001I'm going to give them the questions to let them all hear the question. OK. We ready. OK. Here's the question. Might be hard but you can get it. Which was the last state to join the union. So which was our last state to become a state. Raise your hand if you know. You're close. Nope. It's not Alaska. Anybody else. Take a guess. No. OK. Wait wait in the back. Go ahead. What is it. Did you say Hawaii. You're right. Okay, I will now call the meeting to order at 6.01. So I want to report that in closed session the Board of Education took action to release and non-reelect first-year probationary certificated employees identified as employee number HP 5610634 pursuant to Ed Code section 44929.21B effective at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. and directed
002the superintendent or designate to send out appropriate legal notices. The resolution passed three to nothing. Three I's, no, there's no, no, no's. Additionally, the Board of Education voted three to zero to approve Sean Jaramillo as the Extended Learning Opportunity Program Coordinator. Okay, we're ready for the flag salute, so I believe I need to bring up Sophia Villa, Alana Rodriguez, Jaylene Amaro-Torres, Jasmine Leidy, and Enrique Covarrubias. Come on up here. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Just introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about yourself. Thank you all very much. Thank you. I'll be on to employee recognition. Law Colima Elementary. Okay. Good evening, board members, Dr. Patterson, cabinet members,
003and the East Whittier City community. Our first employee being recognized cannot be here tonight as she is healing at home, and that is our amazing Mrs. Paloma Apodaca. Mrs. Apodaca first became a part of the La Colima when her two children, Ethan and Emma, attended many years ago. Mrs. Apodaca has held several positions while employed at East Whittier starting in 2014. She's been Granada's parent liaison. She also supported the intervention program with math and language arts. And for the last three years, she has been La Colima's school office assistant. Since Mrs. Apodaca has been a part of the La Colima community for a number of years, she's easily a recognizable voice and face when the community comes to visit or call. She makes all that come to La Colima feel welcome, at ease, and addresses
004their immediate needs. Mrs. Apodaca also makes sure that all of our school materials and contracts are up to date and running so that our staff and students are ready for school. She pitches in when help is needed. And even though her tenure as a La Colima parent has passed, she continues to volunteer at school events such as our Harvest Festival or Movie Night or any other family events. She constantly has a pulse on what's happening with the school. And I know I personally love that Mrs. Apodaca has so much knowledge about the history and culture of La Colima because she's my historical gem. Her colleagues have shared that Paloma faces challenges head on and brings fresh ideas to the table. She really stands out. But what really makes Paloma extra special is her kindness, her
005great sense of humor, and the positive energy she brings to our team. It's awesome to have someone like her who always listens and supports us, especially when things are getting tough. Mrs. Apodaca helps our workplace become a happier one and better for all of us. And we just want to give you a huge thank you for being you. Here's to creating many more wonderful memories, sharing lots of laughs, and enjoying good times together. Congratulations, Mrs. Apodaca. You are truly worthy of this recognition. Okay, our next person is a La Colima Certificated Member being recognized tonight is Mrs. Megan Creel. She has been a member of the La Colima family since 2001. She has spent many, many years as a phenomenal kindergarten teacher. And before the start of 2022-23 school year, unfortunately, there weren't enough kindergarten
006students to host three kindergarten students, three kinder classes. So Mrs. Carrillo was then reassigned to be a third grade teacher. Then a couple of days later, there was an opening for intervention specialists at La Colima. Megan applied and got the job. So within a week. She went from kinder teacher to third grade teacher to intervention specialist and I truly think she has found her niche. It is an absolute privilege to stand before you today to recognize an extraordinary educator who has gone above and beyond in shaping the lives of our students. Mrs. Carrillo oversees our Tier 2 and Tier 3 English Language Arts Intervention for students in grades K through 5th. On a daily basis, she and her team support 67 students, whether it's reviewing letter sounds and sight words to kinder students, to facilitating
007novel studies and improving fluency skills with upper grade students. Mrs. Carrillo continues to shape the lives and impact the academic success of our La Colima students. But Megan's commitment does not stop there. She oversees our English Learner Program as our English Learner Lead. She provides professional learning for our staff, monitors the academic and linguistic progress of our EL students, and provides demo lessons and resources for teachers when they seek out new ways to utilize different strategies for their own EL students. What I personally love about Mrs. Carrillo is her can-do attitude. She takes on whatever school initiative, what their school initiatives are, and implements them into her book club classroom. On a school-wide level, whether it's organizing or leading a school-wide event, such as our VIP recesses or a family math night, to creating anchor
008charts for a fifth grade math unit, she goes all in with a smile and insatiable energy. But it's not just me who feels this way about Mrs. Carrillo. She is an outstanding educator. The staff members at La Colima respect and admire her hard work, leadership, and connection to the school. A colleague shared that Mrs. Carrillo is a warm and supportive team player who brings positivity and dedication to both our students and coworkers. She consistently goes above and beyond to help solve problems, ensure student understanding, and step in where extra support is needed. Her fun and uplifting presence, along with her bright, bright smile, create a welcoming atmosphere, and her exceptional baking goods are an added bonus. When Mrs. Carrillo is not tirelessly working at La Colima, she's spending her time with her husband, Gabe, who
009is also a teacher in our district, and her two kids, Hadley and Sol. She enjoys cooking and spending time with friends and family. Mrs. Carrillo, thank you for your commitment, your kindness, and your countless ways that you contribute to our school each and every day. Your work is invaluable and we are incredibly grateful to have you a part of our team. On behalf of our entire school community, we extend our deepest gratitude and congratulations. Please join me in celebrating this outstanding individual, Mrs. Carrillo. Thank you so much. That was a really beautiful speech. I'm really truly honored because, you know, I grew up teaching my stuffed animals and now I get to teach, you know, your kids how to read. And honestly, I never wanted to leave kindergarten because I had an amazing team. Eva
010is like my sister. We've been together 20-something years. I never wanted to leave, but I was encouraged to do this, and I love it. And I get to, you know, work with the whole school, and the whole staff is amazing. And, you know, my team have amazing support. My aides are phenomenal, Alyssa and Jackie, and, you know, my neighbor teachers. And so I feel like... I've just gotten to grow in my relationships with the whole staff and the whole school. So even though I love kinder and it's always going to be in my heart, I feel honored that I get to touch, you know, a little bit of everybody at our school. So that's been amazing. And then, you know, I try, let's see, I have my kids. They also help out a lot. Like
011Sol helps me input all the star data. And it's kind of funny because he's like. hey, mom, do you see so-and-so? I think you should. He kind of reads the data. And Hadley, she keeps me balanced because she makes me leave work because she always has something that I have to go home and do for her. And then my husband, we truly get to collaborate together. I know it's cheesy, but we really talk about, we talk shop about school and stuff and share ideas. I'm truly blessed with all my friends and family and just I get to do something I love. So and I'm just honored that, you know, my school thinks I deserve this award. So because they're all amazing. So thank you guys so much. Okay, you're almost done hearing from me. So
012this year we were tasked with sharing our school's theme. And this year, La Colima has embraced our school theme as Exploring the Galaxy of Learning. We took this theme as an opportunity to develop our academic, social, emotional, and behavioral goals throughout the school year. We started, one of the ways in which we celebrate this is we started a Character Counts initiative utilizing our school theme. Each month, we explore the galaxy of... enter the character trait. This month we're exploring the Galaxy of Initiative. Our school social worker supports this monthly initiative by developing our social emotional learning lessons to support the monthly character trait. At the end of the month, we celebrate our students by selecting students from each class that exuded that character trait throughout the month. I do want to give a shout out
013to Kim Songer, Ocean View principal, who shared her resources for us getting this initiative off the ground. To engage our families, we have held and recently held some fun bingo and movie nights, but we have also explored the galaxy of literacy, math, and statewide assessments. These events are very well attended. as our PTA supports these nights by providing pizza and a drink to eliminate our dinner barrier. These nights provide an opportunity for our parents to explicitly experience how their children will learn and how students can, how parents can support their children at home. And in the classrooms, the Galaxy of Learning takes shape every day with the classroom environments, emphasizing their anchor charts to support student learning, creating learning objectives so students know what they're learning, by identifying success criteria so students know how they're
