3/3/26 Regular Meeting of the Board of Trustees

001Let's see. Member Dextra, will you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. 3.3 meeting in closed sessions. >> Sorry. >> Okay. Um the report out for that is 2.1 conference with labor negotiator no action. 2.2 conference with legal counsel no action 2.3 conference with real property negotiators no action and 2.4 personnel. We have a readout from Kristen. >> In close session, the board approved close session resolution 25-26.35 authorizing a non-reelection of certificated progressionary employee CE 25-26.01. At the end of the 2526 school year, the board authorizes the the district administration to serve requiring notices pursuant to the education code section

00244929.21. The motion was unanimous. Okay. Thank you. All right. 3.4. Okay. announcements regarding public comment during open session. The board welcomes public participation and encourage encourages encourages respectful and civil discourse. The board does not condone profanity, vulgar language or personal attacks, but individuals retain the right to express their views. Disruptive behavior and threats toward any meeting participants or district employees are not permitted. The public may not disrupt the board while in while while it is conducting its business or disrupt speakers while they are presenting. This includes clapping, snapping, shouting out, and other interruptions. Members of the public will have an opportunity to speak on agenda items who when those items are brought forward for consideration after the board completes its agenda, there will also be an opportunity for for public comment on items not on

003the agenda. While the board may not deliberate or take action on non-aggenda items, it may refer concerns to staff for followup. Public comment request forms are available at the entrance of the meeting room and must submit must be submitted to the superintendent's executive assistant prior to the start of the meeting. All right, consent agenda. All items on the consent agenda will be approved with one motion which is not debatable and requires a unanimous vote for passage. If any member of the board, superintendent, or the public so request, items may be removed from this section and placed in the regular order of business following the approval of the consent agenda. Do we have uh anything on the consent agenda that would anyone would like removed? >> I would like to say something. I was going to

004ask for remove 4.10, but after emailing back and forth with Jen, I trust you. Thank you. >> Thank you. I really appreciate that. Thanks for >> Thank you for being clear about this. >> Yeah, 100%. I'll keep you all posted on the outcomes. >> Thank you. >> You bet. >> All right. All right. Any anybody else? >> Okay. With that, do um I have a motion. >> All move. >> Okay. Second. >> Second. >> All right. Just roll call. >> Member Profit. >> Yes. >> Member Freeman. >> Yes. >> Member Dystra. >> Yes. >> Member Price. Yes. >> And >> yes. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Moving on. >> Uh board and staff reports. We will start with um our students. I guess singular today. Charlie Cho from TVH. Okay. So at

00512 Bridges, um the first thing I'd like to say is that our senior superlatives were just crowned. So our yearbook is almost finished because senior superlatives are around one of the last things that they do before finishing the yearbook. We're having a Wellspring Women's Drive where you can donate high hygiene products to the office from the 9th to the 20th. And we're also having St. Baldick's week from March 16th to the 20th. And five of the biggest clubs on campus are participating in this. We're including a fun run, a teacher head shaving event, and a guest speaker. And I recommend that all of you enter the raffle and participate in our fun run because we're having really great prizes like NHS National Honor Society is having a gift card tree and we have over $130

006in gift cards on that tree. So if you'd like to enter the raffle, highly recommend. >> How long is that run? >> The run it's I think just a little bit under or over two miles >> and you can walk it. >> Yes. It's not like >> how do we get how do we get raffle tickets? >> Well, they just posted it online on the Instagram account, I believe. Hope for Hospitals is in charge of that. So, if you'd like to participate in that and also there's not really a time limit. I think you just have to finish the two miles in under 30 minutes. So, I mean, yeah. And then we had our rhino rave which was a night game event and it took place of our winter dance and it also introduced our

007prom theme which is the starlet garden >> and it was very fun and we're hoping to build a foundation to possibly make it a tradition instead to see if maybe students will respond to that better than a winter dance. And for athletics, girls soccer and girls basketball are competing tonight for state championship opportunities. Girls soccer is competing tonight at home and so is girls basketball. And we're hoping both of them well. And they're competing for the North NorCal regional bracket. But that's all I have for Bridges. >> Charlie, you're still uh in the game, I see. Or you're swimming after the meeting. I don't know which it is. >> 17 people. >> So you were in the top 20. >> Are you nervous? What do I keep looking over your shoulder? Have you freaked out

008a little bit? But uh they can't shoot me if I'm wearing my goggles. >> And yesterday was purge day. So >> I got my friend out yesterday actually. So >> enjoy that therapy. >> You have to be wearing them like this or >> has it that you have to have them on your head, but just says you can have them on your neck. >> Okay. >> There's an app for this just so you know. >> Assassin should have invented it. >> So much fun. You're going to have to tell us who the winner is if it's you or not you next time. >> Probably not going to be to be in, you know. >> Fingers crossed. Okay. >> All right. Um, board of trustees. Uh, member Dystra. >> Yes. It's kind of brief. Uh, I

009was able to go to First Street School and had a tour led by two wonderful fifth grade boys who were just great and showed me everything. And I was telling Carrie, I remember one of the things I remember the most is one of the boys was going around and he said, "This is where you put the colored pens when you're done. Here's the yellow. Here's the green. You're not supposed to mix them up. Don't mix them up." And that was very good advice. So he was happy to be told that. And uh I went there actually because I sat with some parents who were learning about the gate program for high high achieving students. And um later on I had a chance to go to uh the student senate and one of the things they're

010talking about is uh they had a survey of how students feel about what happens in the classroom and how teachers feel about what happens in the classroom and they're at different ends of the scale and that obviously concerns teachers. Um and so they're trying to work through that and and find out from the students uh why there's a discrepancy there. Later on, uh, a number of these students went came to this building and did another survey, uh, with a computer and headphones and they talked in a microphone for about 20 minutes and and gave their opinion on a number of different questions that were asked. But I'm really pleased that the school or the faculty and and the students are are trying to trying to do better in all these things. So, that is a

011good thing. Um, and I had a meeting with uh both April and uh one-on-one meeting with uh Carrie and that those went very well and always find those especially productive. You you can have you can meet on a formal basis, but when you sit down and have a cup of coffee, it's it's so much better. And finally, my big news is there the 2026 poetry slam is coming on March 12th at 7 p.m. >> March. Did you say March 12th at 7 p.m.? I did indeed. So, uh, last year's slam was really great. People laughed. There was a lot of tears. The poems were phenomenal. And, uh, I would ask you to come and bring a friend. It's a nice invitation for you and your friend. The kids will love it if you come and,

012uh, and and you'll love it, too. So, bring a friend. I want to thank Emma who's done an awful lot of work and made this uh, well, will make it successful. And, uh, so please come. When is it? Oh, it's March 12th at 7 at 12 Bridges. So, please try to do April. >> Hey, George, will you allow me to to write read another poem >> and if you come, you can hear a poem from April. Actually, >> I haven't written one yet. So, >> she's a good poet. >> So, that's a funny one again because the other ones are very serious and heartfelt. Mine was very light. >> Okay, I'll do my best. >> I hope you do. >> Okay, I'll I'll try. Okay, thanks. All right, no more praise. >> I I haven't

013done a whole lot in the last couple weeks, but um April and I got some time with Carrie to talk about um I I was going to talk about AI at every meeting just to make sure, but I'm sick of it. So, I just stopped and um and I'm sorry because I know everyone looks forward to it. like it. >> Um but um yeah, so we got we got an opportunity to talk about um the ways in which we could sort of meet this this thing in a in a way that's intentional. Um I think I think I'm excited. I'm also excited to see Phoenix and Atlas staff excited about ways in which they can challenge themselves to you know teach involved that that's I mean they have phenomenal youth like student engagement. So like

014that's would be where I would bring this program because I feel like they already do a great job with that. But um all that to say like I thought that was a very worthwhile conversation. I look forward to more of those and I think that's all I have. >> All right. Thank you. Member Freeman. Um well um I just had a one-on-one with Carrie. Um had my conversation a leadership call with James. I attended the trap team dinner on Saturday with a lot of you and it was a lot of fun and I won a purse so I was very excited. >> How much did they >> uh I that I won't know how much they made until tomorrow. I already text. It's usually a lot. Yeah. Usually it's 50 grand plus. >> Yeah. Probably.

015Um but she won't get her um in her she won't get her final figures until tomorrow. >> So um and then I had a granddaughter. >> So um very excited. My daughter was in labor 3 days. >> Um and she ended up having to stay in the hospital for a couple days and now the baby's back in the hospital. >> So she's got a little bit of a jaundice. So she's got to see under the lights again some more. But um she's doing good. Charlotte, >> congratulations. Cute little that the little red head. I'm so excited. Seems like you just had your first. >> I know. >> So that's that's all I've been doing is busy being a grandma and watching the other one while the other one was being born. >> Awesome. All right.

016Puppet. >> Um I attended the Black Student Union Club meeting and potluck in honor of Black History Month at Lincoln High School. Um Cammy, she's not here tonight. >> She tennis tennis. >> Oh well, good for her. Um, heart mac and cheese was the hit of the meeting, I think, cuz everybody was really digging into it. Um, they had pizza, shakurerie board, chips, Takis, and cookies. I couldn't eat any of it. It was just too much for me. Um, the kids and the adviserss, Mr. Ward and Mr. Harden. Um, they were all great with each other. What a great repertoire they have. Um, I saw Will there. Is Will here tonight? >> Will was the happiest I've ever seen him. Like, I didn't even recognize him. He was like a bean of sunshine. I'm not

017kidding you. Like he like walked up. I'm like, "I've never seen you this happy, Will." And he's like, "I'm always like this." I'm like, "I'm I'm sad I never get to see the side of it." It was really nice to see that. So, um, let's say over to the Lincoln Crossing Elementary family bingo night. My grandson won, one of the bingos, and he got a Chick-fil-A basket one nothing. >> Had a one-on-one with Carrie. Um, and that's it. All right. Thank you. Okay, just a few things. Thank you everybody for meeting with me. I met with a few of you um over the last couple weeks. Uh let's see. I spoke with one of the speakers from our last meeting um about um her comments and you'll be hearing more about that later um during

018the agenda part of it. Um, I attended an academic excellence meeting with Jen Hadden and we got to talk uh about a lot of good stuff. Um, and then I wanted to remind the board that there are the Crystal Apple Awards uh on March 24th. You should have all received an invitation at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over here on Liberty. Um, and uh hopefully you guys can make it. So, it's it's for the teachers. It's for the teachers. And then I also want to let you know that the very first track tournament for Lincoln High School is this Saturday and it's in it's at the YOLO uh shooting club in Davis, UC Davis. Um so, if anyone wants to go watch the track team, I know Mike will be able to

019make the class county officer education job fair, but my wife and Jim will be there. >> Okay. Mike's son will be there. I think we're going to be somewhere else. I don't think we're at the yellow one. I think we're at Pink Slooh House. Um so I won't be able to watch. But anyways, if you want a really good time, get there by about 9:00. That's when they start uh generally and they're generally done by I'd say 1 1 or so. It is so much fun just to watch the kids and just it's amazing to see how they shoot. It is really amazing. So anyway, if you get a chance and that's all I have. Okay. Um, we will move to Western Plaster Teachers Association. Michelle, >> we're good. >> Oh, I'm okay. All right.

