SPUSD Board Meeting 04/24/24

001Good evening, everyone. I'm calling this meeting to order at 5.04. Do we have any public comment for closed session? Okay. Then I will adjourn the meeting to closed session at 5.04. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being here. I am calling this meeting to order at 6.18. We're reconvening to open session, and I'll do roll call. Trustee Perez. Present. I always forget the last names. Trustee Ramirez. Present. Trustee Sandoval. Present. Trustee Wilson is absent. Trustee Frutos. Present. Trustee Arroyo. Present. Trustee Ornelas is present. Report from closed session. regarding public employee appointment 54957. During closed session, the board unanimously approved the appointment of Julie Bergman as the Glen City Elementary principal effective May 1st. The motion was made by Daniel Sandoval with a second by Gabriela Ornelas, passed by a 4-0 vote with one absent. That's

002all we have to report. If you can all please stand and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready begin. Moving to 3D approval of the agenda. I'd like to make a motion for a change to move under seven presentations C up to the top. Okay. Do I have a second? I'll second it. All those in favor. All right. All right. Preferential vote all those in favor. All right. Passes 2 0 and 4 0. Staff reports student board member report. Trustee better good afternoon. So starting off with the report from Isbell. So just right now, this current time, Isbell is having their boys and girls soccer games, I guess. And then there's going to be testing next week for the state tests for the Isbell students. And then there will be lots of upcoming events

003in May. Moving on to Graceville. Let's see. They held a TK and Kinder Roundup for parents and had 15 students enroll. Very exciting for next year. And there's going to be a parent drum circle with the counselor and outreach specialist at the ELAC meeting this Friday. So very exciting. I heard the drum circles are very, very fun. And then there will be a Magic of Reading Assembly on April 30th and the PTO Fun Run on May 3rd. And then the Gopher Gold Assembly this morning, the third to sixth graders are celebrating the scoring three or four on last year's cast test in ELA and math. They received a silver medal with a score of three and a gold medal for scoring a four. All the students in third to sixth grade received a rock, the

004test pencil. So I wish I got one of those pencils, but oh well. Okay, moving on to the high school. So currently ASB, we're preparing for the junior state test. We're making lots of posters. I made a Mean Girls themed one, and I am a little proud of it. And then we have AP testing next month, and some of us are stressing. Some of us are doing lots of work. Hopefully we pass our tests. I know I for sure will pass my tests, at least with the three, because last year my AP year old test was... Okay, and then right now I just came from a rehearsal of the Wizard of Oz musical. So we're rehearsing a lot right now and we're preparing for our last three shows which are this Friday at 7 p.m.

005And we have two shows this Saturday, one at 1 p.m. and the last one at 7 p.m. And then the choir, we're preparing for our May 3rd Disney Hall concert. And if you guys, if anyone in the crowd is interested in attending our performance, it's at the Disney Hall concert. And I think it's free, but just bring money just in case. But yeah. And then on May 11th, the band will have their annual gala. And so all the band students will be performing. It's going to be very exciting. On May 16th, there will be a spring concert for a band. And I think this is where the guard performs. And then if you're interested in band or guard, there will be clinics on May 21st and the 23rd. And then moving on to things that...

006I like. So yesterday there was the family science night. I heard a lot of feedback from the students that volunteered and they had a lot of fun with all the little elementary kids that went and did science experiments. So, and I saw the little video that was made by Mr. Lisa Carrillo, I believe. It was very cute, and I wish I was there, but sadly, I was on a study trip at Santa Cruz Island, and that was fun. I got sunburned, but the hike was worth it. And then, right now, the AVID program is holding a few school drives. My favorite is the one that me and my teammates are running. It's called the Feminine Product Drive. where anyone can donate any menstrual products at the high school. If you are interested in helping out