014going to learn, and by consistently displaying new student work so that students themselves see themselves exploring their galaxy of learning. So thank you. Thank you. And now we're on to longevity presentation. Dr. Vargas. Good evening, everyone. My name is Lilia Vargas and I am the proud assistant superintendent of human resources with East Whittier City School District and tonight we continue with our very special recognitions of longevity service pins and one of the things that we are very proud of here at East Whittier City School District and has become very evident as we started this process of recognizing our employees for the longevity is the fact that we have teachers who began their career here at East Whittier and actually stay many times at the same school for their entire career. And that really is something
015to be celebrated, something to be recognized, because it is really nice to have that sense of community at all of our school sites and here at the district office where, you know, you might have a family of four and all four students went through the same teachers with the same principal, same school, and it just really creates just a different level of special memories for our families. So tonight we have two longevity presentations. I'm going to start off with... Kalima and then I'm going to move on to the district office. So this year we needed to find a way that was doable so we started to recognize any employee who is reaching this year milestone of 20 years or more with the district office and then what we're doing is we're following up with a
016staff meeting to recognize past milestones that have been reached for any of our other employees. Starting next year, we're going to be all caught up. And so every school site will have their longevity presentation at the time that they come and present here to the Board of Education. So I'm going to start off with Miss Yvette Espinosa Hernandez with 30 years of service. Miss Yvette, you can come here. You can come forward. So tonight, she will be receiving congratulations. She will be receiving her pin for 30 years of service as well as our personalized East Woodard City School District lanyard so she can collect her pins and you will be getting a little pouch with the rest of your pins at your staff meeting. So congratulations and thank you for your service. We also would
017like to honor Miss Evangelina Wheeler with 25 years of service. Congratulations. And the same goes to you. You have your red shirt and you have your pin. Congratulations. Give them a big round of applause. And at our La Colima staff meeting, we will also be celebrating the following milestones that have already been achieved. But look at that. 20 to 50 years of service. Let's give them all a big round of applause. We also have our list of celebrating 15 years of service, 10 years of service, and we have anything in between 10 and 20 years of service on the other side. So let's give them all a big round of applause. So as you can see, really it is a testament to just the commitment of all of our employees. Now we are very excited
018to be celebrating our district personnel, and so I do have Mr. Rudy Gutierrez with 25 years of service in our maintenance and operations department. Please come up. Okay. Thank you. Let's give him a big round of applause. And lastly, but not least, with 20 years of service, Elizabeth Benavides. There you are. Let's give... all of our employees a big round of applause. We are going to ask that you stick around during the break. We're going to go ahead and take some pictures for our social media accounts. And as you could also see, we will be honoring all of these employees in our district office staff meeting with 20 to 40 years of service. Look at that. So let's give them a big round of applause. And now anywhere from 10 to 20 years, let's give
019them all a big round of applause. Congratulations to all of our employees who were recognized and we do thank you for your service and your commitment to East Whittier City School District. Thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. Vargas. Okay. Hold on, it's not break time yet. Take your award back. Hold on there. But I do have to say, every time we do longevity presentations, it is just such a beautiful thing to see how many employees have been here for so many years. And for that, I thank them all. So we are now on to student speech contest recognition. Dr. Sows? Good evening. We are so proud tonight to recognize our two East Whittier City School District speech contest winners who are here tonight to share with you their wonderful skills and talents. We were
020so fortunate to have All of our school sites participate in this challenge. Every school site had their own speech contest, and then they sent their own school site winner to our district speech contest. This year's prompt you can see above. Each one of our students all the way through middle school responded to this prompt in their speech. Superpowers let us imagine doing the impossible. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why? Explain the superpower you would choose and how you use it to make a difference in the world. Share why this power is important to you, be creative, and show us how your superpower would make the world a better place. I want to call up our first speech contest winner. We are so fortunate to have Savannah Abbott here tonight
021with us from Murphy Ranch. Savannah, can you come up? Gentlemen, do I need to do something on my end? This is the slide deck. My superpower by me, Savannah Abbott. All around us there are problems. Problems that might be easy to solve or could take days to fix. Now think, if there was a superpower that could solve some of these big problems, what if it was possible for you to do just that and maybe even more? Today, we will talk about such power and how it could help you, others, and the world. Let's jump in. You might be thinking, what even is this great superpower? Well, let me tell you about the amazing power of telepathy that allows you to read someone's mind and their thoughts. So how does the superpower positively impact the world
022you ask? Well to explain imagine this you're working at a coffee shop and the moment a customer walks in you know exactly what they're going to buy which makes taking orders much quicker as they say times money am I right? This superpower also allows you to have private conversations with someone by being able to read the person's mind and answer back telepathically. These are just a few examples on how telepathy could help save time. Now that we all know what telepathy is, how could this superpower help others? It could help people who can't articulate words and it helps to solve mysteries and crimes. First, it could help people who can't articulate words. If a person had telepathy, they could easily go into the mind of a person who can't express their voice to figure out
023what they're trying to say without speaking a word, making it a lot faster to have conversations instead of learning sign language. Now let's move on to how it helps solve mysteries and crimes. To explain, imagine yourself as a detective and you have two suspects in front of you and only one of them committed the crime. You would solve the crime in a short time by reading each of the suspects minds to see who did the crime and give a punishment to that person. This way it prevents suspects from lying and it's more convenient than asking a bunch of questions. Finally, the part you've all been waiting for, why telepathy is the best superpower of all. At first, telepathy might seem like the only thing it does is read minds, but it does so much more.
024It helps people who can't express their voice, helps to solve mysteries and crimes, helps have private conversations, and a lot more that it can't fit into the speech. The great things that telepathy could do make it the best superpower, because can invisibility solve crimes, or can being able to fly help people who can't speak? There are so many kids in the world who are born without the power to pronounce anything, and there are lots of crime cases left unsolved. So imagine if we had telepathy. It could solve just that, and maybe even more, which makes this superpower the most important to me. If I could have one superpower, I would choose telepathy. And although this great superpower might not be real, we all have a superpower that we could collectively unlock. We could save the
025planet by recycling or saving the oceans and animals by picking up trash at beaches or waters. So, if you had one superpower, what would you choose? Thank you for listening and have a great day. Wait, before we go any further, could you introduce your parents? Are you here with your mom? Yeah. Yeah. No, you weren't right here. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. Good evening. Now I'd like to present Olivia Cunningham, who is our middle school winner representing Hillview Middle School. My name is Olivia Cunningham. I'm in sixth grade, and I attend Hillview Middle School. There are many awesome superpowers out there, x-ray vision, flying, or super speed. But I think the ability to talk to animals will have the most impact on our planet. Initially, being able to talk with animals can definitely help
026animals. My mission would be to prevent extinction of endangered species such as tigers, pandas, rhinos, and blue whales. Helping them find food is most important. For example, leading a polar bear and her hungry cubs to a few fish during the harsh winter season would save their lives. The fun part will be when I pretend to be Cupid and helping endangered animals find a compatible partner to have more babies, which will increase their overall population. Furthermore, talking to animals can benefit humans. Let's be honest, I would strongly advise them to immediately put a halt to all animal attacks. More than 180,000 humans die from animal encounters each year around the world, and that has to stop. Some animals that would need to be confronted are sharks, hippos, snakes, mosquitoes, and of course, lions, tigers, and bears.
