001Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much. It's so wonderful to see so many wonderful faces and here to celebrate and congratulate many, many special people. First of all, I want to thank our East Cedar City School District jazz band for playing this afternoon, this evening. Can we give them a round of applause? We are planning to have all our middle schools featured throughout this year and allow for the public to hear all the great things that are happening in music across our schools. So we're looking forward to doing that. I also have some announcement I need to make. So first on the agenda is reporting out on closed sessions. So we're excited to announce that the Board of Education approved the following administrator assignments for the 26-27 school year. Rebecca Mernick will serve as the
002MTSS coordinator. Jolene Robles will serve as a special education coordinator at STEP. And Alyssa White will serve as a Scott Avenue principal. Yes, let's congratulate her. Additionally, we would like to recognize Justin Maronick, the new Director of Technology and Information Services. Justin, are you with us? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Marion Stewart. Marion, are you here? Hi. Marion Stewart is going to be our new Director of Human Resources. She is a familiar face. She and I served in Pasadena Unified many, many years ago. Welcome. And thank you so much to everybody that is going to step into these wonderful roles. It's going to be really exciting to see your success. All right. Next on our agenda is we're going to have the flag salute and I think we are going to be inviting Natalia Payden,
003Nathan Guerrero, Sebastian Torres, is that correct? Alana Rodriguez, students from East Whittier Middle School and La Colima Elementary School to lead in the flag salute. Are they here? Yes? Okay. Oh, there they are. Okay. Welcome, welcome. Thank you so much. Now, would each of you like to introduce any family that joined you this evening? You're outside. Okay. And did you want to introduce? Okay. Yay. Thank you for joining us. Anybody else have family that joined them? Okay. All right. Is there anything else special that you want to tell us about your respective schools? Something special, a message? No? Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. And thank you so much. Let's thank our three students for helping us today. All right. Next on our agenda is something very, very special. We have our student speech contest
004recognition. Dr. Patterson, you want to tell me how that's going to roll out? Okay, all right. Good evening, board. Good evening, EWCSD community. So great to see so many people here. We are so excited tonight to be able to present our district winners for our speech contest. So we know every year we host a speech contest, giving our students the opportunity to demonstrate 21st century skills, as well as share their voice with our EWCSD community. Our theme this year was Every Interaction Matters, which really challenged our students to be able to share how... Every interaction can impact a person, a perspective, or the entire world. And so we are so thankful and so proud of the courage displayed by all of our student finalists. They did a wonderful job. I'd also like to thank our
005school staff for hosting their site-level competitions. And tonight, we are pleased to present the two winners. So that's Lena Jernight from Laurel and Star Leonette from Hillview. We'll start off. We'll welcome Lina first, and then she'll be followed by Star. This is not a start. Yes, it is, but this is not the beginning. I'll still start. Every interaction has the power to change a moment, person, or even the way we see the world. At some point in our lives, we've all had a moment where someone said something, did something, or gave us an opportunity that stayed with us. Sometimes it feels small. Sometimes it feels huge. But either way, it matters. For me, that moment happened. It's September 2025. Our story begins when my mom found an audition notice for Beetlejuice Jr., the kids' version
006of the musical. We had seen the show together a few years back and absolutely loved it. I remember thinking, if I ever got the chance, I want to be Beetlejuice. And his name is literally on the cover. So, of course, I had to try. Auditions were October 14th. We had to prepare a song. When audition day arrived, I was shaking. Not because I didn't know the song, but because I wanted it so badly. I chose The Whole Being Dead Thing Part 2 and gave it everything I had. Out of 100 kids, only six were called back for Beetlejuice. I was one of them. I cried. For callbacks, we had to sing again and perform lines from the script. I memorized my lines because I wanted the role so much. I poured all my energy into
007that moment. Two people got the role. Somehow, I was one of them. When the cast list was posted, my mom looked at it before I did. She made a face that gave it away. I did not have to read it. But here is the part that matters most. I was new. I had never been the lead before. I was not the obvious choice. Miss Sophia and the Next Level Theater could have picked someone more experienced, someone safer. But they did not. They chose me. They believed in someone who was still growing. And that belief changed me. I worked harder than I ever had before. I put my heart and soul into rehearsals. And on opening night, before I walked off on stage, I said it one last time. It's showtime. That night, I did not
008just perform. I became confident. I became brave. I became someone new. Some of my castmates even told me I sounded like the regal Beetlejuice. And that meant everything. When closing night came, we were all sad. But I was not the same person. Because one interaction, one chance, opened a door. Now... When I think about my future, Broadway does not feel impossible. It feels possible. And that is whatever interaction can do. A teacher choosing to believe. A director taking a risk. You may not realize it at the moment, but you could be shaping someone's confidence. So board members, say my name three times. He will appear. But tonight, I'll leave you with this. Be careful how you treat people. My name is Lena Jernight, and have a good night. Thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is
009Star Leonetti, and a simple interaction with a simple yes changed my life. I was born in prison. Not how everyone's stories start, but this is where mine begins. My biological mom was incarcerated while pregnant with me. I was born on August 4, 2011. Prior to my arrival, my mom reached out to a known caretaker named Frida Westheim and asked her to take me in. Frida said yes. I didn't go home the way most babies do. Instead, I went into the care of a woman who had already helped 128 babies before me, and I became 129. I wasn't just another child. I was chosen. I was loved. When I was two and a half, my biological mom was released from prison. Frida offered her a place to stay, but my mom walked away, and I never
010saw her again. To this day, I wonder how a mother could do that to a child. After that, I stayed with Frida for nine years. Nine years of love, bedtime stories, learning to pray, learning to trust God, and being chosen over and over again. After that, I stayed with Frida for nine years. Nine years of... Frida was in her 80s and as she got older she needed help. So I went to live with Yolanda, Frida's youngest daughter in Texas. Yolanda didn't have to take me in. She was grieving the loss of her youngest son and didn't have much to give. But she chose to try and that choice changed my life. Yolanda said yes. Living with Yolanda was very different. It meant new routines, new rules, and a new kind of love. But it also
011meant something else. It meant stability. One day, Yolanda asked me who I wanted to adopt me. And I thought adoption was just something that happened to you. But Yolanda helped me realize that I had a voice in my own life. Without hesitation, I said, Andy and Lindsay. Lindsay was Frida's granddaughter that I had met when living with Frida. Andy and Lindsay asked me if I wanted to join their family. I broke down in tears. I knew someone wanted me, not temporarily, but forever. I yelled yes. I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. Someone actually wanted me. I wasn't a mistake. Because that's what love does. Love chooses. Love stays. Love makes a home, even when you don't have one. Love says yes. I was officially adopted on January 31st, 2025. My new name is Estrella
012Monet Leonetti, and today I stand here as living proof that being in the wrong place does not mean you're destined for the wrong life. I was born in prison, but I was raised in love, faith, and family. One simple interaction, one simple word, and my life was changed forever. I'm not done. Before we move on, I just want to take another moment to thank both of our amazing young women who won the speech contest. I was very honored to be a judge, and they're absolutely incredible. Congratulations. We also want to ask if both of you can stick around just for a little bit to take some photos with the board. That would be great. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. All right, next we're going to, the Board of Education would like to recognize
013Mr. Peter Moore, Principal of East Witter Middle School, to present the Employees of the Year for his classified and certificated employees. Mr. Moore? Good evening, packed house. My name is Peter Moore. I'm the Principal at East Witter Middle School. And congratulations to Ken Martinez. He is our teacher of the year. Ken has taught science for over 30 years at East Witter Middle School and represents everything we hope in our classrooms. Passion, innovation, and unwavering professionalism and commitment to students in the school community. Whether it's rockets, actual solar eclipses in the classroom, science is not just a subject, it is an experience. Students are not simply learning about concepts, they're asking questions, conducting experiments, and discovering how the world works. Ken has brought science to life in a way that inspires curiosity and confidence. Ken is
014missed daily on campus by everyone, but especially his science team, Mr. Sansoni and Mrs. De La Riva. There are some teachers who impact the lives and the site so much that the school is not the same. That would help. Not the same without them. And this is the definition of Ken Martinez. He really is East Witter Middle School. We are both happy and a bit jealous for Ken as he has enjoyed his first year retirement already. Congratulations, Ken Martinez. And congratulations to Jonathan Rodriguez. He is our Classified Employee of the Year. Jonathan has been a valued member of our custodial team since 2021, and during that time he has made a lasting impact on our campus. Jonathan cannot be here tonight because of all else, the most important thing to him is being the best
015dad he can be and his previous important engagement with his daughter. As a custodian, Jonathan's work touches every corner of our school, from classrooms to hallways, from early mornings to late afternoons. Because of him our students of staff walk into clean safe and welcoming environment each and every day The job is never ending at times can be thankless, but Jonathan shows up each and every day Jonathan approaches every task with a positive attitude He's dependable hard-working always willing to go the extra mile without hesitation The life of a day custodian is eventful at all times one moment He may be unlocking room 47 and the next moment called to the staff office to clean throw up He always has a smile, positive attitude, and great work ethic. Congratulations to Jonathan Rodriguez. We are truly grateful
016for everything that you do. And, okay, on to our celebration. We're going to school real quick. At East, we believe they are empowered to achieve, grow, and learn. Eagles will soar. This is our school theme and motto. It is the first thing our students hear every morning and the last thing that I will tell our eighth grade promoting class. Middle school is a truly unique and important time in a child's life, and school connectivity is always at the forefront of our students. The music program led by Debbie Carnahan has an unmatched tradition of excellence, from jazz band playing outside to Carnegie Hall in New York City. Our AVID program has grown exponentially over the past six years, and we now have close to 200 students that have seen our first AVID class show high rates
017of success in high school sparked by AVID. These two programs are institutions at the East Sweeter School of Music. But tonight I would like to highlight two other opportunities for Eagles connect and find their school niche Femineers provides us with project-based learning, engineering mentors, and opportunities to visit Cal Poly Pomona. We engage with real-world applications, technical knowledge, and confidence to pursue careers in STEM. Femineers has improved my confidence in my handiwork and critical thinking skills. It has also improved my problem-solving skills when we build and create ideas for our design challenges. Because of Femineers, I learned that I want to pursue a career in fashion when I'm older. I learned fashion isn't just about clothes. involves skills like coding and problem solving. Femininess helped me combine my love for fashion with STEM. So this was
018led by Ms. Petrusco, our science teacher. It's her first year of doing it. As you saw, it really opens up. It's open to everyone, but primarily is females, and it accumulates with a field trip and project with Cal Poly Pomona. And our next program is our ASB. And that program is led by Mr. Hamilton, who's really taking ASB to the next level. And we're so proud of all the connected opportunities we can present to our students that makes East Weter such a wonderful school. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Moore, for sharing all those wonderful things that are going on at East Weter Middle School. We now want to recognize and welcome Mrs. Jennifer Lopez, Principal of La Colima, to present the Employees of the Year, classified and certificated. Welcome. Good evening, East Whittier
