001Welcome to everyone watching on ITV. and via live stream and I'm calling the October 11th, 2022 regular board meeting to order with all board members present except trustee Dr. McCrary, who is absent from today's meeting. We will begin today's meeting with a moment of silence in remembrance of district employee, Twyla Tarkington, who recently passed away. We express our most sincere condolences to her family. I believe her sons are watching the meeting via live stream. I know one of them is in Nevada as a counselor there, school counselor. So I spoke to him and he assured me that he would be watching. I just want to tell you a couple of things about her as we move forward. Ms. T, as she was affectionately known. was beginning her 43rd year with the San Diego Unified School
002District. She's been an integral part of the Morse community, serving as a paraeducator with moderate to severe students and as an advisor to Morse's auxiliary teams. She truly believed in her students and made an irreplaceable difference in their lives. She was also known as a fashion icon. She was always matching on the stand and dressed to the nines. She even made her casual outfits look like she was styling for someone. So we commend her on that. She had a love for her culture and made beautiful masks, bags, and decorations that embodied the beauty of being African American. She spoke her mind unapologetically and she always kept it real. You know, just keep it real here. She took a no-nonsense approach to working with students and would share stories about her childhood and her sons so
003they could learn from her. She was an amazing artist who made beautiful banners for football games and posters for coworkers. Of course her sons and grandbabies were her pride and joy. And she helped students to get scholarships each year through her Lamplighters affiliation. She will be missed but never forgotten. Let us have a moment of silence for her. Thank you for that. And now we will have the Navy JROTC color guard from Patrick Henry High School. They will present the colors. Please stand for the presentation of the colors. The left, right, right, left, right, left. Trustee Kittahoriano, please lead us in the pledge. 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. Thank
004you. Please be seated. I'd like a motion to adopt today's agenda. Thank you, Trustee Barrera. And a second? Bye. Thank you, Trustee Munoz-Nero. Okay, Napa Munoz-Nero. Thank you. And now let's vote. First, let's get yours. Napa Munoz-Nero. Aye. And let's get yours, Trustee Trudeau. Aye. Thank you. And the rest of us will vote electronically. And that passes 4-0. Thank you. With the students concurring with us. Today's meeting of the Board of Education is a business meeting that is conducted in public and board members will not engage in a dialogue with members of the audience. Board By-law 1025 sets the time limit for public comment on agenda items at 10 minutes per side, pro and con, or 20 minutes total. SPEAKERS WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE TESTIMONY AT THE BEGINNING OF THE APPROPRIATE AGENDA ITEM OR
005AT THE END OF THE MEETING FOR NON-AGENDA COMMENT. THE LIST OF PUBLIC SPEAKERS IS ATTACHED TO AGENDA ITEM B2. PLEASE LISTEN FOR YOUR NAME TO BE CALLED. SPEAKERS ARE LISTED AND CALLED IN THE ORDER RECEIVED. WHEN YOUR NAME IS CALLED, PLEASE COME TO THE PODIUM TO SPEAK. SPEAKERS PARTICIPATING VIA ZOOM WILL BE ASKED TO UNMUTE WHEN THEIR NAME IS CALLED. If you are unable to unmute yourself, we will call the next speaker. Zoom does not allow staff to access your personal device to unmute a speaker. Please follow along with the agenda so that you know when your item is coming up for discussion. If you would like to sign up for public comment, iPads are available in the back of the auditorium and in the lobby. Thank you. We now have a student presentation, Normal
006Heights Elementary School. And we have Principal John Aguilar who is coming forward to introduce the student presentation. Welcome. Hello. Thank you. Can I give this information out to you? Is that okay? Yeah. Good afternoon, President Whiters-Payne. Vice President Bozzo, trustees, oh boy, forgive me if I butcher your name, Quidoriano, Beiser, Barrera, and Nepomuceno, is that correct? All right, all right, yay. My name is John Aguilar. I'm the proud principal at Normal Heights Elementary, which is just a couple miles east of here. We quickly realized during the COVID era or a couple years ago that we needed to really up our SCL component to our school. And so we knew we needed to come up with something that was sustainable and student-led. And so we came up with what's called Wellness Wednesdays. And so every Wednesday...
007right around breakfast in the classroom time our school counselor a fabulous school counselor Florence alabanza and our fabulous library media teacher miss Sarah sign will do a Presentation and where it's then handed over to students for them to lead through either a mindful moment or some sort of Tips or skill development in the area of SEL and so I believe there's a video that we're about to see if we can queue it up is to model and lead our school in nurturing healthy habits. We do this by meeting weekly as a committee, making and modeling breathing techniques, visiting the classrooms to share healthy habits and resources, leading mindful moments during our school-wide Wellness Wednesday, and promoting school-wide spirit days like Wellness Wednesday, kindness challenge, and Red Ribbon. Our purpose as ambassadors is to help create
008a safe and healthy learning environment for all our normal high-tox at school and at home. We will achieve our goals by working with our students. Our favorite part of being health and wellness ambassadors is promoting Wellness Wednesday. Leading our hawks in breathing techniques and seeing our whole Normal Heights community come together. We come together wearing yellow every Wednesday to show the support of the importance of our health and wellness. Mrs. Sine, our school librarian, and Mrs. Alabanza, our school counselor, gather us in our weekly healthy habit of our school-wide read-aloud, breathing technique, and our Wellness Wednesday focus of the week, which consists of a quote, self-care tip, and kindness challenge. Here is a look at some of our school-wide Wellness Wednesdays. My name's Harun, one of your Health and Wellness Ambassadors. Welcome to Wellness Wednesday.