027I would also work with them to significantly increase food supply. I would spend hours on farms talking to chickens about laying more eggs. Then I would wander out in the fields with grazing cows and encourage them to produce more milk. And finally, I would climb lots of trees to have one-on-one conversations with queen bees about making more honey. The third and final reason talking with animals is a great superpower is that it helps the overall ecosystem become more efficient. Promptly, I would converse with my butterfly, hummingbird, and dragonfly friends and stress the importance of pollinating. I would make it a game to see who can visit the most flowers, plants, or trees. I will also ask their help in order to create a better food chain. The amount of extinct animals has created many gaps.
028I'll work with all levels from producers to consumers to fill in these gaps. In conclusion, flying would be exciting, super speed would be fun, but I believe talking to animals would have a bigger impact on the planet as it would positively affect animals, humans, and the ecosystem. That's why I would absolutely adore having this power. Thank you. Would you like to introduce who brought you? Who you came with? So your mom and dad are here? Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, on to the truck wrap contest recognition. Who's going to do that? Okay. Dr. Patterson? Mr. Ralph Lyle. So this year we noticed that all of our food trucks are getting a little bit older and missing out on a wonderful opportunity to have our community see our trucks delivering food across the
029district, but most importantly also seeing our students being able to display their creativity. So we had a competition this year where we put out the opportunity for students to submit designs. to be able to put on our trucks. So if you walk out after the break and you grab your cookies and take your pictures, you'll be able to see the truck right out here that was created this year by one of our students from East Whittier Middle School. So at this point in time, I would like to have Mati Cadilla come up here and receive his award. It's welded. Do you see it outside? It looks amazing, doesn't it? We did a good job, right? We put it up as a stencil and I colored it in. It was really good. Congratulations. You did a
030good job coloring it. Oh, thank you. But we're very impressed. Wasn't it beautiful out there? So that's our inaugural one. Now that he did such a good job, we are moving on to our second truck. And then by the time we're done, we plan to have all four of our trucks designed. and created by our very own students. So please give him one more round of applause. Thank you, Dr. Patterson. And I do have to say, I think that is a fabulous idea, and congratulations on that. I think the trucks look amazingly beautiful. They're just so bright and just love them. Thank you. Okay, on to approval of the minutes. I need a motion. I second. Okay. Any corrections or additions to the minutes? No. Okay, I'll call for the question. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Mrs.
031Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Hernandez? Yes. And I vote yes. So they pass 3-0. Now on to board member reports and comments. Mr. Aparicio, would you like to go? I have no comments today. Okay. Mr. Hernandez? Thank you. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Thank you to our online viewers, and thank you to everyone here. I love the turnout. Obviously, it's because of all the good things that we have happening today, but thank you, everyone, for still showing up. I'd like to thank all the students who led us in the pledge. I do see that two of them have already left early, but that's completely fine. I hope you guys are still watching online. But thank you guys for being leaders of your community and showing up today. You guys, I know it
032seems a little bit scary, but I'm still proud of you guys for being able to stand up and do that. Congratulations to our staff who were recognized today. You guys, I don't know how you guys do it. Like, I saw 44 years up there. That's amazing. I don't know how you guys do it. Like, all props to you guys. Like, thank you guys so much for everything you guys do for our community. Congratulations to our speech contest winners. I loved your guys' speeches. I think that both of your guys' superpowers are extraordinary. So thank you guys for that. Mad Key, I think your drawing... Is he still here? Oh, I don't know. Well, I think his drawing is amazing. I'm friends with his older brother, and that family is very awesome. But... I think his
033drawing is amazing, and I think it's going to look wonderful. Well, it already looks wonderful, but are we doing the same drawing for the rest of the trucks? No, there are three other drawings. Oh, okay. All right. Well, this truck looks amazing. Laurel teacher Miss Ali works with preschool students to focus on their motor skills, and I find this very important, and I love to see it. just at our district. So I think that that was a little something fun to share about Laurel. And to celebrate excellent behavior at Mulberry, the PBIS holds a fun day for their students. I am a Mulberry alumni myself, so I just thought that this was cool to see that they're still, you know, holding fun things as all of our district does. And to end my comments, Dr.
034Patterson and I have meetings before every board meeting. And at our most recent meeting on Thursday, we talked about the possibility of incorporating a drug lesson for our eighth grade students, similar to what we do in seventh grade. So the idea would be kind of taking a week to learn about the effects of drug use and how we can prevent it. and different ways to cope with situations that students find themselves getting into drugs by. So that was just an idea I thought I would share that me and Dr. Patterson talked about on Thursday. So yeah, thank you guys. Thank you. Mrs. Debs? Thank you so much. And thank you again, everyone, for being with us this evening. We know you have busy lives, but we thank you so much for joining us. And to
035our YouTube viewers, thank you for hanging in there with us. I want to make sure to thank our La Colima students. I know some of them are gone, but Sofia Villa, Alana Rodriguez, Jaylene Amaro, Jasmine Leidy, Enrique Covarrubias, thank you so much for leading us in the flag salute and for being leaders in your school. I want to congratulate also. our La Colima Employees of the Year, Megan Carrillo and Paloma Apodaca. I know she couldn't be here. Again, the things that you do to support your school, to stand up for your students, to be that light in the school that everybody counts on, I think is so phenomenal. Thank you so, so much for all of that hard work. I also want to give a big congratulations to the Longevity East Winter City School District
036employees from La Colima. That's, again, a long time to be serving some of you, 44 years. That's absolutely incredible. And it takes so much time and energy. If you ever have been a teacher, you know. But if you haven't been a teacher or a classified employee, you kind of don't know. It takes an incredible amount. of energy and effort and commitment to get up every morning at the crack of dawn. Get ready, get dressed, get your head in order to do the work that you are passionate in doing to support the children of our district. So thank you, thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart. I also want to say congrats on your theme of Galaxy of Learning. I think it's so, so fun. My son and I were just talking
037today. We're big Star Wars fans and we're a little annoyed with George Lucas that he sold out. to Disney, to be honest with you. I was very privileged to be able to work for his nonprofit for four years. He's an incredible man. But he sold to Disney because he wanted to leave a legacy to his grandchildren. So I understand that part, but it's just not the same without him at the helm. So I just thought of him when you said Galaxy of Learning. So thank you so much. That's a beautiful theme. I also want to make sure to congratulate our speech winners. Mrs. Keddie and I were very honored to be able to be judges and it was really, really hard to select a winner. Everyone was so well prepared, so eloquent, and again, so
038passionate about the prompt that it was a tough choice. But Olivia Cunningham and Savannah Abbott, thank you so much for your amazing work. When I was in eighth grade, I think I told Olivia, I entered a speech contest as an eighth grader and I had to read a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. And it was really hard. So I just want to thank you so much for taking that step forward to have the energy and the courage to do that and to do such a beautiful job, both of you. It's really, really great. I want to start just a little bit about some things that I attended. I attended Bob Archuleta's lunch sponsored by the chamber on Friday. Bob Archuleta, for those of you that aren't sure or don't know, he switched regions, and he
039is the state senator for the 30th district. If you're in the 30th district, you know that he's your state senator. And it was really pivotal to be there with the group and hear from him. The bottom line is his commitment to education. I asked him about that. He spoke publicly about it. Many people came to me later to tell me that they have it on tape, they have it on video, and I asked him the question about if the education department is dismantled, what will you do at the states who support us to be able to give the same kind of service, if not better, to our students? And he assured me that education is a top priority in his heart. So we're counting on him, not only... in that instance but regardless to be
