CapoUSD Regular Board Meeting 5-19-21

001President Bullockis, live stream is now active. You may turn on your mic and start the meeting. Good afternoon and welcome to the May 19th, 2021 regular meeting of the Capistrano Unified School District. The meeting is now in session and the time is 4.05 p.m. Due to the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with Governor Newsom's executive order N-2920 issued on March 17th, 2020, the board members have the option to attend the meeting and take action on any item telephonically. The boardroom is now open to the public for the safety and well-being of others in attendance. All are required to wear a mask and social distancing practices are being followed. The public is also allowed to participate in this board meeting telephonically. Prior to this meeting, the district posted a link for you to

002call in if you wish to address the board on any agenda item this evening. Mrs. Hayes, please call the roll. Trustee Bronstein. Here. Trustee Bullekas. Here. Trustee Castellanos. Trustee Castellanos is absent. Trustee Davis. Here. Trustee Hanachek. Here. Trustee Jones. Trustee Jones is absent. Trustee McNicholas. Here we have a quorum. Before the board recesses to closed session, we have one speaker for a closed session agenda item. May we please hear from Michelle Plossel Campbell. Good evening, Superintendent and Board of Trustees, and thank you for having a timer up. I love seeing the timer. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. I chose to speak under closed session because my comments address. things that could be later. I want to thank the district and the CAPE team and the Action Labs for all the work done on

003the reopening plan. We appreciate the work put into making smaller class sizes a priority for the next few years. We know this will have a large impact on all of our students. CUC PTSA appreciates the partnership we have with CUSD as we work to benefit all students. We look forward to continuing this work in the years to come. And we also appreciate all of the hard work by our teachers, staff, and administrators this year. Thank you. Thank you. The board will now recess to close session to address the following agenda items. Public health emergency, consultation with agency counsel. Conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, significant exposure to litigation for cases. Significant exposure to litigation, one case. Significant exposure to litigation, one case. Conference with legal counsel, existing litigation. Significant exposure to litigation, three cases. Student

004readmission, one case. Student expulsion, one case. Conference with labor negotiators. CUEA, CSEA, Teamsters, CUMA, and unrepresented employees, associate superintendents. Conference with real, excuse me, conference with real property negotiators. The property is South Transportation and Grounds Keeping Facility. Public employee discipline, dismissal release, five cases, public employee. Employment appointment, assistant superintendent, curriculum and instruction, education and support services, principal high school, principal elementary school, public employment and evaluation of performance, superintendent. The board will now recess to close session. Good evening. I'd like to thank everyone for coming this evening and your active participation in our board meeting. We do have limited capacity and we are following CDPH guidelines. We want to make sure everyone has their opportunity to speak. And we've had people register online for tonight's meeting and also register in person to speak at tonight's meeting.

005We have speaker setups so the public can hear the meeting in the lobby and outside. And we appreciate your patience and understanding. We will call upon people and we allow them time to come into the room so that we can maintain capacity. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding. President Bulikas, the live stream is now live and you may turn on your mic and open the meeting. Good evening and welcome to the May 19th, 2021. Regular board meeting of the Capistrano Unified School District. The meeting is now in session. The time is 7.30 p.m. Due to the nature of COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with Governor Newsom's executive order N-2920 issued on March 17th, 2020, the board members have the option to attend the meeting and take action on any item telephonically. The boardroom

006is now open to the public for the safety and well-being of others in attendance. all are required to wear a mask and social distancing practices are being followed. The public is also allowed to participate in the board meeting telephonically. Prior to this meeting, the district posted a link for you to call in if you wish to address the board on any agenda item this evening. Please note, staff has made a revision to exhibit number 34, reopening schools 2.0 for the school year of 2021-2022. Copies are available in the back of the room on the district and on the district website. Mrs. Hayes, please take the roll. Student Advisor Boscar. Here. Trustee Bronstein. Here. Trustee Bullekas. Here. Trustee Castellanos. Here. Trustee Davis. Here. Trustee Hanachek. Here. Trustee Jones. Here. Trustee McNicholas. Here. The Pledge of Allegiance

007is now going to be led by our CSEA Union President representing our classified employees, Rhonda Whalen. Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Before you're seated, can I take this opportunity to ask you all by showing a round of applause that we appreciate our classified employees and their essentialness to us having a terrific school year. Thank you. I have a motion to adopt the agenda. So moved. Second. Moved by Trustee Davis and seconded by Trustee McNicholas. Mrs. Hayes, please call the roll. Student Advisor Boscar. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachek. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. And Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries by

008a 7-0 roll call vote to adopt the agenda with a preferential vote of aye from Student Advisor Boscar. Mrs. Hayes, could you please read the report out from the closed session? On Agenda Item 3A, Public Health Emergency, trustees gave direction to staff. On Agenda Item 3B, Conference with Legal Counsel, Anticipated Litigation, trustees voted 7-0 to approve staff recommendation on the following ADR cases. Case number 2020-0622M-2021-0106-2021-0301-20210-330. On agenda item B-5, trustees gave direction to staff. On agenda item B-6, no reportable action. On agenda item 3C, Conference with Legal Counsel, Existing Litigation, trustees voted 7-0 to approve staff recommendations on the following OAH cases. 2-0-2-0-1-2-0-2-3-6, 2-0-2-1-0-1-0-6-2-7, 2-0-2-1-0-3-0-3-4-2. On agenda item 3D, student readmission, trustees voted 7-0 to approve staff recommendation on case number 202044. On agenda item 3E, student expulsion, trustees voted 7-0 to approve staff recommendation

009on case number 2021003. On agenda item 3F, conference with labor negotiators. On agenda item F1. Per the superintendent's recommendation, trustees gave unanimous direction to staff to negotiate with bargaining units a one-time off-schedule payment in recognition of efforts throughout the pandemic. Trustees want to appreciate all employees for their heroic efforts throughout COVID-19. On agenda item F2, trustees gave direction to staff. On agenda item 3G, conference with real property negotiators, trustees gave direction to staff. On agenda item 3H, public employee discipline dismissal and release, on agenda items H1, H2, H3, and H5, trustees voted 7-0 to approve staff recommendations. On agenda item H4, the board voted 7-0 to take action to notify the following certificated administrative employees they will be released and reassigned pursuant to Ed Code subsection 44951, effective at the end of the 2020-2021 school

010year, and directed the superintendent or designee to send out appropriate legal notices identified by employee numbers 913. 1, 0, 3, 1, 3, 3, 1, 2, 5, 8, 7, 6, 8, 8, 1, and 4, 2, 6. On agenda item 3i, public employee employment and appointment. On agenda item I1, trustees voted 7-0 to appoint Dr. Kerry Johnson to the position of Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction, Education and Support Services, effective July 1, 2021. On agenda item I2, trustees voted 7-0 to appoint Mr. Michael Hatcher to the position of a High School Principal assigned to Aliso-Nagel High School, effective July 1, 2021. On agenda item I3, trustees voted 7-0 to appoint Ms. Sherry Nelson to the position of elementary principal assigned to Castile Elementary, effective July 1, 2021. On agenda item I3, trustees voted 7-0 to appoint Ms.

011Jamie Goodwin to elementary principal assigned to Marblehead Elementary School, effective July 1, 2021. On agenda item 3J, public employment and evaluation of performance. No reportable action. This concludes my report. Thank you. Mr. Burris, could you please recognize tonight's extra milers? Good evening, President Bullekas, Board of Trustees, and Superintendent. This evening, we would first like to recognize the Special Education Community Advisory Committee, also known as CAC. along with our Parent Teacher Student Association for their work to host the annual Exceptional Educator Celebration event known as the Sunshine Awards the week of March 22nd, 2021. This event honors district personnel who are nominated by CUSD parents and students for their contributions to our students and with special needs. The Sunshine Awards recognize staff members who shine and have enriched a student's life or made a significant impact

012on his or her education. This event is one that many of us, including our trustees, have the honor and pleasure to attend in person most years. And I know we all look forward to doing that again. At this time, I would like to play a video highlighting the 2021 Sunshine Award recipients. Something very different. Something pretty quick. Because I ain't got. Feel the power of the ocean. I'm so energy. Oh, it's sanctuary. I've been very lucky with my family tree. I sing my tune. Singing it out now. Singing it out. Singing it out now. I feel so right. The voice of karma on us. Saying take care of your love and life. I'm so into. Singing it out. Singing it out now. Singing it out now. Singing it out now. Well wishes to the recipients.

013And for those of you who aren't familiar with our Sunshine Awards, they are nominated by parents and students only for their exceptional work with our special education students throughout the year. And as the special education community advisory committee chairperson, I am just so honored that we were able to share this ray of sunshine with you all, and we would not let COVID rain on our sunshine celebration. And I really would like to thank the support of the Capistrano Unified Council of PTSAs, CUSD, and an extremely dedicated group of parents on our Sunshine Committee. Thanks to all of their support, we were able to create these beautiful banners that you saw that were placed at every school that had honorees, along with additional packages beautifully decorated and filled with sunshine and a video, as I mentioned,

014a little more extensive video of well wishes to our recipients. And I just want to thank our event chair, Diane Noss, who was an amazing chair, and she put together this beautiful video for you to see. of the joy of everybody receiving these packages in such a difficult year. And we just wanted to make sure that these individuals got recognized. Thank you. And please join me in recognizing the Special Education Community Advisory Committee and our Parent Teacher Student Association for their work to host the special event and congratulate all of our incredible staff who support our students with special needs every single day. Thank you. Our second extra miler tonight, we'd like to recognize Sharon Evans, our block music teacher currently supporting Vista Del Mar Elementary School, and William Hunker, block music teacher currently supporting

015Malcolm Elementary School Music for creating a virtual recorder home study course for home. Elementary school students entering the fourth grade in CUSD get the opportunity to select a musical instrument to learn as part of the curriculum. With safety concerns brought on by the COVID pandemic, however, playing an instrument in a classroom setting wasn't an option because of guidelines and mandates. But music instructor Sharon Evans was determined to find a way. She got the idea to offer a virtual home study course to teach the recorder an instrument she describes as sweet sounding and easy to learn. I'm sure most of us learned actually to play the recorder in elementary school. In January, more than 500 fourth graders from schools throughout the district expressed interest. The recorder class is run through Google Classroom with Ms. Evans recording

016a weekly 45-minute virtual lesson for three classes per week. As part of the lesson, the students record themselves playing, giving Evans the chance to provide individual feedback through short videos. Instructor Bill Hunker, who gives technical support and creates play along videos of the songs for the kids, said the recorder program is important because it keeps instrumental music alive in the district. Bill spent countless hours creating the play along videos for the recorder lessons. He spent many hours formatting and coding every song for the program, which made this all virtual lesson a huge success. Please join me tonight in recognizing Sharon Evans and Bill Hunker for their work to bring music back to students during a time we didn't think it was possible. Thank you both. And finally tonight, we want to recognize an amazing group

017of educators known as our Apex Triage Teachers, Canvas Elementary Army, Secondary Canvas Creators for their extraordinary work in supporting this year's reopening success. Additionally, we'd like to recognize Stephanie Avera, Director of Educational Technology, Patrice Dempsey, Coordinator 2 of Credit Recovery, Dave Chamberlain, Math Curriculum Specialist, and Virginia Reichel, ELA Curriculum Specialist for their ongoing leadership and support during this time. A complete list of names can be found on our supporting documents page on our board's website and at the back of the boardroom for all of the staff members who were involved in creating in this army for us. When school began in August, most teachers had never had any exposure to APEX, how to add units, which activities to deliver. how to add mentors to classes, how Apex integrated into Canvas, along with a plethora of

018other items unique to Apex. At every site, questions abound, but there was no central person for struggling teachers to reach out to. A lifeline at every middle and high school was created via an incredible team of what we call triage teachers. The goal was to effectively triage or get teachers up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. The triage teachers went through intense Apex training and met multiple times each week, and then later weekly to share tips and information on how to best serve the sites. The group created a website of how-to videos and all sorts of tips and tricks for fellow teachers. At all 23 middle and high schools, these triage teachers provided daily support for their colleagues and administrators. We owe a debt of gratitude for each triage teacher for stepping up

019and going above and beyond during an ever-changing year. At this time, I'd like to invite Stephanie Avera to say a few words highlighting the work of our Canvas Elementary Army and secondary Canvas creators. Superintendent, Vital Brutti, and board members, I just want to thank you so much for allowing me to join you tonight to recognize a very special group of teachers. It was the summer of 2020 and our district had a monumental decision to make. Do we adopt an already created curriculum for online learning or do we employ some of our current teachers to create content using our already adopted curriculum with our new learning management system, Canvas? After some debate, it was decided that we would trust our teachers to create content. This important task was to happen within a few short weeks during

020the summer. Teachers were asked to create content and very quickly we had over 70 elementary teachers step up to the arduous task. They soon became known as the elementary army. Not only did they have to create content for all grade levels and all subjects for the first trimester, they also had to learn a brand new learning management system, Canvas. And all this in just two short weeks. Oh, and did I mention that they were also creating content for our dual immersion programs in Spanish and Mandarin as well? With a strict timeline, the teacher started working on June 16th. By July 1st, the first trimester was complete. This would not have been possible without the guidance and expertise of our elementary curriculum specialists, Elisa Slee, Darla O'Leary, Karen Garthier, Kim Hanley, and Lydia Sanchez. However, the

021task was only one-third complete. Now, after only a four-day break, the Army was asked to start on trimester two. Before the first bell of the school year, trimester two was complete. The Canvas Elementary Army gave up their entire summer in order to accomplish the almost impossible. However, now we have our curriculum and our standards embedded into our new learning management system. We also had art, PE, and our amazing music teachers created music lessons for each grade level as well. Our wonderful counselors created social-emotional learning lessons for each grade level as well. Meanwhile, secondary teachers were recruited for a similar task. Led by Virginia Reichel, our secondary ELA curriculum specialist, the secondary team of creators had an equally arduous task of creating content inside of Canvas for hundreds of courses from grades 6 through 12. They

022also had to learn Canvas quickly and complete the creation of lesson after lesson for the first semester before the beginning of school. Over 9,000 hours were recorded by these amazing secondary teachers who chose to give up their summer as well. What is most impressive about these remarkable achievements is that it did not have to happen. We could have taken the easy way out and adopted a canned program, which would not have aligned to our standards or used our curriculum. But our teachers did not want to let our students down. So they gave up their summer and worked night and day to create content in Canvas Learning Management System. I am extremely proud of the work that was accomplished and will be used for years and years to come. And that's why I wanted to recognize

023this group of teachers. Thank you. So as we wrap up our final extra milers this evening, please join me in recognizing this amazing group of certificated team members, including teachers, curriculum specialists, school psychologists, counselors, and more for making this year's reopening a huge success. Thank you. I would now like to recognize Kirsten Vitale-Gruelty to present board and superintendent opening comments. Great, good evening and welcome to our final board meeting before school is out this year. This has been truly a remarkable and in many ways unbelievable school year and I want to celebrate the incredible work of our school district tonight. Actually just continue this celebration. Last August we opened school virtually not by choice but because of health and safety guidelines. and the status of the pandemic at that time. As our board of trustees

024shared many times during the summer of 2020, our priority as a district was to open our classrooms for in-person instruction. Thankfully, as COVID numbers briefly improved in August and September, we were able to implement plans to open our classrooms and campuses. And we opened elementary campuses in September and middle and high school campuses in early October. This was a lift of huge proportions, a lift many other school districts in the state chose not to make. To give you some perspective, last January, we had 24,000 students attending in person. During that time, the state of California counted approximately 100,000 students attending in-person learning. CUSD made up 25% of all students attending in person in the state. We are clearly the exception to the rule, and the work we accomplished kept our students and staff safe and

025kept our classrooms open. even during the worst of the pandemic this December, January, and February. Last Friday, I participated in a call with State Superintendent of Education Tony Thurmond that was focused on how districts like ours opened and how we stayed open. I felt honored to share our highlights and appreciated our local assembly member was on the same call, Lori Davies. We opened and stayed open because of the tremendous work and extraordinary will of our teachers, classified staff, administrators, families, and the district leadership with the very strong support of our trustees. Even with the constantly changing guidelines and mandates and rules, we knew the best place for our students. was to be in their classrooms and we developed plans to ensure we were ready to open and stayed open. I want to thank our teachers

026who worked through the summer to prepare for teaching in a new way, learning new systems and programs, and preparing to support our students and family no matter what COVID numbers look like. I want to thank you administrators for supporting our teachers and classified staff, students and families, especially for the work you did to open your schools for all of our young people. And during this week that we celebrate our extraordinary classified staff, I want to thank all of you. As I shared in a letter to classified staff yesterday, classified staff, despite an ever-evolving educational environment, you have ensured our students are safe, cared for, and ready to learn. You kept their classrooms and our school sites clean and safe. You provided resources and technology to support 21st century learning, whether online or in the classroom,

027and transported them to and from school and sporting events. You serve them nutritious meals, support their social and emotional needs, spend time with them in the classrooms and care for them when they're hurt or not feeling well. You manage the front lines of our schools and departments and so much more. This September, you helped us make history as one of the few school districts in the entire state to welcome students back to school campuses for in-person learning. This achievement would not have been possible without the tireless work of our classified staff. Tonight, I also want to thank Anshul Bhaskar, our student advisor to the board. I'm grateful for your voice and your student perspective as we work together this school year. Student voices are the most important in our work. to support our young people.

028I wish you all the best as you celebrate graduation and prepare for your journey ahead. I'm excited to announce that our very own elementary teacher at Ascensia K-8, Ann Berger, has been named the Orange County Teacher of the Year. Ms. Berger has been teaching in CUSD for 22 years. As a Teacher of the Year for the county, Ms. Berger is now eligible for consideration for the California Teacher of the Year honors. More information about this recognition can be found in our CUSD Insider. Four Capistrano Unified Schools were recently recognized nationally for their excellence in school counseling and for cultivating productive and supportive learning communities. Ascensia K-8, Aliso Viejo Middle, Vista Del Mar Elementary, and Castillo Elementary School are recipients of the 2021 RAMP Award for the American School Counselor Association. Ascensia and Aliso Viejo also

029were granted School of Distinction Awards. RAMP stands for Recognized Accent Model Program. Just eight schools in the state have ever earned that school distinction award. We are incredibly proud of our schools and their counseling team for their time, effort, and dedication to supporting our students. Ladera Ranch Middle School and Elisa Nigel High School were both named 2021 California Distinguished Schools by the state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurman. Tonight, oh, they are two of only 12 county schools and 102 middle and high schools in California to receive this honor. Congratulations to both of the schools. Tonight, I want to congratulate Sherry Nelson, who was appointed to serve Principal of Castile Elementary, and Michael Hatcher, who was appointed Principal of Lisa Miguel High School. Both have served in interim roles during this very challenging year. I

030also want to congratulate and welcome our newest elementary school principal, Jamie Goodwin and our newest assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction and education and sports services, Kerry Johnson. Mr. Johnson has extensive knowledge and experience from his tenure with Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. And Ms. Goodwin is joining us from Ocean View School District with lots of principal experience. We're excited to have both of these incredible leaders joining our team. And finally, as you heard earlier tonight, our Board of Trustees unanimously directed our team to enter into negotiations to provide a one-time thank you payment to our teachers, classified staff, and administrators for all their hard work during this school year. It was truly a feat of success this year. As you know, our district was one of the few school districts in California to provide continuous

031in-person instruction. Our Board of Trustees want to make sure our employees know how much they and the entire CUSD community appreciate their hard work under very difficult circumstances. So also, we want to provide you an opportunity, our community, to thank and say a special thank you. Mr. Burris will be sending us to all CUSD families a link that you can access that will allow you to share a special thank you message for your specific teacher, classified staff member, administrator. You can also make a general comment to say thank you to district staff in general. As we wind down the school year and plan for next year, we'll never forget that our children had an opportunity to attend in-person class. that most other students across the state did not have. We don't want to miss an

032opportunity to say a special thank you to the people who made that possible. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And that's my report. Thank you. And now we'll turn to fellow trustees. Does anybody have any opening comments this evening? Yes, Trustee McNicholas. I'll just say ditto to all the thank yous that the superintendent handed out. But I have to say one of the things I've really missed this year is on campus events and especially the Sunshine Awards. that that is really a highlight of the spring. It's so heartwarming to recognize our support staff for our special ed kids. So I miss that. I'm glad they got their recognition. And I am really looking forward to in-person graduation and all of the end of the year celebrations. Tomorrow, I'm going to Dana Hill Senior Awards

033in person. Okay, it's outside. It's on the football field. you actually get to see their faces. So I'm really looking forward to that and looking forward to a better year next year. Thank you. Thank you. And I think you speak for all of us on that. Any other comments? If no other comments, I do have two shout outs. I want to just give a nice shout out to some company that I see on a regular basis giving out to the community. And just in this month alone, agenda item number three, donation of funds. Pacific Life Foundation. gave another $106,000 to 22 of our schools. And I consistently see them donating in our schools. So I just want to give a shout out to Pacific Life Foundation. Thank you for your support. Another one is a

034personal shout out. It's for a special teacher. It's an elective teacher. And oftentimes we as parents find that sometimes it's the elective that ignites our kids and gets them excited to get up and go to school. And we have a woodshop teacher at Newhart Middle School. After 34 wood-tastic years in education, he is now retiring. We have two woodshops in middle school out of our 13 middle schools. And this man was so celebrated, he even had a plaid day. And my son was one of those. I had to go out and buy a plaid shirt. And every week, in honor of Mr. Kuhn, he wore that plaid shirt. And when you have a school that celebrates a teacher like that, it's very, very special. And so, Mr. Kuhn, I say congratulations. Have a wonderful retirement.

035And you will be missed. President Bullock us I'd like to make a quick comment. I missed you. Yes, go ahead. This is trustee Jones. I just wanted to also congratulate all of the extra milers the Sunshine Award winners and the block music teachers and the apex and canvas teachers but I also wanted to say that if you are in the area over the summer and you see somebody whose pants don't fit. It's because they are a CUSD employee who worked their butt off this year. All of our employees worked so hard from lunchroom people to campus supervisors and custodians and to principals and teachers and district office people. This was an extraordinary year and truly they all worked their butts off. I'm sure there's not an exception to that in the entire district. Thank you

036all so much. Thank you. Absolutely. This evening will be on shawl, our student advisors last board meeting. And I would like to take a moment to thank her for her service this past year. It was a very challenging one and to wish her well in her next chapter as she heads off to Williams college in Massachusetts in the fall. This past year, Anshul has been the voice for all of K through 12 CUSD students here in our board meetings while holding a 4.74 GPA and has been on the superintendent's honor roll every year and is also a member of the National Honors Society. She is an award-winning scholar, researcher, writer, and volunteer. Her achievements while at Capo are too numerous for me to mention tonight. So I would just like to take this opportunity to

037wish her well on the behalf of the board. And we know you're gonna soar at Williams College. So we've been very lucky to have you and they are lucky to get you. And I say thank you and we have a little gift for you. All right, and now we're advancing to oral communications and we have our speakers. So we are going to start with oral communications with Kara Boutieris. Trustee Bullekas, President Bullekas, if I may interrupt. Did I skip something? We did. So after that wonderful presentation to our student advisor, Boshkar, I would like to hear the student board remember report. Am I out of order or? Oh, I'm sorry. I had asked Anshal if she had anything. Are you speechless? Good evening. It's been a pleasure serving everyone. I'm so proud to stand by

038some of my peers in this difficult year. I know it's been a tough one with the support of all of our students. I see some students out there and you guys are awesome. You guys did it. We made it through this and I know it's been tough, but it's been an honor to serve you. And I know the board has our back in the district. I've learned so much from everyone and the strength of the board and the district leadership has really taught me a lot. And the strength of my peers has taught me a lot. So I really am honored to serve and I'm so stoked to see where I go. in the future and where all my peers go in the future because I know together we're all going to do great things.

039Thank you. Truly the class of 2021 is the most resilient ever. Okay. And do we have a Cara Gutierrez on the line? Yes, I'm here. Yes, I'm here. Go ahead, Kara. Okay, perfect. Okay, so my name is Kara Gutierrez. I am a mother of four children that attend Lobo Elementary, Joelle, George, Javier, and Destiny, and my eldest son Shiloh attends Shorecliffs Middle School. Since the reopening of public schools, my kids have participated in 100% on-campus learning because distant online learning was near impossible for them to focus and complete assignments, which left on-campus as the only option for them to be successful students. So Joelle and George have ADHD and ADD, and my son Javier had a traumatic brain injury in 2014. George and Javier are both IEP students who receive speech, motor, and occupational therapy

040at school. Since working with multiple therapists, doctors, specialists, psychiatrists, and psychologists, mainly with the Orange County Public Health Care Agency in Laguna Beach, I have learned a lot about brain function, mental, behavioral health, and development in children. The studies have shown that masks can lead to social and mental harm. Masks can negatively impact a child's communication skills and makes it really hard for kids to focus that have allergies, ADHD, and any learning disability. Masks can limit social and mental development in children, especially those with disabilities. And most importantly, masks do not protect against the transmission and they are impractical for a classroom setting. I monitored my kids for any signs of illness since returning to school and no positive COVID tests for any of the symptoms my kids were sent home for due to showing

041normal healthy reactions to any bacteria or virus. My kids were sent home for tiredness, itchy red eyes, headaches, and nosebleeds. These symptoms have been contracted as a direct result of them wearing face masks for six plus hours a day. Bottom line is we have to have a choice for our mental and physical well-being for our children. There must be a choice for our kids to wear a mask or not. Parents must have a choice to choose medical or natural options for each child as each individual's needs are never the same. We cannot teach our youth that control and fear will determine our lives. Please stand by your oath to protect and educate our kids. Please do the right thing. You have the power to do what's right and it's in your hands. Thank you. Ladies

042and gentlemen, can I ask you please to hold your applause because I couldn't hear the rest of what this speaker had to say. And we do have a full agenda. So I would ask you kindly. Trustees, I failed to ask. We do have now 17 speakers left. Is it your pleasure that we give everyone three minutes? President Bulgas, that was a question for a comment on agenda item 42, not on just general public comments. Can we make sure that the item 42 comments come with item 42? Yes, duly noted. Thank you, Trustee Jones. Our next speaker is Greg Young. Hello, President Bulgas. Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, Greg. Hi, President Billikas, trustees, Superintendent Patel, Brulte. I want to speak tonight in regards to the results of the enrollment request for the 100% online

043option for next year. I was pleased and appreciated that the trustees asked that a 100% online option be vetted for the 21-22 school year. As you know, I served on that CAPE subcommittee tasked with designing this program. I appreciate that CSD has gone to great lengths this year to accommodate the varied needs of our roughly 47,000 students, and I appreciate that the trustees asked the CAPE teams to begin reimagining the opening for 21-22 with enough time to present these plans to seek input from employees and communities. Tonight, the trustees are going to see the results of the enrollment request for the 100% online option. 290 students, for example, are TK-5, 177 students are 6-8, and 363 have requested it for 9-12. And there's 95 students that have requested the Cal Prep option, Cal Prep being

044the online program that CUSD offered prior to and during this year. The operational and fiscal feasibility of a self-contained by grade level class in grades TK through five is totally understandable. CUSD can create as many grade level classes within TK through five that meets the per class enrollment according to our collective bargaining agreement. However, that same feasibility is simply not viable in 6 through 8 or 9 through 12 because it's not as simple as just creating a grade-level class. Instead, you have to have a variety of options that must be provided. My concern tonight is that, of course, we have the responsibility to our students to provide educational options and opportunities for them that will make them feel welcome and safe for any number of reasons, but we also have that fiduciary responsibility to our

045taxpayers who are expecting their tax dollars to be spent prudently in education. The evidence of this is the staff's recommendation to you this evening that the enrollment numbers for special programs such as Mandarin and Spanish two-way immersion were too low to warrant offering those as a 100% online option. I propose to you tonight that the same is the case for grades 6 through 12. I'd like to propose a viable and existing alternative, which is CalPREP. CalPREP has been an online program since 2012 and has provided opportunities for students outside of a traditional brick-and-mortar classroom environment. It has an existing teaching staff and an administrator. In the past three years, CalPREP's enrollment has been roughly 250 to 300, except for this year when it peaked at about 400 students. Looking at other districts in our county,

046they're using a CalPREP model to address this ongoing desire of small number of students and families looking for an online option. They too, I'm sure, see that it just isn't financially prudent to have such a program at grades six through 12. I ask that you reconsider tonight the 100% online option just for six through 12. Keep in mind that that's a total of 540 student requests in a district of about 47,000. It's about 1%. And instead, bolster the support for CalPREP and make it a viable option for these students. Thank you. Thank you. Melanie Brown or Melody Brown. Thank you. Do we have Melody? We're checking outside. Should I call on the next person while we wait for Melody? Yes. Would you like me to call the five names out to be ready on standby?