020Thank you. And then for U Western Plaster classified employees association, Shireen, >> She is not here. Okay. And then we'll move to superintendent. >> Okay. I just have a a couple of things. It's uh facilities, facilities, facilities always. It seems like it's um the last couple weeks. So, uh, we had, uh, our latest facility needs committee meeting. We're going to have one more. Um, and, uh, last last meeting we had, um, uh, small groups doing some, um, kind of flushing out of some of the recommendations that were made based on, um, them being able to, um, assign a dollar. They were all given some fake money and which which projects would you prioritize? So, they flushed those out in small groups. in this next meeting uh they're going to be uh talking about it kind

021of as a whole group and uh solidifying their recommendations which will be coming to the board uh at a future meeting I think in second meeting in April perhaps and um and we are also in the process of uh doing some updating polling uh related to just kind of where the the community sits with um relation to supporting with some of our facility needs. And so that will all uh hopefully inform an update update to our facility master um master plan. And then um we did a meeting with the city of Lincoln um earlier this week around joint use for village 7 because we um as we prepare to build the TK8 in village 7 um and uh we have to establish what our parameters are going to be with joint use because the city's

022contributions as part of that agreement is going to allow for them to have access to certain components of our facilities. So we're hashing out. It was a really good meeting. Um appreciated that. And then last Friday, um, speaking of village 7, Kathy Dominico, who's over there, is going to be presenting shortly on an item, uh, and Megan Macy and myself, uh, presented. So, at the cash conference, it's, uh, stands for the Coalition, a California Association of School Housing. And it's essentially, uh, I think they said school housing because CASSP would have been not as exciting. They need a better acronym. So, it's uh it's essentially the the state association for school facilities. And so, we were able to present on our village 7 uh deal and represent the the district. It was a pretty full

023house and we had a lot of really good uh questions and uh that is my report. >> All right. Thank you. All right. We are to action items. We don't have any comments. >> N All right. 6.1 that is approval of resolution authorizing the reduction of classified services and that is Mike Maul. >> Good evening. So this is one of the least enjoyable aspects of the the position is having to make resolutions that include the laid off of positions. Um, I'm grateful that this year the amount of positions being limited is significantly smaller than last year. As you recall, had a large amount of instructional aids, but based on current enrollment trends and based on the need to be as fiscally prudent as possible, um, we have determined that the following positions do need to

024be um, eliminated due to a lack of work or a lack of funds. You might notice that this form looks a little bit different from the past to try to separate out the different eliminations that have taken place in the year. Um if you look at previous eliminations and previous reductions, those are all things that have taken place already throughus and this resolution just captures it at the end as opposed to doing resolutions throughout the year and throughout the year. So if you look at the first group, these are the new eliminations that are being proposed within this resolution. And even within these, there are some caveats in terms of it not being quite as bad as it looks. The LDN pair professionals at the bottom, those are actually currently vacant positions and those are

025replaced by full LDNs. But our process is we we we have to remove one to add the other. So in terms of actual positions um that are being modified, eliminated with a person currently in the position, you're looking at nine of them. We are very confident that the pair professionals will be offered a pair professional position within the district based on vacancies that we currently have. However, the instructional aids, there are three of them, and these are actually first grade instructional aids that would have been on theou last year, but the site opted to use site funds to keep them for an additional year. So, they're they were given a a year more than than some of their counterparts. And then the dual enrollment technician position, which is only ever going to be a one-year

026position, it was grant funded and the money for that ran out. The person in that position was totally cognizant of that when they went in. Those are the positions that as of right now, we don't see that there will necessarily be an opening. So in those cases, if they have seniority rights, we would look at the least senior people within the same classification, offer them the opportunity to do what's called bump, etc. And then the people who have the least seniority in those classifications, we would then offer them a chance at any position in the district that's vacant and they're qualified for. And if none of that works out, they'll be on the 39 month rehired list. It is early times. Um, while we need to make this decision now, the world in May might

027be different and we'll obviously look to make sure that as many of these employees as possible do end up having a home with us because we know no matter whether it's four or 40, these is really hard news for the people impacted and we want to be very cognizant of that. I'll be working very closely with their union to make sure that all their rights are honored and that the impacts of these layoffs are negotiated with the union. But this is the first step to make sure that if needed, we're able to reduce these positions uh in the fiscal interest of the district. >> All right. Thanks, Mike. >> Any questions for Mike? >> Question. No. Okay. Do I have a motion? >> Make a motion to pass. >> I'll second. All right. Any discussion?

028>> I would like to say just in hearing your comments, I appreciate the humanity of the work. Um, and I I think a lot of times in roles like this, we assume that there's people that care. I just appreciate you saying that it weighs heavy on you as it does all of us. I'm just glad that I'm happy to be represented that way. Thank you. >> I agree. >> Anybody else? All right. Uh, this is roll call. Member Price, >> yes. >> Member Profit, >> yes. >> Member Freeman, >> yes. >> Mr. Dra, >> yes. Yes. Thank you. All right, Mike, you're on the next one. Approval ofou between Western Pler and CSEA. >> Yes. You might remember at a recent meeting that we proposed a what we're calling kind of an additional tier stipen

029to our paraprofessional positions because not all paraprofessional positions have exactly the same job responsibilities. some have some challenging situations that they have to deal with that we were finding we're having a hard time filling those spots and being competitive in our pay with other districts. So, we approved anou for that effect uh a couple meetings ago. However, because this was in addition to their base pay, this is what's known as an add-on. Um they have the base pay, then there's a percentage that's an add-on. and working with the payroll department doing a retroactive check for an add-on was just very very challenging to the point that it would have been a huge exertion of manh hours and we're not even certain we would have been able to do it accurately. So we worked with the

030union to try to figure out how can we do this in a way that honors the agreement and also minimizes the payroll department's uh frustration so we can get the money in the employees hands. So we came up with an idea that if they worked the month of January, if they're tier 2, we figure out a rate of days, we're just going to pay them all the exact same flat rate to honor that tier. And tier three, the same thing for the months of January, February. So regardless of what step and column they were, they all just got the same. We kind of aired slightly in favor of the employees, we put them at step um D um which is, you know, kind of over on the pay scale rather than the early steps. and

031we assumed a six-h hour workday which is probably right about the average of our pair of professionals. So we just found a good average place to figure out an amount that work. So this is not new money. This was just a way to figure out how to effectively and expeditiously get the money to the employees that we already agreed to do. >> All right. Thank you. Any questions for Mike? >> Okay. Do I have a motion? >> I'll move to approve. >> I'll second. >> Second. >> Okay. Second. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. All >> oppose. >> Thank you. All right. The next one is 6.3 CSBA delegate assembly electives here. >> Okay. So this is a annual thing that um the board does uh related to CSBA delegate assembly. And so

032you were provided um a candidate statement and information related to uh the person who is uh ultimately running for um the position. And so what we are seeking or um CSBA is ultimately seeking is whether or not the board wants to um endorse and vote for Katrina Paz who's the the one who's on the um the ballot. Uh or you could choose not to vote or you could choose to write um someone else in. And so, um, those are those are your options is you need to essentially take action to do one of those things. Nothing, vote for Katrina or write somebody else in. >> Okay. >> Do I need to make a motion for this one? >> Um, so are there any questions? >> I don't think so. >> Okay. Um, so we'll go

033ahead and do a motion on the whole discussion. Do I have a motion? >> I'd like to make a motion for us to write in Tiffany Safe off. She's the current one in the district seat and they made a clerical error and never put her on there and so she contacted me today and asked that if we could do that her in pronounce her say her >> take off I think s a t h o ff again >> s a h >> s a >> t h o ff D >> I say I don't know how. >> All right. Do we have a second >> on that motion? Okay. Uh so any discussion on that? >> She's a very dynamic person. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Yeah, we will. This is >> Okay. Um

034if there's no discussion, um all in favor say I. I. >> I. All oppose. All right. So be it. Thank you. 6.4 adoption of the new policies. Uh new policies and bylaws. Um >> yes. And so I'm going to actually turn it over to Jen slightly too based on because I know the board is gonna or at least one of you might be making a recommendation to amend. >> Oh, right. Yes. Yes. So, >> so these are >> I thought it was already changed. >> No, cuz it's you, you do not have the authority to change on behalf of the entire board. So, you have to make it you have to do it here. So, um so the policies are in front of you again as they were presented to you on um at the

035last board meeting. So, the um the one related to um the response to immigration enforcement that was >> Oh, was this Yeah, there the other one that you >> not the other one. >> Yeah, that where we deleted because it was >> with the federal federal language. Okay. >> Okay. Okay. Go ahead. And and are you Jen, are you going to are you going to talk about the change to >> or the potential? >> I certainly can or can I mean I don't know. I mean, it's pretty straightforward, but I'm happy to >> if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them for you. And and ultimately it would be a I mean you you have multiple options is somebody can make a motion to approve as is. Somebody can make a motion to

036approve with requested amendments >> that the board the whole rest of the board has to and so I was looking to Jen because I know she had expressed a language that we've added through >> yes >> legal based on right >> a couple of board members suggestions and so this has to be remind what number that was. It's 1445. 44. Okay. All right. >> Um Okay. So, uh I think the only uh uh modification that um I had requested was to 1445 and that was to um to make sure that we are f we are following federal law on these. Um there was no other change that we requested. And Jen, can you read the language? Add place it. >> Yep, for sure. So, this would be um on policy 1445, we the the what

037we've kind of discussed is um paragraph 2 um would read um sorry, I'm just trying to make sure I've got everything lined up here. Would read um so so the the first paragraph would read as it is. The second paragraph starts right now with unless required by state or federal law. Instead, that paragraph would read, "Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted to conflict with federal law. In the event of a direct and irreconcilable conflict, the district will act in accordance with controlling federal authority while seeking guidance from legal counsel." And then the policy continues as it's written here. >> And that's consistent with the policy already that we had put together about federal versus state because of the confusion between the two. >> Correct. >> And we had had legal on that. and our