040a supporter of ours at the state in terms of supporting our students and supporting our staff and everybody that's a part of east wader city school districts that was really important i also was able to attend the lcap meeting uh local control accountability plan it was very very well done very well shared with the folks that were there from as many schools i could attend it was great to hear about the plans that our district has to continue to involve and engage our school community our parent community and it was really really uplifting and very very well done i also just want to share that Let's see. I think there was one more thing. Oh, I'm going to be, and I know this is very near and dear to Mrs. Kennedy's heart as well. We
041are both a part of the California School Board Association. And this week is a legislative action week where if we're able, we will be in a Zoom meeting with some of our state legislatures. We are going to be very clear with them that we expect their support. for all children from special ed to regular ed to gifted students, K-8. And so this is a really important time this week and I'm very honored to be able to participate three times and really hold their feet to the fire, if you will. Get those commitments from them, from the state, that regardless of what they talk about, that they walk their talk, that it's really important to us. So again, I'm very honored to be a board member here in our district and thank you so much. You
042missed the steps. I'm going to keep it short. Just thank you to the students and thank you to our speech contest winners and congratulations to everybody who got an award tonight. And with that, we're going to take a break. And if you got an award, could you come over here for pictures? Okay. Call the meeting back to order. I want to close that door. Okay. Okay. We will continue with CSEA comments. Thank you. EWEA comments? As able as I can. It's good to see you with no wheelchair. Thank you. It's good to be without a wheelchair. Thank you very much. All righty. I am Missy Michaud, and I am representing the East Whittier Education Association tonight. And congratulations to everyone who has been here tonight doing great things. Thank you for sending the bulletin out
043on Monday I know it seems silly, but it really is a big deal Everybody's so exhausted on Friday And they look at it and we know that so much time has been put into it and there are so many things that are important for us to see but once Friday hits everybody kind of forgets about it and then on Monday Damn look at that and they read it. So thank you very much. We appreciate that and Thank you for the safety committee meeting. We had a meeting Last week and it was great to see a room full of people all interested in the same Stuff making sure everyone is safe at all times regardless of What is going on so it's nice that we've got that going again, so thank you very much for that.
044Thank you and then I love that truck. I have been, you know, I was, this morning I actually got there before he was driving down my school street. I'm like, dude, I'm hocking hard. It's like 5.55, maybe 6 o'clock. And I'm hocking, going, dude, I'm sure the neighbors loved it. But it is amazing that the bus, the... whole truck. It looks really great and it stands out and it just makes you smile when you see it. So I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of them. Yeah, that was cool. You guys mentioned something about a drug lesson. Val Red has an amazing unit that she uses at Hillview. She has a guest speaker and it is absolutely fantastic. So hit her up for that. Okay, that was all the other stuff. Okay, we have
045a new seniority list coming out, and we have concerns on it, and it's because we've heard that it's what the lawyers are telling us that we have to do, but it's not done by everybody, so the question is, why are we really doing it? And what this new seniority list is, is anyone who, everyone in the district except Superintendent Patterson will be on that seniority list. All classified will be on one list. All certificated will be on the other list. Now, my question is, why? It's not a lot. It's not anything like that. But I have, well, you know me. I go off on that side. So I have some ideas. We, in the last few years, have decided that any certificated person not in a classroom gets to have a temp holding their space.
046So if you're now going to put every single certificated management person on that list, counting all the 19 directors, all the principals, their help, everything like that, everybody at the district office. Does that mean that we're going to have 100 temps or not? So we'll look into how that goes. And since everybody's going on the same seniority list, does this mean that everyone's going to actually have to follow the pay scale in which they are coded under? Principals have to get principal salaries, not director salaries, that kind of thing? So we're just wondering if we're all going to go on to the same thing are we all going to play by the same rules and I'm sure CSEA is wondering that exact same thing Okay, I've been talking about these for a while, and I'm
047going to bring them up again. These are the requests to go get training somewhere something It's great that we have people getting to go to training, but because this is no longer transparent We don't know who to go to to get help we know that these people are being trained, but These are supposed to be our resources, but we don't know who they are So maybe if we make this a little bit more transparent so we can see who's involved, you know, then we could understand who all is involved. Then, okay, we're having, we've been saying it, discipline, discipline, discipline, discipline. It's very different. And what we're finding is this is, kids want to live in a box. Kids want to have four walls around them. They want to know where they're safe. And they're
048safe within those four walls. We've removed those walls. So kids are feeling unsafe. Kids are now going to the extreme to press buttons. They're right here. It's just like a cat in a box. They're going to push against the sides, but they know they're in there safe. And that's what our kids want to do. Dress code, cussing out teachers. hitting, pushing teachers, and it goes on. But if we put the box back around them to show them that we actually do care how they behave, how they look, how they speak, how they treat other people, I think they might actually start behaving appropriately, speaking nicely to each other. and understanding that they are safe. We don't not like them. We want to keep them safe. And what we're finding is they're pushing by, you know,
049cussing out a classified. They're pushing by cussing out a teacher. And then they go and push and they cuss out a principal, and that's the first time something happens. We are not doing these children a service. They're getting to high school. They're doing the same bonehead stuff they're doing at middle school, but they're being removed from the high school We are not teaching them reality. We are not creating 21st learn 21st century learners We really they want us to hold them accountable. They want our expectations to be high and I really think we need to put that box back around them so that they can feel safe and everyone else on campus can feel safe too. Okay, last thing. Thank you. We've had all of our non-reelects and whatnot going out and this year is
050kind of difficult. We have folks who have been given non-reelect status When we believe it's their supervisors who should be non-reelected, these are folks who we have documentation on everything that they've been trying to get done, trying to get help with. And when they're calling their boss and their boss says, figure it out, no, I have a kid who needs a one-on-one aid and their one-on-one aid is not here. So a teacher calls for help. And when the supervisor says, figure it out, And then this person is getting released. That's not right. And we have to protect our people. We have to take care of our people. We have to support our people. And we have to keep those who are worthy and consider not keeping those who aren't. And we, it's... It's bad. We're
051losing all our SPED teachers. We're losing our teachers who work with our most vulnerable students, and they don't deserve that. They're not getting support they need. It's all documented, and it's just not right. Okay, then can I tell you one last thing? This one is what you guys were talking about before, about how you have people who have been at the same school for so long. Well, okay, I'm gonna brag I'm at Hillview 35 years same classroom. Thank you on on two Thank you under superintendent comments highlight some two amazing things that we had occur with our students. We had over 420 or so students attend our annual student leadership conference. Brooke was there as well. So it's just another wonderful opportunity to be able to show how much we value student voice and really
052want to be able to provide them the support and opportunity to grow as leaders. We also had our Star Awards, where we take and recognize two students per school to be able to talk about students who have overcome significant challenges in their lives and in order to be able to celebrate that. So we're really happy at this time of year when we're able to have all of these wonderful celebrations on top of the speech contest and the truck decorating and all of the things that go on across the district. Thank you, Dr. Patterson. Okay. On to citizen communication. As we do with each board meeting, I'm going to ask all four of our speakers to step over to the podium. First speaker is going to be Mark Mondragon. Second speaker is going to be Ann
053Barreto, followed by Jessica Sandoval, and hitting cleanup, Mr. Sansoni. And just a reminder, you do have three minutes to address the board. Okay. Hello, everyone. Mark Mondragon, East Whittier Middle School. I'm here to talk about an incident I witnessed on February 14th when my friend and colleague, Jessica Sandoval, was accosted by an aggressive, violent student. Police recalled... Changes were charges were brought against the student and a report was filed. Therefore, I stood I stand before you today with a deep sense of concern regarding a critical issue that threatens the safety, well-being and reputation of our school and school district. The escalating problem of aggressive student altercations being recorded and disseminated on social media platforms. While we may not have a formally codified cell phone policy that explicitly addresses this specific scenario, the reality is that
