate it Bo does anyone else have comments I have comments thank you so very much everyone um I think that we have to be very mindful of the next steps that we're taking and we do that by continuing to have a transparent process so there have been multiple times where we have come as a budget subcommittee where we have come in close session and we've had conversation that's appropriate that we're supposed to have and we've had time to be
175able to ask questions and do the work of the board this is not coming haphazardly this is a struggle for every single person because everybody understands that this is these are people these are not just positions these are people that have impact on everyday life in our district there's also a clear understanding that if we don't make this move tonight then we can't continue to have the hard conversations about prioritizing about making sure that we are able to correct ly move in a Direction that's going to keep us in local control so what we're doing tonight is taking that step but there are banked in time to where we can look at every single thing that we are approving tonight this approval tonight is to get us to The Next Step so we can continue
176the conversation this is not what anybody wants on this Das or in cabinet this is not something that we want to do this is something that we are for to do and we are doing the best that we can as a Cabinet as a district as employees as elected officials as everyone who is working with these kids we are doing our very best and it is not easy it is not easy so we are building in that time to have those conversations in the due process way that we're supposed to have them so I thank everyone for their heart work I thank you for the hard vote I thank you for the comments because it's all the work of the board what what we're doing tonight is the work of the board I am complete
177seeing no further comments we are now going to move to the vote we are voting to approve resolution number 2324 d49 reduction of particular cons of classified Services we will start with trusty pal car I abstain thank you trusty Abdu garro no thank you trusty Phillips no thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you clerk Gonzalez Hoy Gonzalez Hoy yes and I'm a yes thank you Bard we are now moving on to our pulled consent items the first pulled item was item C4 ratification of negotiated nonbond change orders trusty reckler you pulled this item for discussion go ahead I did I just have a a brief question please so I'm sorry give me just a second so on the district office security fencing project change order number one it says
178that the change order needs to happen because uh basically it sounds like somebody didn't draw the drawing correctly that there's the addition of one section of chain link fence to close an access point behind the dumpster enclosure not identified on the contract drawings so oh I little I let a little New York out there just for a minute um Mr free would you be able to speak to that and is that correct that it wasn't on the drawing and so now we need to uh come back and revisit that yes I can answer that question so there was a section of fence that separated our property to our neighbor's house to the south side of the property uh that fence was removed by the owner of that property so it left about a six foot
179section of fence between the back of our trash enclosure uh and our parking lot that was not included in the original scope as that fence had existed prior to the project uh starting or being bid so um we had to add that section of fence to properly enclosed the parking lot so if I understand correctly at the time of the drawing it was there but it was then taken that's correct and who owns that is that something that the district owns or is that the it's on a shared property line so the the section was probably put up years ago was a wood fence that was there um like I said it was only about six foot long so the section of fence had been removed and it crossed the property line obviously it came
180onto our property from the from the neighbors um but since it was taken down whether it was rotted out or however it happened um but we felt that was was necessary that we enclose that section back to our existing chaining fence on that side okay thank you board any other I'm sorry board any other questions tressy reckler did you have another question no I was going to move the item okay go ahead please okay so I'll go ahead and move C4 ratification of negotiated non-bond change orders thank you is there a second a second thank you board any comments go ahead tresse reckler I mean I just want to make sure it's drawn correctly that I mean that's the point of pulling it is just that the that the drawings are correct so that it's
181bid properly and the you know you're it's not coming back for a change order that's all thank you thank you any other um sorry any further comments no let's move to the vote trusty pal car yes thank you trusty Abdu Gab parro obain thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you Clark Gonzalez Hoy yes thank you and I'm a yes we are now moving to pulled consent item C6 trusty reckler you pulled this item go ahead yes thank you so if you would like to go ahead go right ahead C spine is just all about dates and timing trusty Phil you had something inside of the contracts that you would like to talk about go ahead um it's the pickle ball contract um and I
182know there are a lot of pickle ball levers and I don't want anybody to hit me with a pickle ball racket um but uh tonight I just kind of gotta say it how I see it um I think pickle ball is cool but if we're going to spend $40,000 uh uh to teach kids how to play pickle ball um maybe we should spend that money to hire a PE teacher or a part-time PE teacher versus hiring an outside organization to teach something that a PE teacher could teach um that's my opinion um you know I also think that uh the pickle ball Association uh has been trying to figure out a way to get the tennis courts that uh well I know they've been trying to figure out a way to get the tenis courts