009Hi, I'm Maya, and I'm one of your Health and Wellness Ambassadors. Welcome to Wellness Wednesday. Hi, my name is Alexis, and this week's Wellness Wednesday quote is, Be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved and believes in the goodness in people. This quote is by Roy T. Bennett. Hi, I'm Haroon. My self-care tip is self-care tip. Use your calendar to schedule a me time to do something you enjoy. This week's kindness challenge. Start a cycle of encouragement, Hawks. Tell someone near you what you appreciate about them. Then may return the favor when you need it most. This is our Wellness Wednesday reminder to take time to take a deep breath. When you start, lift up tall hocks and hold your body's tower breath. Imagine a flower in front of you. It's the
010most beautiful flower you've ever seen. Can you see all the colors of the flower in your mind? Imagine how it smells. Take a long sniff in through your nose. and let all the air out your mouth. Take another long sniff in through your nose, and let all the air out through your mouth. Take another long breath in, and let it all the way out. Awesome job, Hops. Thank you, Hops, for joining me in flower breath. Take a good rest, Hops. Thank you, Ambassador, and everyone for participating. Hello, my name is Savannah, one of your health and wellness ambassadors. Thank you, Hawks, for joining us in our weekly healthy habit wellness. Okay, I hope you enjoyed that. It's really just a piece of what we do at Normal Heights. But we use the language when we're
011talking with students and staff, for that matter. It's a great school. It's a great campus. I invite all of you to come out to any of our Wellness Wednesdays. This starts at about 9, 9.15 in the morning, and it's about 15 minutes of class time during breakfast in the classroom. I invite everyone to come on out. Thank you for that invitation. Now you might see us. Yeah, please do. We're pretty close. Thank you. I want to thank the principal. You've been the principal there for years and years and years. Thank you. I'll never forget walking through classrooms with you. Some of the most amazing academic instruction. If you want to see what good numeracy looks like in kindergarten and first grade, go visit Normal Heights Elementary School. Amazing curriculum and academics in the classrooms there.
012Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. And now we move on to item C2, which is the adoption and presentation of a proclamation in recognition of the 35th anniversary of the Filipino language program. I'd like to read the first half of this. I'll move item C2. Okay. Okay. You're going to second it? All right. You want us to vote, too, before we read it? Okay. All right, but we will wait until we get our speakers and all of that first. Thank you, sir. First of all, I'm going to read the first four, whereas, and then we'll have our student to read the rest of them, and then we will do this one together, right? Okay. Whereas, in 1989, the Filipino community rallied to advocate the offering
013of Filipino language classes in the San Diego Unified School District. And whereas we enter the 35th year of the district's Filipino language program, the board acknowledges the important role community organizations such as the Filipino American Educators Association of San Diego County, better known as FILAMEVA, had in the creation and continued success of this program. And whereas the celebration of Filipino American History Month in October of each year commemorates the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the continental United States, which occurred on October 18, 1587, when the Zonas Indios came ashore from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Esperanza. and landed at what is now Morro Bay, California. And whereas in 1992, the late Dr. Fred Cordova, along with his wife, Filipino American National Historical Society, FANSHS, founder Dr. Dorothy Lago Cordova, first introduced October as
014Filipino American History Month with a resolution from the FANS, F-A-N-S, National Board of Trustees. And... Whereas, Philomedia's goal is to foster fellowship, understanding, and cooperation among educators and to work various educational literacy, art, and socio-cultural products to preserve the culture, noble traditions, and priceless heritage of the Filipino people. And whereas in 2009, US Congress recognized October as Filipino American History Month in the United States, and whereas Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation and the third largest ethnic group in California after Latinx and African Americans and whereas 4,716 students in the San Diego Unified School District are Filipino American And, whereas Filipino History Month is a time of reflection and remembrance and provides an opportunity for all people to learn and appreciate Filipino Americans' historic contributions with various activities and
015events to bring awareness of the significant role Filipinos have played in American history. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that the Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District recognizes 35 years of Filipino language instruction in the district and celebrates October 2022 as Filipino American History Month. Thank you. And now we will vote. And then we've got to have speakers in here. And we have Mrs. Joanne Fields here who's going to come forward so that we can get a picture with her. And I understand that we have the president, Maria Fontanello, here as the president of Philomata present. So we'll have you all to come forward too. But Kevin is going to tell me we must vote. First wants us to vote first before we hand this out. So let's get no point of
016order I I made a motion Because under Robert's Rules of Orders you can't consider an item until after there's been a motion in a second Then you consider the item and then after public speaker then we vote would vote It's my that's my understanding of Robert's Rules. I could be wrong and you you're right We've probably been violating it because we say to the superintendent all the time present the item and then we vote We get the presentation and the motion. But thank you, sir. Your last act of good deed as a board member, right? Thank you. So we have with us. Joanne Fields, and you're a part of the cluster, the Morris cluster? Yes. And both of us have worked with you, and you're here today. So we're glad you're here to speak on
017behalf of this item. And oh, we have, oh, look at that. We've got a former school board member here. Yes. Good to see you too. We invited Marnie so that it's a reminder because the Filipino language program almost went away during her term. and we rallied our students, our parents, our community, and now we have 35 years uninterrupted Filipino language program here at San Diego Unified. And if I may go ahead with my comments or OK. Good evening. My name is Joanne Fields. I am a board member of the Filipino American Educators Association. Also have chaired the Morris cluster. And more importantly I was a guardian to. Mr.. Dante Foster there at Morris where I did not know that there was unaccompanied homeless youth until I engaged with him but For tonight. Thank you for
