WCCUSD Board of Education Meeting January 25, 2023

001good afternoon everyone my name is Dimitri Gonzalez Hawaii and I'm the president of the Board of Education I would like to welcome you to the board meeting tonight to access translation please click click on the globe icon below we are heading into our closed session for tonight before we do we are here to listen to any public comment there might be about our closed session items our closed session items that we'll be discussing are conference with legal counsel and conference with labor negotiators do we have any public comment there's no public comment great okay everybody we are now moving to our closed session thank you so much and see you at 6 30. good evening everybody if we could please uh quiet down as much as we can thank you my name is Dimitri Gonzalez

002Hoy I'm the president of the board I would like to welcome all of you to our Board of Education meeting for the West Contra Costa Unified School District we're coming back from closed session after opening procedures the public will have an opportunity to make public comments to access translation please click on the globe icon Below on this screen or here at dijon you can go to the corner of the room we have someone waving in the corner to access translation global or Siesta when we get the public comment there will be public opportunities and agenda and non-agenda items in person through zoom and by telephone public comment will last will usually last one hour as of tonight we are extending it to two hours to allow for larger public comment the time allotted for each

003speaker is two minutes if you are attending the meeting in person you will need to submit a request to address the board form to indicate you decide to speak to an agenda item or non-agenda item if participating we assume you will need to raise your hand by clicking on the appropriate icon in the Zoom app or by pressing star 9. if accessing the meeting by phone no yielding of time or substitution of speakers is permitted due to the brown act board members cannot discuss items that are not on the agenda and do not usually respond to items percent in public comment now let's move to opening procedures if everybody could please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which

004it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all foreign thank you now for our land acknowledgment we recognize that we are presently on the lands of the wekma karkin Ohlone peoples and acknowledge them as the first inhabitants of the land we currently occupy Dr Hurst oh excuse me before we do roll call we do have two new Boardman two new members of the board that I would like Dr Hurst to please introduce thank you very much Mr President we are so excited to have our two new student trustees we first want to introduce uh trustee Barron she's a senior at Richmond High School um she's still deciding uh her college that she would like to attend but she does say that she wants to go to college she plans to study

005law and she wants to become an immigration attorney oh and she decided to be a abort trustee because it's really important for her to listen to student voice she really wants to advocate for students and she said she grew up with her parents instilling this in her so thank you for joining us trustee Brown and then we also like to introduce trustee Santos and she is a senior at middle college and she is still deciding what university to go to but she also has a desire to attend college study English and also go into law be a lawyer she's also president of her class let's give her a round of applause and then finally she also um wants to advocate for students student voice is extremely important for her and she wants to be involved

006in the process she wants to learn how things are decided so she wanted to be a board trustee for this experience and we're just so excited to have both of our student trustees thank you for being here on behalf of the board trustee Barron Jersey Santos we want to welcome you um if approved tonight your Mentor will be trusty Christian so please feel uh free to ask him any questions you might have because sometimes we uh deal with a lot of uh issues that you might not know about so please use us as a resource sometimes we don't know about stuff uh please use this resource and welcome thank you um okay we're gonna move now to report and ratification from closed session Dr Hurst do we have anything to report from closed session no

007sorry nothing to report thank you and our parliamentarian who's sitting to my right remind me that I skipped roll call uh so if you could please do a roller coaster absolutely uh president Gonzalez Hawaii present trustee clerk Smith Falls good evening everyone present trustee reckler good evening I'm president trustee Phillips president trustee Christian good evening president Brown present trustee Santos good evening president all president of the count of four sir thank you so much uh now sir do we have anything to report from closed session nothing to report wonderful moving forward um okay everybody now we're gonna move to public comment that's a reminder for tonight um I am extending public comment to two hours with support of our board uh so we'll be able to hear from more of you um we are starting

008with people in the room uh and you have to turn in a sheet an orange sheet which you can get an access to in the right hand side my right hand side of the room um but you have to fill that out first and again everybody gets two minutes if you go past the two minutes I will respectfully ask you to finish your thought uh because we will have a lot of people to hear from uh thank you for being here um okay let's move to public comment um let's start with the room thank you our first public comment is Nora Ponce good evening board members my name is Nora Ponce I am the mother of a child at Washington Elementary School and I'm here to speak about the DLI program a program uh that

009had made a promise as of last year to my child to go ahead and go through grade 12 on a pathway that went Washington coromatsu El Cerrito High School we have been hearing rumors and constantly ask about concrete answers to what would be happening to the program only to be giving vague answers and be told that none of the rumors were true then to have a dla pathway meeting and essentially have more of the same a lot of data statistics with absolutely no answers about 20 working days later we get a little blurb about two sentences that once again is vague and completely disingenuous that basically says you are focusing your priorities on something else which does not go along with the promise you made my child as of last year that is the reason

010why I'm here I know what the Linguistics as far as statistics and studies show and how our children actually excel at a different level and gain uh gainful employment at a higher level because of that second language how they process critical thinking skills differently you made my child a promise I want an answer I want an answer specifically that goes to Pathways you did not allow for any Community engagement any Community input you did not give us any response as to why the DLI program wasn't working at El Cerrito High and yet you offered absolutely no other options either my child was made a promise you need to go ahead and come through in a viable way with responses that actually yield results with that promise I am absolutely in touch and not only that

011I hope you know and understand all of these teachers here you are not going to get anybody coming into this community with all of these teachers striking because they deserve a fair weight our next public comment is Luca Savala hi my name is Lucas avalla cruises and I go to the school Washington Elementary I am a bilingual quiz so that means I can talk Spanish in English I would like to have um English and Spanish classes when I'm in korematsu and I'm one in Cerrito High School hola my name is Espanol our next public comment is Erica Cruces my name is [Music] Juan Carlos Alvarado um education bilinguals dla automaticians foreign persona Queens is necessity and sorry interrupt for our translation um we our board does have headphones so if next time we want to

012and translate us let's speak because it's fine uh but we just wanted to make sure that also the people present uh can hear the translation in English thank you first of all I want to say thank you to the people who was part of the election for the principal uh at Washington we really wanted a principle that was bilingual uh he is here who is he's ready to work with the parents and students and with all the teachers in our community so thank you for that uh Mr Carlos Alvarado second of all and and this is not very um I'm not very happy to bring this item once again to the board because I have been advocating for more than 10 years for the DLI program uh this this program needs to grow as a

013bilingual community and first of all it was planned for the program to exist on Washington continuing koromatsu and then El Cerrito High almost every year we come here to ask that the DLI program is gets stronger and more efficient for our children so they can have a quality education if I don't remember if I will remember this is not a a program from the school this was a commitment that was done to these families more than 18 years ago so we could our students could have the DLI classes from preschool all the way to high school in fact we already have students who have graduated have gone to college and then that now they are built bilingual approximately six years ago the district and the board they approve this agreement to be able to grow

014the DLI program even further now they're telling us that they want to close a program at the uh the DLI program in El Cerrito High where my daughter assists and continues into the program now this would mean that my son the one that Joe spoke he won't be able to speak Dr Hurst mentioned that uh they don't have teachers that they but that he didn't he never mentioned that they were going to take away our next public comment is Allison natchman good evening I'm a parent of a student in the sixth grade at Washington Elementary School in the Spanish dual immersion program at the December 8th dual advisory committee meeting families were reassured that the district was committed to the growth of the Spanish dual immersion program through 12th grade now 20 days later due

015to reported staffing issues and space capacity we are told this is no longer the case what efforts have even been made to hire a dual immersion teacher at the high school the K-8 is stronger now than it ever has been now is the time to continue to strengthen the program at higher levels not end it after 8th grade how can you take this opportunity away from these children and children and families who have committed to this program my son will attend coromatsu next year and wants nothing more than to go to El Cerrito High where his brother is flourishing and taking advantage of the many opportunities available if he cannot attend El Cerrito High School it will be our family's choice because we can to pull him out of the district not everybody can do

016that or has that option we do not feel that he would be we do not feel confident that he would be allowed to transfer based on the classes only available as was said today in the email communication I currently know families who are at Kennedy who have been waiting and trying to get to transfer and have been denied there is little remaining credibility for the administration who would make a decision without the input of the community and in my in my opinion it's a great lack of foresight why end the program in 2025 when there could be three years to find a teacher to continue this program I will formally request documentation of the efforts being made to find staffing and would like to better understand the space capacity issues and why this is happening

017all of the sudden the district has shown a disrespect for our families foreign first I too want to thank Dr Hurst and the entire community that helped make it possible for us to have Mr Alvarado as our principal I can't tell you what a difference our school is thriving and we can see what good leadership and bilingualism does for our community at the same time I'm here to absolutely support continuing the pathway for our children to El Cerrito High School many many many parents and families have invested for years under the promise that our DLI kids will be going to El Cerrito High School my 13 year old Maggie is in seventh grade at koramatsu she will be one of the first that's cut off from that pathway her entire Community is at koromatsu if

018you know my kid she has an incredible kindness but also an incredible challenge at adjusting to new situations we specifically built this community and it is a very close Community for her to be able to Thrive if this pathway is cut off it will be criminal for her because she will go way down we need you to put this on the agenda for February 1st we will be back uh with more parents and more conversation about this issue we're not going to let it just stop here and obviously part of the reason that you have trouble finding teachers is because all of these amazing teachers are here tonight to strike and get better pay and we need to find more we need to find better Solutions Solutions like the incredible positive solution we came to

019with Mr Alvarado it's possible for us to find Solutions if we work together with absolute full transparency and honesty I appreciate your time and your attention thank you so much and thank you teachers can we have can we please have the next five people uh stand at the podium to speed things up a little bit uh Becca Guerrero Scarlet Guerrero Mardel Andrea Savala Felix Reyes and Eduardo Martinez hello everybody my name is Becca Guerrero I'm a mother of two children children both within the DLI program one Accord Matsu middle school and the other at Washington Elementary I'm here because it's been about five months that I've been in discourse and disagreement with the district trying to figure out what is unfolding and I've been receiving nothing but um being ignored and not receiving any correspondence

020in terms of the DLI analysis meeting that occurred on October 8th that many folks have already mentioned there was a commitment and a promise that the DLI program would persist and continue at the time the district transfer post a statement mentioning that there will not be a cut or a pause to the program I continue to reach out for emails and further information and within that happened about a few hours ago that the district then sent out a long-winded quote-unquote vague explanation again with two simple statements it was mentioned in this email that there has been a struggle finding teachers since 2009 and this has been about four years now excuse me interpreter since 2019 it has been a struggle for four years and as the community has said we have not been asked to

021be involved we have not had had our opinions or feedback heard it's been a struggle and now to come to the results are shutting down without asking for the community support again this lack of communication has been ridiculous and again we did not receive anything until last week which is unacceptable I am here to represent the DLI program because my children are not in agreement with what has been going on now they will might be forced to be transferred to a different District it is difficult to trust the board in the district and I would like this issue to be placed on the edge hi my name is uh Scarlett I'm a seventh grader at coramatsu and that was my mom um I was promised that we would go from Washington all the way to

022um El Cerrito and now I'm hearing that apparently we can't do that because the principal there is uh shutting it down and for my friends I realized that um since we'll all be leaving we're all going to be splitting up going into different high schools or middle schools to um find new friends for the high school and um this will be the second time for me um for making new friends and another whole different social experience and um it's gonna be hard for a lot of us to be um at a different District or at a different school that is it good afternoon my name is and I'm 16 years old and I'm I'm a junior at echs I live around five blocks away from here and at this point I've lost my account on

023how many times I've have to been up here talking to you all I'm honestly embarrassed and particularly I feel like y'all should be too yet again I'm here advocating for the dual immersion program I've been attending schools in the West Contra Costa Unified School District my whole life I started at Riverside but once my mom heard about the dual immersion program I got transferred immediately from Washington I went to Corn Malta middle school and I'm a junior at achs lead green because of the dual immersion program I've been able to keep my first language which I feel proud of every time I walk into my school I'm the first daughter I'm the first niece I'm the first granddaughter I'm the first great granddaughter I am I am the role model of my brother my little

024cousins so my question is how are they going to follow my footsteps and keep their first language when their opportunities that my cousins think that they were going to have are going to be taken away from them now taking away programs like the dual immersion program should never even be a consideration instead they should be reinforced supported and put as a priority at eths although I am technically enrolled in a DLI program I've yet to take an a DLI course we don't have a DLI teacher why isn't the district working on getting appropriate teachers for us we students have this one high school experience and compared to other school districts we're not receiving the support we deserve my education is my right and enriched education should not be a privilege and I believe you all

025have the resources to give us the education that we need thank you before we before we go to our our next wonderful speaker uh we did get a couple complaints saying that we were not allowing people to come in I did want to mention we do have a capacity limit which we have exceeded uh so everyone person that leaves we're allowing one person to come in okay so I just want to clarify um and that is for our safety measures around coven so that we're able to keep track um so just everybody knows thank you you can start thank you my name is Felix I am in the sixth grade at Washington Elementary School in the I'm in the Spanish program and I'm the president of the school student council find a teacher for the

026high school and stick to the plan don't give up the dual immersion should continue to high school and have it grow don't give up on the kids can we please have the following people come to the podium Eduardo Martinez Pedro agredano Salon Harrison Genesis Greene and Josh anyhow foreign Elementary School teacher Downer Elementary Sheldon Elementary as a teacher I realized that um commitment gets the job done but commitment doesn't pay the bills I know that uh and you should know too that teaching is not a job that starts in the morning and ends when the bell rings teaching is a 24 7 hour job we used to joke that people talk about the school to prison pipeline we we used to joke that we should call the schools prisons so that the teachers could get