047Yeah, why don't you please? You may want to announce that if the people are speaking about masks, it's tied to 42. Because I'd hate for them to come all the way in and then go all the way back out if in fact it's about masks. At this time, I'd like to give a little information to help the process of oral communications this evening. Oral communications is for non-agenda items only. So tonight, if you are here to speak regarding mask and the mask mandate, that is actually item 42. So we will call the next five people. But if you're speaking about mask, you need to wait until agenda item 42 is. called upon to speak at that time. So to facilitate our meeting this evening, I'm going to call the next five speakers to be on

048standby. Check what your topic is so that we can move along more quickly. The next five speakers are Melody Brown, Amanda Jung, Dana Collins, Michelle Brislin, and Zoe Inzano. I have Amanda on Zoom. Should we go forward with Amanda? Yes, please. Go ahead, Amanda. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, please. Oh, thank you so much. I wasn't sure if I was being heard. Let's see. Hi, my name is Amanda Young, and I have a second grade daughter at Marion Bergeson Elementary. I'm part of the Mandarin Immersion Program NIP Board. Friends of MIP is a not-for-profit organization created to advocate for and support the MIP and the Capriciano Unified School District. Friends of MIP is managed by an executive board composed of parents with students of the MIP program. Tonight, I would like to

049read the majority of our statements sent to the families in the Immersion Program, which displays our support for the AAPI community, and we hope this influences the CUSD Board. to also issue a statement. Friends of MIP statement was not issued on behalf of or in connection with CUSD. The Friends of MIP organization stands in solidarity with AAPI communities in denouncing the racially motivated attacks and expressions of hate that have been happening against AAPIs across the nation. We recognize that this hate and violence stems from an unfortunate history of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia, and the recent surge in anti-AAPI rhetoric during the COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified incidences of hate and violence against the AAPI communities. Part of MIP's mission statement includes promoting culture for enrichment, fostering multicultural appreciation and understanding, and helping build and support

050a strong community. We recognize the importance of all persons of cultures, but in light of recent events, we categorically state our support for our AAPI students and families. You are valued members of our community, we care about your well-being and safety, and we express our heartfelt condolences to all who have been affected by acts of hate. Hate against any one of us is a threat to our entire community. As always, we continue to express our support for members of our community and thank you for standing in solidarity with our AAPI families. In addition to presenting this statement, I would like to personally add how important I feel it is for the CUSD board to issue a statement and not stand by in the sidelines. It is not acceptable for a person, any person, to feel

051ashamed or bullied based on their cultural background. Cultures are to be embraced. Not discussing cultural discrimination is doing a disservice to everyone. I have a Chinese background and didn't understand racism as a child as it was seldom discussed. As an adult, I recognized I was a victim of racism. and want my kids and other kids to know this is unacceptable. For example, when I was in fifth grade learning pronouns, our English teacher asked the class to pull back the ends of their eyes to recite pronouns because it made them sound better, implying I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they sounded like an Asian language. I didn't know it at the time and couldn't put words to why this felt wrong, but knew it made me uncomfortable. This is unacceptable, especially this behavior coming from

052a teacher. I hope USC does the right thing and stands up to the intolerance of AAPI discrimination by issuing a statement. I yield my time. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, we found Zoe and Zano outside before it's her bedtime, right? Go ahead. Talk right into here. Hi, my name is Zoe and Zano. There's been teachers who say that I cannot wear and pull down my mask at school or under my nose when I'm in PE. And I do basketball and soccer and I get really hot, but I am not allowed to pull down my mask. And my teacher today, she was in her classroom. And I saw her and she had her mask under her nose and she and down and she is allowed to take her mask off. But I'm not allowed to take

053my mask off. And I don't think that that's fair. Masks make me not breathe. I can't see people's emotions if they're sad or happy. My friends. I don't like it either. And my brother has been talking a lot about how his teacher tells him that he should wear two masks, but he only wants to wear one. Thank you, Zoe. Who is the next speaker? I do have Melody Brown on the line. She would be next on my list. Oh, okay. Thank you. Go ahead, Melody. Oh, good. Melody, we can hear you. Oh, excellent. Thank you. Okay, good evening everyone. My name is Melody Brown, as we just established. I am here tonight as the Vice President of the Friends of Mandarin Immersion Program of CUSD to represent our families and also as a parent of

054two of the students within the program. For those who are not familiar with the program, it's a Mandarin immersion program that is offered from kindergarten through high school with over 400 students at the Marion Bergeson, Newhart, and Capo Valley High School campuses. Our children are gaining the benefits of bilingual and biliterate skills while also learning the importance of embracing and celebrating different cultures to become community and world leaders. The families in our program have been extremely grateful to the Board of Trustees for their continued support of this amazing program that embraces multicultural appreciation and explores and honors the Chinese culture in particular. We've even had the honor of having many of you attend our annual galas and spend time with our families directly. Despite years of obvious and enthusiastic support, the board has decided to

055not issue a simple statement in support of the AAPI community. This lack of support seems contradictory and understandably hurtful to many of our families. Stories of children in this very program have come out about being spit on and told to go back home, both on campus and within our communities. More than ever, the families and children in our community need the CUSD Board of Trustees to do the right thing and set the example and expectations for how to treat fellow community members. We're counting on your continued support with an official statement standing against recent attacks on people within the AAPI community. Thank you so much for your continued support and for your time tonight. Thank you. Next, I have Dana Collins on Zoom. Dana, go ahead. Hello, I'm calling to speak on two items today.

056First is the mask mandate for kids. We can go walk into a restaurant and sit without a mask, but our kids have to sit at their desk. You not speak about a mask until item 42. We did allow the student to speak because of the late hour. Okay. Could you speak about your other item, please? Yeah, your whatever you guys call it now. Rachel Bessire- Racial thing Okay, so I read the thing you guys, this is ridiculous, this is something that belongs in the home, we are not an inherently racial like racist districts period. Rachel Bessire- And the fact that you guys are pushing this propaganda under our kids it's a teachers Union design thing teachers Union that we have I went on it's all about blm and everything else you guys have no reason

057to be teaching our kids this. Dana. Why won't you let me speak? I signed up to speak on both of these items. So I don't know why you're calling me right now. Let me speak. Dana, Dana, we would like and encourage you to speak, but this is our open oral comment section where the items are not on our agenda and the two items that you're... Okay, well, I signed up to speak on these items. So when am I going to get my turn to speak about these two items? President Bulacos, can I offer maybe a suggestion? I'm sure that the group would be, it's very important that we have our consent calendar, that agenda items 33 and especially 34, reopening of 2.0. But after that, we go into more. services and maybe parents wouldn't be

058as interested. If the board was interested, we could move up 42 and the culture proficiency right behind. I think it's imperative that folks understand budget and the reopening of our schools plan, but we could move the items up after agenda 34 so that folks could speak on the actual items so we board members can hear that. and then move on, if that's a pleasure of the board. Or I don't want to... Trustee Hanachick, that had already been suggested by another member, but we usually decide on that once we get through the oral comments. But to the audience, we will look to do that. We were trying to get through the oral comments, then talk about the consent. Thank you. Thank you so much. I just wanted to... So for those listeners, I believe we'll probably

059look and get agreement that we'll meet... But for right now, we do need to change open oral testing not on the agenda. So we could add this speaker, Dana Collins. It sounds like she'd like to speak at the lessons and speak at the mask citizens request. So we'll add her to both of those so she will have a chance to speak. So we will put Dana on for 43. Is it 42? I think it's 38 and 42. Okay. Do we have Michelle Rislan? Is that someone outside or do we have Michelle online? Perhaps you could call Mrs. Hayes the next five outside. Jennifer Katayama, Jennifer Brown, Hillary Solway, and Rhonda Whalen. I think Mrs. Schmidt, Mrs. Hayes is checking to make sure what their topic is so that they don't come in and then go

060back out. Ladies, we all have the same topic we want to talk about. We want to talk about masks in the curriculum. Can we please cut through this? You're wasting our time. Excuse me. Excuse me. There is an order in which we run these meetings. We invite the public to our meetings. But there is a process and it is published. And so we are trying to move this along as best as possible. You are not. Rhonda, would you like to come up and speak while we wait for the other speakers? Since I know you're here present in the room. Yes. Good evening, Board President Bullock, trustees and Superintendent Battelle Brulte. I want to begin with a quote from the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurman. He says this has been an extremely difficult

061year and meeting students basic needs as well as their social and emotional needs has been more important than ever. Thankfully, our classified employees have made heroic efforts to step up and support California students so they can continue to learn. CUSD classified employees have stepped up to every single challenge presented during COVID-19 pandemic and have been essential in serving our students and our schools like never before. Custodial staff have kept our campuses clean and safe from a deadly virus. Food service workers have prepared mails for students in need of food. Office staff have worked diligently to connect teachers with students studying remotely. While technical staff have equipped them with technology that they need to learn. Paraeducators are supporting students to overcome the learning challenges experienced since the beginning of the pandemic. Meanwhile, our campus supervisors are

062keeping our campuses safe and secure. I wanted to take a moment to thank our PTAs and others who've made the effort to recognize our classified employees this week. I so appreciate that, and I know they do too. And finally, if you're out and about the district this week, please stop a classified employee or two and say thanks. They're essential in keeping CUSD going every single day and have gone way above and beyond this year. Thank you. Thank you. And may I ask Joy Schnapper if you would like to come forward while we're still waiting on the others? And do we have anybody waiting on like that? Okay, thank you. Love being a placeholder, so thank you. Any way I can help. Dear President Bullekas, Superintendent Vital Brulte, and honored trustees, you have probably heard the

063African proverb, it takes a village to raise a child. Has this ever been more true than it is these days? Today, May 18th, is Educational Support Professionals Day. CUA would like to acknowledge the work and support our classified employees show every day to keep our schools safe, healthy, and running smoothly. CSCA makes up about one half of the workforce in CUSD and about one third of the workforce that helps to run our public schools efficiently and effectively. Their hard work, long hours, and dedication are part of the reason CUSD can fulfill their unwavering commitment to student success. We simply could not succeed without them. A typical day of a student in CUSD may begin with a bus ride in the morning, but all days end with the custodians turning off the lights at night. In

064the midst of that, CSCA members play a crucial role as paraprofessionals, office workers, food service workers, custodians, groundkeepers, maintenance staff, licensed vocational nurses, library techs, and campus supervisors, just to name a few. And to be honest, there's just no way for me to completely cover all the different jobs classified employees provide in our district. CSCA plays a distinct role in the components of technology, nutrition, environmental services, the physical environment, and the overall school climate on campus. Many times they are the first person to greet a parent, the one who helps parents with students problem solve when they are having an issue with a Chromebook, the person who makes sure they have access to the parent portal or the school website, or to get them to sign up for the TSA. They have their hands in

065just about everything that makes a school run smoothly. All staff, including classified employees, play a key role in establishing, developing, and maintaining connections with the students themselves. Every single adult in the school setting is crucial to establishing positive educational climates and enhancing connectedness between staff and students. CUEA is united with CSEA in strengthening our schools and providing the very best experience for every child that attends COSD. It truly does take a village. Thank you, CSEA, for being part of our village. CUEA appreciates you. Thank you. And we do appreciate that partnership. Who do we have next? Okay, thank you. And how about Jennifer Katayama? Do we have Jennifer was just before Jennifer Brown. Have we heard from her yet? Or did we hear from Michelle Rizlin? No. Okay. Well, Jennifer Brown, would you like to

066come up now while we still miss Bruce? Oh, that's right. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're right. I'm confused. Okay. Hillary. Brisbane is available. That's possible. This Brisbane. Can I ask what agenda item you're speaking on? I am actually speaking about 38. It's a little difficult for me to be on later tonight, but I can rearrange my schedule if that's easier for you. Okay, we will add you to item 38. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you. So I've just been advised the others, those that have been, those that are on the list and have asked to speak are wanting to speak on 42. So at this time, open oral comments are closed and we have two public hearings and then we move to consent calendar. I would, I asked to speak on open. I don't

067have you on open oral. I have you on consent. No, I had two cards. And I have two cards. And the first one was oath of office. Oath of office didn't have a name on it. Oh, well, that's me. Okay. Do you have Dawn? Do you have Dawn for oral comments? Yes, we have the cards, so we should allow this. Okay, please go ahead. Sorry. Okay. As trustees, each of you have taken an oath of office to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Trustees are elected by the people to represent the interests of students and taxpayers in all matters before this board. It is your fiduciary duty. You must protect the civil rights of students you represent. You cannot violate the rights of students and abuse children because the

068state of California mandates that you do so. That is not a defense. Should you as a trustee make the decision to allow unconstitutional mandates to continue to abuse students, you will be on trial yourself for crimes against humanity and held accountable. There are penalties for the violation of federal, state, and the Nuremberg military tribunal laws. and they can be individually cast against each of you in an amount of up to $50,000 in fine and one year in prison. Your fiduciary duty is to protect students and taxpayers and uphold the United States Constitution, not to put public employee unions who have politicized the people's public education system. I was just carrying out my orders is not a legal defense to these crimes. The people will hold each... trustee accountable for district policies that constitute crimes against

069humanity and violate state and federal law. And I did send you this letter in person, so I'm just going to stop there. And I personally will hold all of you accountable in court if you continue to abuse children with masks. Thank you very much. Thank you, Trustee Lillikas. agenda item 42 followed by 38 and then move with our agenda from there. When we get to yes. We have to do consent first or could we move right to 38 or to 42 first followed by 38 then move to consent and the remainder of our meeting. Yeah we need to do public hearings first. It has to be first. Colleen does it have to be first? Because public hearings are posted in our newspaper and we notify the public so that it is at a reasonable time,

070it is best practice to do the public hearing first. Yeah. So we need to do the public hearings and we can move agenda item number 42 in front of consent. It is the wishes of the board to do this. No, not for me. I'm happy to move it up. But we have this. This is a business meeting of the board conducted in public. And it has been posted. I'm happy to go partway with folks because I understand. But we have a lot of work that I'd like to get through. I appreciate moving it up, but not all the way where we circumvent the work that we need to do. Okay. And in terms of moving it ahead of consent versus moving it up front after consent, do I have a consensus at all? I concur

071with trustee Hanachick. Okay. Do I have agreement that we will move 42 up to the number one position after consent item? I think I was, I really wanted the 2.0 to have for the public. If they're interested, they're willing to stay. And so I would move it up after, oh, sorry. So 38. 38. Thank you. No, no, actually, no, no, I'm sorry. It would be after, listen to 33, 34. We have capital advisors here. Very important discussion on the budget. This is huge, whether mass or anything. Then we have 34, which is reopening of our schools, 2.0. Then I would support, before expanded learning opportunities grant, I know that's a little drier. to put 42 and the 38, if that's the cultural proficiency, up so that folks can participate, we can listen, and then we

072can deliberate on that and then go back to the more standard business. And then I ask you, request you, having been on the sport for a long time, when we have things that people would like to participate, please do this and show your support. That helps us move along and we get here. Okay, so just for clarity, my understanding is you're making a request after consent to move up in order of 33, 34, 42, 38. Yes, please. Okay. And do I have an agreement from all trustees? And Trustee Jones? Yes. Yeah, I'll make it a motion. If that's a motion, I'll second it. Okay, we have a motion by Trustee Hanachek, seconded by Trustee McNicholas. And we need to do a roll call vote because we have a trustee on Zoom. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee

073Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachek. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0. Thank you. So at this time, I'd like to open up the public hearing. I'd like to open up the 2021-2022 Local Control Accountability Plan. The time is now 841. Do we have any speakers? We do not. Having no speakers and seeing no one in the audience, the public hearing is now closed at 842. At this time, I'd like to open the public hearing regarding 2021-2022 proposed budget adoption. The time is now 8.42. Do we have any speaker cards? We do not. Having no speakers, the public hearing is now closed at 8.43 p.m. We will now move to the consent calendar. Do we have any speaker cards for consent? We do. Okay. So I have Charles

074Brower. I don't know if you, again, feel we want to list five in case they happen to be outside to join us. Charles Brower is on with us on Zoom. Go ahead, Charles. Do you have Charles? Charles, go ahead. Charles, we can see you locked in, but we cannot hear you. Would you like to go ahead and speak? Okay, let's move on to Adam Overton and keep Charles Brower in case he's got technical difficulty. Maybe he'll come back on. Do we have Adam Overton? I do not have Adam on Zoom. So we're checking outside. Okay, while we check outside, we do have Rhonda Whalen and we know that she's here. Rhonda, if you'd like to step up. I promise this is the last time tonight. So last year when we struggled with how to bring

075our students back to school safely, somebody came up with the idea of extended learning. This plan required the district to hire a massive amount of paraeducators. I objected to this plan because I knew people would be hired for one year and then be laid off. I thought it was heartless and treating people as a commodity while ignoring the fact that they have faces, families, and financial obligations. The district went ahead and hired all these paras because it was a convenient way to solve a problem. School opened and pairs were assigned to groups of students with little or no training. The district maintained that they weren't teaching, but they were. They were provided little time to prepare for students and sometimes weren't able to take a bathroom or lunch break. Some worked outside in tents in

076temperatures that would never be tolerated in a classroom. Even so, they kept going and without them, extended learning would have been a failure. And by the way, they did all this work while being paid wages, which are among the lowest in this district. As predicted, now the district wants to lay them off when they were provided with $2.8 million in the Extended Learning Opportunity Grant. According to the statute, it's the intent of the legislature that a local education agency prioritize rehiring paraprofessionals subject to layoff or release. and to further increase the number of paraprofessional staff. CUSD has chosen to ignore the intent of the law by diverting funds to pay for a program that's over. $2.8 million is not nearly enough to save every job, but it could minimize job loss and benefit students who

077need help going forward. Paraeducators can provide instruction under the direction of a teacher and help with other tasks to give teachers more time to devote to students. If the goal is to help our students with learning recovery, this money should be spent in the classroom next year rather than being used to pay this year's expenses. The layoff of paras who work in special education is also a bad idea. CUSD has struggled to fill these jobs in special education forever. It makes no sense to let go of people who have a heart for our most needy students when these gems are so hard to find. They are among the hardest working employees in this district. You have $2.2 million that needs to be used to save paraeducator jobs. It's the intent of the law and the

078right thing for students. Thank you. Do we have a list yet of anybody who's available to speak? Charles De La Rosa. Chaz De La Rosa. Okay, I don't have him on my list. The only Charles I have is Charles Brower. Chaz De La Rosa. Oh, Chaz De La Rosa. Okay, thank you. Chaz, go ahead, please. Chaz, your mic is live. Okay. Chaz may be having the same problem as Charles did. How about Chris Lynn? Is it Tallinhoo? I'm probably botching that up. It's Chris did Tallinhoo. Oh, great. Thank you. Go ahead, please. Sure. Hello, I am Kristen Teleniu. I am a paraeducator within the district. I have three children attending schools in the district. Soon to be four. I'm super excited about that. I would like to share how the YMCA's engaging program and experienced

079staff members have helped my children in this district thrive as scholars. Sorry, my kids are... Going to bed, they're screaming. I've had my children in their care since 2018. At that time, my children and I were experiencing personal hardships, and this past year, we dealt with this pandemic. The YMCA's hours, location, and most importantly, staff have been a god. and in our lives. The experienced staff at the YMCA ensure my children are safely cared for while I'm working. They ensure my children are finishing their homework in various subjects from math to history during their healthy mind time. They're ensuring my children are developing their gross motor skills during outside play time. They also help my kids develop their fine motor skills with various manipulatives like magnet tiles, Legos, and Lincoln lungs. The most important area

080though that the YMCA staff have helped my children improve in is their social emotional behavior. The experienced staff do this through playing games like Monopoly and Battleship. The staff also help my children's growth and social emotional development through explicit instructions and modeling. For example, my son who is diagnosed with oppositional defiance disorder and ADHD with an IP in the district had an emotional outburst over not getting what he wanted. He raised his voice and threw his body on the ground. I was mortified. The YMCA director, Tyler Falls-Rivas, gave me a sympathetic smile and I thought that would be the end of it. But then he surprised me. He knelt down to my son's eye level, looked him in the eye, and in a calm voice reassured him that it was okay to feel this way,

081acknowledged his big feelings, and helped him gain control of his emotions. Then when my kindergartner started distance learning this past fall, he displayed signs of having a difficult time transitioning from distance learning at home to distance learning at the Y. Mr. Tyler, along with the regional director, so sorry about that, Mr. Servando met with me and we worked together to create a plan of strategies to better meet my kindergartner's needs. I was so worried I would have to resign from the district and care for him, but Mr. Tyler and I, But Mr. Tyler and Mr. Servando implemented the strategies and plan and worked patiently with my son. I was able to keep my job. When schools closed and went online, it was the YMCA staff's ingenuity and experience that helped my children navigate logging on

082to meet with their teachers and finding their assignments on Canvas. It was the same ingenuity and experience that I believe also helped to make it possible for them. this district to reopen schools for the students because what they did last May through June was a small scale version of what happened when our schools reopened. I am so sorry your time is up but thank you for sharing that. Do we have Debbie Ferret? We do not. Okay now I had Dawn Urbanik for consent calendar but was that a shift or does she come back to speak? Item number four. She left. She left. Okay. So do we have at this time the last speakers, Charles Brouwer, Adam Overton, or Chaz De La Rojas? Debbie Perreault. Any of those people? We'll try Charles again. Charles, your mic

083is live. Okay. I think we need to move on. All right. Trustees, do you have any consent items that you would like pulled this evening? Trustee Hennetek? Thank you, President Bulacos. I would like to pull item 29 for clarification and expanded discussion. It's what Ms. Whalen brought forward. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any others? I was also going to pull 29, but I wanted to just note that some apparent contacted me about their belief that the YMCA contract was being canceled. And I think that's a misinterpretation of item number nine, which is a routine item just to, I think, renew that contract again. So I believe that's what those emails and tonight's speaker was about. Okay, well, we can follow up with that speaker tomorrow in response. Thank you. Okay. President Fulikas, I move

084approval of the balance of the consent items other than item 29. Thank you. A motion by Trustee McNicholas. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Trustee Bronstein. May I have a roll call, please? Student Advisor Boshkar. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bulikas. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0 to approve the consent calendars items 3 through 32 with the exception of number 29. And as... Okay, we are starting with number 33, and I'd like to recognize Kevin Gordon, Capital Advisors, to present this item. President Bullek, it's members of the board. It's a pleasure to be with you. I will sort of start by saying that sort of as an example of just how far ahead this district is over every other district

085in the state, this is the first board meeting I've been invited to come to present in person. and out of the whole state. And we represent a lot of districts. There is something that's happened since the outset. I just felt before I get into the budget, I wanted to say this. It's the outset of the pandemic. I've had so many conversation with the leadership of this district, the superintendent, about how we approach all of the different changing rules and shifting regulations and everything that Sacramento tries to do. to you or as Jack O'Connell would say for you, and how we can go up to the letter of the law for the best interests of kids. And this district has been consistently focused on that. So you see districts like San Francisco or San Bernardino City,

086which is a huge district. These major districts across the state, San Francisco is a classic example that was in yellow. for a while and had the opportunity to go back and that if you went back, you could stay open. And they didn't take that opportunity for a variety of potential reasons. But the point is, is you guys have just been really courageous in taking every single opportunity you can with the limitations you've had from the state to do right by kids. And I just, I really admire it. And I wanted to mention that. So let me talk a little bit about this incredible budget. Just what a roller coaster we've been on. And I mentioned this the other day to a reporter up in Sacramento. I said, get this. Governor Newsom will now have the

087distinction of being the governor that introduced the deepest cuts to public education in state history. and within 12 months is introducing the largest increase to public education funding in state history. One guy. And it just tells you that reversal of fortunes that happens in the matter of 12 months, how things have changed. So obviously we fought vigilantly against what the governor was doing last year relative to the budget, proposed budget cuts. And every month after the budget got passed, which was this grim budget that required a lot of borrowing and the deferrals. We could see every month, and I was emailing or texting the superintendent, look at the numbers for this month. Essentially, they were extremely wrong. They were wrong about their estimates about how far revenue would drop. And I was always curious about

088it. And we had conversations about the fact that if they were predicating the budget based on revenue forecast, The main thing that they usually use to give them an idea is what's happening with income taxes. Well, they didn't have income taxes when they did the May revision. And they frankly didn't have all the income taxes when they did the budget because the budget was done by June 15th, but taxes weren't due till July. And I was just saying, well, hold on a second. Those are taxes on a year before there was a pandemic. So they should actually show pretty good revenue growth. Anyways, the bottom line is we saw every single month after the budget was passed, the dollars came in way more than the state had estimated they would come in. And so one

089of the things that's always a challenge for us in education is trying to figure out what the right thing is to do relative to school finance in the face of numbers that we're getting from the state that are, in this case, very wrong. So anyhow, with regard to the budget, we've got several pieces of the budget that are great for this district. It's an overall, when you compare it to any budget that we get from year to year, it's really good news. I believe it could be better. And the reason why I think it could be better is very similar to an issue that happened last summer when we were working on your guys' behalf. when you might remember that the governor had proposed putting a bunch of money into concentration grant districts only. That

090would be districts with an unduplicated count in excess of 55%. And what we've talked about before with this board is that you guys have feeder patterns of poverty where you hit that number. And if we actually judged concentrations of poverty by school rather than district-wide, A lot of poor kids in this district would get extra assistance that they don't get. It's not fair. And so I was able to dust off something that I'd comment I'd made from last summer again this time around, which is when the governor proposed again, big chunks of money. There's a $1.1 billion program that's in this budget proposal. And then there's another proposal that starts at roughly a billion and goes up to $5 billion, both of them aimed at concentration grant school districts only. And what we try to