007and want to donate any menstrual products and say you don't go to the high school, you could always drop a few products at the office so that our drive could expand. And then coming up with exciting news, the FFA banquet is coming on the 24th of May and I heard lots of FFA students talking about it and so many of them are excited. And then shout out to Jasmine Guevara because she was a state finalist for El Credo, which means the creed in Spanish. She recited the creed and she was a state finalist. So that's very exciting, especially for our school. And then I heard that the goats for FFA are coming in soon. So I've heard lots of excitement for the goats too. So yay. And then moving on to the student advisory council

008meeting that we had today. I know we talked about the CTE classes. And my colleague Raymond Cobos mentioned our class that we currently take right now. It's called Performance Music and Live Events. Although we are sad that it's leaving next year, the students that are enrolled in this class really love it. And we're a little sad that it won't be a class next year. And then I heard about the Drum Restorative Circle. event that's going on. I talked about it with lots of students and they said that they really liked having the idea of students being able to get together and solve their problems and they said that they really want this restorative justice circle to keep on happening because it it brings change to lots of people and to problem and it helps solve

009problems so I really look forward to participating in one soon. So if we have another one soon, I know for sure that I will sign up for it. And then moving back on to the student advisory council that we had today, I just wanted to say that I like the idea of having other type of language classes, like the ASL class that we mentioned in the meeting. And so I was thinking of other high schools that I've been to, and I know in Westlake they do other types of language. language classes, but they do it through college. So it helps if we get both college credits and we're able to learn other languages besides Spanish. But there's always VC. So thank you. And I really like the restorative justice idea. That's so cool. I really

010want to participate in that. So make sure to open. If you guys have time, go to the Wizard of Oz musical showings. We have three more shows and I hope to see all of you guys there. I know I will be there because I am an actor after all. And so be there or be square. And then thank you for listening. Have a nice day. Thank you. Trustee Ramirez. All right, for Santa Paula High School, last week ASB held an egg hunt all around campus for the whole week. If students found an egg, they won a prize. Tomorrow, there is a school site council meeting from 4 to 5.30 by Zoom. This month, Spring Sports had their senior night, celebrating all senior athletes on their accomplishments and new journeys. On May 2nd, there will be

011an athletic orientation from 6 to 7 p.m. in the McMahon Gym. On May 6th, from 5.30 to 7.30, the Early Outreach Program is inviting seniors who received admission to a University of California to an awards ceremony. Invites have been sent out already. And then lastly, on Friday, April 26th, at 7 p.m., come out and support Keyshawn Mata. One final Friday Night Lights at his second home of Jonesfield, celebrating his life with family. family, friends, and community because once a carnal always a carnal. For Blanchard Elementary School today the Wellness Center gave out butter slime to students during lunch recess. Students had a great time playing with it. On Monday the sixth graders will walk to Isbell Middle School. On Friday the TK classes will participate in walking field trip to the fire station. Also this

012Friday students who demonstrate who demonstrated Blanchard's PBIS expectations of being kind, respectful, and responsible and safe get to participate in the principal's recess. For Bedell Elementary, Zachariah Cook, a sixth grader at Bedell, was recognized as the April's Optimist Student of the Month, so congratulations to him. Bedell celebrated Earth Day by harvesting, planting, and cleaning the school yard. And then lastly, a student participated participated in the restorative circles by Matthew and drum circles with Erica Jimenez and Matthew Wagner and in SEL lessons with Mr. Rick. which are helping students meet their social emotional needs. For Glen City, the DLI TK Scholars showcased their musical talents this past Monday morning at their spring performance. Families were excited to see their multilingual students singing in two languages. A Google Meet link was provided and offered for all families

013that could not make it. in person. The same will be done for next week's performances. The next dates for the spring performance are May 1st at 8.30 a.m. for all five SEI and DLI kinder classes, May 2nd at 1.30 p.m. for all four second grade classes, and then May 3rd at 8.30 a.m. for all fourth grade classes and first grade DLI classes. And all the cabinet and board trustees are invited. Thank you. Thank you, Trustee Sandoval, for committee updates. Yeah, I just have two. On April 15th, we had another meeting of the CSBA's AI Task Force reviewing policies that may need to be updated in light of AI. So we're still continuing to work on different policies within our system that we might need to update because of that. And then on... April the 19th,