019City families, staff, board. Good evening, Dr. Patterson, cabinet. I'm going to start out. I would like Ms. Ashley Shipka to come on up. I don't have a little box for her, but I'm assuming I'm going to have a little box for her, too, in a little while. Okay. Although this is my first year serving as principal at La Colima, I've been fortunate enough to be part of the La Colima family since 2004, when Mrs. Ashley Shipka first joined our school. I was the intervention specialist, and it did not take long to recognize one of her greatest gifts, her ability to build genuine, meaningful relationships with families and students alike. Ashley's dedication to her students goes far beyond academics. She cares deeply about their emotional well-being and creates a classroom environment filled with love, support, and
020encouragement, the kind of care that every parent hopes their child receives each day at school. Over the years, Ashley has consistently stepped up to support not only the students in her classroom, but the entire La Colima community. She truly lives out the belief that all of our students are all of our students. A few years ago, when our school needed a Learning Center teacher, Ashley willingly took on the challenge by returning to school herself to earn her MILD Mod credential. She embraced that role wholeheartedly and has made an incredible impact supporting our students. It would honestly be difficult to name all of the ways that Ashley gives her time and energy to our school community. This year alone, she serves as special education representative on our PBIS team, co-leads our amazing after school cheer team,
021volunteers on multiple committees, and is almost always one of the very first people to respond with, I'll be there whenever help is needed, regardless of whether it's during the school day or after hours. Despite living far from our school, she continues to show up for our students and staff time and time again with positivity, commitment, and heart. Ashley, thank you for the countless ways that you support, encourage, and uplift the La Colima community. Your dedication does not go unnoticed, and this award is truly very well deserved. We're grateful for you and proud to honor you today as a very important part of our school family. I don't know where her box is. Here's your box. Thank you. I don't love speaking to big humans very much, so I just want to say thank you to
022my staff and all of my students, and I wouldn't be who I am without them. So thank you. And now for our Classified Employee of the Year, Ms. Alyssa Villalpando. I'm especially excited to present this next award because there's a special sense of pride that comes with hiring someone who turns out to be an exceptional employee. And that has absolutely been the case with Alyssa Villalpando. Alyssa first joined the La Colima family in 2021 when I, along with our interview panel, hired her as part of my intervention team. What I didn't realize at the time was that we were not just hiring an intervention aide. We were welcoming someone truly special into our school community. Alyssa embodies the true meaning of being a team player. She consistently goes above and beyond, not only for our
023AL students, but for our entire La Colima community. Much of what Alyssa does happens quietly behind the scenes, often without recognition, yet her impact can be seen throughout our campus every single day. Very few people know who helped create the beautiful posters for family reading night, how we were able to secure an afternoon sub at the last minute for an urgent IEP meeting, who spent hours prepping the materials for the activities that our students and families were able to enjoy at the school-wide event, or who was actually willing to dance around in the Aussie Y'all costume on a scorching hot day to bring joy to our students. But I can tell you this, nine out of 10 times, if Alyssa is not leading the effort herself, then she is an essential part of the team
024that's making it happen. Alyssa has touched the lives of not only our students, but our staff as well. She's endlessly flexible, dependable, and always willing to help wherever she is needing. No matter the task, she approaches it with professionalism, positivity, and a smile on her face. Alyssa, thank you for the countless ways you support our students, our staff, me, our school community each and every day. Your hard work and dedication do not go unnoticed, and this recognition is incredibly well-deserved. We are very grateful for you. I just want to say thank you to my La Colima family, and I love what I do, and I love the kiddos. Now I'd like to take a quick moment to share a little bit about our wonderful school, our wonderful school, La Colima. La Colima is truly a
025special place for so many reasons. The teamwork we just were about, I thought the cheer was going to go first, so I said we just witnessed, but the teamwork we're about to witness in our amazing cheer squad performance is a perfect reflection of the spirit of our students and staff. Our students consistently come together to support one another, work through challenges, and celebrate each other's growth and successes. They show kindness, resilience, and a genuine sense of community every single day. One thing that has made me especially proud this year is seeing our students take greater initiative in advocating for themselves. More students than ever before have actively sought adult support by either reaching out to their teachers or completing our online self-referral form when they needed help solving problems or navigating challenges. That takes self-awareness,
026courage, and trust. It demonstrates the growth of our students not only academically, but socially and emotionally as well. Seeing our students become reflective self-advocates makes me incredibly proud to serve as their principal. Although I was away from La Colima for the past three years, returning this year has reminded me of something that has never changed, the heart of our school. While many things may look different, what remains exactly the same is the deep care and commitment our staff have for one another, for our students, and for the ongoing growth of our school. At La Colima, our staff generally wants every child to succeed, and they work tirelessly each day to support, encourage, and uplift them. They may not even realize it, but this year, in my first year as principal, they have supported me in
027many of those same ways as well. The gentle reminders, the thoughtful heads up, collaborative conversations, and willingness to embrace new ideas and try new things have meant more to me than they probably know. Those actions reflect not only their professionalism, but also the deep care and love they have for our school, our students, and our community. I'm incredibly grateful to work alongside such a dedicated staff and dedicated and supportive staff, in support of our wonderful families. It's truly an honor to be a part of our school community, filled with so much dedication, compassion, and heart. Speaking of heart, here's our heart. Everybody, let's give a big round of applause to the students. Thank you to both East Whittier Middle School and La Colima for showcasing some amazing students and programs at their schools tonight. We
028are going to continue with... employee recognitions. Good evening EWCSD community and our board and our cabinet member. I am super excited tonight. I am Dr. Vargas, and I am the proud assistant superintendent of human resources. And tonight we have many celebrations to share with all of you. But I do want to start off with welcoming Dr. Stewart and Mr. Maronick. I'm going to give them the opportunity to introduce their family members because they're here with us. So if you want to introduce who you're here with, Marion, that would be wonderful. And Mr. Mayor Nick. We are so excited for your new roles this upcoming year. But yes, I saw family members and it's a packed room. So thank you so much for coming out and supporting. And we're so excited for this upcoming year. So
029thank you for being here. And with that, we are going to start off with a very special presentation. So for those of us that are in education, we know that when we begin our teaching careers, not only is it super exciting, but we know that we have two critical years. Two critical years to really demonstrate that we have all the competencies and all the skills that is needed to have an effective teacher in a classroom. So when we get to our second year and get outstanding reviews, we get... nominated for tenure, which is basically permanency here with the district. So it's a big deal. And tonight I am proud to recognize these amazing employees. So let's give it up to Marissa Cabral. We're going to take pictures at the break time. So that way, please
030be sure to stay here behind. Okay. And then our next recipient is Mr. Sean Hamilton. Let's give him a big round of applause. We have some people standing outside, so let's see, is he out there? And if not, we're going to hold on to it. But congratulations to him. Next up, I would like to welcome Ms. Jennifer Casares. Next, we would love to recognize Tiffany Resendez. She got a front row seat. We would now like to recognize Mr. Grady Smith. Ms. Megan Watson. And now please join me in welcoming Ms. Veranice Silva. Let's give them all a big round of applause and congratulations again. We will be taking pictures, okay? Now, our next presentation is something that we are very proud at here at EWCSD, and that is that... You know, most of our employees
031that start their careers here actually end their careers here. They are here for the long run. They are invested. They are committed. They are loyal. And they tend to stay here for the entirety of their careers. And sometimes it's a second career. But we are very excited today to honor years of service for these amazing employees. We begin to honor these milestones at the 10-year mark and then every five years. years after that. So we are excited. When I call your name, please come up and we have your longevity pin. And look at this. Mr. Mario Sanchez with 25 years of service. He hasn't changed a bit. He still looks very young. Next up with 25 years of service as well is Miss Monica Huerta. With 20 years of service, Mr. Andrew Sansoni. With 20
032years of service, Miss Katie Shoemaker. We'll hold her pin as well. With also 20 years of service, Elizabeth Perez. And very creative, with 20 years of service, the very scholarly Mr. Tracy Ross. years of service, let's give it up for Miss Stephanie Dickinson. With 15 years of service, please help me recognize Balmy Espinoza. Now, our little babies with 10 years of service, let's welcome Regina Amaya. 10 years of service, Mr. David Renteria. And also with 10 years of service, let's give it up for Miss Caroline Sembrano. And let's also give a big round of applause for these employees. They didn't meet it this year, but we have 45 years of service, Mr. Michael Sean Powers, celebrating 20 years, Maria Vega, Jacob Dono, Nona Williams, Gabby Salvedra, 25 years, Jerry Pineda, celebrating 10 years, Dolores Mercado,
033Maria Saint-Benoit, Jaina Dunwindle, Caroline Sombrano, and Andrea Lottie. Big round of applause. Is she here? 15? No, Caroline's somewhere. I know I already picked it up. What about Andrea Lottie? Is she here? Okay. Andrea Lottie's here. She is here. She did make it. Wonderful. Let's give her a big round of applause. Congratulations. And now we're going to move on to another special award. So as we were doing our research to... To see how many years of longevity our employees had, we also were hearing a lot of great stories at the site talking about not only do they have this many years here at East Whittier City School District as employees, but they also attended our schools. So we thought that was such a great honor for our district. So we did create the homegrown pin,
034and this is a special pin for our employees who went to school with us. So we are excited tonight to honor. these homegrown employees. So when I call their names you'll see a pic of them when they were just, you know, a little younger. And it's also, we also asked for a fun fact. So the first one is Mallory Polanco. I know she was out there. So Mallory attended Ocean View and East Whittier, kinder through eighth grade. And her fun fact story was, I was part of the first group to play at Carnegie Hall in New York. Congratulations. Next, we would like to welcome Ms. Melissa Torres. Give her a big round of applause. She attended Orchardale and Granada, kindred through eighth grade. Fun fact story, I can't remember what I had for breakfast today.
035That makes two of us. But I do remember the name of every single teacher I had while at EWCSD, and she lists them all here. So let's give them all a big shout out. Ms. Harvey, Ms. Stelling, Ms. Gomer, Ms. Piper, Ms. Eusebio, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Warner, Ms. Chris, is it Chris? Chris Mann. Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Miss Wicker, Miss Roa, and Mr. Smith, seventh grade. Oh my goodness, it just goes on and on. How many of them are still here with us? Any? Or are they enjoying retirement? Oh, that's amazing. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Let's give her a big round of applause. Next up we have Miss Tamara McMillan. Let's give them a big round of applause. She's coming right up. Fun fact, my dad attended East Whittier as well and we
036had the same PE teacher. I student taught at EWCSD as well. She attended Ocean View and East Whittier, first grade through eighth grade. Congratulations. And look at this, Miss Megan Carrillo. Let's give her a big round of applause. Ms. Megan attended Murphy Ranch and Granada, kinder through eighth grade. Fun fact story, I went to Murphy Ranch and Granada. My mom was a first grade teacher at Ocean View when I was little. Then she was the learning specialist, VP at Hillview, principal at OV, and then moved to the district office. Our children, Sol and Hadley, went to the Ocean View and East Whittier Middle School. Gabe, my husband, went to La Colima in Granada and then taught at the STEP program. And now Scott Avenue. My two nephews and niece also went to Ocean View and
037East Whittier Middle School. So we are all definitely EWCSD family. Yes, you too. She just had to prove that she was homegrown. Yes. And now we are excited to welcome Ms. Maricela Rosas Perez. Let's give her a big round of applause. She attended La Colima in Hillview, fourth grade through eighth grade. And then fun fact story, my favorite memories of La Colima are participating in the talent show in fifth grade and the pancake breakfast fundraiser at Hillview. I enjoyed having home economics class where we made monkey bread and having to run the mile at PE. Look at you, you like to run? Oh my goodness. And now let's welcome Ms. Julia Gleick. Let's give her a big round of applause right over here. She attended Ceres, Leffingwall, Granada, kinder through eighth grade. Fun fact story,