091point out is that we hope you don't love some poor kids more than others. is that they're all kids that are in poverty and that we ought to push on that to change. What we got out of the budget last year was we defeated the concentration grant approach only, and they moved it to one that's not great but better, at least for this district, which is supplemental and concentration grant, so that all the kids that we had that are in poverty across the district would have benefited by that. So we're in the same kind of dynamic again. I'm optimistic that we'll push really hard on that. We may get some progress, but there's several billions of dollars right now that completely bypass the district because that's the way they're funding it. And again, it would

092be great to get those extra revenues. We need those revenues. Our kids deserve those revenues. that when you look at a 5.07 or 5.1 percent COLA, it's the biggest COLA we've seen in a long time, the governor funds that, it's a full percentage point above what he would otherwise do that would be required in law. And in fact, he didn't fund us, remember that we didn't get a COLA in the current year. So this COLA represents him making up for that year. And in addition, giving us the call that we'd be entitled to by formula in the coming year, and then adding a full percentage point on top of that. The reason why that is good is because it goes into boosting the base funding that we get under LCFF. And one of the things

093I've told you before, if we do nothing but go year after year with only putting the COLA that's required, the minimum COLA by law on LCFF, LCFF is pathetically funded. We never, ever get to a place where we need to be. This budget puts a full percentage point into that base, lifting that base above where it would otherwise be. And that's a good thing. There are several other pieces of the budget that are important. We were troubled by the January budget proposal because it did not have a COLA in it the way it should have been, a compounded COLA for special ed. That has now changed. So there's a 4.05% COLA for special ed. That's real positive in this budget. There's $2 billion, and I wanted to ask you guys about this. And again, it's

094something to contemplate, and perhaps we can get some feedback from the staff here at some point after, you know, maybe in the coming week. But it's about the $2 billion that the governor is proposing, $2 billion, a lot of money, for more PPE, testing, vaccinations, everything in regard to mitigating for health purposes. We're thinking there's been a lot of money invested in that already, and districts have that and those resources available, right? They've kind of conquered that step. And that $2 billion could be used for a lot of other things if they would just, you know, sort of channel Jerry Brown and send it out on a per-kid basis, the way the former governor used to do with one-time money. We could find a lot of better uses for it. than just that. Or say,

095look, for those that want to use it for PPE, they can, but then put it out there for more discretionary uses. Right now, his proposal, and it's getting a rough reception in the legislature for good reason, spends $2 billion across the state for more PPE and those kinds of things. So it just doesn't seem to make sense. One of the bigger allocations of money that the governor has in the budget is an expansion of TK. So as he is very preoccupied with early education and has been from the beginning, he now has the money to try to do something about it. And this is permanent ongoing money. He starts with about $900 million in this budget, and he ramps up to about $2.7 billion when it's fully implemented. And that's to, what he'll do initially

096is move that age eligibility from turning five by December 2nd to turning five by March 2nd. And that brings in a whole bunch more students. And then it also, he adjusts the Prop 98 minimum guarantee. base by that amount. So it addresses a little bit declining enrollment. It deals with a dropping Prop 98 guarantee based on ADA. It solves a lot of different problems by him going this direction. But then there's the issue of how does it shake out statewide by district when you do kind of, you look at what your goals are as a district relative to these positions. The things that are unanswered are the things that we wrestled with when we did class size reduction. which is a plan that doesn't contemplate facilities and a plan that doesn't contemplate the already huge

097teacher shortage we have and how do we ramp up to make sure that we're dealing with that. So there are going to be some challenges there, but it is probably one of the bolder parts of his budget and a very big expenditure. And then finally is this whole with regard to philosophy about in-person learning. And the legislature is really serious about in-person learning. This district is, again, way ahead of most districts who I think are really grappling with that challenge. You guys won't so much. But it's basically saying, look, we're going back to what we had, which is in-person learning and ADA funding the way we had it. Or you do it through independent study, and we'll give you credit for independent study. Well, one of the things that we're worried about is as they,

098there are some legislators who want to try to manipulate independent study because they're worried about it being used primarily as just a tool for distance learning, is they may be messing up with the statutes that let independent study work the way it does now. And independent study is a pretty bureaucratic program. I mean, they have things like wet signatures required and a lot of sort of archaic kind of rules around it. they're about to make it worse more complicated so the idea of virtual academies which i know you guys have thought about and are talking about implementing can get affected by changes in law so we're going to be watching this on behalf of the district as well to make sure that that doesn't end up getting turned sideways in a way that disadvantages our

099students here and then finally over three billion dollars almost 3.6 billion dollar investment some from education, a lot from outside of education, which is a credit to the governor. We've had other governors who try to pay for a lot of good things with K-12 money. And he's actually using general fund money to address the issue of student mental health. So student mental health, social, emotional needs of kids, wraparound services, and what he would call community services, which is... different than the community schools we're used to, which county office usually supplies. But it's really a wraparound approach to saying that it's more than just what's happening in the classroom, but the whole child. And so there's a lot going on with regard to that. Right now, the timeline is the governor's got his May revision. He

100will now have a matter of days to negotiate with the legislature to get to a budget by June 15th. And then he'll probably take about five to 10 days, the governor will, to sign that budget. And we'll have a budget probably about the 27th, I suspect, of June. And that'll be an enacted budget. But there's almost no way for them to screw this up badly enough for it not to be a good year for us. It's going to be a good year no matter what. I believe it can be a better year depending on how we work it in the legislature. So that's my update for you. Happy to take any questions from the board. Trustee Hanuchak? Thank you. Okay, so I live by Ed's source. So today, they are, I don't know if you

101have any input on this. It says, long dormant anti-spending law to yield one-time bonanza for schools. The GAN limit to divide excess $16 billion between tax rebates and school funding. Can you touch on that? Yes. And I actually talked to that writer a little bit about that story. I haven't read, I didn't read what he said yet, but we talked a long time about it. So, and again, it's just a great reference for anybody watching tonight, edsource.org, great reference resource for really thoughtful writing about developmental policy and finance and things up at the Capitol. He's talking about the gamma. I'm glad you brought that up because I didn't talk about it. So there's this little known, it's little known now, I knew it because I was around in the last century, but. For a lot

102of people, they don't remember this GAN limit that was put into place in 1979. And it essentially said, when you have a really good revenue year in the state of California, and it's just got a whole flood of money, you don't just go out and spend it all just because you got it. That you have an obligation when you hit a certain level to actually return some money to taxpayers. And what Paul Gann did when he wrote it in order to make sure that it would be that much more popular and ensure that he got it passed is he said, we're going to split it 50-50. Half of it goes back to taxpayers as some kind of a rebate, and half of it goes to schools. So what the governor has contemplated in the budget

103currently, there's about $16 billion of this excess, $8 billion would go back, but it goes back in the form that he has it targeted to different kinds of people across the state, but predicated on need. And so there's a whole lot of people, like for example, if you make anything over $75,000 a year, you're not going to get any of this money. Well, his attorneys and the people in the legislature seem to think that they can actually do that rather than a general tax rebate across all categories of taxpayers. Gann probably intended it to go to all taxpayers, not just returning money. But I think they're contemplating the fact that people that are really well off. And we take a look at what's going on in this economy, which people at the lower end of

104the economic spectrum are being pounded, while people at the upper end of the economic spectrum are doing amazingly well during this past year. And so I think that's what's formulating his policy objectives. So the big question is, why does he wait a year to give us our $8 billion? Because it's going to be in the budget a year from now. And can he do it? And obviously, he's got a legal opinion that he can actually delay it. But that's $8 billion more of money that is being contemplated to be put in the budget a year from now. And the truth is, with the federal dollars that we've seen, and again, Capistrano doesn't get as much as other districts because of our Title I. predicated largely on Title I funding. But the money that we are

105getting from various sources should carry us to three or even maybe four years. And I think what the governor is saying is I have a right to dispense this money over time as long as I commit to actually getting it to schools. And I think that's their general philosophy. But there have been a lot of questions about that yet, but there probably will be. The good news for us is that we're probably not looking for a a date in the near future when we're going to be talking about budget cuts. And that's a relief because think about for all of you, whether you've been on the board for a little while or a long time, almost all of us have experienced an era where there's been where we've had to talk about budget cuts. The

106other issue that we do raise with the legislature is there's a whole massive amount of this money, almost 90% of the money that we're seeing that's coming to the state. The governor's plan is 90% of it to spend it as one-time money. is that only 10% of it is invested in terms of ongoing. Is that at some point there's a cliff effect for us in the education community where then we have to face reality. Many, many districts, including this one, was tightening its belt before COVID. So the question is post COVID. Will we return to that kind of a mode and what can they do now to do sensible things so we don't get in that? They did not put a dime more money into the STRS-PERS issue this year when they have a lot

107of money to do that. They help us enormously when they do that. It can be done with one-time money and they're swimming in one-time money. There are issues with regard to unemployment insurance that need to be addressed where we're getting increases, unanticipated increases in unemployment insurance statewide for school districts. That needs focus. So we want to deal with that as well. So there's a number of these different issues. And hopefully the GAN money will help us offset some of these. Judy? Hi. I'm glad you talked about stirs and purrs because that's one thing that to me seems obvious with one-time money that you can fix that. The other thing is, have you heard anything about... We heard that there's still one deferral, but he's holding on to it. He hasn't eliminated all the deferrals, unless

108you've heard differently. I'm really having trouble hearing you. But I think... Deferrals! Oh, deferrals, good. Two issues, super good issues. So on the Steers-Purse issue, we know that, and I was a major advocate, I was probably the first out of the box saying last year when we ended COVID, look at... The stirs purrs demand on us, the ever increasing amount of money doesn't stop just because of COVID. You, the legislature, need to do something about it. So the governor of the legislature gave us a two-year plan. It does affect the year we're about to start. What we are talking about, and we think we've got the legislature on our side on this one, is to actually do something to mitigate in this budget. something more than what was planned, which would be a great thing.

109So we're looking for that. We think there may be something in the offing, and that would be great if they take that step. So we're looking for some relief there. With regard to deferrals, important issue, and I made reference to it earlier. This budget when the governor proposed it in January said I'm gonna pay off most of the deferrals That is forcing districts to borrow money in order to balance their books is that we're gonna We're gonna pay off most of those deferrals so districts don't have to carry it except for three point seven billion dollars And our question was why why would you leave three point seven billion dollars on the books to borrow? like Basic Finance 101 in our household budgets is that if you have debt that you can pay off, you

110have the money to pay off debt, pay it off. They have the money to pay this off. And the thing that we're trying to get across to the governor is that you want this to be a tool you can use in the future. Because, and so what he did at the May revision, he brought it down to now 2.7 billion. So he made a little progress on it, but we still are kind of confused about why there's, I know people were saying they were going to stay here. And if they're going to stay here, you're going to be here. So. Mr. Gordon, can you pause for just one moment? Yes. This is very important for us. Can we get some order? This is very imperative that I listen to this. And we can always remind

111the folks that we hear every email you would like to send, any things you would like to speak on this evening, but this is the business meeting of the board. This is imperative. We're in the middle of COVID. We're trying to come out of it and figure this out. You're in the middle of COVID and you have children that need to be heard. Again, this is our board meeting. We've invited you to, but we do have... No, I'm sorry. And we're not able to get through the business here. If you will wait just a moment, we have some updates. So at the end of the day, what we're talking about here is a fight for resources for the kids in this school district. The money that you guys will or won't have. to make things

112happen in this district. That's what we're talking about here. And so all of these issues are important where there's deferrals, where the sensibility of the state of California is to make you borrow money that you don't need to borrow if they would just pay it off because they have the money to pay it off. And that's a righteous cause that we all ought to be together on. Any other questions? I mean, I certainly appreciate this. I mean, learning loss is huge. It's real. We are so blessed in the school district. I have to admit, I cried this morning reading about Pico Rivera, where children have lost both parents and more. And listening to that superintendent, and I feel very blessed that we live a certain lifestyle and are able to do the things we have

113and adhere to what we've got. But it's a big battle for that learning, to deal with that learning loss. And everybody's up to the task. And it's so important. So thank you for that update. And I know you always are right there with our ledge PTA folks. Yes, they've been great. That they're our biggest advocates as well. So thank you so much. Great. Thank you all. Thank you, Kevin, very much for coming. And thank you for your Zoom calls and things like that this year. It's always very informative. We appreciate it. Thanks. All right. Thank you all very much. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry, this is very disheartening to share, but Michelle Hart Hill, who requested to this citizen's request to be on our agenda has left and is no longer

114here to present. And so we now need to pull the item. So we will ask you to submit any of your comments to us in writing on our Google Docs, but we will not be honoring agenda item number 42 as the citizen who is requesting it is no longer with us. Judy, can I speak on that item? You can't speak on an item that's not agenda. The item was brought before us by a citizen and the citizen is not here. So the item has to be pulled. So we are now going to move forward with item number 34. Judy, I hate to read. This is Martha. I hate to go backwards, but if that's not an agenda item, then all the people that asked to speak on it. as a non-agenda item back in our

115oral communications. You're right. Those who asked to speak during oral. Can we go back and reopen oral communications on a now unagenda item? I don't think you can because you've now moved on from oral communications. And then the people, right? I'm just trying to, you know, think about because now you're not. You've already passed that part of your agenda and you're going back to be... Well, we didn't anticipate this, the person that brought this forth to not be here. Right. And we told people, wait for your comments until we get to that agenda. So I think the best you could do is the people who were signed up for oral communications to go back and only listen to those. You can't then honor people in 42 because that item does not exist and it's been

116pulled. Well, I proposed a resolution. What if I proposed a resolution? Could we speak on it then? It wouldn't be agendized. So you can't because that's not agendized. Okay, so the nine. So there's no action you can take and there's no direction you can give because it's no longer an item. Again, this is part of the issue with citizens request. So you could go back. You could vote to go back to open up oral communications to hear the people who actually were signed up for oral communications. But you can't go back and have people who are not already signed up for oral communications add cards because you can't add cards once an item has been opened. So the best you could do is hear the people who are signed up for oral communications, which the

117team has. Those names and only those names. You can't go back and add people. That's against Brown Act. So I think you should ask the pleasure of the board as to whether to reopen oral communications to only hear those speakers who were originally signed up for oral communications that got moved to item 42 because of masks was an item. Now that mask is a non-item, you're voting to reopen to let only those speakers who had already signed up speak. Is it the pleasure to hear the 10 speakers that have signed up that we had moved? Yes. Yes. And I also have another suggestion for Trustee Davis is if you can ask for something in the future to be put on, that's fine. And that's another way to do this as well. I was prepared like

118most people to do this right. We have the citizens request, ready to listen to them and then have their, how we always do it, their presentation, the speakers, and then our debate. So the challenge is we can pull the whole thing and you can put it back in the future if you'd like to do that, that is a mechanism as well. So I would support either way. I think we should. Okay. If you want to bring forward a resolution, it would have to be for our next meeting. Right. You could. You could let us know now that you plan to bring a resolution on our next meeting. Well, even if Trustee Davis brings a resolution, I would like to suggest that we listen to the 10 people that are here. I agree. I agree. Well,

119and I also want to remind us that we can't talk about things that are off the agenda. The point of a citizen's request is the back and forth with the board. So you can't actually have a back and forth. You can listen. but you can't direct please let's listen okay is she gone and not coming back is that it is my understanding from this one is that she had to leave and so therefore her item is called she had to go okay lisa i'm sorry trustee davis no she is not coming back but we are aware so we need to move forward so i'm going to ask um mrs hayes if you could call And I have starting with Dana Collins, Jennifer Katayama, Jennifer Brown, who's here in the room with us, Hillary Salway, and

120then Shannon Welsh are the next that I have on my list. So why don't we, let's see, is Jennifer Brown still here? There she is. Mrs. Hayes, if you can just reflect in the record that the board has reopened oral communications to only hear the speakers who are on the original list that could not speak because item 42 was pulled. Thank you. Because the citizen is not here. Thank you. Go ahead, please. First off, I want to say that I'm appalled by what just happened. And I apologize to every single person out there that did not get the opportunity to speak. So I hope I can do this justice. In all of history, respiratory viruses of any type, asymptomatic transmission has never been the driver. The driver of outbreaks has always been a symptomatic person.

121That is the quote from Anthony Fauci. But asymptomatic spread, isn't that why we started masking? Just one of the terrible policies inflicted upon our children not based on science. Children have repeatedly shown not to be drivers of the virus. The CDC shows that K-12 mortality rate for COVID-19 is .00003. Just today, a story broke with a headline that reads, from the Washington Examiner, hospitalizations of children with COVID-19 was likely overcounted. Turns out that those numbers were over counted by 40%. We have based public policy on terrible data. Another lie told to us that had major implications on our students is the six foot rule. Recently, the CDC announced that social distancing policy was never based on science. Today, we can all freely dine in crowded restaurants with our family and friends in a room full

122of strangers. We don't have to wear masks indoors or be six feet apart, yet our children continue to be masked indoors all day long. The loss of learning brought about by COVID policies, based mostly on politics, not science, has had a devastating effect on our youth. kids remove these harmful masks. While I do applaud CUSD for opening up this year, sending our kids back to school in the fall must be different. It cannot be walking on arrows, covering their faces, and sitting on X's. These policies have been harmful and inhumane. As I sat here tonight and I heard a lot of patting on the back, I recognize the hard work, but there is such a huge disconnect from your reality and the reality of our children. Whether they sat in the classroom masked all day,

123set apart from their peers, being taught by a teacher in a mask behind a plexiglass wall, or they laid at home in their pajamas staring at a screen alone, this year has not to be celebrated for the students. At the high school level, our kids are drowning in the never-ending workload. I watched my varsity athlete honor student before my eyes. I watched her go from a driven student to completely apathetic. Our children are suffering. They need to be in community with one another. They need to see each other's faces. They need to see their teacher's faces. They need to laugh and they need to connect with their peers. Stop the COVID fascism and the destructive mask mandate and let our kids breathe. And thank you very much, Alisa Davis. Thank you. And I'm going to

124call out Colleen for the next five. Do we have Hillary Solomons? Okay. I believe Hillary is approaching. Thank you. All right. Hi, I'm here tonight to express my concern for my son's health during the upcoming school year. We've been waiting since last year for the district to update their protocols based on the hard concrete data available to all, proving that children are not the driving force in spread of COVID, as well as the efficacy or lack thereof of any type of facial covering. Another aspect that concerns me is the social, emotional, physical, and mental well-being of all children as a result of these protocols. It is known that a significant amount of language learning in the areas of nonverbal communication, empathy, problem solving, perspective taking takes place in the early years of our children's academic

125careers and grows into a more sophisticated understanding. of language in the forms of figurative language, idioms, and humor as they graduate to higher grades. This learning, no matter the age, is done so visually through observation and watching. It is the observations made through social interactions and play amongst peers that continue to develop and refine pragmatic language and life skills. It is the development of these social language skills that often influence academic performance and determine the success of our child's relationships. And most of this learning is taking place during our child's school day. This can be exacerbated for a child with a learning disability. I have a good friend within the district and her son has been in your speech program. In nine months of schooling, his progress has been at a standstill. This is one

126story at one school in one classroom. I can't imagine the actual number of students that we have failed because of this fear-based protocols. I don't want to argue about the efficacy of a face mask. I know what I know based on the science, the facts, and data laid out for everyone to see. And I'm sure at this point, over a year into this, You have your stance. What I'm here for tonight is the choice to wear a mask. If you really think a piece of cloth that is incessantly touched and improperly fitted to your child's face will protect him, his teacher, and or his family at home, please send your child with a mask. If you trust the opposite is true or feel like you'd like to take the 99.8% risk, send your child to

127school without a mask. and 10 child to school without a mouse, then that should be an option to all families within the district. Thank you. Thank you. Now, do we have Michelle Brislin? Ms. Brislin spoke, will speak on item 38. Sage Brislin will speak on item 38. I wanted to check back. Do we have Jennifer Katayama? Okay. And then we also had Dana Collins who wanted to speak on 38 and 42. Do we have Dana for 42? Dana. I will check and see if she's on for the longest time. Hi. First off, I want to start by reminding you guys, you keep reminding us that you invited us here. This is our school district and you guys all work for us. So shame on you making these kids wait all night and being rude to

128people. I'm here. I signed up to speak on two items. You guys cut me off Zoom earlier. First, I wanted to speak about the mask situation at the schools. You can walk into a restaurant and sit without any problem, but we're forcing our little kids to wear masks all day long. My daughter's had rashes. She can't breathe. Like, this is ridiculous. And you guys have discriminated against special needs kids. There was an autistic kid at our school, and the mom had to pull him out because you guys wouldn't even accept a face shield. This is just despicable, and it needs to end now. Because guess what? Even Costco and Trader Joe's is letting people go without a mask. And I don't know, am I going to be able to speak on item 42? Because somebody

129said I wasn't. Item 42 is not on the agenda anymore. It was pulled because the submitter is not here. You are speaking on item number 42 because in terms of the topic right now in open comment. Okay, what about the new? Learning system you guys are putting in place. That is an agenda item that we are going to get to. So if you're going to speak to 38, you would need to wait at the time that we are then discussing that. Okay. So the mask thing, you guys, this is ridiculous. It should end today. Today. These kids should not be in a mask all day, forced to wear them at PE. You can go to a restaurant and sit for hours, but our kids are forced to sit distance apart all day. So like you,

130this has been a ridiculous night and this is just shameful how you guys have treated everybody. It's very disappointing. And you guys need to remember that you guys are employees. We pay for you guys with our tax dollars. What do we have up next? Next on my list, I have Shannon Welch. After that, Jesse Beck, Layla Beck, and Sarah Beck. Okay, Shannon. Hello, it's been a long night and I just wanted to share. That there's so many studies that we could say masks are effective and there's masks that aren't effective. You could go and look and see there's all kinds of different studies that will contradict one another. But for me as a parent, there's one test that's true. And that's when our eyes are on our children. And we can see without even having

131a diagnosis by a doctor what is going on with our children. And that our children are suffering. That is true. And no study can show that but on parents' eyes on their children. So I ask this board to think about what is going on with our children. There's depression. There's anxiety. There's not a child. The child are not being seen. They're not being seen. I am a youth group leader. I have high school girls in my youth group. And the stories that I get to hear from them based upon what they're feeling right now is tremendous. So I ask you to think about what is going on with our children. There's children following me after me. Let your ears and your eyes be open and let the children speak. I am asking that this board

132would put a voluntary mandate on these masks. When I have my own youth group come to my home, some have masks, some don't. But you know what? They're filled with joy. They enjoy connecting with one another. And they need to be connecting with one another. Thank you. Next we have Layla back. Do we have Layla tonight? After Layla, we have Sarah back and then Delfina back. Oh, was I next? What was that? Jesse back. Yeah, Jesse Beck, Layla Beck, Sarah Beck, and Delfina Beck. I apologize. Hello, good evening, Board of Trustees, Superintendent, President. My name's Jesse Beck. I am a citizen of San Juan Capistrano. I went to San Juan Elementary School and that's where my son and daughter go at this time. I also went to Ambeil, Marco Forster, summer school at Dana, summer

133school at Capo, and graduated San Clemente High School. In the past, I was a substitute teacher here at Capistrano Unified School District. I am here tonight. to ask you to make the masks optional for our children. Please let the children that want to wear masks and that if they have the concern and wishes to wear masks, let them wear the masks and let the children that do not want to wear the masks in class and at school, please give them the freedom to have that choice. As a firefighter and paramedic, I understand your commitment, your service and your dedication to the students. to the staff, faculty, teachers, and the entire community that Capistrano Unified School District serves. So I want to thank you for your time and please vote to make masks optional. Thank you.

134And then now we have Layla. Hello, my name is Layla Beck and I am nine years old and I go to San Juan Elementary School. I'm in the fourth grade and... I've had some problems happen at my school. Sometimes I take my masks off during recess or class because I can't breathe. Supervisors often tell me to pull up my mask. All they say in their megaphones is, pull up your mask, wear your mask. These rules don't make sense, and I don't see why we have them. In PE, when I'm running and exercising, my mask sticks to my face and makes it even harder to breathe. I missed school for a week because I have allergies and the mask was making it even worse. I tried using different masks, but it was the same thing. My

135brother also has a rash underneath his nose. We think it's because of the mask. It can't be anything else. One time I saw a little girl at my school. She was not wearing her mask properly. My teacher went up to her and said, wear your mask. It's not just the school's rule. It's the world's rule. Being able to breathe shouldn't be something I have to fight for, especially being a kid. I don't like this, and please take the masks off. That would be really great. Thank you for your time. Layla, thank you for coming and speaking to us. Do we have Sarah back now? Thank you for letting us speak. I know this is a difficult matter. I know you guys have all had a very difficult year. I want to thank you for all

136your hard work that you've done in the past year for sitting in on late board meetings. I believe one went to midnight sometime last summer. I know how hard you've worked and what difficult choices these are to make. That being said, it's been a full year. There are plenty of scientific studies, the latest one being the Stanford. study that speaks to the efficiency of the mass or how effective they are. And I think that we're all pretty clear that this is symbolic and is not actually effective, especially for children who are moving them, biting them, readjusting them. Is that preventing COVID-19? I don't think so. The majority of your teachers are now vaccinated. I think it's time that we allow these children to walk around the playground and breathe, to go to PE and be

137able to breathe, to not be chastised constantly over the fact that they need to be following a rule that adults should be dealing with. These are children. That is my nine-year-old child right there and my seven-year-old boy and their friends. And they asked me to speak tonight. I didn't come here for me. They came here for themselves and for their friends. This is not a minority opinion, okay? The majority of these kids in these schools can't breathe and it's not right. And you know, it's not right. And I understand that you are having to deal with the governor, the California Board of Health, the OC Board of Health. I know, I know how complex this issue is, but I also know that out of the entire country, CUSD came in and opened their schools before

138anyone else. You guys got creative and you made it happen. And I sat there at the end of August when I got those emails and thought, God bless these people. They are standing up for my children. But tonight I came in here hopeful because I have trust in you. And I just watched it become a mess. You guys have to let us speak and you have to let these kids speak. You knew there were children out there. It is now, they are not going to go to bed until probably 1030 now. You have to, you have to make the kids a priority. And that if, even if it's just a handful of children out in your parking lot, it's up to you guys to really look at the situation and think about what's more important,

139your efficiency or the rules or how your meetings are supposed to go or whether students feel heard. Because that's why you're here for the 47,000 students in your school district. And you all know it. You all know it. So I'm going to invite you to do the right thing and really get creative on how to fix this for our next school year and actually put smiles on our kids' faces. Thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you. Next, we have Delfina. Hello, my name is Delfina and I'm nine years old. I'm in the fourth grade. I go to San Juan Elementary School. At my school, they always say, pull up your mask. They don't care about the fact that I could barely breathe and almost every student probably can't. And even when students are

140running and exercising, it's the same thing. Pull up your mask. When I drink water, sometimes my mask gets wet and sticky and my mask gets so wet that I can't breathe. My younger sister also has problems with her mask. And I'll bet you all kids have problems with their masks. You know, there's about like a million times when I saw kids without their mask on. And you all probably know why. Because masks are annoying, dumb, a waste, and a lot of other reasons. I mean, some people might like the masks, and I respect that. It is their opinions. I respect everybody's opinions. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Josephine. Do we have Michelle Smith? I think we need to go with Josephine Reddick, correct? Is the next on our list? Josephine? Oh, I'm sorry. I

141thought that's who that was. Who just spoke? Delphine. Delphine, in fact, we have on our list altogether. Jesse was on twice and he was representing his child and he registered for himself and his children. So we had corrected that on our list to make sure we captured everyone. And so next on my list is Josephine. Yes. Thank you. Hi, my name is Josephine Reddick. I'm 12 and in seventh grade at Margo Forrester Middle School. First of all, thank you for having me. I'm very grateful to be one of the first districts to open up, but I don't think that our current version of in-person school is working. I don't like having to wear a mask at school. I don't think it's fair that students such as myself have to deal with all these issues that

142come with wearing a mask. One of the issues that I have with masks is that I can't see people's faces, especially the fact that I don't know if someone is smiling. I feel that smiling is a very important part of my life, and I like it when I can make other people smile. But with a mask, I don't know what emotion they're trying to express. Another issue I have with masks is the physical aspect of having to wear it. My personal experience is my throat burning after about two hours of school, having difficulty breathing, and the area around my nose getting really red and swollen when I had allergies. My seven-year-old brother had a very bad rash around his mouth from it, and it spread to his eye and was swollen for a day. He

143had to go to urgent care and take antibiotics to make it go away. It has led him to miss school on many occasions, and before this, we had perfect attendance. When I was talking to my friends about how I feel about masks, I told them I believe that people who feel more comfortable wearing a mask can of course do so, but people who don't believe that they are effective and are in fact harmful to the respiratory system should not have to wear them. One of my friends in particular got very defensive about masks, and I respect that they disagree with me, but I still think it should not be mandatory to wear to school. I know that the online option is still available, but I feel that the online option is in fact much worse

144because that's five days a week, five hours a day of sitting at a desk, staring at a screen, not including homework. The in-person school experience is so much easier, but some are still uncomfortable of going to school because they have to wear a mask to do school. When Marco Forrester was still 100% online, I got really bad back and tailbone pain from sitting so long, and it still hasn't gone away. But I think that the worst part is that masks are scientifically proven not to work against viruses and that the fabric masks are made of don't block COVID molecules. All in all, I believe that masks should not be mandatory in schools. Thank you for hearing me today. I know that you all have the Kappa USD students' best interests. I have faith in you.