183uh that belong to the school district um and I I think that's where this is headed ultimately um but for now uh I think the $40,000 should be used to hire uh a even if it's a part-time PE teacher to actually come in and go to the schools and teach pickle ball uh those are my comments thank you thank you so much trusty person Smith I'm sorry I was wondering if you or uh trusty Phillips could just mention to or point out for all of us which contract specifically that is is it growing together like which one is the one with pickable I don't see it I thought I had reviewed them but I can't I have it I have to pull it up I don't have it I'm not looking at it let's take
184a minute and let's see if we can find it C Moses if you can find it go ahead so it is sorry it is WCC public Ed fund that acts as the fiscal sponsor and it's paid for out of 21st century and elop and it's on page no page number sorry 18 18 yes thank you I just found it thank you so much thank you B trusty reckler did you have comments about this item uh no I don't have comments about this item except that the pickle paa people seem to have more money than God I don't know where they got it all from but whatever they're doing we need to tap their secrets um but my comment on contracts is is that there's several contracts in here that are again coming late to the
185board so there's a contract from Miss Taylor which was initiated 11223 there's an instruction Partners that's have the superintendent budget that came on August 30th it looks like there's playworks uh for Murphy that was from from October and then there's a slew of other contracts for Community Schools grants CSG I'm assuming that's with it what that is which is better but they're starting like at the end of January so I just wanted to understand what's happening so that these um are coming late to the board and I'm assuming commencing prior to board approval good evening board president Smith FS trustees thank you for the question the business service team is clear that whenever a contract is initiated it should not begin until it receives board approval however what we're finding with our process is that
186as people are completing uh the lengthy process of after the contractor is vetted in in our RFP book um it goes through several iterations some are taking longer than others than others um so what I can tell you first of all is that for example the Elijah Taylor the tailor made contract that was initiated early on but that vendor has not started any Services um I know that because I was involved in that contract from the beginning she's waiting to be approved so that she can start Services however the paperwork was not updated unfortunately so it looks like it's an older date but that those Services haven't been retained uh some departments are better than others in terms of their expedience with getting these forms in and others are it's a laborious process so they're
187not updating their paperwork and it's taking more time to get them approved so I understand your concern and I think moving forward we need to ensure that we get them to update um those forms some of them are initiated early on and they wait and they're in holding patterns and then when they find finally come through they look outdated um however there are a few that I do know work has begun and they're still late and those are departments That We're working directly with in order to make sure that they clean up their processes because we're very clear that we do not give approval to start work until the school board has approved and um allowed the contract to move forward so I'll be more mindful of that and I'll make sure the team is
188checking that as well okay thank you and then if nobody else has any other questions I do have a brief comment at the end board can we get a motion cler galiso thank you presol I'll make a motion that we approve all the contracts except for the pickable uh pickle ball contract which I would like to remove completely thank you is there a second second thank you um truste Christian board are there comments I'm sorry comments comment go ahead um I was serious when I talked about you know hiring a PE teacher so if there are funds that we can use and it sounds like there are because we're paying for this go ahead hi good evening trusty Phillips um if you notice the funding source of this pickle ball contract it is the after
189school Services grant funding that that fun those funds can only be used for enrichment they cannot be used to hire a teacher um some of the grant funding specifically states that it has to be um an enrichment separate from academics because the the program warrants that we're giving children a whole experience um while some of our after school funding can fund um teacher tutoring after school hours they cannot hire a teacher okay whatever the person is called whether they're called it because we're clearly hiring somebody to teach pickle ball now because the person's going to teach pickle ball right so you call them whatever you want to call them you call him the after school pickle ball teacher man you call him pickle ball man Coach P I don't really care I'm just saying that