054the absence of clear guidelines has created a vacuum, a void in which chaos thrives. We are witnessing a disturbing trend. When conflicts arise, instead of intervening or seeking adult assistance, students instinctively reach for their cell phones and begin recording. They become passive observers, documenting and amplifying violence rather than working to de-escalate the problem. The footage captured is often graphic, disturbing, and frankly, deeply embarrassing. These videos, swiftly uploaded and shared, spread like wildfire across social media, reaching not only our students, but our parents, our community, our community members, our business owners. They paint a picture of our schools as breeding grounds of aggression. And I know you guys have positive things to say, but I'm seeing my students nodding. I have a student here. He's nodding because they've talked about this. Wow, there's a lot of
055fights happening, Mr. Mondragon. So this picture makes our school look like a breeding ground, a portrayal that is far removed from the safe and nurturing environments we strive to create. The current lack of clear and force policy is not only ineffective, it is negligent. We cannot allow this situation to persist. We must take immediate action to address this issue and restore order and safety at our schools, especially our middle schools. Therefore, I urge the board to take action, ensuring the enforcement of a comprehensive cell phone policy as mandated by Governor Newsom by the summer of 2026. Clearly, the one we have in place is not working. When there is a type of ruckus on campus, a majority of the students take out their phones and record and post the ongoings on social media. I've seen
056them all. I recommend you search EWMS and look for the school seal and follow those sites and look at the videos and you will be appalled. I guarantee it. I urge you to search EWMS. The policy should clearly define expectations regarding cell phone policy use. Thank you very much. This is something that I'm retiring, but this is something that I fear for my teachers. Thank you, Mr. McGregor. Good evening everybody. My name is Ann Barreto. I'm a teacher at Hillview. I've been at Hillview for 19 years doing mild, moderate, and now moderate severe. I'm kind of back piggybacking on what Missy said about teacher retention and things like that. One of my partner teachers, she was just recently asked to not come back. And it kind of threw us all for a loop because we
057do strive to be a team for our kids. And this is going to be our kids' third teacher in three years. At Hillview, we have all, you know, mostly autistic kids. And that change is going to be really hard on them. Plus I think the teacher and I since I've been teaching so long I've seen teachers come and go I've been on a lot of interview panels This teacher in specific. She is great. She's part of the team, and I'm going to be sad to you know see her go um a Lot of the aids and a lot of the students are going to be sad to see her go um I think What we need to do is kind of support our new teachers some way. We need to come up with some kind
058of a support system for our new teachers, especially with the populations that we do have. We have a really difficult population at Hillview. one of the hardest years to date for me and one of the hardest caseloads I've ever seen. And it was put on this new teacher to take this on, and she did. And it's been a team effort for all of us to get through the year. So I'm asking if we can consider... How do we give some support for our teachers that are new and to help keep our teachers at the sites and encourage longevity in the classroom? Because it's better for our students, especially our vulnerable populations. You know, we've already, she's already established rapport with the other teachers and the parents. It's going to be really hard to pick up.
059and train a new teacher and, you know, schedule all the kids and schedule the aides. And it's just, I don't want to be on another interview panel. I want to keep the good people. So I'm hoping that we can all put our heads together and come up with something we can do for our new teachers. And it's across the district. We have a lot of turnover with special education. And I've seen it throughout the years. And it's kind of like, we're losing some good people. May or may not, but. Most of the people that I've seen come and go, they've been pretty good, like workable. You know, let's work with them. Let's encourage them to be, you know, continue to be a good part of the team. Because we can't develop a good team unless
060we have that longevity and that trust. And it's hard to, like, reinvent the wheel every year. Thank you. My name is Jessica Sandoval. I've been a teacher for the district since 2000, mostly at East Whittier Middle School. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight regarding the incident that took place on Friday, February 14th during our school's reward day event. While our intention on that day was to celebrate student achievements in a positive and enjoyable environment, an unexpected and concerning situation arose that I feel is important to bring to your attention. During the event, a conflict between a male and female student escalated quickly toward a physical confrontation. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, Mr. Monragon and I stepped in immediately to separate the students and prevent any potential harm. Without touching the female
061student I immediately instructed her to back away from the boy and keep her hands to herself While the male student complied the female student began verbally aggressive became verbally aggressive toward me using repeated profanities including excessive use of the f-word in front of a large crowd of at least a hundred students to me for teaching 25 years this is like Unacceptable. Heartbreaking as well. Okay, I remained calm and instructed her to accompany me to the office so that we could handle the situation appropriately. However, she refused to comply, continuing her verbal aggression. At that point, she physically shoved me with two hands in front of the gathered students and teachers. Again, a first and shocking experience, as you can imagine. Despite the hostility, I maintained my professionalism, and at that point, Mrs. Ruiz took over
062the situation. I was advised by Mr. Monagon and Mr. Vogelman to call the police, file a report, and press charges against the student. After a four-day suspension, the student was allowed to return back to school. I have since then learned that this student has a very long history of aggressive and violent infractions. This incident was violent and deeply traumatic for myself and I am still processing the turn of events. This incident also raises concerns about student behavior, respect for staff, and overall campus safety. While conflicts between students are not uncommon, the level of aggression displayed in this instance is troubling. not only for staff members who are responsible for maintaining a safe learning environment, but also for students who witnessed the incident. I share this with you tonight not just to recount what happened, but
063to advocate for steps that will better support staff and students in handling these types of situations. Some areas I believe need further discussion include clearer consequences for aggressive or violent behavior towards staff, enhanced training for staff on de-escalation techniques, handling physical aggression and greater administrative and disciplinary accountability at the site and district level to ensure incidents like this are addressed swiftly and effectively. I am proud to be an educator and to work alongside dedicated colleagues who prioritize student success. However, ensuring a safe and respectful environment for both staff and students must remain a priority. Thank you. Thank you for the time to speak. My name is Andrew Sansoni. I teach and I'm a dad over at East Whittier Middle School. I'm here to speak to the board and thank you for the opportunity and maybe
064ask for your help in maybe reevaluating the standards we set for our students both academically and behaviorally. I've always been very proud of being part of the East Winter City School District, but I'm afraid that our lack of standards and lack of accountability is selling our students short. Currently, we have no academic standards required to go through middle school promotion. I don't understand how an academic institution such as ours has no academic requirement for completion. Promotion should be a celebration of academic achievement, not a birthday party, not an annual event, and God forbid, not a participation trophy. Now, in no way is it my intent to find ways to exclude students from this opportunity and this celebration, but to motivate that small group of students that need that extra push to reach their potential. If
065I've learned anything in my 20 years, it's that students will always rise to the standards we set for them. They always do. That's what makes my job amazing. Seeing students find success where they once had challenges or overcome some sort of obstacle or finally pass that math test, they will do it. But I'm afraid that our lack of standards that we set for them is selling them short. Without goals, without academic requirements, what is their motivation? Secondly, as you heard some already, in the past month we've had two teachers assaulted by students on campus, one of which I witnessed personally. What are our behavioral standards? What standards are we holding students to? Now, middle school is a crazy time for students and teachers, but it's not something we signed up for, nor should this be