014I was at the CSBA's legislative committee. We talked about budget and possible cuts coming in May, revision and other legislation that is affecting or that will affect student education here in California. Thank you, Trustee Frutos. uh two things to report uh so today i attended a zoom at four o'clock with csba regarding school safety uh the main topic was bullying and cyber bullying uh that was one and the other one was firearm safety and storage uh it was just there were seven board members from throughout the state of california that had an opportunity to share thoughts concerns and just hear what's uh what's What's the latest on on such a tough? topic and the other one was With my colleagues here up on the the table here We attended a Ventura County School Board Association

015dinner at Ventura County off office of Education on April the 15th and the topic there was on Pio Public information officer or information. Thank you trustee Arroyo so in addition to the vcoe dinner i also attended um on the 16th the farm committee and it was a short meeting we just discussed the field trips that we had at the ventura school district and some potential uses of bedell with the school farm that's all i have to report thank you um i also attended the vco meeting and I also attended the Student Advisory Council meeting this morning. Of course, I just listened, but it's really nice to hear student input and sharing their ideas and just hearing them all kind of have this big conversation. So I appreciate us having that committee. Moving on to public

016comment. 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 the board may acknowledge visitors' request 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 item. 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's not part of the printed and published agenda. Any individual

017with a disability who requires reasonable accommodation to the To participate in a board meeting, may request assistance by contacting the superintendent's office at 805-933-8802. Members of the public may submit written comments by 3 p.m. on the day of the scheduled meeting to isanchez at santapalausd.org. These comments will be read aloud into the record. Written comments submitted to the board are limited to 300 words. Do we have any public comments? I think we're going to do two minutes. Okay, so we have 13 public comment forms, and we want to hear everyone, but for the sake of time, we're going to reduce the time from three minutes to two minutes per person so that every person gets a chance to come up and speak. We do want to hear you all. So we've got 13 in person,

018and we've got three that were sent in. So we'll start with the in person. I'll call you up. This is no specific order. First, I have here Barbara Weiser. I hope I said that right. It's working. All right. I think it's right. It's my first day. All right. Good evening, Mrs. Ms. President, Dr. Weinstein, members of the board. I'm here today as both a parent and teacher to advocate for more equity for LGBTQ plus students, particularly transgender and gender nonconforming students. I have noticed over the past few years that there is a lack of equity for these students. So I would like to address two things. The first thing I would like to bring to your attention is the lack of adequate bathroom and locker room facilities. There are a handful of gender neutral bathrooms

019at the high school and PE teachers are very accommodating when trying to find safe places for all students to change into PE clothes. There used to be a room in Bryden Gym where students could change, but it was not an official locker room. with that loss there are less places for students to change comfortably although there are some gender neutral bathrooms at the height at the high school there are not enough i attended one of the community meetings for the new bryden facility and i made the suggestion to include more bathrooms and locker rooms designed for transgender and gender non-conforming students who are uncomfortable using the boys or girls locker rooms or bathrooms i was given the answer yeah we'll put it on the list so i felt that my request was not taken seriously

020and i would like the brightened facility planners to include more adequate bathrooms and locker room facilities for this population in their design some students who are uncomfortable with the current bathrooms on campus will not drink or eat anything in the morning before school or during school so they do not have to use the bathroom all day This is not healthy and may lead to eating disorders. Better bathrooms and locker room facilities would provide more equity for all students, and I feel like the new Bryden facility would be a really good opportunity for this. My second concern is the discontinuation of the high school dance program as a PE class. I request that you somehow consider keeping that program as PE and even expanding it. Not all students are comfortable in regular PE classes. For some,