145Thank you. Thank you. Next, I have Michelle Smith. Hello. That was my daughter. And the little boy that got the rash, that's my son. And I don't want to give him antibiotics, and I don't want to go to urgent care because infection blows into his eye. And I don't want to pay my co-pay either. It's just not okay. He's missed a lot of school. She's missed school. They can't breathe and it's not healthy. I can't even, I don't know how you guys sat here all night. And by the way, thank you for keeping us outside for four hours. I just can't, I can't breathe. I'm going to have my friend Jessica read on my behalf. Thank you. Okay. Right now, y'all, we're breaking the law. Number one. Masks are an experiment, a procedure which prohibits

146law in California. Number two, the proof of chemicals in the mask under Prop 65 lists the links to cancer, learning disabilities, and sterility. Number three, Orange County has a no mask mandate. Even if it was legal, which it is not, our Orange County Board of Education had the courage and voted against mask wearing. social distancing, and plexiglassware, which is also causing cancer. So right now we're breaking the law. And we know that you're brave because we know you stepped up and opened this district when you needed to. You can have all the policies in the world, but this policy does not trump state and federal laws. What are we doing to our kids? A young girl on Lancaster just last week was playing on the schoolyard with temperatures over 100, which we're getting ready for

147also. She became faint and dizzy by wearing the mask and actually threw up in her mask. Sadly, she would not take off her mask, even for her teachers, for fear that she would die of COVID. I think that's... The saddest part. Can you imagine thinking at nine years old that you're going to wear a vomit mask around your peers because if you take it off, you're going to die? Imagine the fear we have created with knowing that 98 to 90% chance these children are not even going to catch COVID or 99% are not going to die from COVID. This is what we're doing with our kids while we're mandating masks. Willing to wear a vomit mask. Please, my body, my choice. Thank you. And I have one more blue card. James Marin is here. I

148apologize. I'll repeat that. James Marin. Colleen, and that card was turned in earlier. Yes, at the very beginning. Hello, everybody. Hold on just one second, please. I'm sorry. The previous speaker did not wear a face mask appropriately. I'd like to have that microphone wiped. Sure. And you need to have your mask on. Okay. Sure. Is that, are we need to wipe this? Yes, just a moment, please. Thank you. All right. Hi, everybody. My name is James Marin. I'm a healthcare professional in Orange County, business owner as well. I'll just take you down the rabbit hole I've been through having a child in the school district. Where you start with the school, the school is looking to the district. The district then looks to the Board of Supervisors, maybe the Board of Supervisors, then looks to

149the Orange County Department of Public Health. The Department of Public Health is then looking to the CDC. And the CDC is looking to studies that are the lowest form of scientific evidence. Have any of you looked at these studies that the CDC is citing? I urge you all to look deeper. I urge you all to actually read these studies. For example, for children wearing masks, we are looking at studies that are observational studies, some from Australia, and they're based on cases. There's no outcomes evidence. This is the lowest form of evidence. So we're playing this horrible game of phone, right? Where we're just looking to the next organization to know what they're talking about. But when you go all the way to the top and you're looking at the resources, they are observational, right? Where's

150the outcomes data? Where is the actual data over this last year? We then are allowed to have our children wear a face shield. Face shield data from the CDC is looking at it's 2% effective in an in vitro study. 2% effective at preventing aerosol. So again, where's the outcomes evidence? As we follow this trail down, we're looking at the lowest form of scientific data, yet we are doing this to our children. We are all wearing masks and we're even the worst of all, having our kids wear masks for six to nine hours a day with some kids being in the afterschool program. It's just ridiculous. So if anyone can present and debunk what I'm saying and present actual robust scientific evidence, we all have to just ask ourselves what we're doing and what we're doing

151to our kids. That's all I really have to say. Thank you, guys. President Bullekas, I do have Jennifer Katsuyama on Zoom. We wanted to capture the list. Jennifer, you may go ahead. So Jennifer's not. Mike is not working. So we'll have to move on. Yes, I believe we have done our best to try to capture every speaker on our original list. Okay, oral communications is now closed. And we are now going to go back to Agenda item number 34, reopening of schools 2.0 for the next school year. And I'd like to recognize Dr. Gregory Merwin, Chief Academic Officer, Education and Support Services to present this item. Thank you very much, President Bullock, esteemed trustees, Superintendent Attell, Bullock team. It is our pleasure to present the reopening 2.0 final plan known as going back to school

152for the 2021-2022 school year for your approval this evening. Dr. Mullen. Hi. President Bulacus, is it possible that we could allow the speakers that would like to speak at this time under reopening? It may feel a little bit of a stretch, but I feel like we could fit under reopening as these comments relate to reopening without masks next year. Could we hear comments? We will hear the comments after it has been presented, the item. Okay, can we share that up maybe to people outside? It's normal policy. Our timing is we listen to those after it's been presented because the presentation may answer some of their questions. But I think what you're asking is the ones who originally signed up for 42, knowing that they can't speak on 42, if they wanted to speak on this

153item, would they have to sign, change their blue card or sign up to speak on this item? Yeah. on this item. They would need to submit like anybody else. Need to submit a blue card on this item, not, we can't blanketly say everybody who wanted to speak on 40 Tuesday now speak on this one. I was just thinking in terms of as far as content, if we could allow the speakers that wanted to speak on that content could also fit under reopening. That would be their decision if they thought that was. Yeah, that's their decision. I'm not going to try and rework our schedule to fit them into what we have at hand here. So it sounds like they could turn in a blue card for that item. Okay. Dr. Merwin, if you'd like to

154proceed. Okay, very good. Thank you very much, trustees. So we'll go ahead and the PowerPoint is queued up. Our presentation is on. The final plan for reopening 2.0 known as going back to school. The overview for our brief presentation to trustees. We will talk about briefly about the Cape and Action Labs, the early registration data, final plan, and timeline next steps. Next slide, please. So as shared in our previous presentation, this was a collaborative effort by our district reopening Cape team, which included members from all of our associations. and parent and student feedback was included through multiple focus group meetings and through surveys. Next slide, please. We're proud of our reopening CAPE team and the effort that went into this plan that we present to you tonight. Our success was due to an unwavering commitment

155to our students, parents, and staff, built on trust and collaboration, and we share with you tonight our results. Next slide, please. On this slide, we present the data from the early registration form that was sent to families after the April 21st, 2021 board meeting. While the total number of students registered is approximately 35% of our total enrollment. So again, you see up there 15,498, that's about 35% completed the form. It's important to note that the families were told in the messaging multiple times that they would not need to complete the form if they intended to return in person. So therefore, we know that many families and many of them talked to me personally said, I'm not submitting the form because I plan on coming back in person. So as we look at these numbers, really

156the most important numbers are the 100% online with the daily live instruction. That's the number that is really critical to our plan. Also would like to point out for the CalPREP CAPO virtual number of 95, they have their own registration process. And it's independent of this form that was set up. So we do expect that that number is going to increase just going through the regular registration process. We do anticipate that increase to happen. I would like to, before I pass it on to... to Rich Montgomery for the next slide. I would like to talk briefly right up front about the traditional in-person school and many of the speakers tonight talking about mask wearing. And so I would like to point out that the in-person school for the fall of 2021, we will follow the

157CDPH guidance at the time. So we as a public school, as a public entity, must have a standard of care. And the standard of care is defined by the California Department of Public Health. So we'll continue to follow that. And that will determine what type of mask wearing is going on in in-person school, if at all. by that point. We will see. There's several months until that time. The other point that I'd like to make is that current CDPH guidelines do allow, and we have communicated to our schools. Masks, and this would be true for next year as well, masks are not required when students are outside, when they have distance, when they are at PE, when they are at recess. Schools do not have to enforce the mask rule while students are outside. That

158is true for staff as well. So that would be part of the guidance that would be part of our next year's reopening, going back to school. That would continue if that is the current guidance at the time. And so I would now like to ask Assistant Superintendent Rich Montgomery to present the next slides. Thank you, Dr. Merwin. Good evening, Superintendent Battelle-Bruehlte and trustees. In board priority number one, it was voted upon seven zero to open school as normal if we are able to do so as per CDPH guidelines. This evening, that is exactly what the reopening CAPE team recommends. Next slide, Corey. The first three bullets address the fact that we recommend a return to pre-COVID in-person bell schedules for preschool through 12th grade, allowing students to return to a traditional school day, which includes

159providing all special education programs and services. In bullets four through seven, we address staffing ratios. This evening, our CAPE team is recommending reduced staffing ratios to address learning recovery beginning at the start of the 21-22 school year this August. In grades K through three, we recommend a ratio of 24 to one. In grades four through five, we recommend a staffing ratio of 27 to one. In our middle schools, grades six through eight, we recommend staffing at 30 to one. Lastly, we recommend staffing our high schools with additional sections for their master schedule, again, to specifically address learning recovery. Finally, in order to have a return to a pre-COVID school experience for our students, it is our recommendation to once again offer PE electives, arts, athletics, and extracurricular activities as we were before March of 2020.

160The last bullet was just addressed by Dr. Merwin. Sam, go ahead, next slide, please. So here we have board priority number two, as you recall, to provide the greatest extent possible and normal experience for middle school and high school students by restoring, bringing back PE. Go ahead and go to the next slide, please. I'd like to highlight here that the first bullet you see here addresses the reinstatement of the 2020 credit requirement for our high school students. We believe this decision accurately reflects our wild. a wildly important goal of engaging students in meaningful, challenging, and innovative educational experience to increase post-secondary options for all students. Second bullet addresses a return to in-person PE in our secondary schools. We want to thank our PE teachers for the incredible support they have provided through this pandemic. In

161an effort to return to normal in-person instruction, we also recommend this evening that the return of the student elective courses at our secondary schools, as we have done in the past, we recommend continuing to base. elective offering on feedback from our students. And finally, as Rich shared in the previous slides, it is our recommendation to once again offer arts, athletics, and extracurricular activities as we had been providing pre-COVID. Thank you. Next slide. Hi, thank you. So we're moving on to Board Priority 3, and CUSD started down this road on April 26th when our district transitioned to being on campus completely in person. To be clear, we had already been in school since September. However, this opened the door to have more students physically in classrooms. We invited and allowed our secondary students to rejoin their

162peers on our campuses outside of the established windows that we had previously created. We also abolished extended learning so that elementary students could be with their classroom teachers and their peers full time. Hats off to our certificated and classified employees, as well as our administrators for entertaining this possibility and making it a reality after all the other shifts and pivots they had had to make already through COVID. So here we are at the finish line of 2020 and 21 and looking forward to our next adventure in 21-22. Next slide, please. So here you have the specifics. We have always known that lower class sizes are optimal for learning. COVID taught us many things, but it reaffirmed what we already knew about this. While the primary grades experienced 20 to 1 back in the good old

163days, secondary hasn't had the opportunity to benefit from reduction in class size. You can see the recommendation is to stop our middle schools at a 32-1 ratio and to place additional sections in the master schedule in high school with the intention to lower class sizes in the four academic areas, most likely being English, language arts, and math. The other recommendation that came to the CAEP team by way of ed services is to create a position at each site to provide additional support to our students who may need additional interventions. We are calling those teachers TOSA MTSS interventionists. CAPE is working with Ed Services on a plan and procedure to select the best candidates for this work. We are also collaborating on what the do's and don'ts of this role will specifically be, but the purpose

164of this is to address the needs of students through Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the MTSS pyramid, starting with social-emotional learning, academic and behavioral concerns, and continuing with core competencies in curriculum and covering the state standards through great first instruction. I will be addressing elementary in the next few slides, but let's first look at and continue on with secondary. Secondary will look different than elementary due to the way the master schedule is designed, as well as the fact that teachers at this level usually have a single subject credential. So having an English teacher providing math intervention doesn't make a lot of sense. Therefore, secondary sites will have the flexibility to use one full-time position spread out through the day with multiple sections to do the work as the PLC MTSS specialist. To give an

165example, one teacher may have time built into their contractual day that releases them for three periods to do this work, while another teacher has two periods built into their day to do the other piece. Each site will have to work with their leadership teams and their own case teams to decide what is the best fit for their site. Please keep in mind we will still need to be careful as to how we staff all the classes at the middle school and high school level, meaning we have to watch the other classes to make sure they aren't getting stacked while the overall ratio at the site is still 30 to one. We can all acknowledge that the focus can be on what the state considers the core academic areas, but we shouldn't neglect PE and the

166electives that this board has worked so hard to reinstate at this level. Next slide, please, slide 12. Here's where we address the needs of our elementary students. For years, teachers have been asking for additional support to help with students in their classroom who are not special ed, but who need help at the lowest level possible to prevent a widening academic gap. These positions used to exist in CUSD, and I've wondered myself what happened to these people and where did they go? This is our opportunity to provide these students with the support and the teachers with the time to do this work. Next slide, please. Elementary will have one assigned certificated teacher to these duties at each site. Again, we are working on the specifics as to what this job would entail, and yet they will

167have a job description of sorts that includes similar do's and don'ts as secondary, but tailored to the elementary level. Since these teachers have a multiple subject credential, it makes the most sense to have them working K-5. I would include TK here, but those teachers are so specialized and have credentials unique to that level. However, this does not preclude an MTSS interventionist from assisting a TK teacher when necessary. Please notice that K-3 has a lower ratio than fourth and fifth. but this is the first time that I can remember that fourth and fifth grade have ever been included in class size reduction. The rationale for this proposal is that early intervention is the key, and that is something we have known all along with plenty of data to prove it. However, we have also come to

168realize that elementary students in fourth and fifth grade would benefit just as much with smaller class size to help mitigate the negative impacts COVID may have had on their learning. Furthermore, the teacher in this new assignment will be assisting the entire elementary site with PLC and analyzing assessments, which is the foundation of the MTSS pyramid on up to tier two, which includes a positive school climate. We are looking for overall consistency and support across the school site, which will benefit all students. Thank you. Next slide. Thank you. And the final part of our plan is around the board priority five, the 100% online program with daily live instruction addressed here. Next slide, please. So I shared in the April 21st, 2021 board meeting and in the charts that were provided to families in the registration

169form, the 100% online with a daily live instruction program is separate from a student school of residence. As described in the timeline, that'll be in the next slide. Assuming board approval, staff will reach out to families to confirm their registration. Once we confirm registration for the fall, we would then be able to begin staffing the 100% online program. This program, also known as option three, would be provided to students in grades K-12. But due to low enrollment, as it says on the slide, specialized programs such as TK, Mandarin Immersion, and Spanish two-way immersion will not be offered. We contacted these families last week, and school administrators will work with them beginning next week to consider options after registration has been confirmed. Regarding special education programs and services, any change to a student's IEP, a change

170to an alternative program such as CalPREP, Capo Virtual, or 100% Online requires an IEP meeting to determine is that the appropriate for an appropriate public education district offer. So therefore, for students with IEPs, once registration is confirmed, If the student has an IEP, is registered for CalPREP, Kappa Virtual, or the 100% online program, then families of the students will work with their IEP teams to develop plans together on how to best meet the needs of their students that way. So I now pass it on to CSEA President Rhonda Whalen for the final two slides. So last but not least, we have a timeline for you. This month, communications will be going out to families and employees about the final reopening plans, and a reopening 2.0 website will be launching. Next week, families will be asked

171to confirm their program choice by June 2nd. There's much more to do before school opens on August 17th, 2021. The CAPE team will continue to work, and very, very soon, employees from every other corner of the district will be in preparations, too. And now back to Greg Merlin for questions. Thank you, sir. Sorry. It's almost like being on Zoom. I'm always muted. So thank you very much, Trustee. So this concludes our going back to school presentation. There are many more details in the board report itself. Be happy to field any questions and comments from speakers. We do have 10 speakers on this, so we will take them next. Mrs. Hayes, between you and Mrs. Schmidt, I'm just going to ask you to, because it's so challenging in terms of who's outside and who's on, I'm

172going to let you just run through this and try to keep the speakers flowing. Is that okay? And we did invite speakers who couldn't speak to speak on this item instead because masks and PPE. are part of our reopening. Yeah. So actually we may have more than 10. 10 is on the original. I'm going to allow the ladies who have received the blue cards, but I have Cara Gutierrez up first. And it's, she also goes by Cara Menes. And then next in line, Emily Hayward, Kevin O'Donnell, Tanner O'Donnell, and Sarah Petar. Do we have Cara with us? Kara spoke earlier tonight on oral communications. Do we have Emily Hayworth? I don't have Emily on Zoom. I'll check with Kevin O'Donnell. Can Hannah go first? Sure. This speech is about reopening school next year. Hello, my

173name is Tanner O'Donnell and I'm a fifth grader. I'm going into middle school next year and I hope that I don't have to wear the mask next year. I've never liked wearing it. According to the latest studies, masks aren't even very effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. A couple of weeks ago during PE, they made me wear a mask when it was 95 degrees outside. When we were running and playing capture the flag, I was sweating a lot and I couldn't breathe. If you even pull down for a few seconds for a breath. The teachers or supervisors will get mad at you and tell you to pull it back up. This makes me feel anxious because I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm just trying to take a breath. I shouldn't need permission from

174anyone to breathe. Also, there have been no cases from outdoor activities. Why don't you get in our shoes? Go outside and run for 20 minutes on a hot day with a mask on. You will feel how we feel. My brother in high school tried going back to school when it was hybrid only. He ended up going back to distance learning due to the strictness and restrictions. I don't want my first year of middle school to be like this. It's unjust and unfair. I know that you had to follow all the health guidelines from the state, but I would like to ask you if you can remove that mask as soon as the guidelines allow. Thank you for your time and thank you for letting me go back to school because most kids weren't able to

175this year. Thank you, Tanner. Mr. O'Donnell? Yeah, thank you. All right. I know, I'm telling you. Okay, I want to start by thanking you all for leading the way this year for the school reopening. On behalf of the parents throughout the district, I wanted to personally thank you for opening the schools this year. It's allowed the kids opportunity not to miss out on an entire year of instruction like so many others did in the state. I'm glad we're open full time and in person, and I can't thank you enough. Tonight, I wanted to ask you to... Consider passing a resolution that would allow students to return to school next year without masks at the earliest possible date under state and federal guidelines. I know you cannot circumvent the rules by the CDPH when it comes

176to the mandate, but what parents are asking for is a promise from you. The promise is that once the mandate is lifted, that you will comply and allow the kids to go back to school, whether to wear a mask there or not. I think that promise on your part would go a long way to rebuilding a bridge that this promise on your part. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. I think that that. promise on your part would go a long way to rebuilding the bridge of trust in the community. Many parents are frustrated with the ever-shifting rules and regulation that often seem to be not based on science or common sense, but rather dictated by power and control. I think districts that don't make this promise may never release our children from these unjust and unscientific mandates.

177Please consider adopting a resolution that makes your position clear when it comes to reopening and mandates. We should all be working together as a community to make returning to school next year as normal as possible for the highest number of students possible. It would be great for our district to continue on the path of leadership when it comes to the difficult decisions ahead in the best interest of the children. And thank you again. Next on my list is Sarah Petar. After Sarah, we have Christopher Johnson, Suzanne Davidson, and Kelly Mahalo. Following Kelly is Jesse and Jessica. Sarah, go ahead. Good evening. My name is Sarah Pitar, and I'm here today as a mother of four, as a former teacher from Tustin Unified, and on behalf of mothers and fathers in CUSD who feel as I

178do. I'm here tonight not to ask. I'm here to implore you to unmask our precious children at our schools. California Education Code 49005.8 states it is illegal to restrain or impair pupils' respiratory airways and breathing capacity. In the fall, I pulled my kids from USD and I stepped up to the difficult task of homeschooling. I did so for the majority of the year until a few weeks ago when we found a charter school for my fourth grader that does not require masks. I then decided, due to how isolating we were, to re-enroll my first grader back at Oso Grande to try out the last few weeks of the school year. First of all, I cannot describe how polar opposite these two schools feel when you walk on a campus. I mean, the edge of campus.

179When I enter Oso Grande, the first word that comes to mind is oppression. I search the school looking for one smiling face, and I cannot find one. When my first grader started a few weeks ago, he got sick with a cold on day two while wearing a mask. How can we justify that our kids' faces be covered seven plus hours a day when they don't even work? If the masks work, my son would not have gotten sick. Interestingly enough, my first grader actually had COVID in December. It was a day and a half of a low-grade fever and very mild symptoms. As we have seen from the data, COVID does not affect our kids, and yet we continue to muzzle them. We are preventing them from using their most basic God-given right, the ability to

180breathe fresh air, the ability to smile, and to give social cues. It might be easy for you to say, out of sight, out of mind, but it is not for me. I would like to remind the board that the OC Department of Ed voted last year four to one against face mask requirements. They made this recommendation and you as a school district ignored it. You might make excuses that our hands are tied. We can only follow the Department of Health in California, but it is time for you to do the right thing. Our children have a higher chance of being murdered, dying in a car crash, or committing suicide than dying from COVID. As we take a look around the country, school board after school board has been voting to make masks optional. Arizona, South

181Carolina, Texas, and Florida, to name a few. During the school year, one-third of Oklahoma school districts went against state guidance to require masks in schools because they knew that the benefits outweighed the risks. Let me tell you about my son again. Last week, he was told he could take his mask off at recess if he was six feet apart from his friends. I encouraged him to do so, but he was so afraid he would get in trouble. You have done this to our kids. You've made them fearful of each other and scared to take off masks. Our kids spend approximately 76,000 minutes in masks this school year. How much psychological damage will we allow? Can you imagine another 76,000 minutes with their noses and faces covered? Thank you, Sarah. Our next speaker is Christopher Johnson.

182Do we have Christopher still with us? The next speaker after Christopher is Suzanne Davidson. Do we have Suzanne with us? I apologize. Let's go to Suzanne on Zoom. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, Susan, go ahead. Hi, thank you. I'm pivoting a bit to respond to something that Gregory Merwin said. I think there must be a great disconnect between what the district believes or rules and what the elementary schools or other schools are actually implementing because my children have been mercilessly attacked by teachers and whatever the quote unquote pink ladies for pulling down masks to simply breathe while they're running, sweating and truly cannot catch a breath. So outdoor guidelines were updated and the schools have not done that. They have three activities they are allowed to participate in without a mask. That is not

183what the guidelines of California say. That's another arbitrary amount of red tape put on by our district. My son, a third grader, had his migraines almost nearly under control after so much time and effort put in by his doctors, only to go back to school full time and suffer migraines three times a week. 100% attributable to the outrageous and all-day masking. Saying that you're following CDPH guidelines, you're a school district in the state of Oregon. There is a girl collapsing at the end of a finish line, running a race, suffers a concussion. Then, and only then, do they change the rules in Oregon. Why is it taking unnecessary abuse of our children to get anyone, let alone a school district, that is for the purpose of serving children to stand up for our children? You

184say it's to follow CDPH. They don't follow the CDC's own guidelines. I thought it was all based on quote-unquote science. So now we're not following science either. If you're going to follow CDPH, then they should at least at a minimum be following CDC, but know they're waiting an arbitrary month. If they have an arbitrary month to wait, then we can stand up to them and do what we want and what's best for our children. So I'm not entirely sure why you keep following the party line of we are merely doing what the CDPH tells us to do. So many other schools aren't doing that. They're still in business. So I would like a valid reason why that is always the excuse for why our children don't have the basic human right to breathe. Thank you.

