SPUSD Board Meeting 10/22/25

001Welcome everyone to our October 22nd meeting. I'd like to call this meeting to order at 5.04 p.m. Do we have any public comments regarding closed session items? Hearing none, we will adjourn to closed session at 5.04. I'm Magana and I am a senior and cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader it helps me bring like my school spirit out which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula as well as all everybody in the district. And it helps me see what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are, because in a way, cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want. We want everybody to

002have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me. and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be

003talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we

004can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want

005to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. I'm a senior and cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader, it helps me bring like my school spirit out, which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula, as well as everybody in the district. And it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are, because in a way, cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want. Like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted

006to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I

007go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have

008this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee

009to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. And cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader it helps me bring like my school spirit out which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula as well as all everybody in the district and it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are because in a way cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not

010just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I

011bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi,

012I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully

013let students see that change within the school. I'm a senior and cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader, it helps me bring like my school spirit out, which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula, as well as everybody in the district. And it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are, because in a way, cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want. Like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the

014district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what

015the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I am happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm JD. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm

016a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. And

017cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader it helps me bring like my school spirit out which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula as well as all everybody in the district and it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are because in a way cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want. Like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me

018any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from

019the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty

020as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. A senior and cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as

021a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader, it helps me bring like my school spirit out, which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula, as well as everybody in the district. And it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are, because in a way, cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want. Like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that

022this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff

023and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools

024and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. And cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member

025is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader it helps me bring like my school spirit out which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula as well as all everybody in the district and it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are because in a way cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want. Like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together.

026As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that

027I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I am happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report

028everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. A senior and cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader,

029it helps me bring like my school spirit out, which I love. I want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula, as well as everybody in the district. And it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are, because in a way, cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want. Like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of

030representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss

031at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between

032schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes we want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. And cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader it helps me bring like my school spirit out which I love. I

033want everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula as well as all everybody in the district and it helps me see like what everybody wants, what everybody's needs are because in a way cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community. So I wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody, not just at Santa Paula High School, but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns

034that they have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. and every other Wednesday I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students point of view as well as sometimes the staff and I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if

035you have any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. in between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout

036the last couple weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes they want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. My name is Nailini Magana, and I am a senior and cheerleader here at Santa Paula High School, as well as a student board member. What led me to being a student board member is honestly being a cheerleader because being a cheerleader, it helps me bring like my school spirit out, which I love. I want

037everybody to have school spirit here at Santa Paula, as well as everybody in the district. and it helps me see like what everybody wants what everybody's needs are because in a way cheerleaders are kind of like the foundation of what we want like we want everybody to have school spirit and to build a community so i wanted to make it like my task to make sure that everybody not just at santa paula high school but everybody in the district knows that they can come to me and tell me any of their concerns so that we can make sure that this district is a community and everybody is just bonding well together. As a school board member, I am in charge of representing some schools and I meet with them and discuss any concerns that they

038have or just any events or what they want to be brought up to the community. I also meet every morning with the superintendent before the school board meetings, before school, and we discuss what I'm going to report at the meetings as well as just what's going to be talked about at the meetings. And every other Wednesday, I go to the school board meetings and I sit there and I bring in my thoughts and ideas and talk about what the school wants or what everybody wants in the district from the students' point of view, as well as sometimes the staff. And I also give a report as to what the schools that I represent have told me what they want to discuss at the meetings. I encourage every Santa Paula High School student, if you have

039any concerns, come talk to me. I'm happy to hear and I will bring it up to the board. Anything that you want, like a change or anything that you want to see happen at Santa Paula High School, I will make sure that that gets brought up so we can make that change happen so that we can have this school be the community that we want it to be. Hi, I'm Jadie. I'm a senior at Renaissance High. I'm a student trustee for the Santa Paula Unified School District. My duty as a student trustee is to gather reports from certain schools and every other Wednesday, which are our board meetings, I report everything that has happened throughout the past week or so. between schools. My duties are to report anything that has happened throughout the last couple

040weeks at every board meeting. I choose specific schools to get reports on and I can talk about what events has happened, anything that has happened throughout the past week. My end goal is to allow students a space to come to me with any issues, any changes they want to see, and it's my job as a student trustee to bring that up to the higher-ups and to talk and hopefully let students see that change within the school. Good evening, everyone. We will reconvene to open session at 6.01. We will start with roll call. Student trustee. I'm sorry, Gonzalez. Present. Student Trustee Magana. Here. Trustee Torres. Present. Thank you. Trustee Kumasawa absent. Trustee Rodriguez. Present. Trustee Sandoval. Here. Trustee Frutos. Here. And Trustee Arroyo present. So now we will move on to item B, report of closed

041session. per government code section 54957.1 and the report of closed session involves explosion case number 2025.01 under education code violation 48900A1, 48900A2, 48915A1A, 48915B1, and 48915B2. And during the closed session, the board voted to expel the student for the remainder of the 25-26 current semester of the school year with a rehabilitation plan during expulsion. and upon return the motion was made by trustee sam i'm so sorry trustee frutos and with a second by myself trustee arroyo the vote was four to zero and if you could please join us on the pledge of allegiance thank you do we have a motion for approval of the agenda some moves I would like to make some changes to the agenda, please. We're going to pull item 8B2 and bring it back at a later date. And then we

042want to move item 8B1 to 7D, which is the preschool fee structure to information, because it's not an action item. Would someone like to make another motion? No, before we motion, I'd like to repeat what's being moved or struck. Sure. So 8B2 is being struck, pulled from the agenda. 8B1 is moving to 7D under information because it's currently in action and there's no vote on that. Thank you. Would someone like to amend the approval? I'll amend my motion with those changes. Thank you. Do we have a second? Go ahead, Asher. I'll second. Okay. It's been moved and second. Preferential vote. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Passes. Board vote. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Passes 4-0. Thank you. Okay. So we will start with our student board member reports. Asher, would you like to

043start? Yes, I would. Good evening. Tonight, I will start my report with Blanchard Elementary School from Ms. Lopez of Blanchard. Historically, Blanchard has had the lowest test scores in the district, unfortunately. However, last year, the entire school made an extremely focused, pointed, and strategic effort to improve student outcomes with their Best on the Test school-wide campaign to promote awareness and motivation for CASP testing in ELA and math. They are proud to share that they have shared their that shared efforts has resulted in the highest growth in the district so from low it mating making a historic rebounds in their efforts and in their test scores in ELA and math as well as the largest increase for scale scores on the ELPAC As part of their school-wide campaign, they promised an incentive to students who leveled

044up or scored at, met, or exceeded expectations. To celebrate their achievement, they are planning a trip to Universal Studios and are covering the cost of transportation and admission for 55 students and chaperones. Mr. Weinstein approved shirts with this logo, which would serve as both a source of pride and for their hard work and an easy way to identify students for safety purposes during the field trip. I have been able to go to Blanchard and see kids were really excited and pumped for this. The school did a lot of campaign work. They had spirit weeks. And ultimately that helped contribute to this dramatic increase in... Test scores. From the Athletics Department, Mr. Walker says that varsity football and flag football teams have automatically qualified for playoffs this week. Flag football plays Channel Islands tonight at 5

045p.m. with no cause for the entry to the game. Girls volleyball plays at 6 p.m. at Escanida on Wednesday. Both teams will play on Saturday with a win. Flag football will have to travel and volleyball is still to be determined. He also notes that the rivalry game is Thursday, October 30th, 2025 at Larrabee Stadium, and all tickets will be sold on GoFan. The GoFan ticket option will appear on the site at 3.30pm on October 23, 2025. You can purchase four per transaction. Online tickets will only be accepted at the gate starting around 3 p.m. There will be no sales at the stadium. Only 5,000 tickets will be sold. We encourage you to bring cash for snacks, bar sales, because Wi-Fi may not be reliable there. Games will start at 4 p.m. for JV and 7

046p.m. for varsity. There are also flyers that are posted around the community and I believe at the district office. There are additional details there. Isbell says they will send a slideshow presentation next week so that way they can incorporate Red Ribbon Week, guest speakers, and other events that they are having. And that is all I have to report for this week. Thank you. Mayveline? Okay, starting off with Waddell, they had their color run on October 10th and it went well. For Webster, they're having their Scholastic Book Fair this week, Monday through Friday, and kinder through sixth grade teachers, as well as the Learning Center staff, are completing their first round of data analysis meetings this week and next week. They are also reviewing and making plans to act upon all of the assessments completed so

047far in both English Language Arts and Math. For the Santa Paula High School Performing Arts, band will be traveling to the rivalry game Thursday, October 30th at Ventura High School, and the theater team is working on putting together their fall production and musical. Some other SPHS events, Rivalry Week is next week where we will be performing lunchtime rallies, and there will be a spirit week going on, and that is all I have. Thank you. Trustee Torres? Good evening, starting with McKevitt. McKeva is hosting their parent-teacher conferences this week and invites you to stop by and take a look at their book fair between 11 50 a.m. through 3 30 p.m. They are currently preparing for Red Ribbon Week where students will receive bracelets and take part in daily spirit days to promote healthy choice making.