038my favorite teacher ever was Mrs. Delora, is it Kincaid? Kincaid. She was my third grade teacher at Ceres Elementary in 1969 and 70. She was amazing and had traveled the world and shared all her knowledge and experiences with us kids in her class. Amazing. That's amazing. Well, you look just as young, so don't worry. Beautiful. And now, Ms. Ashley Shipka is coming up for a second time, and she attended Ocean View in East Whittier, first grade through eighth grade. Mulberry. Well, mulberry. And East Whittier? Okay. Fun fact story, I still get starstruck when I see my old teachers in the wild. I love that. And now, look at this. Alicia Paz, is she here today? So her fun fact was Mrs. Harvey was an amazing kindergarten teacher. I remember seeing her shopping our neighborhood stores
039till she passed. That's amazing. It's always such a nice thing to see your teachers out in the community. And now we are excited to bring back Evelyn Espidia. So let's bring her back. She was outside. She was here a little while ago. So there she is. She attended Orchardale and Hillview, kinder through eighth grade. And her fun fact, not only did I attend school in EWCSD, I also completed most of my high school and undergrad field work at Orchardale. Congratulations. And now Ms. Rebecca Mayernick, not only here she's supporting her husband, but she's also being recognized because she's homegrown. So Rebecca attended Scott Avenue and Granada fifth grade through eighth grade. Fun fact story, I worked at Granada for 24 years, hired by Chuck Royce, my principal in middle school, and I have had three
040family members all teach in the EWCSD. My children attended Scott and Granada as well. Hashtag EWCSD family. Yes. And look at how cute Mr. Ivan Pastrano. Looking very young. I know he was here. He's outside. He's coming. Okay. Here he is. Oh my gosh, you haven't changed, Ivan. I see it. So attended Laurel and East Whittier, kinder through eighth grade. Fun fact story, my dad and I designed the face that was on the tree in front of Laurel's school. It's along there, but it was iconic. Even before I came to East Whittier, I would drive through there. Congratulations, Ivan. All right, and now we have Christine Wan. I don't know, yes, there she is. She's coming right over here. She attended Ocean View and East Whittier, kindred through eighth grade. She didn't share a fun
041story or fact. Is there one? Congratulations. She was a nutcracker in the fifth grade play. That is a great memory. Congratulations. Thank you. And now we have some others here. Charm Johnson. attended Ocean View and East Whittier, kinder through eighth grade, Janitza Murillo, Laurel, and East Whittier, kinder through eighth grade, Marty North, Mulberry, kinder, we have Emily Delao, Orcharddale, and Hillview Preschool in eighth grade, Ignacio Valadez, Jr., Laurel, and East Whittier, kinder through eighth grade. So let's give them all a big round of applause. This is amazing. We are so proud of our homegrown employees. And now we're going to switch gears a little bit. We also want tonight to recognize some of our amazing volunteers. This is also something that makes us very unique. We know that there is so much to do at
042a school site every single day, and we wouldn't be able to do it without our amazing volunteers. Every year, each... school has the opportunity to recognize an outstanding volunteer for making an impact in their community. They get recognized at a board meeting, and then they also are in the running to represent our district in the Whittier Area School Administrators Award. So tonight we are going to be recognizing some volunteers. So let's go ahead and get started. And we are going to call up our principal. So Mr. Moore will come back to the mic, and he will introduce our walk-in. recipient. All right could I have Miss Jennifer Hill come to the podium? Mrs. Hill embodies everything there is to be a parent volunteer. She has been part of the EWS community for the past six
043years and is set for another two, correct? Yes. Here's just a few of the things she does. She serves on the music program board, this year serving as vice president. She has been a long serving member of the school site council and held leadership roles with the eighth grade end of the year committee. She's seen at possibly every volunteer event possible, whether it's Rewards Day, a young conference of selling snacks, after the 30 minutes during our after school sports game, chaperone dances, et cetera, et cetera. She is there helping. She's one of the most altruistic, consistent people I've ever met and ever once have asked for anything special or extra attention. Jennifer has two children, Blake, who is at Cal High, who went through East Whittier Middle School, and Jordan, who is currently a sixth
044grader at EWMS. She is married to Shane, who is also homegrown. He was the EWMS alum himself. So congratulations, Jennifer Hill. You are very, very deserving. And now let's welcome back Ms. Lopez, and she's going to introduce her WASA recipient. Sarah, please come on up. This year, I'm happy to present our WASA Community Volunteer of the Year Award to Sarah Arroyo. Sarah has consistently demonstrated exceptional dedication and commitment to our school community. She's an invaluable support in our Mommy and Me class, where her creativity shines through. her help with crafts and classroom projects. In addition, she actively supports our PTA events and volunteers regularly in both of her daughter's classes. Sarah is always willing to help whenever she is needed and does so with a positive attitude. Her passion for volunteer service and her meaningful
045contributions to our school truly deserve recognition. In addition, Sarah volunteers in our school library every Wednesday, where she plays a key role in keeping the library organized and running smoothly. She ensures that students and teachers receive the support they need on her library day. Students and staff at La Colima are deeply grateful for her generosity, reliability, and the countless hours she dedicates to our school. Congratulations and thank you, Sarah. And in May, we also have a special celebration, and that is to recognize and celebrate our retirees. And we just celebrated with some amazing teas. So kudos to EWI and CSCA for really partnering with us to just show our appreciation with beautiful teas that took place a couple weeks ago. And now we are happy to honor them on behalf of the Board of Education
046with their retirement plaque. So when I call your name, please come up to receive your. retirement plaque. So let's give them all a big round of applause. I'm going to go over here so I can read a couple of words for Ms. Leah Schmaltz. And you know what? I'm so glad that you brought it back because it really is pretty amazing. So at the T, she made a collage of all of her years of service with EWCSD. So thank you so much. Let's put it in display and I have a couple of words to read. So Leah Schmaltz has been an outstanding and invaluable member of our school community. As an instructional aide, she consistently demonstrates a deep commitment to supporting both students and staff, approaching her work with professionalism, care, and a genuine passion
047for education. Leah has a remarkable ability to connect with students, building strong, trusting relationships that help them feel safe, supported, and confident in their learning environment. She meets students where they are, offering encouragement, patience, and understanding, making... lasting difference in both their academic and social growth. In addition to her work with students, Leah is dependable and a collaborative team member who is always willing to step in and support wherever needed. Her positive attitude, flexibility, and dedication contribute to a strong school culture and a welcoming environment for all. As Leah prepares for her well-deserved retirement, we want to recognize and celebrate the incredible impact she has had on our school community. While she will be greatly missed, we are excited for this new chapter in her life and wish her nothing but joy, relaxation, and continued
048fulfillment in the years ahead. Congratulations. Next, I would like to welcome Ms. Kimberly Humphreys with 35 years of service. Wishing you all the Comic-Con and Star Wars adventures you can find in retirement. May your days be filled with fun, discovery, and a little bit of the force. As you begin this exciting new chapter, keep making a difference in the world in the way only you can. Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement, and never forget, once a Lion, always a Lion. Congratulations. Next, please help me welcome Ms. Dina Chavez with 34 years of service. Dina is one of our original otters. She has been with us since our very first year, helping to build this school from the ground up. For nearly two decades, she has been an important member of our little school. Dina has dedicated
049herself to our students with the most complex behavioral challenges. In moments of crisis, Dina remains kind and steadfast in her love for our school, staff, and students. While we are losing an important OG on our campus, her legacy will not soon be forgotten. Dina, thank you for being with us from the beginning. We wish you the very best in your retirement. Congratulations. And now, I don't know if Karen's here. Is Karen here today? There you are, Karen. You made it. I missed you. Let's welcome Karen Valverde with 31 years of service. After more than 30 years of dedicated service, we proudly recognize and celebrate Karen Valverde. our outstanding school office coordinator on her recent retirement. Her unwavering commitment, attention to detail, and steady leadership have been instrumental in keeping our school running smoothly and efficiently
050each and every day. She has served our Leffingwell community and EWCSD with excellence, always putting students, staff, and families first. Her presence will be deeply missed, and her lasting impact will continue to be felt for years to come. Congrats on a well-deserved retirement. Next, we would love to welcome Mr. Cameron Briggs, 27 years of service. Congratulations. On behalf of the Laurel community, we would like to say thank you for 28 incredible years. You have made a lasting impact over the years, and you will truly be missed for your calm, patient, and caring demeanor. We will miss conversations with you, ranging in topics from current events to everyday life. We wish you a wonderful, relaxing, and adventurous retirement, doing whatever your heart desires. We will miss you. Congratulations. You've more than earned it. Once a Lion,
051always a Lion. And now Mr. Paul White. Let's give him a big round of applause, Mr. Paul. There's your plaque. Come right over here. And that is a recent picture. We just celebrated Mr. Paul. Okay, congratulations on your well-deserved retirement. For the last 18 years, Paul has dedicated himself to the STEP program, consistently showing up for our students who needed support the most. You brought purpose, compassion, and a deep belief that every student deserves the opportunity to succeed. Thank you for your unwavering commitment and the difference you have made in our district. You leave behind a legacy of care. advocacy, and meaningful change. We wish you fulfillment and joy in this next chapter. Let's give them a big round of applause. And now please help me welcome Ms. Noreen Garibian with 13.6 years of service.
052Today we celebrate not only your retirement, but the incredible impact you have made over the past 13 years in our district. Your dedication as one-to-one aid has touched the life of the student that you supported, as well as the many students and staff who have had the privilege of knowing you. Your kindness, generosity, and gentle heart have always been felt through our campus. The calm, nurturing way you spoke to students and staff brought comfort, reassurance, and care to those around you each day. You have a special gift. of making others feel valued, supported, and safe, and that is something that will never be forgotten. Thank you for your patience, compassion, and unwavering commitment you have shown over the years. The relationships you've built and the difference you made in the lives of others are part
053of the lasting legacy you leave behind. While we will miss your warm presence greatly, we are so excited for you as this new chapter begins. May your retirement be filled with joy, relaxation, good health, and time spent doing the things you love most. Congratulations on your retirement and 13 wonderful years. That is so amazing. Congratulations. And congratulations to all of the retirees that were not able to join us, but we do want to honor them. And there are all of their years of service to our district. And it all adds up to 595 years of service amongst all of our retirees. So let's give everybody a big round of applause. And we do wish them the best in this next chapter. And just as a reminder and a plug, after six months, you can come
054back and we can hire you again. So please come back and join us. We always are looking for substitutes and other temporary work. So thank you so much. We had so many wonderful people to celebrate from our tenured, longevity, homegrown, WASA retirees, and all the other special folks. We're going to take a quick break in just a minute. We did have someone special who wanted to share a few words. We normally don't do this, but it's a special gift that we wanted to give tonight. Is he ready to do that? We wanted to make a special allowance for a very special young man in our district. who wanted to share something special with his aide. First I want to congratulate all of the teachers, instructional aides, and staff members that retired this year. Thank you
055for the years of dedication, patience, and love you have given many students and families. Every time I come speak, I cry. Today will be a little different. Well, today I'm here to honor somebody truly who has changed my son's life, Isaiah, in our family. Miss Noreen, this is for you. For the past six years, you have been Isaiah's one-to-one aid. And the time you have become such more than that to our family. You became someone we trusted, we leaned on, and truly appreciated. As a parent of a child with special needs, trust does not come easily. There's always a part of you that worries, wonders if your child will be understood, supported, and truly cared for. Even letting go for a few hours each day can feel overwhelming. But with you, that worry slowly faded.
