December 16 Board Meeting

001I see. Yeah, I don't see Gila. There she is. I'm here. Okay. Good afternoon and welcome to the December 16th, 2020. regular board meeting of Capistrano Unified School District. The meeting is now in session. The time is 4.06 p.m. Due to the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with the Governor Newsom's executive order and days 29 days 20 issued on March 17, 2020, the board members have the option to attend the meeting and take any 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

002to call in if you wish to address the board on any agenda item this evening. Mrs. Hayes, will you please call the roll? Student Advisor Bashkar? Trustee Bronstein? Trustee Bullock this here. Trustee Kosty on us here. Trustee Davis here. Trustee Hanna check. Yeah. Trustee Jones here. And Trustee McNicholas here. We have seven trustees. We have a quorum before the board recesses to close session. Is there anyone who would like to speak to a closed session item? How do we have people online and we have people physically here? How do we handle that? We're going to follow our list. And what's wonderful is the people in attendance registered online. So they are on our list. Okay. So I would just call the names. First on the list is Joy Schnapper. Is Joy on the line? We're

003checking on Joy. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Go ahead, Joy. Hi, wonderful. Dear Honorable Trustees, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you. To those of you who have not formally met me, my name is Joy Schnapper, and I am CUEA's president. I come to you today on behalf of the middle school PE teachers. It recently came to CUEA's attention that physical education teachers at the middle school level may be reassigned to teach in other areas at their school sites. To be clear, CUEA was just recently informed that this was even up for discussion. In fact, we had to hear it from one of our own members who heard it from their administrator rather than find out through our regular channels of communication. You can imagine the dismay and disappointment felt

004when we learned that this topic is even being considered. CUEA does not support this decision. This would be detrimental to students at the middle school level who would be impacted directly. Students desperately need PE at a time when everything around them is being impacted by COVID. Before the school year started, PE and other electives were decimated in order to support extended learning at the elementary level. Of the 81 teachers reassigned, 22 of them were strictly from our middle school PE program. The unintended consequence of this decision is that PE teachers left at the middle school level have class sizes as high as 557 students. This concern was brought to IRC, our Employer-Employee Relations Council, on October 7th. First, to arrange for the payment of class size overage as per Article 8.5.2, and to also share

005the need for us to find ways to support PE teachers, students, and improve the APEX curriculum. It is CUEA's contention that our PE teachers were set up to fail when APEX was chosen for curriculum and content for grades 6 through 12. Members tried to voice their concerns during committee and department meetings, yet their requests were unheard and unheeded. Did these teachers throw in the towel? Did they throw up their hands in defeat? No. They modeled for their students what to do in the face of adversity. You rise to the occasion. PE teachers stepped up and modified APEX to make it work for their students. If you look at the most recent data, students are beginning to soar. Grades are improving and students have hit their stride and are getting so much. from their PE experience.

006Rather than destroy what these teachers have worked so hard to construct, we should be celebrating the fact that they have worked diligently to make their program solid, meaningful, age-appropriate, and valuable. Finally, please be aware that not only is this not what is best for students, but it isn't fiscally sound either. CUEA has already agreed to give back four hours of additional pay in the new version of our MOU. We are doing our part to help. Please don't make this the responsibility of our PE teachers too. To be penny wise and pound foolish puts the integrity of our academic programs at risk. CUEA is asking you to really contemplate what will happen if this program gets eliminated, even if just for a short while. There were unintended consequences before, and CUEA believes the consequences that would

007come as a result of this decision would be even worse now. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Joy. Next is Darcy Pasquale. Darcy, go ahead. Can you guys hear me? Yes, go ahead, Darcy. Okay, hi. My name is Darcy Pasquale. I have two children at Shorecliffs Elementary School. One is a seventh grader, or middle school. One is a seventh grader, one is a sixth grader. I have spent the last six years in the PTA. I was PTA president, PTA vice president. Financial Secretary, Treasurer, you name it, Chairman of everything. I've been extraordinarily involved in the schools, especially at the elementary level. Last year, I participated as Vice President of Shorecliffs. This year, I was slated to do Vice President at Shorecliffs, but I declined. It's unfortunate that there have been so many parents like

008me that have been so involved in the schools and have been completely disenfranchised the way things have been handled. Our voices haven't been heard. And now in the midst of everything, we're considering taking away physical education. The one thing that in my opinion and is shared by many parents that I know would be the one program you would be able to do at school. socially distance and give the kids safety. And it is the one program that they can be outside and get the physical education that they need being that they are stuck at home half, more than half of the week. So I'm not going to speak anymore. My daughter, Isabel Pasquale, who is currently a seventh grader. She has been on the honor roll since she started at Shorecliffs last year. She was

009student of the year in two years at. at Palisades Elementary School. She would like to convey to you guys her opinion, so I'm going to hand it over to her. Hi, I'm Isabel Pasquale, and I really do think that PE should be allowed because one of the reasons why is Because it definitely gives you more benefits. It helps you encourage kids to get more motivation. It helps you get better rest. And it helps you stay more focused on your schoolwork. And I really don't see why we can't have it because the schools are still open for a reason. And one of the reasons is kids aren't as affected by the virus as adults. And it makes no sense to me how there are football players playing on a field without masks, tackling each other, roughhousing.

010And obviously, us kids are not going to do that. We are going to be social. We could definitely be social distance. And we could be like kicking a soccer ball like 10 feet away from each other with our shoes on, obviously. And it's a little strange to me how we can be in a closed classroom with like 20 plus students in there, depending on how many kids are there in your cohort. I don't know how many kids are on the cohort and we have to stay in there 100 minutes while we just sit there doing nothing. We have to wear masks on, but we can't be outside with our masks on, kicking like a soccer ball or passing a volleyball to each other. If kids are uncomfortable with this or if parents are uncomfortable with

011this, then that's the reason why they should stay home. Parents and kids who are comfortable with going to school, and being outside and being in a classroom with other people, then they should go to school and they should have the opportunity to be able to be outside and play like tennis or volleyball or other things like that. And definitely they can clean the equipment. You see how after each period. Thank you, Isabel. And thank you, Darcy. Your time's up. All right. Thank you. Sorry. Next is Doug Wade. Doug, are you on the phone? Oh, Doug, come on up. No, you can. Where did he go? Over there. Okay. Doug, I think you're our first in-person speaker since we've been able to come back to the. Do I get a prize for that? Doug, please stand

012away from the podium and don't touch the mic. Thank you so much for everyone's safety. And then we'll clean in between and I'll start the time now. Thank you. CUSD Trustees, Superintendent Patel, my name is Doug Wade. I'm a physical education teacher at Aliso Viejo Middle School. When this whole thing started, CUSD teachers, staff, students, staff, parents were put into a position of needing to turn on a dime. How do we meet the needs of all of our students in a virtual landscape? How do we engage those who might not have the technological tools necessary? How do we ensure our students are safe both physically and mentally? How do we continue to provide an unwavering commitment to student success, as stated on the CUSD homepage? How do we get everyone up to speed and like

013now? Wow, nervous, I'm sorry. Turns out, if you want to find solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems, talk to teachers. We figured it out. In the course of two weeks, we were able to reinvent our educational structure, implement curriculum across the spectrum, and virtually. No, it wasn't perfect. We had to tweak it here and there, but we ended up with systems that work for the majority of students and staff, physical education included, and that work is continuing today. All that being said, in the 10 months that we've been at this, the need for comprehensive physical education and activity has never been more dire. Our students, parents, and staff have seen the power of maintaining a healthy lifestyle for their physical and mental well-being. We felt the empowerment, the joy, the focus, the deep cleansing exhale that

014physical education can provide, or physical exertion can provide. The unwavering need for physical education in our students' lives is clear. CUSD's decision to turn their backs on its students in the time of utmost need for what we provide in physical education is borderline criminal. Our educational leadership and school board are choosing to take away physical education at the middle school level, and it's a choice they will regret. You were wrong with your first decision in regards to PE in the spring and summer, and you will regret this one as well. Regardless of the dumpster fire they dropped on us, Apex, without consultation or asking for our opinion or input, loaded our classes with 400 students, voided our ability to personally interact with our students, we've continued to do our jobs to the best of our

015ability. We have shown up to work every day to make this work for our students. We have found ways to adapt APEX, to provide standards-based physical education virtually, to engage our kids in activity that are so important for their hearts and minds in these crazy times. We've worked collaboratively as a middle school PE PLC team to achieve our goal of providing a curriculum that is inclusive, equitable, standards-based, and so vital for our students' physical and social emotional health, all of which we have been able to achieve in a virtual distance format because even though many students are back on campus in the hybrid model, PE is not. The fact that CUSSD is trying to take that away is, as stated previously, criminal. Thank you. Thank you, Doug. Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes,

016we can. Go ahead, Kristen. Hello. Thank you, CUSD school board trustees, new and returning. Congratulations. And Superintendent Vitale. My name is Kristen Okura, and this is my 23rd year teaching middle school physical education in CUSD. You are setting a precedent when you eliminate an entire discipline. The executive order waived our minute requirement in fitness testing, not the course itself. We have always been the only content area with a minute requirement. Since they're temporarily suspended, it does not mean that you can delete the course completely. These minutes are instructional minutes in a physical education class, not to be confused with activity. Physical activity is a byproduct that comes from a movement-based skill development class. I know everyone thinks that we're just plain busy, happy, fun, but there are so many layers going on in every physical

017education class. Social, emotional learning, learning. kinesthetically on your feet, group dynamics, leadership roles, goal setting, learning about each other through movement, including yourself, and playing with a purpose. Then all the skill development and cognitive connections for mind and body. My apologies for not getting the Spark book by Dr. Rady from Harvard to our new members. I'll work on that because it is a eye-opening read about the relationship between cardiovascular endurance and the play on cognitive development. I have always wanted that to be our intervention process. What does this mean for next year? If physical education is not important this year, but then it will suddenly become again, you are setting a long-term negative effect for our students. If there is no benefit to our student and there's no financial benefit or savings, then why? Extended

018learning was a mistake from the start, crippling our programs, and now this. Whenever I come to the district, I'm always asked about what other districts are doing, and yet no one around us is doing anything close to this. They utilize their PLC process and their teachers. So I have to ask why. What is your why? I know mine and that is why I am here. We have to ask more questions. Why are we doing this in closed session? Why are you so quick to cut and eliminate physical education? Physical education can and should be so much more. Why can't this be a discussion with credentialed experts, the ones you have employed for years and trusted with so many students in our community? Again, why? When you know your why. then you know your purpose, your

019what, sorry, has more purpose. So what I do is teach middle school physical education. Why I teach will take more than you've allotted me time-wise. So now what? Our next step should be brainstorming ideas, moving forward so that we can have more than one. You're depriving students of at least 17% more chance to bond with their physical education teacher based on the current healthy. Kristen Rainey, Kids survey our kids feel less connected to the school and I can only equate that to being. Kristen Rainey, The larger class sizes that we have we finally got it in our contract language to 50 to one I have some more math here for you, but i'm about to run out of time. Kristen Rainey, And it means that it is doable to have in person instruction here, but

020it would require master scheduling changing and it would require some more work, so please do what's in the best interest of our students. Kristen Rainey, For mind and body. Thank you, Kristen. Next is Melissa Huffaker. Melissa, when you come up to the podium, please stand back from the podium and don't touch it. I had to wear my hat for Lisa. I know. I've got my little cup here trying to make sure, you know. So I'm Melissa Huffaker, and I have enjoyed teaching in the middle school at AVMS for 26 years. I'm hopeful that you all read my email I sent yesterday. I thank Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Hanachick for responding to it. I also want to thank both Lisa Davis and Amy Hanachick for spending their time at Bernice Ayers on Wednesday, December 9th to

021see what our middle school education would look like if we were allowed to move forward third and fourth quarters without Apex. Okay. As you know, the district has spent quite a bit of money on the professional learning community model. In this model, districts are asked to throw out the top-down solution-solving method to a more collaborative way of solving problems. Teachers are asked to work alongside with administration to solve problems. Unfortunately, the administrators at the district level have not shown that they can adapt to this PLC way of problem-solving. CUSD is the only district in South Orange County that decided without any collaboration from their physical education teachers to take physical education out of the student's schedule. Saddleback Unified kept their physical education classes in their schedule. So they... in their schedule so they can give

022their students the much needed mental health break and to release those natural endorphins to help stay positive in this challenging times. Your dilemma today is whether you will choose the easy way, the one that does not put the best interests of all our students first. or the right way, the one that keeps students in the forefront of our decision-making. Cutting physical education from third and fourth quarters is not the answer. Let our PLC process prevail and let's find a better solution together. Thank you. Thank you, Melissa. Next is Rocky Brown. Rocky, go ahead. Your line is live. There we go. I always have technology problems. That's just me. You can ask my PE teachers who love you guys. Hello, Trustee Hanachick and Trustee Davis. It was great spending time with you last week at Bernice

023Ayers Middle. Really enjoyed that time. Trustee Davis, you're very good with the athletic stance. Way to go. Dr. Merwin, I really appreciate your response and email. And I really enjoy teaching your two sons. Let's see, Grady is next on my email list to get back to you just so you know. And now that we have those things out of the way, I just, I really want to urge, oh, and thank you, Superintendent Vitale for this chance to talk and the rest of the trustees, both now and incumbent, or both new and incumbent for listening to this. I just want to just take a quick minute to urge you to look at the curriculum that was created for PE by Jake Jerome and Joe Marie Wilson at Bernice Ayers Middle School. It's very content language heavy.

024It has a ton of academic language that will help all of our colleagues on each site in their disciplines. I think it's excellent. And it's an example of what the PE teachers are capable of doing. And I just urge you to look at it so that you could give us that PLC process that Melissa Huffaker just talked about. And also that Krista Okura. Kristen Okura alluded to as well. This curriculum and a lot of the other curriculum that we would love to design would really promote PLC values as far as being able to collaborate with not just our own PE teachers on our site, but all of our colleagues on our site. And the curriculum in particular that Mr. Jerome and Ms. Wilson have created really promotes some great benefits for special education students, PL

025students. for students with 504 plans and for students with IEPs. I look forward to hopefully implementing this curriculum into Nigel Hills along with Mrs. Olson. We are very excited about the possibilities that it holds and we will use it to the best of our ability to really truly benefit students PE-wise in CUSD. Hey, thank you all for your time and I look forward to seeing you all again at some point in the future. God bless. Thank you, Rocky. Next is Robin Carter. Robin, go ahead. Your line is live. Yes. Hi, how are you today? Good, Robin. Go ahead. Good afternoon, Board of Trustees and Superintendent Vattal. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. My name is Robin Carter, and this is my 26th year of teaching at Shorecliffs Middle School. My current assignment

026includes teaching 8th grade AVID, as well as four sections of online physical education. Anyone that knows me knew that I would not be able to get through this without tears. At Shorecliffs, we pride ourselves in teaching our students what our behavior expectations are through the acronym of SOAR. I would like to share with you what this word stands for as you currently are deciding whether or not to cut physical education from our middle school students. SOAR, S stands for safety. My colleague, Mr. Carney, and I can safely teach our students physical education either in person or virtually, complete workouts with them. SOAR. O stands for own your actions. My students all know that they are safe to make a mistake in my class. We talk when we make a mistake, how important it is to

027learn what went wrong. What can we do to fix the situation and then prevent that mistake from happening again? I believe it is time for the district to own their actions, knowing that the platform they provided to physical education was a mistake. That being said, this mistake can be fixed. Rather than cutting the entire program, even if this cut is only supposedly temporarily. SOAR, A stands for achieve. We can create a program that will provide our middle school students the physical education they deserve. We can achieve this by working together and collaborating. SOAR, finally, R stands for respect. Our middle school students deserve the respect from our district. They are caught in the middle and they are the ones that need, most need for physical education. At Shore Cliffs, my colleague and I have found

028a way to soar, even though our hands have been tied. We worked with our PTSA and provided our students a virtual turkey trot. This kept a 26-year tradition alive for Shore Cliffs. We also plan to teach our 8th grader student the Power Jam, which is a line dance that has been taught every year to our 8th graders for over 20-plus years, including this past spring. I ask that you do your part to help our middle school students store, and together we can fix what is broken and provide them the education they thrive for and deserve. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Robin. Next is Robert Nall. Robert, go ahead. Your line is live. Good afternoon, trustees and Superintendent Vitale. Thank you for this opportunity. It has been an honor to have taught at DJAM's

029Don Juan Avila Middle School for 20 years, where I am currently employed. The positive experience that the students and their families have experienced in our physical education program are priceless. From the annual Turkey Trot, even this year virtually, and the Olympic Track Meet, a lifetime of memories for students, to the day-to-day learning opportunities that earned our Physical Education Department a state-awarded Golden Bell in the early 2000s that is on display at the district office. So it would behoove you to bring back physical education to every middle school campus, live and in person, to honor and value what we do for our students, like they do in the surrounding districts, to care for our students that so desperately miss their favorite class on campus, PE, and their mental, physical, and emotional needs and health concerns. Our

030students' well-being should be the most important priority, but it is not. The physical education experience stays with the students for a lifetime. Please keep physical education in the middle school for the second semester and always. Thank you. Thank you, Robert. Next is Liz Swenson. Liz, go ahead. Your line is live. I'm muted. I'm sorry. Can you guys hear me okay? Yep. Go ahead, Liz. You're on. Sorry about that. All right. Superintendent Vitale, esteemed trustees, big welcome to our newbies, Bronstein and Davis, and welcome back, Trustees Castellanos and Hanachek. I'm speaking to you tonight as the mother of a kinder and a first grader at Las Palmas Elementary, as well as a math teacher at Dane Hills High School. A recent letter was sent to the board on behalf of the Las Palmas teachers advocating for

031a district-wide online quarantine for the two weeks following winter break. I wanted to strongly support this idea as both a teacher and a Las Palmas mom. As a parent, this is a very simple solution that would come as a huge relief. I wouldn't have to debate enrolling my children online and losing their current teeth. I wouldn't have to worry about the instruction they are missing if I kept them home and out of school. I would know that any of the infections that took place via travel would end there and not cause an outbreak at Los Palmas. We have all seen the effects Thanksgiving travel has had on our schools. Every campus has seen huge spikes. My school, Dana Hills, currently has nine active cases. As a teacher, this just makes sense for our whole district.