048Moving on to Grace Thill. Thill is also currently hosting their Scholastic Book Fair where families are invited to stop by after school from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. any day this week. Next week, they'll be celebrating Red Ribbon Week as well where they will be holding a poster contest dedicated to teaching students about making healthy choices. Grace Thill would like to... give a big thank you to Miss Liz, their counselor and outreach specialist, for organizing these fun activities. Lastly, they will be having their Halloween parade Friday, October 31st for the TK through second grade students. They hope to see you there. Finally, Renaissance High School is looking forward to recognizing their students' achievements at the first quarter awards tomorrow, October 23rd. We welcome our second guest speaker of the year, Raul Ramos. And to support

049programs and student activities, Renaissance High School will be hosting a Panda Express fundraiser October 28th. Renaissance High School students have been preparing to volunteer at Isabel's upcoming Day of the Dead celebration, and we hope to see you there. That is all I have for you. Thank you. Moving on to Item B, Committee Updates. Trustee Jean. Nothing new to report. Thank you. Trustee Sandoval. We had a strategic planning meeting on Monday, and the board should be seeing a draft of what that committee has come up with in November. So, there's still, it's not done, right, it's, it's just a kind of first shot, you know, so that we can get input, right, see what needs to be changed, see what we missed, you know, so, so looking forward to that. Thank you. Trustee Fritos. All right.

050A couple of committee updates. So I did attend via Zoom, Santa Paula Education Foundation meeting. It was a planning meeting, getting ready for Cardinal Legend event coming at the end of the year in June. Myself, Marcy, Dr. Lawrence, and Liz Perez. I'm not sure if you're here or not. But anyways, part of the committee members. I did attend the Ventura County Board Association dinner back on October 13th. In attendance was Senator Limon. It was an awesome event, in my opinion. It was an opportunity to get to know what our leaders are, how they're speaking on our behalf, how they become our advocates. And then we had an opportunity to have some dialogue with our leader, Senator Limon. And the final one is I did attend the strategic planning meeting as well. And as Dr. Sandoval

051pointed out, a document is living in well. look forward to seeing your comments and and your perspective on on that document soon And myself, I also attended the Ventura County Board of Education dinner, and I was also very pleased with her presentation and that she also was on a school board and everything that she's been doing for education. So it was a really nice event. I was happy to attend. With that, we will move on to item five, public comments. And before we start, I'm sorry, I need to read this paragraph. So we continue to encourage the public to view the meetings via YouTube at Santa Paula USD. public comments are welcome and encouraged by the board within reasonable meeting time considerations in order to conduct the district's business during this time the president of

052the board may acknowledge visitors requests to speak on a topic not on the regular board agenda persons wishing to address the board should complete a speaker form and turn it into the recording secretary individual speakers shall be allowed three minutes on any agenda items the board may limit the total time for public input on each item to 21 minutes. Also, speakers will not be allowed to give their time to other speakers. The board is prohibited from taking action on any item that is not part of the printed and published agenda. Any individual with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to participate in a board meeting may request assistance by contacting the superintendent's office at 805-933-8802. And members of the public may submit written comments by 3 p.m. on the day of the scheduled meetings to

053isanchez at santapalausd.org. These comments will be read out loud into the record. Written comments submitted to the board are limited to 300 words. Thank you. So our first speaker will be Vanessa Hernandez, followed by Monica Lozano. Good evening governing board, superintendent, and attendees. My name is Vanessa Hernandez. I am the executive assistant for Student Support Services Department. This is my 11th year working with Santa Paula Unified School District. Working in the Student Support Services Department is appealing because it allows us to make a positive impact on students' lives by helping them succeed academically, emotionally, and personally when they can try. It's an honor to stand before you today as the proud local chapter president for the California School Employees Association, CSEA, Chapter 891. Tonight I want to speak from the heart about something that goes

054often unspoken but should never be forgotten. Classified employees are not just support staff, we are essential stakeholders and associates of our district. Every morning before the first bell rings, our classified employees are already at work unlocking gates, serving breakfast, cleaning classrooms, and preparing technology so that our students can learn in a safe, welcoming environment. We are the first face our students see and often the last people they say goodbye to at the end of the day. Our work touches every part of our district's mission. With the Consul Fly staff our value in including decision-making, the entire district benefits. We bring insight from our daily connection with students, teachers, and families insights to help shape programs, improve safety, and enhance the learning experience. We are the hands, the hearts, and voices of our communities, always working

055behind the scenes to ensure our school runs smoothly. As stakeholders, we deserve to be heard, respected, and recognized for the dedication we bring to every task, whether that's supporting a child with special needs, fixing a broken door, or managing district finances. We are partners in education when the district invests in us through their fair wages, training, and inclusion, the invest flows directly back to our students. So today, I'll call our leaders, our administrators, and our local board to continue strengthening our partnership. Let's keep moving forward toward a district culture that values every employee, every role, every contribution. Because when classified employees thrive, students thrive, and that's what we're all here for. Thank you for your commitment, your hard work, and your unwavering dedication to public education. Together, we make the difference. Thank you for your

056attention. Thank you Monica Lozano and following Monica will be Diana Leon good evening everyone Today I want to take a few minutes to shine a light on a group of people who are without a question the backbone of every school district, the CASA FI employee. Too often their work happens behind the scenes, yet their impact is felt in every corner of our campuses. Whether it's nutrition workers who serve a healthy meal, the campus security that keeps us all safe, the instructional aides who support classrooms, or the custodians who maintain a clean and safe learning environment. Classified staff are a vital component in education. As a classified staff employee, we do more than fulfill job duties. We shape the student experience every day. We are there to support students in many ways and help their day

057go as easy as possible. For the past three years, I have served this community as an instructional aid for extensive support needs at Isabel Middle School. In that time, I have formed meaningful connections with students I serve. I was once in their shoes, walking the same hall, trying to find my way. I recall looking forward to the caring demeanor of the office lady and the cafeteria staff. I have lived my whole life in Santa Paula and I also have a sister that works for the school district. My nephews attend Glen City, Isabel and Santa Paula High School. I am very proud to have the opportunity to work in a district, to be a classified staff and to make a positive impact on the lives of the students that I serve. By engaging classified employees as

058true partners, we strengthen our schools. When our voices are heard at the table, whether in safety planning, budget conversations, or educational initiatives, our decisions become more informed and grounded. Classified employees see the everyday traps and challenges that our students face. We are the first to notice when the student needs extra help, when the equipment needs repairs, or when how we can make things run more smoothly. This impact is vital and leads to practical solutions. It's essential to recognize how a sense of belonging and appreciation can directly shape school culture. When we, as classified employees, feel valued and included, our work will positively radiate Our work positively radiates to the teachers and minister's family, and most importantly, our students. Let us reaffirm that classified employees are not just support staff, that they are key partners and

059champions of student success. Thank you. Thank you. Diana Leon. Following Diana will be Mario Juarez. Hello, board members, parents, and fellow employees of Santa Paula Unified School District. My name is Diana Leon. I'm a resident here in Santa Paula. I am an employee for Santa Paula Unified School District. My position is a child nutrition assistant too, and I've been here for 18 years. I'm located at Isbell Middle School. I love working for the school because I cook, feed, and interact with the students, staff, and parents sometimes. Not only do we see the students multiple times throughout the day for breakfast, lunch, and snack, We also have after school programs and events such as science fairs, award nights, or back to school nights. We are essential workers as we provided many meals during the 2020 COVID

060pandemic for all of Santa Paula. Our duties are not only to serve meals, but while working we have interaction with the students and we often share moments with the students. The kids feel comfortable sharing how their day is going. or discussing anything on their minds with the kitchen staff. So we always make new friendships every year with the students. We work closely with admin and security. They are always checking in on us to see if there are any issues to be addressed. For students being in the cafeteria, it's their free time, and so they tend to be more open in talking or asking questions with us. Things that usually don't happen in the classroom, they tend to in the cafeteria. Admin will come back and update us on the students' well-being. This isn't always a

061disciplinary thing. It's also a report back of a student with good behavior in our cafeteria. As a resident of Santa Paula, I love to go on my daily walks throughout the neighborhood with my dogs. I always run into students and it brings me joy to see them just being kids. Or often I see them with their parents shopping or at sports functions. So the interaction is not only in school, it's in our community. So I feel there is a personal connection with the students because as I always tell anybody who asks me why I love working for the school district is we are not only servers and cooks, we are often friends, parents, leaders, counselors, all wrapped into one. And that's why we feel we are essential workers of Santa Paula Unified School District. Thank

062you. Thank you. Mario Juarez followed by I believe Lina Partida. Thank you. Good evening, Santa Paula Unified School Board and district staff. My name is Marco Juarez. I've been working as a library and textbook technician at Isabel Middle School for just over two years. Prior to this position, I worked as a library technician in Ojai Unified before they made drastic cuts and reconfigurations in 2023. I spoke at board meetings then, and I've now been asked to speak at this meeting and provide my experience. I'm here to urge you to avoid making the same mistakes OIA made. First, I want to thank Santa Paula Unified for hiring me. It's been a great two years. I've made fantastic relationships with students and staff. That's what it's all about, right? Kids, coworkers. When I was cut from Ojai

063two years ago, I lost that. And it still hurts. I still miss co-workers, still think of what could have been had the school board decided to listen to its crucial staff. I understand that you'll have difficult decisions to make and that you have choices in front of you to help us maintain fiscal solvency in the future. There are always many different solutions. I understand district staff value their relationships, but your lowest paid working staff are also important. Keep your cuts furthest from kids and those who work directly with kids. Don't cause pain, suffering, and instability to your school district. Stability is what school districts need and what your classified staff want. Keep your admin, teacher, and support staff percentages close to state averages instead of creating disarray. Often, districts recommend cutting hours for some staff