038legal team looked at that and felt like that was fair and appropriate and was not outside of the boundaries of of your perview or our perview or the intended law. >> Just for clarification of what is there any >> do you want me to read it again or do you want me to send the I can send the language to all of you if you'd like me to >> Jason? No. Can I read it? >> Oh, did she send it to you? >> No, I'm just reading the actual policy again compared to the language I just heard. I don't I don't see the confusion in the way it's written. Can I understand that better? Like what is it about the current verbiage that you feel blends or blurs the lines? I don't know whose idea

039was to make change. I'm just curious like what what about the way it's written is not appropriate. >> Well, it's not not appropriate. I um this is a really touching matter and um I feel like laws are being moved and changed every day. But um when we checked with with uh our legal on which if one law conflicted with another that federal law would govern. And so we just wanted to make sure not just for us but for beyond us and beyond this group here when we move on that it's there. So just just for clarity that's it just for clarity. It doesn't change anything within the text. It doesn't change anything because it does say within the text um that it would still comply with federal law, but it was just for clarity because,

040you know, we're just in such flux right now. And I think it puts the put puts boards, school boards specifically, in a really hard situation when when we're getting laws thrown out from left and right and you don't know which ones, you know, who which ones to look at and which ones to follow. It just gave it clarity. That's it. >> I did just um board send you a copy of what I read in the event that if that's helpful for you to do for yourself. It's the language in blue is what's being um suggested. >> Okay. I don't know if everyone's quiet because I'm not talking or what, but >> Okay. I understand. >> You understand? >> It doesn't change any It doesn't change any of the policy at all. Any other any questions

041discussion? >> Okay. I do. Margie, did you have anything else on these policies that >> No. And that was the only one I do find like a lot of policies that we have it says state or federal. I want clarity like okay. So, and I like that people ask for that kind of language because it gets to be confusing. Every time we turn around, we get these batch of policies from CSBA, but no clarity on which one are we actually supposed to follow. >> And I like having clarity. >> I I would Well, there's no point in engaging in a legal argument because none of us are lawyers, but I I feel like when they say it's it's or if there's one, then it's that one. Unless there's a federal policy that supersedes it. That's

042the way I think it's interpreted court. But I would also just um just as a matter of like we sent this to legal for review. I don't know how much that costs, but we do it a lot and we're not making substantive changes to policies that are already signed into state law. I would just I would love if this board would think a little bit about the expense of resources as we continually sort of tease at these little changes that aren't substantive that aren't I think all that that material either but yet create a cost a line item in our legal budget that because I just have seen our legal budget balloon in the last four years in a way that I think should at least be looked at. So, all I would say is

043like if we're going to make changes to policies, I would like them to be material. I would like them to be substantive. I would like for a legal opinion to be required as to whether or not we should or legally be allowed to make changes to policy as opposed to poking at them to see if we can tweak language that we have all admitted doesn't really change the policy. Well, it it does change the budget. So, I just want to share that because I sit here and read this and go like I don't hear much difference between that and this. So, I'm just saying that I think we could we could we we could um probably be a slight bit more careful with our legal expenses. >> That's a fair statement. Thank you. >> All

044right. Any other All right. Do I have a motion to approve the policies >> as amended? >> As Thank you. As amended. You have to be >> as amended. >> Make a motion to approve. >> All right. Do I have a second? >> Second. I see. >> Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. All oppose. >> All right. Thank you. Discussion. Okay. Section seven, information discussion. 7.1 Annual district overview of certificates of participation debt financing and repayment plan. Oh nathy >> you want on here is Carrie but she is Kathy Kathy >> is the mic on >> the lights on. >> Okay. All right then. >> I'm just quiet today. >> Y >> so it's new. I'm quiet today. >> You just need time to warm up. Oh, it went down. >> We'll just

045say hi before we start. So, this is the presentation that you get to see me about every year to remind you of the debt situation that the district is in. Um, this is something that kind of behind the scenes at the staff level. we're monitoring on an ongoing basis, but we think it's very important to uh describe publicly what's going on with the debt situation and make sure that the board has the opportunity to ask questions and provide input on kind of the the uh the repayment plan. Um, this repayment plan went into effect back in 2008 and so we kind of tweak it and adjust it every year and then make sure that that all your questions are answered. Marjorie actually sent several questions before the meeting. So, I am going to try to

046kind of incorporate them into the presentation at the kind of the appropriate spot. Um, but I may actually go in at the end and just make sure we've gone through to address all of those publicly. So, I think they were very helpful and help frame kind of the thinking on the overall repayment plan. So, I just want to give you some background and remind you of what we're talking about. So, the district has what are called certificates of participation outstanding. Those are loans. Those are loan obligations that are issued to fund capital improvements and they're repaid from any legally available funding source of the district, but they're ultimately a liability of the general fund. So, they are they're on your books. You have your collateral for those loans are various school sites throughout the district.

047Um, they are why are they called certificates of participation? It's just technically the way school districts and other public agencies have to issue debt in order to um avoid the voter approval requirements. So, they're actually structured like a lease. Um so, if you read the documents, you look through it, it's it's lease payments, but you're paying principal and interest just like your home mortgage. So, think of them like your home mortgage. The repayment source is your your checking and savings account, which in this situation, we try to make it facilities funding sources, not the general fund. And that's really the theme of the presentation is we need to make sure that we are assigning facilities funding sources so that your general fund ultimately isn't on the hook to pay make the payments. Um the district

048entered into this restructuring plan in 2008. Um at the time and I tell this story every year a little bit before that in 2007 I got a phone call from the then superintendent Scott Leman and he said um county office just told me I don't have enough money to pay the debt payments. and um what's going to happen? So, we took a look and the district was in a pretty significant crisis. There were several series of coops outstanding and the district was in the process of issuing another one because they were in the middle of a school construction project and didn't have enough money to complete the project. We came in actually downsized the amount that you were going to issue and um basically we we worked out a way where you could go ahead

049and continue the issuance of an additional 50 million because you were literally in the middle of a construction project and if you didn't do that your contractor was going to sue you for more than 50 million. Um and so the district was in a pretty difficult predicament. um it would have put you into bankruptcy and that that that is not a question that was investigated at the time. Um so that's the serious nature of of this outstanding debt. At that time we restructured the debt. We extended the term and we adjusted the payments. We actually customized your payments to match available revenue sources to the extent we could and then basically said the hard news which was at some point in time you will likely have a general fund liability. Your general fund will likely

050need to pay make payments on that outstanding debt. And in 2008 we estimated that in 2024 your general fund would be responsible for debt payments. That money was used for the construction of four schools. was used for 12 Bridges Elementary in ' 04, Foscat Ranch in '05, 12 Bridges Middle in ' 06, and Lincoln Crossing in '07. Those those coops paid for not 100% of the construction of those schools, but a large portion of the construction of those schools. You currently have about 114 million outstanding. That's still a really substantial balance, but over the years, we've been able to refinance those those coops for savings to reduce the payments. We haven't restructured them since 2008. They're still the same structure and they still go to 2049. Um, but they actually are outstanding at relatively low

051interest rates. Um, they're all in the 3% range. The 2016 is outstanding about 3 and a half%. The 2017 is outstanding at about 3.8%. And the 19s are outstanding about 3 and a half%. So when you think about that compared to today's interest rate environment that it was it it was just a lower um interest rate environment but they don't mature um the latest is 2049 and that's the 2017s. That's also why they have slightly higher interest rate because they have a longer term. The um 2016s mature in 2047 and the 2019s mature in 2037. We tried to shorten it as much as possible. Um, I bring up those rates because that kind of fits into the context of is there anything we can do about it. Those two of them are prepayable now. So,

052if we um had an opportunity to refinance for savings, that's something that the district could consider, and I'll talk about that in a little bit. Um, or it's something where if we had lumpsum revenues, facilities money that came in, we could use it to pay off or pay down some of the debt if we had enough money. Again, I'm going to come back to that concept, but let's talk about our sources of funds for COP repayment. I mentioned we want to keep it on the facility side as much as possible. So, you really have three funding sources that we are using for COP repayment. One of them is a dedicated funding source and that is your community facilities district special tax revenue. You collect special taxes out of CFDs one and two. That's really your

053Lincoln Crossing, 12 bridges, faucet areas. Those are your CFD collections. They are used in their entirety for COP repayment. And again, I'll go in a couple little bit more detail in a minute. Uh you also have developer fee revenue. We the district has historically committed to contributing $800,000 a year to from developer fees towards your COP repayment plan. We are continuing that recommendation that you continue to contribute $800,000 a year. And your other is your COP repayment fund balance. that fund balance has been built up over time. So, initially we were recommending that the district take money that they were getting from the city. There were some joint use payments that were owed from the city back in 2008. The district took all of those funds that it ultimately collected from the city and put

054it into a cop a cop repayment fund. It's a kind of a board designated repayment fund. The board that that is restricted again by the board. The board can choose to unrestrict the money or restrict additional funds. that isn't something that's from an outside source. Um, with the bold program, you guys are familiar with the bold program that you've been participating in. We've actually been able to build up that balance a little bit more and that's an important piece and and we'll talk about why that bold program has really helped the district with the bold program and with some additional with some additional CFD prepayments. We've been able to build that fund balance to about $18 million. that is after taking some of that money last year and applying it towards the 12 bridges and

055Phoenix capital improvement projects. So that is an important piece that fund balance really is our cushion that is our savings account in the event that our other revenue sources do not materialize to the extent that we expect and developer fees is the real reason there. So developer fees as you know are a relatively uncertain revenue source. They come in as development occurs and they fluctuate over time. There have been some years the district has not had enough developer fee revenues to contribute $800,000 to the cop repayment plan. The way we've always approached it and we kind of look for board agreement that this is the right approach is in the years we can't we contribute what we can and in the years that we have additional collections we make up for our shortfalls and we

056did that two years ago. Three years ago we didn't have enough money. Two years ago we had extra money and we made up for that contribution. And we've had to do that several times over the years, but we've always normalized at that 800,000. The reason that I don't worry about not having the full 800,000 is because of that repayment fund. Because we have that COP repayment fund in place, if we if our developer fees don't materialize, we can just take some extra money out of the repayment fund. We also collect, and this is the the the primary funding source, the CFD taxes. This is actually a really secure funding source. It's property tax base. you have very low delinquency rates. These coop payments tax revenues fund about 70% of the coops. So that is an

057important piece. Um you basically get in about right now this year about 6.8 million in CFD tax revenues and it's covering the 2025 26 payment. That's great. That's not always going to be the case though. At some point those CFD revenues are going to start to decline and actually it's happening in about 2031 uh where you're going to see a reduction in the amount of CFD tax revenue that's being collected. So at that point you're going to be upside down and the CFD tax revenues will not be enough to fund the debt service. So we are keeping that kind of 300,000 this year adding it to the COP repayment fund doing that until 2031 to try to build it just a little bit more. And so then we will start tapping into that COP repayment