018recognizing Filipino History Month during the month of October. I'm so excited that this is happening and that we have Filipino leaders on at for student board member representation because that shows that we have a pipeline of new leadership in the making and that we are able to work with them and foster new leaders to carry on the next 35 years. One thing I should have asked to be included in the proclamation, the Filipino language program was born in San Diego Unified School District. It started at Bell Middle School and then continued on into high school at Morris. And because No Child Left Behind required certified teachers, the certification process was born. Because If we don't have the certification then we can't teach the language. And so that was developed here at San Diego Unified. So
019that is another proud moment for San Diego Unified along with our teachers. And we're representing the thousands of Filipino students here that are impacted by programs like this. It's not just a Filipino language. And I apologize we didn't get the PowerPoint we had prepared for you tonight. Unfortunately, Jackie Lapid is sick. She's your Filipino language teacher over at Mayor Mesa High School. Her husband is the teacher at Bell Middle School. They wanted to be here. Unfortunately, they're sick, and we don't want to spread anything. But on behalf of Philomeda, we'll like to still send that presentation so you can see how Filipino language has helped. bring us together, helped us promote our culture and history because our history is American history where there are contributions that we need to remind our neighbors why hate Asians
020or Filipinos when we helped in the creation of our America, the United States. So I will not take up all the time. but I will turn this over to Maria Fontemayor our president of Filameda. Good afternoon. I'm Maria Fontemeier and I'm president of the Filipino American Educators Association. Joanne has said everything and I just want to thank the board and everybody and all the supporters of Filipino language and we assured every time that Filamedo will be with the Filipino American Educators to keep on updating and making themselves innovative and active for the Filipino language to promote the Filipino heritage, culture, and language. Thank you very much. Thank you. And could you at least say hi to us? What I want to say is thank you. because you have maintained and supported and you have grown
021the Filipino language program. Very different from how I started in 2012 and really advocating to make sure that we maintain that program. But it has grown and it's flourished with your leadership. So thank you very much. You're welcome. The cluster meetings. Didn't we have that many times? I didn't prepare my grandson with talking points, but he's watching. So when he watches the video, I'll be like, you were there. Part of history. So thank you again on behalf of the next generation of students and our community and celebrating with all of you here at San Diego Unified Filipino History Month and the 35th anniversary of the Filipino Language Program. Thank you, and are there any board members who want to comment otherwise we'll go and take a picture I'd just like to say thank you so
022much for all the great work you do with supporting us and our culture. I know that my parents, both being full-time working parents and with grandparents on my Filipino side that don't live in San Diego, it's hard for me and it's hard for many other students to involve that side with their culture. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much for all the work you do to bring knowledge and culture about them to them. Thank you. So last week I had the privilege of attending San Diego's first ever inaugural Filipino American History Gala, which was such an incredible event actually organized by Joanne from API. And I really want to recognize her kindness and generosity within the Filipino community and beyond. Really, when I think of Filipino culture, I reflect upon
023my education from a place of deep gratitude. As we all know, education truly redefines possibility and having educators and having an education system that actively uplifts and elevates not only Filipino culture, but all BIPOC cultures is incredible, especially to be a student board member that is Filipino and a part of this community and actively supported by this community is something I'm deeply grateful for. So thank you. I just want to say thank you so much. It's great to see you, Marnie and Joanne, and it's great to have the president of Philomeda here. Really, really appreciate all your work. And I remember those days when the Filipino language classes were all on the chopping block, and we became an educated board, and we did the right thing. And thank you for helping us to be informed
024to make better choices as a board. So thank you very, very much for everything you've done for our students and our children in San Diego Unified. Salamat po. Salamat po. Walang animoan. That's good. Anybody else? Well, we'll vote and then we'll get the picture if that's okay. So let's start over here. Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, thank you. And everybody else, you got to vote. Okay, that passes unanimously with the two students concurring. So now we'll take a picture. Aye. Thank you very much. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hello. Thank you for that. Now we will move on to item C3, which is the adoption and presentation of a proclamation recognizing Dr. Gina Giancera and the Diamond Educational Excellence Program, better known as DEEP. And folks are always asking. So with that, I'll
025move item C3. Thank you. And a second. Sabrina takes it this time. Trustee Bozzo. Okay. And I want to read this proclamation. It's a very personal night for me. Is Gina here? Dr. Gina? Okay. You're out there. Okay. Well, let's read this to you. In recognition of Dr. Gina Gianzara and her work with the Diamond Excellence Educational Partnership. Whereas I'm going to just call it deep whereas deep is a collaborative of community leaders and organizations committed to improving educational outcomes for children attending public schools in the Diamond community and whereas in 2013 the Board of Education of the San Diego Unified School District passed a resolution to partner with deep. to improve academic achievement for all students, especially those at schools with large numbers of students performing below grade level in reading. And whereas Chollas
026Mead Elementary became the first school to experience deep summer readers, Future Readers Learning Camp, which served 93rd grade students in the summer now, mind you. Whereas since the partnership began in Kent though Horton Johnson and Webster elementary schools have joined the partnership and are benefiting from deep reading programs. And whereas deep executive director Dr. Gina Gen Zeta was the driving force in the formation and continued success of this partnership and partnerships with organizations throughout the San Diego community that have benefited from. benefited our students san diego unified students now therefore be it proclaimed that the board of education of the san diego unified school district recognizes gina gianzetta and the important work of deep and will continue to partner in collaboration to improve educational outcomes for our students this is adopted and approved by the