064to just below the threshold of benefits. Imagine that. A 5.75 hours per day position is just 15 minutes short of the 6-hour threshold for benefits eligibility. Many classified staff already volunteer time, arrive early, stay late, work through breaks. They would be giving you those hours without the benefits. In our current economy where costs continue to rise, losing benefits can be devastating to families. Perhaps you do save money on paper, but you lose experienced staff who cannot afford to stay. I saw many of these same suggestions in Ojai two years ago. The consequence even now is a poor reputation among remaining staff, lower test scores due to the talented staff who left, and division within its community. So what does Santa Paula Unified want to do? We've worked very hard to build a reputation and improve

065test scores. Cutting classified staff may risk undoing that progress. We all expect better from you, Santa Paula Unified. Please maintain the stability that has led to our recent improvements and do not disappoint your staff or your community with future decisions. Thank you. Thank you. All right, good evening, Superintendent, Madam President, and distinguished board members. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity today to speak in regards to how essential I am as classified staff. I'm here to detail the various roles I play as library media specialist at Glen City so that when it comes time to address our district's deficit, the service I provide our district is considered. While I may call myself a librarian, I'm also the great collaborator. I don't just sit at my desk all day or shelve books. It is my job

066to ensure that all students have a device assigned to them when they enter our campus and that said devices are returned when they withdraw our district. I manage a library under the teacher librarian to ensure that the books available to students or the collection at large is accurate and current. I provide essential resources to teachers to assist with curriculum needs such as research projects. I've taught students how to successfully hold book, place book holds and requests through our catalog. I accommodate classes during minimum days like parent teacher conference week and still hold a book fair after school the entire week. Whether it's with our technology department site. office staff or teachers i am a liaison for learning and access every workday i open the library at 7 00 a.m to welcome our early start students

067i have made every attempt to make glen city's literacy center welcoming and accessible since arriving in november of 2022 i must remind you that glen city has 676 students enrolled which is the biggest elementary in our student in our district and bigger than our middle school in population. I see 28 out of 30 classes. Sorry sixth graders because all four available visit times on Mondays and all six available visit times on through from Tuesday through Friday are all booked. Cutting library media specialist hours or jobs means students will lose this work I've effortfully established. Again, I don't just sit at my desk and shelve books all day. Also, to lose my job or have hours cut means I may lose the security of my housing. My family and I, among many other families enrolled in

068our district, are embroiled in a battle over an unaffordable rent increase just down the street from here. Losing hours means losing pay, and losing pay means losing my housing. Please take into consideration the learning access and support I provide if library media specialist hours or jobs are cut. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you. And is there any additional? Speaker forms that concludes. Thank you. Thank you everyone for coming to our meeting and making public comments. Item six our presentations and this evening we have a presentation on the merit system. Good evening President DeRoglio members of the board and Superintendent Weinstein. My name is Greg Robinson and I serve as the director of classified human resources. tonight i'll provide an overview of the merit system and the personnel commission how it works why

069it matters and how it supports the goals of santa paula unified school district i don't want to deprive you of the riveting content so we'll wait mark do you want to just go the second okay that's done worst comes to worst we can we can do it at that view so my purpose today is fourfold first to define the merit system and explain its legal foundation Second, to describe the role of the Personnel Commission in administering the system. Third, to outline the shared responsibilities of HR, the Board, and the Commission. And finally, to connect this framework to our district's goals of equity, compliance, and student success. So a little brief history. The merit system in California dates back to 1935 when it was adopted to eliminate political influence and favoritism in hiring at LAUSD. It

070was created to ensure that public employment decisions are based on merit and fairness and fitness rather than connections or pressure. That principle is just as important today. In my prior district, in a prior district that I worked for, An executive level manager shared confidential examination materials. When myself and a former director learned about that, we brought it forward and decided to readminister the entire examination to make sure that there was fairness. And that individual was ultimately dismissed. So this is just a reminder. that the merit why the merit system exists it's not just about compliance it's about making sure that employment decisions are handled fairly and consistently even when it's a difficult decision it's a little small here but there's 12 principles capturing the heart of the merit system they ensure that hiring is competitive

071and based on qualifications not favoritism they also guarantee that positions are posted transparently with duty statements and minimum requirements and that current employees have promotional opportunities. The Personnel Commission maintains classifications, verifies minimum qualifications, certifies eligibility lists, and hears disciplinary appeals. Together, these elements protect both employees and district by ensuring fairness, compliance, and consistency. At its core, the merit system is a civil service framework for classified employees. It applies to all non-certificated positions, including confidential and supervisory roles. It's designed to ensure equity, due process, and that every personnel decision is grounded in job-related criteria. The system is overseen by the Personnel Commission, a three-member body. I have the Personnel Commissioners up there. One member is appointed by the Board, one by CSEA, and one is jointly selected by those two. Commissioners serve staggered three-year terms and

072must be residents of the district. Importantly, the commission has its own legal authority and budget ensuring independence. The structure protects the integrity of the system while maintaining collaboration with the board and the district leadership. The Commission's responsibilities are wide-ranging. They establish and maintain classification and compensation structures, approve recruitment and testing processes, certify eligibility lists, and conduct appeal hearings on disciplinary matters. They also ensure that minimum qualifications, as I mentioned before, and exam tools are job-related as well as legally defensible. In discipline appeals, their decisions are binding. My role as a director, I serve as the secretary to the commission. I administer day-to-day operations of the merit system, oversee recruitment, testing, classification studies, and reclassifications, and ensure compliance with education code and federal law. My role is to be a neutral facilitator, making sure the process

073is fair, transparent, and consistent for all employees. some legal foundations so the system is grounded in education code sections 452540 through 45320 beyond state law we also comply with federal requirements under title vii and california fair employment housing act Our selection tools align with the uniform guidelines on employee selection procedures, which ensure that exams are valid and job related. Locally, the personnel commission also adopts rules in public meetings, which govern day-to-day operations and can be found on our classified human resources website. Here in Santa Paula, the system covers the entire spectrum of classified HR. We conduct job analyses and maintain accurate classifications, design validated exams, as I mentioned before, certified eligibility lists. We also conduct reclassification studies to ensure employees are properly aligned with their duties. In all cases, the process is transparent and legally

074defensible. Under the direction of personnel commission, the classified HR department maintains the classification plan. We also provide consultation and procedural guidance to management on evaluation and discipline. It's important to note that disciplinary investigations and actions are carried out by management. Our role is to ensure that those processes comply with education code commission rules and collective bargaining agreements. We assist with documentation, review notices. for compliance and support commission during appeals. In short, we serve as the bridge between compliance and implementation, ensuring that every action taken within classified service is fair, consistent, and legally defensible. A couple of other local merit system districts. There's about 100 throughout the state. These are just a few of them. 100 is about 10 of this the school districts however it covers about 50 of classified employees because it um it

075covers la usd and long beach unified school district and a couple of other large san diego school districts so it it shows that it's the model is flexible and it works in small and mid-sized districts like ours but also la usd and scales well. So in summary, the merit system provides the foundation for fairness, transparency, and equity in our classified employment practices and ensures that every hiring, promotion, and disciplinary action is based on merit and fairness, not influence or personal preference. It's important to remember why the merit system exists in the first place. It was adopted and reaffirmed by the vote. classified employees to create a system that protects fair treatment due process and equal opportunity for everyone who works in support of our students that's also why personnel Commission must remain neutral and independent

076the role is to safeguard those protections not just for employees but the district itself by ensuring all decisions are consistent lawful and defensible The strength of the system lies in the collaboration between the board, the commission, and the district administration. Working together within our distinct roles allows us to maintain integrity in our personnel practices, which ultimately supports the success and stability of our schools. So with that, I'd like to... leave you with this thought from the California School Personnel Commissions Association. I know that's a handful CSPCA. The merit system promotes efficiency and fairness by ensuring selection, retention and advancement are based on merit, fitness and the principle of like work for like pay, like pay for like work. With that, I welcome your questions and discussion. Thank you. So any questions, comments? i got a

077couple um thank you miss robinson for for the presentation um I know you're aware, but for those who are not aware, but I was a classified employee for 18 years. I served on the Personnel Commission for three years. So I value the work of our classified employees and the Personnel Commission and all the way through. I mean, I look in the audience and I see many older friends, not older, but like friends that we grew up with. I think I take the cake when it comes to old. So anyone who also knows me understands that I've been in CSE leadership, so I fully support the idea of progressive discipline. And there I'm going to go into some of my first questions. So what training is provided to supervisors and managers on how to handle disciplinary

078issues with merit system rules? I can provide that consultation, and I have and do provide that consultation. So if there is a disciplinary matter, I can't get involved with the investigation itself. However, I've had principals just in the past week give me a call, say, hey, this is the situation. What can we do? I'll look at the collective bargaining agreement and let them know what their options are if it falls within the scope of progressive discipline and how they can address that. Again, I have to be neutral. It's just advice, but I do try to make sure that it's legally defensible. And then to kind of follow up on that, are you familiar with risk management tools? Is that something that you would recommend or use when you are guiding your discussion when working with,