185Next on my list is Kelly Mahalo. We have Kelly with us. Following Kelly, we have Jesse Beck. Jessica Geyer, we have Jessica on Zoom. I will go to the Zoom caller. Good evening, Superintendent Vital Bruehlte, President Bollekes, board members, and student advisor Bashkar. A quick big congratulations to you on graduating in just a couple of weeks. You're an important part of the board, and I have appreciated your open and honest representation of the student voice, and I hope you have a great adventure in your future. Quickly, on behalf of the CUC PTSA legislative advocacy team, thank you for your support. of the reducing class sizes using the one-time COVID relief funds. It has been on our advocacy agenda since class sizes began to increase. And I've spoken with many parents and they are grateful for

186this temporary reduction, especially the elementary parents. Over the next school year, it is definitely a goal of our team to advocate to our state legislators the importance of keeping this reduction in class sizes in years to come. um through ongoing funding so we look forward to uh working with the district and and advocating for for that goal and uh thank you so much thank you jessica next i have a blue card from angelina and amber booth hello my name is angelina and i'm 12. i go to short cliffs middle school and this is my first year I love school and I love all my teachers and thank you so much for being wonderful for us. But I try and ask you one thing. Please do not force us to wear a mask. When I wear

187a mask, I can't focus. A few days ago, I did a diagnostic for math and I felt very nauseous because I couldn't breathe. I can't hear, I can hardly hear what my teachers and friends are saying. I don't really, I can't see smiles, which I love seeing smiles because it makes everyone happy. And I want to work physically together with my friends and not just on computers. And kids have told me that they want to keep their masks on because they feel that they are ugly. And that makes me very sad. That's just sad. That makes me not feel good about anyone. I want teachers to please stop yelling at us when we don't have them on to breathe. We are just trying to breathe because we are stuck in a mask for most of

188the day of school, and we can only take it off when we're eating lunch, and that is not for very long. And another thing is, I have seen teachers before with their mask off just walking around, but... The thing is they're enforcing us to wear one and it's mandatory, but then they can just walk around and not have any on along with supervisors. My seven-year-old brother a few days ago went home sick because he had a very bad stomachache and it was most likely from his mask because we don't get enough oxygen. I just want to be able to breathe. I please want to see smiles again. As a human, I have the right to be able to breathe and this has to please end. Thank you for your time. Hello everyone, thank you for

189giving us the opportunity to come express our feelings and I appreciate you letting us be here. As a parent dealing with the negative effects of ineffective masks forced upon my children, I started a petition on change.org to show you a representation of our community and the urgency to remove the mask mandate from our schools. We have over 3,200 signatures and counting. I emailed you several letters, including the heartfelt comments from parents and children about the repercussions of forced masking. One of the quotes, my daughter has been getting seizures while wearing masks. Our children need to be able to breathe more freely. Another quote, my son has a harder time hearing the teacher and taking tests with the masks on all day. Also, his skin has become a rash from the masks. It's free choice. Another

190quote, a K-12 teacher, I have seen the detrimental effects mask wearing has on kids' development academically, socially, and emotionally. I hate this thing, and I know each and every one of you in this room hates it. I know there's not one person in this room that loves their mask. Okay, we all know. You know the truth. We know the truth. We know what position you're in. We're begging you to please step up and put on the armor of God, okay? We are here as soldiers on this earth fighting. This is a fight between good and evil. I'm not getting political or religious here. It's the truth. We all know it. We have sent you numerous documentations with the evidence that masks don't work and are irrelevant for stopping any virus. Masks are recommended under the

191Emergency Authorization Act and cannot be forced without informed consent. Where are our rights gone as parents? Where is the ability for us to say no when it's time to say no, when it's the right thing to do? You know the truth, like I said, as your duty as an elected official sworn in by the oath of office to uphold the U.S. Constitution and support our God-given rights as human beings to have the right to choose what is right for our bodies and our children. Let them breathe. Thank you. The next names on my list are Kara again. I believe she's not with us. Bree Landingham. Mark DeCastro. Jeannie Wicker. Tara Rickson and Maria Campbell. Mrs. Brie. Hi, I'm Brie the mom. My daughter wanted to speak and so she's a little nervous. So I thought

192I'd be comfortable for her to talk. Go ahead. The arm of God. Finally be strong for the Lord and his mighty power. armor of God so that you can take stand for the devil shame for our struggles is not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly realms. Therefore put full armor of God so that, so that when we, When the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. This bracelet of religious religion, righteousness that come from the gospel of peace and addition to this. Take up the shield of faith, which you can

193extinguish of the phalanx of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the spirit on occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. with the mind to be alerted and always keep caring for the Lord's people. I just wanted to say thank you guys for all your time. By trade, I am a special education teacher and I have seen the hindrance that it's done for all of our children and all of my students. I've had many people and many children. that I know have unfortunately ended their lives due to people making fun of them having masks on or off. And I think that is just wrong. And it has been proven in our history that we are repeating continuously from the

194swine flu, from the Chinese flu, that these masks don't work. They don't. I'm constantly getting sick. I am prone to bronchitis. And again, I'm sitting here using my inhaler after seven years of not using a single puff, and I'm back to using it. I can only imagine for these little ones that have to stand there and be in school all day wearing these things on their face. Please free our kids of breathing. They are the ones that are capable. They are the ones that stand there, and they're the ones that are getting sick. Please give them that breath, okay? Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Next, I have Mark DeCastro. Thank you, first of all, for having us here tonight. And it's just an honor to be part of this. You know,

195as I hear, I had something I wanted to read, and I started hearing everyone come up, and it was just really, I'm just really heartened. Like the civic, the level of civic responsibility that I'm seeing right now is, I think it's what's been missing in this country for quite some time. And it's just, you know, courage is contagious. And I'm just really pleased with what I see. And what I would beseech you guys today is I know that, you know, like they said, the chain of events, the CDC makes guidance, and then the California Department of Health, and then Orange County Health Department. And you're following orders. And I get that, right? Having been in the military, I get that. But there's really a time when you've got to make a stand. You got to

196have courage. You got to be bold, right? We didn't get to where we were. It's a country by following orders. You know, that's something I think we need to take to heart, especially as July 4th is coming up. We stand on the shoulders of giants. And it's important that we don't forget that. That brings me into critical race theory. This is, you know, we're facing an existential threat. Sorry, the cultural. Cultural sensitivity training. It's critical race theory light. And, you know, we're at war. We're at war right now. There's an existential threat. There is an existential threat facing this country right now. And it's the doctrine of Marxism. And we need to stand. But we have to stay on the blue card on the topic. It's reopening. We can let you speak at the next.

197Sure. Yeah, I understand that. But I would just, I would, I would implore you to have courage. Listen to these parents. Listen to these kids. My son's seven years old. He doesn't have a voice. I'm here. I mean, I got, you know, I'd rather be watching, you know, a little bit of television, having a beer, to be honest with you. But he doesn't have a voice. So we're here. Awesome parents are here. So thank you guys. Appreciate it. Appreciate your consideration. Next up, we have Jeannie White here. Jeannie, are you with us? Tara Rickson, Maria Campbell. Maria's online. Let me see if I can. Kara, I apologize. Hello? Tara, go ahead. Your line's live. Hi, regarding the mask mandate, I echo all these wonderful parents. It has been proven that children do not in any

198significant way transmit COVID-19 and masks that are full of germs can cause psychological and physical problems. Children need to be allowed to breathe without any face coverings. Am I permitted to speak on item number 38? No, I'm sorry. We are on the reopening of schools 2.0. Okay, and I have finally I want to address the issue of equity among students. If implemented, schools will not cater to the gifted children. To think it is more important to have the gifted kids spend their time helping the less gifted kids to make the outcomes as equal as possible is simply wrong. Spending more resources on the marginalized children and not on the gifted kids sounds like the goal. I encourage Capo Unified School District to do the traditional job of teaching our children the sciences, math, English, and

199correct American history. Thank you for the opportunity to address my concern. Next, I have Maria Campbell, James Marin, Martin, Juan Real. Martin? Hello, I am Darius Amarube. We have to understand how this country was created. This country was created by war, by cheat, by deceit, by lies. So therefore, nothing positive can come out of it. What happens is the results of what's been happening for the last 500 years. You guys are trying to mask what's happening. This country, a corporation of the United States of America, is going bankrupt. That's what's happening. What's happening is that nobody wants to take responsibility of what's been happening. Therefore, they want to like later on, like in 80 years from now, they want to look back and say, oh my gosh, in 2020, there was a big virus that

200brought the whole world economy down. But that's not the truth. The truth is that there's irresponsible people like you guys right now that are evil and don't want to accept the truth. I am an Ashiatic, Moorish American. What's happening is that you guys are, raise your hand if you guys are a trustee right now. Raise your hand if you're a trustee. No trustees right now? One. Okay, that's what I'm saying. Raise your hand if you're a trustee. Okay, see, that's what's happening. Everybody's hiding behind the badge, like Pamela Brewstein, Amy Hacknick. Are you a trustee? Okay, so trustee, trustee, trustee. Sir, we can't engage. Everybody's a trustee. Okay, so this is for the parents. Everybody's hiding behind the badge. Oh, I'm just a police officer. Oh, I'm an educator. Oh, I'm a principal. No, you

201have to go and sue that person because what's happening is that person is hiding behind the badge and they're going against your inalienable rights. These are gut men. Is this speaker on topic or is this just addressing the topic or not? You're trying to control my voice. I still have a minute. Can you give me a point of your comments about a reopening presentation? Exactly. What I'm saying is you're going against human rights violations. You're against Article 3 courts. You are off topic. Please be the topic of reopening. Exactly. You don't need no mask to reopen. I work in the dental field. If there's blood, saliva, okay, it's understandable. Wear a mask. If you're dealing with something, wear a mask, like paint or something, lead. Other than that, there's no reason for you to be

202wearing a mask. You're against going to the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which is sort of known to uphold the Constitution. You're going against the Constitution. You're committing treason right now. And you're hiding behind a badge. And honestly, this is for the parents. These guys are committing color of law. I go anywhere without a mask because that's not a crime. That's not a crime. There's only three crimes in the world. If I hurt my fellow man, that's a crime. If I stole from somebody, that's a crime. If I do fraud on somebody, that's a crime. Other than that, it's color of law. These guys are playing with your emotions. Everything is a corporation. You guys are a public business, right? You guys are probably own business, right? United States is probably own business. She's like

203you guys. Lori to come forward. I'm sorry. Before you turn ugly like them. Thank you. There. Mrs. Hayes, how many more speakers do we have on this topic, please? We're not 100% sure if they have left, but I have one next Lori McCloskey and possibly five after that. Hi, good evening. I have a question. Are we going to be able to speak on the masks at all? I'm just wondering if that has been pulled for good or if we can, because if not, I'll incorporate some things in reopening. We are on the reopening. And if you want to comment about face masks, which are a part of. That presentation, you may do so now. Are you going to allow speaking on the face mask item that was pulled later? No, 42 is no longer an

204item. Okay. Because the speaker left. Okay. Okay. I have written to you all many times. about the fact that I'm a mother. I have two daughters at high school at San Juan Hills. I'm also an attorney that has not practiced law for 19 years, but because of all this, I decided to get my law license active. I feel like I cannot just sit by and not speak anymore. It's taken a lot to make me speak because I like to be a person that gets along with everyone, but I see such. injustice and such terrible things for children that I have to speak. Even though my own girls are doing pretty good, they're almost through school. I can handle it with them. But these other kids, that's a problem. I have nieces and nephews coming up

205that are having to wear masks or socially isolate from their peers. And it's not right. And somehow we all have to find the courage to realize that what we're doing is wrong. and to correct it. From my own experience as a mother, I've talked to our lovely principal several times and written to many of you about just the experience at San Juan Hills. I have to say many of your teenagers would refer to high school now as I hate to even say it, but they would refer to it as a prison camp. It's very, very strict and not welcoming for children. And that's why I think if you took a poll, you would find out that many of the students wanted to go back and they came back, but they left because of the strict

206circumstances, which for a long time included not even being able to drink water, which we know that all of. your board members here are drinking water, but the students in class couldn't drink water. And in any case, something has to change. And for next year, I'm praying that you guys have the courage to end the mask mandate, to do whatever you have to do to stop making them isolate from their peers and just to do the right thing. Thank you so much. Could the staff please clarify whether students are allowed to drink water in class? At the end of the speakers, I've asked Dr. Merwin to clarify what the current rules are. In addition, a parent brought up about if the mask mandate were lifted, what we would do. So Dr. Merwin will address at

207the end of all the speakers. The next speaker I have is Angelina. Next, I have Christopher Johnson. Do we have Christopher with us? Christopher's not here. Jennifer Brown. Jennifer spoke earlier. Karan Khan. Shannon Welsh. And Jesse Beck spoke earlier. Jesse Beck spoke earlier. This concludes the list I have. Okay, Dr. Merwin. Thank you, Superintendent and Trustees. So let me clarify a little more regarding the current mask guidance, how we will follow up, and also what would happen if the mask mandate is lifted. First of all... We will follow up with all of the schools to make sure that they are aware of the new guidance that changed actually May 3rd. And schools are now able to allow students and staff to have their masks off. while outside when they are able to distance. So this

208means during PE, this means during recess, this means during running, et cetera. So that is, we will follow up with all the schools because we're hearing from the speakers tonight that that's not happening at some of the schools. So we will follow up. The second thing is that students always have been allowed to drink water in class. What we will do is we will also follow up with all of our principals and ensure that they're aware of that rule, that the students are allowed to remove their mask, drink water, and then put it back on. Let's see. So the other item is that, as it says in the board report too, on page two, it talks about a change in guidance that we were expecting June 15th. The governor did say that we could expect

209beyond the blueprints on June 15th, which would mean the color tiered system would sunset and there would be a new system for the state in place at that time. We are anticipating that mask guidance, distancing guidance, all of these things may change dramatically June 15th. If that happens, we will absolutely. plan accordingly and follow that guidance. So if the mask mandate is removed, we will immediately follow that guidance. So that is our commitment. And it says that in the board reports that the minute that changes, we will absolutely follow that new guidance. So I think that covers most of the issues there. Trustees, does anyone have questions on the opening? I see Trustee Davis and then Trustee Hanna-Chik. Thank you. First of all, I appreciate the team on their efforts in the reopening plan. And

210I especially appreciate the opportunity for the making up of the learning loss that's happened this year. because of our circumstances. And I appreciate that we are looking at 24 to one in K through three, 27 to one in four through six, and 30 to one in six through eight and additional sections to address the learning and recovery in high school. I think that will make a very big difference for our families and for our students. And I much appreciation. Community members have raised important concerns regarding continued masking of children in schools. There's been solid arguments detailing the science around masking in children and how masking our children goes against CUSD's own policies in the report that was presented to us trustees. The reality is students who are 12 years of age and older can now

211be vaccinated and students younger than 12 haven't been shown to be spreaders of COVID, nor does COVID have the dire consequences that I... and in that age group that we've seen amongst our elderly population. The World Health Organization has also found masking children under the age of 12 to be unnecessary and data from European countries has shown schools can operate safely without masking young children. We simply don't have the data to support the continued masking. As I read in Ms. Hartwell's points, I found it to be compelling and I'm also in support of unmasking students in CUSD. I also would like to acknowledge the reality that we are under the guidelines of CDPH for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year. I would like to propose a resolution that Capistrano Unified School District lift the

212mask mandate for students in the district effective immediately. Once the executive order and mask mandate are lifted in the state of California, and as Dr. Roman mentioned, that looks like it will be June 15th. Trustee Davis, are you asking for action? Are you asking for us to look to bring back a resolution? What are you asking for? I do propose a resolution that we vote on that we immediately lifted as soon as, as Dr. Merwin suggested, as soon as June 15th, when the state of California, even when the state of California gives that direction. Okay, well, you can bring that to the June meeting. Do you have any more questions, Lisa, before I jump in? I'm so sorry to interrupt, but Mrs. Hayes, you have an announcement. Yes, I need to apologize to the room

213and to the trustees. As going through the stacks of the cards and trying to ensure that we ask everybody to speak, I did miss some speaker cards, and I would like to ask the board's forgiveness for me to call these speaker cards and make sure that we have everybody have the opportunity to speak, and this is my error. Okay, I have Chris Booth. Are you still with us? I apologize. Please come forward. So I have my kids at school here, and this is their mask today. They came back. It was wet, disgusting, full of boogers. This is how it looks every day. Super unhygienic. They don't want to go to school anymore. This is disgusting. This is disgusting. Would you want to have this on your face all day? Wet. Gross. Do you want this

214on your face? My little boy hates this. He's a child. In Europe, it's 15 and up to wear masks. Our kids don't have to wear in Switzerland and France. It's 15 and up. This is gross. They have anxiety. My other son has glasses. He just turned 11. He has glasses. So he has to take his glasses off because they're all foggy and they're nasty. So he can't even see the board. He can't see anything that's going on. And he's fidgeting with it. He can't wear his glasses. My other son, he doesn't want to go to school anymore. He'd go to PE. He's super sweaty. He comes out. But then these kids come out of their classrooms, and they all go to the park, and they're all happy, playing with each other, wrestling. Same kids that

215were just in the classroom, all messed up, and at PE, all mixed up. What is the point? What does that even—it doesn't even make sense. The kids are suffering. They're unhappy. They should be happy to go to school. They need to be happy every day and wake up. Yay, I'm going to go see my friends. I'm going to learn. I'm going to go to school. Not, oh, great. I have to have crap on my face. I can't breathe, mommy. I can't breathe. I hate it. I hate it. And what's worse is they're being told all day, put your mask up, put your mask up. It's under your nose. Put your mask up. So all they say is, I'm going to be in trouble. I've watched my kids' personalities change from being happy little boys to,

216oh, I'm going to be in trouble. I'm going to be in trouble. Do they have to start watching their backs for stupid stuff? Or can they have a childhood? Breathing should be the first thing in their childhood that is guaranteed. It's a right. I definitely vote to get rid of this immediately. This is disgusting. And I ask all of you to think about your own kids. Thank you. Next, I have a word to vote to extend the meeting. I move to extend the meeting. We need a second vote. All right. I'll second. Trustee McNicholas is second. May I ask you to do a roll call, please? Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Villicose. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Student Advisor Boshkar. Aye. Motion carries 7-0 to

217continue the meeting past the 11 o'clock hour for one hour. Okay, Trustee Hanachick and then Trustee Jones. Thank you. I just want to go through the list and ensure that none of these people missed their opportunity to speak. Beth Sandin. Emily White. Sandy Raines. Kimber P. Please come forward. I'm sorry, my laptop wasn't working and I'm trying to juggle. And so we're on hold speakers, then we'll be back. Just quickly. I'm speaking on item 38 and I think you're still on 34. Is that correct? Okay. Thank you. May I have your name? Eric Hollenbeck, Katie O'Mara, Steve Lucy. Please come forward. Good evening. Good evening board. My name is Steve. I am a father of three children. I have my fourth child coming soon. I am a Kappa Unified School District alumni. I went to

218Crown Valley, Miguel Hills, Dana Hills. I also attended Liso High, and I also attended San Quentin High. I just wanted to give you a little background of my history because I had a great experience with Kappa Unified. What I'm seeing happening with my children right now is complete horror. I'm here to give my kids a voice. I have a four-year-old and a six-year-old in your immersion program. My six-year-old wants her mask off. She wants to socialize. She wants to make friends. She wants to see her friends smiling. She wants to smile back at her friends and her teachers. They're at a critical age right now of social development. My question to you is... What is the long-term setbacks, impacts on our child's mental health going to be at this critical age of development? I'm not

219a doctor. I'm not a scientist. I'm a blue-collar worker. I left Dana Hills High School with my feet running. I started two successful businesses. I'm a local businessman, and I don't have a lot of background on this, but I'm just a concerned father. I just want to speak up for you so you can speak up for them. Standing behind governors or elected officials orders that are not following science is just basic cowardness. The science shows the masks do not prevent any transfer of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The virus is a thousand times smaller than the fabric on this blue surgical mask, which is made for splashing in a surgery room. But I can tell you what masks do. Masks do harvest tons of bacteria. They lower the oxygen levels in our kids' brains when they're trying

220to learn in the classroom. It also creates social fear. It creates fear and anxiety. So I'm here to give my kids a voice. They're four and six. I stand for my God-given rights for their basic human rights. I'm concerned for their physical and mental health and well-being. I hope you hear my voice. I've never been to a board meeting. My mother worked for 20 years for CUSD. And I just want you guys to wake up and be the front line of this. Thank you for your time and your service. And thank you for it being a late night and letting us talk and speak. Jennifer S. Leslie G. H. Vatana. Corrine Walm, Honor, Corrine, please forgive me for mispronouncing your name. Jennifer S., thank you for your time. Thank you. Opening the school. That should

221be a pretty easy task with only three or four weeks left. How about we get a hold of all of those teachers tomorrow like you promised to do and let all the kids have class outside. We can have blankets and we can set up the desks and we can get measuring sticks and we can let all the kids see what six feet looks like. So they won't be abused with masks. I think it's a great idea. I think we should put it out on the social media. I think we should call the news and say, that's what we're going to do. We're going to have outside school because we won't wear masks. I think we need to realize that God gave us this body to inhale oxygen. and exhale carbon monoxide. Trying to make us

222hold in these masks and keeping the carbon monoxide in is like telling a bunch of kids to not fart or poop. I think it's a bad idea. I please, I plead with you. Like he said, be the front line. You were brave. Don't lose your courage. Masks are not a law. Your Orange County Board of Education told you you didn't have to do it. They voted four to one. They left it up to you board members to make the decision. Kids need you to help them. Please, do the right thing. Corrine, Teresa Valmont, Andrea. Do we have Andrea with us? Andrea D. That concludes the speakers for this item. Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't get the signal either. Okay. Trustee Hanachick and then followed by Trustee Jones. Okay, thank you very much. First off, I

223love the word learning recovery. I should start using that instead of learning loss. And again, kudos to all of you as the CAPE teams working together. I know it's probably great brain trust have come up with a million different ideas. And this is really exciting as parents go through the school to see actually extra sources and resources for children, as you have mentioned, is really kind of exciting, but we have a heavy lift and I recognize that. I have a couple of questions around online. So I see we have our esteemed principal, Dorothy here from Cal Prep. Thank you always for, that is an excellent, excellent school. And so I think my challenge is. A couple of things. I really, I know people get caught up with this idea of bell schedules and live learning,

224but CalPreps is a known entity. It's exceptional. They send people to college all over. I've been to your graduations. Wondering that if we can encourage people to really go with this very vetted, very esteemed program. Could we then give Cal Prep the additional resources they need? You will need additional support staff to make that happen. But I just think that knowing I would be ready. I know I can send parents there. and know the followup they'll get. And I'm just kind of concerned with what this online looks like. So that's a lot of gobbledygook there. Maybe you can walk me through what the online, just briefly, I know it's listed here, but we didn't actually talk about it. And what we maybe could do to really, because Cal Virtual is the same. We had our

225last student board representative, K-8, Cal Virtual, and she's... amazing just like on show okay so help me out here with the online yep uh thank you trustee hannah check and i will ask uh principal doherty to come up to a mic and she can maybe share a little bit more details as well to show the contrast so the 100 online with daily live instruction tied to a bell schedule this concept came up Over the course of this past year when families didn't want an independent study where a student was working independently and then had check-ins with a teacher, they wanted to have an experience where it was like you were at school, following the bell schedule, attending classes just in Zoom with the teacher teaching live, the students interacting live and following, you know, like

226a normal. bell schedule, which is very different from Cal prep. And so that's what we tried to capture here with the recommendation is to provide, still continue to provide that it feels like you're at school, you're checking in, you're having live instruction with a teacher following a bell schedule, but it's no longer where the teacher at the middle school is teaching students in front of them. and kids online at the same time. We realized and made a strong recommendation to separate them out so that the teacher teaching in person is focused on the students in person and then 100% online teacher is focused on students online. So I'm not sure if that's helping, but that's kind of the idea. But what happens is now it's very limited in the number of courses and types of

227courses and electives that could be offered following this 100% online with a bell schedule daily live instruction concept. It ends up with a limited course selection. Just kind of following then with Mr. Young's discussion with us, where elementary might still be that type of model, but really going to older students able to do the more independent study. And of course, I visited Cal Prep. I understand how their check-in is and their model. what they have to keep students on task. Also, once we're back physically, you oftentimes have physical students in your space. And that's where we can, as a group, look at tutor time to really make that switch to a different, better applicable building for that. So it is, it's pretty robust interactive. So I think I just want to, I'm concerned that parents

228won't. they think one thing and really when you're looking at virtual and online learning it really is something else and I don't I think the to me the independent model keeps from fatigue um the way a student and keeps up with the way students learn so if you don't mind Jolene it is 11 10 and you've been here so you might as well you know join us thank you for staying this long thank you trustee all right I'll give you a little bit of history about Cal Prep and Cal State Toronto Virtual School. So Cal Prep Academy, we offer 48 courses, including six advanced placement courses. And it's a blended model. As Trustee Hanuchick said, we do offer some courses in person and online. So on a weekly basis, we offer 12 different courses in

229person or online. So there is instruction that way. Those are AP classes, our chemistry and biology, our Spanish course, our video production. So hands-on courses and advanced courses are either in person or virtual once a week. The other courses, the students have check-ins with their teachers. We also have one-on-one appointments every single day. So what students do, it's basically a flipped classroom. They do their lessons online, then they make appointments with their teachers to work one-on-one with them. So for instance, in math, my math teacher every day is online all day long with one-on-one appointments with all of our students. So it's like having your one-on-one tutor every single day. And so if a student needs help in math, for example, they can make an appointment with their math teacher every day if they want

230to, even two or three times a day. If they don't need the help, they don't have to make those appointments. So that's how the flexibility is built into Cal Prep Academy. Capistrano Virtual School, K-8. It's a virtual program, but once again, there's credential teachers and students meet individually with their teachers and they also come to workshops in person and online. So we have instruction that way. The 100% online model would be different. It would be a bell schedule. As Trustee Hanachick said, the concern is the number of courses we would be able to offer through that. For instance, right now, Cal Prep Academy, I have one teacher who teaches 10 different courses. And you're saying, how does one teacher do 10 courses? Well, she can do that because she's not providing a live lesson every

231day. She does mostly electives. So she meets individually with students. Students are doing their work online. So with this 100% online program, it would be difficult because we'd have to find teachers that have multiple credentials. For example, in science, we would need to find a teacher that can do biology and chemistry and possibly even physics. That would be very difficult to find a teacher that has all those credentials. So that's why the concern is it could be overstaffed just to get the teachers with the correct credentials in order to teach all those courses. Same thing with an English course. They'd have to be able to teach English one, English one honors, English two, English two honors, and possibly an AP course too. So that would be the challenge of trying to staff a high school

232that is so small and to a bell schedule. So just one last question. I need to yield the floor as our students, so to say. Could you accommodate then at Cal Prep? If the existing folks that would like online, we'll just concentrate on secondary, could you accommodate them? And what would you need from us to make sure that your program is fully staffed, et cetera, the extras you might need, a couple other APs or what that might look like? Well, of course, we need additional teachers because we have additional students. So that would be the first step. And yes, I am the only administrator for all the students. So I would welcome. Actually, one AP then? OK. Even a half AP. I would welcome anything. And just space also. As I said, we do have

233virtual and in-person courses. We have one classroom for the high school. So we rotate through that during the day. So yes, we want to offer more in-person classes. We would need more space to be able to do that. Okay, thank you so much. Trustee Jones. Yes, thank you. First of all, I wanted to just make a comment about a comment that was made by a parent, a couple of parents. One, some parents spoke to us tonight about whether we were going to make a statement condemning some of the anti-American actions that are taking place. And we haven't done that. In my opinion, deeds speak much louder than creeds. And I'm not that much in favor of creeds. I want to do stuff. Well, because of that, I have to say something about what a parent

234said tonight. And I don't know who it was. I don't care who it was. A parent referred in our discussion to the Chinese flu. And that is an anti-Asian action. And I am not willing to just sit here and accept people doing that. My deed is to say that is not an acceptable way to behave. Okay. The next thing I wanted to comment is in the reopening of schools in their agenda for item 34. It says, trustees have directed the superintendent, we did this months ago, to quote, open school as normal if we are able to do so as determined by the criteria established by the California Department of Health, CDPH, for the 2021-2022 school year. So there's been some talk tonight, partly by my esteemed colleague, Trustee Davis, and partly by a parent, saying