190I am in support of if we want to do pickle ball I am in support of using the money to hire someone that is here right or that can be here you know to actually do enrichment so you call them whatever you want to call them that's I'm you get what I'm saying thank you trusty Phillips trusty reckler and then clerk Gonzalez Hoy trusty reckler go ahead you know I'm sorry I do have a question though so the school day ends and then a teacher whether they're a PE teacher whether they're a teacher applies for this position is there a problem with that I mean do you have to can you not hold a credential and teach pickle ball in the after school program I think there's several creative ways that you could approach it
191however there is not a job description for pickle ball could you find a staff member that wanted to engage in an after school activity sure um but the way in which the after school programs are structured the reason why we have so many contractors with that program is because we really try and uh recruit teachers to take on after school hours but to be honest the number of teachers available to do after school work is um is decreasing and we're having a difficult time recruiting even for tutoring so it's it's a problem that is multifaceted um sure you could pay an hourly rate for a teacher to teach pickle ball but there would have to be um that would have to go through the after school program coordinator probably need to defer that to Martin
192Blake to see exactly uh how they're programming for after school um I know that as a principal when teachers worked after school it was always directed by the principal so I think it's a question we probably could bring back when we have Martine or um or Miss Casey black Fern to answer it directly um but if you're talking pickle ball directly I mean sure I guess but um yeah I I I okay I'm gonna pass it on to excuse me board um excuse me cabinet and board before we move on we need to extend it snuck up on us so can we extend to 10:30 can I get a motion we probably won't use it all but I want to make sure we have enough time to answer these questions can we get a motion
193to extend to 10:30 uh I make a motion I make a motion that we extend until 10:30 I second that can we go to the vote please trusty pal car yes thank you trusty Abdu Abdu gar Ro yes thank you truste Phillips yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler yes thank you Clark Gonzalez Hoy yes thank you and I'm a yes I'm sorry to interrupt cabinet please go ahead um yes good evening um so I wanted to just talk about the after school programs and having been here 20 years it looks very different than it did 20 years ago and so before we would hire most of our staff they would be our after school directors we would hire teachers and parents to work in those programs as time has gone
194on um we it is very difficult to find staff so we contract a lot of community-based organizations so like bacr sometimes the YMCA and other programs once we contract with those programs then we build out the program many times the programs that we contract with based on student need and enrichment that students are interested in then other activities come that they want so this may be an activity that was brought to this I don't know which school how many schools they're supporting but um then the agency then you know requests and so we look for other organizations that already have that infrastructure and one of the things I do want to say and what has changed since I've been at the site is that you've heard that our teachers work really hard and our par
195professionals are also working really hard some of them do go and work for our after school programs but they're hired directly by the cbos and they may also be hired directly by these organizations so I just want to say that that probably happens but in terms of oversight by our principles that is not really happening right now but we do want to continue to offer the enrichment does that make sense thank you so much thank you so much C Johnson I'm GNA go to clerk Gonzalez Hoy back to trusty Phillips and back to trusty reckler clerk Gonzalez Hoy go ahead thank you um I just wanted to respond um to trusty Phillips request I think that um I I agree with trusty Phillips about his request that may be pickable is not the best use
196of the funds um but I also don't want us to be the ones choosing what the money will be used for for those four schools because even though we're telling them tonight like we don't think that this actually the best thing for the funds like go back and think about like what other areas she would like to use those funds for that will lead to student after school Success um I also don't want us to dictate them even though I fully agree with you trusty Phillips that I would appreciate a PE teacher right uh but I also don't think that it'd be fair for us to make that decision for those leaders and those for schools so that's why uh my request would just be like for us to give the message right the pickable
197is not the best that maybe use but allow them to to do that thank you thank you so much I believe I said uh trusty Phillips and then trusty rler trusty Phillips go ahead um Mr clerk I'm I'm fine with that um I just I know things happen for a reason and we do things and we evolve but there's something about taking money from the district and giving it to a nonprofit for them that then hire District staff that just doesn't make complete sense to me um and I get it that there's reasons that things happen but again taking District funds giving them to a CBO to then hire District staff who already are District staff uh I I and I know that's probably a longer conversation and I'm not trying to have it right