079you know, directors or principals or anyone that's in the supervisory role? Yes. I have multiple handbooks. on my bookshelf in my office. So yeah, I refer to those quite often and advise on those. Yeah, and I'm a firm believer of progressive discipline because what that tells us, it's not looking at the consequence. Sometimes it's what's the change agent? What's it going to take to get employees that are not working at a certain level to... begin to work and meet the expectations of the district plan and whatnot. So I want to go ahead and just switch gears a little bit. Just when was the last time our merit system has conducted a classification study? A classification study. I last year, last year reclassification, someone thought that they were working out of class and I took a

080look at it and determined that they weren't working out of class. Prior to that, I believe it was when my predecessor was here, we did a broad classification study and I don't remember if it came to any fruition. And then the final one, again, just goes to, because I understand that there's a... it's a delicate balance of working for personnel commission and the school district. How would you characterize your relationship with district personnel when it comes to either disciplinary issues, recruitment issues, working with the district team in regards to just the hiring practices? Do you feel like maybe a scale of one to 10, do you feel like 10, it would... be excellent or how would you characterize it that's tough but it's tough to give it a ranking but i will say that it's

081this is kind of my first go-round of of communication i think it's a big communication piece of why it helps not just the employees but also the district making sure it's legally defensible that it's a fair process that they that people can promote fairly why we do the things that we do it's not just subjective that we make a pass point here there so it is my goal now that I've been here a year to really communicate to employees supervisors the board and administration like why this is important and and why it's it works anyone else so i have one question um what criteria are used to evaluate candidates qualifications and competent competencies good question i'm a i'm kind of a nerd when it comes to this so i'm going to try to make this

082concise It depends on the particular classification that we're looking at. So what I always, because being an HR and an industrial and organizational psychology nerd, some of us can get bogged down in having pride and constructing the perfect exam. My goal is to make sure that we provide qualified quality eligibility lists. In a timely manner, so the timely manner is kind of the practical aspect we can we can validate. We can increase the validity of the eligibility list continually if we run a training experience evaluation and then we run a performance examination, then we run a written examination, and then we run a structured interview, however, if there's a classification that's that. historically doesn't get many candidates to apply to it and sort of there's a certificate that's tied to that minimum qualifications we're already

083saying that they're somewhat qualified so why would we put them through the rigors of all of that just so i can be 99 sure that it's valid to go back to your original question we do a competency model There's 50 some odd competencies that we have subject matter experts choose from. There's generally, we try to get to five to seven of those competencies. And then we structure the exam components based on those competencies. So it's kind of a somewhat backwards way of looking at it, but. That's been proven to get the most holistic employee. So you get some of the maybe oral communication and relationship building. So the soft skills, professional and technical expertise, mathematical facilities. So it gets the whole person. And we can do that with, again, training experience evaluations, which are application

084reviews with subject matter experts, written examinations. And then structured interviews where we make sure that that each candidate has the same questions provided to them that are job related. So that was a really long winded answer. I hope it answered your question. One last. I don't know if this is the time and you can just say you don't know, but like, how long does it take? for the hiring because i've heard i mean i live here kids have gone to school here and i always you know complaints of how long it takes to get their food and then after school like aspire staff like how long does it take to hire up based on the need and cafeteria staff how long is it taking It can, if we don't have an eligibility list and we

085haven't run that exam in a long time, it can take a little longer. However, I will say that when. You approved a preschool coordinator last May. Well, I'm just referring to the ones that are just common and we should have those listed. It's, you have it every step. If you, I'm sorry for interrupting. We've gotten to a point right now where we only have, if you look at our website, we only have a couple of jobs listed right now. And that's because we've. We've done a lot of recruitments and built a lot of eligibility lists and in the next week my staff and I are gonna get together and say Historically what our lists that we need to have just to have You know that that last 12 months So when a principal comes to

086us and says hey, we need this campus supervision assistant. We say here's a list. Here's a person So we've gotten to that point where we can do that. Does it take more than two months? Well, if we have an eligibility list in hand, it doesn't take any time at all. But if we don't have an eligibility list, it has to be open for three weeks, 15 business days. And then we need to have exams. If it's a written exam that can be done a week, a week and a half after that. And then the structured interview, we need to coordinate with subject matter experts. So a month and a half, two months. But again, we're trying our best to in those positions that we need a lot of office assistant, campus supervision assistant. Janitor. C&S.

087Custodian. We're going to constantly be recruiting those. Thank you. Anyone else? Yeah, no, just a follow-up. You talk about eligibility lists, but what is the process if those people on your list are no longer available? Because you have an established list, right? People have applied, but quite some time has passed and they have accepted other positions. So what would be the next step if that list expires or is no longer functional? If it's not a viable list, which is anything under three ranks, not three people, if there's ties. there can be multiple up to 5, 10, 20 people if there's ties, then we can go back out and recruit. If it's a custodian or one that we run a lot of, then we can just open it really soon after we get the request for

088personnel, and then five weeks, six weeks. Typically. And then I think does the eligibility list, oh sorry, account for a school site and their culture? You know, you can have a well-rounded candidate, but you know, you have different school sites and some candidates are just not ideal for some school sites. So that's the principle of the rule of three ranks. So each, when there is a request for personnel and a vacancy, we'll provide them the three ranks. and they can choose for fit at that point. So we're saying these people are qualified. Now you decide which among those is going to be the best fit for you. Mr. Robinson, introduce your staff, please, and your commissioners. That way we get to see faces with them. Commissioner Steiger, Jeff Steiger here. Yes. Our HR analyst, who

089does a lot more than that, is Sonia Batista. and then Connie Sanchez-Reyes is the former director and commissioner. Greg, can you just clarify one thing for me? So I'm sure you probably said it, but I didn't hear it. So if you have an eligibility list, you look at the eligibility list, and there's not enough candidates on there to go right off the eligibility list. You then go ahead and post the position again. Are you looking to form another eligibility list so that you have brand new candidates and, you know, whatever, like instead of two, now you have 10? Yes. So we can either merge the eligibility list and those individuals say they've been on it since April. They'll expire in April. And then this new set will be combined with it. We'll combine their test

090scores, assuming that the testing is the same. And then they will expire a year from now. I think that's all. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for attending. So item seven information and correct me, but I believe item a first reading of CSBA policy update for August 25th and possibly you roll it in with the September 25th. Yes. So A and B combined. Board of Trustees Meeting, it is our protocol that when we receive updates for board policies or administrative regulations or bylaws that we bring it to the board with an information session like tonight. And then once the information session is done, board can have questions and we can make changes to the board policy, administrative regulation or bylaws, then we bring it back for a vote. Every three months, approximately, we get

091new board policy updates. Usually these are done by court decisions that have recently happened. And then CSBA goes ahead and adjusts our board policy to meet the requirements of the new law. We also provide the board with track changes to board policy so that you could see what was there before and what was changed or what was added. For August of 2025, We have a number of board policies and administrative regulations that deal with alternative lifestyle. sexual health, HIV, AIDS, prevention instruction. Those are both board policies and administrative regulations. And the difference is board policies are what the board has directed the administration to do. And then the administrative regulation is the actual operations that happen to make sure we're complying with the board policy. We also have added a comprehensive health education in a

092new court decision. For those August of 2025 guide sheets any questions on those moving on to September 2025 so. Just to give the board an idea of what happens, we received these Csba policy updates, and then the Sanchez sends it out to the appropriate department for review that actually has to comply with these board policies. Once they have reviewed it and agreed with the changes, they send it back to Miss Sanchez, and then Miss Sanchez then creates packets for the board to also review. So, for instance, one of the board policies came to me it's actually a board bylaw and it has to do with ethics training and conflict of interest the September 2025 board policies have to deal with campus security and basically the change there is not what we do but that it

093has to be included in the comprehensive school safety plan We also have the recovery for property or loss or damage, both aboard policy and administrative regulation, fire drills and fires, administrative regulation of how you conduct those drills and how often you have those drills, and then absences and excuses, so those are also adjustments to our students that they are allowed to now take mental health days. We have the School District Attendance Review Board. That's who conducts the SARB meetings. We talk about work permits and healthcare and emergencies of students. Any questions on those? So Jeff, under the September 2025 checklist, I look at recovery for property loss or damage. There's option one and two. What does that mean? So a lot of both comply with the new law and what it has to do is

094with how we would like to operate in in that. So we would then choose option one or option two and then whichever one we choose stays in the board policy the one we don't choose goes away. But both are both are legally OK. DIRECTOR MACKAY. And question is under the. absences and excuses. So it says AB 1884, 2024. So let's say that some of our students took mental health days in the 24, 25 school year. Can you go back and get credit for those ADA? Well, we can go back, but it only really applies to SAR because if a student takes a mental health day, we don't get ADA for it. Okay. Got it. Sorry. It's sort of like, you know, excused absences are still absences. It's about the students in the seats that we

095got it. It's for the start. So but I mean, if you know, a student has a history of of needing mental health days, there's no problem with going back the request of the parent to mark some of those as mental health days as they recognize them. Yeah, I mean, some of our students suffer like anxiety or just depression or something. And so it's a mental health. Yeah, absolutely. We could do that. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Next. I believe we're moving on to item C, bond options for November 2026. So in November 2026, we have the ability to go out for a construction bond. Board of Trustees Meeting, I'm going to turn it over to the board. really three options. One is to go out with an elementary school bond, another one is to

096do the high school bond, and then there's one where you can do a combined bond, but it's not recommended because it's very confusing to the taxpayer of exactly how it's combined, what percentages go to the elementary school district, what percentages go to the high school district. So we start out with hand out that I've given the board and it's just to remind you of the construction costs that the architects came up with for the two major construction projects. One at the high school with the bride and Jim pool locker rooms. The other one at Isbell with the main building and new MPR. So that gives you an idea of the cost. As you can see, With is Bell you're looking at a cost of about 48 49 million dollars and then for The high school

097we can divide the high school up into phases one is like area one would be the building of the bride and Jim arrest wrestling multi purpose area pool equipment building pool deck and site development and that's just under $40 million these have escalation. included in them, however, we probably need to add 10% to that because, by the time we get started. It you know it was at the beginning of the calendar year is when our architects came up with this so that's something that you need to take into consideration so. So those are our costs and then i'd like to invite lori up to talk about the actual funds that we currently have and what we what we started with where we're ending balances currently as well as what encumbrances are still existing. Good evening.