056You gave Isaiah something so important, something every child should have. You saw him for who he is and not just his challenges. You believed in him and more than that you helped him and you hold him for high expectations and you made him work. You didn't let his disability find him or limit what he can achieve. You pushed him, supported him and guided him in ways and helped him grow his confidence and ability. Because of you, Isaiah has grown so much. And because of you, we are able to drop him off at school every day with peace in our hearts, knowing he was safe, understood, and in the very best hands. Thank you for your patience, your dedication, and the love you have shown my son. Thank you for believing in him, even in the
057days that were hard, and we had many hard days. Ms. Haring, congratulations on your retirement. You will always hold a very special place in our hearts. And while your row in the classroom may be ending, our connection does not. I truly look forward to continuing our friendship. And I look forward to having you there for his A3 promotion, for his high school graduation, and even college graduation. And I look forward to sharing with you all the amazing things he will accomplish in the future. Thank you so much. There's no way. Thank you so much to the Urtiaga family. Thank you for allowing us to do this special little thank you on behalf of Isaiah. So we're going to take a quick break. We'll take a quick break. Please stay for photos. So we're going to
058take a break. We'll be gone for about 10 minutes, but not really gone. Test. I'm calling the meeting back to order at 721. Thank you again so much for everyone that came tonight, everyone that enjoyed and was a part of all these wonderful celebrations of our. amazing employees here in our district. I just wanted to recognize we had a little new member celebration for Mr. Baird who is a new member of our board and we're so honored and privileged to have him join us and he's doing a really wonderful job of getting to know all of us and getting to know all of you and really making an impact in terms of how he is working on our board. So thank you Mr. Baird so very much. We're going to go back to Section F
059number one for the approval of the April 7th Board of Education minutes Can I get a motion to approve? I move the recommendation of the Board of Education approve the Board of Education meeting minutes for April 7 2026 I'll second. Thank you. It's been moved by a stop at EC o seconded by mrs. Carrera any changes or Corrections board all right hearing none Would you please call for the vote? Mrs. Bellansuela? Mr. Thomas Baird Yes Mr. Cohn-Kennedy? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver-Baird? Yes. Mrs. Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. We're now going to skip down to our next section, H, board member reports and comments. We're going to start with Mr. Baird. All right. Well, I want to say... That was a phenomenal bunch of presentations today. And if I could
060pick, well, I'll have to pick two. The two speeches were just phenomenal, and I want to congratulate those two young ladies. They just did a fantastic job as somebody who kind of... remembers finding my place in theater that that really resonated as a social worker any story of adoption is remarkably powerful so it was it was really neat and just how impressive our students are I know they always are but this was this was special to see I also wanted to bring up I went to Laurel's open house and Feels like so long ago, but I got to meet as many teachers as I could It was it was really lively very exciting Enjoyed it a lot. I also was able to attend the spelling bee the district spelling bee I went as a parent
061to the fourth grade one and went to see stayed for the fifth grade it was Really impressive all of those fifth graders could spell much better than I can and then finally I was fortunate enough to go to series and tour the classrooms that are facilitating our DLI program and dual language immersion and I know we We know in theory just how much wonderful work is happening it was really neat to see in person to see the walls to see the lively interaction in the classroom i just as a former you know elementary school student i was jealous of of their education and their experience and i think that they're doing a phenomenal job there yeah that was uh it felt like a busy busy month thank you so much mrs chuckle kennedy Yes, good
062evening everyone. Yeah, I've been busy. I've been busy along with Mr. Baird. We attended the National School Board Association Conference in San Antonio from April 8th to the 12th, and it was really interesting to see, you know, you get different perspectives from different states to see what they're doing in their state. It's not as crowded as the CSBA one, but it was still really interesting some of the Sessions that we attended were like on immigration that one was really lively to see how all the other states felt about it On AI that was also very interesting just a lot of interesting conference sessions and then on the 12th to the 16th I went to Washington DC for the coast to coast conference and that's where we met with our Our elected representatives which ours wasn't
063there that that day that well She's been there the other two years, but she wasn't there this year Linda Sanchez But we still met with her head person which by the way I've been going through years, and I don't think there's been a same person there for three years It's always somebody new, but it was a little it wasn't as encouraging as I thought I mean we left all our information there and but it just seems like the presentation that we had before we met with her was that you know it it bundled things up instead of, it makes it look like we're getting more money, like one point some billion, but it's like not just for us. It's not just for California. It's like for everybody. So in my mind, I feel like we're
064going to get $1.98, which was even worse. I mean, it was just terrible. So I remember we went on this little walking tour, and the guy was saying that the Federal Reserve was undergoing like a facelift. Three billion dollars, so I told Linda Sanchez's head guys You know I'd gladly take that three billion and you guys can have the the 1.9 billion that you're giving us for special ed That's just crazy to me, but anyway. It was a very interesting session. We had a lot of you know Surveys that we're talking about how you know if the president's doing good if he's doing bad But I won't get into any of that with any of you, but anyways it was a very interesting conference but I wish I could come back with better news. I
065also went to Ceres, to their open house on the 28th. And, you know, I went to many, but I really just want to thank all you teachers because the classrooms look so beautiful. And I just go in there and they're just really gorgeous. And that's a lot of work. It takes a lot of work. I understand that. And I went in, I was at Orcharddale. And I think it was, I hope I get the name, Mr. Clausen. And I go, you know, I was in Washington, D.C., and I missed the cherry blossoms. And he goes, no, you didn't. They're right there. That was a big. Art project it was all cherry blossoms like oh gee I didn't miss the cherry blossoms, but it was just so nice to see how the classrooms look so beautiful
066I also attended the CSEA retirement tea and the EWE retirement tea to see and say goodbye Or so long or farewell whatever to all those people that are retiring which is really nice I went to La Calibre Pioneer Days, and I got to tell you, Mr. Eisenhower does a lot of work to get that thing together. It was amazing. I mean, little tiny things, such detail, and the kids just had a great time. I mean, they were churning butter. I mean, just doing all kinds of stuff. It was so nice. It was really great. And I also attended the Spelling Bee, and I really, I mean, it was amazing. I don't think... Hate to say this, but I mean those they really I mean maybe I got a couple of words right, but those kids
067were really good And mr. Jaramillo says you know he wants to take it up a notch and get the kids to where they can go to another level Which I think would be really great because there's some really good spellers really great. I was so impressed But and then that'll be going to more open houses. I believe next week I'm not sure but I'll go to that anyway It's been nice, and I really want to thank everybody for letting me go to those conferences. It was great. Thank you Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Mr. Aparicio? Yeah, I want to say good evening, everyone. First off, I just want to say happy Mother's Day to all the moms here, and especially my wife, who is here today in attendance. Just I hope everyone had a great day
068yesterday. So just, you know, to all the moms, you guys definitely mean a lot, you know, to everybody. Of course, without you guys, you know, we wouldn't be here. And you guys mean the world. You know, just in terms of our students, I know you guys are just amazing at what you do. And like, so, so mom, just thank you very much for everything that you guys do. Also, congratulations to Lena and Sara for winning the speech contest. Both great speeches, both great stories, just very brave individuals for just being up there. Just very touching stories, like I said, besides just the speeches themselves, but just the message they sent was just amazing. So I definitely wish them the best of luck in everything that they do. And like I said, just crazy, crazy stories
069in a good way. So I just wish them both best of luck in everything. Congratulations to our employees of the year from East Witter Middle School in La Colima and all the other employees that received them. There's just way too many to name off individually, but all very, very well deserving, like I said. And then just lastly, especially the congratulations to all the retirees. That's awesome. You guys, very well deserved. I know we're all jealous. I'm pretty sure we all wish we were in the same boat just a month away probably from retiring. So just the very, very best in that. Last I just hope everybody has a great summer. I know we're not gonna have another board meeting until the school year is over. So just have a great summer. Hopefully, especially if you're
070not teaching in the summer school, just hopefully it's restful and relaxing for you. And that's it. Thank you, Mr. Aparicio. Ms. Carrera? Okay, I wasn't expecting it. Okay, so yeah, I was going to, you took it from me, Carlos. Happy Mother's Day to, you know, it's belated, but to all of you. Our work is truly unique. It's selfless, but most importantly, it is filled with love. So whether you're a pet owner or you're a mother of a child. It just, it's a lot of work. And it is, again, filled with love. I want to congratulate everyone on everything that they do, everything they've accomplished and they've achieved. Your work does not go unnoticed. To our speech winners, they're not here anymore, but I did want to say, you know, outstanding work. And I was going
071to say, lina, lina, lina. Everything is possible in this world. To Estrella. If you're watching, if you ever watch this, your bravery has made you jump hurdles no child should, you know, should ever have to. However, each hurdle you jump. is one step closer to achieving your goals. So keep shining bright. I do want to, for a quick second, explain my fire emoji because it appears there was just some confusion about it. So the fire emoji simply means... That's cool. Or that's lit. It's fun. Okay. It's the new generation lingo. So with that, I want to say, Mr. Ross, I owe you a lunch. That's going to be fire. All right. So I want to make that clear. I attended CSEA banquet. Congratulations to all the honorees and stewards on their recognitions. I know some
072of them are present. I will not be at Engaged East Whittier this year, nor will I be able to attend the combined meeting on June 17th with the Whittier Union School Board. Congratulations to the Mayornicks. I look forward, they took off. I look forward to continue to see them grow together and continue to strengthen our district like they do, and likewise to all of our new employees. And I do want to end my comments dedicated to Mr. Moore. I think he might have left already, but hopefully he's watching. Mr. Moore, thank you for still being here. So I want to dedicate my closing to you. I want you to know that although I disagree immensely with your decision, I respect it. I leave you with this. Your legacy won't be your title or your resume.
073It will be how people felt after meeting you. Be unforgettable for the right reasons. Better yet, remain unforgettable and keep leading with that heart that you do and that you have. Don't change for anybody. Hillview is very lucky to have you and I'm jealous. All right, and with that, I cease my comments. Thank you, Mrs. Carrera. Mr. Oliver Baird. My comments are going to be a little bit shorter than everyone else because I was pretty nearly as busy as the other board members this month, but I would like to congratulate the recipients of the awards for both classified and certificated at La Colima and East Whittier. I will be excited to attend Engage East Whittier later on Friday. This week has been quite a busy week for the, like... the whole district because I don't
074know how many of you guys know this, but there will be a secondary math competition for people who won the first one, the Nationals math competition. So that's going to be cool. All the people who got first, second, or third place will be attending that. And so I'll be excited to see that coming tomorrow. I would like to just kind of end my comments here, but I will be hoping to attend some open houses following. Thank you, Mr. Barrett. I want to wrap up our comments by saying I'm very honored to serve as the president here with our board. Know that our board is very committed. I need to keep reminding everybody, just in case, very committed to supporting each and every student in this district, every teacher, every staff member, every administrator, all the
075parents and our families. We work together as a team. And there may be times when our decision is not one that you're comfortable with, but know that we are working in concert every single day, every single time issues arise. And even when they don't, we communicate, we speak to one another, and we work as a team. So I just want to make sure that all of you know that, that we really see ourselves as a team, and we want to be as productive and as supportive as we can of our district as we work as a team. So I want to thank everybody for... Coming tonight, again, I want to congratulate all our students that shared the flag salute this morning, this afternoon rather. I want to congratulate all of our teachers who earned special
076awards, all our staff that earned special awards in tenure, longevity, homegrown, WASA, as well as the classified and certificate award winners from East Whittier Middle School in La Colima. I was very honored to be a judge for the speech contest. And so I just want to also add how meaningful it was to be in the audience to hear Lena and Star speak. It was very, very heartbreaking, especially when we listened to Star. But it was so beautiful to see these two young women, these two young girls who are so committed and so dedicated to the art of speech speaking. It's not an easy thing. When I was in eighth grade, I joined the speech contest, and I read a speech by Norman Vincent Peale, and it was really tough, and Edward Allen Poe, and it
077was really hard to do that, but it gave me a sense of pride to be able to speak in front of a group, and it's something that these two young ladies are going to carry with them forward into whatever they decide to do as they take their education forward, but they were absolutely beautiful, and I do want to congratulate them again. I also want to share that. Like some of my board, I was able to attend the retirement tea, and I'm so impressed of the collaboration between our district and EWI and at how beautiful our tea is. It's just absolutely stunning, and the recognitions that were shared by teachers for one another were just absolutely beautiful, and to be able to see and hear the heartfelt statements made to one another, it was just really
078beautiful to see. and I was also able to attend the district spelling bee. I, too, was a spelling bee champ. I used to love doing the spelling bee. But, friends, you need to know it was absolutely incredible to watch our young people. at Granada Middle School, standing on that stage and speaking out and spelling these words is just incredible. And folks might think, oh, well, you know, that's really old-fashioned. We don't even teach spelling anymore. But it's not that point. It's the point of really being able to stand there and, again, like a speech, have that pride in knowing that you've been gifted with something very remarkable, which is to be able to spell words. at the top of your hat, and it's just so incredible to see our young people, and the courage that
079it took them to memorize those words, learn those words, and speak those words out and spell them correctly was just so incredible to see, so I really want to also thank our team that coordinated the spelling bee. It was really, really wonderful. Lastly, I want to say that I'm also looking forward to our Engage event on Friday. I know that it's going to be beautiful for all of you that could attend. We really hope that you will feel that it's really a representation of the things that all of you as teachers, as staff, as parents are doing in our district to make our district a place that's very special for all of our children. So thank you very much and we look forward to that event. I want to continue with our CSEA comments. Do
080we have anyone representing CSEA tonight? Thank you. Good evening, members of the board and Dr. Patterson. I am Joseph Riley. I work in the IT department, and I am the president of our CSCA chapter. So a lot of great stuff happened this evening, a lot of good recognition. Let me just give my quick rundown. Congrats to all the new administrators who are joining the team. We look forward to working with you. And then I also wanted to shout out our two classified employees of the year. Congrats to Mr. Jonathan over at EWMS. It is a big school with lots to clean. So I know he's very busy picking up all that trash every day. And shout out to Miss Alyssa over at La Colima. It's always a very busy campus and doing fantastic work over
081there. I also wanted to shout out the Owl Cheer Squad. I thought they were pretty good, right? I can spell owl now. There's a reason I'm classified. That was very nice. Then I also wanted to congratulate all the retirees. You know... As someone who's relatively new to education, I always think it's pretty inspiring to see all the folks who work in the classrooms and all the folks that provide support to choose to dedicate that time of your life to the future of society versus really anything else we could do right. It's very noble and it's very humbling to see everyone's accomplishments. So really congratulations and I hope you enjoy your retirement. I also wanted to thank Board Member Chacon-Kennedy for coming to our CSCAT. It's lovely to see you. And then also, so as I
082mentioned, we did have our CSEA member recognition banquet. It's held once a year by CSEA. Our chapter recognized Ms. Leah Schmaltz, who is also a retiree. As being our unsung hero, she's done a lot for the district and a lot for the union, and we're very happy to be able to recognize her. And we also wanted to say thank you to Board Member Correra for coming and being our guest of honor. She gave a fantastic speech. All the other politicians there were jealous. It was straight fire. Fire emoji. Right? It was lit. And I also wanted to extend an invitation to all the board members to attend our CSEW event next Thursday, the 21st. It'll be here from 2 to 5.30. If you can stop by, we're going to have tacos. We're going to have
083elote. I don't know. I think we're going to have some stuff to give away. I know a guy who might be able to get you a raffle ticket. And then lastly, we've put a lot of work into our current rounds of negotiations with the district. So here's to hoping that we have a very productive Wednesday and the fruit of our hard year of labor can really pay off for the district and for all the folks in the chapter. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, we have comments from Ewy. Madam President, just. Just wanted to remind you that they're gonna go a little bit over ten minutes. Mr. Vogelman, you know that you traditionally have ten minutes. So when we reach that time limit, I will let you know that you have two more minutes.