198now but I would hope that a pen could be put in that and at some point it could be brought it's almost like Contracting out to ourselves um so I'll I'll leave it at that I'm gonna get to trusty reckler and then if anybody in cabinet or Dr H like to say something it would be the time to do that trusty reckler go ahead yes so if I may fully understand from my colleagues is it is it the cost of the program or is it the the offering itself that's a concern so the way that I'm hearing it and this is just the way that I'm hearing it I'm hearing is kind of a twofold thing one I think we need to bring back how we determine our after school programs and what that looks
199like because it's been a shift um there's been a shift in how we do after school programs so one I'm hearing let's bring back after school programs and have a conversation about it and then I'm hearing inside that conversation how are we funding how is the funding happening am I is that what you were saying or no trusty Phillips it it is um only in two ways right and very briefly in the sense that we just voted on layoffs and now we're talking about paying someone else potentially to do what is essentially PE I get it it's after school but then in addition the last thing that I heard was that sometimes we're paying people who are then turning around and Hiring Our People which we could have done so it is a funding thing
200but it's a it's a it's a two a twof for almost trusty regler did that clear it up for you so yeah what I'm getting from it is that it's the offering perhaps this is not the proper off offering and that perhaps it's expensive or it's not the best spend for the money is would that be accurate I think that yes and so I think there's a yes and to it we if we look outside of just pickle ball we'll hit with what trusty Phillips is saying if we look at just pickle ball we'll hit also what trusty Phillips said in the beginning is this the best use of funding for this 440 $30,000 and then the conversation about how are we looking at our after school programs and how are we what's the kind
201of train to the funding with after school programs Dr H that you capture that well I just wanted to just add just a couple of things if I may so so one what you were saying trusty Phillips about um not District funds so these are elop funds correct so and correct me if I'm wrong Miss Moses they're not District funds these are grb funds so I just wanted to make that clarification and then also Miss Moses as far as how this is decided I do have the opinion that these schools that we servicing have decided to move in this direction and I wanted to kind of um go on what you said clerk Gonzalez Hoy that um these schools decided this activity and I want to say also there probably was some student involvement so
202to take that away from them and to say we're going to recommend that you go back and think of a different activity um that means we have to go back and do some work with uh principles and potentially students so I just wanted to share that as well CB Moses this is the buffet that we talk about correct yes this this organization would be in the Community Partnership book okay they went through the vetting they are they're in the buffet booklet and then some sites look through the booklet and said yo pickle ball and then they talked to people and said yo pickle ball and then everybody was like yeah pickle ball and then they then moved towards the pickle ball direction is that accurate yes uh Clark Gonzalo I think that to answer trusty
203recker's questions if I may of why I'm also agreeing on pulling it is because I think that for after school programs majority of time 95% of the time we can't our own staff can't provide those Services right like Contracting out with YMCA like we spend tons of money on that we our own staff can't provide those Services right so we have no other option in this case and I don't know if this exactly what trusty phis was saying this is a service potentially one of our staff members could do right so instead of Contracting out like we've been doing for for a long time and it's been ining right hearing from labor that we continue to Outsource jobs it kind of feels the same way like this does not feel to me like we have
204no other choice but to contract out with this organization like to me we actually could have the choice potentially of Hiring Our Own staff like I understand there's like issues that we got to figure out but and unfortunately it just became a pickable but it's not a pickable it's it's about the idea of Contracting out services that could be paid for own for for someone in in in inside our organization thank you for that Clarity anything else anything else from board anything else from cabinet trusty Phillips 10 seconds not to be Petty if we get a grant or a donation I consider that District funds but I'm do okay anything else trusty reckler thank you can I just go back to an an original comment that doesn't have anything to do with bigle ball sure
205okay so I do think there are opportunities to tighten up the contract process um just in terms of what you're asking people the Strategic vetting form I think get down to one page which I think would be more helpful and I really want to encourage the dates to be correct and it I feel good knowing that things aren't starting but alignment is important especially in our world because it makes me always think even if I see it's budgeted and we have a freeze or we have different freezes I'm just not clear how the money is being controlled so I want to encourage contracts coming you know within the two weeks before or whatever so that we we know that they're solid and aligned and that there's dollars and that there you know we our our