032It is a simple and effective way to follow the advice of the 120 Department of Public Health, the California Department of Public Health, and the Center for Disease Control that are all strongly advising a 14-day quarantine after travel. It is negligent to disregard this call for safety from our many health institutions. Thank you guys always for listening to us. Have a good night. Thank you, Liz. That's the end of our comments for closed session. Kristen, did you have a response to one of those? Yeah, I think there are a couple of issues that were raised by speakers. And I think Mr. Brooks wanted to clarify one issue. And I think Dr. Merwin wanted to clarify one issue. Thank you, Superintendent Patel. I just wanted to clarify the fact that PE options for middle school were

033being discussed was shared with CUBA multiple times. Dr. Merwin? Yes. Thank you, Superintendent Patel. Thank you, trustees. I'd like to clarify regarding the question about the instructional minutes requirements per Ed Code. And by Senate Bill 98, only effective through September 18th through June 30th. So just for this year. Ed code section 43501, subsection D, subsection 2. states that 2021 fiscal year, a local educational agency shall not be required to offer the minimum instructional minutes and physical education required to pursue it to the sections. We have checked with legal and we are in compliance with our instructional minutes. So I just want to clarify. Thank you very much. At this time, the board will now recess to close session to address the following agenda items. A, public health emergency consultation with agency council. B, conference with

034legal counsel anticipated litigation. Five cases, conference with legal counsel, existing litigation, three cases. Conference with real property negotiators regarding the South Transportation and Grounds Keeping Facility, 5.51 acre property located at 26126 Victoria Boulevard, Dana Point, California. Conference with labor negotiators, including CUEA, CSEA, Teamsters, and CUMA. Item F, public employment, employee employment. Excuse me. Item F, public employee employment appointment, chief technology officer. Thank you. We'll recess to close session. Oh, hello. I'm having a hard time logging in. Oh, because your email doesn't have an at sign in. Okay, now I'm going. Okay. Thank you. It's on. Yeah, it's on. Are we about ready? Good evening and welcome to the December 16th regular board meeting of the Capistrano Unified School District. The meeting is now in session. The time is 7.03 p.m. Due to the nature of

035the COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with Governor Newsom's Executive Order N-29-20 issued on March 17, 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 will be 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 call in if you wish to address the board on any agenda item this evening. Please note that in agenda item number four, selection of trustee participation on various committees, there is a correction to item number seven, the CSB delegate appointment. Trustee Bullock's term is expiring in March of 2021.

036And Trustee McNicholas' term expires in March of 2022. Please advise there has been a revision to agenda item 36, donated space agreement for use of certain property at Sarah High School for COVID-19 testing, County of Orange. Parking lot is off on Camino Capistrano, not on El Camino Real, and hours of use have been extended. Revised copies are in the back of the room and the website will be updated. This evening, the board will be reorganized to elect a new president, vice president, and clerk. This process is completed annually in December per board policy. During the reorganization, the current officers remain in their duties until the new offices are elected by their peers. Ms. Hayes, will you please call the roll? Student Advisor Bakushar? Here. Trustee Bronstein? Here. Trustee Bullekas? Here. Trustee Castellanos? Here. Trustee Davis?

037Here. Trustee Hanachak? Here. Trustee Jones? Here, and Trustee McNicholas, here. I will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please note that all trustees were officially sworn in prior to the start of tonight's meeting. Superintendent Patel. At this time, I'd like to call up to the front of the room, Trustee Pamela Bronstein and her sons, Reese and Zane, and her husband, Jeff, who will be swearing her in this evening. May I ask you to stand in front of the podium towards the center of the room? Great. Now at this time, I'd like to call up

038to the front of the room, Trustee Krista Castellanos and her daughter, Claire Castellanos, who will be swearing her in this evening. I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, that I will well and faithfully... I would like to call up to the front of the room, Trustee Lisa Davis and her husband, Brent, and her children, Brittany, Bowen, Brooke, and Brenna. And finally, I'd like to call up to the front of the room, Trustee Amy Hanachek and Angela Vaskar, our student advisor to the board, who will be swearing her in this evening via Zoom. Okay, Trustee Hanachek, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I, Amy Hanachek. I, Amy Hanachek. I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of

039the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California. That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. And that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I'm about to enter. We're going to ask the Castellanos family to come up for a picture, please. Thank you very much. Families, you're welcome to stay for an exciting board meeting, but let's go back to the trustees. Trustee's could I have a motion to adopt the agenda? So moved. Second. Judy, you need to turn your speaker off at the bottom. So moved by, okay, I'm going to try this more formally. So I, excuse me if I screw

040up. Moved by Trustee Hanachek, second by Trustee Bullock. Could I have a call? Ms. Hayes, could you call the vote? Student Advisor Boshkar? Aye. Trustee Bernstein? Aye. Trustee Villicose? Aye. Trustee Castellanos? Aye. Trustee Davis? Aye. Trustee Hanachuk? Aye. Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Motion carries seven zero with concurrence by the student trustee. Ms. Hayes, will you please report out of closed session. On agenda item 3A, public health emergency, trustees voted 7-0 to not temporarily waive PE for middle school for the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year. On agenda item 3B, conference with legal counsel anticipated litigation. Exhibits 1 through 5, trustees voted 6-0-1 to approve staff recommendation on the following ADR cases. Case number 2020922, 2020923, 20201003, 20201008, 202010112. On agenda item 3C, conference with legal counsel existing litigation, trustees voted 601 to

041approve staff recommendation on the following OAH cases. OAH case numbers 2019-050932, 2019-110519, 2020-100009. On agenda item 3D, conference with real property negotiators, trustees voted 70 to approve. Second amendment to option to lease real property. This second amendment to option to lease real property is made the 16th day of December, 2020 by and between Capistrano Unified School District, a public school district duly organized and validly existing under the constitution of the laws of the state of California and Toll Brothers Incorporated, a Pennsylvania corporation. On agenda item 3E, conference with labor negotiators, trustees gave direction to staff. On agenda item 3F, public employee employment appointment, trustees voted 7-0 to appoint Sean Rozelle chief technology officer. And this concludes my report. Thank you, Ms. Hayes. And congratulations to Sean Rozelle. This evening, the board will reorganize and elect

042a new president, vice president, and clerk. This process is completed annually in December per board policy. During this reorganization, as the current presiding board member, I will facilitate the election of the board president. Please note that any nomination at a nomination for any office does not require a second and that trustees may nominate themselves for an office. Following the nominations, the board will vote to elect a president effective immediately and until December 2021. The newly elected president will then preside over the remainder of the meeting. including elections for vice president and clerk of the board. Under normal circumstances, we would then change positions and rearrange chairs on the dais. However, it's recommended that we continue meeting in our current physical positions. Do we have any speaker cards or speakers signed up for this item, Ms.

043Hayes? I have one speaker registered for agenda item one, election of president. Okay. Is that Mark Rivadeneira? And we're checking to see if he is logged in. Mark is not logged in with us at this time. Okay. Then we will go on to, at this time, I will accept nominations for the role of board president. Gila, excuse me, Ms. Jones, Trustee Jones. I would like to nominate Trustee Bullica. Okay, for the record, Trustee Jones. has nominated Trustee Bulacus. I'll second. You don't need a second. Oh, I didn't listen to you. Sorry, Martha. I'm way down here. Okay. I do have to ask, Trustee Bulacus, do you accept the nomination? Okay. Are there any other nominations? Seeing none or hearing none, the nominations are now closed. As there is but one nomination for president, we will

044now vote to confirm Trustee Bulacos as president. Ms. Hayes, will you please call the roll? Sorry, Student Advisor Bashkir. Aye. Trustee Braunstein. Aye. Trustee Bulacos. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. And Trustee McNicholas. Aye. The motion carries seven zero with the confirmation concurrence of the student board member to elect president Judy Bolicus as board president for 2020, 2021. President Bolicus, I pass the remainder of meeting over to you. Do I? Yes. At this time, I'd like to accept nominations for the role of board president, or excuse me, of vice president. Well, keeping with the theme of having two of our board members who have not served yet, I would nominate Krista Castellanos as vice president. Thank you. Are there any other nominations? Oh, I accept the nomination. Oh,

045I'm sorry. Krista Castellanos, do you accept the nomination? Yes. Very good. And do I ask if there's any others? Are there any other nominations for vice president? Seeing none, we will take a vote on Krista Castellanos as vice president. I can call the roll. Student advisor Bashkar. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNeill. Aye. The motion carries 7-0. with student advisor one, is it 701? Is that how you say that? 70. 70. As Krista Castellanos is our new vice president. So at this time, may I have nominations for the role of clerk of the board? I would nominate Gila Jones as clerk of the board. And I accept that nomination. Okay. Thank you. Do we have any other nominations for Clerk

046of the Board? Seeing no other nominations, we will take a vote to confirm. Student Advisor Bashkar. Aye. Trustee Bernstein. Aye. Trustee Volokhos. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hanneke. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNichols. Aye. The motion carries seven zero by a roll call vote to elect Trustee Jones as board clerk. Congratulations. Okay, and now we're going on to the selection of trustee participation on various committees. Do we have any speaker cards on this item? We do not. Okay, and... We're going to start with number one, the nominating committee of the Orange County Committee on School District Organization. Currently, the 2020 appointment has been Trustee Jones and the alternate has been Trustee McNicholas. Is there any nominations or anyone that wants to step forward with interest for this role? President Bulacos, I'd like

047to recommend in general that we reach consensus on each position and then vote for the overall list of appointments as a whole. Is there any objection to that? Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Trustee Jones, are you interested in remaining on this committee? I don't mind doing it again, but if someone else wants to, that's fine with me as well. I'll remain as the alternate. I don't think they even met last year. Okay. And I don't want you all jumping at once. Okay. Then if you are both in agreement to remain as Trustee Jones as the appointed and the alternate being Martha McNicholas. Okay. The OCBSA political action group effort. Currently we have had two trustees, Trustee Holloway was on this group and Trustee Jones. Is there anybody having interest in this group? And

048Trustee Holloway is no longer with us. We do need a second trustee and Trustee Jones, I'm not sure if you're interested in remaining. I would like to do it. I'll take Trustee Holloway's place. Okay. I don't mind doing it again. I think. I'm not positive we met last year. Did we meet last year? I was involved. Oh, you know what? It's generally the same night as our board meetings. And that's, yeah, that's been the problem. So it's so easy to do this because you can't go. All right, then we are going to accept that Trustee McNicholas and Trustee Jones will remain on the OCSBA political action group effort. Number three, the Instructional Materials Review Committee. Trustee Castellanos and myself have been on this committee. I enjoy being on this committee. I wouldn't mind continuing, but

049if there are others that are interested in reading the books and being a part of curriculum or books that are being brought to the classroom, you know, go ahead. Do you want to? I mean, I like being on it, but if others want to jump in, I'm happy to. It's a great committee. Okay. Okay. All right. I'll do it. Then I'll do it. Okay. Then Trustee Krista Castellanos and Trustee myself, Judy Bullekas, will remain on the IMRC, Instructional Materials Review Committee. I would love to be an alternate if needed. Okay. Great. And then each one of us will be nominating someone to be on that committee. Number four is the ad hoc committees. We usually have two to three trustees on each committee. And I'd like to propose that we basically keep it the same

050except with, well, actually Pamela Bronstein and Lisa Davis have been added. We look to have the trustees that their areas are within those cities. But is there anyone that sees it? another ad hoc committee that they were interested in being on that they currently are not on this list. Or one that you don't want to be on that you're listed for. Yeah. But it can't be your own city that your schools are in. Okay. Because you'll see that there are some that have two and there's some that have three. And all right. Then not seeing or hearing any changes, we will accept what we have here before us. Number five, District Restructuring Council. That's the DRC. It meets as needed. And the current appointees or the current trustees is Trustee Castellanos with the alternate being

051Trustee McNicholas. Is that the one anybody was interested in? I could serve on that if needed. I think we found that it did not meet last year. With everything going on this year with COVID, we're not certain it will meet this year, but if you would like to. I'll be there if they need me. Okay. So Lisa Davis is interested in, and a second, either Trustee Castellanos or Trustee McNicholas? Okay. Okay. Trustee Castellanos has accepted to continue on this council. Okay. Yeah. As the ultimate, thank you for clarification. Okay. And the college and career advantage. Now this is one that a lot of people like to be on. We have three trustees currently, Trustee Hanachek, Trustee Jones and Trustee McNicholas. And we had Trustee Reardon as the- Could I suggest that just those who are

052interested raise their hands and then we'll- That's a good idea. Do a cage fight or something? Okay, so you three. Okay, I was just going to suggest actually to Judy too, because you've been involved with robotics and all that. It is one that I've had interest in, but I... I would certainly bow to our new members also being a part of it and getting involved. I don't know if any of your kids have ever been through CCA, CTE. My son's in it, right? He's in robotics right now. Okay, that's what my son was. Okay, we have a robotics representative. Okay, so I need three. And what did I have? I had four. Okay. Would you like to be the alternate Lisa? Okay. So we will have trustee McNicholas, trustee Jones, trustee Bronstein on the career

053advantage with the trustee Davis is the alternate. That, that board does meet next Monday morning, by the way. Oh, that is a good point. Are you available next this coming Monday? Yeah. The Monday that we're on break. Yes. So if you are not able to make it, then you may need to let the alternate know. And hopefully she's available. Ms. Hayes, I think you know. Is it 8.30? We'll check. It's a morning meeting, if I recall. Zoom. Zoom, yeah. Okay. It's at 9 o'clock on Monday. 9 a.m. A California School Board Association delegate, that's CSBA. There's been two trustees, and as it was announced earlier, I had taken over another trustees and finished out the term which expires in March. So mine is the one open and Trustee McNicholas will continue on until March of

0542022. This is if you've all received the background in terms of representing. I have to say if anybody have you have considered it, it's very interesting. We've been doing many more meetings on Zoom, meeting with other school board members in Southern Orange County, you get a real feel for what's going on in your neighboring districts. And then you're a part of the conversation in terms of indicating to the California State School Board what is important to you. Do I have interest in anybody wanting to take my position on that? Lisa? Yeah, I'd recommend it. It helps you get your feet wet. Judy, you don't want to continue? I don't mind. What do I have left? It'd be another year. Well, I could be an alternate. Okay. That's a typo. There's no alternate. We are a

055district because of its size. We are allowed to delegate. Okay. Sounds like you'll have your hands full, Judy. Yeah, but that's what I'm thinking. And you'd be a great trainer as you were for me. So I think that'd be great for Lisa. Thank you. Okay. And our last and final committee is the board policy subcommittee, which has two trustees. So we have one replacement and trustee Jones, are you interested in remaining on this? I can stay on this. We don't, this is kind of an ad hoc thing. We were meeting in person for a while, but since COVID came along, we kind of just do it all through email. And so, yes, I'd be willing to stay on, but yes, we need someone in addition to trustee Holloway or rather than trustee Holloway. I think

056we've also had three in a few instances, but it gets a little cumbersome, I think, to have three. So this is where you're involved in guiding and having the conversation about board policies or revisions, right? I'm sorry, what did you say? This is a committee that's involved with if there's going to be revisions to be a part of the review. Right, right, right, yes. And generally it's revisions that are proposed by staff and we go through them and make suggestions and things like that. Was there anybody interested in? the board policy subcommittee. Trustee Bronstein, would you do this with me? I'll do it, yeah. Okay. Okay. All right. So before you vote, I just ask that you make a friendly amendment to add an alternate to number three, Lisa Davis. Okay. Do I need to

057read the slate? Okay. So at this time, do I have a motion to accept these names on these various committees? So moved. Second. I'm sorry, who was the first? Lisa Davis, Trustee Davis moved the motion and Trustee Jones seconded. The motion, oh, and can we take a vote? Student Advisor Boshkar. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bulikas. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Hadachuk. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNeil-Gliss. Aye. The motion carries 7-0. Vote to approve the selection of trustee participation on the various committees. And now we'll go to the board and superintendent comments. Superintendent Natal, would you like to? I think we are doing a golden bell celebration, Mr. Burris. And then music. Sorry, we're turning it over to you. Good evening, Superintendent Battelle and trustees. Tonight, I would like to welcome

058Dr. Dave Stewart to the podium to celebrate the Golden Bell Award. Dr. Stewart, please do not touch the microphone and stand back from the podium, please. Thank you for safety. All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Burris, Board of Trustees, Superintendent Battelle, Realty. It is with great honor that CUSD accepts the 2020 Golden Bell Award for its professional learning community PLC work. The California School Board Association Golden Bell promotes excellence in education and school board governance by recognizing outstanding programs and governance practices of school boards throughout California. COSD is recognized in the category of accountability and assessments, which includes successful approaches, techniques, and innovative use of data to assess student achievement and or program effectiveness on a district-wide basis for ensuring continuous improvement and accountability. In 2015, our school board developed the district mission, vision, and

059wildly important goals that call to increase post-secondary options for all students. This sparked a movement to create the conditions necessary to make this a reality at every school in our district. A guiding coalition consisting of over 80 members representing all schools and departments was formed to examine, identify, and implement the most promising practices to support the social, emotional, and academic achievement for our almost 50,000 young people. Here we are some six years later, recognized nationally by PLC authors and experts like Dr. Luis Cruz, and now a 2020 Golden Bell recipient. More importantly, thanks to the dedicated work of our teachers, administrators, and staff, as well as the continued support of our Board of Trustees. It is in our district benefiting from the laser-like focus focused on four magical questions. Number one, what is it that

060we want all students to know and be able to do? Two, how we know they're doing it. Three, how we respond when some students don't learn. And finally, how we respond when some students have already learned it. Thank you. And as our tradition is in December to celebrate the winter music, the program, I want to welcome Keith Hancock, Director of Choral Music and the Tesoro High School Choral Students. Trustee, or excuse me, Superintendent Vittal. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. And I apologize, our script and our agenda were a little off, so we will clear that up. So I apologize, President Bulacus. Bulacus. Losing it. Anyway, good evening, Capistrano Unified students, families, teachers, staff, and administrators. Thank you for being here for our final board meeting of 2020. I want to begin by welcoming our

061newest trustees, Trustee Pamela Bronstein and Trustee Lisa Davis. I also want to congratulate them as well as congratulate Trustee Krista Castellanos and Trustee Amy Anijek as they are sworn in for a four-year term tonight. Tonight, I also want to thank Joy Schnapper, President of CUEA, and the leadership team who worked to finalize our MOU. with Tim Brooks and our CUMA team for the second semester learning. The MOU will provide among other things for all students, both in person and online to follow the same class schedule and receive live instruction and interaction daily. We are incredibly grateful for this agreement and for the support of all of our students and families. A few updates on new guidance regarding quarantine rules and athletics. On December 13th, 2020, OCHCA officially transitioned to the new CDPH quarantine guidance. For