058fund each year to make the debt payments. So again, that's why we have to bring that money up. I want to talk that COPE repayment fund I mentioned is restricted at board discretion, but it is facilities money that funded it in its entirety. So you've never made a general fund contribution into your COP repayment fund. So even if the board were going to free up those funds, they would be restricted for facilities use. That make sense? So, this is the chart that we look at every year. And I smile right now because the first time I stood up here, that gap, and I'll show you what it is, was 2024. So, what we look at here is this blue area here is your debt payment. It's relatively flat. It has some weird spikes in it,

059but it's relatively flat. The the uh red is your annual It's missing a piece here. Um the red is your annual um CFD revenues and developer fee revenues stacked together and the yellow is your fund balance. So we basically have we move some money from the COP repayment fund into Phoenix and 12 Bridges projects. So this is kind of where we where that 18 million comes in. From there to there's about 18 million. We're building it up with some of that excess tax revenue and then we'd have to start drawing it down a little more and more over time. So when we first did this chart started in 20 2008 in 2024 two years ago we had this gap and there was going to be a gap from 2024 all the way to 2050 that

060has been kind of pushed out over the years. The bold program made a huge difference because of the bold program. We've kind of jumped from this 2030 range out to 2040 2042. We're now sitting at about 2046. Why does 2046 not worry me even though there's that blue area at the end? Because think about what's happened over the last 18 years. And we've got another 20 years with some additional growth to to address this. Although there's potential G general fund liability, I do still think that the plan we have in place is the best plan for your outstanding debt and for the security of the district. So if the board's goal is to minimize the impact on the general fund, this plan will will achieve that. If the board goals have shifted, then we should

061talk about how we might want to best shift the COP repayment plan to reflect those goals. But historically, the board feedback I've gotten is that we need to protect the general fund at all costs. Even if we're paying a little bit more in debt payments, we have to pay more out of our facilities funds and minimize the impact on the general fund. And that is what we've been able to achieve. Now, what happens in 2046 if we do have a liability? Well, you don't have that much outstanding at that point. So, that board is going to have a difficult decision. They can either try to take money out of the general fund or they can refinance the cops even more and kick the can further down the road, which we don't really want to do.

062But here's the reality. Over the next 20 years, we can take some additional funding. I'm sure there's going to be another bold project that pops up. We can take funding from other developer fee revenue, make some additional contributions and k and in and increase the amount of revenue available to reduce that impact. and just seeing what has happened over the years, I just don't have a lot of fear that in the end we're that's not just going to be made up. Um, but I think that's something again that we need to talk about because part of the plan isn't just those revenue sources, it's the ongoing debt maintenance. And one of the things that we ask the board to commit to every year is restricting that fund balance. We restrict it. If emergency capital improvements

063come up, we'll have a conversation with you as a board as to what your priorities are and whether the risk of that future of general fund contribution outweighs the need to spend on capital improvements just like we did before embarking on the Phoenix and 12 Bridges projects. Um because if we use that fund balance for anything other than debt repayment, that general fund liability moves up. So we we make that commitment to use those funds. But I think we should continue to analyze whether applying that COP fund balance to reduce the amount borrowed will actually help out the district. So for example, that 2019 COP has about 7.5 million outstanding. We could take 7.5 million and pay that off today. We it's or in about six months. Um and that would reduce your overall debt

064payments, but it would also reduce your fund balance. So, we have about 10 million in fund balance available. Does that give you enough cushion in the event that one of the other revenues falls short? And is there enough benefit to that? So, when we looked at that, um, you would save about $2 million of interest costs if you repay that, but it wouldn't move the needle on this plan right here. You would still have that potential general fund liability in in 2046. So that is something that if we're going to take that on, we need to balance the risk of reducing our balance, our fund balance with the benefit of reducing that general fund liability. So right now, we're actually not recommending you move forward with that adjustment until we have a better understanding of

065some of the other capital needs that the district may have um and some of the urgency of those needs given all the development that's happening with with village 7 and village one. Um, the other piece of the repayment plan is to identify alternative revenue sources. Um, monitor refinance opportunities, which isn't really a revenue source, but it kind of it lowers the payments to kind of make that revenue go farther and apply any excess funding that we have towards COP repayment. I would be happier, although I'm happy with this because I know where it's been. I would be happier if there was no unfunded blue area. So if we could apply a little bit more money to that COP fund balance, that would get us there. And maybe if we had a little bit more, it

066would be more comfortable paying some of it down. So there's a little bit of a balance there. So to the extent that there's onetime funding, let's think about whether this is an appropriate use of those funds. >> Kevin, can I ask you like probably the stupidest question you've ever heard? >> I'm trying to set really low bar here. I'm looking at that same graph that you're very pleased with. Um, and what are we owe? How much? >> 114 million outstanding. >> Um, but when you pay it, you're paying both principal and interest. So, that's just the principal balance. >> Okay. Um, as I look at the three indicators, you've got expenses, fund balance, and annual revenues. Can you help me understand the debt obligation and how we're affecting that with payments over time? Is it

067on this chart? I'm just I'm not reading it right. >> No. So, it's in the blue. So, the blue is the combination of principal and interest. And you're not you're you're retiring some principal each year, but it's incremental. So, in the earlier years, you're paying more interest than principal. We're starting to hit where it converts just a little bit, and now we're starting to retire principal a bit more. Um, but in the early years, just like with either home or mortgage, most of the payment is going towards interest and it's only reducing principal a little bit. That's going to increase over time. >> Um, why does the blue just drop off at 2050? >> That's when it's paid off. That's when the the um debt completely matures and it's paid off >> because it's a

068lease and not we're not chipping away at it over time. It's like we've made the appropriate amount of payments and they stop. >> They just stop it. They stop. >> Okay, that helps me to understand. So the gap you're worried about it. I was just like, well, is there a wealthy benefactor that shows up? >> Your payments and principal interest is being retired. So when you get to the back end here, just picture kind of a line in the middle of the blue. Principal is only being retired a little bit, a little bit, a little bit. When you get to the end, >> it's mostly principal, not much interest. >> Okay. Thanks for explaining that. >> Just think about like your home mortgage. >> Yeah, >> it's the same thing. >> I had a question

069on that graph as well. So you're saying to if we pay extra every year, do you have that number of what we would have to pay extra so when we get to 2046 that blue line drops off a lot faster or a lot sooner or or I mean we have a basically a balloon payment at 2050 is what I see. >> No, it's not a blue pay you. It's the payments are virtually level. Your payments are on the blue line. >> Okay. All right. Well, we Okay. >> Yeah. >> Let me say that a different way. We don't have the um revenues to pay our payment starting in 2046. >> Yes, >> that's correct. >> Okay, that's correct. >> That's cool. >> Okay. And you're about 2 and a half million short. Then it increases

070to about almost 7 million short. Then almost 8 million short. So in between 20 between 2047 to 20 to 2050, you're about 7 to8 million short per year. >> Per year. So that's 30 something6 plus another. You're about 60 million. >> 60 million 204. >> I'm sorry. 40 about 45 million about 45 million short. >> Okay. So 45. So if we were to say if we were, you know, just like how you pay extra on your mortgage, right? Because we want you want to get back early. >> Do we know what that number would be? >> Well, I don't have like an annual number. Um when we when we we can get that number. I can actually get that and follow it up through Carrie. Can I par back what I think I'm hearing you

071say? You're saying um if there's something we would prefer to do with the fund balance different than holding it in case of rainy day or whatever, then that's the information you need. >> Two, there's two different things. Number one, is there an additional amount you want to contribute and from where? >> Okay. >> And number two, is there some do we have a different policy is is with that fund bounce exactly what you're saying? Is there something we would rather do with fund balance? would rather pay it down and reduce interest costs even though it doesn't give us as much of a cushion. Those are kind of the two pieces of direction >> and it's facilities money. >> It's all facilities money >> which it's not like we're short on facilities problems, right, Mike? >>

072That's the other challenge. >> That's kind of the balance as well as some of the money that we're putting into this fund could actually go to fix current school issues. Correct. So, is it, you know, are we being as conservative or as as I don't know, appropriate with setting that money aside as opposed to putting to work now? >> And that was the decision that the board made >> with Phoenix Central Bridges. Um, and the board actually moved over about 11.5 million. I think you authorized 12 million. We actually moved over about 11.5 million for those projects. Um, so just putting that in perspective, you you said, "Okay, it can better be used for this need now as we're dealing with construction cost escalation and and we had to do the projects. We didn't have

073a choice." So you actually reallocated fund balance. If we would have left that, I don't know if you remember, if we would have left that, we actually were covered. Does that make sense? So with the with the 12 million, we actually had enough because we were able to reduce some of the principal and interest over time. >> Yeah. >> But you like the plan still. I still like the plan. I like the flexibility of the plan given the problems that we have in other facilities area and some of the uncertainty with village one, village 7 in those facilities. So I in general if you're going to spend it down, I would say at most it's prepaying that 2019. That would be I wouldn't I wouldn't use all 18 million. The only place I might go

074on that is is you might ask me to come back with a recommendation to evaluate paying off that 2019 when it comes due or when it's prepayable in November and just come back to you with with an analysis. That would be reasonable direction, >> but it doesn't change. It doesn't move the needle. >> Doesn't change, right? Okay. >> But it saves $2 million. >> Saves $2 million over >> Well, if I'm right, it saves tomorrow $2 million tomorrow, right? which we have to compete with today problems. >> Correct. And so you lose some of the flexibility on on having that funding source in place. I don't think you need to have that conversation today. What I would look for is direction that we should even evaluate that because I would want to come back to

075you with a more thorough evaluation where you can actually look at it. But if that is the if that is the direction from the board, I can come back to you with some uh recommendations. >> Kathy, do we and we earn some interest on the fund balance that sits there. >> We do. There is a countful rate, >> right? Which is not but it's better than something. Yeah. And so there is that piece of like we could save 2 million in interest but we also >> have less that we could earn in interest because our balance is >> what's the rate? Do you know? >> What are we doing right now? >> Close to four. >> So we're actually >> Yeah, >> we're and we're paying about three and a half. >> So So Kathy,

076so pretend that a board is sitting here in 2046. Are they going to look at this and say, "What the heck is the board doing in 2026? We're now 2046 through 50. We do not have any money to pay for this." >> I I mean, >> yes. >> Right. From good to great. You you don't prepare your your your successors to fail. >> Correct. But I also >> Do you see that happening in 2046? >> Here's what I really think is going to happen. exactly what has been happening where every time I come here that number is a couple years later >> and we were 2043 last year. >> Okay. >> Just >> and then we took money out >> thinking we were going to stay at 2043. I don't know if you remember when

077we took the money out we actually presented I was like and we'll probably stay at 2043 and then when all everything came in and we accounted for interest and we had some more prepayments now we're at 2046. So, what I practically think is going to happen is that's that gap is going to be gone just like it was going to be before we moved the money over to the COP repayment fund. And once we have the money to cover it, that's when we can start talking about prepayment. >> Y >> I think that's the more prudent approach. Um I'm not again I'm not that worried about it just because of how everything has played out. But I if we're sitting in 2046 and it looks like that, then we haven't done our job. And that's

078why we come back every year and have this conversation because you have 20 years to figure out a plan and we have to keep this in our minds as we're looking at the rest of the plan. So every time your team has a meeting about facilities, we all talk about this. >> Yeah. >> This isn't like a once a year thing for us. >> So we're talking about this plan. It's Am I happy about this? Yes, because I know where we've been and it was horrendous. But and we look at the board from the early 2000s and go, "What the heck were they thinking?" >> Yes. But as long as we can solve that problem, I and are are intentional about how we're dealing with it, I think that helps for the board in 2046.