206funding is your or your funding is um secure and you feel good about it so that that's my comment on that thank you so much Bo we've had a great discussion we're going to move to the vote we're voting on the motion to accept the contracts minus the pickle ball contract that's what we're voting on we're going to go to the vote trusty pal Carr yes trusty Abdu garro yes thank you trusty Phillips yes thank you trusty Christian yes thank you trusty reckler reckler no thank you trustee Gonzalez I'm sorry please forgive me clerk Gonzalez hoy it's fine Gonzalez ho yes thank you and I'm a yes thank you so much Bard that passes we are now moving on to um again F1 and two have been pulled we are now moving on to G
207comments from the Board of Education and future agenda items board if we could do two-minute comments please anyone have comments okay we're going to go around this way we're going to go with trusty Phillips I saw trusty Christian's hand and Kurt Gonzalez Hoy go ahead trusty Phillips thank you um we really need to have a serious conversation about school safety um there was a time when we relied heavily on school resource officers in addition to others um and then there was a policy decision not to do that anymore and that was by and large replaced by the positive School climate director and the campus safety officers and tonight we have voted to eliminate the positive School climate director and some of the campus safety personnel based on that I really don't know what the safety
208plan is for our kids um and it is that that that is that is scary to me um I want to take a moment to talk about uh mayor Anderson uh she was a great woman um and we know her because of all of the Civic work that she did but she was a really nice woman um she took time to talk to folks um she took time to talk to me and to others and to give advice willing and freely um when she would see me and my wife and my children um she would stop uh and talk to them uh and greet them and catch up with them she was just a nice woman and so she will be uh missed um and I know that we're going to uh do a resolution
209uh from the district uh for her um and I think that that is a great thing um um lastly and I only have 15 seconds but I heard that Kim Moses got an award for something I love to hear what that was about um and there's some other things I want to say about her and some other cabinet members but I am out of time I will come back next week uh CBL Moses what what was your award for one of my colleagues nominated me for AXA region six business administrator of the year and um AXA region 6 um awarded me with that honor of being selected as the AXA region 6 business administrator of the Year well deserved thank you well deserved uh trusty Christian your board comments please sir yes uh thank you
210president Smith po um and also I just want to give thanks to you know staff you know for all the hard work they do and to keep this District moving and um and just to say on part of safety uh we got the Safety Committee coming back you know in operation where we're going to be in touch with what's going on throughout the whole District thank you for bringing the safety committee's back and um you know as we push forward through these difficult times um and and it's it's rough you know which I came out of safety you know I was a good safety officer high school so but um but like I say you know we got to move through these challenges um I want to say you know I'm like to see The
211swah Hil school you know like we have the Mandarin school and of course we can have a Swahili school um that would be beneficial for our school district and also I want to say is that um you know you know the decisions that we make tough decisions but we know we you know we just got to continue to push through and so that's all I had to say thank you thank you so much trusty Christian trusty reckler go ahead and then clerk Gonzalez Hoy thank you so first a passing that I'd like to note that uh certainly for the Kensington kuramatsu and ELO High School Community Mary shaas who was parent um known to many of us uh passed away yesterday after a long and Valiant battle with cancer um very giving woman extremely funny
212so funny oh my gosh but giving she was a counselor with the College of Al with the College of alam and dedicated her entire life to helping kids climb barrier onto success and um you know she will be deeply deeply missed and so I just wanted to send my thoughts out to Matt and the boys and I understand there'll be a celebration of life soon and uh I will keep you updated that's a great loss for our community um as far as items for agendas uh for to be agenda I've sent in several policies over the last few months that I would like to have looked at um one of them is uh AB 1078 and whether that needs to get worked into textbook adoption I've asked to look at textbook adoption or book book
213Banning in general like our book review process to make sure that that's solid and sound I've asked to relook at bullying and harassment policies especially because of the lgbtqia uh adding of students that has been going on in other districts I want to make sure that we have the strongest policies to be safe and secure I've also handed in policy reviews for the cboc for graduations and for preserving uh artwork on campus and uh in the next few days I'll be handing in the policy on 4211 Recruitment and selection um so I would like to know if and when those will be agendized for discussion by the board thank you thank you so much trusty reckler Clark Gonzalez Hoy thank you president Smith folds um first I want to thank you for the decorations tonight
214I know you came early and you decorated uh to celebrate celebrate Black History Month so thank you for doing that and the dinner and the little gifts really appreciate you for that uh to trusty recker's response uh they have been sent to my committee governance which is going to start meeting um in a couple weeks actually uh so we're going to be reviewing all those policies first and then they're going to come back to the board um then you know I want to mention two things um hope I don't get emotional because I know I make Dr to her is uncomfortable when I cry but uh tonight um you know I took two votes that I think have been the hardest votes I've taken us a board member um and they were hard and I