066part of the job description. Now, I know there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes that I'm not privy to, and I know my fellow colleagues and educators hold our students to the highest possible standards, but we do have a problem with perception. And I'm afraid that that perception of no academic standards and a lack of accountability for violence on campus is doing a disservice to all the hardworking student staff and administrators in our district. Again, it's in no way my intent to find ways to punish students or exclude students from opportunities. But to have a district where students recognize right from wrong, that actions have consequences and rewards, and their achievement of promotion is actually meaningful to them. Thank you for the time. Okay. Thank you all for your comments. We
067will move on to discussion items. I need a motion. No, I'm onto item one approval of the 2023 24 independent auditors report I Moved that the recommendation that the Board of Education approved the 2023 24 independent auditors report for bond measures R and Z provided by the independent audit firm Christy white and I'll second it. I have a first and a second. Any discussion? So I just wanted to take an opportunity to brag a little bit. We once again have... audit report where there were no findings based upon our work and diligence of our business services team and our citizens oversight committee. So this is just another one of those celebratory things that shows that everything that we did with measure R and Z was in alignment with what we said we were going to
068do with that money and is also a reason why 65% of our community voted yes on measure C. So it's just another testament and an accolade for our business services team for doing what they said they were going to do and making sure we are all spending that money in the way in which the community intended that money to be spent. Okay, any comments? Anybody else? Okay, I'll call for the question. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. And I vote yes. Passes. On to item two. This is a it also is an action item where we're bringing before the board our second interim report We did not include the fiscal stabilization plan because the board voted on the fiscal stabilization plan of meeting ago So that's all fresh in everyone's minds. So
069miss Sorrell is just going to focus on the second interim report We need a motion. Good evening. So tonight we're presenting. We just need a motion. Oh, sorry. We need a motion. It is my recommendation. I move that it is my recommendation that the Board of Education approve the second interim report for the fiscal year 2024-25 as presented. I'll second it. Okay. I have a first and a second. Go ahead, Ms. Rowe. Thank you. So first I'd like to thank the accounting department for the wonderful job they've done all year long and on the RNZ audit, because that is a big deal to have no findings. So I'd like to thank them for that. So tonight we're presenting the second interim, which gives an updated budget for 24-25 and then has a projection for 25-26
070and 26-27. And all the information you're going to see is based on the January 31st closing for 2025. It includes all of the revenues or expenses and any update from information we received at the governor's revision meeting in January. This has to be approved by the board each year. Generally, it's on the 15th of the month because that was a Saturday. It's actually the 17th for March. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional comments from the board? She's got more. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. I know this is riveting. I was like, yeah. You see your presentations being short. And I do my best to make them super short. Yeah, I'm good. So whenever we have a certification from the board, there's three possibilities, the positive, the qualified, and the negative. And we're happy to report once
071again we have a positive, which means we can make our financial obligations in the current year and the two out years. Qualified is when you're missing one year and the other one we don't want to talk about. Okay, so this slide shows you the projected revenue for the district. LCFF is 78.4%, locals 8.9%, states 8.6%, and federals 4%. The next slide will talk about our expenses. Sure. is a significant amount of money. The bulk of our money does come from CDE and the state allocation. So this next slide is talking about our expenditures, and you will notice that 79.9% is our employees because we're a service organization. So that's the benefits and salaries for everybody, and no major changes there. So this next one is talking about the assumptions that we have within our budget,
072and that is the full implementation of the fiscal stabilization plan, which we've reviewed at multiple meetings. Our ADA has bumped up to 95.88% from 94.33%. which doesn't sound like a lot, but it really does help us to the tune of about 166,000 this year and 1.3 million in the next year. We have our COLA rates, 1.07 for 24-25. There's been a decrease for 25-26 down to 2.43, and then 26-27 has had an increase from 3.08 to 3.52. So, oh, sorry. So the other assumptions that we have are that we did get a grant, the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, which is about $560,000, and that's going to help fund two social workers for two more years. Before, those were going to have to be reduced with a fiscal stabilization plan, but this is helping
073extend those for two years. We've had some expense changes for vacancies. What we do is... We budget for all of our open positions and then mid-year at first interim and at second interim we update so if the position hasn't been filled yet we reduce the budget to reflect the possible expense for the rest of the year but not the entire year and we have 52 vacancies right now between special ed and supervising assistants. So this is our our form one and with this if you go left to right the first is the operating budget that's the budget that was set last June. The next is the current operating budget, which has any approvals from the board up to this point. The third column is our projections for 24-25. And you're going to notice those very,
074very small changes between the current operating and the projected primarily relate to the change in COLA and the change in the ADA percentage. And then the one thing we always have to keep our eye on is that little red arrow we have there for the net change in funds. And when that shows a negative, it means we're still spending more than our revenue is. But we're improving. We've had a good improvement. But once again, I do want to give this as another opportunity to shout out to our teams and the thoughtful way in which they've tried to be able to be very clear about the positions that we've hired on a temporary basis. using ESSER money and all of the other things that we've done, you've seen with the fiscal stabilization plan, doing everything that
075we possibly can to push those reductions out as far as we can. The two school social workers are just one example of that work. So while we still have a long way to go, we're constantly working and trying to identify the ways in which we can bring that budget deficit into check. Thank you, Mr. Kennedy. Ms. Sorrell, I do want to echo Superintendent Patterson's compliment to you and your team. I have to tell you, I speak to friends who are in a district over the hill, and they are amazed and astounded at the fact that You know and we know and everybody else knows what the budget looks like. There was a comment made to me that they have no idea. They are not sure. They don't know who's going to be let go. Their
076seniority list is being made. They've been told to prepare for layoffs even of people with longevity in the district. So I can't say enough about how much I value the hard work that you're doing. It is not to be taken for granted. So I really, really want to thank you. Having said that. Do we have a plan B for May revise, number one, and number two, do we have a plan B for May revise with a potential, of course we know what that is already, but drop in federal funding? Potential. I'm going to have to answer that in a couple pieces. One is we will have a budget drafted. 98% finished before the May revise. Then once we get those numbers, then it will take us a day or so to adjust. There could be
077good news. I mean, there is talk of additional ELOP money. You don't know. There's a lot of different information coming out, but we will have a plan to bring back to the board, regardless of which direction the revenue moves. Any other questions? Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, yes, I'm gonna call for the question. Okay, Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. I vote yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Okay, and it passes. On to, are we inside EWCSD? Okay, number three, inside EWCSD spotlight. So this time, since it's timely, we wanted to showcase our student leadership summit that just happened recently. Hello everyone, my name is Trina Gonzalez and I'm the Director of Student Services in East Whittier City School District. Our department recently hosted a wonderful student leadership summit that invited over 400 students from
078across the district to join in an unforgettable day of making great memories and focusing on our main theme of teaching leaders to dream, believe, and achieve. As students arrived, our staff welcomed them by creating an energizing environment where we inspired them through music and a special dance off by our elementary school principals. Students then heard from an amazing keynote speaker who shared inspirational stories of resilient leadership and success, encouraging our students to dream, believe, and achieve in their own missions and goals in life. Students had an opportunity to attend several interactive workshops focused on teamwork, communication, and creativity, empowering the students with the tools they can bring back to their school and communities. Students were able to step out of their comfort zone, meet new people, and forge lasting relationships. This event just really gets