062those staff and students identified as close contact, the quarantine timeline has gone from 14 days to 10 days. What this means is that all asymptomatic close contacts may discontinue quarantine after day 10 from the date of the last exposure without testing. An additional change includes athletics in the purple tier. District staff and site athletic directors have been working together to determine the implementation changes for all current sports on campus. This most recent guidance is an update from the original guidance shared August 3rd, 2020. The new guidance does the following. It outlines permitted youth and recreational adult sports by county tier, stating that physical conditioning, practice, skill building, and training that can be conducted outdoors with at least six feet of physical distancing. and within stable cohorts are authorized regardless of county tier status. It outlines

063three contact levels for sports. It places indoor and outdoor sports into these contact groups and sets thresholds for monitoring tiers when these sports may begin competing based on the state and county monitoring system. It clearly states that inter-team competitions, i.e. between two teams, will not be allowed in California until January 25, 2021, at the earliest. The return to competition date will be reassessed by January 4, 2021, based on California disease transmission trends and is subject to change at any time given the level of COVID-19 transmission in California. It also updates use of indoor facilities, limiting indoor sports venue capacity. And because of the most recent guidance, all indoor athletics are to be moved outside. Again, this is the California Department from Public Health. And so we must follow these guidelines. And we'll be putting out

064a sports message to sports families so that you have this information. So to families, to employees, and it will be posted on our website. I want to reassure our community that to the best of our knowledge, we have not experienced a single case of community transmission of COVID-19 at any of our campuses since we opened schools in the beginning of September. I'm extremely grateful for the extraordinary work of teachers, staff, and administrators. They do continue to follow all California Department of Public Health guidelines and keep our campuses clean and safe. I want to also thank John Morgan tonight, our chief technology officer. This is his last board meeting, and he will be sorely missed as he heads to a role closer to his house. We wish him well. So thank you, Dr. Morgan. I want

065to personally welcome Sean Roselle, who is our new chief technology officer for CUSD. And as it is an in-house promotion, he will hit the ground running with those relationships. and the systems in place and really great mentoring and guidance from Dr. Morgan. So we really appreciate that and are excited for him. Finally, our last board meeting of the year usually includes a boardroom full of families, teacher, staff, district administrators, and community members enjoying a holiday celebration by our incredibly talented students. Although it's 2020, we would not want to skip this celebration this year. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. to Keith Hancock, director of Tesoro's choral music program, and the always extraordinary students who remind us of the why in our work. Our gift this holiday season is your continued success. So

066see you all back in person, hybrid January 4th. Happy holidays, and this ends my report. Thank you, Superintendent Vitale. Do any trustees have comments? Trustee Jones? I thought I usually went first. I also want to say congratulations and farewell to John Morgan. We are going to miss you a lot. As the superintendent indicated, we know of no instances of COVID transmission within our schools. As far as we can tell, every positive case in one of our schools was infected elsewhere, at home, while shopping, etc. However, COVID is indeed spreading rapidly in our communities. We send young people to war or on church missions who are unable to be with their families and friends on Christmas or other winter celebrations. They make that sacrifice for the greater good. If young service members and missionaries are willing

067to sacrifice their holidays each winter, year in and year out, for our benefit, I think those of us who are safe and warm in our own homes should be willing to do the same. I learned today that one of my relatives, someone I've known since childhood, is very ill with COVID. She was extremely careful. She thought she was careful enough. She wasn't. As she told me today, however careful you're being, be more careful. I wish everyone in our communities a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, safe and warm at home. Please stay healthy. Trustee Hennig. Well, thank you. At the end of the year, I'd like to share a little inadequate words, especially with this challenging, very challenging year. To quote Mr. Rogers, and I think it's always a good time to quote Mr. Rogers, when

068I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, look for the helpers. You always find people who are helping. To parents who are their children's biggest champion and often a school's biggest ally, we say thank you, helpers. To those parents, groups, and organizations who fight to keep normalcy and needed supports flowing. from our district administrators and superintendent who are pulling from all their experience in education to make the impossible probable and juggle seven board members. We say thank you to you helpers, to classified staff and transportation helping all in those front lines. From principals charged with steering their schools to these very, very rough unchartered waters. to our teachers tasked with educating and helping their students in the time of COVID, which is beyond unprecedented

069and positively Herculean. To our community members and even Congressman Levin from the 49th, who is championing relief help to improve distance learning and better prepare for safer in-person classes and childcare. And finally, our incredible students who managed to express joy, love, kindness, and other emotions, even through their masks, and are our North Star guiding our work each day. I have not done justice to all of these heroes who exponentially help our students always, and I have probably omitted many. But while COVID-19 has highlighted what was already true, that though we're weathering the same storm, we are not in the same boat. Because the future, our future, is what we do together. May you, your families, and communities be well. And may all of us rise to meet what this moment requires of us. To all

070have a safe, healthy holiday filled with love and joy. Thank you so much. Any other trustees? I'd like to just say I'm grateful to be here. I'm looking forward to serving and I do believe it's a large responsibility and I'm ready for the challenge and I do think it's challenging. I appreciate the board members and our superintendent and all those that are here and look forward to a great transition for you. I hope that's a good fit for you at your new close to home position. I'm sad to see you go, John. I wanted to read a quick poem. It's by Marvin J. Ashton, who is a motivational speaker. Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other

071the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, or shortcomings, having patience with someone who has let us down, or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other. None of us need one more person bashing or pointing out where we have failed or fallen short. Most of us are already well aware of the areas in which we are weak. What each of us does need is family, friends, employers, and brothers and sisters who support us, who have the patience to teach us, who believe in us, and who believe we're trying to be the best

072we can. in spite of our weaknesses, whatever happened to giving each other the benefit of the doubt, whatever happened to hoping that another person would succeed or achieve, whatever happened to rooting for each other. I think we're in a time when things look unusual. This is not the normal for us. And I think more than anything, as we work as a team, we'll best meet the needs of our community, our students, our teachers, our parents, and our staff and all. So I'm looking forward to being here. Thank you. Anyone else? I would just like to make a... Oh, I'm sorry. A couple of things I wanted to bring up. I know this has been a terrible year, but I have to just relay some personal joy during 2020. My daughter gave birth to my first

073grandchild during COVID, and my son married the love of his life during COVID. So there is joy during a pandemic, and we will move forward with that. And I love my expanded family. One of the things I really miss this time of year is student performances. I love going to the sing-alongs, the kindergartener up on the housetop and the caroling and the orchestra. And I love all that and I really miss it. So I am so glad I was able to go through the drive-through lights and music parking lot festival at Dana Hills one night only. They really pulled it together. It was all student-centered and student-focused. It was great. I got to join in a Zoom pajama sing-along with Oak Grove Elementary. It gives me a new appreciation for the challenges of music teachers

074trying to get a group of 35 or 40 elementary kids to all follow directions. And then I see the other end of the spectrum. and Keith Hancock's outstanding choral music program, It's a Sorrow. So it, I mean, even though I didn't get to see all the things that I wanted to see, I got to see both ends of the spectrum. That was absolutely wonderful. And while I wanted to make some comments about middle school PE, it just doesn't seem appropriate right now. So I will save that. And lastly, I would like to say congratulations to Superintendent Vitale-Virulte on her recent marriage and her ability to not have a cell phone for about 24 hours. That ends my remarks. I just want to make a few remarks. First of all, I want to thank my colleagues,

075my fellow trustees for your confidence in my taking on this role. And at the same time, I'm going to, as we've asked throughout this COVID period, ask for grace as I take on this new role that you all helped me. And we'll do this together. I especially want to thank the staff that's before us. certainly Superintendent Vitale, all of our teachers, all of our classified, all of our principals, everyone, we've done this together. We've gotten this far. I know everyone cannot wait for tomorrow to start the two-week winter break, but it's been incredible. And having been on the CSBA as a delegate. And as Trustee Nick Nicholas and I have met with a lot of, on Zoom, a lot of our fellow board members throughout South Orange County, Martha and I would always comment to

076one another, we're so far ahead of the game. They're starting to talk about things that, you know, we've decided on and we've moved forward. And when we contrast what we've been able to do, I'm really so proud to be here. and to be a part of this team at CUSD. And so I want to say thank you to each and every one of you and to say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and I look forward to being back with you at the conclusion of tonight's meeting back in the year 2022, 2021. I'm going to leave that ahead. And remember, the best gift you can give is kindness. So that concludes and we will move on to oral communication and we have nine speakers and I will call upon the first, Kevin O'Donnell. Do we have Kevin

077O'Donnell? Yeah, I'm here. How you doing? Good. We can hear you, Kevin. Go ahead. Okay, good. I wrote a thing here for We got an email on December 4th from the superintendent saying that we heard from leaders in Sacramento and here in Orange County, we may be conducting school in this fashion for the next 12 to 18 months. Our kids and families cannot wait an extra 12 to 18 months. How many failing grades will be given out? How many suicides are we willing to accept? There have been three in the last two weeks in our county and even more in our state. It seems to be a very destructive position to take on behalf of our students. You should be making every effort to move forward, not backward on behalf of the students. Now, I

078know that the numbers are going up, but hopefully with the vaccine that is out, several vaccines have been approved for emergency use and are currently being administered. Experts are saying that everyone that wants the vaccine will be able to get it by summer 2021. Hundreds of millions of vaccines are being produced and shipped nationwide. It makes sense to me that the district should be doing everything in its power to move back to as normal as possible a schedule in light of these revelations. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. O'Donnell. And do we have Joy Schnapper on the line? Joy? Dear Superintendent Vitale and honored trustees, a hearty and sincere welcome to the newest members of the CUSD School Board from the Capistrano Unified Education Association. CUA is not just general ed teachers, but we are counselors,

079psychologists, nurses, intervention specialists, speech pathologists, special ed teachers, PE teachers, and elective teachers. The mission statement on CUSD's website is an unwavering commitment to student success. CUA's goal is to work alongside the district and site administrators, as well as the board of trustees, to help make this come to fruition. How do we do this? Rather than the three R's, I think about the three C's. Communication, collaboration, and commitment. Communication is key. Please bring questions, concerns, ideas, and suggestions to us at the beginning of the decision-making process. Rather than on the tail end where the optics make it seem as though decisions are being made behind closed doors without input from some very vested stakeholders, the teachers. On September 23rd, CUA spoke to the board and expressed concerns about seeing secondary students once a week for

080in-person instruction. At that time, we had proposed solutions to this dilemma. However, that was postponed until recently. We hope that you will learn from this and find a better way to do business as we move forward together. Collaboration is essential. I would like an opportunity to explain how CAPE teams function in our district. CAPE teams came out of the labor management initiative as a better way of doing business. We bring issues from across this large district and its numerous departments and focus on finding solutions. I have learned much in these meetings and hope to see our group continue to grow and get all people. Thank you and welcome. It's so nice to have you. Mark. Reba DeNaira. Thank you. You're all going to have to help me with pronunciation. I did not have Mark on

081the line. Okay. Well, let's advance to Michelle Fossil-Campbell. Good evening, Superintendent, Board of Trustees. Congratulations, Superintendent Vital Bruehlte, on your recent wedding. We look forward to working with our new board president, Balakas, and the rest of the trustees over the coming year. I want to thank our teachers for all of their hard work over the first semester of this most unusual of years. I appreciate all that our exemplary educators do for our students each day and your partnership with parents in educating our children. I want to also acknowledge all of the hard work done by PTAs and PTSAs across our district to make this year as normal as possible for our kids, including drive-through holiday light parades, gingerbread decorating, individualized STEAM and STEM activities. I want to encourage everyone to join your local PTA and

082PTSA. You can be a member of more than one. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and we look forward to continuing our advocacy work for children in 2021. Thank you. Thank you. Marianne, why now? I do have Marianne, but I'm having trouble. Now she's ready. There we go. Marianne. Hello. Hello, can you hear me? Yes, I can. Okay, good, good. I'm a concerned grandmother in Orange County, but after the last board meeting I attended, I think it was two or three sessions ago, I was alarmed by the lack of direction, not from the board. not from the educators, just in general about what to do about infections in our community and then how do the schools need to respond. And it so happens I am a contractor working with the National Institute of

083Health and found out that there are several government agencies working on guidelines and instructions for K through 12. So I just want today to tell you that, you know, I'm a huge believer in education. And I believe that our education leaders are making decisions day in, day out that not only affect our children's careers, their lives, but now their actual... It's such an important role that you're all playing. I was really pleased to hear that there were no transmissions in school. And that was one of the main reasons I called today to share with you a draft, National Institute of Health, MIT publication about when to test. It sounds like you already have many of the precautions in place. Masking. It sounds like you're considering how you're grouping people at recess and breaks. What MIT

084found out is if you focus on everyone wearing a mask, if you focus on grouping and limiting distance wearing a mask, when they can't be masked, like eating, recess, breaks, music. When you focus on those activities and make sure people are safe during those unmasked activities, you can pretty much eliminate the risks for getting transmission within the cold. You can't prevent cases from coming in. and prevent them growing further within your school. And like I said, I was really pleased to hear you announce earlier that there have been no transmissions. What I would hope for and leave you with is there is a when to test playbook that I've asked to circulate it. I would like to hear feedback from you. There's a new tool on the website that allows leaders to model what's going

085on in their school and identify how to add testing as a control. So if you add testing, I've worked with the University of Illinois, universities in Massachusetts and across the country that have been adding testing. What this tool does is it helps you decide. what testing you should be doing, which tests, and how often. That maximizes your funds and resources. So it's very focused. It's very practical. And I encourage you all to take a look at it. And I am hoping to hear some feedback. And I want to thank Amy in particular for speaking with me about it. Now your time is up. Thank you. Bye. Is it Talia? um Yes, Talia, your line is live. Hi, yeah. So I'm Talia Siksik, and I'm a student at Tesoro High School. I'm in ninth grade. And

086a lot of our students, a lot of our concerns are that, as everyone knows, the COVID cases are, you know, they're controlled in a way, but as students, it's not really enforced that well. There's proctors going around. And they'll like, you know, tell students like you're not distanced, you're not wearing your mask. But still like they'll go right back right after being told that there's still students like sitting with four people per lunch table on one side. And it's just not enforced well. And it's really, really, really like scary to see, especially coming from someone who just my mom lost her dad to COVID and he was really healthy. was overall looked great and then just suddenly plummeted and this is the excuse a lot of people are saying i'm like oh i'm healthy oh

087i don't have you know any underlying health conditions like neither did he and he passed away very quickly and These, you know, a lot of students are becoming more reckless, especially because they don't know the pure science behind it. They think masks don't work because it's just a piece of cloth on your face. But we studied in one of my bio classes, which was really appreciated, that we were actually able to do a unit on the difference between wearing a mask and not wearing a mask and how the bacterial cultures show up on a plate. And there was 112 bacterial culture difference between wearing one and not wearing one. Obviously, the one having more was not wearing. But there are students who still refuse to believe so and tied in some political statement. But overall,

088the school really needs to enforce these a lot stricter. or there's just no way. And also with curriculums in the school, we need a lot better curriculum on inclusivity, you know, with like inclusivity on different religions, different cultures, people with disabilities and how to accommodate with them. And a huge concern is that we only have one book really as. ninth graders on like inclusivity stuff or maybe two and they're ones that teach about slavery which is To Kill a Mockingbird and the other ones Of Mice and Men which is about someone with a mental disability but that's it and we have a lot of other books we really wish we're able to we were able to read in classes and it's just so insanely important to teach students especially at this young of an age

089about you know, accepting their peers and being nice to their peers, or at least being understanding of them, and especially the LGBTQIA community. Because, again, there's students who either identify as transgender and non-binary and do not identify with their birth name, cannot change their name on school meetings and Google meetings. And there's a student in my class who identifies as non-binary, and our teacher has almost never gotten their name right, keeps misgendering them, keeps dead naming them. Thank you so much. Your time is up. I apologize. to the next speaker. Thank you, Talia. And I'm sorry. Can I have a quick, Judy, do you mind one moment? Excuse me. Superintendent Vitale, even though we do not, this isn't a really given take, I think it's important to make a statement around the safety and what

090we do. Just to reiterate, I'd appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, we were actually just about to do that. So I appreciate that. No, please, no sorries. I think we're all on the same page. We want to reiterate to students and to employees. that if in fact you see someone not following those guidelines, then you need to report it because we have to all follow the guidelines under CDPH. So you can start with... the lowest level. We want all problems solved at the lowest level. So whether that's with your teacher or then with your assistant principal or with your principal, depending on what level you are at, it's just really important. We want to provide then support and training to people so that we can also hold everyone accountable. to the guidelines we've set out tied

091to the California Department of Public Health. So that would be the process. And so I encourage the student on the line to please report that to the office, to either the assistant principal or principal, so that we can navigate that particular situation. We want kids to be safe and feel comfortable on campus. Our next speaker is Liz Swenson. Hello, everyone. I just wanted to make a quick comment. This has nothing to do with what I was going to say, but I was just so very impressed with that last speaker and her bravery in talking about the conditions at our schools. I'm a high school math teacher and I... During break, kind of out my window, so I can't really say anything, many, many students in little clusters without their masks on. And I invite all

092to visit any of our high schools, especially during breaks, especially unannounced. to witness it firsthand. The administrators are very overwhelmed by how little they can do. Sorry, that has nothing to do with what I was going to say. Would you permit me to start at the beginning of my time slot, if that's okay? So I spoke during the closed session advocating for the proposal of the Los Palmas teachers to have an online instruction. For the two weeks following our break, I did so because I believe it is a simple and effective way to follow the advice of the OCDH, the CDPH, and the CDP. They are all strongly advising a 14-day quarantine after travel. This would be a simple and practical step to keeping our community safe. As cases at our schools soar, I have

093a few other suggestions that I believe are also simple and practical and will result in safer schools and safer communities. The first is an additional column. to the dashboard of the cumulative case totals at each school site. This will help parents like myself to make a more informed decision on whether or not to send our students to school. Second, the CDC recommends districts developing policies to encourage sick staff and students stay home without fear of reprisal. This is not the case for students, but teachers are faced with hard decisions, especially new mothers like myself. and new teachers. We are asked to self-quarantine based on travel or mild symptoms, but we would have to give up many or all of our sick days to do so. The district has clearly not followed this recommendation with their

094current policies. Third is another CDC recommendation that has not been followed. Implement procedures for daily symptom monitoring for staff. I currently take temperatures of my students during first period. As a teacher, however, I am never screened. A simple symptom check for staff coupled with penalty-free quarantine would truly garner a safer learning environment. Lastly is testing. Currently tests for staff only are optional and available weekly at the district. This is costly and ineffective. As a layman, it is obvious we do not know our positivity rate unless we test all students and staff that are on campus at one time. These testing events are truly one of our greatest weapons against preventing spread at our schools. Ms. Swinson, I'm sorry, but your time is up. In the district's current model. Thank you. At the end of the