027paid what the guards get paid I think that joke shows how we have our priorities mixed around if teachers got paid what the guards got paid we wouldn't need the prisons this feels like community and Community Schools is the way that we should go because we need wraparound services not only for the students but for the parents for the community for the teachers for all of us Community Schools would make your job a lot easier and As Leaders your job is to make sure that we have the money to get the job done instead of trying to figure out how you're going to parse the crumbs we need to work for the entire cake we need to be able to do the job and to do the job we need money and we need you

028to good evening president and board I made Tradesman person I work for the HVAC for the West Contra Costa Unified School District I'm here to speak up for all this trades you'll see me several times uh throughout the meetings uh this time I'm going to concentrate on HVAC we're coming up here because we believe that from the director up has failed us to bring up to you the need to staff more people in each department it is only three HVAC tax for the entire District we can't even keep up with repairs we should be able to have preventative maintenance on the machine so they don't break down as fast you have a full room of parents teachers and students that would will tell you that a cold room during winter in a hot room during

029summer is no place to learn we need you to please staff so that we can keep all those units working and everything as it should thank you for your time good evening I'm board this evening I come to you guys with a heavy heart I came to you guys several times before to address the support that our youth need at the school sites regarding the treatment and being called the n-word and now it's come to a point where it swelled up and now it's spilled over and our community is really an uproar we want to know what the district is going to do what I need you guys to understand that in the process of this all you guys have children all you guys have raised children and those of you that don't you have

030been in a situation where you have been made to feel uncomfortable going to school we're done allowing our children to feel uncomfortable going to school we're demanding that this board do something and get some support for our children at these School sites and address the treatment and the names that they're being called tonight you will hear from one of our students in this district and you all here on this board need to support our youth our black youth our bsu's tubes a a vessel that you guys have offered our students in this District to use for leadership please respect them and treat them like you guys know what you're doing when you guys are educating our children thank you sorry to give me a minute if we could restart her time please thank you Mission

031I quote we provide the highest quality education and make positive light choices strengthen our community and successfully participate in a diverse and Global Society Equity I quote it's a belief that all students can achieve at high levels of proficiency and that effects of institutionalized racism can be mitigated those statements are part of the district's Mission and Equity statement and as the student has been part of this District's beginning with kindergarten and now towards the end of my senior year you have failed at both of those things you have built me you have failed these students and you have failed these teachers I chances green at the age of 16 have faced racial discrimination and harassment for my teacher and administration at El Sierra High School my chances of winning a scholarship have been ruined and

032I have been singled out by the leadership teacher at the school because I'm the president of the black student union not only has the school ignored me but our own Administration has ignored the many black students who face discrimination they have been suppressing us and the district has not done anything about it I filed a complaint against the same teacher a month ago and I has disappeared a lot with all the other complaints about the mistreatment of Elsewhere High black students when is it going to stop I am frustrated I'm hurt and I am ashamed because I do not want to become another statistic I already assume I have multiple college applications and now I have to change them and explain that I got kicked out because of the color of my skin it's embarrassing

033because my high school career has been tarnished something I worked so hard for I looked at differently by pupil leadership they are treating me differently as as if I'm a reject and they are trying to give me a character so I can fit the angry black women narrative but I want us to come under this few circumstances that my school my district refuse to fix how dare you sit up on your high chairs imagine if this was your child your niece your nephew your grandchild standing up here they have faith in you we put faith in you stop just collecting paychecks into your jobs council members or school board members president Dimitri hoy hi my name is Josh anninger I'm the executive director of the Contra Costa Central labor Council we're a Federated body of

03485 unions represent almost 90 000 working people here in Contra Costa County and we are proud to stand with utr in their struggle for a fair contract for students making sure that democracy is protected public education I'm sorry I've been able to talk to some of these Educators tonight and when they tell me that over 3 000 people who are not accredited who don't live in the state are on zooms teaching the children here every single day I'm sorry are we in Florida because the last time I checked there was a lot of outrage on Ron DeSantis for putting teachers in with no credentials what are you doing higher Staff up make sure you have enough teachers for every classroom make sure that they're respected and you have a chance for Community Schools to think

035through with with with Educators with parents in a constructive way you should be leading on this so enough is enough sit down with the Union bargain a good contract this is ridiculous you know these teachers sacrificed the teachers sacrifice every single day to provide a quality education for children in one of the most stressful times in a pandemic they they made sure that their students were heard that they had a moment even on Zoom screens you should be honoring their sacrifices honoring the hard labor that they put in and funding the schools this isn't hard you sit down and negotiate in good faith and that is why the Contra Costa labor Council passed strike sanction just we unanimously agree that if you don't if you don't come to a terms and agreement that is good

036for all these educators will be standing side by side in this foreign people come to the front John Savala Francisco Ortiz Ethan sorcer Angela Norman and Jandy Kiron okay how do I follow that good evening board and superintendent Hearst my name is John zabala and I am the President of the United teachers of Richmond in September in September a coalition of roughly 300 students parents Community leaders and Educators spoke to you about the urgency of challenges at wccusd Educators and students were facing the need to recruit and retain professionals we told you at that point that time was running out and that you needed to direct your staff to settle our contract months later the contract remains expired and an even larger Coalition 700 people in our estimate are here to tell you that this

037is your last chance to recruit and retain credentialed Educators in West Contra Costa since the beginning our campaign has been about three things physically and emotionally safe schools shared decision making through Community Schools and a credentialed permanent educator for every student these themes now are more present now more than ever we're still waiting for a batch of international special education teachers our average salaries were found to be decreased last year and the district and districts around the area have removed service caps which will allow them to poach our veterans the educators of WCC do not want to strike we want to work we want to serve the children you've heard from tonight that's what we signed up to do that's what we've been doing and that's what we'd like to continue to do a strike

038is our last resort when negotiation fails We Believe many Educators have given so much of themselves we you need to come right you need to get this done they are ready to fight for the schools our students and communities deserve thank you everybody I apologize clapping it's okay if we can hold on the chanting because it will bring down the time I want to make sure we allow as many of you as we can as many of you as we can to speak tonight we're already extending the public coming we'll most likely will extend again but it will cut on the time so please go ahead uh Mr Ortiz great thank you sorry we're going to restart his time please thank you thank you so since many of you um did not get a chance

039to hear the over 700 people who are outside I just want to just let everyone know and hear blue schools what kind of schools Lewis schools what kind of schools take a moment to appreciate and stand in awe in the Beloved Community that has shown up for you here tonight we are here together as an education Justice Coalition fighting for the schools our students and our communities deserve we are the most impacted when decisions about our schools are made our students families Educators and our community members must be equal partners and centered in shared leadership and governors for our community schools educate education and serving our youth and communities as high stakes work we must follow any listening that we do with direct action otherwise we're simply perpetuating generational harm on our most marginalized communities

040the only way to get to different outcomes in this district is by using different strategies and those that have already been tried before we need to shift our internal cultures so that the community can become our equal Partners we need to trust in our students our families our Educators and our community members with their ability to lead we are currently experiencing tension because we're trying to do things differently than they've ever been done before we worked closely with the district to secure the fifth largest Community Schools Grant in the entire state what is the buy-in from leadership and follow through from the district from the board and the cities which you've seen are here with us we have city of rich and we have this president Gonzalez Hoy trustees thank you for giving me the

041opportunity to speak my name is Ethan sorcer and I teach fifth grade at Montalban K-8 thank you in March of last year we heard experts claim that we desperately needed to issue reduction in force notices and reduce our certificated Staffing or else Auditors from the state would take control of our budget and our autonomy trustees Christians Smith folds and Gonzalez Hoyt courageously and presciently rejected this claim last month the same experts announced that they had not only balanced the budget but were projecting a surplus over each of the next three years I commend Dr Mcintyre and his team for their creativity and resourcefulness in achieving what they told us could not be done less than a year ago now the experts are claiming that we cannot afford to adequately compensate our certificated staff utr is

042demanding a 10 cost of living adjustment in an economy that has seen the Consumer Price Index rise 14 since our last negotiated adjustment put simply we are willing to accept an effective pay cut of four percent relative to inflation which your budget projections show you can afford but your negotiating team values our labor at even less than that we join this work because we are passionate about serving our communities but we also need to feed and shelter our families even without risks 3 000 students started the year without a credentialed teacher in their classroom later tonight Dr Hurst and Dr Greenwood are going to tell you about their goals to recruit and retain qualified Educators but how can we do that when we could make a Better Living working for similar communities in Berkeley or

043Oakland or San Ramon please direct your negotiating team to avoid a strike and agree with our demand good evening I'm Angela Normand a middle school special education teacher in Brentwood Union School District released as the CTA director for district C which is not only Alameda and Contra Costa County but representing the nearly 310 000 Educators across this state who are all standing here with United teachers of Richmond in addition I am also a fellow trustee representing area 2 on the Alameda County Board of Education as a trustee you should know that we are beholden to the community that elected us not the superintendent not the fiscal or business officer but the community president Gonzalez hoy this is your community your community of Educators who worked side by side with you while you were in West

044Contra Costa County president Gonzalez Hoy this is your National and Statewide Community who walked and fought side by side with you to get these same rights for Oakland for New Haven and for United teachers of Los Angeles we urge you to listen to this community every student deserves a permanent high quality certificated educator an emotionally and physically safe learning environment and every student deserves a community school and the following people please come to the front Jandy hiron Nancy Rodriguez Miguel Gallegos Mark Charles and Mary Bowles Jandy hiron okay Nancy Rodriguez Miguel Gallegos Mark Schultz Mark Schultz good evening board and superintendent I am here to speak on behalf speakers in support of their requests for a better compensation I'm sorry Mr Schultz if you can hold on one second please I can relate to these

045things come one second please sorry is our translation going in I think so yes oh okay just one second everybody testing testing can you test again please okay we're good uh Mr Charles thank you sorry about that we'll restart your time no problem okay so I will start again and say that I am here to support the teachers and their requests for better compensation I can personally I personally understand what they are feeling I taught high school for 12 years at local private schools and because of the compensation I had to leave it wasn't a choice that I wanted to make but having a family as these teachers I know some of them have it's very difficult to raise a family on a teacher's salary let alone one let alone one which is not even

046keeping up with inflation this district has Personnel on it who over the last 10 years have received on average ten thousand dollars a year raise over three positions that's on the staff of this District I would like consideration for compensation for the teachers because they need it maybe not in the same degree but they need at least an increase to keep up with inflation if we don't have that for the teachers then as they've said before tonight they will leave we've already seen some leave last year we can't afford to have more lead because you cannot attract more teachers with less pay they have options and if you don't give them the right pay you will not get teachers it's that simple so I request that every single penny that can be diverted toward teacher

047salaries be done so in this time it doesn't have to be that way always but at least catch them up so they can afford to live in the area they can afford to come and be my son's teacher thank you good evening I've been at board meetings since the beginning of the school year asking the wccusd school board to please help us get the stadium seating that we need at Pinole Valley High School after the renovation of our field we were reduced to less than half of what we had before every communication I have had with Lewis freeze has been solicited by me since our last meeting and walking the property to show him where there is plenty of space for more seating which he said we did not have he has not communicated any

048ideas Solutions nor proposals I see that it is on the agenda tonight and I'm hopeful that the mistake that was made of cutting our stadium seating in half will be corrected the Pinole Valley High School football team is currently in the position of state champions in our division sadly we are about to have a city parade to honor our football team and we don't have the seating for enough people in our Stadium this saddens me because this could have and should have been done by now if it is going to happen lastly please give the teachers raises in line with the current economic situation if you okay if you don't pay them a fair salary not only will you lose them but you will not be able to recruit others to replace them for what

049you are offering a teacher shortage in our district is already a big issue other districts will be able to scoop up our best teachers and we won't see them again if our teachers strike our children will lose valuable instruction time that will not be able to be made up make whatever Cuts you need to make to make this happen it is possible if only you'll face the decisions and changes that you need to make I was in this room the night when you asked the teachers to take a pay cut I was here this room was not full but I was here when you asked them to get less money and you said it would be made up in the future and that's not what's happening here please do the following people to the front

050please Sarah torney tramika white kelly Carey Rachel McLaughlin and Julia Jamshed you go girl good evening my name is trinika white and I want to bring to your attention a disturbing incident that occurred at El Cerrito High School yesterday January 24th 2023. my son Christian white is a senior at El Cerrito finishing up his last semester he is a respectful and fun-loving young man he is a student athlete he is inquisitive and a first-team all-league linebacker on the varsity football team that won the NCAA NCS championship this season he is a hidden genius he is an honor student with the 3.3 cumulative GPA he is preparing for graduation in June and college in August and I am super proud of him yesterday Christian arrived for his 8 30 a.m pre-calculus class and there weren't any

051seats available for him I was appalled to learn that instead of finding additional resources to accommodate him the CL in the classroom the substitute teacher Mr Knight verbally disrespected him and deprived him of his education by using his body to physically prevent him from entering the classroom and then slammed the door on his arm as I described Christian is well-rounded and far from a thug to hear that Mr Knight alluded to this is a huge problem for me and it should be a huge problem for everyone in this room The Substitute looked at Christian and assumed he did not belong in pre-calculus class my son was racially profiled unfairly judged and treated inappropriately causing him physical harm all he was trying to do was get his education get to class on time and learn turn