079to give you insight on different types of leaders and how you can become a stronger leader. The Student Leadership Summit is a wonderful annual event for all of our district. Our real goal is to make sure that our students have a voice, they learn great leadership skills, and positively impact not only our school sites today, but also positively impact our community on the long term. Thank you, Ms. Kinn. I just want to make a comment to all of you. This event was absolutely amazing. I mean, I cried just to see the energy, the power, the intellect, the... amazing ideas that our students have. It's absolutely extraordinary to hear them, to watch them. I mean, it's just, it really takes your breath away when you see that our young people, like our amazing Brooke here, are
080just so ready to be leaders when things are going on around them that could be troubling or whatnot, that they are really, really there. And I really wanted to also compliment because we don't get to see her as much as we get to see Dr. Vargas and Dr. Alicia, that Dr. Gonzales, our director of student support services, she is really doing some extraordinary things. When I was a principal in Pasadena Unified, I was very good friends with the director of student support services, and he had a massive amount of things that he had to do because Pasadena Unified was massive and huge at the time, probably about 30,000 students. Mrs. Gonzalez brings that same energy that I remember, Dr. Gonzalez, that I remember seeing in him, only, of course, on a smaller scale. She is
081extraordinary in what she's doing for our district, and I also want to additionally compliment her for coordinating with a couple of our schools to have an attorney come and speak to parents who are concerned about immigration laws and what their rights are, and she's stepped up and stepped out. and coordinated that with an attorney that is actually one of our parents at Ocean View Elementary School. And so I just want to thank Dr. Gonzalez for all her hard work. We don't often get to see her, but she's really doing a lot for our students and our staff. So I just want to thank her publicly. Thank you. Brooke, you have anything else to say? Yes, actually. Kind of to echo what Mrs. Dabb said, that event is a very amazing event to go to. All
082the leaders that you see that are just ready to be leaders, like there are students just elementary through middle school. It's amazing to see the different types of leaders and just the amount of leaders, over 400, correct? Over 400 students were there, and it's just amazing to see the turnout. I went in sixth grade, and I didn't go in seventh, but I went in sixth grade, and then the comparison from sixth to eighth, like the growth is insane. It's just amazing to see how much we've grown to fit the students' interests and just in general as a district. So I just wanted to kind of echo Mrs. Dabbs and mention that. Okay. Any additional comments? Okay, so Okay, so there's no vote on this. This is uh, okay. So now we're on to item four
083Okay, I Need a motion. It is my recommendation that the Board of Education adopt resolution number 16 dash 2425 for claiming the month of April 2025 as public schools month I'll second it. Okay. I have a first and a second. Any discussion? Anybody? We shouldn't take this lightly. Okay. Please be aware. Public schools is under attack. And if you don't know that already, I urge you to please inform yourself. It doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on. Our public schools are under attack. So please make sure that you know and celebrate Public Schools Month because it means a lot to do that for our students, for our teachers, for our classified staff, and our administrators. Thank you. Any additional comments? I'll call for the question. Ms. Drapericio? Yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs?
084Yes. And I vote yes. So that passes. On to item five. I need a motion. Okay. It is my recommendation that the Board of Education adopt resolution number 18-2425, proclaiming the month of April 2025 as Child Abuse Prevention Month. I'll second it. Okay. I have a first and a second. Any discussion on this? Okay. I'll call for the question. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Ms. Raparicio? Yes. I vote yes. Mrs. Debs? Yes. It passes on to number six. Annual review of identified board policies. Okay. All right. This is just so we just, we're just. This is not an action item. This is over the years, our board has requested that these particular board policies be brought back. As you know, our. current policy around bringing policies before the board is when there is a change to a
085senate bill to some type of legal change or there's something brewing to where we want to actually look at something different i did want to point out a couple of different things we are right now in the so We are recommending to remove the COVID mitigation plan as an annual read. So that is one of the recommendations. So if there's no objection to that, because we can always bring that back whenever we want to. And then the fees and charges is something that we added a while back and that's also one of those that we bring up whenever Miss Sorrell says we're not charging people enough money for developer fees and the like. So that's one of those that we do feel like we don't need to have that on this revisitation. I did want
086to point out since, you know, Mr. Sansoni had mentioned the whole idea about not having academic standards and so forth and so on. As you know, we've taken a very concerted look at our grades. and our grading policies and at the next grading committee we are going to talk about potential changes and recommendations to bring to the board now that we have clarified some pretty misconceived notions about grades, some ineffective and just really grading practices that even our teachers were not aware of how certain things were weighted. Now that we've increased communication with our mandatory automated progress reports that now go out, we are in a position to where I and our team feel comfortable reinstituting some of the academic requirements for promotion beginning in the 25-26 school year. So we will be having conversations
087around that. We are not going to do it wantingly and just, you know, putting. procedures into place where it was just before well one F and you're done. We're not in in interested in that but what we are going to be looking at since we like to talk about preparing kids for high school and the requirements of high school I think there's some misconception out there amongst our our community of what the requirements are to graduate from high school. um so and not just from whittier union but from high school in general you know in order to graduate from high school in general you have to have the appropriate number of credits and those credits mean that you get at least a d or above in your classes so we are going to be having
088some conversations about how to gradually bring back that idea of Now that we have more staff accountability with communication and with grading practices, utilizing our academic advisors and our ELOP. academic advisors a little bit more intentionally. We do feel that it's time to bring back a certain level of accountability for our students and what that looks like to earn the right to be able to promote from our district. So we will be bringing that up to our grading committee and then potentially bringing that back for the board to consider before we leave. for this school year. So everybody is absolutely clear about what the expectations are from a staff level, as well as from a student and parent level going into promotion for the 26-27 school year. Okay, thank you any comments anymore any more
089comments. I I do I have a question mrs. Kennedy um Dr.. Patterson you know that I'm I beat this frequently we all have our policies that we beat Yes, so I know that we frequently talked about that. We don't have an AI policy yet. We're in student technology correct right I wouldn't be able to pull up what you can you okay? I'm sorry. I apologize student use of technology so and I know in the past In lieu of that you have felt confident thus far in convos with LA County and your superintendent colleagues that having this policy covers us for lack of better word abuses of AI potentially. So can you tell me a little bit more about what you're still feeling now as it's expanding more and more? Well, as you know, being involved
090as you are and as passionate as you are about this particular topic, you know, Darren Meyer is constantly having conversations with our tech leads. He's constantly researching it on our behalf. I have those conversations with the superintendents in our SELPA to be able to have conversations about what does this actually look like for a district. Even though LACO kind of came out with a quasi policy, you know, we don't normally adopt our policies based upon LACO. We tend to wait for CSBA to be able to say, here's a model policy based upon everything that we know. And right now, you know, it's just, we feel good about where we are, but things could change, you know, as we go into next school year. CSPA has a working committee that is working on things. For a
091while now, though. At the meeting in December, they shared that, and I pointedly said, so where is the policy? And the statement that they made was, well, we're working on it. You should use AI to create the policy. Yeah, exactly. But I'm so confident, then, that you feel, though, should there be any abuses of that, that this policy... covers us to a t i mean no policy covers us to a t but this is this is a solid policy based upon everything that we're experiencing okay okay thank you okay thank you so we are now on to item seven approval of the 2025-26 infant program calendar and i do need a motion um i move it is me it is my recommendation that the board of education approve 2025-26 infant program calendar I'll second it.