021it would be a living nightmare. So dancing is great exercise. It's fun, creative, and it's lifelong activity. And some of the students will be with more like-minded students and feel comfortable doing dance as PE. So please keep that as a PE class. Thank you. That was my turn. Thank you. James Haas. Good evening, Ms. President, board members, and Mr. Weinstein, superintendent. I'm actually reading a letter also in support of the Dance at SPHS program, and this is actually from Jack Mitchell. He was the AME consultant for the California Department of Education. This is, Dear Board Members, My name is Jack Mitchell, and I am an arts, media, and entertainment education consultant. From 2007 until 2020, I was the arts, media, and entertainment educational programs consultant at the California Department of Education. I am writing in

022support of the dance program at Santa Paula High School. In 2023, I was assigned by the AME Institute organization to work with Santa Paula Unified District CTE staff and classroom teachers to strengthen the arts, media, and entertainment pathways in the Santa Paula Unified School District. The first step in that program was to review the existing AME pathways and to determine the existing level of curricular and programmatic alignment to the CDE-approved curriculum standards and high-quality CTE program practice as defined by the California Department of Education. This allowed me the opportunity to review and assess the professional dance program pathway at Santa Paula High School and meet the teacher and program coordinator, Christina Maggio. After two days of meeting, it was clear to me that the Santa Paula High School dance program met all the criteria of

023the high-quality CTE program in the arts, media, and entertainment industry sector and more. The dance program led by Ms. Maggio had a strong, sequential, academically rigorous curriculum aligned to AME's curriculum standards approved by the California State Board of Education. It had a strong work-based learning component. meaningful local industry and community connections, and provided students an opportunity to perform in numerous pre-professional dance experiences, all components of a high-quality CTE program in professional dance. As impressive as these were, the most critical element was the level of commitment and enthusiasm exhibited by the dance students themselves. Ms. Maggio shared several videos and testimonials of her students in action in the community and presented evidence of consistent high enrollment numbers across her course sequences. This speaks to both the quality of the program and the commitment of both the

024students and the community to the dance program at Santa Paula High School. Thank you. Thank you. Christina Maggio. Can I do lyrical dance? No, I'm just kidding. Our mission as a district is to provide students with diverse, equitable, differentiated experiences and learning opportunities. Our student body voted on their pathway of choice and that pathway was CTE A&E. which stands for arts media and entertainment as of today according to our reverse registration numbers we do not have one ame course cruz lopez and myself are not teaching the programs our student voted as their number one choice i asked the board to please look into this and not allow filibustering programs that embody our district mission and our and our win-wins to the board students and teachers should be supported not eliminated Our SBHS dance program models

025our mission statement and has been board approved and adopted as an alternative to PE since 2019 as a CTE AME career pathway. It has counted as an elective, a PE, and an R option. It is UC accredited. I have the CTE credential cleared and in good standing. If coded as a CTE pathway, our dance students will be labeled completers and qualify as the district for state and federal funding. When our classes were labeled CTE, they were larger than PE classes, benefited the districts, and served the students' best interests. My question is, why did we change this? Who changed this? And how did this change prove to align to our mission as a district, putting students first? In case you didn't know, our SBHS dance program of five years has a projected 12 students signed up

026for next year. The current administration changed it to be elective credit only. In case you didn't know, freshmen and sophomores do not have room in their schedule for electives. History, PE, science, English, math, and they need a foreign language or art. There is no elective option. Therefore, this is not a true testament of what our students want. Their options were limited. This was an inaccurate read and we need to re-offer the class for credit. It was created to give. P.E.R. an elective. Thank you. Alexis Escajeda. Hi, I'm Alexis Escajeda. Hi, Dr. Keyes. I just want to say I'm talking for a dance class. I actually spoke to Dr. Keyes face-to-face, Mr. Guzman, and I'm not sure who the other lady was, but we all spoke. He currently lied to me, told me that... this peep