027board of education of the san diego unified school district at a regular meeting held on the 11th day of October 2022. First, are there any speakers? None, I don't think, no. And then the board members, would you like to say something? Because I'm going to say something. Yeah, thank you, President Whitehorse-Payne. Gina, your contributions to this district have been so powerful and comprehensive. Of course, first, maybe and foremost, as a parent, you know, of amazing students who've gone on to do amazing things. Gina also led our teacher pipeline task force where President Whitehurst-Payne and I first really worked together, which has developed a blueprint for Superintendent Jackson and Acacia Thede and others to follow for years to come. And of course, DEEP, in addition to the impact that you have made in the schools where
028you have operated, you've also created a model. that we were able to use to expand over the past couple of years to our expanded summer school program and our level up program. I can tell you and I think you know that The design of that program and the desire for our district to invest in that program came very much from the way that a deep structured its partnership with Troy Smith and then the other schools. So you continue to have tremendous, tremendous impact in this district. And I'm just proud that we're able to honor you tonight. And thank you, Gina, for everything that you've done for our kids. Thank you, Trustee Barrera. Trustee Beiser. Thank you, President Whitehurst-Payne. I remember when we talked about this back in 2013, nine years ago, and we looked at
029the metrics, the analytics. We wanted data. Does this work? Does this not work? And then as soon as we started getting data that this was having a profound impact on student levels of learning, we all started talking about how do we expand it? How do we get more children involved in this kind of a program? And so then the last two summers when we were able to blow up our summer program and really expand it and go system wide, it was really an exciting moment for a lot of us on the school board. So thank you, Gina, so much for what you've done, not only for San Diego Unified, but also for all of our children. Thank you. And Gina, I must say, I know it hasn't always been smooth, but I told you we
030were committed to this. And you've held steadfast. And it may not seem like we're on the same path, but we all care about children. And we want to ensure that all of our children are learning. And I know that's your passion. That's your heart. And I just want to say thank you for all that you've done and you're doing. So do you want to say something? Do you want to respond? It's a good thing I didn't know people were allowed to speak or you would have gotten a PowerPoint. But I do want to say that this work, the schools belong to the community. And so we believe that this is our responsibility to do what we can. But we can't partner without partners. And so I really want to extend my gratitude to the principals
031who have put up with my phone calls and my limitless emails. It's not always easy to partner. I want to thank Bruce. I want to thank you, Sharon. Without the district really accepting this work and making it part of what we all do together, DEEP would not be worth continuing. So thank you. Thank you. We get to do a... Did we vote yet? We voted? We need to vote. Okay, let's get our students. Nefferman, sit here first. Aye. Aye. Okay, and everybody else push a button, and that passes unanimously with the students concurring, and now we get to take a picture with Gina. I am so sorry. I didn't recognize all the principals who were here. And I just want to say thank you all for coming to this. Thank you. And with that, we
032will move on now to our reports from closed session. Any items? Nothing to report. Thank you. Thank you. Administrative assignments, Superintendent. Thank you, President. Dr. Whitehurst-Payne. I have a few appointments this evening that I'd like to share publicly. First is the Associate Principal for the School of Creative and Performing Media Arts Middle School, Davis Page. And I have a second one for the same school and that's Courtney Sawada. Congratulations. Associate Principal, Daylord and Benchley Weinberger Elementary School, Eric Wilson. Associate Principal, Mann Middle School, Karina Solis Robles. Associate Principal Marshall Elementary School Jason Navarro. Associate Principal for McKinley and Sherman Elementary Allison Williams. Associate Principal Miller Elementary School Brian Golu-Glaso. Principal Central Elementary School Angelica Hueso-Garcia who has some cheers in the back. Principal Claremont High School, Carly Johnstone. Principal Penn Elementary, Erica Herrera. And Director
033of Special Education, Sheila Adams. Congratulations to every single one who will be joining a great leadership team and some great schools. Congratulations, thank you. Thank you. And with that, we will now, and congratulations to all those folks who were promoted. Thank you. We will now have a report from ASB, from our Associated Student Body representative. And we have Catherine Duby from Point Loma High School, ASB president there. Thank you for having me. Hello, I'm Catherine Duby, and I am a senior who is representing Point Loma High School as our ASB president. Currently, we are transitioning from the pandemic and reintroducing indoor events such as pep rallies, football games, and assemblies. Recently we had our homecoming dance at the Air and Space Museum in Balboa where we hosted over a thousand students. Students who attended got
034to enjoy our live DJ and dance floor, lots of food and a plethora of photo booths. We are also finishing up construction on our campus and have finished a brand new library and lots of new classrooms for students. This has also opened up a lot of seating on our campus and we have introduced new tables and the quad and have a lot lawn where kids can eat lunch we also do philanthropic events and have four blood drives each year and our most recent blood drive we got 27 units of blood which can save up to 81 lives due to this we received a 500 dollar grant that we can use for students. We're also starting up senior activities this year and most recently we have done a senior parking lot. We were able to raffle
035off 30 parking spots for seniors due to our construction finishing off on our campus and students can paint those which will make our campus look a lot more pretty and personalized for students. We are also introducing new events this year such as our talent show. And in addition to doing student well-being and spirit events, we also manage clubs. So we are doing a club fair to showcase all the clubs we have on our campus so students can join them. Here they can see the purpose of the clubs, the times they meet, and the days they meet in order for more students to be involved on our campus life. We also are interested in getting input from students outside of our core group of members in ASB. So we are hosting forums once a month where