084Thank you. Brent Vogelman, EWI president. Thanks for having me here tonight. Appreciate it. I want to start by saying happy Mother's Day. Mothers mean so much. And the work you do is unsung and... We appreciate it. I'll just start with the speeches from the students. It's really hard to be in front of people and be vulnerable. And that is something that is at a young age is really, really impressive. I'm 48 years old and me being vulnerable in front of people is very difficult. So to see it from elementary kids and middle school kids is pretty impressive. Congratulations to the La Colima. People being recognized for certificated and classified of the year. Also, congratulations to the East Whittier Middle School, my alma mater, but where I work. So congratulations to Jonathan. Works really, really hard.
085He's moving fast around the campus, doing everything he can to make our campus look as best as it can. Funny thing about Ken Martinez, real quick, was he would always brag that he never won Teacher of the Year. He was like, ha-ha, never won it. You guys won it. I haven't. because he didn't want to be in front of people to be recognized. And so I sort of, we sort of feel like we have the last laugh because he had to come out of retirement to be here tonight. So, ha ha. But me and Ken have stories. We've worked together for so long, so many lunches together. Just a great teacher, great father, great dude. Also want to recognize the tenured employees. Big deal. Congratulations. And the retirees as well. We did have the retirement
086tea last week. Was it the week before? I can't remember. All time blurs together. And just want to say great job, Melissa. Melissa Torres, our vice president. Amy Swanson is a little under the weather, so she can't be here tonight. But they did a great job setting that up. And I think it went very well. So a few things want to bring up we recently concluded our LCAP meetings with the district LCAP is a 16 million dollar allocation that basically the community and all the stakeholders get to decide How the money should be allocated the number one issue for the community was class size reduction. The community were given stars to put on the things that they thought were the most important and that got about 60 stars total. The next closest got like 25.
087So the community really, really wants class size reduction. EWI, we want class size reduction. It is our bargaining priority at this moment in time. The budget this year, 25-26, was 3.6 million of that 16 million. The budget next year has been cut to $2.3 million. That is a $1.3 million cut, which is an 8% cut from the LCAP total. The community, one of the largest stakeholders, probably the largest. EWI, second or third with classified up there. We all want class size reduction, yet we don't feel like we're being listened to. Instead, $2.1 million went to coaches that got two stars from the community. So it just feels like there's a disconnect in the LCAP process between what the community and what EB wants and what the district is actually doing. Moving on to my next
088thing, I think I'm not doing my due diligence if I don't come back to what I spoke about at the last board meeting with the issue that I had with a student. Long story short, student threatened my life. I grieved it. I'm glad to see that the language that I grieved is going to be put into board policy now, both for security and safety. The district is committed to providing a work environment that is free of disruptive, threatening, or violent behavior involving a unit member. So thank you for that. I appreciate that. But here was the troublesome part about the whole situation. I felt on my own. nobody came to me to ask me about the situation as in what I had been dealing with with this student from day one of the school year.
089And when I found out that this student was going to basically have pretty easy repercussions, I decided I needed to find evidence. And so what I did was in a two-day span, I collected 31 pages of evidence. which during my grievance I presented, and the looks on some faces in that room were shocked. And I think it changed the investigation, not because of other people's work, but because of my work. And it was... Exhausting and I'm the president of the Union so there's a certain amount of effort that I'm gonna put forth 110% as much as I can And I've been doing this for 23 years So I have the knowledge and I also have the resources to be able to do the things I do but what if this was a temp? what if
090this was a Probationary they might be too scared to do what I did and who knows what would happen to them It just seems that every step of the way, this sort of just got pushed under the rug and just kept trying to push it under the rug. And so what I did was I went back and found evidence from fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade. Talked to a number of teachers, and it took me two days to do this. I had 16 pages of evidence myself. There needs to be somebody else besides the victim doing these things. because the victim is not always going to do these things, and that makes this happen further. This situation is not about me. It's the next time this happens. The goal is for this
091never to happen again. And after the grievance, I appreciate this going into board policy. I also appreciate the forming of the Behavior Safety Committee. I also appreciate that there's going to be clear protocols for the STEP program placement, so we know what to do to make sure we get the students the support that they need. But this is where the work begins. It's not over. Now comes the hard part. We've got to put in the work and the time to make sure that we are making this as safe a district as we possibly can. But it goes back to I didn't feel supported. The only support that I got were from my colleagues, other teachers, my family. It's something that I've noticed going from school to school across the district. I've had 13 lunches with
092all the schools. And when I go there, I put up a big post-it note. It's like a chart-sized post-it note. And I have three of them. One's overall, one's safety, and one's SPED. On the left side, if you're looking at it, left side, it says what's going well. And on the right side, it's what could go better. This helps us know what we can fight for, the things that we have in common, the things that we can do to make the district better. On the right side, for what's going well, over the course of my 13 sites visits, it only got 42 things. On the left side, 127. The biggest thing that showed up, to put it in the simplest terms possible, was a lack of support. Mrs. Dabbs, you said a couple meetings ago
093that our number one priority is students. And the people that support them the closest are teachers. But we need support too. And sometimes it feels like that chain of support. has some broken links in it. That when we can get support from our site admin, they can't do it because they're not getting support from the district level. It seems like there's some disconnects in that chain that make the support difficult to come by. And so the other thing about those site visits is in the last board meeting, I'm going to quote. The luncheons during Teacher Appreciation Week will not be sponsored by the district anymore because it's a significant cost. I've done 13 site visits and I've had 13 lunches. It cost me about $250 to feed everybody for each site. Quick math, $3,000-something odd.
094That's a significant cost. We just made a new position for the MTSS coordinator, $220,000. We have a new admin at Hillview, $200,000. $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, significant cost. Last week was teacher appreciation week. The best thing I got was this little note in my mailbox, and it says, Hey, Brent, sorry I didn't get to your class today. I've always been impressed with your work ethic. I appreciate you always working to make EWMS a better place. Peter. He's moving on to Hillview next year. I've known Peter for a very long time. First as a PE teacher, then as a summer school neighbor, an assistant principal, a principal. And one thing I admire, and Wendy pretty much said it, is his heart. He wears it on his sleeve. That's not something I do. I'm very analytical. But I
095read a quote, and I'm probably going to... Butcher it a little bit in the past we led with strength with our physicality or muscle in the present we lead with our heads in the future we know the lead with our heart and With Peter moving on we're losing our heart at our school and so it brings me to So mr. Bogelman minutes two minutes. Thank you. It brings me to an analogy that I can't get out of my head So I might as well explain it I look at the district as a giant cruise ship and we're cruising through the ocean, all the sites on board, everybody on board, parts of the district, families and whatnot. And we get to certain stops and families check out and they move on to another cruise ship, high
096school, college, so on and so forth. And that cruise ship was doing great until COVID. COVID happened and the ship stalled. And when that ship stalled. Instead of moving forward with everybody on board, it felt like all the sites got put on lifeboats. And so now we're sort of in the waters trying to figure out how to navigate them while the ships, the district is still stalled trying to move. And when that ship gets moving again, it needs everybody on board. At East Winter Middle School, our lifeboat just got capsized and we're in the water. And we're looking for help I'm one to help And the way I'm gonna help I'm not gonna give him a light vest I'm not gonna teach him how to swim. I'm gonna teach him how to make waves Thank
097you Thank You mr. Vogelman, dr. Patterson I just wanted to echo what the board has said about being excited about Engage East Whittier and sharing the amazing things that go on in our district with our 200 guests. But that's it. Thank you so much. Now is the time for guidelines for citizen communication to the board. And Dr. Patterson, will you lead us in that, please? Sure. We do have 12 comments. Each person gets three minutes. I'm going to ask the first six to line up over on the left-hand side. So Kirsten Obando de Ortiz, followed by Dana Antion, Lacey Aguilla, Michelle Barber, Erica. Corker on and Anastasia Gonzalez are our first six speakers Please introduce yourself as you come up and your three minutes will begin Good evening board members and district leadership My name
098is Kristin Obando de Ortiz and I'm here tonight to speak on behalf of the current fifth grade dual immersion Cohort as they prefer to transition to the sixth grade at a hill view This particular group of students has already experienced more uncertainty and change than most. They were the cohort impacted by COVID during their earliest academic years, missing milestone experiences and learning foundational skills under extraordinary circumstances. Since then, they have continued to serve as what as often feels like the guinea pig class of this program. navigating a program that has been built while they move through it, often with limited preparation and evolving expectations. Despite those challenges, these students have succeeded. A major reason for that success has been the support that they have received in smaller class settings that allowed students to meet students
099where they were academically, socially, and linguistically. Now we are learning that next year's classes may be combined into one class of 36 students. Respectfully, this is unacceptable for this cohort. The range of student ability levels within the group is incredibly broad. These students are balancing the rigor of middle school while continuing in a demanding dual immersion environment. Asking one teacher to effectively support 36 students with varying academic and language needs is not setting up the teacher or the students for success. This program is not yet established for this group. They still require strong support systems to ensure the long-term success of both of the students and the dual immersion program itself. I respectfully ask that the board to consider allocating two sections for language arts and two sections for social studies for the incoming sixth
100grade class. Providing these students with manageable class sizes and adequate instructional support is an investment in the success and the future success and credibility of the DLI program. These students have worked too hard and overcome too much to now be asked to carry the burden of insufficient support. Thank you for your time and consideration. Good evening board members and superintendent. My name is Donna Antion and I'm here tonight on behalf of our first dual language immersion class and our families tonight. Tonight we are respectfully asking the board to fund a second sixth grade DLI cohort at Hillview Middle School for the 26-27 school year including additional sections of both DLI social science and DLI language arts. First, thank you very much for supporting our bilingual education, bringing the DLI program and continuing it to Hillview
101for the 26-27 school year. We are, our families are very excited to have our kids continue. We know and want this program to succeed. However, Hillview currently has only one social science section and one DLI language arts. scheduled for next year. This would place 36 students in one DLI class learning both in English and in Spanish. Unlike traditional language arts classes taught in one language, DLI instruction happens in both languages while also preparing students for state tested standards. Teachers must support newcomers in English. English only students in learning academic Spanish and students with varying proficiency levels in both languages all within one classroom in a 50 minute period in middle school. Funding a second DLI cohort would provide smaller class sizes, stronger instructional support and allow Hillview the flexibility of offering honors to our DLI
102language arts, giving the students opportunities. Our students are coming from a successful DLI program at Ceres Elementary. More than 50% of our families are choosing Hillview, even though that is not our home school, because we believe in the long-term benefits of bilingualism. We understand he'll view cannot financially create additional sections within their current budget That is why we are respectfully asking for the district's support We also respect that respectfully ask for a timeline for this decision as families must soon decide whether to continue in the DLI pathway or return to their home schools We respectfully ask the board to invest in these students and program by funding a second cohort for the sixth grade deal I program at Hillview Middle School for the 26-27 school year. Thank you very much. Hello, board. Dr. Patterson. My
103name is Lacey Elgia, and I'm a parent at the Ceres DLI program. When we first signed my daughter in kindergarten, we were asked if we could make a long-term commitment to this program. It was a program that was going to be continuing on, and they wanted to make sure that we were going to stick with the program. We said yes. Now, some days are definitely harder than others. staying on course but we continue to show up every day upholding our end of the agreement what we're asking is we want the district to continue to uphold their commitment to help support the program the parents the teachers the schools but most of all the students themselves thank you Good evening board and dr. Patterson. My name is Michelle barber and I've been here at this school