095speakers, we're happy to clarify issues that came up tied to our standard operating procedure. Okay. The next speaker is Jessica Geiger. There we go. Sorry about that. Can you hear me? We can hear you, Jessica. Okay, awesome. Good evening, Superintendent Vital Brulte, trustees and student advisor. The CUC PTSA Legislative Advocacy Team welcomes Trustee Bronstein and Trustee Davis. We look forward to Trustee Bronstein and Trustee Davis serving the students and communities of Areas 2 and 3. Thank you for your service, and we look forward to the opportunity to work with you both. And... A big thank you to our principals and administrators, office staff, and support staff at all our school sites. You have kept our teachers and students going strong through this very difficult year. We appreciate all your hard work and know that you

096all have been tasked with so many extra duties in this extremely different year. Thank you. Thank you. And our last speaker is Raya Ketherpal. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, Raya, go ahead. Okay. Hi, my name is Rhea Katherpaw and I'm a senior at San Clemente High School this year. Today I'll be speaking as a representative from CUSD Against Racism in reference to the agenda item concerning the passing of a supplementary novel list for high schools in our district. The proposed novel list includes pieces that provide representation for previously underrepresented communities within Capstone Unified School District. Their implementation will succeed in empowering not only Black, Indigenous, and people of color students, but also those novels. that are a representative of, or for other communities that will reap benefits from learning through the perspectives of a

097variety of voices that vary from their own. There are many benefits to implementing more diverse literary options into our curriculum. Reading and learning about BIPOC history and literature serves as a first step to combating racism because it broadens students' perspectives on race cultures. This is especially important in high school as it is one of the most impressionable times in a student's life. Diverging from Eurocentric literature through the incorporation of books written by BIPOC authors and about BIPOC stories encourages learning and stimulates education whilst eradicating stigmas surrounding certain marginalized outgroups. creating a better learning environment and catalyzing change through newfound understanding. In a study from 2004 by Colby and Lyon, it was found that multicultural literature can be used as a tool to open students' minds. It helps to stimulate an understanding of diversity in the

098classroom and build an understanding of and respect for people from other cultures. Multicultural literature is a powerful tool that can be utilized in order to weaken, dissolve, and gain a better understanding about racism. BIPOC literature and stories are also extremely beneficial to the motivation and learning of students of color. They cannot relate to the Eurocentric experience. Focusing on narratives other than this narrow perspective is beneficial to students of color because they can engage in and relate to what they're being taught, just as white students are able to with the current state of the novelists in our high schools. This engagement will inevitably motivate students to invest and care for their education. Seeing themselves represented in the content that they are learning is more likely to inspire them to seek higher education, attempt to gain the

099power and overall make an impact on our community and in our society. The supplementary novelist being proposed includes titles from BIPOC authors, including John Lewis and Sean Tan that illustrate certain portions of BIPOC experience. These authors are just a few of the many amazing individuals who have created pieces of literature that have the potential to become foundational pieces in our curriculum. The passing of this novel list will set the tone for future titles and teachings that will help promote lessons of learning and education about anti-racism and anti-bias to students and staff throughout the district. We urge the Board of Trustees to vote in favor of the passing of this novel list tonight for the enrichment of learning experience for all students in Cowan-Sterling Unified School District. Thank you for your time. Thank you. We'll now

100move to the consent calendar. If I can ask for the boards just for a couple minutes, my staff would like to clarify some of the concerns that came up for speakers. Dr. Merwin. Thank you, Superintendent Battelle-Bruelty. We do have a standard operating procedure manual that we have provided to all employees directly, and we revise it regularly to make sure it is updated with the most recent guidance. In that standard operating procedure manual, we have all the information about mask wearing, about distancing, about symptoms, self-screening at home for families and employees, and then also the temperature checks for students when they arrive at school. It also says to stay home when ill, when you have any symptoms. We also would like to say that for if an employee has questions about leave or questions about sick

101leave to go to HRS, if they have questions, go to Human Resource Services. And a lot of the information is on the website, on their website. And finally, we are doing much more than just the one day a week of testing at the district office. In addition to the one day a week for employees. We also have at Sarah High School community testing on Wednesdays and Saturdays that's available to anyone. And pending tonight's board action, we would have exclusive testing for employees during that venue as well. And so we are also looking at additional testing piloting options. So we are working, we have an excellent testing opportunity. Testing system. in place for our employees. So we'll make sure that we communicate that clearly to all employees so that they know that. Thank you. We'll now

102move to the consent calendar. And we have two speakers. Michelle Fossil-Campbell will be the first. Hello? Yes. Hello? Michelle, we can hear you. Hello? Michelle? Yes. Can you hear me? We can hear you. Okay. Thank you. I have a question really fast. Do I have five minutes because it's consent calendar and all of them are grouped together? Her board policy that passed like three years ago? Policy. Yes, that is the policy. Okay. Thank you. I just want to make sure. First, item 19, the California Healthy Kids Survey is a great tool for capturing a moment in time insight into the culture of our schools and districts. I encourage the district to open the parent survey to all parents at the elementary level to capture if problems exist before fifth grade. In special education, we say

103early intervention is the key. The same is true for our school culture. So please gather this data. And thank you for doing this important work with the California Healthy Kids Survey to improve and work on our school culture for all of our kids. Now, on item number 33. Good evening once again. I have to wonder why resolution number 2021-28, role of the board. Powers and responsibilities is on the consent calendar, especially in a meeting where we welcome two new trustees to the board. I know we do this resolution every year, but this year we have new members of our board. I think this resolution is important and that our Board of Trustees put students first over politics or personal agendas should be voted on by a roll call vote and not part of a 29

104item consent calendar. This resolution is the Board's public promise to put students first. Please make this by a roll call vote and keep these ideals at mind when making decisions in this coming year that's going to be full of financial and fiscal challenges. Thank you. Thank you. And Rhonda Whalen? Hello? We can hear you. Okay, great. I wanted to speak to item 16, the temporary employee cell phone allowance item. CSEA has asked for a phone allowance for employees for years and some of our employees are itinerant and they need to communicate with multiple school sites, their supervisors, parents, and others. Time after time, the district has said no to that tool, the tool that we've all become accustomed to using. There's an unspoken expectation that our employees will just continue to use and pay for

105their own cell phones. I'm sorry COVID-19 isn't had a required increased communication, but I don't see the need for the district to pay for that when they withhold that tool from everybody else. An additional thing to consider is that many administrators are now receiving a mileage stipend. And since there are very few in-person meetings and people working at home more, some of those people who would benefit from the phone allowance. may have that cost offset by the mileage stipend they don't need right now. So the other thing is we're talking about deep budget cuts during the coming years. And I just think that this is an expense that trustees might want to consider voting against. So thank you. Thank you. That concludes our speakers. Do we have, do any trustees have anything from the consent

106calendar they'd like to hold? I'll go ahead and following up with the speaker, Michelle Postle-Campbell, I think it would be great to pull item 33. We could read it and then vote on it with a roll call vote. I think it would be fine. She's brought it up. We can read that into the record and I would like to pull the item then. Okay. Any others? I would like to pull item 19 and item 17 and 17. Okay, so we've pulled 33, 19, and 17. Anyone have any others? Do we have a motion to? I move to approve the balance. Second. Trustee McNicholas moved, made the motion, and Trustee Hanachek, second. And can we take a vote? Student Advisor Boshkart? Aye. Trustee Bronstein? Aye. Trustee Bullekas? Aye. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee

107Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. 7-0 vote. And we'll move on to, should we look at number 17 first? Do you want to? Are you doing that at the end? Yeah. Okay. So let's move to discussion action items. And should we then start with 33? We can move all to the back of the agenda and start with 35. Okay. I think we have some speakers and we have students involved in 35. Okay. So number 35, the cultural proficiency plan. We'd like to recognize Susan Holliday, Chief Administrative Officer, Education Support Services to present the item. Thank you, Board President Fulicis, Trustees, Superintendent Mittal Pruelty. Both Dr. Merwin and I are very proud to share with you this evening the cultural proficiency plan. On November 4th, Board of Trustees held a board workshop to review

108the draft cultural proficiency plan. Trustees provided specific feedback and direction on each of the plan's seven goals. Following the board workshop, a larger cultural proficiency task force committee met, including the CSD Against Racism Corps organizers who are also members of this committee. And this committee provided additional feedback. and input. The plan before you this evening was updated to reflect only feedback trustees directed. For example, I won't go through every single bullet that's in the report, but I'll just hit a few high level pieces of feedback. Adding web link crew programs to plans, developing policy language to support LGBTQ students, developing multiple ways to report bullying and outreach to increase awareness. the focus on early intervention tied to suspension rate, a review of practices that are not accessible or inequitable, such as our yearbook costs, updating

109our ethnic studies course timeline, increasing parent engagement and outreach around absenteeism, access to AP classes starting in middle school, expanding partnership to CCA, and making sure our students with disabilities are highlighted in our plan as well. The feedback and input received from the Culture Proficiency Committee on November 5th has been identified in the report only as additional staff recommendations. These staff recommendations include actions that our committee would like to incorporate into the plan pending trustee approval of this item this evening. For example, after each goal or when applicable, you'll see staff outlined an additional recommendation. These recommendations include the inclusion of anti-racism components in professional learning, parent education, and culture proficiency, and looking at additional policies through the lens of culture proficiency. Following the approval of the plan, staff would begin to develop an implementation

110plan where we would be able to progress monitor and put accountability steps into place, and we'd like to begin this work as soon as this plan is approved. Both Dr. Merwin and I are available to answer questions tied to this plan. Thank you. Okay, and we do have 12 speakers. We'll start with Olivia Fu. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead, Olivia. Hi, my name is Olivia. I'm one of the core organizers with CUSC Against Racism, and we are very excited to see this plan come before the board today. This is a product of a lot of work. Back when we presented our open letter and our testimonies in June of this year, there was no clear plan from the district as to how to confront racism in CUSC schools. But since then, we've

111been moved to see how the district has worked to address these problems on multiple levels and have been very grateful for the opportunity to work with the the Cultural Proficiency Task Force and district leadership to provide feedback on this plan and to other changes to district policies and practices. We want to say that we would love to see this plan approved with the additional recommendations, both those already included in the plan from staff and some additional ones that we will be discussing tonight. This plan is certainly a good start and a great first step. It lays the foundation for a lot of the changes we want to see in the district, but in several places, it does not go far enough to address these problems with the urgency and the force that is needed. We

112still have some reservations on some of the timelines for implementation for the plan and would like to see some more ambitious target metrics. For example, the target goal for 2023 is that improvement in school climate will result in a 5% or greater reduction in harassment, as reported by identified student groups on the California Healthy Kids Surveys in 7th, 9th, and 11th grade. However, in this survey... 42% of black students in 11th grade reported being harassed on one of the six spaces compared to 22% of white students in 11th grade. A 5% reduction doesn't do enough to reduce this major discrepancy, which is close to twice the rate for black students as it is for white students. We encourage the board, sorry, similarly, black students and disabled students, Suspended at almost double the rate as students

113as a whole in the district. And so it's important to include comparison metrics for white students and the target metrics for each goal to understand the complete picture. We understand, we encourage the board to push on and challenge on some of these timelines and metrics. And if they're not addressed now, push that we have an even more vigorous implementation plan. for the plan to be successful and needs to be prioritized, especially in supporting its funding and resourcing needs. Finally, the full breadth of the anti-racist reforms that are needed in CUSC aren't limited to these seven goal areas outlined in the plan. And we will continue to push for cultural proficiency and anti-racism to guide every decision the district makes in every aspect of student life. Thank you. And that's all. Thank you. Solay Sarmiento. Hello.

114We can hear you. Hi. Hi, my name is Solay Sarmiento, and I am an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley and a core organizer of CUSD Against Racism. Today, I will share concerns that CUSD Against Racism and members of the community have regarding the student populations targeted throughout the three-year action plan. Although teacher unconscious bias trainings, the implementation of PBIS and a more diverse curriculum across schools will have positive effects on all grade levels, the plan primarily targets high school populations and does not have enough ambitious strategies to address inequities in elementary and middle schools. The high school reforms proposed within this plan should be partnered with ambitious elementary school and middle school initiatives. For example, the plan recognizes that there is disproportionate representation of BIPOC students in AP courses. However, it initially failed to address

115gate tracking and how it affects student outcomes of BIPOC students. Our concerns regarding educational pathways for elementary school populations should not simply be something that is appended to the recommendation section of Goal 7. We would like to see the district move towards a more progressive and inclusive educational style within elementary schools so that by the time students of color get to high school, they're taking AP and honors classes to the extent that their white counterparts are. This can be done, for example, by adopting UDL-type embedded honors frameworks at elementary schools. Overall, it is important that the district create more ambitious goals to transform campus cultures at elementary schools that go beyond giving presentations on bullying as per goal two and the importance of school attendance as per strategy 5.2. Otherwise, students in elementary schools will

116continue to face the same injustices that were shared with the board in our open letter and student testimonies this past summer. At the same time as this three-year action plan for equity is being proposed, elementary school social justice modules that address racism have been taken down by the district, and teachers from all schools are being prevented from putting signs up in their classrooms that say Black Lives Matter. If the district truly wants to see progress made, it therefore must be willing to start creating a safe space for students of color and included from the beginning of their academic career. Thank you. Tess Mathis? Hello, can you hear me? Yes, Tess, go ahead. Hello, my name is Tess Mathis. I'm an alumna from Dana Hills High School and a core organizer for CUSD Against Racism. My

117fellow members have spoken on the refinement of the action plan. I would like to speak on the PROMIS implementation plan. In the implementation plan, it is of utmost significance to explicitly explain the process to which each school site will not only apply the action plan, but how this process will be monitored. It is crucial that the implementation plan includes how the district will progress monitor the success of each stage at each respective school. We must acknowledge that this is not a simplistic one to two year process, so it must be stated how the district will ensure complete success of the plan for all time. While I would like to emphasize the gravity of teacher-led implementation, it is essential that the action plan's implementation be a collective and collaborative effort. Your students and staff must feel

118supported by the district and its leadership to implement the three-year action plan that has been proposed today. You as a district are responsible for addressing the over 800 testimonies we have received. Therefore, we would like to see the implementation plan go a step further to address how each goal area will be achieved. We want to ensure that this plan is passed on to school sites, that as this plan is passed on to school sites, that the integrity of the plan is not diminished and that its goal areas are considered. Thus, leadership must define and be accountable for maintaining the action plan over time. In cohesion with implementation is outreach. For example, in goal one, the plan mentions increasing parent outreach to minority communities, specifically ELAC and DELAC. In the implementation plan, we would like to

119see exactly what steps are going to be taken beyond including ELAC and DELAC, recognizing the large population of Spanish speakers that are not involved in such programs. We must see explicit details concurring other forms of such outreach. We expect to see definite actions taken to both ensure a collective implementation process and the progress monitoring at each step of the action plan. I thank the board for their time. Thank you. Esther Mafuta? Hello, can you hear me? Yes, Esther. Hi, so my name is Esther Mafuta and I'm also a core organizer at CUSD Against Racism. I graduated from St. Clementine High School last year and I'm currently a freshman at Columbia University. So I'll be speaking on another area of concern we found in the Cultural Proficiency Task Force's action plan, which was the lack of

120explicitly mentioning the inequities we need to address and the people this plan is meant to support and protect, the marginalized groups, which for reference includes LGBTQ. plus IA, racial and religious and racial and religious minorities and many other marginalized groups. We have been in discussion with the Cultural Proficiency Task Force and the district and in every one of our discussions we have made sure to bring this issue up. I want the public to know that at first, racism was never once mentioned in this plan and the word race was mentioned only once. This in itself was highly concerning because how was this plan meant to address the issues of race and racism that we have at this district if we cannot explicitly mention it in this action plan? So that was before. But I believe

121that as of now, if the plan passes with the staff recommendations, then there will be, quote, more representation of anti-racism within the plan with the inclusion of anti-racism components in professional learning, parent education, and cultural proficiency lessons, end quote. And that is a great start. But we at CUSD Against Racism want to be very clear that this is just a start. This plan is not just an action plan for the next three years. This plan is and should be incorporated into the core essence of the district, implemented at every school site and used in reference not just for the next three years, but for many years to come. Besides strategy one, which works to address chronic absenteeism for those explicitly mentioned student groups in the plan, the other sections need to explicitly state the specific

122strategy or line item that is tailored to. And oftentimes it's a roundabout way of saying. the marginalized groups on campus. For instance, when writing line items on increased student representation in the Cultural Perficiency Task Force, we would like to see it explicitly mentioned that the student representation we need is those of BIPOC students and those of all other marginalized groups, such as the groups I mentioned before. Those are the groups whose voices we need to hear. And in order to hear them, we need to be explicitly mentioning them in the plan, not just in this lightening item that I mentioned, but all throughout the plan. Because years from now, school sites should be able to discern exactly what steps they should taking to align themselves with this plan. We do appreciate all the hard work

123the district and the cultural proficiency task force has been putting in, but we all must recognize that we must hold ourselves accountable every step of the way, not just when it's time to implement the plan. We need to ensure that this action plan is the most ambitious and all-encompassing that it can possibly be. We must be unafraid to tackle the issues at hand and ensure that all students on Capo USD campuses are welcome and supported. Thank you. I yield my time. Thank you. Serena Iyer? Hi there, can you hear me? Yes, Serena. Okay. Hi, my name is Serena Iyer, and I am a senior and one of the current leads of the San Juan Hills Against Racism Task Force. Over the past few months, CUSD has been the hanging of Black Lives Matter posters for

124teachers and counselors. This is unacceptable. Students of color should feel safe at school, and these posters are indicative of safe spaces for them. As a student of color, you should know that you have your district rallying behind you to help you feel supported at school. After all, that's part of the district's job, to support all students, including those of color. The district has stated if they were to allow Black Lives Matter posters to be displayed, they would also have to allow other, quote, political sentiments such as NRA posters. However, the crucial distinction is that Black Lives Matter isn't political. It's a matter of human rights. Showing support for basic equality should not be controversial in any way, shape, or form. Remember that we are talking about the statement Black Lives Matter, not defund the police