079>> Okay. So, one of my thoughts is if this if the goalpost is moving every year at a pace that you can't predict in a positive way, then that makes me want to use some of those >> those funds to fix and tend to issues we already own within our facilities portfolio. Um, the question I want to ask is let's say let's say we don't let's say we hang on to the fund as it is and we retire to debt with still a fund balance. I'm assuming at that point that money could be used anywhere at 2050. I don't know. Coffin will still need it. I hope not. >> Just kidding. That was just a joke. >> A heart attack. >> Maybe a new sign or something out front. Maybe redo the parking lot. Just

080that's a joke, too. Um, so I'm just wondering at what point do you come to us and say, "I have the high a high enough confidence level to tell you we should pull another 10 million out and you should be fine to ride down the rest of the hill." >> Anytime. So, one of the follow-ups to this meeting that I talked to Carrie about is we need to have a conversation about all of our facilities plans, how it fits in with the master plan, and actually do remember like we do about the facilities funding plan. we're actually going to go with a full facilities funding plan and then we can make a recommendation to you about all right in order to fund this. We have these resources or we can tap into this and here's

081what it means just like we did a couple years ago, just like we did in 2019 before that. This kind of happens every couple years where we're saying we need to take a look at this. So, we've never taken that off the table. If the board directs us for to do something more um proactively, we can do that. But we've always left this in the conversation and and I sorry there was one more question Marjorie had that I didn't answer and that is do we even have an opportunity for a refinance? No. Oh, your interest rates are really low and we don't The only reason you'd even consider refinance is for restructuring and there's nothing telling me that we want to restructure. Restructure could be the bad, which is extending the term or shortening the

082term. Shortening the term is not going to help us right now because we'd be shortening the term at a higher interest rate. >> So, that doesn't help us. We don't want to do that. >> Okay. >> Did I miss any of the questions? >> No, it's good. >> I It just pains me that we just keep kicking the can down the road. can't find a viable way to pay off our debt like in my lifetime. I mean, >> we're not going to live for 20 more years. >> Well, no, I don't think I think it could the way things are right now, I think it could get kind of scary financially and try and >> either way that debt is >> I would love to see it paid off. >> Yeah. I mean, yeah. 25

083years. >> 25 years. So, that's a total of how many years? 45. So the first series was actually issued in 98 then rolled. This isn't a good story. I just The first COP was issued in 98. Then there was one in um 02 03 04 04 20 and 04 06 08. >> So 98 that would be 40. >> And they some of them were rolled into each other. Some of them were variable rate. You it was a mess. When I'm saying it was a mess. >> The borrower doesn't win. I don't think that's a new story. >> This is Yeah, this is not that's not new. This is the clean version. >> Right. >> So, this conversation is just about how do we kick the can until 2050 when the debt is over without hitting

084the general fund. And my now thinking is and not save so much in the CO cop repayment fund that we forego repairs that our debt that our district needs. So I would be interested in seeing you know how much could we pull or ship or what's the trigger point where we say I think we can start clawing back what is it maybe small like two three million a year and putting that into current facility needs because I think it just eases the you know the burden and the last question I have is how well are we aligning your projections with uh like changes in ADA which will happen as we grow my assumption is that still changes our revenue picture and are those two it does not revenue the revenue source and because I'm excuse

085village 7 agreement as an example. There's no village 7 money in here. There's no village one money in here. Okay. >> Um because that's where the growth is happening. Infill money is in here. So the $800,000 a year in developer fees is really coming from infill. Um >> because village one has its own set of problems because village 7 has its own set of problems >> that won't play into this and they won't have enough money for their needs. So >> that's a whole different problem for a different day. and kind of going what you were talking about, Jason, which is let's evaluate whether we draw on it. >> Yes, that that has been the direction from the board in the past and that's always been our approach. >> It's just if it's different today

086and we want to focus on paying down the debt, that's what I would need to hear cuz >> I mean a few million dollars that we could just take that we don't have and put into facility projects or bank for two or three years and then give Mike eight or 10 million that he can do some significant I feel like there's there's some value in that. I mean, our campuses are in need of of repair. >> Yeah, >> I would be curious to see what what that could work. >> Well, and I think that the the TBH and the Phoenix project that the board authorized a couple years ago, a perfect example of and as Kathy said, like at that point, you were going to re you were going to lower the the uh the

087timeline >> where it was going to then impact the general fund and here we are a couple years later and it's it's above where it was at that time where you ultimately authorized us to take some of those dollars. Um and um and I you know an aspect that we're where we're at now in terms of village village one and village seven being different in and where we were very wrong as a school district and are going to continue to pay >> the price for it because it impacts our ability to do things today >> is that the cop >> that we issued was far greater than what we were going to get in CFD revenues over time. And that's I know what's been part of the hiccup with those that pay into the CFDs

088because there's this feeling of like I funded the school and therefore I should be able to and it's like yeah actually you you didn't because we actually borrowed far more than what we will get from the CFD to build these >> schools and overspent overspent overbuilt. It was like a blank check without really thinking about how much money is going to come back to actually pay it back. Hence the Oh, by the way, $120 million more than you will ever see in return period. >> Yeah. >> And the district was facing $8 million annual shortfall. >> The reason these look as nasty as they do is because you're facing an $8 million a year short shortfall that the can had to be kicked down the road in order to make up for that shortfall. and

089an $8 million shortfall in 2008 when the district's enrollment was significantly less than it is now. Imagine I mean $8 million over $125 million budget for us right now would be significant. So $8 million then was really bad. It was not possible. The district was facing bankruptcy >> if if some of these other villages are built that we had expected to be built that's going to make a difference >> here potentially or no? >> No. Um I wish it would >> developer fees. >> I think because it's such a struggle to get funding out of each of those villages. Let me just use village 7 as an example. We have a really successful funding agreement there. It only covers KK through eight kids. We still have a high school deficit. So we have we're unfunded

090at a high school and in today's dollars we're 300 million to build a high school. So we're already at a deficit there. I think we're going to see the same thing in village 5 where it's going to pay for many of our facilities needs but not all of them. Village one we're starting in the negative because of the improvements we have to do to accommodate village one just now. Um think about the improvements we're going to have to make to Glenn Edwards with shifting of first street when we have to do to Sheridan just to accommodate village one and that doesn't even include a school in that project. I just don't see it happening. I think the only thing that's going to help here is some finishing. There's a few more units to build in

091kind of infill areas and then just people remodeling their homes and expanding them. Um so the bold I think we're probably seeing maybe another one or two bold projects which will fill that tunch and then you can choose state reimbursement. If you get some state reimbursement and we don't need it for one of the schools then that can go in to fill that gap. >> Um joint use money we can look at how a joint joint use is not tied to >> the village 7 agreement but other joint use money we can look at that. I think there's other things you can look at, but okay. Not the new development. >> All right. Thank you. >> Sorry. >> More questions. >> That's a lot. I know. >> We were at 1.1 million. Now we're at

092>> 114 million. You said >> 114 million. >> Million today. I feel lost. >> It's been a money day. >> And this and I do have to say this is just the coops. Remember, there's also a C CFD bond for another 15 million, but that one is covered from this this >> what's what's left on the CFDs is after that CFD bond is paid for. So, there's still another debt instrument out there. >> All right. So, that's just information. The only direction we need is if you want us to change course. Well, I I personally would also think that you could call it money mismanagement if that debt went away and we had a large fund balance. >> So, I think that we should >> and I don't know if now's the time to have

093that conversation or if it's if it's just some point we're analyzing whether we're holding back too much in the in the CFD repayment fund or not. I mean, I feel like that thing should be as close as we can guess without wasting money because otherwise every every kid that's been standing outside without a shade structure is just been like, "Sorry, dude. We were just a little nervous about spending that money. It turns out we probably could have been a bit more." >> And that's already in that is already part of what we do in the plan. So, unless you want us to not do that, we we continue to do that and we as we work on the next set of projects. >> Yeah. that's in there. >> And we'll come back to you just

094like we did last time. >> Yeah, it's perfect. >> Thank you, Kathy. Thanks, Kathy. >> Is that your your least favorite presentation to us for the year? >> Yeah, because I don't like it. >> You have other meetings that are far worse, right? Other you should see those guys, >> right? Feel better. >> I just I just hate that I I hate the original kick the can down the road. just >> I'm too financially conservative to say this. >> Okay, the next one is AC academic excellence and that is you George, you're on the academic excellence awards and talk about the awards >> and you you and Jen can jump in. >> Yes, we will. Um we have discussed having a meeting at each meeting have at the very beginning of the meeting giving out

095an academic excellence award. One for a high achieving student and the second one for a student who's overcome some serious challenges and improved what they what they've been doing. So, the way this would look and again you can tell me uh we would pass out and I I would still go for the trophy by the way but uh and I I get a lower price. Um but uh we would pass out an award a small trophy and a a recommendation and accommodation to this both of the students who would probably be here with uh uh likely a faculty member as teacher and hopefully their parents. And the reason we're doing this is one of our key goals is to have academic excellence throughout all our schools. And one way I believe to remind everybody, ourselves