104a district for 28 years I've been at Orchardale all 28 years. I want to speak honestly for a moment about how many of us feel but don't say out loud Lately work has started to feel less like a challenge. We rise to and more like a weight. We carry every single day The pace keeps increasing, expectations keep growing, and yet the time, support, and trust needed to meet those expectations often stay the same or even shrink. At the same time, many of us feel overworked in many ways that go beyond long hours. It's the mental exhaustion of constantly proving ourselves. It's being asked to move faster while managing more responsibilities, often without the resources or staffing needed to succeed sustainably. We want to contribute to innovate and to care about our work, but burnout makes
105it harder every day. Perhaps the most discouraging is feeling under trusted or micromanaged. Skilled, capable people are treated as though we need constant monitoring instead of meaningful support. When every decision is second guessed, when flexibility disappears or when employees feel their judgment isn't valued, morale suffers. Trust is not a bonus. It's the foundation of strong performances and healthy teams. When employees are trusted, supported, and given room to breathe, we don't just survive, we actually thrive. I share this not to complain, but as a reflection of how I have felt physically, mentally, and professionally at the end of this long year. And right now, many of us are simply asking to be seen, heard, and supported before exhaustion becomes the norm. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Anastasia Gonzalez, and I'm the parent of a
106dual language student at Ceres Elementary. I'm here because I was concerned when I came last time, April 7th, I believe, the April board meeting, and I heard the concerns from the Ceres teacher. We were all asked to come here to help inform you that we really wanted to keep the interventionist that was being moved, and it was a huge surprise. I was alarmed to hear. the other concerns that the teachers spoke about, especially Ceres is such an amazing school. Whenever I go, it's like you said, beautiful. The work is amazing. The teachers look so happy. The students are so happy. So when I was here and listening to the concerns of my students' teachers, it alarmed me. And so I just want to make sure that you are committed to dual language at Ceres. and
107at Hillview, because in three years my student will be going there, my child. And I just heard that tonight, so I'm like even more alarmed. And that our teachers are supported, because if the program and the teachers aren't supported, then my child's not supported. He's on permit. I'm not even East Whittier. And I also work in L.A., who has a lot of dual language programs, and I'm choosing Ceres. Ceres has impressed me so much, and I don't want to not choose it. I want to be able for him to stay there. Thank you. Good afternoon, Superintendent, Dr. Patterson, and members of the board. My name is Erika Corcoran, and I'm also a DLI parent at Sears Elementary. I'm here to express strong support for the dual language immersion program and its continued success. Earlier today,
108I emailed all of you, as well as other leadership staff. If you haven't read the letter yet, it's a letter signed by 112 parents and guardians from Ceres Elementary. Us families would like to better understand the district's long-term strategic vision for DLLI, including both elementary and middle school. Some of these issues are taking too long. These are items that haven't been addressed following the inception of the program for almost now six years ago. Our children, parents, teachers, and school administration love the program, and we know that they are in full support of DLI. We are asking here for transparency. Like in any program or service, we should take time to evaluate, analyze, and communicate continuously. Even when challenges arise, having a two-way communication is critical. We have new representation in Area 4. Thank you, Mr.
109Board Member Behr, for your service. We want to hear from you. We want to know, do you know what DLI is about? Are you interested in DLI? How can you support DLI? And we want to hear more from you, Superintendent Patterson. Why has the program encountered these challenges lately in this last year? We are very excited that some of our concerns have recently, and very recently, been addressed. We have new leadership at Ceres and Dr. Aldana is doing a great job, but she needs more support from the district. Summer is around the corner. We will soon go on break. We as parents need to be prepared for the fall. How do we as parents continue to support DLI next year and how would the board leadership continue to support DLI? Mr. President Volkerman, you know,
110based on his speech, something that really resonated was the lack of support. When we don't have transparency and we don't have communication, it just feels like you don't care or there's lack of support. I think it's otherwise, that's not the case, but when we don't have that communication updates when new leadership comes about or why these changes are happening, it just feels that we're being ignored. Thank you so much for all of the Ceres Elementary School families that are here today. DLI Area 4 Member Board, you mentioned that you went to the school, but we invite you May 22nd is Dia del Niño. We're going to be celebrating at our school. We want to have this communication, and I also wanted a lot of our kids left because they had practice or they have to
111get ready for tomorrow because we still have testing, but I want to say thank you. Muchas gracias a todos los niños. And again, thank you for your time. So if we could have Esmeralda De Anda, Michelle Ortiz, Donna Smith, Lisa Fragoso, Emma Guerrero-Lopez, and Margo Keeg. Please come over to the side. Good evening, everybody. My name is Esmeralda De Avila, and I am the coach and mentor at Ceres Elementary School. I want to begin by thanking Board Member Chaconk-Henry and Dr. Aceves for attending our back-to-school night last month. It was also wonderful to welcome Board Member Barrett and Dr. Patterson to Ceres last week to learn more about our program. I also want to thank Dr. Roman for being responsive to teacher and family concerns regarding summer school. It was very encouraging to see her
112return to campus the very next day after our DLI team work day, ensuring that our dual language student summer school experience reflected the Spanish and English language allocation appropriate for their grade level. That responsiveness mattered and it did not go unnoticed. Tonight, however, I want to highlight a critical need with our DLI program, the need for a bilingual interventionist. The SPED department has made it clear that services will not be provided to students in Spanish. That raises an important question. How will our DLI students receive Tier 3 intervention support and the language in which they are receiving instruction? A bilingual interventionist is not simply a preference with a dual language program. it is a necessity. Our students need support from someone who understands both Spanish and English literacy development and who can leverage the connections
113and the distinctions between the two languages to provide targeted, effective intervention. Equally important, our students need someone who understands the 90-10 D-Align model and the process of second language acquisition. Without that expertise, we risk misidentifying students as needing special education services when in reality they're navigating the normal process of acquiring a second language. At Ceres, our teachers are deeply committed to continuous growth and excellence. That commitment is reflected in our school receiving a second round of Coatson. We now have another cohort of teachers who voluntarily committed to a two-year coaching journey focused on strengthening their instructional practice and the subject that they are most passionate about. Through my work as a coach and mentor, I have seen firsthand the impact of instructional coaching. When coaching relationships are built on trust, collaboration, and the goals are
114teacher-led, the growth in instruction and ultimately student achievement is remarkable. That's why I also want to emphasize the importance of protecting Maestra Carrillo's role as an instructional coach. Our teachers deserve continued access to meaningful coaching support and our students deserve the benefits that come from strong instructional practice. Pulling her away from coaching responsibilities to fill tier three intervention gaps would weaken a support system that is already making a measurable impact on teaching and learning at Ceres. We are proud of the work happening in our DLI program and we are asking for the resources necessary to sustain and strengthen it. Our students deserve intervention that honors their language of instruction. And our teachers deserve coaching that supports and helps them to continue growing as educators. We hope to see you at our fifth grade DLI awards
115ceremony on May 21st. It's East Whittier's first fifth grade DLI promoting class. Thank you for your time. Good evening, board members and Dr. Patterson. I have attended the Hillview Husky Night, and we got the chance to tour the campus. Our kids were super excited to visit the classrooms. You should have seen the look on their faces when they seen the endless possibilities of RC STEM, HV Design Tech, and video production. Sounds great, right? Well, we learned those classes are being reduced next year, and I'm here to ask to keep these classes. 70% of our graduates that attend trade school find jobs within six months of training. 33% of U.S. adults now recommend trade school over a four-year degree. Hands-on engagement helps students discover passion, understand how math and science apply to real-life, real-world jobs. Spark
116interest in early career exploration. These transferable skills and expose them to opportunities. So, Dr. Patterson. Board I ask that you create a survey to get teacher input teachers are in the trenches Getting first-hand knowledge on what is working or what can be improved you're great at taking this data and making it work Please take our concerns into consideration Math and language arts are also two core subjects in middle school. That is where we can split and the standard language arts classes and the honors both and both can excel if given the opportunity. So we're asking for two language arts classes, standard DLI language arts and the honors DLI language arts. Thank you for your time and also Mr. Kennedy, thank you for always supporting series. I know she's been a PTA member at our school
117every year so I thank you for your support and As we move on I also like to support the ally series. Thank you My name is Donna Smith I am a special education teacher at Granada middle school, and I am here again to ask how many mistakes are acceptable Special education teachers are already overwhelmed. The demands of our job and the systems we are required to work in necessitates that we sacrifice time from our classrooms and the students we serve. In addition to taking time out of our instructional day, we work nights and weekends to meet those demands. As a result, we make mistakes because we are overwhelmed. Despite the severity of the current demands, the district has decided to cut special education teachers from every middle school in the district. For next year, this
118will send caseloads to their highest levels in six years, increasing the demands on teachers who are already overwhelmed. Cutting teachers from special education is a short-sighted decision that will leave less time for case management, less time for teachers to provide direct instruction to students, less time for special education teachers to collaborate with general education teachers, and most importantly, less time to provide individual supports for the kids who need it the most. So I am asking the board to give careful consideration before moving forward with cuts that will hurt students who need our support the most. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Lisa Fragoso, and I teach third grade Spanish dual immersion at Ceres. Every interaction matters has been this year's motto. While there has been many interactions that have been questionable and concerning, there
119have been efforts in the past weeks to remedy some previous interactions. Thank you to the board members who have responded to our parent and teacher emails. However, many were just forwarded and never answered. And that was really unsettling. It was unsettling for us teachers and for many parents and not. just receive any response. For them, the lack of response and communication was viewed as indifference or negative. That lack of interaction mattered. Thank you to our principal, Dr. Aldana, for addressing and meeting with over 100 parents who came to a DLI parent information session. I know that wasn't easy for her to host on her own, especially still learning the program, but she wants it to be successful and wants to communicate with parents. That interaction, I know, was difficult for her, but it mattered and
120was appreciated. Thank you, Mr. Baird and Dr. Patterson, for coming to CERES to learn about the program and to see the DLI program in action. For third through fifth grade, I wish it was a different time. We were about to start testing, and we didn't have much to showcase. As soon as you left, one of my students was like, no vieron nada, pero les dije. meaning, you know, they were like, they didn't see anything. You know, they like to show off, you know, their skills. And I said, it's okay. They came to find out about the program and that mattered. And so, you know, thank you for that. And one of the previous concerns that mentioned was the lack of summer school. And thank you for hearing the concerns. And now Spanish instruction will be
121incorporated with English bridging. And the last thing I wanted to bring up is the need for bilingual intervention specialists at CERES next year. In trying to alleviate concerns, it's been mentioned that our new coach is DLI knowledgeable, has taught in the program, is bilingual. However, I just want to reiterate that our goal is to coach, is to coach all teachers on campus, whether they're dual immersion or regular English instruction. Not to have to plan intervention for students, assess, all that that comes. That is a job for an intervention specialist. You know, it takes away from the teacher's coaching when their jobs and roles are split. Something else that's been mentioned is, well, the teachers now have a stipend. They can help with that intervention. Their aides that were reinstated, thank you, they can do the
122intervention. But that's just one more thing that's added to our plate. That stipend wasn't meant to add on additional roles. and to keep jumping through hoops to keep supports that we already had. It's to compensate for the years and years of extra work that we already did establishing a program. We weren't given a manual. We had to figure it out as we went, and thankfully it's been successful from the supports. Parents, thank you for supporting your child. I know it's been a lot of work on you too. So thank you, and we hope these interactions are proactive rather than retroactive. Thank you. Hello. Feliz Día de las Madres y muy pronto celebraremos el Día de los Padres. Con eso les digo que mi papá siempre nos dijo, ustedes que hablan inglés pueden ser algo grande