036students can either anonymously make a comment or publicly speak on what they in addition to social media where students can be involved in our student body. We look forward to making this a great year. Thank you guys for having me. And thank you. That was a good report telling us what's going on on the campus now that construction is over because we had that final event. You can really have your campus back. Congratulations. It's a lovely campus. We will now move to... our board information reports and several of us, Leah and I yielded our time and Superintendent, you yielded your time for earlier presentation. And with that, we will go over here to our vice president. Sabrina Basel. Thank you. Well, before we finish with the student representative, we always like to ask, do you
037know where you're going to be going to school next year or what your plans are? I know it's a little bit more early in the year, but. I do not know where I'm going to be attending school yet, but I plan to attend a four-year college, and I'm applying to schools in California and all around the state. Fantastic. The country might be. Yeah. Fantastic. Yes, I've been doing a lot of the school site visits. So I just wanted to share a few notes from those. I wanted to thank Mitzi Marino. I don't know if she's here tonight for letting me tag along in some of her school site visits. It's always a lot of fun to get out and see the students. And hearing about the schools is one thing, but just being there and.
038you know being able to talk to the kids and the staff and the principals is is so much more enjoyable and gives you such a better visual of you know the students in the district and all the amazing things that are going on so i attended lafayette Elementary which is fantastic school excuse me I also attended the CPMA the middle school and both in the Madison cluster I met the new principal at CPMA Andrea wait a header name Pino, thank you, along with Jen Roberson. And that was a wonderful visit. One of the things that stood out to me at that visit was that they just had their parent night, their school open house recently. And in the past few years, well, before COVID, I guess, even. the tenants had kind of dwindled you know
039it was like I want to stay under 50 parents that had attended and this year what she did was instituted transportation for the parents because a lot of them are coming from all over the district particularly the southeastern San Diego area and they had transportation buses available at different schools around those the neighborhoods and the communities where the students were coming from and she had I think she said almost 250 parents there this So, amazing difference. I mean, something as simple as just being able to provide that transportation. And she's, yeah, she's already made Institute a lot of, you know, a lot of cheap. well, transformation. The school was amazing to start with and it's getting even better. So that was enjoyable to be there. I also went to a fundraiser for Miramar College for
040scholarship funds for, and a lot of our students end up going to Miramar College. So Dr. Jackson and I attended that event and that was a fantastic event supporting our students going into their community colleges. I think I'm going to stop there because I know there's a lot of other board information reports, but I did want to just say go Padres too. Let's support our Padres. And it's 637. Okay. So I just wanted to share that before. Thank you. From my husband and everybody else breathing hard on us about it, thank you. And we will now move to Trustee Bergeron. I'll defer comment on Sabrina's last statement there. We'll all talk in a couple of weeks. I just want to actually congratulate the Logan Memorial Educational Campus, which today the San Diego Architectural Foundation announced
041is receiving an Orchid Award for design. So that's an incredible honor and John Baker and his architecture group of course worked closely with Lee Dulgaroff and our facilities team as well as the community in Logan Heights to design that beautiful complex and it was honored today. So congratulations to everybody in the Logan Memorial community about. receiving that award we also had our Wilson Middle School that was nominated for an Orchid Award and so we should all be very proud of that so again congratulations to Logan Memorial and to Wilson. Yes, a round of applause, congratulations. Thank you and with that for Steve Iser. Thank you President Whitehurst-Payne. Can we start the slide show here real quick. Just a couple pictures. I was joined by Vice President Bozzo and President Whitehorse-Payne and Superintendent Dr. Jackson and
042a few other educators and counselors at the Miramar Air Show. So this is on the left, you see the JROTC from Point Loma High School. There were all of our JROTCs, most of them all were in attendance, but this was the only JROTC that I was able to locate walking around because there's a plethora of booths there. Anyway, anytime you can work in plethora into a speech at a school board meeting, it's a good thing, right? Anyway, and on the right side is the brand new F-35 fighter jet. It was the first time it's ever, you've actually ever been able to see a demonstration at an air show. All of our NATO partners in Europe have requested and received the F-35 next generation fighter jet. Next slide, please. And here you can see me with
043my partner, Dan Mock, who loves going to the Miramar Air Show with me every year. And then you can see the base commander, Colonel Beebe. And then also I think Vice President Bozzo was in the front. while we took this picture real quick with the president and Dr. Jackson. So that's my report. I do want to thank all of our JROTC teachers and educators for all the work that they do above and beyond to support our students in the JROTC. San Diego Unified has one of the largest JROTC programs in the world, and we have so many students. that have parents in the military in San Diego Unified more so than any other school district in the world also. So it's really, really important that we build our partnerships with the DOD and make sure
044that we're supporting those students, especially when their parents are overseas, protecting our country. Thank you. Thank you. And I must say that it was an F-35B because the Air Force is the only one with the F-35A. So everybody else gets the B. And I've got a video clip of at least a couple of minutes because it was fascinating. It just flew fast and turned around, stopped, went back the opposite way. It was really amazing. So if you want it, ask me for it. And now we'll end here. Thank you. I... a few weeks ago had the wonderful opportunity to go to a K-12 Excellence event and speak about the importance of having BIPOC educators within our education system. The numbers show that BIPOC representation within education is not where we want it to be, and