027dance class he was never gonna take out was still gonna count as pe credits and electives all of that so i believed him and i actually you know what i actually have proof um on this paper i don't know if you guys want to look at it real quick It says there for physical education, there is no dance. It's only elective. Like what Ms. Modules said, it's why only take elective. Like there's no time for that. We have no, like we cannot fit in our schedule. People in PE who transfer to dance, if you look at their grades from dance or from PE to dance, you will see a huge. difference this will count i get it counts as our credits but it's also big meaning to us and people who especially don't want to

028do physical and they just want to dance me personally i love dance i've been doing it since i was little and i don't need this taken away so especially with cheer i also need my dance on my side but that is it i'm speaking for the dance thank you thank you next we have romeo gonzalez I'm reading this on behalf of Yasmine Cardell. I strongly think dance should be a class. It is a requirement of the class to physically move for performance in school. I think it's a great way for students to get involved in school activities and events. It's also good for creative thinking with... others as for example students do we do need to think of their own unique dances for talent shows and other involving school events also dance class has become

029a big part of some students lives as the class is very involved with their students as a student in dance class i highly appreciate this class as i am not forced to run every week on as a regular PE class. I would have two. Seems lazy of me but I really prefer dance over PE. Thank you. Thank you. Next, Esmeralda Sebastian and after Esmeralda we have Annalie Magana. One of the things I want to talk about about dance class is I know it's important but it's also a lot of benefits that come from it. One benefit that comes from dance class is kids being able to focus and concentrate. Not only does it help with this but it also helps a lot of physical benefits. It will tone your body, improve posture, balance, and promote

030greater flexibility and much more. Not to mention a lot of the... All the benefits that come from dance class is being able to socialize. For me, I know that I have made a lot of new friends in dance class and other people have also made a lot of new friends. It's helped us socialize a lot with people and being able to talk to people more. Also, one thing that helps a lot is to overcome a lot of challenges. One thing that we as a dance class do is dance in front of the whole school at rallies and everything. And yes, it may be scary, but it also helps us overcome the fear that comes from it. For me, when I first had a dance in the rally, I was so scared. I was anxious. I

031didn't want to do it. But then when I did it, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would. And that also taught me how to overcome more challenges like this one right now because I'm so scared to speak right now. But because like I can overcome challenges like because this is so much more easier than dancing in front of your whole school. So this I would rather do this. And this is just kind of taught taught me that, oh, if I can overcome like one of the biggest fears that I had, I can overcome a lot of other things like so speaking right now. Also, not to mention that. a lot of other schools have dance class so why can't we like we have dance class for right now so why take it away

032like yeah it's just proven proven to have so many more benefits and it also helps people else it just helps people all in law in general thank you uh and after anna lee just the heads up will be brianna alvarez what yes so brianna alvarez please hello oh there you go Hello, board members. It is very nice to see you guys again. My name is Brianna Alvarez, and I was last here to speak on approving new agriculture classes, and I would like to thank our board members for the approval. For today's purpose, I'm here to speak on the Santa Paula High School dance class changing to only elective credits or even being completely eliminated. As you know, agriculture is my elective. The only reason why I was able to take this agriculture class was because

033I took a health class before my freshman year, but most freshmen aren't able to take electives unless they fit into the AG requirement. If dance didn't count as PE credit, I wouldn't have been able to become the person I am today. Dance has given me the leadership skills that a regular PE class couldn't have. It has given me public speaking skills by being able to teach my fellow classmates, but I believe dance is more than just a disposable class. It is also more than a portable speaker and wondering where our class is going to practice. It is more than just a group of girls preparing for a three-minute dance. This is our comfort place where we know we won't be judged. So as a young person that advocates for student education, I want future students