123en la vida. Instilling in our family the value of bilingualism and the will to go for our dreams and aspirations. My dream. To be a teacher came true and now I have the privilege to see the commitment of our families to reclaim the language of our culture. For Mother's Day and Father's Day, I want to thank our series families for trusting us with their babies. Together, we will continue to develop estudiantes bilingues, biliterados, with high academic achievement and social cultural competency. Thank you for being the ejemplos of the conciencia critica it takes to continue building on them as the leaders they are. My name is Gemma Guerrero-Lopez. Mi corazón late en los idiomas. My heart is in it. Is it in yours? Good evening. My name is Margo Rigg. I'm here representing the American Association
124of University Women and the League of Women Voters. There's an election coming up in June on the 2nd. There will not be any school boards on this election. That comes next November, so get ready. There's one measure on the ballot that is part of the county measure. It's the only ballot measure that I think East Whittier School District residents will be voting on because we don't have any school facilities measures on the ballot either. This measure is called ER. Most of you, that will ring a bell, right? Emergency room, right? L.A. County has put a ballot measure on the ballot, Essential Services Restoration Act. It is a one-half cent sales tax that will be used to generate funds to replace the money that the federal government has cut from Medi-Cal. And every district has students
125whose families have been on Medi-Cal and will be losing the health care that they've had. So please read it carefully. I brought a pro and con sheet that gives you some information about it. and you're welcome to take it with you. I also brought bookmarks for people for the League of Women Voters voter information website, Vote411, where you can learn about the candidates. It's a great place to find information about judicial candidates, for instance. And if the candidates who are running for state and national level office don't have profiles up there, then pester them. because we need to get their profiles up. So vote on June 2nd. Thank you very much. I want to share with all of you, and I'm trying to remember to share this every time, although we do not comment during
126public comments, your words are not falling on deaf ears. There are many moving parts to the concerns that are brought forward on a regular basis, and each and every one of us on the board actively participates with speaking to Dr. Patterson, asking questions, making sure we have clarification so that We know as we're going forward that the decisions we are making are based on strong information, excuse me, strong knowledge, and that's something that's very important. We're not just voting on things that we have no knowledge about. We take the time to meet with him, speak to him. research so that we are making informed decisions. I just want to make sure that you all know that. Everyone that's here on our board now knows about DLI. As a former school principal, I came from a
127district many years ago that had a DLI program. I was very excited when Dr. Davidian brought DLI, and if some of you remember her, she was an absolutely amazing, passionate... director here in our district or assistant superintendent very passionate about the DLI program and she brought it with Julie who was the principal at Ceres. I'll never forget after an Engage East Whittier they were in the parking lot and they were thrilled because they were going on their way to a conference that was going to talk about DLI and how it was going to begin to be established at Ceres. So know that we are very passionate about this program. And we want to make sure that we're consistently making decisions that are informed, but also know that on some level, we may not have a
128choice as to how deep and rich we can provide the program. You all heard Mrs. Chacon-Kennedy, and I really want to thank her for always being a strong advocate for us in terms of going to the programs that work with CSBA, where we can speak about budget. And budget is a very challenging issue now, not only in the state of California, but across the nation in terms of how education is going to be impacted. But just having said that, just know that your words do matter and that we take everything that you're sharing with us very, very seriously. So I want to thank you for that. Our next item that we're going to talk about is something that's important, and I need a motion to approve. I move the recommendation that the Board of Education
129ratify the memorandum of understanding between East Raider City School District and East Raider Education Association regarding combination classes for 2026-2027. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve? I'll second. It's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion, Board, about this matter? Any questions? No, just to be clear, Dr. Patterson, any teacher that has a combo class will be stipend $3,000 annually. Well, we have an MOU for 26 points for 26 27. Okay. I just want to make sure thank you any other questions All right hearing none. Mrs. Valenzuela. Would you please call for the vote? Mr. Thomas Baird? Yes, mrs. Chacon Kennedy. Yes. Mr. Aparicio. Yes. Mrs. Dabbs. Yes. Mr. Oliver Baird. Yes Mrs. Carrera. Yes motion passes Thank you Our next item is an action item. Can I get a motion to
130approve? I move the recommendation that the Board of Education adopt resolution 27-25-26, ordering the 2026 school board member election. Thank you. Can I get a second? Can I get a second? A second. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Board, is there any discussion on this item? I just wanted to provide a little clarity. We had already passed a resolution that ordered this election, but we received notification from LACO that they were changing some of their procedures and protocols. So they wanted us to rewrite that resolution specifying the trustee areas. So even though it has nothing to do with the recorder's office, this was a LACO request. So the other one still went through? The other one? We sent everything to the reporters office. This is just LACO. This is just LACO. Thank you. Thank
131you, Dr. Patterson. Thank you, Ms. Aguadera. Any other questions? Hearing none, Ms. Bonsuela, would you please call for the vote? Mr. Thomas Baird? Yes. Mrs. Chacon-Kennedy? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver Baird? Yes. Mrs. Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Our next item is also an action item. Can I get a motion to approve? I so move. Thank you. Can I get a second? I'll second. I think it's been moved and seconded. Board, are there any questions? I know I have one, but anything from any of our board? No, just if Dr. Patterson can just give us a... I cannot, but Dr. Aceves can. Hey, Dr. Aceves, can you please provide something for us? Just give us a rundown on what this is. Of course. So this is an agreement that we
132ask for your approval to pass a resolution in collaboration with School Services of California. This allows a JPA to collect delinquent taxes, and really it just allows us to be sure that we have the opportunity to collect them. It doesn't usually prove to be too fruitful for us as far as collecting the taxes, but it does allow us the opportunity to do that as part of a JPA. And where does that money go? Into our general fund. Thank you. Is it a portion? Are you giving it to somebody else to collect and do they keep part of it or do we get all of it? We get what, I'll say this, it's hard to explain, but we get what we can collect. Right. So it varies year to year. Some years it doesn't amount to
133much. Some years it actually nets nothing. Some years it nets a tiny amount. But this allows us to go through that JPA to collect those delinquent taxes. You need a better collection agency. Because that money goes in the general fund. There's no restrictions on where that money can be used. It is part of our it is a part of our local taxes So yes, we follow all the the rules as far as our local taxes revenues. Well. Let's hope we get more money We would we would like that it doesn't always prove to be fruitful Thank You mr. Chacon kidding any other questions all right hearing none mrs. Valenzuela. Would you please call for the vote mr. Thomas Baird? Yes, this is Chacon Kennedy. Yes, mr. Aparicio. Yes Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver-Baird? Yes. Mrs.
134Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Item number four is also an action item. Can I get a motion to approve? I move the recommendation that the Board of Education adopt the Declaration of Need for Fully Qualified Educators. Thank you. Can I get a second? I'll second. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Board, are there any questions about this particular resolution? No? All right. Hearing none, Mrs. Valenzuela, would you please call for the vote? Mr.. Thomas Baird yes, is this your phone Kennedy yes? Mr.. Aparicio yes, mrs.. Dabbs yes, mr.. Oliver Baird yes, mrs.. Carrera yes motion passes All right. Thank you so much Next we're going to go through a series of first readings of board of policies Can I get a motion to approve this first one item number five? I'm with the
135recommendation at the Board of Education approved board policies 41 58 42 58 43 58 Employee security if there are no substantive changes made by the Board of Education. Thank you. Can I get a second? Second all right. It's been moved in second board are there any questions regarding this first reading of these three Board policy. So I did want to provide some clarity of why we have them grouped into one item. At our last board meeting, there was a request to bring all of our board policies that related to safety. So the policies that I provided were the security policy and the safety policy. As you know, our personnel policies are 4100, 4200, 4300. Each one of those categories reps a particular. Unit member of our district so one is for classified one is certificate
136certificated and one is for our administrative employees so many of you submitted some requested changes and edits to the policy that we have added to each one of these policies none of the changes are affect practice May I make a suggestion? On which one? On board policy 4258 and board policy 4358. So, just one second. So, Dr. Vargas, are you following that? Okay. Also include would board policy for 158 the district is committed to providing a work environment that is free of disruptive threatening or violent behavior Involving a unit member so that all three policies I just want this that one that one sentence correct It can is that I'm actually gonna ask for that to also be on the safety ones Correct for the three. Yes. Well, actually the six Right, but we're only
137doing I know yes any objections to that from the board Okay, and then this would really would not require a second reading based upon our board bylaws So if the board is in favor that we would just vote on this action Okay, and then this would just be included right we just do that and send it to the board before we publish on the website Thank you sure okay great any other question for our divorce you have that okay all right any other questions All right, hearing none, Mrs. Valenzuela, would you please call for the vote? Mr. Thomas Baird? Yes. Mrs. Chacon-Kennedy? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mr. Al, I'm sorry, Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver Baird? Yes. Mrs. Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Item number six, also a first reading of board policies. Can
138I get a motion to approve? I move the recommendation that the Board of Education approve board policies 4157, 4257, 4357, employee safety, if there are no substantive changes made by the Board of Education. Thank you. Can I get a second? I will second with the same recommendation. To add the same. All three? Yes. Actually, it's only two of them. I'm just making this up. Yes. Thank you. All right. Any discussion board on these three policies during this first reading? All right. Hearing none, can I get a motion? Ms. Abanzuela, would you please call for the vote? Sorry. It's okay. I was making notes. I'm sorry. Mr. Thomas Baird? Yes. Mrs. Chacon-Kennedy? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver Barron? Yes. Mrs. Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Item number seven, also a first
139reading of board policies. Can I get a motion to approve? I move the recommendation that the Board of Education approve the first reading of board policies 51-16.1, inter-district open enrollment, and 51-17, inter-district attendance, if there are no substantive changes made by the Board of Education. Thank you. Can I get a second? I'll second, but I do have. The recommendation. All right. Let's have, it's been moved and seconded. Questions, Mrs. Carrera? Yes, on 511, it has to do with transportation section. Board policy 5116.1, intra. I request to eliminate the district shall not be obligated to provide transportation for students who attend outside their attendance area. It is not included in board policy 5117, inter. The second thing is, can we add to 5116.1 intra, transportation provisions shall be implemented in a manner consistent with applicable law
140and shall not discriminate against any protected student group. So it will match up with board policy 5117 inter. So the problem with that addition with transportation is intras, meaning students who go between our schools, we would have no capability of providing one to two to three pieces, I mean, transportation routes. The cost of that would be... and I don't even know if Whittier Union would be able to take on that level of responsibility. So I would highly urge the board not to include that. So it does say here, upon parent guardian request, the district may allow middle school students on an intra-district permit to apply to access the existing district provided school bus transportation system already running on a route. I, I'm a little confused to what you are telling me. So we do not.
141So that was made at your request several years ago. Yes. But that meant was that we would allow, because it does say in the, it previously said in the inter district policy that we would not provide transportation because there's no way we could go to Whittier city and pick kids up, go to South Whittier and pick kids up. I understand. So based upon that conversation, what we had discussed was that if a student's parent. could drop them at an existing bus stop in an existing route because of childcare issues or whatever it may be that we would put those students on a wait list, but give our middle school students the priority for transportation because they do live within our boundaries. So we do not provide any non-special ed busing to our elementary schools. Correct.
142I know that. It's only specifically for middle schools, right? So are you asking? So when it says a district should not be obligated to provide transportation for students who attend school outside their attendance area, then maybe we should be specific and say that we don't provide it to elementary students. Okay. Can we do that? That's an easy change, yes. Can we? Just to be more, just to be specific, and we have that open door for our middle school, and the parents are responsible to take. Yeah, the parents would be responsible should they need it. Contact the district and do the whole nine. So just to be clear, your request is simply to add the elementary school to the section? Correct, so that it doesn't, yes. Dr. Gonzalez, do you have that? To what section, Dr.