098So on the top of the form is fund 140, which is our deferred maintenance fund. And in that fund, just so you know, what can go into the LCFF transfers, go in there, it's part of the LCAP. What we can use it for is for major repairs, painting, that kind of stuff. So that's our deferred maintenance fund. We started at one point. 3, 9 is our beginning fund balance. We're estimating the revenues at $450,000. That's the amount of the LCF transfer that goes into that fund. And then those are the encumbrances and expenditures that have been paid out of there so far. What those are, I can send each one of you a report that drills down to tell you exactly what we spent so far. Fund 212 is our building fund and that's just

099an old fund with a balance that just kind of keeps rolling around in there that we could probably move to another fund so we can zero that one out. fund 213 and 214 those are all capital project funds and what could go into those is our rentals and interest expenditures are typically in the six thousands um capitalized items so for those two you can see for 213 we're starting with about 31 million 214 12.3 million and we've spent some of that money so far um in in expenditures for the library and other building stuff that Doug is doing. The Capitol Facility is $250. That one looks a little odd, and the reason why it has a negative figure there is we, as the books closed at 6.30, there was a deposit that didn't post. So

100our ending balance was in the negative because that deposit didn't clear the bank. However, July 1st, the money was there. So it's just an accounting anomaly. So in there, we have, and this is our developer fees account. We get interest in that account, and we get developer fees. What we spend that money on, that money has to be spent within five years of us taking it in. So what we do is we kind of track it out and we look at funds 213 and fund 214 and see what expenditures that we could take and move those expenditures into fund 250 to relieve those bond funds so we can use it for other things. 350 is the school's facilities fund. There's an apportionment that comes that we get for that for county schools. We that could

101be used for site improvements such as buildings and furniture fixtures that are capitalized as part of construction projects. So that's what's coming out of the expenditures that are coming out of their fund. 401 is our special reserve fund. That's where it takes the board vote to transfer funds out of the general fund into fund 401. The other thing that we get in there as far as revenues is interest and any proceeds for sales of lands. Whatever we have, those are the kind of things that we drop into those funds. Again, this is the fund that we're looking at doing the, that's highlighted because we look at doing with a $3.7 million transfer out of that fund into the general fund. And then next year also doing 3.75 million out and into the general fund. So

102any savings that we can make, we can lessen those transfers. Oh, yeah, the Brighton Gym Fund. That also resides in Fund 401, but we kind of just carved it out. We gave it a management code of its own so we can track all of its expenditures there. There's $22 million currently sitting in there, and we're just collecting interest pretty much on it right now until we start spending those funds down. We've received to date over $800,000. For this year? I'm sorry. For this year. Yeah, 800 800,000 and we need to go back with the developers because we met with them at the beginning of the year or the end of the year last year as we were doing the adopted budget and The developer fees for East Area one we had met with them And

103I think they were thinking it was going to take them a little longer So we need to meet with them because we're getting more money coming in than we anticipated that we were going to see So we mean you kind of need to meet with them again so we can get on track with Where do you think you guys are going to land so we can budget accordingly? So regarding developer fees, and thank you, Jeff, for asking that. That was one of my questions. So is there a, I guess, is there a restriction on how we can spend that money? What we need to do is we need to spend it within five years of receiving it. If we don't spend it within five years of receiving it, then the developers could come back and

104say they want our money back. Okay. And is there a specific project that we can put it? Can we put it into any one of these funds? What we've done in the past is we're moving funds out of any expenditures that we can out of 213 and 214. We've moved those expenses out of there and moved them into the developer fees. So, for example, the portables that we need for Isabel that would come from developer fees for the expansion or the remodel renovation of Isabel. Any of those types of expenses are allowable. We're going to scoop them out of those two. And library, the high school library, were those funds used? The more fees that we can get coming in, yes, more that those types of expenditures can be charged to this fund. At least

105the ones that are going to expire. Correct. Do you know where we're at on how much it's going to expire? We have, that's why this is a negative because at the end of last year, we went through and we did a good job. Okay. We moved all those funds. Yeah. So at this point, though, that with that fund, you know, we essentially have five years to build it up if we wanted to, right, before we had to spend it. Correct. We decided not to make those transfers, absolutely. Right. I mean, presumably, right, developer impact fees are there because we're saying to them, like, the additional students that we get is going to cost us more in either more classrooms or another building or whatever. Even though we can kind of spend it however we want

106to, I mean, the spirit of it is for that, right? So just like putting, I mean, well, but that's because we have a modernization, right? Does it really have anything to do because we have more students coming in? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know what kind of rules. I don't know if they would look and go, what are you spending this on? This has nothing to do with. Board of Trustees Meeting, we're going to have a discussion about that. And then we're going to have a discussion about our development. Board of Trustees Meeting, Well, our auditors will go through those funds. However, you are right basically that I used to call them impact fees. A new development comes in. We know there's going to be X amount of students out of that

107development. You know, an estimate that's going to impact our school facilities, number of classrooms we have and all those type of things for our facilities. Board of Trustees Meeting, and I'm going to ask the developer fees. Is that is that negotiated through like square footage? I remember that's what it used to be back in the day. No, it is square footage. There's residential and commercial two different per square foot costs like the project being proposed off of over the old Kmart building. That's residential residential. What's the square footage developer fee that we get? No, that no. So it's when they're pulling the building. Yes. The the building permits. Okay. The school ones have to be paid before issuance of building permits and the impact fees for cities are paid upon occupancy. But we do have

108developers along with the Red Tail apartment buildings that contacted us and asked if we would delay. The developer fees collection of the developer fees. In other words, ask this, let the city know that we're waving the developer fees for the first twelve months of the construction, but by policy and protocol we don't We don't do that. Even if we try to do it with interest? Well, I don't know if you can negotiate that because it is a legal amount of money that we're asking for that's determined by the legal rates. But yeah, I mean, the Red Tail Development contacted me, said, hey, you know, we're going to be building a lot of units. It's very expensive to get started with the foundational work and everything like that. Could you wait an additional year before you

109start taking the developer fees? But normally we don't. We don't do that because we want to make sure that when they pull the permits, I mean, although it's not happened lately, construction projects start and sometimes never finish. So we'd like to get them at the beginning of the permits. Anyone else? Any questions? Yeah, so the total balance right now is $76 million, roughly. Right. Of which I because I did some calculating off to the side. Right. Of which the high school has 32 million of that. Right. Part of Measure Q plus the Brighton Gym Insurance. The elementary school has just Measure P. Right. So 26 million. And then with all the other accounts, adding that up. that could go into either one of those pots, right? It's about 17 million, right? So that's how it

110breaks down. You know, I think that we need to start talking about... Well, what are we going to what are we expecting here like what direction do we want to go into right being do we want to have a June election, do we want to have a November election, I mean right now, the presentation is. Assuming June, but is that too quick what's the campaign going to look like what time of the year, are we going to be hitting that you know. How much are we going for you know if we're going for it at all, you know the. whether we're going to go just for a high school bond or unified or an elementary and what are the ramifications for that you know i mean i i don't have all this to share right

111but you know i'm looking to see okay well what happens in each scenario and how much of a pot of money do we have for the high school and for the elementary schools? And how much are these overall projects going to cost? And how much can we actually do, you know, given those, you know, pots of money and whatever scenarios that we, you know, go down, right? Whether, you know, which ones we look at. So, you know, for me, like looking at what we can do, you know, I'm still a proponent of just doing one. If you look at your tax bill, which I have mine up right now, we have the one high school bond expiring in 20, is it 26 or 28? I can't remember what. 28. Right. And so that one right

112now is a tax rate of $40 per 100K. Given that it's expiring, right, and I can at least, you know, with a straight face say that to our taxpayers, then, you know, that 40 seems right to me. You know, going for more in this challenging economic environment seems, I don't know, I don't agree with it. You know, and I can afford it more than most people. So, so I'm looking at that $40 line. and what we can do with that, right? And so when you look at that, right, there's $57 million just for Brighton Gym, 80-something million for Isbell. And then if you look at some of the other high school projects that are out there, like the auditorium, the kitchen, you know, the football field, you know, whatever, right, because there's more than just

113those two projects. you know the high school adds another you know 20 million dollars on projects on that um But if we just went for a high school bond, we might have too much money on that side and not enough for Isabel. If we just went to elementary, we wouldn't have enough on the high school side. But then we get into that, well, do we split it? And that's kind of a nightmare. So there's some pretty big decisions to make here. And I don't think that one way or the other, like there's going to have to be compromises. There's going to have to be phasing, I still think. and you know we'll see like we ran this twice and we were closed but we didn't win and what mean what what do we why do