034to be given the same opportunities that I was given. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Molly Payton. Good evening. My name is Molly Payton and I'm a freshman and I believe dance should not only count as an elective in art but also for PE. Firstly, dance has always been considered an art form for its physical representation of creativity and performance. Dance offers a unique opportunity to experiment with your imagination and creativity as well as performing, cooperation, persistence, and accountability. So dance absolutely should at least be kept as an option for art or elective credit. Secondly, if Ms. Mazzeo is qualified to teach dances, art, and PE for 9th and 10th graders, then there isn't any reason the class shouldn't give such students that credit. According to California's Department of Education, a proper physical education

035program provides an excellent opportunity to ensure students develop positive and social skills, cooperate with others, and accept responsibility for their own actions. If Ms. Maggio's dance class doesn't meet these expectations, I'm not sure what does. Our dancers have learned multiple kinds of dance, as well as how to collaborate with others and come up with... come up with and perfect routines and take responsibility for themselves when it comes to assignments and performances. If the issue is that the class isn't rigorous enough to be up to California standards, that doesn't have to be an issue either. CDE defines physical activity as any bodily movement that is produced by the contraction of skeletal muscle that is substantially that substantially increases energy expenditure including exercise, sport, dance, and other movement forms. Dance itself is included here as an example.

036If the program still needs to be intensified, we can easily do so by adding more difficult exercises or routines. I hope this helps convince those that doubt dance's relevance to our school. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next is Heaven Martinez. I think I got that right. Hi, I'm Heaven. I've been in dance for two years now. I came into dance not knowing what I was going to walk into or what the environment was going to be. But I came into high school not having many friends to myself, shy and intimidated. This is my third year in dance now, and I can tell you I've grown in so many ways possible because of this class. I have grown a family within my three years, a family and a bond with many that cannot be

037unbroken. or with many that cannot be broken. I used to suffer from bad stage fright as well as social anxiety like many of these boys and girls here today. But with dance, it made me face every possible fear that I had. Dance allowed me to be myself and embrace who I was and am as a person. I learned and grew a passion for dancing and performing in front of others. Dance makes me feel confident as a person, knowing that I am amazing at something and that anyone can be. I love dance, but because it allows me to be who I am and have the ability to be able to embrace how I feel into every single dance that I have done with these boys and girls here. I don't think it's fair that our class

038of dance is being taken away from those who have not had... who have not yet had the chance to experience as well as us who still want to proceed our pathways with dance. Not only is dance all about the cool moves that you see, but it is a fun and enjoyable way to express ourselves, but it also offers numerous physical, mental, and emotional benefits. Dancing helps improve coordination, flexibility, and strength, while also boosting self-confidence and body positivity and high self-esteem. It's a great way to relieve stress and enhance overall well-being. Plus, dance fosters creativity, teamwork, and discipline. It allows individuals to explore different cultures and traditions, promoting inclusivity and diversity. So let's keep dance as a class and continue to embrace the joy of movement. Thank you. Up next, Mr. Alex Flores. Good evening President

039Ornelas, members of the board. My name is Alex Flores. I have served as the CT department chair for the past four years. And in the past four years as department chair It has been interesting because as in a leadership position, we really haven't had any say on what courses or programs and direction of the courses or the programs are going. No say in the budget of how our funding is spent on our programs. And so as teacher that has been here for the past 20 some years. It's been a little bit frustrating and I'm here to support Ms. Maggio and Mr. Haas, Mrs. Weiser, and we have students here. I mean, our students have come to voice the things that they enjoy doing at our school. And I just want to say, I just want

040to give a shout out to Brianna Alvarez and Alexis Escajeda who came a couple months ago to fight for our floral design class and our ornamental horticulture class. And they came, they spoke, and today we find out that we had 85 students in the floral design class. 85 students. Ornamental horticulture, we have 27 students. Why? because we have a 30-acre school farm. We have kids who are interested in the things that we do, and we have students here tonight that they want to keep this class. I mean, it's something that they enjoy doing. And so, I mean, to me, and I do have some of these kids in my class, and they're dancing in our class as well, so. but again, they're enjoying themselves and they're here together. And if this isn't what leadership is