052our young black males have enough to deal with they should not have to encounter this abuse while trying to be proactive about their education as a parent this is heartbreaking I arrived at school and Christian was a clearly traumatized I demand that there be transparency in the investigation and I want those responsible held accounts Miss if we can hold on on the clock please Miss White Miss White if you can please not leave and give your contact information to one of our staff members Dr Hurst is going to follow up with you our superintendent okay please give him your contact information good evening my name is Dr Hurst board members cabinet members my name is Kelly Carey AKA Carrie and I am a kindergarten teacher at periods Kate all of us in this room and

053Via Zoom have had a teacher coach guidance counselor support staff who have encouraged us guides us been there for us will you take along with me a few seconds to think about these people have helped you become the individuals you are today who am I whoever you have been thinking of how pleased they must feel to know the difference that they know you have made the students at WCC USD have the same people who are encouraging them guiding them in this room tonight teacher support staff librarian psychologists coaches nurses we need to retain these amazing individuals who show up daily who go above and beyond their pay grade as Mr Rogers stated an inspiration to me we live in a world where in which we need to share responsibility it's easy to say it's not

054my child not my community not my world not my problem then there are those who see the need and respond I consider these people my heroes we have these people that see the need and respond continually all of us have a chance to be those Heroes and our students and our communities lives make that choice and do the right thing remember actions always speak louder than words give us what we need a fair and Equitable contract thank you [Applause] hi you guys it's good to see you in person again my name is Sarah torney I'm a parent of a sixth grader at Collins Elementary and a freshman at Pinole Valley High we're still here I feel like we have had this conversation for at least the last decade it has gotten seemingly worse each year

055promises are made and then broken repeatedly new superintendents and board members are sworn in and yet it's the same story we're a large District too big for our own britches some of the many issues include the disregard for the promised bilingual program the condition of campuses the concern for student safety and the budget the budget has been an issue since I was a student of Richmond Unified but I didn't have the burden of knowing about it most likely due to the lack of social media is it that we can't afford our teachers living wage or that we don't value teachers as a percept as a profession this is a societal issue that we can only hope will change as the younger generation switch the focus of their morals and values but it takes people like

056you to make the change be the change we are still here we are still here today urging you to value our teachers so our children can learn the values Community Education and especially the people who choose to work in the teaching profession to help them lead the way thank you very much before we go to our next wonderful speaker a quick announcement there is a car blocking someone from leaving uh Mercedes SUV with the license plate 6yfw 685 it's black it is parked in front of the community center if you could please go move it um we'd appreciate it thank you you can get started thank you okay good evening thank you school board members Dr Hurst and District staff my name is Rachel Paris McLaughlin I'm a graduate of this District Mira Vista Portola

057Kennedy High School go Eagles I'm also a parent a lifelong Community member and an educator in this District I've taught for 24 years half of which at Mira Vista K-8 school here in Richmond go bees I love our school but we are not okay we lost approximately a third of our teaching staff at the end of the year and this created many vacancies and we were not alone more than 3 000 students across the district started the year without a certificated teacher school board members are you aware that we just got a seventh grade teacher this week the school year is half over that means we're halfway to the next set of vacancies throughout the district teachers are considering leaving teachers do not feel supported and wccusd is not con is not offering a competitive

058wage I'm An established homegrown educator in this District I should be the one that stays here forever but you will lose many of us just like me and we will not be able to recruit new teachers if you don't reprioritize the budget students here in our community the community where I was raised deserve a permanent high quality certificated teacher and teachers deserve a competitive living wage whose Community our community thank you uh hello everybody my name is Julia Jamshed I'm a sixth grade teacher at Madera um thank you uh first of all it's just unfathomable to me that you would let it get to this point where we're about to strike um I mean it really is uh you started the school year without hardly you know a lot of teachers there were lots of

059classrooms that had kids in there but no teachers in case you didn't know there weren't people beating down the doors to work here for for those of us who did stay and we toughed it out through the pandemic and then after the pandemic which was not an easy year we stopped we toughed it out and we're getting treated really poorly so here we are it's not really that hard you know you treat your people well and you get rewarded right so this is why so many people are leaving the profession exactly this white people are quitting mid-year why no new recruits are coming to this profession because they look around and they see school board meetings like this and they go what is going on why wouldn't they pay their teachers a living wage it

060makes no sense and you guys have the money I know you say broken record we would love to pay you but we don't have the money you do have the money you've gotten Millions hundreds of millions of dollars with covid relief funds which there was no transparency around ever so we don't know what happened to that money and there's no trust there's no trust from you guys because you never showed us what happened to that money okay it was supposed to go to teachers I have a letter here from Miguel Cardona our secretary of education dated December 2021 he says right here this money should go to improve compensation to recruit and retain Educators and School staff that's right here okay from the Secretary of Education May the following people come to the front Shalon

061Santiago Lucia Cano Kevin Sedano Nicole Barajas and Mauricio Ramirez thank you everyone we heard you we're going to repeat the names so long Santiago Lucia Lucia Kevin Serrano Nicole Barajas and Mauricio Ramirez thank you hello my name is Santiago I'm mother of Christian and Ava they both go to Stuart in the DLI program I'm pretty sure you recognize me I'm the parent behind the video entitled where's my teacher it's funny how it's still relevant right now where are the teachers hmm you guys aren't paying them simple simple answer look at this little boy you failed him this year he started school without a teacher our school had to pull up our bootstraps and find him a teacher we had a parent that got emergency credentialed you guys gave us an English teacher to put a

062little Band-Aid on our DLI program for kindergarten and third grade thanks but what's gonna happen next year and next year we're going to be out three teachers because we'll be missing third fourth and Kinder what are you guys gonna do then because you still haven't gave them their contract you haven't raised their pay so no one's going to want to get hired to me it looks like you guys are creating a really big problem I implore you get off your high horse get them their contract and get these kids an education these teachers are here they're ready and they want to work you know what's really sad I see a teacher back there ready to speak and he's sitting grading papers that is the dedication of our teachers he is grading papers at 7 30

063at night have you worked overtime I don't I doubt it he's working overtime and he isn't getting paid what you are give them their pay so that they want to stay in our district hi uh my name is Lucia Cano I'm a mom that has kids in ranging from elementary to high school um I personally have seen my how my kids have felt the effects of the teachers shortages whether that be them losing teachers that they love and respect and have a relationship with or teachers just being shifted to accommodate within the schools I believe students deserve permanent credentialed teachers I I believe students deserve stable classrooms with caring constant and supportive teachers um especially especially after all the unstableness our children have had to deal with because of the pandemic uh I feel like

064this is nothing new other districts are already filling positions by offering competitive salaries let's please please reprioritize the budget to attract and keep great Educators thank you all right good afternoon my name is Mauricio Ramirez I'm 11th grade class president and this is my classmate Alex Haynes and she's the 11th grade vice president and we are students for at Kennedy High School and today we and today we and today we want to talk about how the Kennedy Community wants a safe environment and a safe place to grow as a person but we cannot do that if we don't have the support from a district it's really unbelievable how Kennedy High School has multiple classes that had no teachers the issues are causing a lot of problems for the students futures it's unbelievable how our teachers

065are getting paid less than what they deserve the amount of teacher vacancies are unfair for our student body as we deserve the proper resources for our education we want a credential teacher in each class we want more College Pathways and electives to set us up for Success we are seeking opportunities for our school and the district thank you and have a nice day thank you my name is [Music] what's happening um where do I turn it on okay so he's asking for better conditions um I guess he's a student a newcomer and he's asking for better conditions for his uh his school um you know bilingual education so in general um he's asking for a better education in this with the district they have the right to to that better education thank you hello my

066name is Nicole Barajas um I'm in seventh grade and I attend Betty read Sasuke Middle School one of my concerns is the lack of teachers I originally had a first period teacher but about after [Music] two to like three months um yeah I told us that he was going to quit and we asked why he said because it wasn't um it didn't suit him well and it wasn't paying enough after we have been juggling with teachers and it is very hard for me and my class to know when or what teacher we're gonna get we have been um getting like teacher applications but then soon after we realized our principal tells us that we're not going to get them because of the lack of money it pays um the supplies is also a concern some

067people don't have pencils so when we ask the teachers they don't have any either I think that it shouldn't be the teacher who paid it out of their pocket I think it should there should be money that goes to them I think that but the reason that some kids are unable to focus is because of the lack of materials that they have to do any work at all I think that it should be your guys's job to give enough money to the teacher so that the kids can focus I just think that we we should be able to get paid more and where is the money going in the next following people please come to the front or Linda figuero figure figueredo Daniela Valenzuela Denise Williams sitlali oseguera and Araceli Vazquez hello I'm Olinda figueredo

068a senior at John F Kennedy High School I have spent my entire education in the West Contra Costa Unified School District I may be leaving this District but teachers like Miss Huerta Miss Avendano Mr Bader and Mr K need to stay foreign these teachers and so many more at the K work so hard and make such a difference in many students lives they don't just teach they listen and make us feel safe do you know how many teachers have to use their period their designated time to plan lessons call parents collaborate meet with students Etc this takes a little time in the school day that they have to themselves we need them to stay we need good permanent reliable and high qualified teachers to help pave the way for future success WCC USD students are

069the future and for that reason we need teachers to stay you need to pay them what they deserve period comes and I am a member of this community um and I just I I came to say I go to Easter Hill United Methodist Church and I came to say r-e-s-b-e-c-t give those teachers but they need [Music] respect oh soccer John soccer don't talk to a little respect second Drive they keep on trying spending the hell done and they ain't lying r-e-s-p-e-c-t find out what it means to teach r-e-s-b-e-t-t take care teachers please in Spanish foreign the video oh that was a lot so she's a student from Kennedy High School and they are also newcomers and they are here to ask for a better education there's not enough teachers in their school that are bilingual

070and sometimes the students are scared to go to talk to the office because nobody speaks Spanish they're at the office sometimes it is the right to to have an education they would like to have answers um they want to live in a society free without fear they would like to have more support from the West Contra Costa if there's no teachers there's no learning and how can they finish their their career they they have in mind the goal to learn English and go to university but if there's no teachers how can achieve the goals unfortunately also the school the Kennedy High School doesn't have um good Services sometimes the bathrooms are not clean or they don't have good food so they would like to feel supported from you to be better in the future do

071better in their in their future thank you um Kennedy High School um English I'm an English letter I'm a newcomer I'm a Hispanic and um I'm going to talk in Spanish because I don't feel comfortable uh talking to English so I'm sorry I'm sorry okay um [Music] thank you sorry um todos and Kennedy High School in Glendo are Nosotros versus opportunities and and um thank you it's okay we could have her to come up please and finish her thought uh I know she lost time because of translation uh see for her thank you studiantes and Kennedy High School Sony's Panos is [Music] I'm muchas personas the Kennedy High School okay thank you just I don't know what else to say just thank you very much for paying attention thank you she's a student from Kennedy

072High School and as all the Hispanics that come to this uh country they are here to get uh they are following a dream they are here looking for better opportunities for better chances um she doesn't feel prepared at Kennedy High School they don't feel um that they don't feel supported from the district um there's a lot of students that don't have the courage to come and talk uh in front of you with the board they are shy so that's why she's here speaking on behalf of all of them they are grateful for having the ELD program however they need more support from the teachers and the principals and sometimes they feel lost they are looking for a better future they at the beginning they had a teacher that was teaching them science but then after

073a couple of weeks she left so then they started receiving instruction online but they unfortunately the all the classes or the web that they were using um they were in English not in Spanish so they are still of course struggling to understand the lessons um so she's grateful for the chance to be here in in this country and receiving an education um that's what they are all looking for but they don't feel supported thank you my name is aracely Vasquez I am a DOI teacher and parent of this District this is my sixth year teaching and most likely my last um I'm also considering my fifth grade and my TK uh children to attend a charter school I used to say with pride that I was a PR a product of this District I I'm

074also an English learner I attended Chavez Elementary School Adams Middle School Richmond High I was the first member of my family to attend college I graduated from UC Berkeley and I got my masters at USF I did my teaching credential in San Francisco but I knew I wanted to come back to Richmond because this is my community I grew up here but I am very disappointed in this District I'm very disappointed of the lack of support for the DLI program teachers are not being heard and my son is not receiving the education he deserves I'm not worried about getting another job I'm sure I could get another job somewhere else because I am Highly Educated I'm by literate not only do I speak I read and write Spanish and English and and I have an

075exceptional work that takes so I know if you don't make a change if you don't hear us and you don't listen to us you're going to lose a lot of students but a lot of teachers as well so please pay as a living wage thank you and the following people come to the front Maria Ponce Andrea no last name Elsa Stevens Alejandra Segura and Alex Walker Griffin good evening my name is Maria Ponce and I am a long time resident of Richmond I am a product of the school district I went to Wilson which is now Obama I went to Adams and I went to Kennedy High so I am very aware of the struggles with our schools but one being the low retention rate of qualified teachers I have two children that are attending

076school in this district one at Kennedy High School and the other at Mira Vista my son seventh grade class just recently got a full-time teacher but had been with that one since the beginning of the school year Kennedy High School at least I thought was only one vacancy but apparently there's multiple in case you weren't aware this is not okay we must be able to attract qualified teachers and pay them a living competitive wage and retain the ones we have think about this these individuals sought out to make a career in education they navigated through their various obstacles went to college got their teaching credential all because they want to make an impact on our children's lives yet it is disheartening when they realize they can't make ends meet because a job they work so