125or anything else. Just because some parents in the district do not agree with the simple statement that Black Lives Matter, this does not mean that the district should be catering to them. CUSD should be more concerned with ensuring that the students of color and LGBTQ students feel safe and supported at school, rather than bending over backwards to avoid offending parents who are up in arms about the simple statement that their lives matter. Teachers and counselors who are ready to display Black Lives Matter signs need to be supported, as well as teachers who want to display LGBTQ flags. Displaying these posters should instead be encouraged. These posters stand for inclusion and equality. It is the job of the district to ensure that all the students of color at their schools feel safe and included. Banning Black

126Lives Matter posters is a step in the wrong direction. As said before, Black Lives Matter isn't political. Students of color deserve to go to a school where they feel safe and included. While these posters will not fix all of the issues with racism on our school campuses, it is one way for teachers and counselors to identify their promise. A promise that they stand with their students of color as strong and powerful allies. On behalf of CUSD Against Racism, we hope that you will reconsider your stance on this issue. CUSD has the potential to do better and be better. There are easy ways for our district to be more welcoming to people of color in our schools. We, the students, see that. We hope you do too. You have the power to change it and we

127sincerely hope you do. Thank you. Thank you. And Stephanie who? Hello, can you hear me? Yes, Stephanie, go ahead. Hello, my name is Stephanie and I am a junior at Tesoro High School and a co-organizer at CSC Against Racism. And I want to thank all of you today for listening to the recommendations and suggestions regarding the Cultural Proficiency Task Force plan. Even more, we want to thank the Cultural Proficiency Task Force for their tireless work. CSC Against Racism has been in contact with them since our founding and have seen the time and effort they put into crafting this plan. In addition, we appreciate incorporating CUSD against racism and students from prospective high school to the task force, directly giving a voice to our students. We're very excited to continue seeing improvements made to the plan

128to create a safer, more inclusive environment for all students. It is because we have witnessed firsthand the hard work of the Cultural Proficiency Task Force that we urge CUSD to also compensate the leaders of the task force for their work. The women of color who head the Cultural Proficiency Task Force deserve to be recognized for the countless hours they put into creating a safer environment for students of color. These leaders have listened to us and other students, taken in our feedback, and fully have our support. In addition, compensation may help to shorten timelines as seen on the Cultural Proficiency Task Force's three-year plan, making our campuses the best that they can be. Furthermore, we urge the board to pass the novelist today. These novels from Black, Indigenous, and people of color authors offer a variety

129of perspectives that can broaden a certain audience's world view. There are stories detailing BIPOC experiences by authors of color. By passing the novelist, our students will be able to see themselves in the classroom while other students are encouraged to understand students of color's experiences. To conclude, today we heard from members of CUS Deacons Racism the importance of But moreover, the importance of improving it, the importance of recognizing that this plan is merely a starting point, the first draft of the necessary improvements that need to be made to this action plan. This plan needs to be more ambitious, as it will not just affect us, but many more years to come. As seen by the 800 testimonies we collected from students in our district, our students don't feel safe enough or welcome enough or included enough

130in CUSD. They don't feel seen or heard. It is therefore our responsibility as a district to ensure that the strategies and plans we employ reflect our value of protecting students. While the three-year plan is the beginning to this effort, we expect the district to specifically outline how each goal area will be achieved in the implementation plan, and we'll gladly aid the district by presenting perspective. Thank you so much again, and we look forward to continue working with the board and the cultural workforce in the near future. Thank you. Victoria Mendez? Hi, can you hear me? Yes, Victoria, go ahead. Hi, thank you. My name is Victoria and I'm an organizer with CUSC Against Racism. I first off just want to say that this plan represents a very good and very important step forward for CUSC.

131It has been great to be able to help push the district towards making something like this. And we do see a lot of the components of what we have been asking for worked into this plan. And because of that, as some of the other CUSC Against Racism students and alumni have said, we overall support passing this plan with the additional staff recommendations. However, we do hope to see the district go even further and be more ambitious going forward in all of the ways that my fellow commenters have discussed. And on top of that, there are also some smaller changes to the plan that we think are very important and easy for the board to make tonight. And I will focus on talking through some of these more minor changes right now. First, the plan currently

132conflates Blue Ribbon Week and Ability Awareness Week as the same thing. Blue Ribbon Week was actually brought to CUSD originally by Cool to be Kind students after my brother Daniel Mendez ended his life after years of incessant bullying and racist bullying in CUSD schools. Blue Ribbon Week focuses on anti-bullying awareness and education specifically, so it is important that that is corrected. Mobility awareness and Blue Ribbon Week should be listed as separate items with their own outcomes to avoid confusion. Also, we would like to see an additional line item on creating a bullying transparency report that would describe an aggregate incidence of bullying reported at each school site, including outcomes of those investigations, actions taken to address the incident, and how many of the incidents were racist, homophobic, or transphobic, or otherwise discriminatory in nature. And

133we have been told by CUSD staff that this will be happening later, but we would like to see it listed explicitly in this plan to make sure that this effort stays on track. And we think that that will be important because of all of the students and families who have commented about bullying and our testimonies and open letters. Finally, the plan states that the district will explore developing a policy on supporting LGBTQ students, but we think it would be better for CUSD to simply just commit to developing a policy on supporting LGBTQ students. They deserve that much from their school district. We believe that these changes are both important and very simple to make tonight. We hope that the board will support passing the plan tonight with these changes and with the staff recommendation. I

134want to thank the task force and the district staff for all of their hard work on this and willingness to meet with us and hear some of our feedback, as well as to all of the students and alumni who have fought so hard for this. Thank you. I yield my time. Thank you, Victoria. Vanessa Santos. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, Vanessa, go ahead. Hi, sorry. Hi, my name is Vanessa, and I'm a mother of two young boys in elementary school in the district. Congratulations to the new board initiated tonight, and thank you for the opportunity to speak. I found it interesting that tonight you all pledged to serve in faith to our United States Constitution. I thought I would take a moment to read the first sentence of that formative document. We, the people

135of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. I believe there is more we can do to support all of our students so they all feel seen and welcome in our school district and in their education. I am struck by the fact that the opening lines of the Constitution give us the outline I believe required to form our compass. We want to form a more perfect union. We want to establish justice and ensure tranquility. We want to promote our defense and our general welfare. we are called to secure the blessing of liberty, not only for

136ourselves, but for posterity. I believe this is all alive in the work being done by the Cultural Proficiency Task Force and student-led groups like CUSD Against Racism. Thank you for supporting their efforts, and I would only ask that we also think about work that could be done at our elementary and middle school levels to create more culturally proficient students. There is such a beauty in our diversity, and I would like to see our students to seize, recognize, and celebrate that. No student should feel unsafe or unwelcome on our campuses simply for who they are. Thank you. I yield my time. Thank you. Sarah Polster? Okay. Can you hear me? Yes, Sarah. Go ahead. Okay, fantastic. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Sarah Polster. I am a French teacher at Aliso-Nagel High School. I'm glad to see

137that the district is moving forward with their work on cultural proficiency. As a language teacher, it's definitely a topic that's close to my heart. The reason I signed up to speak on this item tonight is to suggest an additional way to support this mission. Has the task force considered how world language classes can play an important role here? The way world languages are taught has evolved greatly in the last 20 years. It's not just about conjugating verbs and regurgitating a list of vocabulary. It's a great avenue for exploring diverse perspectives. In fact, California got new world language standards in 2019, and one section specifically addresses this shift in instruction with a list of then and now comparisons. I'd like to point out number seven from that list, which focuses specifically on cultures. So then was

138a focus on isolated cultural factoids. Now there's a focus on relationships among products, practices, and perspectives. So now students learn the target culture through the target language. Now students learn to function in culturally appropriate ways. Now students learn target culture perspectives that underlie cultural products and practices. Now students learn about the effects of intercultural influences. These things are baked right into our standards. The new 2019 California World Language Standards are organized around 13 standards, four of which specifically address culture and diverse perspectives. However, our current materials are pushing 20 years old and are not reflective of these shifts in practice. If we as a district say that cultural proficiency and acceptance are priorities, A very concrete way to back those words up with actions is by adopting current world language materials that reflect those values

139and facilitate cultural competency to a greater degree. Real change in attitudes and perspectives come from greater understanding that is gained by interacting with other cultures and different perspectives in a meaningful way. We have this opportunity to build that with students over a four-year course of study. But to be truly effective, we need the support of up-to-date materials that integrate cultural proficiency as a priority. I hope that the district will continue their work on cultural proficiency and consider how a well-supported world language program with a modern curriculum is a natural extension in support of that mission. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I yield my time. Thank you. Michelle Fossil-Campbell. Goody, thank. I hope you listen to the input of our amazing student leaders. They are so articulate and so wise. There are

140big concerns with this plan, but I want to acknowledge the big improvements in the current plans versus what we saw in November. I still have concerns regarding bullying. I want to make sure that this includes not only the peer-to-peer bullying that we've talked about, but also student-to-staff and staff-to-student bullying. Both have been addressed and commented upon by CUSD Against Racism students. I also have concerns in Section 6.2. about why education specialists have been signaled out for educating on A through G requirements. Why are not all teachers at the high school level responsible? Signaling out one group of educators, but leaving it as a blanket group of students, not just the kids with IEPs who would be on their caseloads, but all students, seems to be an issue. All teachers in high school. should be continually

141reminding students and families of A through G requirements, not just the education specialists. They already are targeting so many specific goals and ideas and plans for their students. And yes, they do need to talk about A through G, but they shouldn't be the only teachers who have that as a listed responsibility. Thank you. Thank you. Rhonda Whalen. Some of my comments have already been covered by others, so I'm going to yield my time. Okay, thank you, Rhonda. And our final speaker, Jessica Geyer. Good evening again. I applaud your addition of the language that was added this evening directed at anti-racist education. I ask that you consider making the Cultural Proficiency Task Force a standing committee as this work will be ongoing and will never be finished with progress monitoring. This will allow for community members

142that were not able to participate in the current committee to have an opportunity at a later time and continue this work. This will also signal to your students and the community that cultural proficiency is a priority and not just simply checking a box. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that concludes our comments, public comments for cultural proficiency plan. Comments or questions from any of our trustees? Yeah, I have a couple of comments. So going back, I just have a couple of questions. Can you explain where everybody belongs and then what exactly that is? And then I know our high schools have link accrue, but I'm assuming we're adding this to the, at the middle school level. Thank you, Krista. Trustee Castellanos, does that complete your questions? I'm sorry. I have a couple more, but I'll start

143back up. So in regards to Link Crew and Webb, I know many of our schools already have a program. So what we'd be doing is working with those schools to identify which ones they want to look at implementing, which one is a fit for their school. And so that would be a school-based decision that we would work with them on through their team and their leadership team. And where everybody belongs? Is that located? Where is it located right now? Yeah, what can you describe it? Stacey Yogi or Jen Smalley, one of the individuals that may be on the line with us, will be able to potentially explain that. Okay. Let me see if Jen Smalley is familiar with it. Jen? Okay, maybe I'll ask Stacey Yogi. If not, we definitely can get back to you

144with the details of it. It's similar to Link Crew, where you're welcoming, having a system in place to welcome students new to your school, giving them maybe a boot camp, telling them where resources are. I was just wondering if it was for a different age group, or if it was just similar to Link Crew, and it was just a different type of program, like a welcoming program. Hi, this is Stacey. Can you hear me? Yes. Rebecca Pianta had shared with me that the web program is the middle school version and the link crew is the high school version. And they're both evidence-based programs that we would be sharing the information with the school sites. Like Dr. Holliday said. Some of our middle schools already have it and some of our high schools already have it,

145but it's not something that's across the board. So we would be sharing the evidence-based programs with the schools that don't have it to try and expand it. Thank you, Stacey. And then just a quick question about the ethnic studies class. So I know this is a three-year plan, but when looking at the timeline of implementing that course, it takes two years just to kind of develop the course and then two years to pilot the course and then not approval till 2025. So why is that timeline so extended versus the rest of the plan? So thank you. That is a fabulous question. Our cultural proficiency team asked the same thing the other day and really working with closely with Virginia Reichel, who would be supporting this. She's actually working now with students to get feedback on,

146we have an apex course that's built out. We want to learn what is working well, what needs to be augmented, but that's not the course that we would be delivering. It's just a learning opportunity for our. our team. We also have to wait and see what the state approves. So the state will have on their board agenda on in about, I think it's March of 2021. And when they approve the standards, part of that process is, is that we have to take it as a district and then. get district input and community input tied to those standards so that it fits in our community. They want it to make sure that it's something that is a reflection of their community. So we need that time and that process to be able to go through that

147with our staff and our students and our community. And then once we've done that, we can... pilot materials and look at those materials or build our materials and then actually start to train and implement on that. So it is a longer timeline, but we need that timeline in order to make it personal to our school district. And then under chronic absenteeism, we have an example of home visits, which I think is a fabulous idea. Do we do home visits now? And are we going to be working with an agency who will do that? Or will it be done through the district? We do do home visits now. We've actually had them take place during COVID while we're trying to support families and students getting back to school and connecting. We are updating those protocols and

148expectations around those home visits as well. And then there's a second part of that question is if we'll continue them or... I was just wondering if we did them specifically with CUSD or if we contracted with an agency that went out and did them, like who? Currently we do and we partner with our SROs. Mr. Beekman often does that or work with our bilingual community liaisons as well. Okay, thank you. Can I dovetail on that question, Dr. Holliday, and ask you with what we've learned in the home visits through this year with COVID, have we found commonalities? Have we ascertained that there might be programs or steps we could take to help these families? Or is it just all over the map and it's going to be quite a challenge in terms of helping these

149families? with the absenteeism and getting their kids at school. Thank you, Trustee Villicose. From what I have heard and learned, most of the visits we see are families that do not have childcare or it's an older sibling that is home with the younger siblings. They are issued devices that aren't logging in or connecting. There's not enough adult supervision. So that's what we... observed so far in regards to our site visits is it's that lack of access to getting to school or lack of supervision to get them online and get them connected. Thank you. I have a question. How do we plan to monitor whether we're implementing it or not? I am a little concerned. Like, I think this is a great first step towards tackling. I'm sorry. Can you hear me? I think this is

150a great first step towards tackling this, but I am concerned. It's one of those things where we're going to pass it and then we're going to move on to something else. We're not going to actually know whether or not it's being implemented. And I also want to know about the feasibility of keeping the cultural task force going as an ongoing group. Thank you. So the best way to explain it, it would be in previous years, we've had strategic plans come forward to the boards. The most recent plan we had brought to the board was our special education strategic plan. And when that plan came forward, the next piece after the plan was adopted was to actually create an implementation plan. And that implementation plan comes back with clearly delineating. timelines, who's responsible, and how exactly

151you monitor specific actions within each strategy. So that would be our next step tied to this plan is to actually develop that implementation piece that has more of the details and action steps, who's actually going to do the work, how that work is going to get done, who's going to monitor that work. How are we going to reflect that work maybe on a dashboard along the way as a progress monitoring tool? In addition, I think one of the most important pieces in our implementation plan will be. how we work with our sites and how the sites then implement this work. So I think that's a really key piece to making this all doable. It's a very large plan has, I feel lofty and ambitious goals for our district that I think are all very doable.

152And I do feel that it will evolve as we learn because we are gonna uncover at different schools and different places, areas that we wanna shore up. And do you foresee adding more about the primary school, elementary and middle school in the future? Or do you think this plan will work there too? I think it is comprehensive. I kind of went through real quick and just made a tick next to everything I think that is a K-12 initiative. And so many of them actually are K-12. We might not delineate that it's elementary, but we have a focus. We'll do restorative justice. We'll do PBIS. We have counselors. We have lessons. We have materials. We have training. That's all. K-12 and it's really important that we do start early. There's no harm in delineating and adding

153specifically some elementary components in there if trustees would like to do so, but I do feel many of them do cover it. I was going to mention too, another way that we can progress monitor together is to bring an update back to the board. So we have a public, transparent way of checking in to say, okay, we said we were going to do this. Where are we now? So whether that is March and September, and we have to think about the right timeframe for this given passing the plan tonight, and I'm sure the staff can make a recommendation, but I highly encourage us to do that because I think it holds us collectively accountable. And may I jump in, President Volokhos? Also, it does say in the board report that the task force would meet

154quarterly to monitor implementation. So that's a key part of this is that the task force is continuing to monitor and then making those reports to the board. That is clearly spelled out. And I would like to just... expand a little bit on the fact that we do have an excellent template for an implementation guide from our special education strategic plan work. So we don't have to try to develop an implementation guide template or structure from scratch. We have one that works and we know it's the accountability measure where. you have the task force monitoring and then making reports to the board regularly, that'll be the key. So I think that will absolutely get at what our speakers were saying tonight, that importance of accountability and implementation is in that structure. I have a question. In

155a part of Exhibit 35 is we have the financial implications. And for those who are listening tonight, I'd like you to respond. I had asked this question and you gave a response back, but we had a lot of incredible goals pre-COVID. We were going to go great guns. We had programs. We were excited about things that we were going to do. COVID came along and, you know, we had to put on the brakes. And this is not something we... can or should kick down the road. But if you could express, because we are in challenging times budgetarily and waiting for the state of California to have their new budget in January and all. Can you express to everyone listening in terms of in general, this funding source that we have, whether you feel that there

156are certainly elements here we are able to move forward with or what the implications are. in financially funding this plan that we are looking to approve. Thank you, Trustee Villegas. So what I think is interesting is this plan memorialized so much of the work we're already doing and really need to make sure we're prioritizing, setting the right funding next to that priority and then initiating it. So for example, PBIS is an important goal. of the district and of the board. And this memorializes this into the plan and make sure that title funding is dedicated and allocated to that. Many of these areas within in the proposed... expenditures are title funded or funded through grant or federal funds that align to meeting the requirements of that grant as well. So I feel as though that we'll

157go through our normal budgetary process with the board and make sure that these items are brought forward to the board through the normal budget process, whether that's hiring training for PBIS or whether that's implementing a new program, those will come to the board as we move through each. every budget item and you'll approve those as we move through. So this isn't necessarily something you're approving tonight as fiscally you're gonna expend the money on these things, but we're letting you know where we would budget these items and bring them back to the board. Thank you. I have a question or unless somebody else has their light on. Okay, I have a couple of questions and then I have a procedural thing. Okay, in 1.2, under the No Place for Hate, the ADL program, what San Clemente

158High School is currently doing, is that going to be district-wide or, and is it high school only? What are our plans for a program like that? Are we still just in the pilot stage and going to think about it? We have actually met with one of the main organizers multiple times and we continue to work on partnering on training opportunities, not just the specific No Place to Hate, but also other training opportunities for teachers and staff, classified. district department staff to participate. So we'll continue to do that and continue to update the board as we can look at other ways of providing training, whether it's optional or voluntary, and then continue to encourage and work with our school sites to adopt this program as well. We want to make sure the sites are ready to

159embrace it, and we want to make sure they're ready to lead this work. And so that's a really important part of the process as well. Wonderful, so you're getting, you know, buy-in bottom up. That's fantastic. And thank you guys all for this work. I wanted to just double check. Ms. Mendez, Victoria Mendez brought up some kind of language changes. You guys probably already captured them. I don't know if you need to talk about them. I do have a copy here of what she had presented. I don't know if that's something the board would need to revisit it as well. So I've got them in front of me, but we don't need to do them step by step if the board doesn't need to hear them. If the board would like to amend the plan with

160that language, then we're happy to then have a friendly amendment, which then we would incorporate into the plan in any of the, whether it's that or other comments that were made earlier. I also want staff to take a minute. There was a student comment that you would be passing novels tonight, and that is not part of this plan. So I just want a full transparency to our public that it's the list of novels is not an action item tonight. I would like to, I didn't quite understand Ms. Mendez's comments. So if it is, I have them point by point, some of them are very simple. And so on page, if we want to start, it's actually page 375 of 423. There was a suggestion that the language there says we have down as or not

161limited to. they were suggesting as including, but not limited to. It made more sense to them. And her reasoning being should be changed, said that makes sense in a definition. So as including, but not limited to. So striking as or not limited. It would be on your packet. Yeah, 375, but where on the page? Oh, I'm sorry. It is the last blue cell on what is to be done. Yeah, sorry. To me, that doesn't make sense grammatically. I understand the intent. That's fine. I mean, that's for the board to discuss. So that was a suggestion from them. I understand the intent and I agree. Right. But it doesn't make sense grammatically. So I don't know if somebody wants to. I'm not a grammarian. You don't say define bullying including. Amy, I'll rewrite that. And if

162you go on, I will come up with some language that will satisfy Martha. Okay. And then, Victoria, on the next page, which would be our page of our item 376, at the very bottom, you know, we had put in Language Explore. And they, of course, are hoping for action-oriented to develop or developing board policy on support for LGBTQ. Didn't we change it? Right now we have explore. So there's no commitment and they're looking to go right into on that to develop a board policy on support for LBGTQ students. Action oriented. Okay. I was going to comment on that later, but I. I would like to see a draft policy as opposed, I like the exploring because I went through about six policies that I really think we have LGBTQ covered in a number of areas.