041about or them voicing the things that they want for their school, for their program, I don't know what is. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Annalie Magana. Hi, sorry, I'm gonna speak for her. She's kind of shy right now. Good morning, superintendents and board members. I am Annalie Magana. As a student within a 504, I would like to... advanced for dance it's created new opportunities for new students with physical disability it helps me explore new pathways and the side of myself i do not know i do know it helps sorry guys i do not know it helps grow as people thank you awesome thank you um now i will be reading the comments that were sent in writing Dear Santa Paula Unified School Board of Education members, I'm writing a letter to persuade your

042board members to take an active role in the prevention of the decimation of the Santa Paula High School dance program. I work as a Nordhoff High School dance program teacher in Ojai and founded the program in 2004. It has come to my attention from the SPHS program teacher, Christina Maggio, that site administration eliminated the benefit for students to earn not only career technical education credit, but also physical education credit and arts credit in dance classes moving forward starting this fall. This makes no sense because dance is both highly physical and artistic as well as a means to prepare for future careers in a variety of fields. Choosing to offer only elective credit eliminates one of the major incentives to get students in the dance classroom and disrupts the growth of this new program. The opportunity

043cost of this choice is significant in terms of how meaningful, engaging, and communal it is to provide credit and access to dance education for all students. Dance education is transformative on an intellectual, physical, social, and emotional level for students in a school community. Only a very limited number of students in California, 2%, take dance within our public school education. Our Naradoff Junior and High School Dance programs engage over 10% of our student population in a series of courses available in grades 7 through 12. Our program is aligned with the California Career Technical Education Standard of Arts, Media, and Entertainment, as well as the California Arts Standards. After research completed in the spring of 2021, we can proudly say that our graduates study a variety of subject areas after high school that have led them to

044careers serving as professional dancers, choreographers, K-12 dance educators, elementary school teachers, school counselors, Pilates teachers, fitness instructors, personal trainers, dance studio teachers, professional photographers, actors, producers, directors. arts administrators physical therapists nurses and dance movement therapists because of our prowess in cte our program was awarded the golden bell award in 2021 by the california california school board association you can read more about our program here and there profile article from spring of 22 that explains how dance can address both UC A through G visual and performing arts standards and meet career technical education standards. It is most meaningful to report the dance educators in California public schools are in high demand due to proposition 28 and the limited number of existing CTE dance education pathways are building a pipeline to the dance credential and future employment

045of our students. With the establishment of the dance studies major at California State University Channel Islands, students in Ventura County now have the opportunity to pursue higher education locally that can lead to the dance credential. Collaboration, self-knowledge, creativity, work ethic, and studio habits of mind from the classroom are applicable life skills that are essential to being a successful person and good human. That is what dance education offers. I urge you to take the time to find out more about the philosophical shift that's happening and do what you can to change the narrative and the expectations at the Santa Paula High School Dance Program before it's too late. Sincerely, Kim Auge, Nordhoff Dance and Choreography teacher. Okay. Dear Santa Paula community, district leadership, and board members, I'm currently a CTE AMA teacher at Santa Paula High

046School. I teach media, art, and design. Media Production and Digital Communications Advanced. In addition to my teaching duties, I run CAR-TV and the Future Business Leaders of America. Under AME, my students can earn either art or elective credit while developing the artistic and technical skills necessary to excel as leaders, effective communicators and creators of digital content across various industry sectors. Early this school year, we were informed by our principal that AME or Arts Academy as it was named, would be terminated and everyone in AME would transition to visual and performing arts. You will teach the same classes, I was told in my one-on-one meeting. However, after thorough research and communication with the California Department of Education and Ventura County Office of Education, serious concerns came to light. Both CDE and VCOE confirmed that I would