077hard for does not give them Financial stability some often change career paths knowing that their true calling is to be a teacher or they leave to other nearby districts for a better pay as the saying goes children are our future well guess what what kind of future do you envision with the current situation we are in let's give our children an opportunity to be educated by the teachers that have been here through thick and thin they often take work home long after the school day has ended and yet they are not compensated for it it is unreasonable to think that they don't deserve to have better wages and benefits if we want to be able to compete with other districts let's start by retaining our teachers for our children's sake Elsa Stevens I'm a resident

078of Richmond I attend Easter Hill United Methodist Church my brethren in this room my brethren outside my brethren online and the community at large have been educated by the show Abbott Elementary foreign our soloist from our church earlier LED this group in respect and we're very proud of her the community is on the side of the teachers union um my kids call me Miss Andrea I'm not only a teacher in the school district for the last 10 years I'm a parent of a student this is my community this is my home and it's funny that we're here speaking because it is January and I'm gonna start with I got a dream and this ain't it this this ain't it we've got teachers who are stressed out can't afford rent can't afford I gotta get glasses

079I'm lacking on things my kids are hurting my teachers are hurting you got people who are employed who don't need to be employed or you move them around I I'm up here and if I'm up here I I feel like what you offering people is a slap in the face if you're not for us you're against us what are you doing I'm stressed out I'm struggling to stay on top of everything not only am I trying to live and be a better person every day and show that my kids should stand up for themselves well guess what I'm an adult and I'm tired and I'm a stand-up for myself you tell us to teach a fight we're fighting I shouldn't have to be dying each day to wonder how I'ma live in the future I

080got anxiety I'm now on high blood pressure medication how do you sleep at night you better go home and guess what I'm about to do I've been at home all day and then I gotta turn up and do it again while I see kids being abused sitting in the office people not showing up for work and then you want me to help out and and I I don't even I because I can't pass a Spanish test that you won't pay me for bilingual but I'm up here teaching and still trying to to communicate with kids and parents please how do you sleep at night look at us you've been a lose what are you doing good evening board my name is Alex Walker Griffin I had the pleasure of serving as the mayor of Hercules

081but more importantly I'm an alumni of this District I'm a proud graduate of Ohlone Elementary Hercules middle and Hercules high school and I wish I came here tonight on better terms but quite frankly I'm disappointed in the direction that my home District that my grandparents left Jim Crow Mississippi sent my mother to to believe in the American dream and we're not believing in our teachers we know we live in one of the most expensive places on Earth and we know that these salaries are not keeping up which is wise the mayor of Hercules from one elected official to another I am demanding that you gratefully and rightfully bargain with the teachers of this District we've heard it a million times not the youth or our future and it's time we act like this it's time

082we do something about it you see I'm a product like I said of Hercules my more importantly a product of the teachers who invested in me my fifth grade teacher Miss Nam who still teaches at alonia to this day is the reason why I didn't take my own life she's the reason why I believed in myself every single day we have teachers grading addressing those phone calls addressing the needs of the students and it's time we show them the respect that they freaking deserve there really is no incentive to come to this district from the conversation that I've been hearing I don't know why anyone would want to work here but you know what I have learned tonight people give a damn about these kids they care about this community they put their Blood Sweat

083and Tears into this city in these cities in these communities every single day and it's time we give them the respect that they deserve thank you we're following people to the front please Elsa Stevens Alejandra Segura Ken Ryan Gabby michaletti and Andrea living house baby please repeat the names one more time please Elsa Stevens Alejandra Segura Ken Ryan Gabby Micheletti and Andrea living house good evening my name is Ken Ryan I'm president of the adult school teachers union yeah yeah and and we're here in support of uh the K-12 teachers uh I'm I was looking at one of the Flyers and they're asking for competitive wages Community Schools and shared decisions three issues which The Adult School teachers share with the K-12 teachers nine of the ten adult ESL teacher 9 of 10 adult ESL

084teachers at Richmond High School at night are full-time K-12 teachers in our district during the day they can't make ends meet on their full-time salary the second issue Community Schools before the pandemic there were adult ESL classes at 14 Community sites uh the ESL program is now centralized at three sites parents and parents at one school in eastern have been asking for adult ESL classes for two years The Adult School teachers have advocated to return classes to where parents live but the answer from Administration has been no there can be no equity if the administration does not listen and act upon what the community and teachers want competitive wages Community Schools and shared decision making thank you hello Dr Hurst board members good to see you tonight I've seen you at a lot of school

085board meetings and at those school board meetings I have said teachers do not want to strike and teachers deserve a competitive wage now I know it's just been me and like four other people in this meetings but I hope you saw the seven 800 people here tonight because we are not playing games and it's time time for you to settle this subject we deserve competitive waiters so that we could keep teachers in every student's classroom there should not be students in this District trying to learn biology from a teacher on Zoom they don't get a lab how are they supposed to learn science you guys need to show some respect to the people who do the work of this District my school Verde Community School it's been a community school for a while there's a

086lot of things our school provides for the community many services and that is where that money needs to go not contractors not books in English we didn't ask for for students who are speaking Spanish and need practice in any language let's start actually doing what the community needs let's take care of our students because the whole point of being a school district is to teach the students who will lead our democracy tomorrow good evening we are the K-12 speech language pathologist Department of the United teachers of Richmond we perform a myriad of tasks including evaluations providing speech therapy writing and holding IEPs collaborating with teachers parents and staff logging student attendance and therapy notes we serve and support some of our most vulnerable population every person deserves to have their voice heard especially students with

087communication deficits however burnout has unfortunately become a word I hear too often among my colleagues we have been struggling to fill open positions in the last three years the district's refusal to give us the salary increase that our Union proposed is not going to help us recruit District slps slps in our neighboring districts have been given salary increases with less work days why would we work here under these circumstances we are in dire need of slps and we can't attract them if the district does not give us a salary increase that will help them live decent lives we chose our field of work because we want to help our students be heard and find their voice but in order to support our students and families we need to be able to care for ourselves first

088the district has received historic funding despite what they otherwise tell you they have the means to fund our salary proposal and recruit District slps as well as a certificated teacher in every classroom your refusal to participate in community schools grants us a lot about your misguided values as leaders in education we implore you to do better and we're prepared to strike if we have to make these changes ourselves I think it's prioritize our families and students needs by supporting us and the proposals by our Union or you will lose us May the following people come to the front Rachel grotkey Sam clear Evelyn Smith Alexander Gonzalez and Rebecca raycon hello I'm Rachel grotkey and I teach second grade at ellerhorse do you saw me speak at our previous utr rally in September and I'm pretty

089angry that I have to be here again because uh obviously our message didn't get across four months ago since we're currently in fact finding I'm here to give you some facts I didn't have to go find while negotiating for almost a year the district has purposely dragged its feet and insulted us over and over again they showed its gratitude for teachers by declaring impasse right before Thanksgiving break they wasted our time at the first mediation session this time right before December break this is where their holiday cheer for us during break I spent gift cards from parents and students who do appreciate me I got to buy groceries at Trader Joe's before the holidays with none of my own money I got to buy basic things like toilet paper cat food new warm socks for

090the winter with gift cards at Target and I cannot tell you how nice it was to be able to do this these are not luxury items these are needed Essentials this year is eight points one second they'll turn they'll turn it on for you could we stop the clock for a second there we go it was at like 48 seconds yeah thank you we can bring it up to 50 seconds thank you these are needed Essentials cola this year is 8.7 but we haven't even been offered that which would honestly only be breaking even we need and deserve more even after yanking teachers from their sites in September to fill other vacancies there are still positions not filled I attended these schools as well as both of my parents I've spent half of my life

091teaching in this District this is not the case for the highest paid leaders of our district they come from out of state or from other areas of California and they do not know our community as we do and they will be gone before most of us we are tired of the district Shenanigans and we will strike believe it these are your facts um good evening everyone I appreciate getting the opportunity to speak my name is Sam clear and I'm a third grade teacher in union rep at Siege Elementary it's my sixth year there you all have heard me speak in multiple board meetings uh one-on-one through emails and you've heard me on the news stage the conditions that Siege are unbearable we have mold there have been Rats the windows won't open you can't see

092out of them and we wonder would you send your loved ones to a state to a facility such as stages would you send them there would you have a loved one work in these conditions would you come and work in these conditions you have heard from us we need to hear from you last year we conducted a very successful sick out none of the teachers went only a fourth of the student population went to school those days and you don't think we'll strike now stage is a community school we need to focus on our community schools at stage all the teachers came back from last year our student population Grew From around 200 to 260. families and children love going to Siege now do we want everyone to come back do we want all the

093teachers and staff members to come back do we want to continue seeing the success then we need to focus on our community schools stages like Community School we need to include Community School language and our contracts hi my name is Evelyn Smith I am a special education teacher at Coronado School I work with the youngest students in our school district over and over my parents tell me how much they appreciate the work I do with their students this is very meaningful for me because I am very dedicated and very hard working 21 years all of your teachers are just like me teachers who work overtime for free I almost I I've heard you Dr Hurst all you trustees talk about how much you appreciate the work the teachers do and now you need to show

094your appreciation through action you need to accept what our bargaining team has put on the table between December 2018 and December 2022 inflation Rose by 14.57 in the Bay Area I am now earning less than what I was earning in 2018 because I haven't had a raise in five years show your appreciation to your teachers by offering us a fair wage a fair wage increase that is competitive with districts in our surrounding areas if you do not act you will lose more teachers you will lose more speech therapists and you will lose more school psychologists no more words just act and accept what our bargaining team has put on the table you will lose your passionate new teachers I hear them over and over again I can't afford rent I want to move out on

095my own and you are going to lose experienced teachers like me good evening School Board my name is Alexander Gonzalez I am a teacher at Richmond High School please a route of Applause for Richmond High School all right so I'm going to start off with you saw what happened on Monday I know everybody did so I am honestly outraged and appalled at something that that caliber had to happen for us teachers to deal with on top of this honestly guys you need to look at each and every one of yourselves teachers deserve a living wage I come from Vallejo every day commuting pay a toll of 200 every month get the shirt off my back to my students pay everything that they asked me for Waters anything they asked me for I don't question it

096and I still have to come every day to something like that to happen in my school and guess what now you don't even want to pay us guess what I came from Fireball I'm a first generation student came with a 3.7 GPA graduated from UCSB and got my teaching credential at Fresno State guess what I left the valley to come here to teach here and guess what I may go back because you know what you can't afford me I want to stay here I love my kids and I implore you to think inside your hearts and think you're hurting people like good people like me all those teachers behind you and outside you want to see passion you got it right here my kids are going to debate they're going to the National debate uh

097tournament on March 31st through April 2nd I got them there oh yeah the following people piece come to the front Rebecca raycon Bill Hodges Thomas gagne Maricela Lopez and Colleen Valentine the next five speakers will be our last speakers in the room good evening my name is Maricela Lopez Suarez and I'm a member of utr within the psychology department however these days I'm best known as Miss Mari the wraparound facilitator and the therapist at Highland Elementary from our school-based clinic in the world of business there's a lot of talk about team building and the positive effects on workers productivity we know that feeling valued and appreciated in our place of employment makes for a better work climate that is conducive to giving the best of ourselves our work climate has taken a big hit with

098the challenging negotiations I feel undervalued and underappreciated by the leadership of my district a district I've devoted nearly 20 years of my professional career not only do I work here I'm also a tax paying resident of the city of Richmond I moved here over 12 years ago wishing to be an integral member of my community as a resident and an employee I don't want to leave my community because I feel undervalued and under-appreciated I want to continue to give the best of myself to the children and the families of this community I want to run into my families when I go to the grocery store and when I'm eating at a local restaurant I want to be able to see the kids and their families years later I have no interest in drive driving 20

09930 or 45 minutes to be able to give to the kids of those communities I lost my place I want to be here I want to stay here and I want to contribute to the families and their healing journey in this District day in and day out I witnessed the suffering of our families and believe that our community our community schools would be a step in the right direction to address the multi-dimensional needs of our families to support our children be most available for learning we are in a crisis and we need to keep our teachers our support staff and every member of this District who is the backbone of every word of the work that we do thank you thank you hello my name is Bill Hodges I'm a teacher every day okay and

100um I think it was eight years ago in 2014 2015 I started teaching in the school district it was my very first school year for first year as a full-time teacher I moved back to California after living in Boston and getting my master's at UMass I came back to California because this is where I'm from and I love it here um I met the most amazing inspirational powerful Educators I met a woman who became an amazing mentor to me um and I got to teach here for two years and so that was that brings me to seven years ago where I was standing here around this same exact time and it sounds to me like I'm hearing the exact same thing seven years later and seven years ago I left and I went to another

101district for five years and that brings me up to about two years ago when um that same Mentor who still teaches in this District today and who's an amazing woman who I'm still inspired by every day and she said hey this we we need we need teachers here and I thought well why not I'll give it I'll give Wisconsin another try because the people that I met here the people that I have here tonight are so inspiring they're so dedicated to the students the people of this community and it's really disappointing to hear the same exact things after seven years that you continue to do the same hello my name is Colleen Ballantine I am a special education teacher at Ella Horst Elementary School I hold the position of special services director on the United