215feel like I have a pin in my stomach and um but we had to right and I I I don't know I'm I'm definitely not going to sleep for a few nights because it was difficult but I think that's why we got elected to make those difficult choices um and then the second piece you know I wanted to also just um I know we're going to celebrate her at a future board meeting but I wanted to um celebrate very quickly the life of a friend of mine which was Susan binder who was a teacher Kennedy and teacher Al Ser of high school who passed a couple weeks ago um and she really gave her life for this district and for our students um and uh she truly was amazing um and I know that for
216utr she um was part of their executive board and part of the bargaining team and uh she just she just gave her life to this District so I'm appreciative of her uh I know she's in a better place with with her late husband uh which makes me happy that she's with him who she loved very much so I know Alo had a big hit about that so my heart goes to them and her family so thank you so much thank thank you so much clerk Gonzalez Hoy board I want to let you know that I consider myself um lead in the anti-racist anti-racism push that we're doing with the district um I think that it's something that is vital that we have to do I think it's conversations that we have to have with that
217being said I would like to read the following statement that the action of listening when you are being called out and called in is the work of anti-racism when while and after I say this statement if you feel uncomfortable with my words I invite you to call yourself out of privilege and call yourself into the space of learning from others trusty reckler when you abruptly left before the end of the board meeting on January 24th you missed trusty Phillips request for us to be more direct with each other trusty Phillips when you missed the retreat on January 2 you miss trusty reckler tearful ask to speak at elser's graduation and the subsequent approval of that request trusty reckler you said right before you left on the 24th to stand up to bullying using fragility to
218ensure that your wants are secured is beyond bullying is manipulation the reason I always feel forced to give to have to give Grace is because you live in a bubble of protection where an entrenched ranking based on race and emotional range has white tears Trump everything else the moisture that comes from you it sends a message of Rage not a heavy cloud of Love want needs guilt or shame how dare someone like me US hold you accountable your tears trigger pre-loaded responses and you know it and you use it without thought or care it brings men to their knees and it creates this shallow need for them to protect you it exposes the societal rank with black and brown at the very bottom black women see the misuse of your tears and feel that double
219standard like the wind struck nerve of a rotting tooth you want nothing by crying nothing exposes character more than how you treat people when you believe that you don't need them your treatment of board members before the centure and after shows everything you shifted zero narrative personally with me what was done was a reinforcement that some don't have to be accountable for their their choices yes their choices what was done was a reinforcement of the concept and normalization that even when proven Wrong by the rules created for your ease when the system says you're white you are protected this is after all your system your carefully placed Lego blocks try to build a logic that dictates how can the system or anyone that benefits from the system be wrong you will continue to swim in
220the privilege of the system that was created for your leisure and others of us will continue to be forced to not be able to sleep at night and weigh the consequences of every word we speak and every step we take as a black woman and leader I will forever have to pick battles when you get to start wars all because you use your tears as weapon for distraction and destruction this last vote was not that of Grace it was that of force survival see if I was the only one to say no to your demand to speak at graduation even though not being appointed to graduation is a clear result of Your Action then I would not be seen as the only one holding you to the universal consequences of choices you made but I
221would be seen as heartless a bully mean and uncaring the narrative that you tell and retell is constructed of the character traits laced in microaggressions and blanketed in the bullhorn of dog wh character traits which you can project onto everyone else as to maintain your victimhood the Angry Black Woman the scary black man I'm being bullied they are being mean to me this is a Witch Hunt they don't like me when I tell them what to do these same sentiments have followed us throughout time binding the black and brown people in this country and yes on this board into historical survival Norms so the grace that was extended to you was not done because you were right I may outwork you outv volunteer you outs serve you but because I out melate you you are
222given value care and drap with excuses and adorned with stickers of thanks for doing less than what we should be expected to do we extended you not just an olive branch but a redwood branch that based on history you're just going to burn to keep yourself warm you are wrong yet you get promoted and protected while I tell the truth and I branded with The Scarlet Letter there is a golden rule of leadership hold yourself accountable so others don't have to but that doesn't apply to everyone after all this is your system this system your system says you can only be tall when I'm on my knees this system has an emotional attachment to the destruction of Truth tellers and exposers of privilege but I have a moral obligation and physical iCal need to continue