163And I don't really see a reason to segregate that out. as opposed to any other groups. So I like the word exploring as opposed to a commitment. I think that, I think it's, even though we used explore, we still have a commitment. I think that's what we're looking at. Yeah, you have a commitment to explore. How about a commitment to explore? Whether you say explore or review, I have to say I have the same comment as Trustee McNicholas. I felt the same way. Okay. So, but maybe review. But again, it's just I'm just relaying that there's hope for a commitment there. Because when it seems a little open ended, well, we'll review. We don't like any of them. We're not doing it. And but Martha is just profile that there's a lot to choose from.

164So, yeah, we will need to do explore, review and all of it before we find the right one. Right. Could we say explore, review and implement changes that support? Yes. And how about that? Fabulous. There you go. There's the word. Okay. Thank you. Somebody write that down. Yeah. Dr. Merwin has it. I think he's pretty fast over there. I think. Okay. What else? Okay. So then on page 377. Again, they were looking at that language that Gila was going to consider rewriting. So it's the first one. It's the same thing, Gila. So it's on page 377. We used as or not limited to. So if you wanted to look at that. And then on page, let's switch to. Here we go. It would be page 382 of our item where they're looking to bifurcate ability

165awareness and blue ribbon. That they are two very exclusive items. And I have her reasoning again that she had commented to us that they're two very different things. They are conflated. Are you saying they should be separated? Separated, yes. Which two? One, two, three, you go down, it says ability awareness and blue ribbon week. We put those together and they really are very, very separate items. So I love that suggestion from them. So there was that. And I believe that is all of the suggestions that I've relayed that she had put forth. Okay. Thank you, Amy, for influencing that because I missed it when I was trying to listen. I know it's hard. Boy, it's not me. They are the most organized, amazing people on the planet and you get it all spelled out. I

166wouldn't be able to begin. So thank you. Well, and on that note, because they really are very astute young people. There was a lot of things being said. I made some overall, but did anybody else catch things or? Dr. Holliday, Mr. Merwin, are there things that we also need to discuss whether we would approve putting into the plan according to their recommendations? I think there's also the additional recommendations in the report itself to just make sure that you are aware of those goal by goal. You can see them as those that were separated out from the board workshop that came after. So those, I would just say. we should be aware of those as well. Okay so could we consider in the what did we call it the budget essentially the financial implications the French

167teacher Sarah Polster that we've got 20 year old materials and she said four out of the 13 points were about in her French class in terms of the new standards about cultural differences can we kind of take a look at that? I have a question on the additional recommendations as listed. Do we have to decide tonight whether we want to include those or not? Or are they just listed as, if we approve it as is, are they just listed as something else to think about? Or do we have to say yes or no on the additional? Yeah, we have to address it now. I have a related question on that. And I know this question might be a little embarrassing. My understanding is that the several of the speakers who spoke tonight are involved in

168the task force. So the things that they mentioned additionally, had those been brought up within the task force or were this, was this primarily new information to us tonight? That's a good question. Thank you. Sorry about that. Thank you, Trustee Jones. So I think what's interesting is we've had wonderful conversations with CUSD against racism. And in some platforms, it's just us just having a conversation or it's having a conversation maybe about the bullying policy or discipline handbooks. And then that gets. merged into this plan in their minds, but might not necessarily be part of the task force feedback. So I think that's the hard part is when is it actually feedback that was given during the task force meetings where everybody was participating. And then when we had opportunities to engage around specific questions that

169the CUSD Against Racism group had, maybe about a bullying policy or procedures. And so I think there was a disconnect potentially. maybe with me or my team, making sure like what those pieces were also included in the plan, but they weren't always memorialized when we were the bigger group, I guess you could say. Okay, that makes sense. And I thought, you know, once in a while I couldn't hear or well understand, but I thought that what I did hear, the vast majority were good suggestions. We had, I don't remember if it was a board meeting or workshop where we talked about this recently, and all the trustees gave input. We had a little bit of input. via Zoom from their group, but not a lot, I don't think. And I feel like I would like

170to pass this tonight with relatively few changes. Not that the suggestions are not great. It's just that... We're talking about editing from the dais, basically. And that is always a bad practice. I feel like I would like to pass this tonight and maybe revisit it with the input of CUSD against racism. I applaud what they've said. I just... I think that it's sometimes not understood that at a large government entity like ours, you're turning a battleship when you're making changes. And if we are doing a lot of course corrections to this battleship on the floor here tonight, we're never gonna get anywhere with it. We need to pass this and start, well, continue, but be doing things and tweak it maybe in another in six months or whatever, I don't know. I'm just really reluctant

171to get too much into the weeds on this tonight and argue and as you say, the actual district task force, I think we have to honor their work. They started doing this back in, I think February and I'm... a little reluctant to step on their toes if they weren't brought into these discussions. So that's my thought. I mean, I don't want to say we can't make any changes at all. I just don't want to, you know, they may have listed 30 things in the calls we heard tonight. I don't think we can add 30 things on the fly this evening. Can I suggest that since this is a group and based on what they expressed this evening. I'm sure they have written notes and perhaps instead of us trying to make sure we captured everything,

172if we spoke to them, ask them to submit it. I mean, I think we're looking for our task force to vet out this because that's why we had the task force and it's going to go forward that it would make sense that they then submitted and that then, because this is something that's going to evolve and that it could be added. Isn't that what these italicized additional recommendations are? So they've already done that. So a lot of what they mentioned tonight on the phone is not in here. It's not in these italicized recommendations. And that's the problem. And I would really like to pass this very slightly edited if necessary tonight, give it an up or down vote. And then at least we've got this on the table and we can improve it with some

173deliberation that's not taking place, you know, at 930 at night when we've still got, you know, 10 items to go. And I just don't, I'm just really concerned about making too many changes from the diets. Can we ask for a consensus of the trustees in terms of whether they are looking to approve this plan in general? So there are a couple ways to do that. Yes, we could ask for consensus before we actually vote, or you could poll people if you want an actual yes, I could. And what I would encourage is... passing the plan with the friendly amendments that you've already discussed and agreed to that we have one more sentence coming from trustee jones and that um with that friendly amendment you could say that this plan come back you know in 90

174days 120 days after the culturally proficient task force and cust against racism meet and they then vet these other suggestions that have come up because it was about the focus on elementary, the gate, progress monitoring, checking in quarterly, the naming particular groups and dealing specifically with anti-racism as a concept in this plan. Those were some of the things they talked about. And not all of them. And then to answer Martha's question, because I want to make sure that that's clear. it is the plan in addition to the items in the back. So it's not just the plan, but it's also the additional items that the staff from the Culturally Proficient Task Force have recommended. And those would be new items since the workshop. So that's what you'd be voting on. But that would be my...

175So you can either ask for consensus if that's okay, or quickly pull the board before we actually vote. I do have a couple of other comments and questions that are just sort of minor that are not like big changes, but yeah. Go ahead. Oh, okay. So one is that I had mentioned and to the staff that with restorative practices, we should. talk about circumstances. And I think there was a misunderstanding. It should say, it should add, participants will understand how and under what circumstances or in what circumstances to implement restorative practices. So that was my comment on that. I think that was in the Q&A submission. Well, no, but they missed a word. That's my point. The Q&A. Page nine, question goal two on the Q&A. Okay, so, and I think staff's got that. I've

176also got the language for the wording we like better. Let's see. Anti-bullying training that clearly defines bullying as including, but that is not limited to actions based on, et cetera, et cetera. And if we're okay with that, I have it in text and I will send it to Dr. Merwin right now. Are we good with that? And anti-bullying training that clearly defines bullying as including, but that is not limited to actions based on, et cetera, et cetera. Okay, all right. You got it. So that page nine could be included in the friendly amendment. So then my other question is something I asked last time about school of choice. So COSD has school of choice because it's state law. So. I asked last time, what's the goal behind examining it? And what do we think we

177might find to which we could respond? And I got an answer from staff that was, I'm sorry to say, did not help. Members of the... Larger task force team asked to examine the impacts of parents choosing to enroll in schools other than their neighborhood school. Shareholders, stakeholders have shared that they have seen families choose schools other than their homeschool to which they believe may be causing a shift and which they believe may be calling a shift in the demographic makeup of the school. And enrollment analysis will help to inform if this is occurring and which schools are most affected. I get it. I understand that. But then what? What do we do with that information? It's my opinion, there's nothing we can do with it. And that's why I don't understand why we're doing it.

178If we cannot change school of choice, and in my opinion, we cannot because it's state law, I don't know what we're charging at here. I mean, I suppose maybe it's nice to know, but I don't understand the purpose of it. And I don't want us to do it. if it's just nice to know. Thank you, Trustee Jones. I think the best way for a district to respond to where we see schools with very homogeneous, very similar groupings of students or ethnicities or race or whatever it might be is to look at what programs, right? What offerings might be at that school to see if there's a way or a possibility to create more diversity, to create opportunities where students are exposed to. multiple races, religions, beliefs, values. And I think that's what we would look

179at at the school is, is there a way that we could bring a program in? Whether it's a language immersion program that might contribute to that or something different. And I think that's what we would want to be able to do is first look at the data and try to understand what's the reasoning behind it. And then you can figure out what to do next. But if you don't understand the why, it's going to be hard to figure out what the what is. And that's what we need to go and look at is what the why is. Well, I guess I would just say that we attempted that with Capo Forward. And I don't think that we found much success there. So I don't know. I mean, I guess knock yourself out. I just, it

180doesn't seem to me to be a good use of our time, but I'm not going to argue with you. i kind of back up gila's a little bit i think when we chase after people or whatever what we do is we stand still and we do the very i'm sorry we stand still and do the very best we can so that neighborhood school that always naturally you went to the neighborhood school because that's what you did before school of choice happened so i think like to not spend time chasing after where do they go why do they go and really hone when you have a high performing school And really doesn't matter who's in the school as long as all those kids are being served. I grew up with, you know, busing and then they,

181now my high school is not magnet, you know, you're trying all this stuff. I don't know. That's just a little philosophy. Let's just do the very best we can at each school. And oftentimes you don't need any fancy bells or whistles. It's just a great solid. Your kids are. getting a great education and of course it behooves people to go to their neighborhood school because of time and then parents can access it and so on so forth so whatever you were going with that i i kind of like yeah there's lots of things to spend our time on dr holiday can you address the school of choice policy um trustee jones talked about the state law that required it Can you speak a little bit about that? Sure. Thank you, Superintendent Vital. So there is

182actually kind of like two policies the way I look at it. There's the code by the state that we have to provide choice. to students by law, which we do for specific schools that qualify. And then we provide the opportunity for parents to receive notice if they would like to go to a school that is an alternative choice school for them to go to. And then as a district, we have a school of choice policy on top of that. That's more than just specific schools. It's a whole district wide program where any student in any community, any district or any neighborhood school can choose to request to go to another school if there's space at that school. It's just that for the most part, at least in elementary school, which is where it all gets

183decided, parents choice out of a school because their neighborhood school has low test scores. So if we are doing the things that we need to be doing in the cultural proficiency plan, test scores should come up and therefore the problem kind of goes away. I mean, I don't know. I almost know of no one who has chosen to go to a school other than their neighborhood school, except for two-way immersion or something like that, except when it was an instance of the neighborhood school has low test scores. And we hear that all the time. And it's a quote-unquote bad school. Well, it's not. It's a school that has low test scores. And I think we focus on that, which, of course, we often already do. we can do more in this plan. But I agree

184with Amy, you just, you chase after people and I just don't think it's helpful. So I would recommend we delete that from the policy, to be honest with you, or the plan. I think that was, to me, that was one of the responses to the criticism that we... support segregation, that our school of choice policy evolved into a segregated school. And I disagree with that, but I think that was, to me, this was our kind of reaction to being accused of that. So I think, I don't think it necessarily needs to be an action item on our plan, but I think it just needs to be explained to people like you just did. the people are required to have a choice if they have a low performing school and the rest of it is a

185very generous school of choice policy that our district offers. But. Right. And I think that the, if a comment was that was made like that, and I don't recall specifically, it's a, it's a result of lack of understanding that this is something the state requires that we do. So. I'm just a little lost on what that has to do with cultural proficiency and racism. talking about school of choice. How does that gonna make a difference in terms of what we're trying to do here? I mean, I got the what and the, what was the what? The what and the why. But I don't know why school of choice adds to the equation in what way. I think it goes back to the demographics of the school. So looking at the makeup of that school, is

186it a homogeneous population or is there a heterogeneous makeup of multiple races and ethnicities? And that's the part where if you have a diverse school, you're exposed to that cultural proficiency awareness around the people that you interact with each day. Right, but to get to that point, you are really then talking about segregation and trying to move children to accomplish something as opposed to their neighborhood school. And in those homogenous elementary schools, just because they're homogenous, I mean, there's no reason why they shouldn't also be taught and discussed. cultural differences. And there are ways to certainly bring that on. So I agree. So Dr. Holliday, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that the conversation at the task force level was about this issue or hypothesis. I'm wanting to understand why, because the

187conversation was because of school of choice, schools have become segregated. We need to understand that and then make. so schools are not segregated. Is that encapsulate what the conversation was? That's exactly right. Thank you. That's why that ended up in there. And so the board can either leave it in or take it out as part of the friendly amendment. So it leaves us with the question of, can we do anything about it? I mean, you're still going to have school choice to trustee Jones's initial comment. And I think that's ultimately the question because of not just providing what's under Ed Code, but then a generous policy in our district of school of choice would then the policy change or not would really be the bigger question based on what was discovered. Well, I'm trying to

188kind of see. I mean, first of all, we have two-way, you know, dual immersion. You think about dual immersion and clearly the culture of that and what that looks like, right? It's dual. And then you think about how, I feel like there's a lot of changes and I feel like maybe we need to rewrite it and bring it back. And I don't personally think I've had enough time. to study it as much as I'd like to. And I've spent a good solid amount of time on it. And I don't know that I would be ready to, I would prefer not to vote tonight for me. The revised mission statement measurable, that measurable is. You know, I'd like to know what that means, the data. Can I want to see the data and the history about

189the data? We have a policy on bullying. I feel like it would be in our best interest to strengthen that policy. And I mean, to me, there's no tolerance for bullying. And when there's bullying, then we need to shut it down and we need to march on. Bullying has happened from the start of time. for one reason or another. It's packaged differently. It's often packaged differently. But as a team, as a district, we need to have zero tolerance for that, period. And I don't know that writing something is gonna just allow that to happen. I mean, I have concerns with the high school. I've got notes in about 100 spots here. I don't know. I just don't, I don't know that I feel like I would vote on it tonight. I have a question and

190maybe something to help. So obviously I'm not on the task force. So I really, and I am very proud and like knowing all the people that are on the task force for me, I have a huge amount of confidence and in fairness to Lisa, they're on a conversation that is like already, you know, way here. And I get, you know, and when you're starting to come into it, so perhaps a chance to sit in. and visit that work when they're doing it, make you feel better and see where they're going. Because for me, I'm good to go other than a couple of these things. And I really want to get this personally. I want this passed tonight. So if that's how it goes, it's very transparent. They're all amazing people. It's nothing untoward is happening.