102teachers of Richmond executive board I as well hold a position of Vice chair of the bargaining team so about seven years ago I began speaking to you about the fact that I live with my mommy I cannot afford to move out I always said my kid will probably move out before I do she did I did not I cannot luckily I totally dig and love my mommy roommate and she loves me she even went on an egg hunting adventure for me so with that said about a week ago Grocery Outlet Bargain Market 12 eggs costed 7.99 18 eggs costed 9.99 so about 10ish dollars for 18 eggs that's about 55 cents per egg I'm not fancy at math I eat two eggs a day about five days a week so we break that down to

103about 22 bucks a month 264 dollars a year painting spring eggs is not an option this spring I previously mentioned that the dollar store increased by 25 from a dollar to a dollar 25 I am now priced out of the dollar store and we will be painting potatoes this year I last spoke and shared a poem for preschoolers about sharing my four and five-year-olds at work share better than West Contra Costa Unified School District I often speak tongue-in-cheek because many other people can bust out some really fantastic facts but this is anecdotal yet very realistic you will bleed teachers to surrounding districts if you don't learn how to share and treat their treat these Educators with the respect and compensation they deserve thank you good evening I'm Thomas Garnier I'm an English and theater teacher

104over at De Anza High School thank you uh you know an interesting incredible moment happened while I was standing outside waiting to get through these doors there were about 700 people outside with signs ready to ready to you know take whatever action we need and yet somehow the teacher the brand new teacher this is her first year the teacher I was speaking with she and I ended up speaking about the new students that we got today and how we can best support them and it just stood out to me how incredible these teachers are and how long we've had our passion for our students taken advantage of look around you have students teachers parents an incredible Community asking for you to allow them to buy into schools and yet despite that they're being ignored and

105it makes me think that instead of being part of this incredible Grassroots movement this incredible Community where instead being treated like cogs in a machine which of course makes me think of the Mario Sabio speech about how there comes a time when the operation of a machine becomes so odious that it makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part in it and you have to throw yourself on the gears and on the levers and ensure that unless our demands are met that machine will be prevented from working at all ready I don't know what it is that has convinced you that we're not ready to strike but I promise you you're wrong thank you board I know we have gone two two hours one second we have gone two hours with public

106comment I know we extended one hour um if it's if there's no objections I would like to extend another 30 minutes for the people on Zoom and I apologize there's close to 130 of you sign up for public comment unfortunately we simply cannot accommodate everybody but we're trying our best so I hope you understand uh we're gonna switch to zoom um because otherwise it'll be over five hours of public comment which we of course hear uh very much um and thank you for being here so we're gonna transition we're gonna transition to zoom thank you okay we're gonna transition to the first 15 minutes to 15 people and soon please our next public comment is Kim dower sargentini please unmute yourself hello my name is Kim dower sargentini I've taught in the district for 27

107years my children attend district schools this year has been challenging we've been down staff all year we have a substitute shortage we have to split classes and take students routinely we're still having issues with attendance still children are making progress based on our recent Star scores we urge you to settle our contract we are ready to strike we're prepared to strike but none of us want to strike but we're almost resolved that it's the only option we're left with as a parent and teacher I'm really sad at what this is going to do to our students they'll go backwards in their progress most parents say they're going to keep their kindergartners home I imagine a large amount of absence will lead us to lose more funding I can't even imagine trying to start over again

108after a strike when it's taken me so long to get to the point where I am in this pandemic setting I have students with special needs it will be stressful for them they thrive on routine and they will have nothing but chaos I have colleagues that intend to leave the district it's been happening for years but other districts have positions open and they're offering ten thousand dollar bonuses and one is offering a 20 raise it sounds appealing and people who have 10 to 15 years in our district have told me they intend to leave because other districts will apparently now transfer 17 to 20 years we're hemorrhaging staff we conduct these Equity studies but then nothing seems to change and we don't seem to improve our working conditions our students need teachers we have some

109great teachers and employees working in our district but we need respect and a living wage everything has gone up in society except for my paycheck I am begging you to urge the district to work with the teachers and settle this contract we don't want to strike but we will strike thank you our next public comment is Sydney Allen please unmute yourself hello my name is Sydney Allen I'm a kindergarten teacher over at Ohlone Elementary and this is my fifth year teaching I have been a utr rep now for three years and I don't know what I could say that is any different than you have been hearing all night long you cannot put our students first if you put our teachers and staff last it's as simple as that we have no reason to stay

110here if we can get a much better wage and buy houses move out of our parents houses if we can buy the supplies we want for our students because let's be real here we are buying more supplies for our students than the district is providing supplies for our students I love my kindergartners they think I'm the perfect teacher because which kindergartners don't think their teachers are perfect I want to stay here for them and I love my community but the district does not treat me with respect and does not show that they care about me so why would we say we will strike we will succeed but do we really have to do it if you can direct your bargaining team to bargain and settle with us on salary and Community Schools if it is

111not written in our contract it will not happen it is written in our contract that the district has to provide soap for our classrooms we really have to write something as simple as that in our contract for it to actually be provided then of course we're going to push for our salaries and Community Schools to be written in our contract because if it is not written in our contract it will not happen thank you our next public communist Tomas Flores please unmute yourself hi uh my name is Tomas Flores I'm a parent of a student at aloni uh soon to be too um and uh right now I'm gearing up to hire a bunch of Camp counselors for the city that I work for and I looked at the pay for the jobs in the

112area for the people that I'm targeting that might be applying to see you know when I post my positions that the pay will be competitive and attract people to apply ensure my applicants may love working with kids um in a nature setting they may even want to become Educators themselves and have a passion for working with children of all ages and abilities but as an employer I know that their passion will not pay their bills and as a human I refuse to exploit that passion even if it saves my city a few dollars and why will I mean in the end people who are compensated fairly for the work they do are happier happier employees for me means happy campers and very happy Parents wccusd is more than welcome to copy this model I didn't

113think I'd have anything to offer as a recruiter because my background is in education but apparently with all the companies and districts claiming that no one wants to work while ignoring disparity in pay and the rising cost of living it seems they do have something to offer to employers who are recruiting and or negotiating with their employees pay your teachers what they're worth you'll retrain you'll retain and attract great teachers who aren't worried about trying to make ends meet you'll find that your teachers are not so burned out you'll find people who had even returned to the profession if they could afford to live on that salary as I said in the previous meeting you pay teachers what they're worth or you'll end up with teachers who are worth what you're paying and that's not

114nearly enough thank you our next public comment is Maisha Harris gash please unmute yourself please unmute yourself thank you it finally showed up all right I'm a Kennedy teacher and a very proud Community graduate as well a personal pain was recently it touched me recently after watching the Richmond High School video I remember my black male student coming to me to vent because a Latino student kept using the n-word in their class my student asked this teacher to address it but it didn't stop my student asked me to speak with my colleague about the offensive work repeatedly being used the conversation ended with me telling my colleague that if my student came to me one more time about that racist word there would be several complaints filed I share my experience because I continually wonder

115who uplifts our black males who values their presence validates their lived experience in this community and in the school district who truly provides them with a safe space to express their hurts anger frustrations and more importantly to express their dreams I can say with confidence that every School site in this District can do better and we need to do better am I ready for the murmuring that will follow my words tonight absolutely I am what I will say is this instead of murmuring let's have a discussion let's take affirmative action to make things better for our black male students who is one of the most disrespected in these United States of America someone who looks like trusty Christian trustee Phillips and someone who looks like Dr Hearst I'm sure they've had to weather many storms

116as they were coming up and going into their manhood we have a responsibility to help our black male students to weather their storms to grow into their productive manhood so let's work together and let's not murmur in our individual Corners let's come together let's have a conversation and let's make things better for our black male students thank you our next public comment is Karen Van Winkle please unmute yourself foreign my name is Karen Van Winkle I'm a proud mom of three West Contra Costas School District students I've proudly taught in the district for 24 years this year our district is projected to spend only 29 percent of our total budget on teachers while other neighboring districts are spending almost 40 percent of their total budget on teachers do the math West Contra Costa currently has

117142 vacancies to the math treat us with respect and I agree with former speakers if you're not for us you're against us and we are ready to strike thank you our next public comment is Phyllis Mandel please unmute yourself please unmute yourself next public comment is Chandra share please unmute yourself good evening my name is Chandra sure and I'm sure you're getting familiar with my voice as I've been calling in quite frequently I'm a second and third grade teacher at Ohlone Elementary and this year due to stopping shortages at other schools we had two teachers taken from us my class was collapsed and made into a 2-3 combo and this was all because we started the year with over 200 vacancies because we can't compete with the salary and benefits in neighboring districts you have

118received record Government funding for the purpose of increasing salaries yet you continue to spend less than other districts in the Bay Area on people who work directly with students you cannot say you can't afford to pay us because the reality is you cannot afford not to there are still over a hundred teacher vacancies in our district while there aren't any in other districts I was raised by a single mother and attended public school for my entire educational career I made it all the way to UC Berkeley for my undergraduate degree because I had qualified experienced teachers who cared about me and rooted for my success I want nothing less for my students I implore you to put my students and their Futures first by ensuring their class is never collapsed mid-year Again by ensuring they

119never have a class without a teacher and by ensuring their teachers are compensated for the value of their hard work and dedication fix the salary shortcomings that keep Educators from teaching here thank you our next public comment is gig Jenkins please unmute yourself hi my name is geek Jenkins I'm a teacher second grade teacher at Ford Elementary School I'm at most I'm also a bargaining team member for utr my question for you is why why has this District gone out on an out on an all-out attack on its Educators refusing to bargain in good faith why would this District rather pay consultants and lawyers and contractors top dollar and not pay its Educators a cost of living increase why does this District come to the Educators asking for concessions when a struggling financially but Fike

120says when we are asking for the money the state directed toward the classrooms to go to the classroom why does this District feel our students in the West Contra Costa County Unified School District don't deserve access to experience qualified teachers in their classrooms like neighboring districts do why does this District not see the value of the work of its employees that work mostly most closely with its students why can't the district recognize that it why can't the district recognize that it can't hire new teachers to fill our classroom and is in danger of losing its experienced teachers after to districts that will pay them their worth why is this District refusing to provide Community Schools that work for our communities why our next public comment is Luis Chacon please unmute yourself yeah good evening uh

121folks thank you my name is Luis Chacon um I am alumni at Richmond High School current teacher at Richmond High School I have children in the district family members in the district friends that work in the district that send their children to this District I'm very embedded in this District um but for as long as I've been embedded in this District I remember the first time I'm in high school when I heard um that unions were a thing and that the board was a thing was a teacher of mine to really helped guide me into college and telling me that the district was just not coming to the table to negotiate with teachers clearly not a thing has changed we spent a lot of time in the last couple years talking about wanting to move

122in the direction of being an anti-racist District yada yada yada clearly we are not maintaining ourselves to that commitment how can we possibly be an anti-racist District but we are not prioritizing our students who are predominantly black and brown how can we be an anti-racist District when we're not taking care of our teachers teachers that like myself that are expected to not only teach but be counselors be advisors be mentors be health care workers be social workers we are burnt out and now now we have to fight for our wages and now you're telling us that you can't even be like moving the direction of Community Schools when it's something that I sold to my students and the families that I work with and sold it as This Magnificent thing and hosted focus groups and

123invested a lot of energy and now that was just another false dream and another Falls hope that the district is selling students and families this is outright embarrassing there's really no other way to describe it other than embarrassing for far too long this district has not served our students in the right way and enough is enough pay us and support us thank you our next public comment is Olivia araisa please unmute yourself next public comment is Corey Aguila please unmute yourself good evening my name is Gloria Aguilar and I'm the Director of Education and economic Justice at the right center in Richmond is with great honor and humility that I'm able to speak in front of each and every one of you tonight even if it's on Zoom for years rise has co-created safe spaces

124grounded in social justice that build youth power for young people to love learn educate heal and transform their lives and their communities we believe that the future of our city is in the hands of our youth and we will continue to stand firmly in this belief as we continue the work that we do every day in particular rise establishes education and justice department to directly address the inequities within two systems that intersect at various points and all too often have disproportionately negative impact on youth of color we now stand at a Crossroads that once again reminds us who we are impacting the most as we make these decisions that will change the future of Richmond this district and the future of education at Large this District was granted a large sum of money to begin

125the Community Schools transformation that was intended to hold our families our teachers and community members and young people at the center of how we move forward is with this great task that I ask that we continue to Center our loved ones who maybe can't be here physically but who are in our hearts and our minds we held listening sessions with hundreds of our community members and after listening we know what we need to do our young people fight like hell every day to survive educate themselves and reach their full potential and we will continue to follow their lead I thank each and every one of you for being here we will stay grounded in loving rage and we will continue to examine and critique these systems that are built on this trauma thank you our

126next public comment is Angela Brandt please unmute yourself foreign Ute yourself next public comment is Leah chain please unmute yourself hello um I'm speaking to you guys again this year because nothing has really changed since I spoke to you last year when you guys were considering cutting teachers and staff um we still have a lack of teachers the shortages way worse this year um my school Valley View Elementary started off this year or at the start of the work year without a fourth grade fifth grade or sixth grade teacher or a fourth to sixth grade mmsn teacher that's a special ed class um sixth grade never found a permanent teacher they had two different Subs who eventually left the students slowly one by one transferred to different schools because the district never made a decision