045I had the wonderful opportunity to speak about how important it is to have that representation and to learn more about how to put that into place. I also had another wonderful opportunity last week to visit Choise Mead Elementary School. I know the principal is in the back. I didn't think that I would be spending my morning doing yoga with Maud Sevier children, but it definitely was a lot of fun, and I would definitely do it again. I'm also starting up visiting school sites just to interact and... communicate with our students, which is so important to creating a good school district. So thank you. Thank you, and thanks to all of you for, I think everybody up here was at the Cho-Yis-Mi event. Thank you all for that. It's a beautiful event. Thank you. And that
046concludes our board reports. And I'd like to move to item E1, which is an action item. I'll move item E1. Thank you. Second by Keturiano. And we don't have any presentations or anything like that. So with that, no public testimony here. No. Okay. So let's get our votes. Let's start with Keturiano. Aye. And Napoletano Monsignor. Aye. Aye. Everybody else, press your buttons. And that passes unanimously with the students concurring. Thank you. We'll move on to item F, section F, board consent agenda. And we have F1 through F5. I'll move the board consent agenda, F1 through 5. Thank you. A second on that? Second? Okay. Barrera? All right. Any speakers? I think we have one virtual speaker on F4. Is Courtney on Zoom? Do you all have her or him? It just says Courtney. Okay. Am
047I supposed to speak now or wait? Please speak. Thank you. I apologize for not being able to be present tonight in person. I'm glad that there is this Zoom option. Hello, my name is Courtney. My pronouns are she, her, hers. Good evening, trustees Bozzo, Beiser, McQueary, Ferreira, Whitehurst Payne, student members Nepomuceno and Quitoriano, and Superintendent Jackson. I wanted to speak to voice my appreciation for San Diego Unified's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. I was a consultant in a large public school district for 16 years and know firsthand how important it is that there are strong policies in place to support all children. The fact that the Youth Advocacy Department of San Diego Unified exists is a testament to the district's commitment. I also know there are many other departments that have to work together
048to make sure that policies become practice and good practice at that. I wholeheartedly support the resolution to adopt the recognition of both National Anti-Bullying Month and LGBTQIA Quest History Month. I also want to add support to the ways that Fandub Unified supports diversity and equity across diverse cultures and identities as a way to create a coalition to stand against oppression. As a newer parent in San Diego Unified, it has become clear to me that the district has some work to do in ensuring that LGBTQIA supportive policies are practiced throughout the district and at all levels. My family's experience has been that when it comes to supporting transgender and non-binary youth, especially in elementary school, the district has a long way to go. Teachers, staff, and even some administrators are not aware of Ed Code and
049San Diego Unified's policies. Many are not trained on how to implement basics such as pronouns, use of names, and privacy. My child is now in second grade and is non-binary. When they declared their pronouns to the principal in the middle of first grade, our school was completely unprepared. While there were good intentions and verbal support, the school fell short of supporting my seven-year-old child. I do not want my child to become like the child I heard of that was bullied so badly for their gender identity and expression that that child, not the bully, has to be homeschooled. The sad truth is that many LGBTQIA youth are facing hurtful comments at best and bullying at worst, mainly because there's not enough representation and awareness. My child has already been informed once this year that a peer
050is not allowed to befriend them because of their gender identity. Honoring these two months is a good step and it needs to be accompanied with direction for schools, including elementary schools. One of the most powerful things that can support us. Thank you, Courtney. We'll defer this to the superintendent to have him to look into the issues you raised. Thank you. And with that, let us vote. I know that we've got Aiden Kleinman here tonight who really was the author of item F5, which is the adoption of resolution in the matter of opioid awareness prevention. I'd like Aiden to actually come up and speak for a couple minutes to the item, if that's okay. Yes, and thank you for saying that because F5 also has Isabella Millard. I'm virtual also. So thank you. We're doing F1
051through F5. So different items. Yes. Hello. Thank you so much for inviting me to speak today. I've come forth to talk about a resolution promoting having Narcan an opioid overdose reverser into all school districts. In 2020, nearly 100,000 people overdosed due to opioids. Of those 100,000, 5,000 of them were under 18. From the years 1996 to 2014, 27,000 lives were saved by free Narcan that was administrated by the U.S. government in partnership with the CDC. This resolution aims to target weaknesses in school policy regarding having Narcan available and people ready to administer it and be aware of the signs of opioid overdose. I hope that this resolution will result in maybe one less grieving parent and grieving friend. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And is it Isabella Millard. I can hear me. Yes we
052can hear you. Thank you. All right, good evening, everyone. My name is Isabella Millard. I'm a senior at La Jolla High School, and I'm here to express my support for the adoption of this resolution. This is my second year serving on our school's PTSA as a health and wellness chair, and my fourth focusing on student well-being in general and other settings. However, I have only recently become aware of the tragic opioid crisis that is affecting youth across the country and in our own school district. Last year, I heard one of my fellow PTSA student representatives, Aiden Kleinman, consistently bring up the need for functional awareness and attention from both students and staff on our campus. However, I found that his ideas were often dismissed by adults at our school who preferred an ignorant and unrealistic
053just say no approach to drugs as a whole. If I hadn't heard from Aiden, I probably would have accepted this and tuned out when terrifying numbers like the 224 fentanyl-related overdose deaths amongst teens in 2021 were shared. I didn't even know Narcan was available on my campus until I looked into it in concern a few weeks ago. By adopting this resolution, SDUSD will take the first step toward ensuring that all students, not just those like me who happen to hear a single cry for change, are aware of the dangers surrounding them and the resources available to support them. More importantly, hopefully dismissive adults on campus will similarly learn the same lesson with your support. Thank you. Thank you. That's okay. Thank you. Thanks for inviting me. My name is Yehudi Gaffan. Been working with the