096and you um that academic excellence is extremely important for a school of course is to each meeting uh commend two students that are doing exceptionally well. And if you if people see that each meeting, they'll say, "Well, that Western Placer, they seem to care about academic excellence." And that might encourage other people to uh to commend these students as well. So, I hope we can do this. We're going to try to get underway uh in a month or two. And uh you'll see it shortly. >> So, um this is something that that George is presenting to the board for discussion. Um just what Jen and I discussed on Thursday. Uh couple of additions is that George had initially wanted uh trophies. Jen looked into the price of trophies. The ones she found were higher than

097uh were high and so she recommended but pins that could be worn especially at graduation. Um, and then, um, what I recommended is that, uh, and maybe this might go on with your presentation, Jason, is that either I will do it or the board could do it. I'd like to also offer give the recipients of these awards a gift card to maybe um, Dutch Brothers. Dutch Bros. >> Um, Dutch Bros. Because that's what the kids love to do, most of them, right? So give them something that's meaningful to them whether such bros or something else just an idea. This would happen uh was this George was this once once a month evening. >> Oh every meeting. Okay. Every meeting. And then um Jen has created a nomination form. It's super simple. It's >> like seven

098fields or something like that. Very brief. >> It's super brief. And then Jen, you had also one addition to the student the the >> there's you can nominate for three purposes at least as we've discussed so far. One would be achievement in academics, one would be perseverance or improvement in academics and third would be excellence as an educator. So that we're recognizing two students and one staff member. Um that that would be the nomination field options. >> Well, I think that's just fine. I I I again I have a a $20 cost for each trophy and I would really encourage us to do that. I'd like some people walk out with something substantive that they can have for for years. I would really encourage that. It's you could do it for a little for an

099entire year. You could do it for a little more than $400 for all of them. >> And Jim, how much were the trophies that because I know the trophies that you you were looking at were what? >> That was getting personalized though. >> Okay. the price really varies. Like I didn't find anything that was less than $20 and then to get it personalized and get it shipped. Like I think the price I don't think that individually that they're particularly expensive, but if we're looking to do this in an ongoing fashion, I don't know like I don't know who would pay for that number one. And so we need to have that conversation as well. Um the at least at at least at um one of our high schools um pins are a way that we

100recognize students and they collect those things and use them as kind of like flare for lack of a better word graduation. Um 12 Brbridge at Lincoln High School that's big for them. at at Tropes High School, they're really about the cords. Cords can also be expensive. So, I don't think we've identified a token, but we'd like to use some sort of a token that people walk away with that they could use to remember this moment in addition to something maybe fun um that could be used right away in addition to a certificate and then the recognition. I wonder if it might be um a good idea to ask our student senators what they would because I I I appreciate the the trophy idea, but I I also worry that it might be something that gets

101placed in a closet somewhere and and it's an expensive endeavor. Um, and so if if there I mean I think the Dutch Bros concept or whatever is like what what would it what would be meaningful for you beyond just publicly being recognized at a at a meeting? Like what would you >> I say a trip to Disneyland. What do you think, Charlie? >> Yeah. I mean the pins 12 just does pins like it's part of our like kind of like you're ending the year. You're going into whatever year comes after for you but it's mostly highest grade. So like it's not based off like it's like some of them are based off character. It's up to the teacher's discretion, but most of them do it just off like who had the highest grade in the

102class >> and >> but it wouldn't be out of it wouldn't be then a total like left field to do a pin. That would that would be that would be an option. That's good to know. >> They get pretty um competitive because like some teachers like I um one of my classes last year like he literally showed like the highest grades in the class. So you would be trying to get the pin because they only each class can give out two pins for that entire subject for what >> for the whole semester >> for like so like let's say a teacher teaches biology they can only give out like two pins for biology for their classes. >> That's how big are your >> Okay. And that's why I think that a pen could be a

103cool option. I mean I think it's a great idea to get student input and we can certainly do that. um we don't have to make that decision today, but I do like the pin idea because it's something that I think there's a culture of collecting those items and saving them for graduation, which I think is kind of a neat um thing that our district does. So, but George, I know that you're very you're very keen on on the trophy and I just felt like the pricing was um especially because I don't have a necessarily a way to pay for it. Um but we could continue to talk about it. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, I guess this isformational for the board. I don't know that we have to have Do we have to have a

104vote on this next time? You actually cannot act on it tonight, but >> No, no, no. I mean, in the future. Oh, yeah. No, you you could just give us some direction. >> Okay. We could just give directions. So, >> can I ask what the selection process is? >> Sure. >> Yeah. On the form it says um the people nominating would nominate for one of those three categories. They would just share um um who they are and what they are um who they are and like what their role is in the in the district. um and they would indicate um a they would provide a brief narrative um around why the nominee is being recognized specifically um why they're being recognized, how they're contributing to their school or community, and why this recognition is deserved.

105So, those were the the criteria. >> 200 words. >> Yeah, 200 words or less. >> Who decides who wins? >> Um I think the academic achievement team would decide who wins or who's recognized. >> So, twice a month you're going to get together and read. How many of these do you think? >> I I have millions. A million. I think it should be once a month you give an award. >> The objective is that every student who is nominated would receive a certificate of recognition that we talked about that and that then it would be depending on the number of nominees that they'd be whittleled down to one for each category that would be public that would be recognized for the board. I don't have any sense of how many will come in. there was

106discussion about about um uh what grade levels would be targeted and it seemed to be the interest of the group that we would focus more on the secondary schools. Um so that's something that the group can decide if that's what they want to do. >> So Marjgerie, you were saying once once a month. >> Yeah, that's a lot of work. a lot of work for the academic excellence committee to have to get together twice a month just to read the applications >> and then we have and then present too that's a lot of extra work for staff >> be a lot of cost too >> a lot of cost um once a month present award whatever you guys decide on your award you know I think the student senate thing is a good idea to

107ask the kids what they would value most >> yeah I like >> like an award once a month >> that would be my recommendation I'm I'm not on the academic committee, so it's not my work to do. It's up to you guys. But I think that's a lot to ask. >> How much work would it be on a site to just simply say, "Hey, listen. The board wants to give out these recognitions. This is the number and ask a site principal to manage that. Is that is that a heavy >> sites already do that often? Sites are giving out recognition on a monthly basis to their students through um assemblies, through other recognition tools they have. This would be above and beyond. I mean, we certainly could ask them to give us information who they're

108already recognizing, although their recognition might vary. Like a lot of the schools are providing recognition based on character traits um based on portrait of a learner, which is a little bit different than the academic piece. So, there's a little bit of a different nuance there. Um, but we can certainly I mean, that's why we wanted to bring it up is get some input from the board to see where it's headed. We can certainly ask more questions. I don't know that members of this board would have enough background on individuals that are having applications submitted on their behalf to really go like, "Oh, this is a, you know, I don't know. I'm trying to think about what that meeting would look like and what if there's 600 of them and you're going like, oh my goodness."

109Okay. And then you're going to you're going to like choice it for the last two or three. I don't I don't think you I mean >> I hear what you're saying on the 600, but I think given like what Jen was alluding to is there's lots of channels where staff are being asked to recommend students on a monthly basis for different recognition of sorts. And so it this just becomes another thing and so I don't know that staff are going to submit a ton of nominations consistently. >> It's only staff that would submit these. That was the original thing. >> Yeah. So, I mean, I know like our Rotary Club, for example, we do a student of the month every every month and um and so and it's just at 12 to 12 High School

110and Lincoln High School and they um staff are asked to submit and then the nominations are then voted upon by staff. So, like that's just one of many recommend like opportunities for students to be recognized in in different arenas. So, we recognize that the I mean, I think it's wonderful that there's no wants to recognize student achievement and have that be a focus. But, >> if we can ask Ashley, I'm curious. I know you guys started a student recognition and Lindsay or your any other administrators like how are you all selecting your students you're recognizing monthly? >> Uh, for for the student of the month, it's based on character traits and our departments nominate teachers. Uh, we are bringing back our role as well. So, >> uh 3.0 0 and above will get one designation.

1113.5 and above will get a different designation each semester. There's also um in the high schools there's a scholar athlete recognition that happens already that's based on um and that's a really big deal too and then we do the cast right that Lindsay what about you? What are you all doing at first? >> We do weekly because we have honors on a weekly basis that those um each teacher is reminder email each week to please submit one or two students in the whatever it may be character trait sometimes we talk about academics so we recognize academics and the goal is just to have every student recognized throughout the year so every student recognized throughout the year yeah we're doing attendance as well as what about um can I like um Jen what are you all

112doing at >> uh we do character traits every month so every month has a designated tree >> and then um depending on the grade level, fourth and fifth does academic awards um within their classroom. It's not a Yeah, it's not. But within their classroom, they get awards. Do any of these include like most improved >> like like one of our >> the big thing from some do ones do there's a big focus on that about making sure it's most improved kind >> we do an I lunch every trimester where the students with the most growth in each class in each subject comes to have fancy lunch with me and So I mean I guess it's important for the board to realize that there are a lot of ways students are being recognized both through like

113PBIS teams and um through testing and through portraiture of a learner like that's happening already. I appreciate the board's desire to recognize academic excellence from a board level and I'm super happy to facilitate this if that's what we want to do. We can continue to talk through the the logistics the next time we meet if we want to do it monthly or if we want to do it quarterly or if I'm open to whatever it is you all want to do. It is. There is a lift, Marjgerie, and I appreciate you mentioning that. Um, but I also think that recognizing student achievement is important and it's that's a lift that's maybe worth taking. And I particularly appreciated the teach desire to also recognize um teachers and educators for making a difference because that's important as

114well. And our teachers don't always get the recognition they deserve for the work that they're doing, both certificated and classified. >> Yeah. >> So, a lot of information there. >> Yeah. So, um I think >> you guys meeting your academic excellence meeting next month. >> Next month. Yeah, next month. So, before our before our one of our meetings anyways in April. So, it would come back possibly in April for a vote, but we we kind of need to hash out whether it's >> every meeting or monthly. >> I like it. I like the gift card idea. Kids love gift cards. >> I know. >> And they love Dutch boxes for the most part. You love Dutch. >> You like >> I think I think gift cards would be much easier if >> and cheaper in

115the world. >> Yes. And and I'm kind of leaning towards once a month as well. I do think you're right. I do think that it's a heavy lift every meeting. Um and I just want you know what what you were saying uh Jen about there's a lot of recognition. I think George, your whole point here was that you wanted the board to recognize specific >> I think that's important >> and I want the public to know that academic excellence is one of our key goals. And I would also encourage us when we do this since it's going to be regular uh that we keep it very brief. We just I'd like to do it in five minutes and just have people up there say something nice about them and move on. And I would never