127on what to do with this class until finally the classroom was dissolved many of those students had attended Valley B since kindergarten and this was supposed to be their year to celebrate their graduation instead some went to middle schools without a graduation and others have to adjust to different elementary schools in the middle of the school year the fourth or sixth grade special ed class was lucky to find the long-term sub but they still do not have a permanent teacher this is the second year in a row where that class has not had a permanent qualified teacher I'm also at work at Cameron preschool and their special educational classrooms were full and wait listed very early in the school year and we did not have the staff to open up new classrooms um and I

128want to remind you guys that that you guys are legally required to provide these services that are listed on a student's IEP and the district has not done that this year thank you our next public comment is Judy Straw please unmute yourself hello yes we can hear you good evening board and Dr Hurst I'm a parent of two children at Ohlone Elementary School this year my second granddaughter was impacted by your Staffing shortage when they collapsed your class and turned it into a 2-3 combination class some of her friends were transferred out of her class and 12 third graders were transferred in this caused a lot of unnecessary Stress and Anxiety for her and for her friends my daughter and their classmates deserve to be in stable learning environment with the caring and supporting teacher

129every year wccusd needs to re-prioritize its budget to ensure we are attracting qualified teachers and keeping them in our schools for more years to come our district will not be able to recruit or retain teachers without a without competitive salary please make this a priority our community appreciates and supports our teachers and will do whatever it takes to make sure we don't lose them thank you so much in our last public comment for tonight is Lauren mccollins please unmute yourselves hi my name is Lauren mccollins I am a mother of two little ones a kindergartner and a second grader at Ohlone Elementary I I stay here tonight um to say that our teachers our parents and our students do not need a better future they need a better now and right now is the time

130to stand on the right side of History you went and got elected for this position and you told the people you told the parents you told all of us what you were going to do for us be that person be that person I understand all the pressure of what it feels when you're standing there and you have a choice to make on a budget and prioritize the people the children they know they know what you said you would do so be it and so if we have to look back on years from now are you going to be on the side that showed I didn't even try I didn't even push further when we want to make people that the the Societies in the world that make a difference and that people want to be

131at are the ones that prioritize families and children and teachers the ones that we go wow look at those places on Earth why don't we go why don't we look like them we can be that and especially as a as a board of color as a board of color people of color come with it show them that we can lead like lions and that we can lead and make sure that we ensure our families and our children are not looking for just a better future but they're having a better right now I asked that and I asked that on behalf of all these families and all these children they're going to make history thank you so much to all of our Educators parents and students for calling in uh yes trustee reichler I have a

132brief comment if I may um we will have time for comments uh but not right now um so we're gonna actually take a break at the request of another board member uh so we're gonna take 10 minute break um and then we're gonna come back and uh continue with our agenda uh just directly we will have time for comments though we will come back at 9 10. thank you thank you for your patience okay look at our agenda we are now heading into agenda review and adoption Dr Hurst and I are pulling item number E1 the summit item for the public who was waiting to comment on Summit the reason why is because we got documents turned into us by Summit Charter today which did not allow us to review it so we are bringing

133back this item in February one staff has had a chance to look through all the documents sent to us thank you um so board is there any other changes to our agenda yeah okay with no objections we'll move okay uh now we're gonna move to approval of minutes from January 11th 2023 or are there any changes to the minutes foreign yes thank you I do have a change on the January 11th minutes B5 report out of closed session should be expulsions of students not explosions of students thank you for that big distinction uh trust you real quick are there any other changes wonderful there any objections all right with that one changed it is moved um okay we're moving we're moving approved excuse me we're moving now to consent uh board are there any consent

134items anyone like to pull trustee reckler yes I'd like to pull C4 contracts and then I have a comment on C15 approve appointments a board trustee to communities okay thank you any others okay we're gonna um come back to C4 and C15 um without objections we'll approve the rest of the consent foreign Dr Hurst we'll move to your communication please thank you if you can bring up the report and while we're bringing up the report we want to bring up the PowerPoint first and then I'll do the other piece but I want to share a statement that I have for the community dear WCC USDA community I want to Echo our community's concern regarding the incident that occurred in the classroom at Richmond High School on Monday January 23rd in which a student used the

135racial slur toward a staff member and that staff member responded by physically assaulting the student I would like to share our immediate response to the incident and also share our commitment to addressing the underlying issues that this incident has laid before us on behalf of the West Contra Costa Unified School District I strongly condemn the use of any racial slurs or harmful language as well as the use of physical violence schools must be psychologically and physically safe in order for our students to learn and for educators to teach physical violence by any adult is never appropriate and it's never appropriate response for a child furthermore acts of violence are deeply harmful to all present in the learning environment we also know that racial slurs are deeply harmful to students and staff and we're committed to

136restoring our learning environment that affirms the inherit dignity and worth of all members of our community we're fully investigating Monday's incident and staff are following up to ensure that there are appropriate administrative responses for all involved I can confirm that the staff member involved in Mundy's incident was immediately released from employment with wccusd while we do not discuss matters of student discipline I can also confirm that staff are following up with the student and their family in order to ensure an appropriate response and necessary support we're responsible for supporting the growth and development of all WCC USD students including after any transgression as a school community and as a learning institution we're committed to the safety and well-being of all students and staff this includes listening to the voices of our black students and Educators

137who have shared experiences in the wake of Monday's incident in addition to providing immediate and continuous mental support to Richmond High School students the school and District staff have worked with Richmond High School black student union in order to support student-led activism and organizing regarding the use of racial slurs and the treatment of black students and teachers at Richmond High School as superintendent I'm committed to ensuring that our district follows the lead of our young people and listens deeply to our educators we will ensure that the important organizing work of the Richmond High Community will be met by support and resources and action in order to create systemic and sustained change in action we're moving our timeline up to engage with the community meeting our employees our students business partners and community in developing our

138Equity statement and our stances on anti-racism and what we will not tolerate I also want to share with you a conversation I engaged with principal de Leon who's here in our audience he's been doing a great job using this incident as a teaching opportunity and also with his black student union organizing and asking for a call of action he actually submitted to me this evening principal de Leon the conversation that's been happening with his students but especially the black student union the call to action to stop using the n-word but also not just stop using the n-word but addressing it in the family as well so what does he need to do within the community to stop the use of racial slurs but especially that word that was used the n-word so I will share

139with you that we do have a commitment to move up our timeline as I share with principal de Leon we too want to really have that conversation community-wide around what we will not tolerate and what the actions will be if someone is using a racial slur we did send the email to the Rye Center and I did speak with them and they're interested in partnering with us and having a deliberate conversation around what's been happening with our young people and even our adults and it's not just at Richmond High School everyone it's across our district so we're really interested in addressing this issue immediately so we wanted to start off with that statement if we can bring up the PowerPoint first we if next page please we wanted to take the time to to honor

140our board members this is um January is board recognition month um and what I will share with you is we have our board members that are responsible for our Direction setting direction for the district and also protecting our district um I will say about each of our board members they love the community they love their communities as well their areas they love the district but most of all they deeply care for our students and they do everything they can in their power to make sure that we are headed in the right direction in support of our students so we wanted to take us this opportunity to lift up all of our board members and just share a big thank you to all of you and that we appreciate all of you as well so thank

141you for being our leaders we appreciate you next slide we want to before you hit the play button I just want to give a context um I had the opportunity along with trustee Christian to participate in the MLK Martin Luther King celebration uh El Cerrito High School we had a number of activities that were presented we had Kaden Blake and I'm sure many of you have heard of Kaden he was one of our former student trustees as I was coming in he did the welcome and they introduced him as Martin Luther King Jr and he did an outstanding welcome then they had some dancers as well some African-American women dancers that had performed two dances and there was also um poetry that was performed and then to cap off everything there was a minister that's

142related to Marcus Walton I think it was his brother and he came in and he did the closing and he did the I Have a Dream speech so I wanted to play a portion of that speech it was powerful so if we could pay attention please I think we have to start it over for the sound little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls and sisters and brothers I have a dream today I have a dream today that one day every violence y'all be exalted every Hill shall be made low in the rough places will be made playing in the Crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and All Flesh will see him together yes well that was

1431963. let me put a little bit of 2023 on it please [Music] [Applause] [Music] operated but Grandma educated in the state of California has more colleges in public schools than available I have approved because we have to stop and Justice and rather than judicial overreach I have a dream to death and institutional racism is ended I have agreed today I have three of the politicians are placing people over party and lining their pocket I have a dream today I am afraid that we can speed up that day when we can sing in the words of a whole Negro spiritual what to get the champion thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you it was a wonderful wonderful ceremony so we just wanted to share that with you and if we could bring up the other

144portion of the presentation yeah foreign so I wanted to share this with the board and the public I know it's a little small I had the opportunity to share this with the board president and Clerk doing an agenda setting but we had the opportunity the executive team to schedule a meeting with all of management across the district and nearly 200 managers were available at De Anza high school and it was an opportunity to really connect develop relationships but also share about the goals what was really important about this is we we started off we did a really nice activity to connect everyone um build those relationships but then we also talked about the purpose of that evening was to really share in detail what all of the goals were from goal one to goal seven

145that we've been talking with the board we also you can see here we've developed our whys like why is it important for us to focus on literacy and we're able to share that um with all of the managers so you have the why from Sonya nigley Johnson the wife from larisha Huffman as well if you scroll down just a little bit we spent time really talking about the what so what are we actually monitoring our progress we talked about literacy and I spoke about how that's going to be disaggregated also by student group and spent some time just sharing about that we talked about the the benchmarks as well we talked about reclassification reclassification goals and scroll down a little bit and right here what we did is we developed a big life-size posters and

146we posted them on the walls and we made four sets of seven since there's seven goals so that when we broke them up we really wanted every manager to be in a small group where they could see the goals they could understand why we're focusing on the goals they can see what we're focusing on specifically and then we asked them to give feedback we wanted their feedback so they were allowed to provide connections um to goals and the work that they are doing in schools or other departments we asked them to celebrate All also and write down feedback on what they could celebrate in that area as well and then we asked them also what needed to change in order for us to move in this direction and achieve this goal what needed to happen

147and I won't go into detail with all of the the goals the board is aware but if you can scroll down to the next page you can see we did the same thing here and you can see the why from louisia Huffman but also the wife from Mr Booker we talked specifically about what those goals were going to be in reducing violence and feelings of safety and connectedness also foreign and keep scrolling to the next page a big discussion around goal three around facilities and grounds and the tool that we'll be using to collect data on facilities and grounds and also work orders so you had Mr Freeze talk uh share his why and then also Mr Booker sure while we're focusing on this goal and as you can see in each one of these

148gold areas they were allowed to provide feedback in those three kind of areas that I shared earlier next slide we talked about technology even this though this is when I was not a gold that we talked about with the board we felt it was certainly necessary to have um our staff have this goal as well for ourselves to make sure that we have certain things in place for our students Chromebooks in place and also that we're monitoring the zendesk ticket system also so making sure that we are completing those now tickets in a timely manner next slide and then you can see this one as well a big conversation around recruitment retention and training also and you have Dr Greenwood and Conrad to NASA Chuck that shared their why why is this a focus area

149in next slide fiscal solvency and why this is a focus area as well and next slide we discussed Communications and we had Ms Sanders share her why here also and then what we're going to be focusing on and they provided feedback and then finally if we just scroll down to the last one we talked about governance and why it's important for us to focus on governance and also incorporating the strategic planning process in this and what I'll share with the the board of finally is that every executive Cabinet member at the end of the feedback session we did a gallery walk so everyone could see the feedback we're still looking at the data and looking at the trends so I'll be able to report out the trends once we have all that data but I'll

150share in my area I had to report out on what I was seeing as far as the feedback and one of the big pieces that they were sharing in areas 7 around strategic planning is alignment and coherence across the system is what all of our managers saying that we are seeking so understanding that we may be focusing on deeper learning or central office transformation we're looking at a graduate profile skills scaling for Student Success the strategic planning process the instructional Focus plan work that's happening in ed services everyone wants to know how all these pieces fit together so coherence across the system and they really also were asking in this area my area about the tangibility of everything so we've talked about the strategic planning process but Dr Hurst what does it really look like

151I feel like and sound like in the classroom moving toward our vision moving toward those graduate profile skills so that's some of the feedback just from my area and again I'll report back at a later time and give you some Trend data from the other areas but we just thought it was important to share with you what happened on this day a great day for the team who put this all together that concludes my report thank you Dr Hurst um board we're going to do three questions uh one minute comments for this section we're gonna have a extended comment at the end of the night if we have time of course um board are there any questions okay I don't see any hands race oh sorry trustee Santos uh trustee Baron if you have questions

152you're just welcome to raise your hand and I'll call you at that point okay I'll just proceed you really um okay uh let's move to comments are there any comments from from the board uh trustee Phillips thank you I know that excuse me I know that there's a lot uh going on in this district there always is um but I hope that the uh Equity audit that we did and the strategic planning that we are doing I hope those things can be expedited and I don't mean rushed because I understand that it's important work and it has to be done correctly but a lot of the things that I heard tonight in public comment um not so much about the raises right now I'm not commenting on that right now but a lot of the

153things that I did here I feel could be addressed and should be addressed uh in that Equity slash strategic planning process and that if we were further along in that process perhaps some of the issues that are being raised in public comment would not actually be being raised so I know there are many buyers and people are working hard to put them out but I do think we need to act with more urgency on most things thank you um did I see a hand on this side yes uh trustee Santos uh thank you um I really resonated with a lot of what was said during public comment and I hope that even if you guys didn't you understand that we definitely do a lot of the issues that were brought up were issues that we