235that we need to pass a resolution. I think we already did this. We already said we're going to reopen as normal according to what the CDPH says we can do in 2021-2022. I think we're already there. I don't think we need to go any farther with it. I'm willing to stand by that statement that we made. Okay, so now on to some questions. Mr. Young made some excellent points earlier about, and Trustee Hanachek has brought it up, and Mrs. Doherty, about how many students there are that have asked for this online class for next year. So it's 177 students in grades six through eight, which is about 59 students per grade. which is not much. It's like two classes full. For nine through 12 and the adult transition program, that was a total of 363

236students. So if you take out what's probably some of some ATP students, that's about 85 students per grade level. It seems to me very unlikely that we're going to be able to offer the kind of of robust schedule that students want, particularly in high school, but maybe middle school as well. I had a parent email me about this. They're concerned that there will not be AP and honors classes available for their student. who initially selected the 100% online program. And I don't know if we're going to be able to do that, but I think we're going to have to get in touch with all of these middle school and high school. parents who selected this for their student and be very, very clear with them that electives are going to be extremely limited, that AP

237and honors classes are going to be extremely limited. We're just not going to be able to do it. I'm not clear anymore that we ought to do it. I felt strongly about it several months ago. I'm just not clear it's going to work. So I think we've got to go back and look at that again. Thank you very much. What is your name? Does any other trustee have a question? Trustee Castellanos. Yeah, just to go back on what Trustee Jones was saying, there is a big key difference, right, between this year and next year, and that is that when families choose this option for their online, they are taken out of the school, right? So they will lose their spot if that space isn't available and they want to go back. So there's a key

238difference there that I want to make sure. when we're communicating with our secondary students on the online that we're also communicating with elementary student school students as well. Yes. Thank you, Trustee Castellanos. So they would no longer be enrolled at their school of residence. They would be enrolled in an independent, the 100% online with a bell schedule would be a separate program that they would be enrolled in. And Principal Doherty, I know, could speak to this. It would be an independent, it would be under an independent study program model, but with daily live instruction with a bell schedule. So per Ed code, those students would be allowed to then return to. in person at a school site, but that may be impacted by the space available at the school site, whether or not they could

239go to their school residence or not. They'd have to be very clear. Clear communication, so we make sure they understand that before they... Absolutely, and that's one thing we put in here in the timeline is to confirm with the families. that selected and be very clear and confirm with them and make sure this is really what they're choosing. And being, just like you're saying, being very clear on these criteria and the limitations and the impact of potentially not having space at your school of residence when you, potentially, that's a possibility. Thank you. Trustee Nicholas? I'm going to keep on that same theory, the same subject. But I also want to know, and maybe Mrs. Doherty knows more about this. Kevin Gordon alluded to some potential changes in the independent study rules. And I know I've

240heard other districts concerned about that, but would that impact us? at all as far as trying to create this 100% online program under the Cal Prep, Cal Virtual umbrella. Well, let me address what you're referring to as far as changes in independent study. A trailer bill just came out with the main revision. And in the trailer bill, there was additional language for independent study. To give you some background, the reason this was added to this trailer bill, there were some charter schools that there were some concerns with because of the way they enrolled students. So the legislature wanted to make sure that these concerns did not continue, that these programs were held accountable for how they enroll students. So they wanted to add some more protections within the independent study rules. So it basically has

241come out is what is being recommended in the trailer bill is that there is daily synchronous interaction with all students, which is not currently part of independent study. Oh, oh, interesting. And so that would actually affect Cal Prep and Capistrano Virtual. Another thing they added is that there would be at least weekly live instruction, at least one day a week. So that would, as I said, we do have several classes right now in Cal Prep that are that way, but that would require additional courses to be live either in person or virtual. So I actually have a meeting ironically tomorrow with capital advisors to discuss this. Okay. I'm surprised because I thought it would impact our ability to do our 100% online by bell schedule. I didn't realize it might actually impact our current very

242successful independent study model. Yes. Okay. Well, we need to keep an eye on that for both programs, right? Yes. The other thing is, I think both Amy and Krista mentioned that... Parents, I thought it was very clear when parents were given their choice that they wouldn't have as robust an elective schedule. And they may not have AP courses, but it seems like there's some surprise. Now, I didn't realize we were going to not have an AP course or not be able to do honors. So I think as we confirm back with parents, we need to make sure. And they want to say, well, which courses are you going to offer? And we go, it's like chicken and egg. I can't say how many courses we can offer until you tell us whether you're really coming

243back. And I understand that communication needs to be very clear. I think to them. So I think everybody else on the 100% online took the same questions as I did. It has same concerns. I have another one on, actually, this is, I think mostly the elementary, the extra FTE we're adding on campus that we're calling a TOSA interventionist or something like that. So it's, I think where I read it is the primary intention is to focus on intervention on. English language arts and math and identify some gaps there. But are we having anybody on campus that's going to be kind of the social emotional interventionist? Because I think we are going to have some social emotional issues of kids going back to school and where they fit in and everything. I know we have counselors,

244but is that not in the job description of this FTE? It's not specifically the role of this position. This position would be a teacher who would work directly with students to provide intervention for part of the day, also provide training for other teachers, and then be able to do staff trainings in the afternoon to... Excuse me, Dr. Moran. Can we stop whatever conversation is going on? Because we're having a hard time. We want to talk about the critical race theory. We have work we're doing here. I'm sorry. Excuse me. We are not doing it on purpose. Excuse me. No, we've been waiting. We're not leaving. Okay. If you're going to wait. If you're going to wait, we're going to ask you to please be quiet. I know you don't realize this, but based on these

245shields and the sound systems, we're on these speakers. What you hear is actually kind of louder over here, and we are trying to listen to one another. No, this is our agenda. No, I'm sorry. This is how the board meetings go. This is our opportunity, an open forum to be able to ask questions. Please let us finish this so we can get on to what you want to talk about. If you'd like to, you can go outside. Brown Act violations? Dr. Merwin, please go ahead. I'm sorry. No problem. So this position would be focused on academics, and it would be about providing intervention for students, training for teachers, supporting grade levels. supporting grade levels with how to analyze data and then providing staff training. So we realized that this funding is only for two years.

246And so the idea is to build the capacity of the school site so that two years later, if we can't continue with this position being at the school site, the abilities of all the teachers have improved. They've learned how to use data. They are working together. They have the training. And so not only does it provide the actual intervention for kids, but it's helping teachers then provide the intervention. So to go back to your question. the social emotional part would be built into different training options that we have for teachers, mental health toolkits, meditation strategies for students, wellness strategies. So it would be part of training that we would build up our teachers' abilities to help their kids. And then we would have the counselors on. And we still have our counselors on campus. Absolutely.

247Absolutely. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Great. I have a question. So on the chart about the people that registered and on this bell schedule, we had 830 that registered and it's a little misleading because the percentage to the right is the percentage of the total respondents, which bolstered up that number to 5.4. I was a very proud trustee, like I think everyone else, to be able to say to the community when we started back in September that we had these options and we had three options for elementary school. We gave it all and did more than anybody else. And I think we, you know, tried to do that again, are trying to do that with the 2.0. But I have to ask, and one of our speakers had commented on this earlier, you

248know, in terms of programs and the way the money is spent. We're trying to stretch a dollar here. And so when you look at 830 divided by whether it's 46,000, 47,000 students, you're talking about less than 2%. Is it really, now that we've got a registration to get a handle on what parents think, should we even go forward with this option? Knowing now, especially with the limitations within it, I'm going to say, should we open it up to say, is this really the best way to spend the dollars and not have then these 830 add to the 95? and try to enhance the, you know, CalPREP and capital virtual. So I appreciate that question, President Bulacos. I think that it's something that we need to consider carefully. Elementary, I do see a difference between the

249K-5 and 6-12 because a K-5 online bell schedule All the subjects are taught by the one teacher. You're not losing any course options. Whereas 6 through 12, when you're doing this daily live instruction with a bell schedule, then your courses become very limited. So I'm seeing the two differently. So that is something that maybe... trustees want to consider looking at elementary different than secondary when we're talking about online options, because we know the Cal Prep program is so robust and so successful for 6-12. We know their Capo Virtual for K-8 is very successful, but if families are looking, especially the younger kids, to have that bell schedule, then the elementary could be, we could look at it that way if trustees direct us to. Because there again, in secondary, I wonder if you went back

250to these 830 and they now knew the limitations based on what we've learned, whether they would still select that. The only thing that I would, that's a great question. The only thing that I would offer is we did provide, and it's in the, I believe it's appendix in the report of side-by-side charts that were very clearly stating limited courses, no connection to campus, no sports, no extracurricular activities, et cetera, for the option three, whereas Cal Prep offered all of those things. We try to give a side-by-side. for families, but we can certainly go back out again when we confirm and say, no, this, we want to make sure you're absolutely clear on what this is. Okay. So then to take it to the next level is, so with these 830, now that we know this

251number is, and we said it was limited, are we even more limited or we would still be able to offer that side by side what we said? Because it's more expensive when you're giving it to less students taking advantage of that option. Yeah, and that's the problem is once we confirm the registration, to your point, now we need to know, okay, what would the courses, what are the students selecting? What courses would they want? What are their interests? And as we put in the board report, then there is a potential in the financial implications at the bottom. There is a potential then for a cost to overstaff, as Principal Doherty has mentioned, based on the courses that are being asked for, even just the basic courses may. involve overstaffing which would come with a cost.

252We don't know what it is until we know how many students, what their course selections are, even if we provide a limited menu, it still may end up with a costly overstaff. Okay, well we've made a lot of hard decisions along the way and I think this is another hard decision but I think the question has to be asked for the cost do we still do this for such a small segment and maybe we could Think on that a little bit. I think you're right, cost and still what's best for student learning. For parents, I didn't understand. Luckily, I took advice from educators. I might have gone with some options. And so I think what they need to really look at, is this the best? learning model, you know, exposure along with cost for sure.

253We're going to have, that's going to have to be a deciding factor. Thank you for bringing up the hard decision and it probably should be made sooner rather than later because, and then we have to track what Kevin Gordon was saying with Julian's program and then what we need to do to support her program with the increased individuals. Trustee Davis, when do we know about the Truller bills? Tomorrow I have a meeting with capital advisors. And so the trailer bill is out. So we have a copy of it. So we'll have a discussion tomorrow. It's actually a statewide discussion that we're having about what that entails and how it will affect independent study. Because I feel like that will have a big effect on how we navigate this piece. because I know it works under

254the umbrella for Cal Prep and Cal Pro Virtual. So I think that'll be a part of it. And it is less than 2% because our current enrollment is 43,719. So it's less than 2% of our population. And it will be tricky to navigate that with all of the different needs that are in high school and the different credentialing that's needed. And the state won't vote until June 15th. I was going to say, is the trailer bill part of the budget that would have to be approved by the 15th? So what we would do then is I think have families confirm and then come back with our solution based on those two issues resolved by June 15th, the June 16th meeting. I have a question. This is we need to approve this plan tonight right to

255get things moving. Yeah. So you could approve it with that caveat. Okay. On the online that we would make the confirmation with the families. We'd pull the master schedule and figure out the cost. And then maybe depending on the language or what happens, we may come back just with that piece on June 16th to say, here's our slight revision, but the rest of the plan we passed tonight. Okay. All right. So I have a motion to approve. I'll make a motion to approve knowing that if somebody says, oh, they approve this, so they're definitely doing an online class, online high school. So let's document in your motion that what we talked about, that we documented the motion that the... You're moving to approve the reopening plan with the caveat about the online school that that

256may come back June 16th with a different plan depending on the trailer bill language, the budget expenditures, and the confirmation of master schedule. And that way we could... Okay. Then no one would think they left here thinking, oh, we're all set. Okay. So, Ms. Hayes, you got that? What she said. What she said. With the caveat of online school may come back June 16th based on the trailer bill, the confirmation, and the finance, the budget. The cost of the program. The confirmation and the cost of the program. Okay, so that's my motion. Thank you. I will second Trustee McNicholas' motion. Okay, and Trustee Jones seconded. And if you could do a roll call vote, please. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Villicose. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachek. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas.

257Aye. Motion carries 7-0 by a roll call vote to approve the reopening of schools 2.0 for the 2021-2022 school year with the caveat of online school may come back June 16th based upon the trailer bill, the confirmations, and the cost of the program. Okay, well, I'd like to further recognize Dr. Merwin, Chief Academic Officer, Education and Support Services to present item number 38, Instructional Materials Recommended for Adoption, Cultural Proficiency Lessons, grade K through 12. Thank you very much, President Bulacos, esteemed trustees, Superintendent Vidal-Brulte. It's our pleasure to present the cultural proficiency lessons for your consideration this evening. So I know the hour is getting late, but I would like to emphasize a couple of items and just frame this for trustees. First, critical race theory is not included or integrated into these lessons. The cultural

258proficiency lessons promote empathy, accepting differences, anti-bullying, conflict resolution, and understanding prejudice and stereotypes. The lessons emphasize appreciation and accepting differences and valuing cultural differences as assets. For example, the kindergarten lesson encourages students to get to know one another and that quote, we are all unique and we are all special, unquote. And the sixth grade lesson encourages students to be upstanders, to support their peers who are bullied and to quote, make a difference and help someone, unquote. I would also like to clarify and frame for trustees why the lessons were pulled from the February 19th, 2021 board meeting agenda and just share a little bit more about the process. The lessons were pulled by Dr. Holiday and me because the lessons had multiple errors in them and that staff had not thoroughly reviewed them prior to

259going to the instructional materials review committee to ensure that they were developmentally appropriate. After we pulled the item from the February board meeting agenda, our team has worked with the curriculum specialists and with classroom teachers to carefully consider the vocabulary, the content, and the materials to ensure that they were appropriate for the grade level. And then they were aligned with state standards and language arts and history social science, as well as with national counseling standards and social emotional standards. We also reviewed guidance from the American Pediatrics Association and the American Psychological Association. Furthermore, we compared them to the second step lessons that were board adopted during the 2014-2015 school year to ensure the lessons were in alignment. The second step lessons that are being used are from the original adoption, not from a newer adoption.

260So after the revisions, then the lessons went through the IMRC process a second time. And as the board report notes, the Instructional Materials Review Committee approved the lessons with all 17 members voting for approval. So then to make sure there's full transparency with and providing access for families and the community, we have shared the revised lessons three different times via email and on our website. And we also offer two different webinars. where our counselors provided demonstration lessons of the kindergarten and sixth grade lessons via Zoom. These webinars were also recorded for families that couldn't attend. And we also have an FAQ on the website. So if these are approved tonight, please note that families will be given advance notice that the lesson will be presented in their student's classroom and families will have access to

261all of the lessons on our website so they can preview the lessons at any time. Also, only counselors would be delivering these lessons, not classroom teachers, and all counselors would receive training prior to the beginning of the school year regarding following the lesson scripts and how to deliver the lessons. So thank you for allowing me to frame the item. Staff recommends approval of the culture proficiency lessons. We're available for questions. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Merwin. Trustees, if it is your pleasure, but I will say I highly recommend, we have 34 speakers on this item. And in less than 15 minutes, we will be extending this meeting naturally because we still have so much more to cover. So I would recommend that we limit the three minute and listen to everybody. But it is at

262your pleasure. What do you say? I think we need to listen to everybody, but we need to encourage people to, if they are just going to repeat what the previous person said, please just say, I agree with the previous person or something like that. I don't want to stifle anybody's input, but we've heard a lot repeated. Okay. Well, I'm recommending the 34 to taking it down to two minutes, if not one minute. What is. There's not 34 people. Yeah, there's, I've got 21 online. So. Okay. I haven't heard from the trustees. President Bullacus. Yes. It would be my. I would like to limit the time, but unfortunately this evening, we never went down that path. So I think we'll need consistency. So back to Martha's thing, we unfortunately have to have parity with all the

263speakers on all the items. Hopefully that folks will do what Martha has requested if they're redundancy. So the speakers, and unfortunately, I would normally say, no, I'd say one minute, but we should have done that sooner. Well, Trustee Hanachick, nothing has been consistent this evening. And so I don't care about going on consistency. Okay, well. All right, if this is the pleasure of the board, then we will leave it at three minutes. And the audience is tired too. So let's get rolling. Starting with Angela Hansen. Do we have her online? President Bolkus, I'm going to start with the blue cards because these are the people that are in the room. I'm going to start with the people who are in here. I'm going to start with the blue cards and then go to the paper.

264Okay. Donna Snow is our first speaker. Following Donna is Sandy Raines. Donna? All my three children went to Capitol Valley schools. Now my grandsons are going to Capitol Valley schools. We're very upset about what our schools are teaching, starting with their sex ed. I was at that meeting, too, a couple years ago. It didn't do much good. You went to, now you want to teach communism straight from Karl Marx. It is a Marxist propaganda. against our constitution and our Bill of Rights, which two of my ancestors signed. They were the Lee brothers, Henry and Harry Lee. Now this is all said that we were created equal and we have rights and what they're teaching now is that white people are evil. and we are divided by our skin color. It's not equitable. And I see

265that everybody voted for it. Isn't that strange? Are we now communists? I think if you voted for teaching our children the CRT, you should all be fired. Sandy, go ahead. Do you want to start my time? Yes. Thank you so much for hearing me tonight. I come here tonight not to condemn any of you, but to implore you and to hopefully empower you to see a different picture here. The agenda tonight that has been approved by the materials review specialists just makes me so sad. I look like the rest of you, but my story is so different. I'm the daughter of immigrants. who were persecuted through communism and socialism and came to this country for a better life. As a five-year-old who did not speak English when I started school, all I wanted to do

266was be the same. I didn't want my differences to be identified, talked about, and brought forth to anyone because those differences were the things that scared me about being in school. As I grew older, I realized, yes, people will look at us when we act different or we look different. But the truth is, we need to empower ourselves to teach our kids how we are more similar than different. This entire curriculum talks about how we are different. No, we are the same. We are one American united people. Children are American. children. We need to teach them to value what we have in this country, the freedoms that we have, the ability to speak freely, the ability to say I'm special because I am just like everybody else. The way I look, the way I behave,

267the way I stand, that makes no difference. We're all the same. We're one human. race and we're united as Americans. I implore you and I ask you. to really consider and reconsider the thought process. It said this was research. What evidence-based research? I didn't hear what the evidence-based research was. Just a bunch of psychologists sitting in offices writing reports. That to me is not evidence-based research. So I ask you again, remember, as a young five-year-old, all I wanted was to be the same. Please let our kids remember they can be similar and they're all. the same. They're a human race and they're all loved. I am an upstander for American kids. Thank you. Next on my list is Kimber. Kimber. Jennifer S. Lee Williams. Sorry, Jennifer. I apologize. That was a hard act to follow.

268So equity in the Webster dictionary, the state of quality of being just, fair, something that's just fair. Justice according to the natural law or right, specifically freedom from bias or favoritism. Well, the narrative of Agenda 38 seems, you know, culturally proficient. It's also important for you guys to realize, and ladies, while you're busy teaching diversity, you're not teaching unity. Isn't that what we want? All the kids to unite. Everyone grab hands and stand in a circle together. Everyone sit quietly together. Unity. You're actually creating a bias. So there's a lot of young adults and future teachers like my daughter who spent the last seven years in university preparing to be a school teacher, only to find out last year that rather than learning how to not be biased, she now is told last June that

269she needs to learn bias and that some people should have privilege and special privilege. This is very confusing. Special privilege. It is wrong. It's shameful. I feel like it really is a union agenda. Way back in 2000, when I was looking into AB 329, they called it acceptance and tolerance. It seems so wonderful. But it turned out to be like an engagement ring. Because now 30 years later, we're teaching children under acceptance and tolerance AB 329 without parental consent. But when mommy and daddy had a baby, they were confused and they didn't know what gender their baby was. But they have to come to public school to learn about 30 genders. Can we just focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic? Can we just master that? Thank you. The next speaker, Lee Williams. Hi there. I

270have two children and in our house, we don't discuss race. We don't discuss color. Everyone, your people are kind. You treat people with respect. And that's how I want my kids raised. So debating on what's going to happen here, we debate whether I leave Capo. So I've already looked elsewhere because I don't like all the stuff that's coming down the pike. It's just really. sad and definitely un-American. So I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens, whether I do leave Capo and go to a district that doesn't embrace critical race theory, doesn't embrace the 1619 project or whatever else is coming down the pike or the 20 genders. So I hope that you guys think about the children first, because I think this is definitely causing more division and not unity. We need

271to extend our time. i make a motion to extend until an hour it's still one in the morning do i have a second second okay motion by trustee bronstein seconded by trustee mcnicholas a motion to extend you want to comment could we hear the comments and then at that point adjourn and hold this i i i know i mean Okay. Did you extend? Trustee Bronstein? Aye. Trustee Bullekas? Aye. Trustee Castellanos? Aye. Trustee Davis? Aye. Trustee Hanachick? Aye. Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Motion passes 6-1 to extend the meeting to 1 a.m. Hi, I have three kids in Capo District. I have older ones and I have littler ones, so I have very young ones. And this last year when we were all homeschooled initially, they were doing the online stuff. My son came across

272a project because I have to sit with him and go through the computer stuff because he's too young to do it himself. And he came across the racist quiz. And then he had to watch these videos. And at the end, it was another racist quiz to go through. And I was completely appalled. I couldn't believe that this was being pushed through the school. And now I'm seeing that this stuff is going to be happening. This message is disruptive. It serves no purpose other than to create misunderstanding, suspicions, and distrust. In a sense of this notion as framing, it is actually teaching fear. You're not helping these kids. You're teaching them. They have no clue that any of this is happening, that there's any type of race, that there's any type of anything going on, but

273you guys are going to be teaching them to be like racist, basically. Thank you for doing that. For if you're going to push this through. Please, please take real time and read it. I don't know if any of you read through it or watched any of the videos. I'm asking you to do so because it is not acceptable for little kids to be being taught. You guys need to stick with your... arithmetic, English, history, math, just basic schooling. You're not teaching, let me teach my kids this stuff at home. You guys do not need to be teaching them this. Thank you. Next speaker on my list is Martin D. Monreal, and I believe he left. Next up is Steven Lucy. Steven, still with us? Hardest working guy tonight. Thank you, board. I know it's a

274late night. My shift work starts at 545 in the morning tomorrow. I'll be laying a couple hundred feet of pipe. I wasn't going to speak on the critical race theory, but it's being disguised as a sugar-coated name. I come from a military family. Both my grandfathers were World War II veterans. They fought for the British Army. They fought against Marxism, communism. So we could all have a life of freedom, unity, and equity. What I saw in these lesson plans just seemed to be a sugar-coated bullying lesson to make us think it was just going to be something that's good for our children. I caught something at minute 33 in the sixth grade lesson that bothered me. It was a bullet point. It was a bullet point about saying it was something to do with 45%

275of LGBTQ kids. are bullied. When you go to the fact sheet, it said LGBTQ or sexuality will not be taught in this theory. Well, what if one of my three children, two of them are attending CSD and I have two more on the way, what if they raise their hand in sixth grade and said, hey, what's LGBTQ teacher or counselor? They're going to have to answer them. So we're being lied to. I just wanted to bring that point up. Please review the video. It's at minute 33. And I want to just end with something from Dr. Martin Luther King. He fought. He fought hard for equality for all. And all I'm seeing in this race, critical race study that's coming out is pointing out differences and what splits us apart. And what we should be

276focusing on with our children in our educational system is unity. Unity, not differences. Differences separate, unity brings us together. I wish you all a good night and thank you for hearing my words. Next up, we have Bree, Bree Landingham. Sure. Good evening. And thank you for extending the time. I would really like to let you know that I'm a mother, a grandmother, and I've come to find out through some of the research in regards to the cultural proficiency lessons that Capo Unified wants to adopt. It's also under different kinds of names similar to that called cultural comparancy. and competency, cultural competency curriculum. It's all a guise in regards to critical race theory. CRT is being represented in our country. It's a false protest. It comes under many names, and this is one of them that

277you folks are allowed to be able to look at and to see exactly where that division. These people have already talked about and how it divides. I'm a wife, a mother, grandmother, also fought for the country. I don't want to see it come down like that. And this is one tool that can bring us down. Martin Luther King, same thing. Gentlemen fought for us, for unity. It doesn't matter what the color of our skin is, where we are in LGBTQ. We all bleed red. And in all due respect, this board, I would ask you to please do not adopt this program into CUS. Please do not. Because all it is is another tool to bring a division into our country. And we don't need that now. We need unity. And it starts here with our

278kids. It's not the color of the skin. It's the content of the character. Build character in our kids, not division. Thank you for staying up. Next, I have listen to Ann Booth. So our kids have already taken a setback because the last year they've been doing online or this, that, whatever. They're all pretty much failing in different subjects, and they're failing a lot in school right now. My son's failing in math, and the other one's failing in reading. They're not doing spelling. They're not doing all these things that we used to do to educate my older one who's 19. He did all these different spelling tests, this, that, the other. My 8-year-old doesn't do any of that. He can barely read. And then my 11-year-old son, he's failing in math. This is what they're in

279school for, is to do math, to do school, to do history, to learn scholastics, to do school, not indoctrination, not your theories, not whatever you think that they should be learning. These are things that they could learn at home. Our young kids aren't racist. They don't even think that way. They don't need to be learning to be racist or to take notice of other kids because of the color of their skin. They need to go to school and learn math and have unity and play with their friends and not. plant doubt in their head about what might be some differences because of their color of their skin. This is the last thing that they should be doing. They should be, if anything, they're there to get an education and catch up on the things that

280they need to be doing. They need to be learning school. And it seems like a lot of the curriculums already get cut. They're not doing spelling tests. They're hardly doing any essays. It's just the school system seems to be going down a little bit in terms of where our kids are placed. And I know it's been a year of setback, but we have so much catching up to do. I think we really need to stick to the actual scholastic guidelines of what they're there for and why they're learning at school. Anyways. Thank you for letting me speak. Next, I have Angelina G. Thank you. Dana? Hi, I guess we're saving the best for last. And just so you know, there was over 150 moms out there wanting to speak about this. They're totally against it,

281but they had to get home and put their kids to bed, possibly even get up to go to work tomorrow. I'd like to start with a quote from Gila Jones's Facebook. So damn tired of living in a country that treats black grief as a threat and white rage as a sacrament. That's a pretty divisive thing to put on someone's page. Do we really want people? Just because of how they look to be inherently racist and evil and another group to be victims that can't change their lives in any way? No, I don't think so. The other red flag was over the summer, cta.org. had all over plaster all over their page about BLM. BLM this. It's so great. This is the same Marxist group that's openly Marxist. They've talked about it. They've said it. They're

282taking people's money to buy a bunch of houses in all white neighborhoods. So that right there is a very Marxist move. So this is very concerning that we're implementing this. We're showing our kids that People like are different because of the way they look. One group's a victim, the other one's bad. What a terrible thing to put in a child's head that they are just inherently a victim in life and there's nothing they can do about it. It's a terrible thing to make another child feel guilty for the way they were born. This is not how the school district runs. I've worked at many schools in this district. We are not a racist school district. I will tell you the kids that go to this school district are amazing. They don't see people's cultures or