114we think that's going to be different this time you know so and um you know we we need to understand and the board here is probably the best to notice the tolerance of the community as far as the dollar amount that they're willing to um Spend remember that's all based on interest rates so but one of the things that the board should also know that if we go out say in November of 2026. You're only starting to pay on these tax bonds when we sell the bonds, so we get authorization for the from the taxpayers to sell bonds, but until the bonds are sold it's not added to their tax bill, so we could literally wait 2028. Like dr. Sandoval said, you know wait till 2028 before we start selling those bonds so just from

115other things that we we voted on as a Community member, you know like the Blanchard library I know that bond has always passed because they continue to keep the same amount and you know, we I guess speaking for myself, we want a community library. And when we think about our schools, I believe the public has seen what the district has done with maintaining, painting, adding air conditioning, just making our schools safe and clean has gone a long ways. So I think we've learned from going to the voters twice that it's just too much to see two bonds. So I'm, you know. seeing how much we pay and how our taxes just keep going up based on what the assessor is allowed to increase and the cost of living. I'm just not a proponent to have

116two bonds. It's and selling them before the 2028. And I would like to be able to present to the public more as to This is where we're at with funds for the high school and this is what we're at for funds for the elementary's I won't repeat what? Dr. Sandoval mentioned, but it's just I think it needs to be clear and understand that you know is 40 enough I might you know Be more proponent for 50 if that gets us the other items that you know our high school has wished for like the performing arts building do we have enough to finally get a pool and you know will this be a community pool and presenting that to the public as well so that this benefits not just our high school students but the entire

117community i mean i know i it's just around the corner for me to be a senior and what if there's you know certain times where seniors can use the pool they don't live in a you know in a HOA that has a pool. So whether they pay a membership, so certain things like that. Yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right. During the campaign, it would be important to make sure that we try to affect as many people as possible. Speaking for myself, living in Santa Clarita. There are four elementary school districts and one high school district. So wherever you're at, you're paying the full vote on that. And as my kids progress through school, you know, you look at it and then you're saying, yeah, it's for schools. My kids are in schools. You just

118say yes automatically. And then once the kids are out of schools and they come back for more money, you start wondering, like, should we, you know, do I really want this? But if there's like a community pool. that is being offered, then that gives the incentive of people who don't have kids in our school system to actually vote yes. And even the gym. I mean, I know it's used during PE, but what about on weekends? What about use of our facilities for weekends for meetings or other events? I know private schools do it all the time where they rent out their gyms for certain things. So there's just other means. And I know the design, we incorporate it so that you can close off areas that are for students and things that can just be

119for the public. So I think we've done our due diligence on the architecture for the new buildings. Any comments from our student trustees? You don't have to. I would also agree with holding off on bonds until 2028. More because also we're giving our residents more time to perhaps get the more money that we need as I brought up in previous meetings. We do not come from a very affluent area. We do not become from a very socio-economically disadvantaged area. I know students and families would not be psyched about new bonds more or less two bonds. So I would I would agree that if we were to go for a bond we'd go for one bond and I don't think sooner would be better especially in the current economical climate that we're in. I'm sorry, can

120I get some clarification here? Why would we start collecting bonds in 2028 but run a bond measure in 2026? Because 2026 will be a large election, just like 2028. And, you know, we. We can't start construction unless we know what's coming in. So the idea would be to know that you have X amount of dollars coming in from your 2026 bonds, but protect the taxpayer by not selling them until 2028. This is just coming from my feedback, right? If I were to vote or vote against a bond, right, and the bond passes, I would prefer it to be collected the year it passed. because if it just came up in 2028, it would feel like a hidden fee, right? Unless the statistic is willing to go off and mark it in. The way that it

121works, right, is that when you look at your tax roll, your property tax, you have the different line items for, like there's probably 10 right now. We have three of them, right? So what will happen in 2028 is one of those is going to drop off. And the other one is going to come back on. Now, right now, if we were to say, and that's why I mentioned 40 per, right, it's just a swap, right? Your taxes effectively don't increase, right, from what you were paying the year before. So, you know, I think that there is something to be said about being a little bit proactive in it so that you can show that, like, because if we, look at it, if we knew in 26 that that money is coming in in 28. right

122then we can maybe bring up those phases a little bit right or you know because we talked about like well you do the gym and then you do the pool and then you do the other thing if we know the money is eventually going to come in maybe we can you know be a little bit more aggressive in that and if it doesn't pass and we don't have that money coming in in 28 well we know we can't do that so it does give us more um flexibility for how we do it it is a little bit of a like okay like can you explain that to the public will they be okay with that you know do you wait until 27 right because they don't get just because you pass it in 26 doesn't

123mean you sell right away anyways right um i mean it takes a little bit of time for it to and we don't sell but i'm just thinking about the renters who don't see those property taxes in their light end bills so you see up you see a tax bond pass right And you see landlords freaking out or saying we're going to increase the rent because of this. So what will be our effective messaging to the public explaining, yes, the bond measure passed in 2026, but the bonds won't be sold until 2028. So let's, can you explain if we stayed at the 40, it would basically be no change. Yeah, because one's going, the 40 is dropping, right? in 28 right is that clear like the 40 would drop the one that we currently the currently

124voters pay for the 40. i'm just asking about messaging when the bonds are collected well when the bonds are collected no one sees that i'm asking who will the district take responsibility in saying and communicating to the public bond measures pass if it passed in 2026 that they'll be collected in 2028 just so the public could understand that Yeah, I would definitely want to disclose that because I think it is a selling point. I definitely am. Yeah. For the bond that that you know what you're paying $40 per 100,000 right now. And that's not going to change because we're going to wait till 2028. And the reason why I ask us to do that, because right if we do pass it, we don't collect it to 2028. You know, people could just make up false

125allegations, false misinformation campaigns could be in and saying, well, we already passed in 2026. Where was in 2026? Why is it being in 2028? So if we can create an effective messaging saying that this is the plan, that would be great. And just just sort of. to remember right that you don't go in 28 we aren't taking the whole amount right so what it does is it authorizes you to to take a certain amount up to a certain amount right and so but you never do it all at once the bond markets won't allow you right because what this is doing is essentially trying to spread it out some Right. So that I'm sorry. Am I wrong? One of the things is selling them right away. For instance, at Oxnard Union High School, that's why

126the $350 million bond. We sold 250 and then 100 million year after year because we wanted the interest to cover the escalation of construction. Okay. Because I was just going off of. No, I'm not saying that's a thing to do. I'm just saying that there are other. There's a reason why you might want to sell it right away. I also understand. you know, not selling while right away and doing it gradually to lessen the impact. Yeah. I was just going off of the exhibit here, you know, the, but I mean, I guess we can talk about how we want to do that or what we'll need to. Yeah. And $40, $50 million bond going out to the markets is not, you wouldn't be one of the bigger bonds going out to the market. You'd be

127one of the smaller bonds going to the market. So when we go to sell the bonds. I mean, there's a little bit of timing here too, right? Because interest rates are still relatively high. So those bonds will be relatively expensive. And so if you could, which is why our tax rates, if you look them over time, year over year, they fluctuate, right? They change. And so there are times when we can refinance to lower rates and we save taxpayers money that way. Right now we're just going off of what the interest rates are showing right now. Right. And so those could change. Right. Which means that they wouldn't be paying 40. They'd be paying a little less. Right. So. So the. Yeah. Wait for more advantageous. So interest, Lori and I would like the board

128to as well as student board members to email us with additional information you would like to see as we'll bring this back in November for further discussion. And so, you know, take a look at your information you have see what else you really want us to be, you know, research and make sure you have that information before it so you can have the most informed decision when you make your action. Well, I can tell you a couple things I'd like to see, right? So the first is that these numbers are based off of a 4% value growth. Right. And we are growing greater than 4%. Since 2018, we haven't been under 4.4. Right. And with the amount of houses that are still outstanding at harvest, plus a number of the new developments, you know, I'd

129like to have a better... understanding of what that might look like. Because our evaluation is going up. And that helps us. That absolutely helps us so that maybe we can push that. Because I think the presentation doesn't say the rate, but at 4%, we can go up to $86 million at a more aggressive rate. I don't know what that rate is. We can go up to $93 million. You know, maybe it warrants that. Yeah, okay, we will definitely get that information. I think the other thing is we need to see the project lists. Like, we need to see what's outstanding. In addition to the Isbell and high school bride and groom. Yeah, because, I mean, absolutely. Because if we decide, because it helps us decide whether we go with the high school only now, right?

130Because I know I've mentioned, well, maybe we do high school in, you know, 26. And then in 28, do an elementary, right? So that we can further build out Isbell. But, like, I think we need to look at those. of those three different scenarios of high school only, elementary only, and split, right? And then what can be achieved, right, given how much we have now and what those would bring in. That only makes sense to know that so that we can do the trade-off, right? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So clarification on your slide where you're showing. Sarah Silver, what sound of always mentioning about the 4% the series a I mean you have 2027 so based on some of our comments, this would become 2028 and you would right yeah the series of. By one year.