116still like to have it at each meeting, but we can talk about that. Yeah. So, we're going to have to probably put this into a pretty specific um >> Yeah. Well, we we'll meet we'll meet in April. We can kind of hash out based on this conversation and I can put together a more item to bring to you based on the conversation. Okay. And this and any kind of meeting we have in April is later in April. >> Is that right? >> Yeah. I can't keep track of that. that one. >> Okay. >> I I would suggest that if it is uh uh once a month that we do it opposite of when we're at school sites because I I'm sensitive to about not detracting from the site being recognized that >> on the day

117that we're there because they tend to there are spotlight. Yeah. So that we do at the first meeting because we're at school sites. >> Okay. Yes. >> Any more? Any more? Okay. All righty. We're moving on. Uh you're on >> uh board donations. >> Yeah. So, this this really I think was a smaller a small conversation that turned into a slightly larger conversation. The initial was you give out or we don't give out but three um of our staff are recognized annually. two from uh two two as teachers and then one as a classified as employee of the year, teacher of the year. We do elementary we do secondary as I understand it. It's more of a union recognition but um the the copyright all vote and those folks are named there's to the best

118of my knowledge not any real like juice in that squeeze in a sense that there's no there's no gift card. Okay. own Mary James and I I'm sorry >> Carrie does take her own money >> through what they gave some stuff. >> Okay, good. Um, I I think as we as we have um as we have through the years asked a lot of our staff, um I think that it would be nice for the board, each member to contribute um what was it like $300 a year so that those three individuals would have a $500 cash prize from directly from their board members in recognition of their uh service and their excellence. at work and I feel like that could just come from the five of us. Um that spurred I think a larger conversation

119where other boards are taking portions if not their whole stipen and sort of just donating it to scholarship funds that can be used for projects like this. So then that started a conversation about you know we can't give public funds so the district can't hand the money off but they can give it to us and then we can. So there has to be this formal change of hand so it's no longer you know state funds. Um, so I each of us sort of just I guess old school Venmo to do to do the gifts and then obviously we would it wouldn't just be Venmo like what's your Venmo? Congratulations. It would be like that. about that foreign but um it would be something similar to collect the money and we'll come out and and uh

120and and deliver it with thank you or then there was a conversation about potentially doing some sort of a draw off of the site as you know where it would go into a fund and then we could vote on where the money went. So I was in I was just going like we could still do this this year. Those those awards weren't given out that long ago. We could start it right now. We could pull this money together. I feel like it's I mean, there's a lot of folks that work here to to to achieve recognition at that level is worth, in my opinion, somebody showing up with a little cash and saying, "Go get a nice dinner." Um, so I was just in the in the spirit of simplicity, like let's try and scrap

121this together. If the board wanted to talk more about an ongoing sort of scholarship, then I I'm open to that, too. But that was the original problem. >> Yeah. So, so, so, um, Jason brought this up in our our two by one and um, and he's right. it just kind of grew and my my thought was $50 a month out of our stipen to go into a trust fund and then of course to to um do the the the teachers of the year and the and the um non-certificated classified the three the three um employees of the year and then and then possibly we could use the money for the academic excellence >> community stuff too and then the money that we depends on whatever I think we said maybe there's $1,000 or something left

122over from that whatever it is could go to a scholarship for one of our students >> and on the just so that the board is uh understands the whole gift of public funds. So we are very limited in how we can spend our resources as a gift to members of the public or staff or whatever. So, it's um uh we I think what we do at the most is and I know we sometimes get people that are like, "Oh, that's all we got for employee appreciation." But like Mike has a a small budget where we do recognize employee appreciation >> um each year, but it's it's minimal. like we can't do like student gift cards we can't >> we can't and so like a lot of the PTC's or ASB funds or you know where

123where sites are able to do but like we don't have a district PTC >> where we have funds that we have that are very very discretionary for how we want to do that. So I that was part of the piece. Um when Jason had asked about the the teacher piece and I was like well I did a personal gift card for >> for them and that's >> what we do a lot of times as do teachers because they can't get their site funds or whatever to kids either. So people just spend money out of their own pockets to recognize people. So, this was justformational for now. We don't have any action on it, right? >> No, I don't think it's an action item. It was really just a conversation. But I and and I also

124think that it wouldn't be a bad idea for the board to draft a resolution that effectively puts this in motion so that it has legs in perpetuity if if everyone agrees. I'm getting I mean, I feel like I'm getting signals that there's a majority of interest. So, I don't know if maybe having this um having this show up as a resolution and then I don't know if Carrie has to work through the on how to do that in terms of just a little clawback or something, but um yeah, I don't know. I that was that was the plan. Is is that carry is that a fee? Like if the board were to say they would like a portion of their stipen each month to be put into a discretionary account for themselves, is that like

125is that like or is it an after the fact type of thing? We probably I'm putting you on the spot. We hurry up. >> But okay. >> And and how does that work with me? Because I don't take a stipen. >> I know you don't. So >> put the whole thing in there. >> Well, I guess we >> I don't I don't receive. So then you just dump the whole thing. So then get Yeah, you could you could put the whole thing in it or we just say whatever portion that everyone else is contributing is the portion that gets contributed to that. >> So >> yeah, it might be I mean in in that case I guess if if I would imagine if you wanted to then you could that the money above and beyond

126would be >> you could use for scholarships or whatever. >> Yeah. I just I don't personally take a siphon. I >> let the district keep that money. >> Right. But I mean, if you wanted to, this might be a mechanism to >> Yeah. >> to do something different with it. >> We could talk about it. >> I mean, it's nothing that's going to be decided tonight. Yeah. Throw our stuff out, >> but we can we could look at what it might look like as a monthly piece. So then it's just out of sight, out of >> Yeah. >> mind and you're not having to then >> pizza party >> then whatever. Yeah. >> 10 bucks. >> Okay. Are we good? >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. So, that will be coming up, I would imagine,

127then a resolution will be coming up in a future meeting for us to vote on. Is that what I'm hearing? >> All right. And then at that point, we can have more discussion and then decide if if we agree with that or not. >> Is there a a particular amount monthly that the board would be interested in donating? I heard 50. do 100. >> Yeah, >> that's a good amount. We get 11 months worth. That's $1,100 each. That's $5,500 for the board to do great things for the district >> for for our students and our teachers. >> Okay. All right. We are on the review rev >> policies. >> Yes. So you you >> Sorry, Emma. I always say you guys can use your mics and then I don't. Uh so you just adopted the

128policies that were up for review at the last meeting and now this is the next batch that's up for review. And uh because we're trying to not give you so many at once, we're now they're every month or every meeting you're going to have some that you're approving and some that you're now getting from you in order for us to be able to get some through. And then as uh previously requested, just know that all the ones that are coming forward to you as of more recently are only ones that um are uh require changes because of law changes. So any as we're reviewing them, if it says just regular review of policies via CSBA, um we are setting them to the side. So, um, Maria is, bless her, is is it's it's create because

129she's drafting what the changes would be and then holding putting it in a hold because if that policy comes forward again and requires a change because law has changed, it assumes that you already made the previous changes and so she's making the changes and holding them in the event that that policy comes. comes forward again with an actual law change and then it will all thank you. So you uh you do have uh uh five five in front of you for um for review and would be coming forward at the next meeting for approval if uh if the board so chooses. And they're all based off of um some subtle law changes um and pretty straightforward. >> I didn't have I reviewed them. I didn't have anything pressing. Did you? >> No, I'm I mean

130I still haven't I'll be honest completely read up on all like the different >> egg codes and everything. It's a lot. >> I'm just going over Kathy's. It took me a minute. It's a lot. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, those will be coming up. Any any questions or comments on this? >> All right. Motion A2. At this time, any member of the public who submitted a request form to speak to the board regarding matters not on the agenda will be given time to address the board. Each speaker is allotted three minutes and a to and total public comment on any one item is limited to 20 minutes in Oh, we don't have to go except we're not exceptional right now. Okay. So, we'll just go in order here. Chris Smith, I thank you for the

131uh opportunity to speak this evening. I'm Chris Smith. Uh I'm here with Shauna Phillip and we both I don't know. >> Um, we both have students at 12 Bridges High School and are here tonight to discuss College Board testing. So, normally the PSAT is thought of as a practice test for the SAT. However, the PSAT NMSQT version is the only qualifying test allowing students to be eligible for scholarships worth $330 million per year. These scholarships consist of national merit, corporate, and college scholarships. This version of the test must be taken on a specific date each October when the student is a junior in high school. Uh, Western Plaster does not offer this test. I'm here today to ask the board and the district to put the PSAT, specifically this NMSQT version, um, as a future

132agenda item and review the policy to add this test hopefully for fall of 26. Uh this past October 2025, Rockland Unified School District limited their offering of the the specialized test to only 275 spots. It's approximately 25% of the 11th grade students at Rockland, Whitney, and Victory High School. Uh parents who had children on the waiting list contacted over 20 high schools between Reno and the Bay Area. 100% of the schools said no, that there they wouldn't take any additional students. They don't have the space time or proctors and it exceeded the demand in all locations. Eventually, Rockland added all of the kids on the wait list. They added more proctors and allowed them to take the test. So, we think that the lack of availability for our students from West Western classroom is a

133huge issue. Uh students and parents should know and be informed as to what the PSAT is and its potential. It is in a practice test and there is significant money available. Uh, and all students in the 11th grade should have the ability to take it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'll follow. >> Yeah, Jen will follow up with you on that. Thank you for those calls. >> Tessa, >> Jay, can you also advise the board on what you know the particulars around it and >> what the district's history has been? whether you or >> go ahead. Hi, my name is Tessa Sus and I'm a freshman at Lincoln High School. I'm here to speak up about the potential class ethnic studies and its somewhat recent abolishment. At the end of my eighth grade year,

134I had learned while choosing my classes for 9th grade that there was a new optional course. It seemed very interesting to me and I chose it in place of geography. When I got my schedule, I was enrolled in geography second semester, not ethnic studies. This was very upsetting to me as I look forward to a class like this that is real history um encompassing everyone. So yes, despite this class already being abolished, it should definitely not be disregarded. Over 80 students between Lincoln and Toll Bridges were signed up for this history class. Over 80 students were ready to build their educational world cultures. One of our school's many goals is to promote respect and understanding and this class would strive to achieve that goal. There are many different history related electives throughout our school such

135as history of film. Yet, we can't even have a class learning within the history of culture and heritage. Many geography requirements are already embedded within other history courses we have to take throughout high school. So, why not take advantage of the extra knowledge and learning opportunities ethnic studies would give us? Ethnic studies wouldn't even necessarily have to be required, just simply an opt optional history course instead of strictly geography. This class would fill in the gaps of marginalized communities that aren't typically represented in other history classes like geography. Not only would this class reduce stereotypes and support student identity, but it would encourage civic engagement. Exploring social movements and activism and learning about social leaders and events would represent how civic participation can create change, which is the big challenge, biggest challenge within high school