154have seen firsthand some of the things like the bilingual students I have experienced that firsthand I couldn't be talking to you right now if those teachers weren't there teaching me English teaching me how to read teaching me how to write you couldn't have me up here if those teachers weren't there I need those teachers you need those teachers working for you and you really need to listen to them because they shouldn't have to strike they shouldn't have to do any of that those students those parents those teachers you have to listen to them they're here talking to you and they're telling you what their needs are and you need to listen to them thank you thank you trustee Santos we're going to go to trustee Barron uh yes um similarly to Daniella I'm appalled at

155the kind of mistreatment that teachers have faced that has led them to have to demand their Fair wages and be here tonight and I'm appalled to hear about 200 vacancies about departments that are essential to helping special ed children and bilingual children who need these kinds of teachers to help them further develop in life and be successful the whole point of aiding our teachers and providing them with Fair wages and a good life system is that they can continue educating our children and our students that we praise and we constantly are discussing and talking about how can we do better for them how can we improve our conditions to ensure our students are on a path towards a good career and success and we fully give our support to these teachers and we hope that

156they know that very dearly thank you um okay thank you uh Dr Hurst as well for your uh superintendent report uh okay we're gonna move to action items the first one is E2 acceptance from the Contra Costa County Office of Education I know report on William settlement legislation uh Mr Freeze is this your item yes it is so tonight we would ask the board to accept the Williams visitations uh for the first um period of 2223 this is the county report completed during the first four weeks of instruction there were no no findings or instructional materials are sufficient school facilities there are no facilities found that proposed emergency or urgent threat for health and safety and there are no uniform Williams complaints found during that period thank you Mr Freeze uh board are there any

157questions uh trustee Clerk sorry it's been one of those nights uh cleric Smith Folds thank you Mr Freeze can you tell me I looked at the um I looked at all the the sites that were on the list and it's it was about 215 Pages worth of information how were the sites chosen that were on the list so I believe there's 26 sites total and those are chosen through the state um and one of my colleagues may be able to help me out but it's actually uh used to be the decile one through three schools and how they were selected I believe there's another criteria on how they select those schools and that list is adjusted I believe it's it's about every three years they adjust that list based upon the scores so they rotate

158around our district every three years or no I'm sorry they don't rotate around the schools I can get you the information but the schools are selected at the state level based upon our test score information that's provided to the state thank you so much Dr Hurst how are we ensuring that our schools are equitably chosen I know that Mr Freeze just spoke to that the state has a kind of formula that they choose but do we have any input at all on the sites that are chosen because I know well here let me let me let me back up when we do the Williams walk through I know that my kids school gets a walk through but it's not on this list is this different than when the kids are told bring your books to

159class somebody's going to walk through is this a different list than that or is this the same walkthrough this is that list this is that list this is the list but I don't see my kids school on this list so how does that information Translate back does that make sense Mr Freeze does that make sense it does so the state only audits the schools that are in the lower decile levels um that they're assigned the district itself we actually do fit inspections for all of our facilities um I can't speak to the textbook portion of that though for the school sites that are not on the list okay that makes sense to me so the state looks at 20 something but we as a district look at all of them okay thank you president Gonzalez

160lawyer I'm complete thank you um board is there any other questions okay are there any comments oh yes okay is there a motion to adopt the report uh trustee Phillips could I just make a brief comment sure um and I'm piggybacking on this because of what the item is um but I I do think that we need to actually have a conversation around stage Elementary School um and what we're going to do with that school because there are a lot of hopes and desires and whatnot um and one thing that's not cool right is to lead people on so I I think that fits into the whole Williams conversation and it came up in public comment but I would like to see that yeah thank you um actually in the one-on-ones this week um staff

161did bring up Siege um because we are having a report on stage in February so that's coming okay yeah thank you okay board um if there are no uh trustee regular well I was just going to move it if you need go ahead please I'll go ahead and move the acceptance of the Contra Costa County Office of Education and a report for Williams settlement legislation thank you is there a second thank you trustee Christian um okay everybody uh we're gonna vote uh we already did them comments then I said okay any comments there anyone we did comments but I would make to like to make one since yeah I might have missed them go ahead uh clerk Smith I always have a hard time with the Williams complaints and I just have a hard time

162with William's complaints because I'm at sites and I just don't and Mr Freeze you visit sites too and you're and your team visit sites and Dr Hirsch you visit sites and some of the board members visit sites along with me so it's just hard for me to read something that doesn't match up with what my eyes see so that's why for me it's always um an abstention when it or most times it's an extension when it comes to Williams complaint I just wanted to say why so I'm complete thank you president Hoy Gonzalez Hoy thank you um okay uh trustee record I'm sorry this is a point of privilege I think I just got a text message that there's something wrong with the translation that there's a lot of interference and could the translation be

163checked thank you um why don't we check on that real quick I really don't know how we would um would one of the staff one of the cabinet members be able to maybe put in the translation and see what you hear sorry as you were walking away Ms Sanders I think I'm gonna have to talk for you to hear something um no it doesn't you can't hear well yeah she says that she can't hear it to you okay she doesn't know why she can't hear it clearly she can't hear her at all sounds like she can hear it but she can't hear it clearly yeah she can't oh now it's better okay I think we got it okay thank you okay thank you if uh trustee reckler if you he if you get another message

164let us know and we'll stop um okay everybody any other comments all right we're gonna move to the vote um the vote is to approve the report uh trustee Santos we'll start with you trustee Santos yay thank you trustee LaRon yay correctionals Smith Falls abstain trustee Christian yes trustee Phillips okay trustee reckler reckler yes thank you and I'm a yes it passes um four to one and two okay now we're gonna move to item is three uh Mr free Studio item as well yes it is thank you um tonight we're asking the board to approve Changers number 36 37 and 38 for the Pinole Valley high school project uh with more Direction any anytime we see 10 change orders on a particular job we bring them back as an action item this particular change order

165covers the removal of soils that were stockpiled for the rebuilding of the the hillside access gradient that was not accounted for and we had an increase in union wages to our labor reunion uh because our contractor was extended Beyond its original term these uh increases were imposed in the district owes the contractor for the difference in wage this particular change order is 10.41 on the total job uh total for this is 62.99 dollars thank you Mr Freeze uh board are there any questions uh Claire Smith Falls Mr Freeze this comes out of their own bucket of money correct this comes out of the funnel Valley High project yes thank you I'm complete president Gonzalez thank you boy are there any other questions okay uh is there a motion to approve the change order I'm motion

166to approve the change order for Pinole Valley High School Fields field house and bleachers thank you is there a second Reckless thank you are there any comments uh Chelsea Phillips while I'm not saying that they don't need this or maybe need is a strong word maybe even more um I am going to be voting no uh just on principle um this is the never-ending School uh and we just voted that the kids at Lake can't have covered walkways for the rain and I just don't see the equity in that and so I just wanted to publicly say why I am about to do what I'm about to do thank you are there any other comments okay we're gonna move to the vote uh trustee Santos abstain thank you trustee Barron abstain thank you clerk Smith

167Falls Smith Falls yes thank you uh trustee Christian uh Christian yeah thank you trustee Phillips I'm staying thank you trustee reckler Reckless yes thank you and I'm a yes and passes forth four yes three abstentions thank you um next item is E4 uh Dr Greenwood is this your item yes it is wonderful thank you good evening board we are requesting approval for various variable term waivers which provides applicants with additional time to complete requirements for the credential thank you so much Dr Greenwood board are there any questions okay could I please have a motion to approve a motion to approve E4 certified certificated board authorization Education Code 44258.3 thank you can I have a second thank you um any comments okay we'll move to the vote uh we'll start trustee Santos trustee Santos yay foreign

168thank you uh clerk Smith Falls Smith Falls yes trusty Christian oh yes trustee Phillips yeah trustee reckler yes thank you and I'm a yes it passes unanimously thank you um okay now we're gonna move to comments from the board oh I'm sorry I was already forgetting our consent items uh board is 951 um could I have an extension till um we finish our consent items and sorry no oh that's right okay um I think for we can get through C4 and C15 fairly quickly um and then I did get a request to extend comments a little bit so I think that if we just go till 10 30 we should be okay um could I just have an extension until 7 30 yes uh trustee Phillips I'm gonna extend to move to the extent of

1691031 so we're not told we don't have to do 10 30. so I move that we extended 1031 great Smith fold seconds wonderful any comments any objections no okay wonderful someone thank you so much um okay so now we're gonna move to C4 trustee recorder you pull this item I did thank you so I pulled contracts and I want to talk about uh the contracts for full service Community Schools and what I wanted to say is that I am not able and we talked about this in our two-on-one meeting but even after the discussion I went back and I looked at the presentation and I went back and I looked at the contracts and then I searched the website and I cannot match the spends to the school or to the central office so I

170do a lot of work on this like if there's a title one I go back and I look at the school's allocation I make sure something is there and I've got notes I go back to the lcap and make sure things really match the lcap I spent a lot of time on contracts and I don't have any way of verifying what a school got or I can't find it I know you have it but I don't and I want to double check you and I want to know how much you're spending an overall Administration like the Glenn price group contract that's an overall administrative contract that's not going to be sent to a school site I love Glenn price he was a school board member his organization is fantastic but I still want to know

171where you guys are and how you plan to spend this so I have an idea at least for schools if you could build it into their site allocations the way you've got title one site funds CSI grants um you know supplies like all that stuff that you do but there's got to be a way that we can just double check and figure out you know like where people are on these Community School Grants so that's why I pulled that item I don't believe we're overspent in anything I know we're not but that's a real suggestion that I want to uh to have taken seriously thank you trustee reckler um could I have a motion to approve the contracts I'll move uh to approve C4 thank you is there a second I'll second birth timeliness um

172okay uh any comments additional comes uh trustee Phillips so in line with the comment I made earlier about the equity audit and the strategic planning process uh and with all the comments that were made earlier today about Community Schools I really think um we need to have a community conversation about Community Schools uh and what Community Schools really are because I bet you if you ask 20 people you get 20 different definitions uh we have Community Schools currently um and this is not a knock on anyone but I don't think anybody would say that they're what there should be or what they could be right and so we're talking about whether it's through a utr contract or this contract or any contract um this is something that should be part of the strategic planning process

173it's something that should be thought out and so it is rolled out or it already exists but so it is continued and improved upon uh in a way that actually gives the community and I'm talking about community in a very holistic sense what it is actually looking for uh and things that are proven to work that conversation hasn't happened it really needs to happen thank you uh trustee Phillips any other comments okay uh we had a motion to approve the contracts thank you um so we'll start the vote with trustee Santos trustee Santos Epstein your trustee Baron abstain uh clerk Smith Falls Smith Falls yes trustee Christian uh Christian yes thank you trustee Phillips yes but I hope we have the conversation so this evolves trustee reckler reckler yes but I want to see better

174reporting thank you and I'm a yes as well passes five to two five yes two abstentions um okay now we're gonna move to uh C15 which is the appointments of the board uh trustee reichler you pull this one because you said you had a comment or a question yeah which was it for a comment and that is uh thank you I'm honored to be appointed I'm sorry I they didn't give me any wire this week I can't um thank you for these appointments I do want to point out though that cboc and Dr McIntyre's budget University all meet on Mondays and there are some conflicts with this so I will do my best but I'm going to be absent from some of these thank you trustee reckler for sharing that I think that uh we

175can also ask staff to coordinate as much as they can to make sure that you're at all them if possible and if not I think that you can also email me or email someone else on the board and see if maybe at least we can cover for you because uh I've done that for mdac when I was in the chair of the the pointy for mdac um and and uh something that I would ask people to cover so I think it'd be totally okay if you did okay thank you and then the other thing I'd like to request is um that we immediately get access to Mr Freeze and Miss Payne so that we can start to update the the new cboc policy absolutely yes and then I'd also like to get on the cboc's

176agenda as fast as possible with a Redline copy thank you trustee reckler any other questions uh clerk Smith phones I don't have a question but I do have a comment um trustee reckler if there's a meeting that you can't make I attend those meetings so I would be happy to take notes or to give you a summary I think that's why it's very important that the work is shared among us there are five board trustees so we need to share those appointments and those uh committees uh president Gonzalez Hoy I know you did the best you can to reach out to all of us but we do need to make an effort to share the works so it doesn't land on just a couple of us to do that so again thank you for everybody

177who committed to being on a committee this year and being and accepting the appointments and again we need to just help each other out I'm complete thank you Clark Smith Falls any other comments uh trustee reckley I do I have one thing that I just which is I do really have some comments and some ideas I do have some real comments and ideas about contracts and I'd like to know how you'd like to receive those probably not actually yes uh I think that the group would probably welcome it because I've spoken to Dr Hurst about this that group will be led by Dr Hurst and Clark smithfold so if you just send it to Dr Hurst I'm sure he will appreciate it because that work will take a few months um and the more efficient

178and direct Focus we can be I think the better because that work will also help us wherever we end up with ETR right in our unions uh for next year and the following in our budget it's absolutely please send it to Dr Hurst okay thank you okay can I please have a motion to approve C15 okay I'll go ahead and move C15 which is approve appointments departures of board trustees to committees Smithville seconds thank you so much um and sorry before I call the vote I did want to just comment thank all of you for stepping in these roles um I purposely didn't put myself in many because uh being a board president is already pretty overwhelming so I just want to thank you all uh for this opportunity that's reasoning why I didn't uh