131With your slides are basically assuming you you won't sell until 2027 and that's why it starts at 2027 in series A, but if you decide to sell in 2028 series, they would just move to 2028. Like trustee Sandoval mentioned, it would be also nice to see you know. a more realistic rate based on what we've seen in the past years. As far as total growth of the community? Yeah, versus at 4%, whatever the average is on the other years is at 5.56%. Okay. What that rate would be. We can run different scenarios. Anything else? All right, thank you. Now we're doing item D, which we moved from. Sorry, what was the title? a preschool program family fee sorry preschool program family fee structure handbook update perfect um good evening superintendent board and audience members the

132reason for this informational item tonight is it comes out of a finding from our september program monitoring review from the state of california for our preschool program current board policy does state that students who participate in our full day preschool program could be assessed with a family fee monthly for some reason our admission agreement and student handbook stated at this time no fees are assessed to participate in our program so this led to a finding with the state that is part of now a corrective action plan that we will present to them at the end of the month The we are going to I don't know that you want me to read the whole thing but fees for participation in the program when applicable will be assessed to families. That initial certification or recertification using

133the family fee schedule provided by the California Department of Education in accordance with management bulletin 2506. A notice of action will be issued at the time of initial certification or recertification indicating the amount of the assessed family fee so staff, we have. done an audit of all of the children, the 36 children that are enrolled in our preschool this year. And based on inputting their income information into the family fee calculator, there are 12 families that will owe a family fee monthly. The family fee ranges anywhere from $17.80 a month to $86.30 a month. Fees are not assessed to part-time students. Fees are not assessed to students receiving CalWORKs or students who are at risk of abuse or neglect or child protective services or with a monthly adjusted income below 75%. So after presenting this

134information item to you, we are updating the policy, the admission agreement, and we're going to sit down with all 12 families that this will affect and let them know. Thank you. Questions? DIRECTOR DEWOLF. Can you clarify just one thing for the board that our current board policy allows us to do this. DIRECTOR MACKAY The board policy states we're supposed to do this. So board policy is correct. Admission agreement was incorrect. So we're going to bring in a whole extra $10,000 a year, max. We are going to bring in a maximum of $660.85 a month. And if all of those students stayed enrolled for all 12 months, that would be $7,930.20 annually. Wow. California is really getting, you know, reimbursed at a high rate. And have the parents been? The parents have not been notified yet.

135We're waiting until we did this informational item, and then we're going to sit down with the parents individually and go over it. There is an appeal process. If the parent feels that they can't pay the monthly fee, there is an appeal process we can walk them through. But they wouldn't have to back pay for it? No, and we're not. We want to give them the information and time to adjust to it, so we're anticipating a January start. January, okay. And at that point, how many, like, what's the, like, the, I mean, they all come in at different times, right? Their eligibility will cease. I mean, I guess they'll stay until August, I guess? Correct. Right, okay. And some will continue. The certification is good for two years. So some would, if they're a three-year-old, they'll

136continue into the four-year-old. Most of our four-year-olds entered into our TK program. So I totally see the benefit in going this route, right? I mean, we have no choice. We have to do it. But what is our outreach efforts in increasing our preschool population? So last week, our preschool coordinator, Alicia Jimenez, visited multiple doctor's offices, the library, other stores in town with flyers that we've created to encourage people to enroll in preschool. At the Barbara Webster 100th anniversary celebration, we had a table. We have some parent outreach nights that we're starting, one on literacy in November and another on nutrition in January that we're working with some community partners on. to try and get families interested. I ran into a family at Lowe's last week. We have four of the five children enrolled in our

137schools, and the little one is preschool eligible. And I talked to the mom about, why isn't he coming to preschool? And she said, I just, he's my last one. I don't want him to come. So sometimes the parents just like to keep their kids home. And then the final one is, okay, so there's been a lot of studies out there, right? Project Isabella, they've done some work. Where do we tie into... to those efforts, to those expertise that are identifying students that need to be in preschools because- So Dr. Aguirre and I have had many conversations and I'm also working with Alicia McFarland at VCOE and I'm part of that consortium group that we're working on with community partners and like partners in other school districts as well. Even- Oh, go ahead. I was gonna

138say, even though we're straying a little bit off topic here. For those 36, excuse me, 35 students, 36 students, how many employees are in charge of them? Like what's our. So the staffing ratio is one adult for every eight students. So we're staffed to have classrooms of 24 students. Right. So we have a certificated teacher, an early childhood educator, and an instructional assistant in each of the four classrooms. We did last week consolidate our classrooms at Barbara Webster for some other reasons. our certificated teacher is moving to teach another grade level. And so that was a classroom of three and a classroom of four. Now it's a classroom of seven. And we have two early childhood educators, an instructional assistant, and a certificated teacher. For seven kids. Correct. Right. This isn't sustainable if we don't

139get those numbers up. And I mean, just to. Yeah. And that staff, they can't be moved to maybe a kinder class as an aid or extra duty. Can they. So the instructional assistants are eight hour positions. And we the preschool opens at seven and is closed until five. So we have to make sure that there are. that we stay within ratio as soon as we have in the mornings. So Blanchard has in their full day program, there are 19 students. We also run an AM PM class there for families that don't qualify for the full because it's a needs based and an income based program right, you have to prove that you have the need. Either you're working you're in trade school you're furthering your education and then there's the income threshold so those two

140things have to be met before you can enroll in the Program so. Some people don't meet the need threshold for full-day preschool, so we do offer an AM class and a PM class at Blanchard. Are you going to ask me how many students are in that class? I thought so. So there are nine students in the AM class and one student in the PM class. So what do we do with the PM class? The one student goes to school. But what can we do? What options do we have? Because it's not substantial financially. You cannot combine them into a full day class because their needs assessment showed that they needed and qualified for a part day program. And they can't just show up on the full time at the PM and just start. So the

141option is, can we remove it? I'm talking to Alicia McFarland about that, trying to find out if there are options for us. Thank you. The county is aware of our situation. Yeah, because financially, I mean, it's just not sustainable. And we're trying, I mean, we have a budget committee and we're trying to find ways to cut where we need. And I, I mean, I myself past years have said, you know, are we, when we had classrooms with only 12 students, I believe it was at Blanchard as well, that we're not combining or moving when we need to. I mean, I had my own child moved to another school because there wasn't enough room and that wasn't their home school. And it was hard as a parent, but for her, it was fine. So it's, and

142I get it, but financially, we also have to make sure that we're financially sound. And I know that we all agree that the earlier we can get our students into school, the better for their long-term outcome. And I think that our district was looking out for the best of our community when we started the preschool program. Agree. Again, we may, as children turn three, then they'll come and enroll. We had two people call this week that want to enroll. Their children have turned three and are now potty trained because that's a big piece of preschool. You do have to be potty trained to come to preschool. So it's kind of, it's not a static enrollment. It's kind of a rolling enrollment as the birth dates and the students. become age eligible. And another thing I

143know when the preschool first started, I know like students in the high school, middle school who had younger siblings, they were the ones telling their parents about preschool. So are we letting our entire? Well, we've been on here a few times out to the entire district who Lisa has done a really great job. Okay. Nice flyers for us. They had them at cruise night. I don't know that cruise night is the preschool. You know, I don't think that's our audience. However, we will capture them wherever they are. Churches? Because that used to be good. We've been to churches as well. The bulletin boards. And then Aparo Lopez, our admin assistant, spends some time out in the community also talking to moms at the beauty shop, talking to moms at the market. I think one of

144the things we need to look at is how do we make it flexible? Because I think that when I was growing up, my mom wouldn't have sent me for five days a week. I mean, even if it was just a PM class or an AM class or whatever, part day. She would have or she wouldn't have? She would not have. She did not want to have. That's not, that was, there's no way that would, no. I think I went twice a week. That's actually a good point because my, well. I used to be a part-time, so my kids went the three days that I went. Right, because your need would have been a part. My need was three days. It's the hours. I mean, there are a lot of regulations that the state has in

145place for California state preschool programs. Like you mentioned, the last student, their last child, maybe they'd be okay with two days a week, knowing the importance. Well, and just to kind of. So that's not a flexibility, the part-time, right? It has to be. It's needs-based. This is where, you know, reminding us about the dinner that we, you know, that we had gone to on Monday. We know, you know, you've now met our state senator, right? And so, you know, this is, I think, one place where, you know, we need to, you know, talk this through, right, with staff and see, like, what the problems are. and where the regulations hamstring us and ask maybe our assembly person or state senator to run something, right, to give us more flexibility. So, I mean, that's one way

146in which we can advocate for our community's needs and not what Sacramento thinks our community needs are. And we would love to invite any of you to come to observe and visit a preschool class anytime to see our youngest learners. So maybe then Jeff just to wrap it up so maybe to go with with that on our two by two meeting maybe we talked about. We had talked about that previously with yeah with the idea of cities employees being able to access the preschool and I know my one ask of the city was if they can do their own study and find out how many possible families so so then we can maybe reach out in that way so. When you do talk to Mr. Singer, city manager Singer, let them know that we're really

147interested in pursuing it. We do have them coming up. Another thing to keep in mind with that is 90% of our enrollment does need to be income qualified. So for every nine students we take, we can't take one that is not income qualified. Repeat that for every. So because we're a needs-based income qualified program. So for every 10 students we take, nine of them have to meet the income qualification thresholds, and then you can take one that does not. Do you know where we're at right now with our 36? So you said 12 are not. So even if you're income qualified, you can still owe a fee based on. based on the amount. So the majority of our students are not, 12 students are going to have a family fee. And some of those are