283differences like that. They're friends and they're there to learn and build relationships. Saying that it has nothing to do with race or anything like that, then why is it called cultural proficiency and why is it called identity bullying? Can you answer that for me? I would like to know. This is putting a whole divide under our kids when they need to be joining together and just being kids. The kids do not see each other like this and this is just poison. And this is a waste of money. You guys were talking earlier about how we need to watch our spending. We're cutting arts and music and all this other stuff, but we're going to throw how much money at this that the parents don't even want. This is terrible. And this is just going to

284cause more problems between the kids. They're going to look at people and be like, hmm. And if we're teaching kids. that they have to identify as gay, lesbian, black, white, autistic, you know, like, you don't, that's not okay to put these labels on kids. They, they, they're people. They're not classified into groups. They're individual people, not groups of what you look like, who you sleep with. you know, any learning disabilities you may have, all this stuff's in there. And it's disappointing. And I think this is a huge waste of money. And I will pull my kids from Capo if this goes through. Thank you, Dana. Our next speaker is Teresa Valmonte. Teresa, Teresa Valmonte. Next, I have Angela Hansen online. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. Good evening. Thank you for hearing

285my concerns. My name is Angela Hansen. I have two boys in the school district and three who have graduated from the district. I'm speaking on behalf of my own family, as well as my friends who've reached out to me with their concerns about your new cultural proficiency curriculum. I do not support adopting this new curriculum. I have a few concerns that I'd like to have on record first. I want to state that it is not. your responsibility to teach values, which is what you're doing with this curriculum. Teaching values is the parent's responsibility. No matter what you think, it just isn't your place to do so. As good as an idea as you think it might be, because you think you know best, it is not your place. You are overstepping your bounds. Let parents

286teach the values they think are most important, and you guys stick with what you're paid to do. Teach academics. Second, this curriculum might have been better received by parents had you posted the teacher's lesson plans rather than the student's version of the curriculum. If that's truly, you know, what you're trying to do, if you're truly not trying to hide something. Only posting the student's version doesn't feel 100% transparent. So I'd like to know when the teacher's lesson plans will be available for parents to view. Now, my biggest concern is that these lessons are further segregating our students rather than uniting them. For example, why is your discussion on bullying really about differences in race, gender, family makeup, or sexual orientation? This same lesson could be taught successfully without having to bring into discussion sexuality, gender,

287family makeup, etc. This type of discussion seems to protect a select group of students while insinuating that the remaining unprotected group are the aggressors. It appears to me that the lessons you posted were actually more of a decoy than for the real lesson that you're planning to teach with your book burning tactics and through implementing the new high school A to G courses such as equity and access to inclusivity. I have two white sons who, through no fault of their own, due to programs such as your new cultural proficiency lessons, are now classified as the enemy. And although they are the nicest, kindest, most inclusive young men one could ever hope to meet, again, through no fault of their own, they're going to be seen as the most hated people in the school. I do

288not think it is appropriate for you to perpetuate hate by focusing on differences. Find a way to include and unite rather than exclude and divide. Finally, I want to conclude by applauding parents for all the teaching that they did this year. The first 30 minutes of this meeting were spent patting teachers on the back, even amid the massive learning loss and the need for learning. Sarah, if you can unmute and you can go ahead and speak. Hi. From what I understand, there was a task force formed and you listened to parents and you sought an effort to rewrite the cultural proficiency curriculum in Capo, which removed egregious examples of critical race theory. However, as a concerned parent, I want to publicly affirm and state my opposition to CRT. I have researched and found the most

289harmful aspects of critical race theory are summarized as follows. One, it believes racism is present in every aspect of life. It advocates look for it everywhere. Two, it relies on interest convergence. White people only give Black people opportunities and freedoms when it is also in their interest. Three, it is against free societies and wants to dismantle them. Four, it only treats race as socially construed groups. So there are no individuals in CRT. Five, they believe science, reason, evidence are a white way of knowing and that storytelling and lived experience are a black alternative, which hurts everyone, especially black people. Six, it rejects all potential alternatives like colorblindness. Seven, it acts like anyone who disagrees with it must do so for racist or white supremacist reasons, even those people who are black. Eight, it cannot be

290satisfied. So it becomes a kind of activist black hole that threatens to destroy everything it is introduced into. You're not going to poison our children. You're not going to make children ashamed of themselves, their society and their culture that has done more than any society and culture in the history of mankind. We are not going to stand by and allow children to be indoctrinated in some cultural Marxist ideology. Gila Jones, by the way, it's the Chinese Communist Party virus, no different than the variants in the UK, the South African variant, the Indian variant, from the Wuhan lab. Thank you very much. The next speaker is Brad Phoenix. Brad, go ahead. Thank you for staying up late and listening to all of us speak. Last year, we all witnessed a series of events that resulted in

291a prolonged period of time of unrest in our country that continues to this day. The fact that Capistrano Unified School District is moving forward with a curriculum entitled Cultural Proficiency Lessons was easily predictable. I opened the two emailed links providing the proposed curriculum and spent roughly 20 minutes looking at it, meaning I became familiar with it, but I did not study it in depth. that the curriculum's intent is to only prevent racism, bullying, and promote acceptance and difference, and I wish it success as it moves forward. I hate racism. I wish it did not exist. It is ugly and unacceptable. Nobody likes a bully, and we all know the world is made up of many people with different preferences which shall be respected. What I do fear is the curriculum is using the subject to

292further an agenda that is not supported by a large portion of our society, myself included. Part of the agenda includes the elimination of AP and honors curriculum, the elimination of SAT testing, and in some, what I believe are radical cases, but I've heard from teacher unions, is the defunding of our police departments. I do not see any of these subjects in the curriculum, but then again, I wouldn't expect them to be obvious, especially at the start. Thankfully, I did not see any cases that would be self-denouncement, that promote self-denouncement, or what is being called privilege. Privilege is not through the actions of an Indian, not through the actions any individual has taken, but what is appointed by an outside group. that wants some people to resent themselves based on where they came from or what

293they have accomplished. So what makes me fear the intent of the curriculum? The intentional and falsely mislabeled mainstream movement that is actually left-wing politics, mostly the far left and not the mainstream. These ideals have already propagated and are now well embedded in the California State and UC systems. These ideals are becoming more apparent at that level through curriculum, employee training, and hiring practices. My fear is that this is the first step in the direction they are taking. and reaching into our schools and all the way down to the kindergarten level. I noticed a slide in one of the lower grade lessons in the first link that I did not see in the second link. This slide had what appeared to be photos of school-age children. One I believe was LeBron James, and the other photo

294I thought I recognized was that of Michelle Obama. If I'm correct, these two examples would confirm my fear, as they are on the progressive, culture-changing side of the political spectrum. They are not unbiased or objective figures. I did not see this particular slide in the second link to the curriculum. Maybe I missed it, which is possible, or it was eliminated based on the potentially controversial and blatant political motives. If this slide was eliminated, then that only reaffirms my fears as a concealment of the curriculum's true intent and origins. I hope this curriculum's genesis is based solely on anti-racism sentiment, the prevention of bully practices, and reinforces the acceptance of others despite our differences. Again, if that is so, I support it wholeheartedly. My fear is its intent is to influence the students' opinions beyond these

295subjects, which would make it disingenuous and ironically unethical in its own right. I ask you, the board, to ensure it's the former and not the latter. Thank you. Next speaker is Michelle Breslin. Hi, good evening. Thank you for taking me to speak tonight. I'm Michelle Breslin. I'm a parent of four CUSD students. I'm currently a high school teacher at San Clemente High School, and I've been a teacher since 1999. I've taught kindergarten, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh, and twelfth grades. I've coached AOSS soccer. I've coached club. I've coached high school soccer, field hockey. I've worked for Irvine Unified School District. I've worked in New South Wales, Australia as a teacher. I have a master's degree in teaching biological sciences. Lastly, I am currently in ADL, which is Anti-Defamation League Advisor

296for San Clemente High School. I tell you all this and hope that you will take my request seriously, as I have the background to speak about the needs for our youth and our development as positive contributors to our society. Urgency for obtaining the skills of empathy and inclusivity has never been greater. It is imperative that our students learn and put forth the effort needed to understand our implicit biases and work to see each other's differences as an opportunity for growth rather than divisions in our communities today. About a month ago, I had the honor of being in a webinar with Alice Walker, the author of many books such as The Color Purple. She explained that her writings about African American life, both today and historically, feminism, sexuality, adversity, such as rape, death, incarceration, all critical

297topics for people to read about and be exposed to if they were to acquire empathy for our fellow humans today. CSU has an opportunity to lead when it comes to supporting a diverse and empathetic society. Please support the agenda item number 38. and approve the K-12 cultural proficiency lessons to be taught in our schools. I'm going to leave you with a quote from Alice Walker. No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow. Thank you for your time. Next speaker on my list is Lori McCloskey. Lori, are you still here? Hi, good evening again. Thank you so much for taking extra time to hear everyone. My parents came over on the boat from Italy to escape Mussolini. I've lived in Iran. I've lived in the continent of Africa at

298one point. I completely believe that we are all humans. And I think that this curriculum. It's not really teaching that. It's focusing on differences. It's serving. It has good intent in some parts, but it's serving. In essence, it's going to divide people. And I think that given the fact that we've had so much decline in our education this year, and even my daughter, let's say, for example, 95% in her math class right now. But when she, I was suspicious of what was going on. So I gave her a final or a midterm exam. she couldn't she couldn't pass it so I don't know what her 95 percent grade is but in any case I want to say that I looked at the cultural proficiency goal number two and it says that you want to reduce

299suspension rates by 25% for certain identifiable groups. And these groups are identified by their race and by the socioeconomic class. I don't think it takes an attorney, and I know some of you are attorneys, to say that this is discrimination on its face. That, to me, is shocking. Does that mean that... that so someone does graffiti in a bathroom and they're going to determine their their punishment is going to you know determine be determined on whether they're white they're Asian they're black are they going to have a different punishment level because it sounds like the goal is to reduce suspension 25 percent for a certain race or social and economic class My understanding of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment is that all persons similarly situated shall be treated alike. This policy, if

300this is a goal, which it's a stated goal, this is discrimination on its face. And for that reason alone, you should not be passing this. I mean, that is shocking. Okay, so putting that aside, just looking at the curriculum I looked through. Okay, I'm out of time. In any case, thank you so much. The next speaker is online. Helen Padgett. Helen, if you unmute your mic, then you may begin speaking. Hello, good morning, members of the Board of the Trustees. My name is Helen Padgett, and I am a CUSD parent speaking on behalf of CUSD's parents. We noticed in the cultural proficiency FAQ that the lessons are not based on the critical race theory. However, we still want to make sure that you are aware of what critical race theory means. Critical race theory is

301an academic discipline that was built on the intellectual framework of identity-based Marxism. There are a series of code words or synonyms to describe critical race theory like equity, social justice, diversity and inclusion, and culturally responsive teaching. These code words should not be confused with the American principle of equality. Now, despite being told that the lesson is not based on the critical race theory, we did find code words in the description of the lesson that raised our suspicions. For instance, the lessons are described to, quote, promote equity, inclusion, and diversity, end quote, or to increase, quote, inclusion and diversity, end quote, on the schools, campuses, curricular, and district operations. Again, these are code words to describe the critical race theory. Now, in contrast to our America concept of equality, equity is reformulated Marxism and equity calls

302for suspension of private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines. So it would be the end of our individual rights if we participate in making an equity based form government by educating our children through the critical race theory. Thank you so much for your time. Next on my list is Sunny. Do we have Sunny with us in the room? Christopher Johnson, Brooklyn Fairweather, Suzanne Davidson, Julia McDonald, Carla Acosta, Karam Khan. The next speaker is Michelle McNutt. I have her on Zoom. Michelle, if you're still with us, please unmute your mic and you can speak. Hello. Go ahead. Thank you. Hello. I want to talk tonight or speak tonight in support of the cultural proficiency lessons. I thought the first version was fantastic. I think the watered down version is less

303so, but I'm have. I'm happy to have at least a step in the right direction. I specifically wanted to speak tonight also about the FAQ that was sent to us via the email regarding the cultural proficiency lessons. There were four questions specifically that I felt targeted LGBTQ families and your students. I know that it's been a long night. I know there's been high emotions and you've had a lot of accusatory comments towards all of you and I have worked with this board before on other topics and so I hope you understand that I sincerely am trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and maybe just letting you know how this looks from a different perspective. The first question was will you be discussing anything LGBTQ and sexual preference related in K-5? The second

304question, at what age do you introduce gender identity? The third question, will the curriculum address gender identity? So basically three questions addressing the same thing in three different ways. It'd have to be answered three different times. The fourth question was really sort of outlandish. What about ism? And someone else mentioned the same kind of question tonight about a teacher who might talk about their. gender identity or sexual orientation and how is that handled? And already in the handful of people that have spoken tonight, there have been six anti-LGBTQ comments already. So the answers, of course, to these questions were no, and these were things were not going to be discussed. So there was reassurance to the citizens that asked these topics. However, Giving credence to these, I just would like you to maybe think about

305the fact that that in itself is harmful and it perpetuates harm when families like mine and other parents who actually have LGBTQ kids are constantly reminded that, no, don't worry, those people aren't going to be part of the curriculum. So I would just ask that in the future, when you are trying to speak to a topic like this, that you get some guidance so that you're not further harming and discriminating against students and families and staff and kids that maybe have two gay parents or any combination of those things. Because it's really, it becomes hard to hear the district continually try to walk this fine line regarding a topic that should at this point be very, very normal. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Tracy Burns on Zoom. Tracy, go ahead. Hello?

306Hello, do you hear me? Yes, go ahead. Your line is live. Okay. Regarding the CP CRT training, I would just say, say, despite the cursory lesson lesson plan. posted by CUSD. I implore all parents to look at the websites of the NEA, CTA, and other teacher unions' websites regarding what the real plan is. The goal is to point out differences, make people feel lesser than others, teach a victim mentality, and overall division. It's not hard to teach unity. or team building. They did it in my kids' preschool. They did international days. They had immigrant parents and grandparents come in, give a little presentation. The teachers would follow up with geography lessons and interesting facts. There are countries that do not even have a race box on any of their forms, yet America does. Makes no

307sense. We are a country of immigrants. Let's be a district of that same thing. Let's celebrate our kids. Let's celebrate our differences. Celebrate all students and focus on the primary subjects. On a side note, I'd like to understand why the blowhard budget cheerleader for Newsom got to speak before parents. and why he was allowed to sandbag and deter and delay so parents wouldn't have an opportunity to speak. I'd like that addressed. And I move for a resolution for all parents or for all agenda items with the most speakers signed up to speak, parents, community members, or what have you. They should have the courtesy to be allowed to speak first. Also, regarding masks, I would like to say that Florida and many other states never had any mask mandate the entire school year. Yet, you

308want to cite studies and all this other stuff, but we've got a year's worth of real-life application, and they haven't had any problems. Meanwhile, our kids are suffering from restricted breathing and learning loss. Masks should be optional for all. Sorry, can you please stay on cultural proficiency? That is the agenda item you're supposed to be speaking to. Oh, thank you. I just wanted to keep you on to, thank you. Thank you for guiding me. I appreciate that. And I would just like to say that staff has the option to wear a mask or not. Thank you very much. Becky Haddad, Mark DeCastro. So it's a little bit later. Once again, thanks for having us in here and getting to talk to you about some very important topics that are very important to parents. And, you

309know, I definitely learned to observe people. And as I'm watching you guys, I see, you know, body language is really good and it's empathetic from some. I know it's late. From others, I get a sense of disdain. for the people in this room. And that troubles me as a public servant. This is a really sacred office that's held. And are you guys teachers union? Classwide union. So yeah, anyway, I'm sorry, not to get too off topic. So, you know, just going into this cultural Marxism thing, that's what this is. Let's not beat around the bush. This is, it's, I would call it CRT light. And CRT is really the pedagogue of cultural Marxism. And where we replace the paradigm is a little bit different. You have, instead of the class oppressor and oppressor, you insert

310race, you insert gender, you insert these other protected classes. But that's really all this is. And it's really evidence to see that this has been the agenda of our primary enemies over the last 50 years. Our primary, excuse me. I don't wear this very often. Our primary enemy is the Chinese Communist Party. It is an ex... I think we just sit here and we just assume that this is the world. This could be taken from us like this, like this. This whole thing could be gone. Okay, we are facing an existential threat in the Chinese Communist Party. And this is their doctrine being infused. This is what Mao called the slow walk through the institutions. This is it. We're the last bulwark against communism right here. And I know it seems light. Oh, you know,

311it has a great name. It's euphemistic. I get it. We all love each other, right? We're Americans. We preach the golden rule. We worked in the 50s. It'll probably work now. But we cannot let this kind of curriculum infiltrate our school system. I looked at the doctrine. I opened up the slides for second grade. My son's going to second grade. And it's... It's conditioning. You know, look at the slide. Yes, no, always some, right? It's just, it's conditioning with the popular term would be the charge term would be brainwashing. It's just, it's not something I want my children to part of, you know, and I appreciate you guys' time. Like I said, I don't want to run over, but I hope that you guys listen to us. And I said, posture is everything. And I

312can tell who takes this really seriously. And there's quite a few of you that I just really respect for your guys' posture and your guys' the seriousness and the gravity that you take your position. And I just hope that this makes a difference. Thank you. President Lucas, I believe we have had a chance for all speakers to address the board. Okay, thank you. Well, we'll open it up now for questions from any trustees that may have for Dr. Merwin. We've gone quiet. No questions. I do. Sorry. Okay. Trustee Hannah-Taylor. I joined the group. Thank you. Yes. I really have a question and you helped clarify a little bit this evening on process. And it's really been bothering me because I need to ask about this, a process, the integrity of the process during the adoption.

313Because I can't do my job if either A, I'm questioning the integrity of it, or B, the ability for all board members to engage collectively and transparently at the appropriate juncture of the process is denied. So there's a little bit of a disconnect between what you presented this evening, although I do appreciate the responsibility that you took. But in the board update. we do say that we see switched, pulled things because of feedback from stakeholders and community regarding the age appropriateness and goes on. You know what I'm saying there. My concerns have also been expressed by very, very many to me about this process. And I think it's so important that we have some clarity. And I am going to take a minute, sorry, board, to read a letter I received that I feel encapsulates

314what many are feeling. And I'm going to put my glasses on. The person writes, while I understand the need to consider stakeholders viewpoints with regards to the content of curriculum, I do want to express my concerns with the process of receiving parents slash community input, specifically how that input is evaluated and the resulting changes to the material, which is quite robust from what it started from the original process through AMRC and what we have this evening. I have been in this group long enough to know that at the point we, the IMRC, are presented with new curriculum, it has already been through a thorough process of study and agreed upon by a thoughtful group of our own educators. I can appreciate that the district must have been receiving serious blowback from a number of parents

315about the cultural proficiency lessons as they were originally presented, which must explain why we are going through this once more. We basically said, we don't like your first answer. and go back to the drawing board. My concern is that a group of parents who I don't know are now determining what is okay or not okay for my child to be taught. How do we know that the group of parents who would have loved or approved of the cultural proficiency lessons in their original form is not much larger than the group of those concerned? We don't know because I believe the majority of our parents put some trust in the process of curriculum approval so that they do not give it another thought. They will never know what their own child will now not be taught.

316So this is kind of where I'm at. Help me understand the process, you know, again, if you don't mind, because this is a process we have for all of our adoption. And now I'm really questioning it. There was an effort to bring the board members in separately to meet with you. But I personally felt at that juncture. It wasn't meaningful work. It should have been performed openly by the collective board on that February 17th meeting. We could at that time, like we did with the novels, we could at that time have sent it back to the drawing board or a myriad of options, but we were denied that opportunity. And so now I sit here with something that went through. A lot of revisions, not my input, and possibly not a lot of other stakeholder

317input. So I think what I want to know is going forward. Because I hate to see a cloud over these rather sweet, kind lessons of what, there'll be 50 minutes a year. And that's sad. So going forward for anything in the future, can you help me see what maybe you, staff and the superintendent are thinking about so that we can secure the integrity of the process? Because I look to our educators and we have doctors of education like yourself, our counselors. to drive the work. And just like an example, the IMRC was great with our literature adoption. And we had a very robust conversation here where we did give and take. And at no point in the IMRC process did we say, or were they allowed to say, hey, take out chapter six and I'll

318go for it. So they have a prescribed role, which is pass through. They don't all vote for everything. So if you don't mind helping me with that, and then I'm ready to move on. Thank you. Thank you, Trustee Hanachick. So we recognize that the Instructional Materials Review Committee process can be improved and will be improved. We realize that we want to have the IMRC involved in the process of approval and adoption earlier. And we're already thinking through different ways that we can. improve the process to be very transparent, to make sure the community involvement is there early, and to make sure that what goes to the IMRC, when it's curriculum that we have built, as opposed to... novels that are already written, but something that we've created. That when it goes to the IMRC, it's

319been vetted by our curriculum specialists, it's been vetted by classroom teachers, it's been, it goes through a thorough process when we've created it. Now, when you have a novel that, you know, an author has written, it would be... It's different than when, with these lessons, our counselors develop the first iteration of these lessons. And knowing this moving forward, the IMRC process, we need to have a much more thorough vetting of it with our curriculum specialists and teachers and a thorough analysis of the standards and how do they align with the standards? How do they align with our current curriculum before it gets to the IMRC? So I think part of it is. the steps prior to getting to the IMRC and then really looking at the IMRC, who sits on it? How often does it

320meet? Does it start earlier in the process of vetting as opposed to at the very end? Those are the things that we are committed to improving the process. So what I'm hearing then, if I as a board member know that the specialists of this school district, the top, educators are providing this material. You know your stuff. I'm not. I'm not a counselor and an educator. And that it is not corrupted along the way, right? I mean, there's a point where I need something that I can believe in. I don't know. If it's going like this through something, that doesn't help me. Then we as a board with staff and parent comments, right, that we, of course, receive along the way, then can have a discussion. about the product. So the challenge for me now, even

321though I'm, I'm, it's better than nothing. It's, it's sweet. It's kind. And we need so much kindness in this world. So I'm good. I'm good with that. But a huge swath of people somehow were, you know what I mean? Like they were okay with something. And so I, I'm going to feel better as we look. down the road. I'm going to kind of go with this on this, very unhappy about how this came about. I want this work up here. I don't want a million people that I don't know or feeling that they are putting themselves into a position when they're not educators, et cetera. There's a time and a place for that. So I appreciate that. I would make a motion to move this item after we have all the questions. So thank you.

322And there were several points that the speakers brought up that I could address some of these if the board wants. Yes, please. Go ahead. First of all, there's no cost. So they're free. Okay. Secondly, these lessons would be this one lesson. per grade level per year. And the lessons range between 30 to 45 minutes total. So the amount of instructional time lost is pretty minimal when you look at the course of the year. Third, it would replace one of the second step lessons that the counselors would typically deliver. The counselors typically deliver a series of lessons throughout the year. This culture proficiency lesson would replace one of those. So literally it's already built into the instructional schedules of schools. So it literally would not take away any additional instructional time from students. There's a question

323about the teacher's version versus the student's version. The only version, and I'm saying this on the record, that the schools will have to deliver these lessons is the student version that has been seen online. There is no other version that will go to the counselors or to the schools. What the public has seen is what the schools will get, and that's what the counselor will follow. That is it. There is no other hidden teacher guide or anything else. It is just that lesson. The script is there. It shows exactly what the counselor is going to say, shows the materials. There's nothing else. It's just that document. So there is no second document anymore. At one time, we had a more elaborate teacher's guide, but we realized let's just strip it down to just what exactly

324is going to be taught. and what the kids will experience. And that's all that was seen and would be considered for board approval. And that's what the schools will get for the counselors to deliver it. There was a question about suspensions. That does not have anything to do with these lessons. That's the culture proficiency plan that was approved by the board back in December. And so that's a totally different topic. We absolutely regret any, and I own this, that we made any people feel discriminated or targeted in the way we wrote the FAQ. So I sincerely apologize for that. We will continue to look at how we answer the FAQ in the future. Let's see. And there was a mention about a racist quiz. So there is no such thing anymore. There was one, a

325first version of the lessons that was posted into Canvas without going through any review process. And when we realized when families reached out to us and started to have concerns about it, we pulled those down immediately to take them through the process that Trustee Hanachek and I were kind of reliving here. So that what was the concept of what was brought up tonight, that no longer exists. That is not part of the lessons whatsoever. So I believe that hits on it. Any other comments? Trustee McNiglas. I do have one question, comment on the teacher version. And it's probably only because I've reviewed this a zillion times, both the first version and the second version. We did have a teacher version that identified the correlation to state standards and the grade level in English or social

326science or... that sort of thing. So that's still, I think it's valuable to have that documented somewhere, whether it's actually in the lesson that is at the school or in our, as a subset of our culture proficiency plan. I think that's important. So I hope that teacher or that part of the teacher version didn't go away. I think we still need to tie it to state standards. Thank you, Trustee McNicholas. So the idea would be that the work, what you're describing, that has the standards listed. So the state standards that I mentioned, the English language arts state standards and the history of social science state standards. It mentions the AXA national counseling standards and it mentions the CASEL social emotional learning standards. That's, like you said, that's the foundational work that happened to... that the

327lessons are based on. So that doesn't need to be on the lesson. We will hold on to that, but that will not be in the hands of the counselors or the schools. It has nothing to do with actually delivering the lesson. Right. That's what I mean is that's the content is what the community has seen. That's what the counselors will get. That's what they'll be trained in and that's what they'll deliver. Okay. The other part is actually more my feeling on this, the whole thing. And it's been a struggle for me because this started back in 2019 when we first established our cultural proficiency task force. And then back last year when we approved the cultural proficiency plan. And at that time, we had a room full of people, a lot of students, a lot

328of families, a lot of teachers, both here and online. A lot of online things, a lot of social media stuff, not my favorite. Reminding us of hundreds, hundreds of instances of harmful racial events, racist events that have happened in our schools. Both student to student, teacher to student, student to teacher. And that really, some of those were really awful. things that either were reported and not reacted to or never reported. So it really, you know, it, I think we had to, there had to be some action there. We couldn't say, oh, I'm sorry that happened. I think that really kind of was the start of this. And these lessons are just one part of what we came up, what we approved as our cultural proficiency plan. I also think the cultural proficiency plan is not

329set in stone and is a living document. And I think as we learn things or positive or negative, I think we'll go back and look at that. I think one that several people brought up that some of our goals on reducing suspensions and expulsions listed by race category. I think we should look at reducing suspensions for everybody. I don't want to leave out the Irish kids, you know, they get suspended too. So I think that we may want to look at that overall. And I know this has been the Cultural Propensity Task Force has done an incredibly difficult job. And I don't want to invalidate their work. But I'm just, I'm having a struggle with this. I personally agree with a lot of speakers tonight. But I got to look at a couple of things.