136students. Change is always apparent in classrooms, in the hallways, everywhere we go. Change is something important. So, why would we not want to encourage this with the ethnic studies class? >> Thank you, TA. Uh, Maddox. >> Good evening. My name is Max Mononttoy and I'm also a freshman at Lincoln High. I'm here to vocalize why I think our school would benefit from offering ethnic studies as an official class. This isn't just about adding another elective. It's about giving students the chance to understand the diverse histories, cultures, and experiences that shape our community and our country. Right now, many of us only learn fragments of these stories and often from a single perspective. Ethnic studies would help fill those inconsistencies. Another reason this matters is because young people today are constantly surrounded by media, news, and

137and entertainment without a strong educational foundation. It's easy for those messages to shape our beliefs. And before we even realize it, we sorry. When when students don't learn about the histories of small or marginalized communities in school, the only information they get often comes from stereotypes and misinformation, whatever is trending online. That leaves us being vulnerable to being influenced by narratives that aren't accurate or fair at all. Ethnic studies gives students the tools to think critically about what they see and hear. It also teaches us to question sources, recognize bias, and understand the deeper historical context behind the issues we see in the world. It also ensures that students from minority backgrounds see their own histories and represented not as footnotes, but as essential parts of the American story. When students feel seen and informed,

138they're more confident, more engaged, and more prepared to participate in the in a diverse society. Ethnic studies is also an investment in our school's future because it strengthens the skills, perspectives that help students succeed long after they leave the classroom. When when we teach students to analyze information, understand different cultures, and think critically about the world around them. We're building a stronger, more informed generation, one that is prepared for college careers and leadership. Whitney High, Analopee, Oakmont, and so many more neighboring district high schools offer this course and even in the form of dual enrollment. So, please stop cutting away our education and our opportunities and give ethic studies a try. >> Thank you, Max. >> All right, finishing us up was Will. Is this good to lean in a little bit? You need to

139adjust. >> I'll be all right. Um, good evening. My name is William Feliz. I'm a freshman at Lincoln High School. And on August 19th last year, I stood at this podium and gave my first ever speech to you guys. I had three minutes to address you all about the topic of ethnic studies. I was very nervous, I will admit, and I shared sentiments of how much I and others that were enrolled in the class were excited and passionate about our education. And then I sat as and watched as it got labeled as critical race theory and as it was torn away from us. This is my 10th time speaking to you. This being my third about ethnic studies. I have twice before asked you to listen to us students. Listen to when we say that

140this is a course that is good for us. This is something that we want to enrich our education. Our education is your job and then I watched you proceed to not listen to us. We have a very simple ask now. We would like to see the adoption of ethnic studies agenda. What that looks like, when they may be, we don't know. We understand that there are roadblocks and systems in place. We just want you to be honest with us about how to achieve this and have an open dialogue. Or if you truly don't want the class, tell us why. Honestly, I don't have very many new things to say to you about this. I've covered how students feel about this time and time again to no avail. We deserve to have education that we strive

141for. We want to learn history, all of the history. We want different perspectives. An ethnic studies class does not stop at just culture appreciation. It includes learning about the oppressed history of different cultures like the Trail of Tears or the African slave trade. It also includes people and movements that stop the injustice. We deserve real education about the civil rights movement, about Black Lives Matter, about Stonewall, and about all other brave individuals who stood in the face of adversity and said they are proud of who they are and that they deserve equality. I hold firm the truth that young people must be educated on the voices of these communities. I want to remind you all that as the subjects of the board, we are the most important voice. I have another little thing. um off

142the agenda. Comment now obviously is at the end of the meeting. Um I'm just wondering exactly why this is. It seems as though the only thing that it does is deter public comment, deterring people might want not to sit through the entire meeting. And I just want to remind everyone that your job is to listen to your constituents and to provide them with as many opportunities to reach you as possible. You shared with me before that you vote based off of what people tell you to, not your own personal beliefs, but there is a um there's a you know contradiction between that and your actions now whether it's intentional or not. So I just would like to have an open dialogue about that see if we can change that because that really means a lot

143to us that we have all the opportunities to speak up. Thank you. >> Thank you Will. All right, on to the next. >> Um, and Will, I'm happy to talk to you about your last comments. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Okay. Um, okay. Future agenda items. I think we already have a couple. We have the resolution and then we have the uh uh academic excellence awards. Anybody else have any? >> Yeah. So, um I had a chance to talk to uh Crystal who presented um at uh First Street. Thank you. >> That's more than a day ago. Um at First Street. And when she walked up, she looked around and she said, "I love all the flags here of all the cultures." and it started, you know, it just kind of triggered something in in my

144head about learning about cultures. And um so I I talked to Marjorie as we were walking out and um about Crystal's comments and then I talked to uh Carrie about um about it as well as cultural studies and as you know we've been reminded a lot about ethnic studies um during the ethnic studies and during you know whether you agree or not um AB 101 told us what we had to teach in that class. We are no longer bound by AB 101 uh because there's no funding. Uh there was no funding joint to AB 101. So uh what we talked about is uh creating a a c cultural appreciation class or or I don't what did you call it? I call it >> a cultural appreciation class. And then we come to find out we

145have one already. uh we have a curriculum but it's not being offered. >> And so what I wanted to do is place that agenda item and in a on a in a future meeting for us to talk about what I say is this the pendulum was one way. Uh I will take responsibility. I toss this pendulum the other way and bringing that pendulum to the middle um to create possibly a curriculum or build on a curriculum that already exists that really uh allows our students to explore different cultures that make up the world their achievements uh make up our society. Um and I want to thank Crystal. I want to thank you for bringing that bringing that the way you brought it. It just it really hit me. I don't I I don't know if

146Marjorie had you wanted to add you wanted to add some stuff to this. >> Yeah. Um when we originally approached removing ethnic studies, I had asked about having a cultural appreciation class to take the politics out of the course is what I was looking for. And again, you too much about it, but that's how I learned about the Lincoln High School class that they had. But I would like to revamp that in a better way. not just about sharing foods and tradition, but talking about the religion of that culture, um the traditions of that culture, bringing in guest speakers from different cultures to teach. I want to teach the kids to appreciate their classmates that are different >> and everybody walk away with a a better understanding of what that is and how that is.

147And now that the ethnic studies isn't tied to us, we can do it that way. The board couldn't do it that way. >> Yeah. So, what we want to do is we just want to talk we just wanted to put that out there to see if the board is willing to add an agenda item to talk about that topic again. >> Sure. >> Um, are we going to get to see the curriculum? >> We're going to develop the >> We would well not ourselves. There would be a committee, right? >> There would be a committee, >> right? that the the policies and this is where because there were some hiccups with the is the board does not develop curriculum. The board has the authority to require that it be reviewed. Um and so it would

148be working with Jen and a team to develop something. You can provide direction on what you would like to see in it. It's their job to then develop it and then you can either review it yourselves or you can direct their bea review. >> Is there previous curriculum? Was this course offered >> this course? So Lincoln High School offered it and then because ethnic studies was was on the horizon and we thought that that was going to be coming forward. They put a pause on the course um because ethnic studies was going to be offered in >> former curriculum was there >> and it was offered and yeah popular too, wasn't it? Wildly popular school. >> Yeah, I would say that it was definitely popular and um kids what I can say for sure is

149kids really enjoyed it and um that class was offered when I was principal there and I received not a single concern complaint from a parent teacher. It was just really a well-received course and um I thought brought a lot of really um like a rich opportunity to explore diversity that was within our own community. It was really a positive experience and so we will look at that again and bring some people to the table um to to examine that and make some recommendations and we can bring that forward. >> So it would in turn uh encompass local >> it did it help make sure that we are >> Yeah. So that's something we'll discuss if we put it on the agenda. >> Yeah. So, so, so remember we would if you put it on the

150agenda, we would be discussing uh number one if we even want it >> and number two if we want it what it looks like, >> right? What direction you would be giving us? >> And so, are is are you guys okay with adding it to the agenda? >> Yes. >> Can I just one more thing? I'm going to just read for you, if that's okay, the course description that's actually currently board approved for this class. Is that okay if I do that? So it's the the class is called cultures of the world and it's um the description is the this course is a general study of diverse cultures around the world. Students will explore the different cultures in mainly three geographical areas Europe, Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the United States. Topics include

151cultural practices, social structures, religion, music, film, art, cuisine, fashion, language, architecture, and geography. Additionally, the focus of this course is to look at both the similarities as well as differences while we learn about diverse the diverse world in which we live. So that's the current course description that exists right now for that class. Um and then we have all the content that has been developed by um Jamanabawa that we can look at and and >> can you share that content with us? >> Um yes, I don't have it yet. It's tied up in schooly. Yes, I'm working on it. >> It's a little complicated, but yes. Yes, we'll we will um we'll work on that. One other thing that the group might need to discuss April is um just about not necessarily today obviously but

152at some point is about like where does this fit in the in the grad set requirement you know and that's just a conversation for the group to have is this something that um is it elective is it something that we may part of our grad set is right now it's it's a year-long course you know so those are some conversations that the board definitely will have some say in because it affects our board policy as it relates to grad >> maybe you and I can get together before it's agendaized >> um and we can create some type of presentation where you can tell us what is and then we can >> there's a few things actually our grad said that we need to reevaluate and so like driver's ed is still like we should probably

153remove that we haven't so it's a good opportunity to audit that um that that board policy >> well um told Bridges have capacity to host this class >> I think it really depends on how the board chooses to offer the class um as I talked with April when the class is offered as an elective we're really beholden to the interest of the students and electives come and go Um I could CTE is a great example like teachers are out there hustling for students to enroll and if the enrollment's not there the class goes away. And so one way for us to consider um a different way is to actually make it one of our broad set requirements and that would say that that's that means we have to offer it and we have to make

154space for that in our master schedule and we're hiring. So um that those are all discussions that we need to have and those would be discussions that we have. >> Yeah. Okay. >> All right. Okay. All right. We'll add that. Thank you. Any anyone else? >> All right. upcoming meetings >> tomorrow morning. >> Many. Oh, yeah. >> And then and then March 17th. >> All right. >> When are we at March 17th? >> We are at 12 Bridges Middle School. >> Yeah. >> And that's a shift because we were originally going to be at Sheridan, but there was a conflict. So 12 Bridges Middle and Sheridan swapped. So Sheridan will now be May and 12 Bridges Middle is March 17th. >> Sheridan is May. >> Yes. Maybe I'll have you guys over for dinner beforehand

155or or duries or something. >> Eggs. >> All right, we're