143Patterson? Just right here. Okay, okay, got it. Right is everybody clear on what mrs. Carrera is is proposing we only we're only pretty much Making transportation available to our middle school students like we do now, right? So we're just making it clear on the board policy that we are we do not provide Transportation to our elementary kids. That's it. All right any other questions board Thank You mrs. Carrera Okay, hearing none. Mrs. Bonanza would you please call for the vote? Mr. Thomas Baird? Yes. Mrs. Chacon-Kennedy? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver Baird? Yes. Mrs. Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. We are now on item number eight. This is an action item. Can I get a motion to approve? I move the recommendation that the Board of Education approve the first reading
144of Board Policy 5144.1, suspension expulsion slash due process if there are no substantive changes made by the Board of Education. Thank you. Can I get a second? Second. Thank you. It's been moved and seconded. Board, are there any discussions around this particular section policy? I do. I have. It is on this policy. It says off-campus behavior may result in discipline when it disrupts district programs and activities or as otherwise prohibited by law, board policy, or administrative regulation. Does this include bullying via text, social media, or any other electronic means? So that's a very complicated issue because of just every situation is different. But Dr. Gonzalez, you want to kind of weigh in? There is a component in there that addresses social media and other parts within that context. Where? I missed it. Can you please
145tell me where? This is the suspension and expulsion due process. I'm sorry. So when you're looking at this, it's in a separate board policy that addresses what those are. This is just for the suspension and expulsion process that we use that highlights what we do when we have kids who do violate those rules. So this is a different suspension and expulsion policy. Okay. So then the off-campus behavior, what would that entail? It should be listed there. That's it? Just what's here? Yes. So then social media and all that falls into what board policy, you said? One second. Sure. I do believe we have that in there. I'm just looking for it. Oh, she's looking up. Do you have any other? No, that's the only question that I have. Yeah. Thank you. Do you want to
146wait for me? This is for all students. All students? Correct. But this is, like Dr. Gonzales, this is specifically to students who have already gone through the discipline process. So she's clarifying for Mrs. Herrera what the board policy is on social media bullying and harassment. Yeah, just because it says off-campus behavior may result in discipline. So off-campus behavior includes... social media and text and all that's good not good stuff but my goal is not to micromanage it's just making sure that that I'm practicing my oversight and that the students are protected while they're out I can definitely look into that and tell you which board policy but it's not included in this one okay so so what so the off-campus behavior I I um I board have a problem with with off-campus behavior may result
147in discipline. It is ambiguous. Off-campus behavior can be anything. So Mrs. Carrera, are you looking for more detail? Correct. A little less vague language and something that's a little bit more concrete other than off-campus behavior. Because off-campus behavior can mean a student can fight after school. It can mean an array of things. I don't know what off-campus behavior entails. I know that there's a list. I know that there's a list. Would it be sufficient to add the board policies as references? So I think the helpful question would be, we have students who are engaged in social media, who are harassing the student, but they're not using a district device, they're using a personal device, but at what point do we have jurisdiction to support that? Jurisdiction when it interrupts a school day so if there
148is something that happens within the day and it say it occurred the night before on a social media page and then it leaks into our impacts a school day then we do have jurisdiction over that what this is kind of referencing is what by Ed code can we expel or can we suspend for so then it defaults to those things that are listed in there this is more about the process that we have so the focus and point of this assembly bill is to make sure that we're aware as as the board members that we have to be responsible for the reentry plans when we suspend or we expel students including the reentry plan and all the supports that it takes in order for them to be able to return so they remain our student
149which is different than in the past when they went to another setting So can you just explain to me what off-campus behavior means? Because you're saying that it needs to happen on campus. You're saying that they need to use this technical device on campus, not necessarily off campus, that would disrupt district programs. I'm confused. Now I'm confused. So off-campus behavior. I just need clarity. We already know what goes on on campus. So say that we have two students who are bullying another student. And they are using social media to be able to do that. That is occurring, and it's occurring at 8 p.m. on a Saturday. Even though we don't have jurisdiction of what happens at 8 p.m. on a Saturday. If they then do something on campus as a result of that bullying, it
150transfers in, it causes commotion, we do as admin have the right to go into disciplinary. So you, okay. So what you mentioned earlier, you can tie in, you can reference the board policy to this. You can absolutely reference the board policy. Because I think that would help. Sure. Can we do that? Absolutely. Is the board willing to reference the board policy? We've had instances like that where something has happened, correct? We can we can look for the applicable policies that in there Yeah, yeah Thank you. Thank you. Mrs. Carrillo any other questions board? Okay Hearing none. Mrs. Evans. Well, I would you please call for the vote? Mr. Thomas Baird Yes, is this chicken Kennedy? Yes Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver-Baird? Yes. Mrs. Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Item number nine
151is an action item with regard to our bond measure. Can I get a motion to approve? I move the recommendation of the Board of Education approve the award of and bid BYR 25-24, asphalt replacement project to JB Bostic, LLC. Thank you. Can I get a second? Second. Right, it's been moved and seconded. Board, are there any questions regarding this particular award of bid? Just letting you all know, with tariffs... there is increasing rise in costs for everything that has to do with construction, from wood to concrete to you name it when it comes to construction. So do not be frightened by that amount. It's really a challenging time. I'll have to just go to the grocery store. Thank you. Yeah, just pay someone a box a gallon. I just hate to see the lowest responsive
152and responsible bidder. I mean, it sounds terrible. Any other way we can put it? That's public code. Okay. Any other questions? We could be presented with more than one bid, though, right? We have to take the lowest bid. There were multiple bids. There were four contractor proposals. We have to take the lowest responsive bidder. Any questions? Any other questions? All right. Hearing none, Ms. Valenzuela, would you please call for the vote? Mr. Thomas Baird? Yes. Mrs. Chacon-Kennedy? Yes, mr. Aparicio. Yes, mrs. Dabbs. Yes. Mr. Oliver Baird. Yes. Mrs. Carrera. Yes motion passes Thank you Here's the time M consent items here's the time of number one if there's any particular item that any board member would like to pull for a separate vote Now is the time to let us know anything All right, thank
153you so much. Hearing none, can I get a motion, we're on number two, can I get a motion to approve? I move the recommendation of the superintendent of the Board of Education approve consent agenda items M3 through M14. Thank you, can I get a second? Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. Now is the time for questions, board. Are there some questions about items M3 to M14? I have a question on M3. Okay. Says we approved. I'm sorry m3 2526 agreement number 187 through 198 My question is an item 191 We approved we approved it on three nine To increase the amount. I just want to make sure that the amount is correct from 25,000 to 275,000 Yes, that is correct. Okay And on item 194, it says NA. Does that mean it's not
154applicable or it's zero? Which number? 194. Same agreement. That's a master agreement, so at this point, they don't. It's not applicable? It's like not. It's just not. Okay, no cost. All right. Thank you. Okay. Board, there's a lot there that we were looking at. Thanks to Dr. Patterson's memos. Any other questions? I want to take time to make sure. Everything's clear as we go forward to vote. Any questions? Isn't the crossing guard on here? All city management services? All city management is their crossing guard service, yes. Yeah. You know, my glasses are not strong enough. Is that like, it's 550 something thousand? How many? 180 days of regular instruction plus summer school at X number of spots. So we don't know how many crossing guards we have? Not the top of my head. Not the
155top of your head, okay. But every school has them then? I'm assuming that all of our schools have them? All schools have them, but the numbers are different. They're different for school? Of course, I know that they're different for school because they're different sizes. Oh, okay. Is this like the only company that... It's the company that we have used and there's not very many players in the game. And the city. Has not contributed. Not for many, many years. We need to talk to them. So the city has not helped us. Probably right after COVID came back, the city only provided crossing guards to the five schools that are in. In the city. In the city. Wow. That could help. I know, but it's. It's good to know because this is a lot of money that
156we're spending. At that point in time, it was about $260,000 that the city did chip in, but I think that's probably past COVID. Do you know how we can get the city to assist us? Ask them? Ask them? Okay. We've had no success. Yes. Okay. And that's true because I've asked. Yeah, it never hurts, right? It never hurts for somebody else to ask. So I'll go at it. I'll ask. However, with the election of new council members, that might make a difference. We might be able to begin to take some meetings and move forward with that. Yeah. So I think we should look into this because it's a lot of money. Absolutely. Yeah. That's true. Yeah, Friday. Friday. Friday. Oh, I won't be there. Rubbing elbows. You guys can start asking. Any other questions? I
157do have a question about, or actually comment to make. So, Dr. Patterson, have we expanded our connections with higher ed to do student teaching? It looks like we have, I'm just curious, Witter College and Cal State Teach. We have added a couple. OK. OK, that's great. So we have expanded. That's good to see. We are actually favored because we do, well, Claudia right here, we have to give her a shout out because she does work really closely with them. So we have been able to bring more colleges on board just because of our level of responsiveness and also our sites. They're very student teacher friendly. So that's wonderful. It's so needed because we have across the country. We have a loss in candidates wanting to become teachers. So this is very This is good to
158see so thank you. Thank you so much. All right any other questions board? All right hearing none. Mrs. Avanza. Would you please call for the vote? Thomas Baird. Yes. This is check on Kennedy. Yes Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver-Baird? Yes. Mrs. Carrera? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Our next Board of Education meeting will be held on June 8th, but we have Engage East Sweeter also this Friday. And once we take that motion to adjourn, I want to make sure to ask every board member if they would like to make a comment. So going to number two, can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting? All right, so I move to adjourn this meeting. And I get a second? I second. Second. Before we adjourn, questions, comments, board? Mr. Baird, anything? I
159got one comment, actually. Mr. Oliver Baird. He didn't specify, so he jumped in. I'm going to steal right from him. Go ahead. Well, I just thought it would be nice to make a comment right now because this is going to be one of my last meetings before I will be gone. And next meeting, I think the next student board member is going to be there, right? Like maybe? On the 10th or the 8th, just to see. Okay, so the 10th will be the official time where the next student board member will be introduced. But I thought it would be nice to make it common because interviews are on the 13th, and we will, like, know by this weekend. They will know. Soon. Right? You said two days after. I think it's the 19th. 19th. Yeah,
160it's the 19th. You told me 13th. It's the 18th. Anything else, Mr. Oliver Baird? No, that's it. All right. Mr. Thomas Baird, any comments as we prepare to close? I wanted to thank all the speakers. I appreciated hearing everyone's voice. And finally, and thank you, Margo, for your words as somebody who is a social worker who works in Medi-Cal. I know that... It is something we are talking about constantly, keeping people insured, keeping our most at-risk populations taken care of. So thank you for speaking on that tonight. Thank you, mr. Conn Kennedy. Yeah the same you know we're gonna we're in for a long hot summer So please conserve your water don't water your stuff during the day either in the morning or at night Ride your bike if it's not 90 degrees outside Shop
161at the Goodwill. That's what I do know if anybody has or wants any kind of succulents, like my daughter says, I think you have a problem because I have so many. So if anybody wants, just drop me an email or call me. I'll be glad to bring them to you. I have so many, and I just keep getting more and more. So if you want some, let me know. I'll be glad to give you some. The beautiful succulents you gave us last year, mine are still growing. So lovely. So thank you. They're good on water. Yeah. Mr. Aparicio, any comment? I'm just looking forward to Friday to engage you, Switier. Another great event that our district office puts together and just something that's well attended by our community and the rest of our staff. So
162definitely looking forward to Friday. Thank you. Mrs. Carrera? I just want to say welcome, Mr. Thomas Baird. It's official so far. Come November, let's see how it happens. But I think it looks promising, I think. And Oliver, I will miss my little sidekick next to my plexiglass. You know, who am I going to say, hey, listen, I'll miss that. Yeah, well, yeah, but I got to get used to the new one. So, yeah, fair enough. We did a great job. Okay, go on. Okay. Okay, that's cool. You can come and eat. You can eat for me. Oh, cool. All right. Fair enough. All right. Thank you. Thank you, everybody who spoke up. I do echo what Thomas said. Your words do not fall, like President Debs said, they do not fall on deaf ears. I
163want you to leave this room tonight knowing that they do not fall on deaf ears. Mr. Ross, fire. All right. Have a good night, everybody. All right. I also want to say once again, thank you to everyone. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for your commitment, your passion to serve in our district. And we will look forward to seeing you on Friday. Did we already take our vote? I just want to make sure. Okay. Now we're going to take our vote. Thank you so much. We're going to call for the vote. Mr. Thomas Baird? Yes. Mrs. Chacon-Kennedy? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Oliver bear. Yes. Mrs. Carrera. Yes. You have a great evening, everyone. Thank you for sticking through this very long meeting with us.