054district for probably 25 years. We lost our son about a year ago to fentanyl. And I must commend Aidan and the board for doing what you're doing. We have formed a foundation in his name. The pain that our family has gone through. should be avoided at any cost. I'm sorry, it's just emotional. It's a year, it's coming up on a year on the 24th, and I'm here to speak in support of the motion and anything we can do in working with Superintendent Jackson to educate kids, just the dangers that are out there. So I'm here to help in any way and to speak in favor of this resolution. Thank you. I'm sorry for your loss, sir. Yes. I'm really sorry to hear about your son. I, too, have lost quite a few friends in the
055last year to opioids. Very, very young. Had no idea. None. And it's just overwhelming emotionally when you find out. You know, they're here one moment and then they're gone the next. And anything that we can do as a school district to help educate our students so that they can, you know, make better choices. And then make sure that in the event that there is an issue, that we have the medication that can prevent that individual from dying so that they can, you know, rethink the direction that they're going in their life. And I just really, really, really appreciate you coming down. I know it's very hard for you to speak about your son. It's really, really difficult. And I really hope and know that we as a district will do everything we can going forward
056to make sure that we mitigate this issue. Thank you. Thank you, Richard. Yeah, I want to also just Gaff thank you so much for your courage and your and your inspiration and your Invitation to the district to partner And very much want to thank Aiden. Aiden Kleinman is a senior at La Jolla High School. He brought this resolution forward. I think this is one of many issues that we talk about where our students are out ahead of the adults. I think understanding the level of this crisis and the way that young people are being exploited, you know, right now by people who are lacing. drugs with fentanyl. And I want to also point out and thank our nursing department led by Susan Barndaller who had the foresight really a few years ago to make sure
057that all of our schools had Narcan available and we had people trained to do it. So this is a conversation that's taking place obviously tonight here with our district, but it's happening across the county. It's happening across the state. I'm sure it's happening across the country. and for us to take Aiden's resolution and memorialize as district policy the elements of this resolution including permanently providing Narcan training and providing education around fentanyl awareness to our kids will save lives. And so, you know, your leadership tonight, Aiden, is we understand it and we appreciate it. And Gaff, your ongoing partnership is something we very much appreciate as well. Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you. Thank you, Aiden. And thank you, Gaff. I think it is a credit to Susan and our nursing and wellness team for the foresight,
058as you said, to have Narcan available. However, I think it's important for us to prevent it. And the way in which we do that is through education. And so when Gaff called, it was absolutely, we would partner. with the Josh Foundation. Thank you, Nicole DeWitt, who said yes. And so we will continue to figure out a way in which we educate not only our students, but our entire community, because we need to prevent it before we have to treat. you know, our students and our adults that come in contact with fentanyl. And so I think it's critical that we emphasize the education for our young people and our adults. So thank you, Gaff. Thank you, Aiden. And thank you to the Board of Education and our staff. We are really wrapping our hearts and our
059minds and our souls around this because this is happening too frequently and we have to take action. Thank you. Thank you. Real quick, I didn't know that much about this. I've educated myself in the last year or two since I've lost a lot of friends to it. It's not people taking fentanyl. That's not what they're doing. They think they're taking G or X or a party drug or this or that or some other. And what drug dealers are doing to take more of your money is they're lacing inert matter with fentanyl and selling it to you as that drug. So you think you're buying G or X or a party drug or this drug or that drug, and you're not. and one little tiny miscalculation by the drug dealer, and you have a little too
060much fentanyl, and you're dead. There is no second chance. So just say no. Just don't do it. Just don't try it. Seriously, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. Thank you. Thank you. And I think the bottom line is a lot of it is about the love of money. Why do you want to do that to people? It's all to get more money. It's just destroying people's families and lives. So, yes, we do support this. Voted on it. We do that. Vote. Shall we vote? Aye. Aye. Thank you. everybody else that passes unanimously with the students concurring with us thank you all and thank you sir we we do we feel your pain thank you with that let us move on to item g which is approval of a revisions to existing board policies
061i'll move g1 thank you and who's seconding thank you then uh Any no staff presentations no comments, so let's move on and vote Nepomucene. Aye. Ms. Nepo is right. Aye. Aye. Doriano. Aye. Okay, everybody else is voting electronically. Passes unanimously with students concurring. Let us move on to item H1, which is an action item also. I'll move item H1. Thank you. Trustee Becer. No presentations or questions or comments. Let's start with Kitoriano. Aye. And Nepomuceno. Aye. Anybody else vote electronically? That passes unanimously with the students concurring. Thank you. And let us move on to item H2. I'll move item H2. Thank you. Seconding that one. Okay. And there's no discussion. Nobody wants to talk about it. Okay. So with that, let's get our vote from Kitoriano. Aye. And Nepomuceno. Aye. And everybody else electronically. That
062passes unanimously with the two students concurring with us. And we're at aye. The superintendent's consent agenda. I'll move aye. The superintendent's consent agenda. Thank you, Trustee Beiser. Second, Sabrina Bozzo. And with that, our Vice President. No discussions, no comments, whatever. So, okay. Let's get the student. Are there a couple of items you can't vote on? We had a student issue in here. No, you don't remember. Okay. Let's get your vote. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. And everybody else is pushing the button. And Trustee Beizer, I don't see a light for you. Do we have to start all over? Yes. I'm sorry. Aye. Okay. Everybody else voted again. Okay, that passes unanimously with the students concurring. And that takes us to the end of our regular meeting here. Now we have time for non-agenda public testimony.