223to be a server and leader for all wccusd students parents teachers and staff I will no longer be forced into rewarding bad behavior enjoy your grace I am complete board thank you for allowing me to read that statement we are now going to move to board reflection and feedback board we are at 1028 if you don't have reflection or feedback you can skip that part if if you do I will open it up right now trusty Phillips it's one minute for reflection and feedback go ahead sir my first I have a question can we actually extend the meeting for 30 minutes you can put that motion forward sir um I move to extend the meeting for 30 minutes is there a second I will second it but I thought we had heard from our parliamentarian
224that we could only extend once um as of rules but she's not hearing I don't know the rules so we did hear from our parliamentarian that it's only one extension I believe trusty Phillips if you know something different go ahead and speak to that but I think I remember we can only extend once go ahead do you remember different ly than that sir honestly in this moment I I don't we have one minute left I just if I may go ahead and take your minute sir I was ready this evening to just say I think that this was a good meeting and that it was well run and to say that when we got to the the critical part that I actually have nothing to say um critical about the meeting um and I that
225is what I wanted to say and I I I can't say that in this moment I I my dad um was a was a great man but he um could be a a very uh hard person at times um he was a career police officer he was on SWAT uh he did Karate he was kind of a badass um and but he would tell me um that I as as a leader that I need to praise people um in public and and that I need to reprimand people um in private um and and that's what I have tried to do and that's something that I would like people to do with me um regardless of what trusty reckler has done uh are not done all of that could have been said in private and and
226then to say it and then the meeting is over and she can't even respond to it I don't think that that's fair I think and that's why I asked for the meeting to be continued because I don't think it's fair for her not to be able to say anything after all of that and I don't know if she even would want to say anything but I I think that this was a good meeting President Smith Falls I think you did a good job managing this meeting I was going to make a joke um that that one of the things I liked is that everybody spoke for the same amount of time including you you like to do the presidential privilege thing right um and you hadn't done it and then you you saved it for
227the very end for what just happened with trusty reckler and you just went way over and just spent the time talking about her I know that this board and I've been on some controversial boards and in some controversial situations but the censure that she got she got it I didn't agree with it but she got it and I think we need to leave that woman alone that's my personal opinion and it's not because she's white it is not because she's a woman it's because that is the professional thing to do in my opinion I think you did a good job tonight and I don't want to take that away from you you did a great job and and I'll leave it at that thank you for the time thank you truste Phillips I appreciate you
228recognizing the job that I did tonight I would ask you to once again call yourself into the space of learning from others what I did tonight was exactly what needs to be done if we're moving to an anti-racist District in my humble opinion because if we don't call things as we see them then we will continue to do what we have always done which is not address issues of microaggression not address issues of disparity not address issues of fragility and not address issues of racism that run thick in our C in our district and in our country it may have been uncomfortable that doesn't mean it didn't need to be said it may have taking what people perceive as a step back doesn't mean it didn't need to happen what happened is conversation has to
229happen at levels in public not only in private I have sat in this seat as board trustee and been dressed down and policed many of time and I've come back and I've held my head up and I've done what I needed to do I ask that for everybody on the board that's professional that's being accountable but I will not be policed into saying what I need to say or don't need to say or when I need to say it or don't need to say it sitting in this position I will use it to make sure that I'm attacking anti-racism every single time and if it's uncomfortable it's uncomfortable we need to get uncomfortable with being we need to get comfortable with with being uncomfortable we are all adults and we're all elected officials but I
230will not take back what I said I will not take back how I said it trusty reckler has the opportunity to respond because we are going over because this is a conversation that needs to be to completion if anybody else has anything that they need to say please raise your hand unmute yourself and let's have the conversation I am complete anyone have anything else to say seeing none I will move on to the next scheduled board meeting will be February the 14th 2024 at laava dejon middle school we already went no one had tresy Phillips and I did Reflections we are now adjourned at 10:35 thank you board