179but like I mentioned earlier to all of you that are in all these committees happy to cover you if you ever do uh and and I appreciate it very much um okay let's move to our vote uh we'll start with trustee Santos santosier okay trust you Byron Clark Smith Falls Smith Falls yes trustee Christian Christian yes trustee Phillips yeah trustee reckler regular yes and I'm a yes thank you so much unanimously um okay now we're gonna move to comments from the board uh we have enough time for three minutes each um so hopefully that's uh enough um and uh that includes Dr Hurst if he has any comments um so um why don't we start with our student trustees if they're ready uh we'll start with uh trustee Santos uh if we could put up

180the clock on the TV that'd be great three minutes sorry trustee Santos one second perfect go ahead okay um once again just wanted to take the opportunity to tell you to please listen to these teachers um in all honesty everything that was said if you've had 75 people will tell it to you I don't know why you wouldn't listen um you guys yourself said had everybody that wanted to speak spoke it would have been five hours five hours of people telling you what they need even if they didn't get to speak that should tell you a lot that should tell you a lot on its own and now that we get a chance to tell you it again we are trying to tell you ourselves maybe if the people down there you didn't listen to

181maybe you'll listen to us that we're up here we are telling you that they are right we agree with what they're saying and we side with all of the teachers that were over here all of the parents that were here and all of the students that were here we agree with them and we support with the we support them we stand by them we've seen these teachers some of these teachers teach us one subject and then after school end up having to be our coaches our like you know Club advisors these teachers do so much when they said that teaching is a 24 7 job they weren't lying it is true I like very briefly plan events for my school and that's already something that's stressful to me I can only imagine what it would

182be to teach a class what it would be to teach a class and then after school stay another three hours to teach a sport and then after that go back home and grade papers and then on top of that I have to do it over and over for very little pay these teachers have a voice that they are using themselves and they are hoping that you'll listen to them everything that they said again we agree with and we hope that you will listen to them thank you trustee Santos uh trustee Varon will go to you just let us restart the clock go ahead thank you yes um to further emphasize um I would have not been in this position to begin with had it not been for teachers and other students who encouraged me to

183advocate for things exactly like this some of the best teachers that I've ever had in my life are teachers that are directly from this district and have worked their butts off to ensure their students are given educations that they might not receive in other school districts a lot of the talk about um wages was these other school districts are offering better salaries better starting salaries to these teachers but with that comes the loss of amazing teachers that have inspired people like trustee Santos and I to advocate for students and encourage others to do the same as we do today and as the countless people who came here to do the same to continue doing that and advocate for themselves and their Community by not listening to them we are continuing like someone said earlier a

184cycle of this this kind of systemic issues that will not improve unless we do something about it we support these teachers fully and we hope that they know that because in the end if we don't do something to fix this issue we will lose a lot of Brilliant Minds that have contributed so much to these kinds of meanings to this kind of these kinds of events and to the planning of this district and future events that we hope will contribute and continue to make this District very great but without listening to these teachers and without helping them be able to live good lives and have basic good enough salaries they can't do that for us they can't continue teaching students like trustee Santos and I and they can't continue doing their jobs that they are

185passionate about it's not like they do this just because of the money they're very passionate about the things they do I I don't think someone who has countless papers to grade would make the effort to be here for their students unless it was because they cared and these teachers do care and we care about them as well and we fully support them thank you trustee Baron we'll move to Clerk smithfolds president Gonzalez Hoy can you please come back to me sure thank you trustee Christian do you have any comments uh yes go ahead um can we just start off by saying um for a raise you know to see things happen and um I teach is dessert and uh and just looking at the overall picture you know we as a district has to continue

186to push forward uh we got many challenges many things that we're dealing with um and I just know you know being a board member I don't get paid millions of dollars because uh I sacrifice to give up in order to go up to make things better uh fighting for our students teachers in the community at large uh I travel between here and Oakland every day Monday through Friday going to the school the work over in Oakland come back over here you know so I'm gonna with a lot and and I want to see a lot of things happen um we just have a lot of challenges and we got to deal with the race issue that's going on um and it's bad and and it has to be this stuff here has has to be

187dealt with um because it's happening all over um so pretty much we just have to continue to push forward and um and and go from here but I am for seeing things you know seeing increase thank you trustee Christian uh Dr Hurst welcome back to you after after uh um my colleagues um trustee Phillips uh thank you very much so there are a couple things that I want to address tonight in my time and so the first thing is uh the talk around uh salaries uh particularly for the teachers um I have said uh in public uh and in private that I believe that our employees should receive the entire cost of living adjustment that's guaranteed from the state um and that number is 36.8 million I don't believe um that the entire 36.8 million

188should go to one bargaining group so I don't believe that that entire amount should go to the teachers but I do believe that it should be split amongst the bargaining uh groups um and if that is a proposal that is put forward um it is one that I will be voting for um I believe that 36.8 is something that we can afford there have been numerous conversations around that number now I don't think that we could afford more than that so I personally would not be voting more than that but I would vote for the 36.8 to be split up amongst the bargaining units in an equitable way so um that's the first thing that I wanted to say um the second thing that I want to say is and I say this as respectfully

189as I can but I think that we're conflating some issues if we give 50 raises not that we could but if we gave 50 raises to uh all of our employees our students would not magically uh improve and I think what's happening is there's a lot of conflation going on for I get it I get why um but there's this parallel that's being put out and it's if we get the raises we deserve the students will get the education that they deserve and those two things are completely different so while we have this conversation about raises and I just said and you could hold me to it that 36.8 I believe belongs to the employees but there needs to be a conversation also about what's happening with our students and the level of service that

190they're getting and that is not going to say it's not related at all to wages um but they're not joined at the hip and I think that we need to have an honest and holistic conversation didn't get to say everything that I wanted to say so I'll see you next time but thank you for this meeting thank you trustee Phillips uh trustee reckler thank you so I just want to start out with a update on translation for later and she's saying that it seems like it's the system or the audio that's being used by otilia She Can Hear and she can understand but for future you might you just might want to look at whatever it whatever she's doing um okay so now that that's out of the way I want to address all the

191parents and students and community members who've contacted me from Washington coromatsu and El Cerrito High School about the DLI program um of course we can't talk about it tonight do the brown act we can't get into it we can only talk about items that are agendized but I want you to know that I see you and I hear you and I share in your anger and for State frustration and I'm asking the agenda setting team to please accept a formal request to agendize a discussion on the state of the DLI program and what the path forward might be next um as far as future agenda items I got a amazing email from students at El Cerrito High School addressing the educational response to the climate emergency it is very deep and complex I'm sure we're

192doing some of this now it has to do with teaching and practice working groups I don't know if this school district has ever really passed anything meaningful about climate the climate emergency maybe but this is deep you're going to say yes we have probably in front of it okay um but I'm going to send this in this is a complex topic but I do think that if we haven't addressed it recently this should be resurfaced um this is not just a passive in one and done this takes deep work so I'll send it in and we'll see where we go with it I also received a very thoughtful commentary from one of our parents on our technology policies and I'd also like perhaps this to be agendaized or discussed we have a lot of policies

193that actually do seem a little outdated the policies are more like students are going to do this or this is how students are going to use the equipment or but we've entered into a different phase with technology and I will also send this in um there is really probably some updating that we need to do about tech how much we're using it why we're using it what we expect out of it um responsibilities to parents do we have a responsibility just in learning potentially addiction I mean there's a there's a lot that was brought up and it was very thoughtful and I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and I'm hoping for good news soon and with that good night thank you trustee reckler uh Clark smithfields are you ready okay thank you

194uh so much friend president Gonzalez Hoy I'm going to talk um to you guys as colleagues I think that as we sit up here as the board we need to be clear about a couple of things and if you don't understand I would like to tell you why we are so important it is because some of you think that the sun is supposed to shine on itself it's not it's this it's supposed to shine to warm others some of you think that the tree is to eat its own fruit it's not it's there to feed others some of you think a river is to drink its own water it doesn't it's to quench The Thirst of others the reason some of you don't understand is because you think serving is supposed to serve you it's

195not we are here to serve everyone else we're here to serve others as the board it's not complicated if those of you who continue to say you want the best for everyone else all you have to do is make a motion and takes three of us to pass a policy so I would like for us to stop saying we care and start showing we care about our vote and you know who you are when I say that so I think that it is past time that we as a board and we're under great leadership thank you so much president Gonzalez soy you really do read the community you extend time you had the young lady come back up because you're a teacher you understand that it takes processing and there's a process in Translation and

196so you had her come back up I want to take a minute and thank you for that but it is School Board trustee month and if we hold these positions and we hold the accountability and the responsibility to do exactly what we were elected to do and that's to serve we are not to warm ourselves feed ourselves quench ourselves we are to serve the community at large and I would like us to start doing that as a collective board and if not we only need three so let's move by majority of the board I want to say uh Welcome to our new student trustees I want to say I appreciate appreciate your voice and I appreciate hearing your voice and you are speaking loudly and you are speaking clearly and you are speaking transparently and

197continue to do so hold your ground and make sure that you speak and you leave it all on the floor make sure that you have no regrets when you leave this position because you are you were here to do a job and we appreciate that and we appreciate your voice I want to say to my colleagues this is not me coming at you this is me encouraging you for us all to do our very best because we were all elected to this position thank you and I'm now complete thank you clerk Smith Falls uh Dr Hurst do you have any comments just a few sir I too want to share my thanks and appreciation for our new student trustees um student trusty about our own and Santos it was a pleasure to have you here

198and to hear your voice then I would just want to just take a moment to call out all of my staff by name Marisha Louis Robert Sylvia Conrad Sonia Liz Tracy and Michael I didn't forget you Tracy I just want to say that I truly appreciate all of you um you come to work every day giving it your all and giving it your best um so I just wanted you to hear that from me that you are appreciated for the team that you are and the work that you do on a daily basis thank you so much for all of your work um there was a lot shared this evening from our community I think our responsibility is also to to listen to the voices um and then to plan accordingly so for those who

199are still listening those who spoke for about the DLI program thank you so much for coming and sharing your voice I think that's what's it's really all about as well that we hear your voice and that we listen and respond appropriately I too am looking forward to the conversation at a future uh agenda agendized meeting to have a honest conversation about what's going on and our next steps um for all those who spoke on behalf of teachers salaries raises Community Schools thank you so much for your voices teachers community members students parents whoever you were um thank you so much we hear you loud and clear and we are I want to share this with you we are staff are working extremely hard to make sure that we are presenting a competitive proposal salary for

200our teachers for our certificated members as well uh we value every one of you and I want you to hear that from me um I also want to share that I do agree with trustee Christian we have a lot of work to do across our community across our schools regarding uh the racism let's be very clear that's exactly what's happening across our district it's not just at Richmond High School it's across our schools so we have a lot of work to do there I just want to speak out about the strategic planning process that's certainly something that's going to be discussed at the upcoming board retreat we do have a timeline that's part of goal number seven so thank you so much trustee Phillips for sharing that that will be shared and there is an

201expedited timeline thank you so much thank you so much Dr Hurst um for my comments um I just want to start by one of the things that I heard tonight which really touched my heart which was the newcomer situation at Kennedy um I I believe that we have to extend our programs to Kennedy um it's not the first time I've heard about newcomer students struggling at Kennedy um and and the story that I heard tonight is a story I'm sure that trustee Santos and baron kind of are related to is a story that I went through and if I hadn't had the right programs and honestly the right teachers in place uh I want to be here today you all have heard my story many times so I don't want to bore you with that

202but um I don't want students to come to us and say that they've fallen through the cracks because they feel like they can't have access to language um so so we have to have a conversation about our newcomer programs and the same thing for elementary we hear stories every day right of newcomer students showing up to a classroom where teachers don't speak the language right uh we need to figure out how to transfer into grant if that's where newcomer program is going to be but also how to extend it right because we're maxed out right to our class sizes uh there so we have to do something to that because um it's what we're seeing in our data as also but what we heard tonight um I also wanted to appreciate our Educators for coming

203out tonight uh I hear you I see you uh I agree with my colleagues that that we are trying to do uh the best we can in this moment um to avoid a strike um as I mentioned I mean as I mentioned uh Educators saved my life and I know the work that you're doing every single day um I know that many of you commute many of you have second jobs and I just want to share a quick post that I saw on Facebook I was on everybody Richmond Facebook page and I saw a teacher who was on maternity leave who posted that she was looking for house cleaning jobs because she could not make ends meet um and and my wife is a maternity leave so it obviously touched me in that way but

204that we have teachers asking for cleaning jobs because they cannot get through their bills while they're a maternity leave or when we're hearing stories of teachers having to take second jobs and Uber which is one of the stories I heard tonight or work on the weekends as bartenders right these are people with Masters sometimes doctorates um it does make me feel shameful that I sit in this chair and I know that part of the problem is also what the state and federal government gives us but we do have to do our best to meet their needs so I hear them and I know our staff is working hard so hopefully hopefully hopefully we'll avoid a strike but I know that you all will if you need to um and then lastly I just want to

205thank the Richmond High School High School staff even though the race issue is systemic and it's been here for a long time I know they're experiencing it right now and it's a lot so I just I see you and I thank you okay that's it everybody for comments uh our next meeting is actually on Tuesday we have our board retreat uh which is from nine to three uh on Tuesday the 31st and then we have a board meeting on February 1st I feel like we're just I'm spending more time with you all than my own wife um so so we'll see you all next week uh and thanks thanks again for everybody who came good night we are adjourned