092Okay. Any discussion? I have a first and a second. Any discussion? Okay. Sina, and I'll call for the question. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. I vote yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Okay. Passes. On to item eight. I need a motion. It is my recommendation that the Board of Education adopt resolution number 17-2425, determination of seniority among certificated employees with the same first date of paid probationary service tie-break resolution. I'll second it. Okay, I have a first and a second. Any discussion? Thank you. Yes, so anytime that we are going through a layoff process, we do need to either fall back on any contractual bargaining agreement language when it comes to tiebreakers because we do have a number of employees who might share the same seniority list. So we need to specify clearly what we will
093use if all things being equal and they have the same seniority list. So if you see... The numbers, the items listed on there, we do go in that order. So we will look at everything pretty much. We will look at credentials. We will look at authorizations. So there has to be a way to do a tiebreaker, all things being equal, if the employees have the same seniority list. So at this time, that is what we have as far as the criteria. And that's how we would determine who has a greater seniority at that point. I really appreciate seeing this because the concern of my very, very good friend who's over the hill from us was where are our rights? Where are our support systems? So it really makes me feel good to know that our,
094you know, our staff, our teachers, our CSEA employees know that we have a policy in place and that, you know, that's where we're coming from. So thank you. Thank you. Any additional discussion? Okay, I will call for the question on this. Mrs. Debs? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. And I vote yes. That passes on to item number nine, and I need a motion. I move that the Board of Education approve the East Cedar City School District 2025-26 Transportation Services Plan. I'll second it. Okay, it's first and a second. Any discussion? plan is. And as you know, pretty much 99% of our busing does go through Whittier Union. Okay. All right. Thank you. So I will, let's see here. I'll call for the question on that. No additional discussion? Anybody? Okay. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes.
095I vote yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Okay. It passes on to item 10. I need a motion. I move the recommendation that the resolution number 13-24-25, authorizing filing of applications for state allocation board administered programs, be adopted by the Board of Education. I'll second it. Okay. Any discussion with this? Just to provide that clarity around this item. As you know, Prop 2 was passed, so we want to be able to make sure that we have every I dotted and every T crossed in order to be able to apply for that state matching money. And this is just one more of those steps to be able to put ourselves into and file for that funding. Okay. Any other discussion? No. I'll call for the question. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Ms. Raparicio? Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes.
096And I vote yes. So that passes on to item 11. I need a motion. I move the recommendation that the Board of Education approve the award of bid BYR25-19 concrete slash asphalt replacement project to Eagle Paving LLC. I'll second it. Okay. Any discussion on this? So just a reminder, we were able to do a lot of the asphalt and concrete work over the summer. Granada and Scott Avenue were not able to be completed over this summer because of summer programming. We are doing those schools over spring break. And then the remaining schools have patches that were not done through that whole summer process. So we're finishing up those other schools. Any other comments? Anybody? Comments, questions? We've got a call for the question. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. I vote yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. Ms. Traparicio? Yes.
097Okay, that passes. On to item 12. I move the recommendation that the Board of Education approve BYR 25-22E, second internet connection bid as submitted. I'll second it. Okay, I have a first and a second. Any discussion? So these next two items are really putting us in a position to be able to make sure that we're able to take advantage of Wi-Fi 7, also to have redundancy with regard to our internet connection. It's going to address fiber. And the beauty part of this is we're trying to get as much as is done through E-rate so that 80% of the funding can be paid for through this particular funding source. We were going to push things off a little bit further. but we were able to get the bids in and to get the work put into
098place. So our hope is to start beginning a lot of this work over the summer. And then when we exhaust days in the summer, we will go to that night shift work that we had done before in order to be able to make sure that we don't have to close down classrooms during that process. Okay. Any other comments? So I'll call for the question. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. I vote yes. Mrs. Debs? Yes. Okay, that passes. On to item 13. We need a motion. A motion. Is there a, I recommend that we have a motion to remove items from the consent agenda for individual. 13. 13. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That's okay. Forgive me. I move the recommendation that the Board of Education approve YR25-26 E-rate single mode fiber and CAT 6A project
099as submitted. I'll second it. Okay. Any discussion? Okay. I'll call for the question. Ms. Hernandez. Yes. Ms. Raparicio. Yes. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. And I vote yes, so that passes. On to consent items now. Sorry, apologies. I move that we remove items, if there's any request to remove items from the consent agenda. Yeah, let's see if there are. Individual discussion and consideration that we should consider them if there are any. Are there any, does anybody wish to remove anything from the agenda or from the consent item agenda? Okay, if not, now you can make, I think, make a motion. Yeah, sorry. Yeah, just that we go ahead and number one again. Yes Okay, it is my recommendation I move the recommendation of the Board of Education approve the consent agenda items K-3 through K-10 I'll second
100it. Okay, I have the first and second any discussion on any of these items Okay, seeing none. I'll go for the question. Mrs. Dabbs. Yes, Mr. Aparicio Yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. And I vote yes. Okay, so that passes. Our next item is adjournment. So before we do make that motion to adjourn, I just want to give our board members, if you want anything, final comments to say. I'll just share again that I'm excited to be able to represent our district over Zoom, talking with our legislators about supporting our district from the state and making sure that they know about the kinds of things that we're doing here at the East Winter City School District and the fact that we need them to be our advocates. So I'm really looking forward to be able to do
101that. So thank you. Thank you. Mr. Appasio, anything? I'll wait till next board meeting to say my comments. Okay. All right. It's tremendous. I forgot to mention in my earlier comments, but next Monday I will be attending, I completely forgot the name of it, but it's being held here at our education center where I get the chance to talk amongst some staff and community members about just staff interaction with students. So I'm very excited for that. And I will report back on that at the next meeting. Oh, thank you very much. Okay. And I just have to say, I urge you all not to waste food with everything being so expensive. Every time I go to the market, it's like I have to take another mortgage out. Oh my gosh, everything is so expensive. So
102please don't waste food. And I want to thank whoever is responsible for giving me this fruit. Oh, it's so beautiful. I can't wait to eat it. Yeah. And again, just urging you all to save your water, ride your bikes, and be kind. So with that, I'll ask for a motion to adjourn. I move that we adjourn the meeting. I'll second it. Okay. And any other nothing else to say? Okay, I'll call for the question. Mrs. Dabbs? Yes. Mr. Aparicio? Yes. Ms. Hernandez? Yes. And I vote yes. Our meeting is adjourned at 7.46.