191And actually, to that note, I have a quick question, too. when you guys created all of this and I'm pretty sure you did. Are we sure that you put in all the edits that the cultural proficiency task force had wrote up? I think there was a system there where they were writing everything up. I just wanna confirm that they're all in there, then that's good. Okay, so I don't know if that would help have people move along with this conversation. Cause it's, yeah, it's really ongoing and it's so. and it's fantastic in the sooner we can take all this amazing work and not let it lag, the more energy we have towards our goals. Well, I do think passing it tonight makes a statement that, you know, we are taking this seriously and want to

192move it. I don't want anybody to feel uncomfortable about passing it before it's time, but... Do I have a motion to approve? I have a couple of technical questions that probably won't affect whether we vote or not. I have a question about AP for all and an opt-out. One of the things was we're going to add, this is 7.1, maybe a brief explanation of what that is. I understand San Juan Hills, that's a model that San Juan Hills is. adopting can somebody explain what the opt-out options are yes yeah i feel like it'd be nice to like even fix goal number seven maybe we could strengthen and start with starting in sixth grade to work on allowing everyone um options for accelerated math and english and history and AP, we can't change that curriculum. That's

193curriculum that cannot be watered down, cannot be changed, cannot be deviated from. That's nothing that we can do. And nor would we want to. And we shouldn't. Right. Right. But yeah, so I would love some more understanding. And what does that mean to opt out options under resources for AP for all? What that means specifically tied to San Juan Hills High School is when they piloted and launched this program and... all the students in the program, students could choose not to be enrolled. I think there was this impression that they were required to be in that class. They're not required to be in the AP class. We enroll them and reinforce and support them and build in support so they can be successful in the AP class. But the opt out was the piece that

194we got feedback on November 4th around that is an important piece. So students have a choice still. So you mean this meaning that this cultural proficiency plan has already been piloted at San Juan Hills High School? No. I'm sorry, what? Thank you. Very good question. I'm so sorry. I apologize. Sometimes I got to rewind and explain a little bit more. We've had an AP for all pilot class at San Juan Hills High School. And the feedback was that we take that. learning that we went through through San Juan Niles High School to determine if we want to expand similar opportunities at our other high schools. Do we currently not allow any student to be enrolled in an AP class if they earned and merited themselves appropriate to be in that class? The difference is all

195students were automatically enrolled versus I'm choosing to get enrolled. So that was the difference. Kids can all choose to be enrolled in AP and asked to be enrolled. Absolutely. Every child has that access to every parent. But in this case, we were already pre-enrolling them. and they got their schedule and saw they were in AP class. And then it was brought to our attention that it was important that we also let people know you can opt out, that you don't have to be required to take that AP class. It was kind of an opt-in or opt-out choice. But if everyone had it on their schedule, then that sounds like everyone's opting in. But if you're, you know, I mean, I feel like every student should be in whatever class they're supposed to be in. If

196you should be in advanced Pace in class. You should be in the advanced placement class for math. And maybe for social studies, that's not going to be your strength, but maybe science it is. And maybe you're only really great at science, but it's not your favorite to study whichever. But I feel like kids should be in the proper class that they are prepared for so that they feel successful. There's nothing worse than a child. being in a class that they're not prepared for, and then they may feel less than someone else. That would never be the proper thing. Can I just jump in? I think the purpose of it is that some students don't know that that opportunity is there. And parents, unlike you and myself and everybody in this room, goes out and is

197very involved in their students' education, right? But there's some families that just don't know. And so if we're saying, hey, this might be an opportunity for you, and the student never would have even thought. to sign up for an AP class. And then they were given the opportunity by the school and thrived in the class and was like, wow, I had no idea that I could do this. So it's just giving an opportunity to kids that might not have that opportunity in the home where they're having a parent say to them, oh, this would be a good opportunity for you. So it opens it up. Sure. Dr. Holliday, can you explain? It's not all, they don't get enrolled in all AP classes. right was there a specific one that's correct and and san juan hills

198high school it was ap gov i understand your explanation about san juan hills where this is happening but it almost seems counterintuitive to me that the issue is that we're trying to get kids that don't in an example, have parents that are encouraging them to opt in. And yet, you know, the first line is added opt out. It's like a real large segment of these kids that we're talking about. They're not even a part of this conversation. But let's take a moment and let's listen to Anchelle, our student advisor, who has a few comments. Sorry, I just wanted to jump in relating to what we were talking about with CUSD against racism suggestions. One of their core organizers reached out to me and did say they do encourage the passing with the written recommendations. They

199just want the continued evaluation of the plan and continued meeting of the cultural proficiency task force to make sure that we're doing a good job and improving upon the plan, but the initial plan. They did encourage the passing up and I do agree with the idea that we have either a friendly amendment suggesting that we reevaluate the plan to ensure efficacy as well as making sure that we're improving upon the plan as best as we can for the district. That's all. But I just wanted to clarify that they did reach out and asked me to clarify as well as providing my own little insight. Thank you. Judy, I have one more question and then I'll offer a motion. Yes, I will. On our financial implications, could you please explain, because the biggest dollar amount on

200here is school counselors. And I know there is a kind of a plan, even before, separate from the cultural proficiency task force, I know there is a plan to increase our counselors on campus by moving our academic advisor position into... a counselor position. Could you kind of explain that? And because that, if somebody said, you can't spend $1.6 million on a cultural producing task force, we were planning to do this already, right? Two different things, or did they merge? Yeah, so. That is correct, Trustee McNicholas. We've been planning this work around transitioning AAs and then also academic advisors and then also. increasing our counselors through that work. So that's absolutely correct. Okay. And with that, I have one more comment. Sorry, Gila. I got a text from a listener who's saying anybody who's not listening

201on there or participating online, they don't know who's talking. So, I mean, some of our voices people recognize, but, you know, maybe try to remember for the audience. I haven't been calling on people. So anyway, I will move approval of the cultural proficiency task force plan with the friendly amendments. Okay. So moved by Trustee Nicholas and seconded by Trustee Hanachek. Student Advisor Boshkar. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Davis. Nay. Trustee Hanachick? Aye. Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Okay. The plan has been approved and passes by 6-1-0. We're now going to look at agenda item 36, donated space agreement for use of certain property at Sarah High School for COVID-19 testing, County of Orange. And I'd like to recognize Clark Hampton, Deputy Superintendent, Business and Support Services to present

202the item. And we have no speakers. Thank you, President Villegas. So currently the County of Orange is using Sarah. school for testing now for general testing to the public and they pay for the facility use with a facility use fee. This agreement tonight, if approved, would allow them to use the facility for no cost in exchange for exclusive time for employees to be tested for 60 minutes at the beginning of their time there on Wednesdays and for 90 minutes. beginning at their time there on Saturdays. So that would be an additional opportunity for our employees to have exclusive time for testing. Staff recommends approval. Thank you. I just want to say that this testing center has been wildly successful. They signed up 300 people for, they take appointments or take a registration in advance. They

203signed up 300 people for the first day on a Saturday. They tested, I believe it was 436. The following Wednesday, it was over 300. And then the second Saturday, it was again over 400. So it has been. Unfortunately, I think very successful because, but it is certainly fulfilling a need in the community. Thanks. I'll move approval. We don't have any speakers. I'll second it. All right. So Trustee Jones moved and Trustee Bronstein second. Yep. And Student Advisor Bashkar. Aye. Trustee Brownstein? Aye. Trustee Bullekas? Aye. Trustee Castellanos? Aye. Trustee Davis? Aye. Trustee Hanachick? Aye. Trustee Jones? Oh, was that me? Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Trustee Hanachick is absent. The motion carries. Is that 6-1-0? 6-0-1. Okay. Okay, and we have the second reading of board policy 7110 facilities master plan. We're gonna recognize Clark

204Hampton, deputy superintendent business support and support services to present this item. Thank you, President Bulacus. So this is the, as you mentioned, the second reading, this includes new additions based on trustee comments at the first reading. And also there were some staff. adjustments made and as was mentioned at the beginning of the meeting, copies of the policy are at the back of the room. And this brings this policy up to date and includes information about how we would go about evaluating our school sites for capacity and education needs for our students. Thank you. Thank you. And... Let's see, we have no speakers. I'd like to suggest that we not vote on this one, but vote on this and the next policy in one vote. We've voted on doing that in the past. I don't think

205we have to. I don't think there's any Robert's Rules why we need to. I think we can just do that. So I'd just like to suggest that. But they're two completely different topics. I mean, these are, what? I'm sorry? You're suggesting that we vote on 39, 38 and 39. 37 and 38. Yes. They are two different policies, but they are, as Trustee Jones mentioned, they are related to each other. It's both the second reading, both facilities related. If we have to take a separate vote on doing that, it's not worth it. The board in the past has taken like two or three related policies and said, we're gonna vote on 37, 38, 39, and then take it as a pack. But that would assume. that the board is mostly in agreement on both policies. It

206doesn't then allow a trustee to vote one way on one policy and one way on the other. So we've done this when we have a series of policies, right? And they're all tied together and there's some level of agreement that there's a similar vote on both. Okay. It takes an extra vote to do that. So what if Mr. Hampton were to present then the next one, item 38, and then if there's no discussion on either of them, we could just vote on them together. Any objections? Okay, so for item 38, similar comments, this incorporates suggestions from trustees from the first reading. Staff has made some adjustments that are also available at the back of the room and in revisions that the board has been given. And this is, again, it goes along with board policy

207in item 37. And it brings us up to our policy up to date and staff recommends approval of both 37 and 38. Okay. It's on either one of them. We have no speakers for either policy. We have no speakers for 37 or 38. Does anybody have any questions, comments? Do I have a motion? I'll move approval on 37 and 38. I'm sorry, was that Trustee Jones who made the motion? It's Martha. McNicholas. Okay. Trustee McNicholas moved. Do I have a second? Second. And Trustee Castellanos second. And Ms. Hayes, can you take a vote? Student Advisor Boschker. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Okay. Both. 37 and 38 passed with a six, excuse me, seven, zero. And number 39, the

208second reading of board policy 5131.2, bullying. And we're going to recognize Dr. Susan Holliday, Chief Administrative Officer, Education and Support Services to present. Thank you, Board President Bullekas, Trustees, Superintendent Vittal-Virulti. Tonight, we bring forward to Trustees the second reading of Board Policy 5131.2, Bullying. This policy was last updated in March of 2019 with our district focus on creating an inclusive environment where students, staff, and community feel valued. They value diversity and we focused on closing those equity gaps. We reviewed this policy. A team of administrators as well as the cultural proficiency team members reviewed the policy and made revisions. And this is the second reading with additional trustee revisions based on the feedback from the previous board meeting. The CSD against racism team also provided input that was associated to some of our discipline and

209bullying work as well. The language more clearly defines bullying and what groups may be potentially targeted. Staff also added language on the policy and how it supports how to report bullying, both at the elementary and the secondary level. This policy has been better by districts, the local council and staff recommends approval this evening. And we do have a, Public comment. Victoria Mendez. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. Hi, thanks. My name is Victoria and I'm a CUSP Against Racism organizer and also work with an anti-bullying nonprofit called the National Association of People Against Bullying. First off, we are glad that the district is taking the time to try to make improvements to the bullying policy, which is something that we have been requesting. However, there are some serious issues with this policy as

210it's currently written and we urge further changes to actually be made. Just for context, although it was stated at the last board meeting that USC Against Racism students were part of the group that created this revised policy, we did not actually get to see this policy until it was read at that last board meeting. And this is why we are requesting that these changes be made tonight so that student feedback can be taken into account. The major problem with this policy as currently written is that it implies that certain actions to address bullying are optional on the part of school administrators when they really should be happening all the time. Please listen carefully to these interventions that the policy states may be considered. Respond in a timely manner to all reports of bullying. Take immediate

211action when bullying is observed when safe to do so. Provide protection for students who are being bullied. Develop policies that define bullying and provide appropriate responses to the problem. Apply school expectations fairly and consistently. Establish an effective system for reporting. Promote the norm for a bully-free school. Engage students to help promote the norm for a bully-free school. Make bullying complaint forms available. And establish support programs and resources for the target. Remember, these actions may be considered. There is no reason why the district should not be able to actually commit to all of these actions that I've listed in order to protect its students. In light of all of the students and families who have come forward about some of the horrific bullying suffered in CUSD schools and their perceived inaction on the part of school

212administrators, May is just not good enough at this point. Students and their families deserve certainty that CUSD will do more than simply consider protecting bullied students through these actions. While we are aware that the revised regulations that will be brought to the board in early 2021 will describe the protocol for handling incidents of bullying in more detail, as we have been working with the district on making improvements to those regulations, the wording of this policy is still confusing at best, even if read alongside potentially a more committal set of regulations. This policy should be changed so that it is clear that all of the actions I've listed are required and not optional. This would be an important way for CUSD to show that it is truly committed to doing its part to protect students from

213bullying. Additionally, we would like the staff training and the policy to be described as helping staff build skills and strategies to recognize, prevent, and address bullying, rather than simply focusing on the definition of legal obligation, although this change is less crucial. Regardless of the fact that the training does currently include some of those strategies, which we recognize and applaud, we think it's important to write this expectation into the policy as well so that we can be sure that this will continue to be a focus in future years. Thank you. Your time is up, but thank you. Dr. Holliday, once again, are these things that, is Victoria Mendez on the committee or task force for this? Were these recommendations submitted? I think that's what I was hearing, but I'm clarifying. Sure. We've had conversations, and we've

214actually vetted this with legal. I have legal available to help guide us on some of the language as well. The term that is in question is on page 4 of 6, or 414, under interventions. And the word is may. And the request is to change the term may to shall, to make it... required that each one of these interventions be implemented. But not every case of bullying requires every one of these interventions. So when we vetted with legal, they said that leaving it with May so that we could list these interventions gives us the flexibility to pick and choose when appropriate the right interventions to do this. We still have it in policy. It's still an expectation. And even in an admin reg or administrative regulations that are underneath each policy to support that, we

215then continue to reinforce. these interventions. So if trustees would like to strengthen that language, then we would probably have to pull out the interventions because if we say shall, then we would have to do all of those potentially through the policy. So I have legal counsel as well available if Tony DiMarco, if we want to further discuss that legally, what that policy language might. imply. Can I ask you if we said something like the following interventions deemed appropriate will be considered? I mean something in there about the appropriateness. Would that satisfy that? I believe that would and I think that would not hold us to having to do each one. Yeah not all although shall we consider doesn't say you're doing it. So if you were the person that was implementing this policy, you would

216consider them all, but pick the ones that were relevant. Consider, the word consider just means you thought of it doesn't mean says you'll do it. My thought was the following interventions deemed appropriate will be, well, I don't know. I think that complicates it. Can we just have Tony DeMarco then clarify? Because I do think when the board said shall, the following intervention shall be considered, I agree. It's not, I don't understand what the legal issue is. Yeah, good evening, trustees. It's Tony DeMarco. The point is each of these interventions is appropriate in certain cases, just not all cases. not all these interventions are required by law. So to a certain extent, you're being comprehensive and honestly listening to the input from your stakeholders to go somewhat above and beyond. But we've got to be mindful

217not all of these interventions are going to be appropriate for every case. Any of these amendments shall include or could include, may include, should consider. I think all those are completely appropriate for you to consider. The point is, I think staff should be considering each of these interventions on a case-by-case basis. And that's where the administrative regulation really comes in. I think the board policies are typically broader in nature. And the admin regs should be more specific. But Tony, if in fact the board replaces shall with may, legally what that means is that the administrator just has to consider it. It doesn't mean it will be implemented. Yeah, if it says shall consider the following and list them out, that's the same as may include and listing them out. There's really no legal difference between

218the two. So if the board wants that based on the input, then you could do that. Absolutely. You know, I have the understanding from the input in terms of people wanting to know that we're committed to upholding this. And so the language, you know, reinforces that. I don't have any problem with the may include or shall include or there's a preference. Any? Further thought? I guess I think we should switch it to shall to be responsive to the task force since I don't think it really matters legally. Okay. So what would the specific language be then that you're considering? The following interventions shall be considered. Yes. Maybe shall. Okay. Were there any other comments about any other part of this policy? I'm sorry. Oh, I have a question. Is there, should we be delineated or

219would this come up in the administrative reg delineating between what will automatically be done and what could be done? Or is that getting into the specificity or can that be picked up and in the AR? Like actions that will always be taken around bullying, right? There's going to be an automatic thing. And then others that, depending on the case, the interventions. Is that? I think the AR then defines that because I think we don't want to get too far down. So the AR, so that would be where our specificity happens, right? And really laying out. So if this is my broad and I have to fulfill this and I'm brand new and I'm going to go to the AR and go, okay, I got to automatically do this, this, and this. Okay. Thank you. Do

220I have a motion to approve with the change of the word shall? So moved. I'll second. Trustee Jones moved and Trustee Hanachick second. And student advisor Boschker. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bulacus. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0. And we are on to first number 40, first reading board policy 6158, independent study. And we are gonna recognize Dr. Susan Holliday, Chief Administrative Officer, Education Support Services to present. Thank you, Board President Bullock, as trustees and Superintendent Patel-Bruehlte. Tonight, we bring forward for trustees a first reading of Board Policy 6158, Independent Study. The proposed language would limit the number of days in one year a student can request an independent study contract for a total of 20 days. Each independent study request requires

221a contract and an outline of assignments or detailed study plan to be completed while a student is on independent study, and both the teacher and the office to complete this work. Families have begun to request multiple agreements rather than participating in an independent study. The district created other programs such as our program C, which is 100% online and B, as well as our virtual school Cal Prep and Cal Virtual as options for parents to go if they want an extended absence from being on campus. At this time, staff recommends approval of this language. We don't have any speaker cards. Dr. Holliday, if I may ask, because it was in the Q&A, if you can kind of expound for those listeners. It seems that we've experienced this year with COVID a lot of additional requests to

222stay home, and maybe you could comment on that. Please. That is correct. We're seeing a pattern of repeated requests. So if you take a five day or a 10 day, then a week or two later, I want to take additional independence time, whether that's tied to a case at a school site or a personal family health issue, we're seeing such a trend of that increasing and they want to hold their place in their classroom seat as well as, as part of that. And that was not the intent of our policy. No, that's not the intent. Okay. Any comments, questions? We are asking you to pass this on first reading tonight just so that we can support our teachers and not having a greater workload around these issues come January 4th. I wanted to suggest that

223we move on with the next item and then pass the two of them together on the fourth first reading. Oh, it has nothing to do with it, but it's just to be a little more efficient. I mean, it's only this terms of office thing, which is very non-controversial. Yeah. I just, because they're unrelated, I would prefer to keep them separate. Yeah. Do I have a motion to move 40? I'll move to approve 40. Motion to approve. Yeah. And do I have a second? I'll second. And Trustee Hanachick seconds. Ms. Hayes, can you take a vote please? Do we need to vote to waive the second reading first? Oh, yes. I move to waive the second reading and pass on the first reading. We're going to take a vote to bypass the second reading and to

224vote on the first reading as we have it this evening. That's my motion. Oh, and I second it. Okay, so Trustee McNicholas moved, made the motion, and Trustee Bronstein second. Now, Student Advisor Fosker. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bulikas. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. The first reading Pat, or excuse me, the bypassing of the second reading. And now if we can move to a vote to approve this first reading of board policy 6158. And the motion is on the table from Trustee Braunstein and Trustee, seconded by Hanachek. Trustee Vassar. I'm sorry. You're good. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Casillas. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0. Thank you. And we're on to