148income qualified students. And just correct me if I'm wrong, that 100%, it's 100% of state median income? What's the quality? Do you know what the threshold? 75%. Below 75% of the state median family income. Okay, which works out to be... that i do not know i think it's like it's that's no more than 75 right i'm pretty sure that the state median income is not on over 100 yet um but if you think about that right that's still relatively high compared to the median income of santa paula which is 77 000. Right. So family size also comes into play. So family size is another element of the application process. Right. I think that what we're finding is that that need, right, is is it's like you can get the need, but not the income or

149you can get the income, but not the need. Right. I mean, there's a disconnect here, you know, in the policy. Right. Which is making it harder for people to actually qualify for the program. so 100 my answer that's roughly 100 is the threshold okay so thank you uh item eight action items a superintendent item one resolution 2025 2026.09 red ribbon week so i'm sorry i thought it was on but thank you so uh we would like our student board trustees to um take turns in reading the resolution for the public again this is resolution 2025 26.9 red ribbon week take it away Whereas our nation's annual anti-drug, anti-alcohol, and anti-tobacco campaign, a time for all Californians to focus their attention on the problems of substance abuse, will be held from October 23rd through October 31st,

1502025. And whereas the purpose of Red Ribbon Week is to present a unified and visible commitment towards creation of a drug-free America, to create awareness regarding problems related to the use of tobacco. tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs, and to support community prevention coalitions and to organize and support healthy tobacco-free and drug-free activities, and whereas Red Ribbon Week provides a forum for young adults and children to join together with law enforcement, teachers, and others to demonstrate their commitment to leading a healthy lifestyle free of drugs and alcohol, and whereas tobacco, alcohol, and other drug abuse can be prevented, through education, awareness, and healthy lifestyle choices. And whereas all schools of the Santa Paula Unified School District provide appropriated environments for teaching youth about the harmful effects of tobacco, alcohol, and other drug abuse and can assist

151students in learning how to make responsible decisions. And whereas substance abuse is particularly damaging to one of our most valuable resources, our youth. and is a contributing factor in the three leading causes of death for teenagers, accidents, homicides, and suicides. And whereas Red Ribbon Week is designed to build awareness and understanding concerning the problems related to the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drug abuse. And now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Trustees of the Santa Paula Unified School District does hereby join with the committees across. the state and country in Red Ribbon Week with the theme of Life is a Puzzle, Solve It Drug-Free and proclaim October 23rd through the 31st, 2025 as Red Ribbon Week. Passed and adopted this 22nd day of October 2025 by the Board of Trustees of the

152Santa Paula Unified School District in Ventura County, California. Thank you. Any comments, Senator Rhea? No, no comment. Thank you for stealing my thunder, Mr. Weinstein, but it was like my one opportunity to share something positive with the board, but. Go for it. Go for it, please. No, I'm all good. I'm just waiting for the board to pass the resolution. With that, would one of you like to make a motion? So moved. All second. I'm pointing at the students, you guys. We'll get the preferential vote. Okay. So with that, preferential vote. All those in favor? Aye. Thank you. Board vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes 4-0. And as a token of our appreciation, you are receiving the first Red Ribbon Week bracelets of 2025. Thank you again, everyone. And thank you guys for reading it.

153Moving on to item 9, consent calendar action items. Consent items are considered routine and will be enacted by a single motion. None of the items will be discussed unless a board member requests discussion prior to the vote of the motion to adopt the consent calendar. With that, would someone like to make a motion for approval? I'm afraid to. I'm so sorry. I'll move to approve the consent calendar. Do I have a second? I second. It's been moved and seconded. Board vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes 4-0. Thank you so much. Item 10, board member comments and requests for future agenda items. Student trustees. Anyone? No comments. I have no questions or comments. No questions or comments. Okay. Moving on to board at Trustee Rodriguez. No current comments. Trustee Sandoval. Well, I went to the

154Barbara Webster 100th celebration. And it was awesome. Like, it was so fun. I was only able to stay for a little while. But we need more celebrations like that around the school district, right? Because the energy was just was great. So hats off to the Barbara Webster staff and anyone else who who made that possible because because it was good. Just want to let you all know the. that the school district in a sense got a new grant. We have a partnership with the Merito Foundation and they are, they applied for a grant kind of in our name and we are going to have the opportunity to do outdoor after school activities, programming for our Santa Paula High School students. So that's a grant of over $400,000 for almost two years. So really looking forward

155to seeing that develop out. Just to let you know, I did go to the, I forgot about the VCSBA meeting, the Ventura County School Board Association's meeting, which, you know, I have a little bit of hand in helping coordinate. So that was good. And then finally, I just got an email from my local council member, who happens to be my wife, right, on a couple of, on a. Couple of community events coming up. This is from... Autism Ventura, they are doing emergency preparedness events. They are going to be at the community center. And so, and I would love for a representative from our organization to be. There's two meetings. The first is emergency planning for organizations serving individuals with disabilities. That is Tuesday, October the 28th from 3 to 4.30 at the community center. I

156think that's what that is, where it is. I'll have to look to see where it is. But then also there is a subsequent meeting right after that, emergency preparedness for people with disabilities, their families and caregivers. That's at 5 p.m. I'll forward the information so that we can get it out onto Parent Square and everyone else. I think, sorry, I have a touch screen and everything went away. That's it. It's all I got. Thank you. Trustee Frutos. All right. So I too attended the Barbara Webster 100th celebration. Again, what an amazing event. Being being there. I was a student there. I worked there for 18 years. So it was just kind of a good feeling a good welcome home Celebration for me but to see all the the staff members and and to see all

157the former students and all again an excellent event to see all the lowrider cars and a few of the motorcycles and all that that was That was way cool. And a lot of those guys that were behind those vehicles, they did attend Barbara Webster School. So, again, awesome deal. I attended the Santa Barbara Library ribbon cutting, gosh, a few weeks back. That is awesome. What a facility. You know, we grew up in Santa Paula, always hearing how bad Santa Paula is. And, again, that just troubles me because I love this town. And when you see... awesome facilities and good things happening like that one i mean like the library i mean we're we should be so lucky to have that i mean our students deserve it and and i hope that it's utilized well I

158know we have the Fillmore-Santa Paula game coming up. I want to wish our athletes and all the student body and staff, you know, hopefully we get that victory. You know, I mean, I know that Fillmore's playing well, but I want our boys and the staff and students to show up in good spirit. And my final thing is... with voting day around the corner don't really care what the issues are but please get out and vote get out and vote register please get out and get your voice heard again regardless of what the the issues or what what issues you stand behind be heard that's just definitely one way that we know you can be heard so and that should that's it for me before i start do our student trustees want to echo anything about

159the fillmore santa paula game you guys want to Tickets on GoFan. Go Cardinals. Okay. Anyone else? What do you guys think about it being at a new location? Aventura. So Ventura High School, what do you guys think about that? I've just heard that there's like a lot of mixed feelings. Like some people, like even though it's technically our home game, some people still feel like it's like not really our home game. Like they wish it was on campus. And then I've heard from others that they're happy that it's away because then there's like enough tickets and they don't have to be fighting for a spot. So it's just like mixed feelings. I echo your sentiments that it's not here, but at the same time, I'm glad that more people get to attend. So let's give

160it a shot and get feedback. Hopefully our ASB students and can, you know, do some kind of survey after the game and see what the thoughts are. And then Nate, did you want to comment about Barbara Webster? You attended, right? Did you want to? I mean, it was fun. I mean, I was there. They kicked us out. They were closing down. Everyone saw me dance with my family. Everyone saw me talk to my friends. I mean, a lot of things happened, a lot of connections. So it's not something to talk about when everyone has just seen it and keeps bringing it up to me. Like, I know my aunt posted it on her Facebook. So I just went around everywhere. I'm like, okay. kind of over talking about it now sorry i don't do facebook

161much and i wasn't able to be there and i i know like i saw the a little post on our instagram um i would have been there but um since I guess I should say it, my daughter, she's a regional officer for FFA, really proud of her. So it's a great honor for her to be a leader representing LA to Ventura County. So she's the Ventura section. And they put this wonderful leadership conference for South Coast Region FFA. leadership teams and it's a production that they start on Thursday they prep on Friday Saturday is a conference and and on Sunday so it's at Hollister High School so it was a big trip I couldn't make it down but just want to shout out you know that when you run for that position you're running against

162students from Camarillo Fillmore Carpentria Ventura so it's a great honor for Santa Paula to be able to have Several of the students, you know, become regional officers and be Fillmore, Camarillo, Carpinteria. So that's where I was at. And I also attended the library Red Ribbon cutting, and it's a wonderful library. I wish it was open to the public as well, and I'm hoping everybody's taking use of it, like all our high school students. I don't know if you guys want to shout out or say anything about the library again. Good facilities, good air conditioning, thankfully. For shout-outs, a shout-out to Ms. Perez and Ms. Whiting, who constantly keep books coming in, who constantly keep students engaged. I know students who last year barely touched a book. Now they're coming in every day and consuming every

163book they can get their hands on. And I believe they're playing board games too. Yes, they are. They're board games. I just wish you guys would get like a coffee kiosk for like some boba drinks and some non-caffeinated drinks and for the staff too. So that'd be wonderful. And I just wanted to say thank you to Julie and everyone who presented today. Thank you for answering all our questions. Wonderful job. I didn't know where we were at on our preschools and You work night and day. And just really just thank you so much for what you do. And with that, moving on to item 11, our future meeting will be November 12th. And we will adjourn at 8.03.