063And we have four speakers. There's one person in person, Sandra Epling. And then we have three virtual folks, Brenda Taylor, Democrats from... for Becca and liberals for Becca. So we'll start with Sandra Appling and you have three minutes. Thank you. Hello everyone. My name is Sandra Appling and my students are my children attend grant TK through eight. My son has served in the moderate severe program at that school which the school district is intending to close next school year and they are instead opening and expanding the program at a different TK through eight school. This is to the detriment of the students that are currently served by this program in our community as a whole at Grant. I fully understand the rationale that the school district has in combining TK through eight moderate severe programs
064so that there's not potentially 10 grade levels who are served in a single classroom, but instead TK through eight schools are combined and have two classrooms where they can serve various grade levels. However, it's become clear to me that as the decisions are being made as to what schools to close and which schools to expand the moderate severe programs, the student outcomes, student achievement are not being factored into these decision making process. Grant has the best outcomes for students with disabilities in our cluster. It is above district averages and this should be an indication that we have a well functioning program that has the right people in place to best serve our students. It should be an ideal place for the district to expand a moderate to severe program. However, instead of expanding a grant,
065they're choosing to close our program and instead expanded a different school within the cluster. That school has performance levels far below where Grant is at and it also has performance levels that are below district averages. So I would like to ask at this time that you all please look into this and intervene to help remedy this situation and build upon programs that are creating the best places for these already marginalized students to succeed. The Grant community has highly values having all abilities on our campus. Our families across the community want to continue to have an inclusive space where students of all abilities can work with one another and be in the same classroom together, be on the playground together, do after school activities together. So I'm asking that you support us in doing this by
066looking to continue to have the moderate to severe program at Grant continued or potentially expanded to include others from our cluster. Thank you. Thank you. Looking to that. Now let us get our virtual folks on. Brenda Taylor, is she available? Brenda Taylor, can you hear me? Hello? Yes. Hello. You have three minutes to speak. Can you hear me? Yes, we hear you. Hello, my name is Brenda Taylor, and I am a San Diego Unified School teacher for over 25 years. My question is, does the district have a specific post-pandemic academic achievement plan? Based on the recent test scores, I'm thinking we need some extra help to improve our kids' academics. It would be great if there was a plan to provide extra math resources that align with the California content standards, extra reading and writing
067resources that also align with the California content standards, science, the same thing, California content standards, and in addition, extra speech resources given to many of the kids and children. that have been in mass for some time and may need some additional help, even if they don't meet the current threshold for getting help. I'm thinking that all schools should benefit from such a plan. Hopefully the district has some remaining COVID funds that can help support efforts such as these. Thank you for the opportunity for letting me speak and let's go Padres. Thank you. Thank you. We will look into that. Democrats for Becca. That's what it says. Good evening. We are a growing group of Democrat and liberal parents for Becca Williams to be on the San Diego Unified School Board. Can I just ask, point
068of order? We finally need a board member. This is not a political... This is a parent talking about how she wants the board to look in the future. Okay? And I'm sorry, but I have it in... Is Andra not here? We're not supposed to be campaigning in board meetings like this. One way or the other. That one is the liberals. I think that you as the presiding officer because it's not organizations aren't allowed to speak. I apologize. It was clearly not a good time for a restroom break. I think that we can allow the speakers to speak. We should not respond. Okay. Let's see, Democrats for Becca Speaker, you will have three minutes to speak. Okay. All right. We are a growing group of Democrat and liberal parents for Becca Williams to be on the
069San Diego Unified School Board. We find we need a board member who listens to the needs of the parents. Over the years, San Diego Unified Board has blocked the concerns of parents and are more concerned with top-down and corporate interests. This board has not shown progress in our students and academics, and especially... As we've seen tonight, talking about mental health issues for the students over the recent years, there is a spike in mental health incidents at San Diego Unified School District, which is extremely concerning how this board can be so off mark. We need a board member like Becca who listens to the parents and cares about the kids and families who support them wholly. We need a voice for change on the board. Thank you. Thank you. And liberals for Becca. Liberals not here.
070Okay, that's the end of our list. And with that, thank you all for providing your comments to the board and superintendent today. We appreciate your input. And please know that your perspectives help us better serve our students, parents, and the community. This concludes the agendized business of the board. The next regular meeting will be October 25th, 2020. Go Padres.