225first reading of board bylaw 9-1-1-0 terms of office. So this is. Sorry, we're going to recognize you. Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. We're going to recognize you. So this is a legal update. We have not actually changed this policy since 1995. The law changed, Assembly Bill 2449. So Board By-law 9110, Terms of Office, needs to be revised. So it revises the... that you commence the second Friday. It puts in the education code and then it clearly delineates that you keep your office until the next, there's your successor then takes over. It's a very simple policy. I recommend you pass it. And we have no speakers. Do I have a motion? Move approval. Can we have a motion to waive the second reading first? Ah, there we go. I move to waive the second reading. Okay,

226motion by Trustee McNicholas and seconded by Trustee Hanachick. And we'll take a vote. Student Advisor Boskar. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bulikas. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. I now move to approve. Motion carried 7-0. I now move to approve. Trustee McNicholas for passing the first reading. Second. Seconded by Trustee Jones. Student Advisor Bosker. Aye. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bulikas. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0. And we are on to number 42. And that is the first reading of the temporary board policy T5121.1, grades and evaluation of student achievement. And we're going to recognize Dr. Susan Holliday, Chief Administrative Officer, Education and Support Services. And we're looking to move this this evening

227on the first reading. That is correct. Thank you, Board President Bullekas, Trustees and Superintendent Patel-Brujde. We bring forward to Trustees the first reading of this temporary policy, the proposed language. that we are requesting is after several months of distance learning and virtual learning, we recommend that we add temporary language that addresses grading for online physical education or PE in our secondary schools. Staff has reviewed and discussed these impacts with CEA. Staff is also recommending to add the lines credit and no credit language to the policy for PE courses only. Despite many incredible efforts by our teachers to improve Apex Online PE experiences, students continue to struggle. Students who would normally be successful in PE were not performing well. So we have asked that we move forward with the recommendation of credit and no credit mark

228on our temporary policy. Staff recommends that this evening you approve the language and that you take action to waive the second reading so that our teachers can start inputting grades before the end of the official semester. Thank you. And we do have one speaker, Michelle Fossil-Campbell. Michelle, are you there? Yep, I'm still here and still mostly awake. Good evening. I'm what should hopefully be almost the final topic of the night before you get to your facilities meeting. I hope you received my email earlier today. I have significant concerns with some of the changes proposed with this temporary policy. I strongly support the use of no credit for students who otherwise would fail PE in middle school or high school. and have the opportunity to make up this class with no penalty. I do have an

229issue, however, with how the grade of credit is being proposed. I strongly believe students should be able to request credit instead of the letter grade, but it shouldn't just be an automatic. When credit covers an A, B, C, or D, where's the motivation to even try? Teachers are being told to keep an A through F grade book, but that they can choose to just give credit, no credit. That seems to be double work to me. I really hope the board adds a component of student voice in the type of grade given, not just the grade type, respecting the teacher's right to give the grade the student earned. Thank you for considering this. Thank you. We did have that situation and we gave that opportunity. Can you respond as to why we are looking not to

230do that this time? This time it's our window. We have a very, very tight window with tomorrow being the last day and students moving off to our winter break and teachers wrapping up. their final report cards, going forward with one option or credit, no credit allows us to move forward with giving students credit with the CR, which doesn't harm their grade or grade point average. It still gives them credit for that class and value for that work. And it doesn't require the time that it would take for teachers to quickly turn around and get. feedback from students about, well, do you want to keep your B or your C or would you like to keep your D versus the credit and just applying that credit considering our window right now. And because it is a

231temporary policy, are we saying that it is for the remainder of these COVID times or through the end of this school year? The temporary policy is recommended through this school year only. Okay. Are there any other comments or I jumped in there? I have a comment that this is one of the things that I was strongly in agreement with. And part of it was, even though we have some really rockstar PE teachers out there who have really had a Herculean effort to improve this, it's really on us on this, the apex. PE program, we passed it and it was a nightmare in most cases, in majority of cases. So I think we need to fix it. It was our fault for implementing it. It's our fault. It's our responsibility to fix it. Again, it's nothing

232against the teachers who have really, really struggled. But we're hearing stories of kids, normally rock star kids that are failing PE. I know middle school doesn't, you know, grades, yeah, they do count. I'm sorry, I was going to say grades don't count that much, but they do count. And I really hate, even though some people say, well, I've really worked for my A in PE and I love my A in PE. And yeah, that's true. But if you... if you're getting an F in PE, when you have A's everywhere else, that's not a great evaluation of your performance either. And I think our, if we look at our D's and F's reports, I think a lot of those were in PE. I can't, I would look for a confirmation from. Dr. Holliday, but our days

233and F report that we saw was alarming. So this is something I would support to fix the problem. I think this is a hold harmless, but we are suggesting to move on this because we've got grades that have to get done. Is there ability for us to consider for the end of the school year? in the grading in June if the students wanted to request a letter grade. I would recommend that if we are going to give a letter grade option, that we would want to bring the policy back sooner than later, because we would want teachers to be able to track those scores versus not tracking those scores if they were going to do it differently in second semester. So we could come back in February or whenever the board directs to relook at

234the language again, but this will get us through this first grading period. So the only thing about that is that, so the board could pass tonight for this first semester, it's credit, no credit. For second semester, there is student choice. We already have language somewhere that we used. Because what concerns me about the board then taking action in January or February, then teachers are already six or eight weeks into grading. As a teacher, I'd want to know now what the deal is for the whole year and not be, you know, this was what it was like March through June. And I don't want to do that to teachers. So I would encourage us to pass the policy tonight. And if you want student choice, add that to second semester so that teachers can prepare for

235that. Oh, that's what I was speaking of for second semester. We should do that tonight. So can we add that into the language and be able to pass it on first reading? Yeah, you can add. friendly amendments to the language that would say something and you all have the language from last time that for first semester it'd be credit, no credit. And for second semester, it would be credit, no credit and student choice. I don't remember the language, but I know that the staff has the language and if you guys can read it into the record, that would then help us form the friendly amendment for the board. Trustee Jones. So, The teachers don't really like this choice issue. They want it to be one way or the other. And when you have teachers as

236we have in our middle schools and high schools right now who have these very, very large PE classes, keeping track of, you know, this kid wants grade, this kid wants, this is. It's a recipe for disaster. I think it's not a good idea in this instance, in the situation we are presently in. I think we need to say. we're either gonna do this or we're not gonna do it and be done with it. I just think it would be a monumental task for these teachers teaching these. I mean, I don't even know how many kids some of these PE teachers have. 600 at Vista Del Mar. We do have, I think, minimally, middle school PE teachers have a minimum of like 350 kids, but most have 500, some over 500. 600 at VDM, yeah. So

237to your point, Trustee Jones, that's a very good point. Yeah. I'd also rather them to focus on making the program better and worry about the grades. Yeah. Could we add if you've earned an A that you can keep an A? Otherwise, anything else is a pass or fail? No, because then the teacher still has to keep track. So you make it easier. They've already kept track of it. But they wouldn't if they knew it was going to be passed on. Credit or credit. They would just keep track of where you're not. They wouldn't have to be doing a percentage score all the time. No, because it's Dr. Holliday, you can address that. We went through this grading. You can't have mixed hybrid systems of grades, right? Within a year. Oh, within a year. Okay. That's

238correct. Chessie Jones. Well, I would like to make a suggestion based on all of the discussion this evening and the middle school PE situation we're in to pass this on first reading. I second that. I think we're just in a situation that... And I'd just like to make a comment as we go forward when we look at this. This is the big tragedy around PE. This is oftentimes the class that some students only get A's in. Even some of our famous sports folks, I'm not going to say their name, this was their strength in middle school. And also oftentimes spirit wear, which then when they're back on campus, their PE uniform is their only piece of spirit wear. So this is the sad part, the tragedy, but I do think that because of the dynamics,

239as Trustee Jones pointed out, there is no way around it. This is that Sophie's choice. So for this year. I'm sorry, you students who are rocking it, I hope somehow maybe a really great PE teacher can identify that they are rocking it, but credit, no credit, we'll have to do, because we can't set children up for failure. So I go along with Judy's motion on how you set it up. Okay. Would you like to make the motion? Oh, I'll move the item, however you want me to say it, credit, no credit, for the school year. So first street. Oh, right. I have to waive the first reading, right? Yes. We have to vote. Second. Okay, Martha, you just do it. I'll second it. I move we vote on this on the first reading. Waive the

240second reading. Waive the second reading. Okay. Motion by Trustee McNicholas. Second. Seconded by Trustee Davis. And Mrs. Hayes, if you'll take your vote. Student. Student Advisor Bosker. Aye. Trustee Nuttek? Aye. Trustee Castellanos? Aye. Trustee Villicose? Aye. Trustee Bronstein? Aye. Trustee Davis? Aye. Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Move approval of temporary policy T5121.1. Moved by Trustee McNicholas. Second. Over here, Judy. Seconded by Trustee Jones. for first reading approval. Student advisor, Bosker. Aye. Trustee Hanachek. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bulacos. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0. And now we will go back to item number 17. And I'm sorry, I lost track. Trustee, you have a check? 17-19-33. Yeah, I know which one, but was it, you were 33. Okay, 17 was. Trustee McNicholas. Thank you.

241And the only reason I wanted to bring this out publicly and discuss it is to thank the volunteers who have been appointed on the CAC. That is Ann Carroll, Mina Carson, Janelle Stever, Jillian Stewart, and Rachel Sutherland. I know they're all active members on the CAC, and I just wanted to publicly recognize them and thank them. With that, I'll move approval of item 17. Second. Trustee Nick Nicholas moved and Trustee Hanachek second. Student Advisor Bosker. Trustee Hanachek. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Bornstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0. And we're on to 19, Memorandum of Understanding with West End for the California Healthy Kids Survey 2020-2021. And was that Trustee Jones? Trustee Davis. Trustee Davis. I'm sorry. I would like to see if we could

242create our own survey on this, and I'd like to get a copy of the questions. Okay and I know Mrs. Hayes sent out a link to that but is there can we get it in print? I believe that's possible. We can provide a printed copy. All the questions are posted up on our TICS website for everybody to preview in advance and we'd be happy to print them out and provide them to trustees. And can we create our own survey? Is that a possibility? That is a possibility. I would recommend that we would have to resource support to be able to make sure that the questions are valid and research-based. I think that's the value of partnering with an outside organization. They've already really assessed these questions and determined if they're valid and research-based. And so

243that would be a project by which staff would really have to invest a great deal of time. And then... the nice part of CHICS is that we can cross-reference it with the other surveys that go with it. So it's easier for us to triangulate data around what our students say, what our staff say, and then what our parents say to see if there's a trend happening between those three groups. So we would want to look at all three if we were going to do that. And I think that that work would require a dedicated team. And at that time, we don't, at this time, we don't have that team to be able to. have that expertise. Also, Dr. Holliday, the vast majority of districts in the state of California resource this through West West Ed.

244Is that correct? That is correct. Tied to the state dashboard, we are required to measure climate and report at the state level our district climate data. And so many districts have selected this survey as their survey to report that's mandated climate dashboard indicator to the state annually. Any other comments or questions? Yeah, I think in one of the call-ins from, I think it was Michelle Ploisel-Campbell, right? She spoke about 19, and she had made a comment about opening up the parent survey to all K-5. Can you speak to that? Staff is looking into that to determine if it's possible and then if there's additional costs tied to expanding the survey itself. So we'll get back to trustees with what we can do. Any further comments? I just want to make a comment that we use

245this data for a lot. I mean, we use it to report on our dashboard, but we use it a lot in some of our policies on, I mean, it started with bullying and every other resource that we, you know, I remember being shocked at our signs of suicide policies in our curriculum tied to that when we realized that 19% of our high school students have considered suicide. That was just a shocking eye opener to me. So I think this provides a lot of data that kind of drives our mission. And I like the idea that we can also compare ourselves to other districts because it is a statewide survey. So and there's always an opt out for fifth grade. It is a positive or they got a positive opt-in you have to give give permission

246and for secondary school it's it's an opt-out so you can always opt out if parents are uncomfortable with it so i think we we review it as a resource to measure the climate in a school and to get feedback we might ordinarily not receive without asking Any further comments? Do I have a motion to? I would move approval of the memorandum of understanding with list ed. Second. Trustee McNicholas, moved by Trustee McNicholas and seconded by Trustee Castellanos. Ms. Hayes, can you call the roll? Student Advisor Boschker. I believe she's left the meeting to study tonight. Trustee Hanachick. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bulacus. Aye. Trustee Braunstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Nay. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. 6-1-0. Motion passes. 6-1 to approve. And now we are back to the final for this evening, the resolution

247number 2021-28, agenda item number 33. role of the board powers and responsibilities. Do you want me to read that aloud or do you want to? I'm happy to read it or I'm happy to let you read it. But the other way is fine with me. Somebody can please read it. It seemed like a good idea at 7.45. I just want to remind us that at the end of this item, we do have our annual facilities meeting. And excuse me, before you start, then the time, do we have to extend the time? What time is it? It's only quarter to 11. So we've got a little grace here. So we may make it. Okay. All right. Kirsten, please. Do you want me to read it out loud or do you want to read it to yourselves?

248Let's read it aloud. Okay. Resolution number 2021-28, Roll of Board Powers and Responsibilities. Whereas the Board of Trustees is the educational policymaking body for the district. To effectively meet the district's challenges, the board and superintendent must function together as a leadership team to ensure unity among team members, effective operating procedures or protocols must be in place. There are general protocols and those that are specific for the board and for the superintendent. And whereas a school board member As a school board member, I understand and accept as my primary responsibility the goal of providing the opportunity for each student to develop his or her unique abilities to the highest possible level. The goal is sought within the legal and financial framework imposed upon school districts by the state and federal legislation. The educational welfare of students,

249therefore, shall be given first priority in any action taken as a board member and, whereas, I will keep learning and achievement for each and every student as the primary focus. Value, support, and advocate for public education. Operate openly with trust and integrity. in a dignified and professional manner, treating everyone with civility, dignity, and respect, while honoring the right to disagree with each other. Keep confidential matters confidential. Uphold the legal requirement for confidentiality in all matters arising from board meeting executive sessions. We'll keep all conversations taking place in closed session absolutely confidential. Discuss public matters in publicly noticed board meetings. Focus on policymaking, planning, and evaluation for student success. ensure opportunities for the diverse range of views in the community to inform board deliberations and evaluate the district's performance. And whereas I realize I'm a member

250of a policymaking board, which speaks as a body. And as such, I have limited authority outside of official meetings of the board. I am aware the success of the Capistrano Unified School District's educational programs is dependent in part on my ability to work with my fellow board members in a spirit of harmony and cooperation, despite differences of opinion among trustees. A sense of loyalty to other trustees and respect for the board decisions voted on by the board majority and cooperatively reached is therefore another consideration in my actions as an individual trustee. Therefore, be it resolved, as a school board member, I will strive to make decisions based upon providing the best educational opportunities for students of the Capistrano Unified School District within the guidelines of state and federal legislation, coupled with the express views of

251local citizenry. It shall be the responsibility of the superintendent in her preparation of the agenda for annual organizational meeting to provide for readoption of this resolution by the Board of Trustees. Passed and adopted on the 16th day of December 2020 by the Board of Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District. Hence why we're called trustees, so we can be trusted to fulfill this. Do I have a motion to pass? I move the item. Second. Motion by Trustee Hanachek and seconded by Trustee Davis. Aye. Call for a vote. Trustee Hanachek. Aye. Trustee Castellanos. Aye. Trustee Bullekas. Aye. Trustee Bronstein. Aye. Trustee Davis. Aye. Trustee Jones. Aye. Trustee McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0. There being no further business before the board, may I have a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Moved by Trustee Jones, seconded by

252Trustee McNicholas. And the motion, oh. Trustee Hanachek? Aye. Trustee Castellanos? Aye. Trustee Bullekas? Aye. Trustee Bronstein? Aye. Trustee Davis? Aye. Trustee Jones? Aye. Trustee McNicholas? Aye. Motion carries. Motion carries 7-0. The time is now 10.50 p.m. At this time, we now move to the Facilities Corporation meeting. If you keep going on the script, it's on all stapled together. It's on the same script. Do I need to read? Go back to the same script that you just put down when you adjourned the meeting. It's on the same page. Good evening and welcome. Good evening and welcome to the December 16th, 2020 Capistrano Unified School District School Facilities Corporation meeting of the Board of Directors. The meeting is now in session and the time is 5.52 p.m. Due to the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and in

253accordance 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 call in if you wish to address the board on any agenda item this evening. I can stop. Okay. Mrs. Hayes, can we call the meeting to order? I'll call the roll. Director Bronstein. Here. Director Bullekas. Here. Director Castellanos. Here. Director Davis. Here. Director Hanachick. Here. Director Jones. Here. Director McNicholas. Here. And can I

254ask Brian Burris to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? 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. I move to adopt the agenda. Moved by Trustee McNicholas. Yes, and seconded by Trustee Hanachick. Director Bronstein. Calling the roll. Oh, sorry, here. Aye. Director Bulacos? Aye. Director Castellanos? Aye. Director Davis? Aye. Director Hanachick? Aye. Director Jones? Aye. Director McNicholas? Aye. The motion carries 7-0. I move to adopt the resolution 2020-1 resolution of the Board of Directors of Capistrano Unified School District Facilities Corporation holding an annual meeting and electing officers of the corporation. Second. Moved by Trustee McNicholas, seconded by Trustee Davis. Trustee, I'm sorry, Director Bronstein? Aye. Director Bullekas? Aye. Director Castellanos? Aye.

255Director Davis? Aye. Director Hanachick? Aye. Director Jones? Aye. Director McNicholas? Aye. Motion carries 7-0 by a roll call vote. I move to adopt the minutes of the December 11, 2019 Board of Directors meeting. Second. Trustee McNicholas moved, or excuse me, moved and Trustee Jones seconded. Director Bronste. Aye. Director Bulacos. Aye. Director Castellanos. Aye. Director Davis. Aye. Director Hanachick. Aye. Director Jones. Aye. Director McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0 by a roll call vote. If nothing, I'll just jump ahead a bit. Second. Seconded by Trustee McNicholas. Seconded by Trustee Hanachick. Director Braunstein. Aye. Director Bullekas. Aye. Director Castellanos. Aye. Director Davis. Aye. Director Hanachick. Aye. Director Jones. Aye. Director McNicholas. Aye. Motion carries 7-0 by a roll call vote. The time is now 10-51. Excuse me, 10-56. Good night. Happy holidays. See you all in 2021. Thank

256you.