330One is our job is to make decisions for the best for our children while still reflecting the values of our community. And that's really a tough one here because any given night, a different part of the community is going to show up and give us their opinion. The original plans, as Amy mentioned, we never got to discuss and open for a variety of reasons, mistakes mostly, I think. I was totally against that. I was gonna say, there's no way I would, even with 700 students in the room saying you need to do something, I would not have voted for that. These are more palatable to me. I still think we should focus on unity rather than diversity. I don't mean not diversity. I mean, we should celebrate diversity, not identify people in boxes so that

331they can call each other victims or oppressors or whatever. I do think most of these focus on... Just being a good kid. I think the bullying, we actually have a state mandate to monitor bullying and to prevent bullying. I think that's codified in law. So we have to do something about that. And teaching kids to be nice and teaching kids to respect each other's space. I mean, that's something we teach. Hopefully we all teach at home, but that's part of going to school, respecting taking turns, not leaving somebody out, including somebody. I don't know whether you don't like the word inclusivity. That's part of going to school. That's part of learning to live in a society. So some people will say this is a watered down version of it. Some people will say this is

332still too strict. I would vote to support it. knowing that it's one lesson a year. So I'm sorry, if I can interrupt, we need to extend our meeting again. The hour has passed. I move to extend it to 2 a.m. Okay, we can extend our, we do have six agenda items left after this. Those should go pretty quickly, but so we don't keep going if we extend it to two with the hopes that it would be sooner. Yep. I'll second. I'll second Trustee Braunstein's motion. Motion by Trustee Braunstein, seconded by Trustee Hanachek. Were you finished? Did you have anything more? I think that's basically, again, part of me wants to say we shouldn't even spend time on this. This is taking too much time away from other important things we need to do. But I

333do have to support the students that are feeling it regardless. I mean, we say, oh, our kids don't see color. At least 700 of them said they were negatively impacted by it. So there's two motions. We've got the one to extend, and then I have a motion to pass the item. So I'm going to do it first. Can you vote to extend, please? Okay. It's been moved by Trustee Bronstein and seconded by Trustee Hanachek to extend the meeting to 2 a.m. I will now call the roll. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 6-1 to extend the meeting to 2 a.m. Okay. I still want to comment. Yes. Trustee Davis. The students here in CalPHA come from various backgrounds

334and cultures. Creating a curriculum that helps students understand unity and celebrate them was no easy task. I'm grateful for the hard work of the staff in creating the culture proficiency lessons as they took into consideration the different viewpoints that exist within our school district. As the only BIPOC, Black Indigenous People of Color, member of this board. I took great pains to ensure that the students in our district were taught to be inclusive and kind to all students they interact with daily. We will not teach our children that the most important thing about them is the color of their skin or the color of their classmates' skin. We want to ensure moving forward that these lessons are not deviated from and taught uniformly throughout the district. Any changes or deviations will not be tolerated without express

335permission from this board and complete transparency to parents. We are committed in this district to teaching unity and inclusion, and we hope to foster a positive community in our schools as a result of these lessons. We hope students will gain a better understanding of the complexity of human nature to understand just how many things can contribute to making a person who they are. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the kindergarten lesson fails to meet this standard. This lesson in particular creates division and is unsuccessful in fostering belonging and achievement, two attributes that are essential for success in our students. I would also like to see a better integration with community learning experiences in grades K through four. And regard to the sixth grade lesson, I also see that it needs a bit more work. Most of this

336has to do with age appropriateness. There's a time and a place for children to be taught different things. And at five years old, it is not the time. I am okay with the rest of the lessons as they stand. There's one part in the sixth grade lesson, it's not showing up on here and it was on the other. And I'm hoping that in our book that that's accurate. We are fortunate to live in a society where our speech is protected and opportunities abound for our students. We are educating them in the hopes that they will be able to take advantage of the chances offered merely by residing within the United States of America. I propose an approval for all the lessons except kindergarten and sixth grade, which I stated above, I don't believe are age

337appropriate. Any other comments? I have comments. And it's very difficult because of the amount of time that has been spent. So let me get to my point. I will not be voting for this this evening. And I will tell you why. Because I think of my own children. And if it's good enough for my kids, it's good enough for all kids. And that's the way I have to vote. And it has been said numerous times through all the emails I've received, through the more close to 70 Google comments, unity over division. When we start with these little, they're ducklings, these little children in kindergarten, I most especially can't approve this because of the kinder first and second grade. We should be teaching them. And I've said this and you've changed the words. Appreciating, not just

338tolerating, but little small children that are innocent. They're born innocent until you start pointing these things out. And when you keep repeating it, like Morgan Freeman said in an interview, if you want to stop racism, you know, stop. saying racism. Now, I don't believe that that's really going to stop it. I do believe in the whole cultural proficiency, but starting out the young ones in kinder and first, we're teaching them difference, how they're different. Then they go into second grade and they start to learn about commonalities. Why wouldn't we start with commonalities in terms of with children? At that very young adolescence, I think a sense of belonging, a sense of community is what we need to start with. And I think then as age appropriateness, then we start to talk about individualism later on.

339But some children can feel a sense of isolation in learning all about these differences. And these are a lot of comments that parents had sent to me. You know, the sense of belonging, commonalities, social cohesion. Differences divide people. And I like the quote from Rosa Parks. There's one race, the human race. And pointing out these things to me reinforces it. That's not the way I taught my children. I'm a very up. person. You all know me. I'm pretty up. That's how I teach my kids. Teaching about the positive things, embracing differences and the different ones that I've mentioned about international affairs. I've been talking about this for the last year. There are ways to teach this and I like positivity. I was okay with sixth grade until then I read that from parents that I

340was up to all hours last night reading about why aren't we teaching them how to empower themselves instead of being victims that we're that they're going to wait for a bystander to save them um we need to have positive examples you know help focus ways to build character And so while I sat there and watched that video as they sprinkled grass in her hair and I watched the mean looks of the mean girls and all, it's like, I recognize all of that. That happened when I went to junior high and high school. I know it's there. But it's all in the way in which we're teaching. And I'm just not convinced this is. this is the right way to go. And just in my heart, I can't approve this. There is the terminology about CRT.

341So I get where parents, there's a trust factor here about insertion, you know, down the road. And we just, we have the one lesson for nine through 12. And of course that should be developed. But I really, for the young ones to start out, I want those children to start off positive and then they learn that there's differences later, but not to start off kindergarten. You're different. Everything, the whole thing, you know, it's okay to be different. It's okay. What's okay to be different. How about it's great to be different because then you got all kinds of different friends. I'm going to leave it at that. So I have a motion. I don't know if I have a second for it. Second. I assume a motion to approve the... Okay. And a second. So can

342we take a roll call? Trustee Braunstein? Aye. Trustee Bullekas? Nay. Trustee Castellanos? Aye. Trustee Davis? Nay. Trustee Hanachick? Aye. Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Nay. Passes 4-3. Thank you. Okay. And I'm sorry. Thank you all. We need to move on to agenda item number 35. And that is on the... We are running a business meeting. We gave you. Go to agenda. Expanded learning opportunities grant plan. And I am going to. Dr. I'm going to ask you to present agenda item number 35. Thank you, President Bulacos. Shame. Shame on all of you. It's disgusting. Okay, so we have item 35. Okay, so item 35. Thank you, President Bulacos, esteemed trustees, Superintendent Patel, and Rural Team. It's our pleasure to present this item. The only thing that I would like to emphasize about the ELO. which is

343the acronym for it, is that it is connected to the reopening plan. So the strategies in the reopening plan are actually aligned with the Expanded Learning Opportunities Grant. So you'll notice that the reopening plan connects to the Expanded Learning Opportunities Grant. So staff presents for approval. Excuse me, Dr. Mervin. President Bolikos, can we take a five-minute break while they get this cleared out? Thank you. It's not fair to Dr. Mervin. Okay, it's quieted in. Can we pass through? Or did you want to take a five-minute break? Okay. Okay. So staff recommends approval of item 35, the Expand Learning Opportunities Grant. I move approval. Second. Trustee Bronstein. Trustee Belikas. Aye. Trustee Kassianos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0 by a roll call vote to approve the expanded

344learning opportunities grant plan. The next item is item 36. Okay. We are on item 36, the LCAP. And if I could ask Dr. Merwin, if you could please present this item. Thank you again, President Bulacus, esteemed trustees, Superintendent Vital Brulte. It's our pleasure to present item 36, 2021-2022 Local Control Accountability Plan. Tonight's item is informational only. And so we would come back. after board direction to ask for approval at the June board meeting for the LCAP. I do have an extensive PowerPoint, but knowing the time of the morning, happy to abbreviate that and just open it up for any questions or direction from trustees, or I can go ahead and do the PowerPoint. Do you have blue cards? Is that what you're saying? You know, it is a bummer. The LCAP is so important. But

345we have to pass this. We have to do this tonight, right? This is so important. You don't have to pass it tonight. You just have to preview it tonight. Okay. You're going to pass it in June, but it allows that for you to take a look at it. This is it. This is the stuff that guides everything. Okay. So you don't need to do the presentation. I'll go home. And I can give you the Cliff Notes version of the presentation, which you'll see in the slide in the PowerPoint, the data, student data that's tied to the local control accountability plan. So showing the accountability of our plan, the fact that there was no data from 2020. So you'll notice that. And that's because of obviously the... March and the pandemic and there was no standardized

346testing. So we don't have the same kind of data for 2020. You'll also notice that it talks about the different criteria, different graduation rates, suspension rates, et cetera, but also there's a great part about. an overview of a budget, budget overview for parents, which is really a great way that it boils down for parents, the expenditures and the revenues. So that's your quick Cliff Notes version of the PowerPoint. I think the other exciting highlight is that all of our plans now are aligned, the LCAP, the ELO, the reopening plan, our internal MTSS plan. So I'm super excited that they're all outcome-based. and that they're all aligned this year. Any thoughts on, and we don't have data from 2020, but, and even when we do testing this year, it's not going to be, we're not going

347to be able to correlate it to 2019 because we're not testing the same way, right? That's correct, Trustee McNicholas. So we will have data, but it will again be in the form of I-Ready. And so we will be able to report progress. Obviously, 11th grade will have standardized scores. So we will have some apples to oranges, but we will work hard to show comparisons for trustees in the public and to show. you know, language arts and math growth and where we are. It's just, we will not have oranges to oranges. Well, I think that's, I think the state's going to have to figure that out too. And if they expect us to, you know, do their, comply with their format of LCAP reporting, but nobody's going to have, or it's going to be all over

348the place as far as being able to compare. And I did hear that didn't the state adopt a growth model now rather than standardized? I think I heard that at CSBA there, and I'm not even sure whether it's LCAP or something else. And actually, Stacey Yogi, Executive Director, has hung in there with us all evening. Stacey, do you want to come up and just share a little bit about what you're hearing? Yes, the California school dashboard is based on a growth model. So you'll see the gas gauges on our dashboard for the school district. So we're happy to report that all of our state indicators are blue and green, which is the state's benchmark. And the one area that we are working on is in the area of chronic absenteeism. But yes, the state does

349have a growth model. So it does compare years to years to. hopefully show that we're increasing our student outcomes. Okay. All right. Thanks. I just had to say something so we didn't pass it just without talking about it. Thank you. So this will become action in June. That's correct. So then we are looking at the proposed budget adoption, agenda item number 37. And that is... It's not an actionable item, but this is also an informative one. Let's see, do we have anybody presenting it? So there is, thank you, President Villicose. So this is also the required preview of the budget, which also incorporates alignment with the LCAP that was just presented. So, Philippa Townsend is available. She's actually in her office via Zoom, and she will provide a brief presentation to give a review of

350the budget and what we can expect from the May revision, which will be a significant change based on what Kevin Gordon mentioned in June. But this reflects what we have so far. So, I'll turn it over to Philippa for a brief presentation. Thank you. Great. You want to hear? She's staying here to present to us. Good morning. This is the preliminary presentation of the 2021-22 budget. The final version will be coming back to you for adoption at the June 16th board meeting. Next slide, please. This agenda item includes details on the guidelines and assumptions used in development of the budget along with the complete general fund budget. Some major assumptions include a very large increase in the cost of unemployment insurance, almost $3 million, and that's due to a rate change that was given to

351us because of the pandemic, and we're assuming it will be this high only for one year. Also, the STRS rate went up 1% since the second interim, and so that will cost us another $2.4 million. We are still using the lower COLAs as advised by School Services of California, just for this meeting, and we'll update this when new data is available, which it is, so that will be updated in June. We are also budgeting new state reopening money for expenditure in 2021-22, but the federal ESSER money, ESSER II and ESSER III, are not yet budgeted. Next slide, please. In all three years of the multi-year projection, we are above the 2% required reserve. Next slide, please. This slide shows the status of the federal and state monies received in the current school year. And this

352was spent on things like one-to-one devices, personal protective equipment, staffing for extended learning, buses, and costs associated with the distance learning curriculum. Next slide please. For the upcoming school year, we also have additional state and federal monies under AB 86 and the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, ESSER. These two sources will provide almost $96 million to help provide extra supports for students over the next two years. And I apologize that chart is kind of small. Next slide please. Finally, we just heard the Governor's May Revise proposal last week, and given the changes contained in that budget, we will be presenting a slightly revised budget for approval next month. The major changes that we will be including will be the updated COLAs in the 2021-22 school year and the out years. So that will

353provide extra ongoing money for the next three years. So finally, with that, I will be happy to answer any questions that trustees have. Numbers, it's such a dry topic at this hour. Do we have any questions? Anybody? Oh, no, we do not have any blue cards for the rest of the evening. Okay, so we'll clarify that. If there are no questions, is there a motion? Let's see. No, we don't know. Motion will be back in June. Motion will be back in June. So you can save your questions. All right. Then we're moving on to agenda item 39 is next for the temporary inter-fund transfers. And I believe we're going to be asking Deputy Superintendent Clark Hampton to present this to us. Thank you, President Bullockis. This is a normal yearly resolution for the board to

354approve cash flow, internal borrowing for cash flow purposes. Move approval. Motion by Trustee McNicholas, seconded by Trustee Hanachek. And if we can have a roll call, please. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bullockis. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Trustee Hanachek. Aye. Trustee Jones. Sorry, aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Motion carries 7-0 by a roll call vote to adopt resolution number 2021-43, authorization of temporary inter-fund transfers. Thank you. And the next, well, the next two items are actually related to the fuel. The first one is the resolution 2021-49, adopting the addendum to the mitigated negative declaration and certain related California Environmental Quality Act findings relative to and approving the compressed natural gas dispenser at the Aliso Viejo Transportation Center project. And then 41 will be the resolution. May I ask Deputy Superintendent Clark Hampton to please present this.

355Thank you. So a few years ago, the school district installed a 20 filling stations, compressed natural gas filling station. And when it was installed, they installed the compressors to support 40 filling stations. So all that is added is an additional 20 stations so they can now fuel 40 CMG buses. And because it's an addendum to a mitigated negative declaration because there's no significant environmental impact of the installation and the city has approved the expansion and staff recommends approval. Are there any questions? Move approval. Motion to move with Trustee McNicholas. Second by Trustee Castellanos. Trustee Brownstein? Aye. Trustee Bullekas? Aye. Trustee Castellanos? Aye. Trustee Davis? Aye. Trustee Hanachick? Aye. Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Motion carries 7-0 by a roll call vote to adopt resolution 2021-49. And just to verify, I believe we are pulling

356item 43 because we don't have a citizen to present that. Am I correct? We need to go to 41. Oh, she is on the phone. Okay. I'm sorry. So we are on agenda item 43. 41. I'm sorry. We are on 41, the resolution. Trustee McNicholas, would you by any chance be interested in tabling that? I have questions and things, but I don't, I just not can do it right now. It's not going anywhere. It's not urgent. I will pull this agenda item for next month. Thank you. Table the item until next month. Well, we can vote to table it or I can just pull it. either way is fine. We're happy to put it back on the agenda June 16th as the action. And if you have any questions, I will try to get out

357more information if there was any questions. Great. We'll have another month of the group under its belt. Thank you so much. And I'm sorry, I was combining 40 and 41 fuel together. This was a presentation about songs. Different kind of fuel. I'm sorry. Okay. So we are going to... have 41 go into the June agenda, but we do have Ben and is it Edna Bustesta that is going to present to us? Yes. Edna, go ahead. Hello? Yes, your mic is live. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to voice my concerns. Tonight, I would like to ask you to reconsider the temporary board policy T. Specifically, I'm asking the board to consider adding the class of 2022 to the exemption from the health requirement, as I already stated in my written request to the superintendent.

358During the July 15th, 2020 board meeting, it was decided that the class of 2021 and 2024 would be exempt from the health graduation requirement. The original proposal, which Dr. Holliday presented to the board, stated that the classes of 2021 and 2022 should have their graduation credit requirement reduced to 200 credits, which would include 15 elective credits and five units of health. The reason was that the health class not being offered during the current school year would negatively impact the classes of 2021 and 2022. and that it would cause additional stress for them and a requirement to figure out how to accomplish it in the summer before their final year of high school. Then the conversation started shifting in different directions, and for Mr. Hill's suggestion, the class of 2024 was added to the exemption, but

359the class of 2022 was excluded without any further consideration. even though it was acknowledged that it should be ascertained how many current seniors and juniors have not taken the health class yet. After reading out the verbiage of the new policy, Dr. Holliday reiterated that the data regarding affected juniors should still be looked at as they are in the same boat. And while no one questioned the fact that the class of 2022 needed to be included in this exemption, this point was never brought up again during any subsequent meetings. I feel that this was a complete oversight and would like you to consider adding the class of 2022 to the exemption. I believe that at this point, the current juniors who haven't taken the health class yet are just as disadvantaged as the seniors were and

360therefore should be treated equally, especially considering that the class of 2024 was exempt with three years left to complete the health class. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Did the board have any questions? Okay, thank you very much. Oh, you do have a question. I'm sorry. Trustee McNicholas. I did a lot of digging into this and went back and looked at each of the board agendas and the minutes of the meetings and what revisions we did to each of those. And granted, we were doing a lot of stuff last July, trying to get things open and trying to make things as... easy as possible, maximum flexibility is the flag that I think we were all waving on a lot of things. And I agree with the presenter here that I think we missed the first

361two presentations actually included the class of 2022 as not having to take health. And that was in several different documents. It never got into the actual policy. And there's a couple of versions of the policy floating around. You know, there was one that was out in January but didn't have a January date on it. And right now, the one that is current doesn't show a January revision. It shows the February revision, which is when we voted to bring back the 220 units. So we did kind of lose track of this year's juniors in between there. So I think the presenter makes a point. I don't think those students should suffer for us not keeping track of it. That being said, the current policy is very clear. It doesn't include the class of 2022. And I

362think as staff proposed, there are several options for the class of 2022 to take this, to take health. Other than summer school, I think there are a couple of other options. I'm not sure. What I would like to propose is the option that we offer seniors. Seniors didn't have to, I mean, they didn't have to take the traditional health class, but they still had to take the specific mandated sections. And I think an Apex class that we developed, that's a 1.5 unit class that covers those mandated sections. I think we should give that opportunity to this year's juniors as well. So that would mean, I think another, I don't know whether that means another revision of the policy because the apex 1.5 unit class is not mentioned in the policy at all. So I'm not

363sure where we go. On that, well, I guess there are a couple of things. I'm going to ask Dr. Merwin actually to clarify a few things because I thought we did keep track. I thought we did document. So let's kind of maybe go through process and then the rationale behind it and sort of what the staff's thinking was so that we're all on the same page about what that is. Because I know there are very strong feelings on behalf of our six high school principals. And there was a clear rationale in picking certain years and not others. So if you can address those, that would be, I think, helpful. And then from the board's perspective, if you want us to make a change, then it would need to be the majority of the board directing

364for us to bring back the high school. policy again to change requirements. That would be how we would operationalize it. Thank you, Superintendent Vettel-Brutti. And actually, I'm going to call on Assistant Superintendent Jen Smalley, who has stuck it out all night and into the morning here to help us with this item. And so she has many of those details. So I'm going to ask. Jen, if you want to share a little bit of the why and the rationale and again, the options and kind of help clarify in those areas. Just to provide some clarification on the timeline. In the fall, staff was asked to look at. options for all four grade levels and what the recommendation would be to get back to 220. And at that time we worked with the high school principals and

365the recommendation from high school principals was to waive health, not because it wasn't worthy. They really value the class, but due to the pandemic and moving the health teachers to extended learning, they recommended waiving it just for the class of 2024. So that they would not be credit deficient after their freshman year. And then for the class of 2021, for the few amount of students, there was about 100 students, I believe, that hadn't completed their health requirement. So not to penalize them because there wasn't an option for them to take health. They felt very strongly that health should be required as a graduation requirement for both the class of 2022 and 2023. Right now, 90% of the class of 2022 has completed the health requirement and they have three options to get that requirement completed

366before they graduate. They can take it over the summer and there's multiple avenues to take it in the summer, or they can take it during first semester of their senior year or second semester of their senior year. And if I could add to trust me, Nicholas, please know that It was always our intent to carefully track the changes. And like you said, there were multiple iterations of this that the board, that we presented to the board. And the intent was always to. to be very careful and thoughtful and make sure that it was very clear along the way. So it's my commitment to really deeply understand where the confusion was and then update the board on that. So I will come back with that with more information for the board on why that one wasn't

367dated and what were the issues in between the different iterations. I think we also ran the data on this. and the vast majority of young people have already taken the course. Is that accurate? I think Jen just said 90% of the class. Thank you. Sorry. No, no. Gee, it's 130. But I think it just, I totally respect the parents' request. As a parent, believe me, I would probably reach out to the same. I think, again, though, in deference to those that have completed it and to the fact that we know that our high school principals are working with each student to make sure. that they have all the credits they need and they have an avenue to achieve that. I unfortunately would not. go with the parents request at this time. Of course, she always

368can make sure if she's not getting the personal service that her child needs, by all means could reach out to us, but I guess the word would be deny, which sounds so harsh, but I don't want to open the policy back up again in deference to those students that have achieved their health requirement. I don't think I guess my suggestion on offering the Apex class as an option wouldn't require a revision to the policy as I read it because there's nothing in the policy that says the seniors have to take the Apex class. My daughter was one of the students that took that Apex class. Did I read somewhere that there was about 100 students this year? Is that what it was? About 100 students. So similar to this junior group as well, right? Going

369into now, going into their senior year and the senior class this year, that there's about 100 students that actually took that APEX portion. I believe so. And there were three APEX units that they had to complete for the triad requirement. But it was about 100. graduating seniors, you know, 20, class of 2021. The class of 2022 presently has 393 students who haven't completed, almost 400. And, you know, I was not inclined to support this, but the more I look at it, the more I'm concerned that It is an issue. I think, you know, apparently this particular young woman's counselor had their notes checked and the notes said that the student intended to take the class in her junior year. And we took away from her that option. She was not able to take it in

370her junior year. And so I, you know, I'm... I'm finding myself sympathetic to the issue because there are so many apparently kids here, almost 400 kids who might have been planning to take it in their junior year. And that's a lot. Now, on the other hand, I don't like, we've got to go back to health. We've got to go back to health. And I really strongly that we can't. give the impression that you're not going to have to take this class. If we were to go back here with these juniors, it would have to be, you know, everybody signs in blood that they understand that we're not going to do it again. So, I mean, I'm just kind of concerned about it. Is there a staff recommendation on this so that helps us move forward?

371Yeah, it was our recommendation and continues to be to leave the policy as it is. Yeah, and that's... Thank you. And working closely with the high school principals, that is their recommendation as well. Is that right, Jen? Also, I just have a quick comment. So this is a junior, but when she was a freshman or he or she was a freshman, it was 2019. So we were in a pandemic mode at that point. So she should have entered in given the opportunity. She was supposed to take health, but she decided not to take health that year. So, and then she decided, and then her sophomore year, right, was 2020. So she still had that fall semester. We weren't. in pandemic mode at that point. And then she could have taken. And I do think that

372when we're making policy, we should look at many students, right? Not just for a small group of students. And I think there's many avenues to take the health costs. There isn't just one avenue. So I think you can take it through independent study or you can take it through. So there's, and I do believe that principals will work with them and try to get them to this point. I don't think it's hurting anybody or being detrimental to a student. So that's just my thoughts. Trustee Gustafsson, you absolutely captured our staff recommendation. That's exactly why we're recommending that the policy stays the way it is. So does the majority of the board want me to bring this back as a policy or not? Okay, it looks like the majority is a no. I wanted to thank

373the presenter for bringing it up to us. I think it made us all think a little bit more about... what we're doing for the majority of our kids. Thank you. Thank you. And now we are going back to the consent that was pulled by Trustee Hanachek on 29. And that is the resolution number 2021-42, reduction and elimination of certain classified services. Yes, please. And whoever is going to present on this, I'd just like to walk through some clarifications for posterity at 1.30 in the morning so that, I mean, we value our classified staff immensely. We don't function without them. And in deference to Rhonda, I would like to just kind of have an open discussion quickly about what she's addressing and those concerns. And so we can have a brief moment on that. I can

374start with the staffing side. Thank you, Trustee Hanachick. When we went to do extended learning, it was unique. We hadn't done it before, and we knew it would be temporary. We didn't know it would go the whole year, but we did know it would be temporary, and Ms. Whelan and I talked about that from the get-go. I would echo the appreciation for not only classified employees, but these paraeducators in particular. Their work was nothing short of heroic. And we did something that really I don't think anybody else did in the state and gave kids a place to be safe and supervised all day. even with limited availability for being on site and with their teacher. That said, that Ms. Whelan mentioned it, we knew when we did that, that there would be a chance likely

375of laying off people at this point. The cost is in the item of an annual... the annual cost of these positions. But I'm also optimistic and we have this commitment to bring people back into positions as they become available. Some of the discussions tonight will likely create paraeducator opportunities. We'll be continuing to monitor it. We're continuing to work through CAPE. We're continuing to identify what the best ways to support students. You know, we started with reduced class size. Now we're looking at some additional support through elementary PE and possibly having that supported through paraeducators, combo classes. So I do anticipate opportunities that will just look different than extended learning. The 60-day timeline means that we have to do it now or people carry into the following year. That doesn't help us, but we did move

376it from April to May in case some further positions came available. And that's why it's on tonight's agenda. And that's why it's being recommended tonight. Okay, I think I guess the challenge to first off, I want to thank folks that all everybody that emailed us how wonderful to want to be here and keep working with kids. That's just, you know, it tugs at your heart. So I guess since we're still you've given the notice, we have to do it this time. And that we still don't our plans are still evolving. So we don't know yet. But for folks that want to continue and be The work that they've been doing, they just, what will they do? Check EdJoin? Will they have their supervisor say, you know, this position is coming up? Or we don't know

377yet what the avenue might be. It depends on the positions, but we will contact them based on their seniority for return dates. Yeah. Great question. I always hate doing this, but I will move the item. It's always very hard to get people notice. I move the item. Krista, did you have any comments you'd also like to say? I'll second it. Okay, motion made by Trustee Hanachick, seconded by Trustee McNicholas, and a roll call vote. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bulacos. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0 to approve item 29. There being no further business before the board, may I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. And seconded by Trustee McNicholas. Trustee Bronstein. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Villicose. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee

378Davis. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Motion carries by 7-0 roll call vote to adjourn the meeting. The time is now 1. Nick Nicholas, I'm so sorry. 7 to adjourn the meeting. The time is now 1.37 a.m. And I would like, I meant to do this. I would like to thank Mike Beekman for keeping us.