047not be able to teach under VAPA because an art credential would be necessary. On Monday, April 22nd, 2024, I was informed of a plan to obtain a temporary one-year art authorization to add my single subject credential. This would allow me to comply with EVAPO requirements and enable my students to continue earning art credit in my classes. However, what will happen after the one-year authorization expires? Will the district pay for me to go back to school and earn a permanent art authorization? These unfortunate attempts to disenfranchise a significant number of students who thrive in AME will have adverse consequences. Students in marginalized communities often receive inadequate educational opportunities and resources. I advise we keep AME. I believe we're stronger together. As a school and district, we should provide an equitable environment where all students can thrive.

048Sincerely, Mr. Nielsen K. Lopez, Santa Paula High School. Dear board members, my name is Lupita Garcia. I'm currently a sophomore at Santa Paula High School. This is my second year taking dance. I took dance originally my freshman year as an alternative to PE, but as time passed, I began to realize that it was more than just an alternative for me. It was where I created valuable friendships and where I was able to feel comfortable, safe, and accepted. I was able to interact with people more than I did my other classes because I didn't feel judged or criticized by a teacher or another student. I was able to be myself. Being in dance definitely allowed me to gain social skills and a lot of confidence. It allowed me to be exposed to many different opportunities and

049ventures. Ms. Maggio has continuously strived for better opportunities for the dance program and the students. By something as simple as us performing at Isbell, or having guest speakers come talk to us. We have always been fulfilled with new learning experiences that have made an impact. Over these past two years, I have gained a lot of experience being a dance student, from learning new dances to simply learning how to interact with people better. Dance has a very impactful role in my life, and many others can say the same. For dance to be taken away, you're denying others to be able to experience that. But you're also taking away how people express themselves in their safe space. As board members of the community, your mission should be to strive for better for this community and give more

050opportunities to this community. Taking away dance diminishes our opportunities and potential. Thank you for listening. And there's one more. Dear board members. I'm writing to express my profound frustration and disappointment with the dismal state of volunteer opportunities for parents within our school community. Despite my eagerness to contribute to the support and enrichment of our students, I have encountered numerous obstacles, roadblocks, and blatant misinformation from those in authority hindering my efforts. It is disheartening to witness almost an entire school year pass by with minimal events and activities. I apologize. Okay. Sorry, I was reading the wrong comment. Dear honored board members, as a parent deeply invested in the educational welfare of my two students enrolled at Glen City, I feel compelled to express my profound disappointment and frustration. I am also the assistant superintendent's wife, Mrs.

051Kevin Olson. My complaints to the board have been related to my non-central experience as a parent, not as a spouse of the district employee. Despite my efforts to share concerns with the administration and the board, I have received no response. My request for transparency, data, and involvement in my children's education have been ignored. Allow me to shed light on the pressing issues that continue to plague parents within our community. Were the needs of families taken into account when decisions were made to truncate summer school by two weeks? purportedly to placate teachers? Has anyone paused to consider the profound ramifications for families reliant on summer school during breaks? This example underscore a glaring imperative to heed the voices of parents. A myopic focus on the concerns of educators is driving our school district towards deterioration, evidenced

052by the alarming exodus of families. What's worse is the toxic environment among Glen City families. Many parents, myself included, feel unwelcome on campus. We dread drop-off and pick-up due to the behavior of some PTA members and even your teachers. Such behavior is utterly reprehensible and begs the question, why? Despite our earnest efforts to comply with directives from leadership, we find ourselves mirrored in this lamentable situation. I purposely appealed to the superintendent three months ago for a mediated dialogue between affected families, yet this plea has been met with resounding silence. Regrettably, I am forced to relinquish any hope that the SPUSD harbors genuine concern for formulating policies that foster meaningful parental involvement in our children's education. the deafening silence from district officials speaks volumes i implore you to facilitate a constructive dialogue among families ensnared in

053this divisive quagmire wrought by the gross mismanagement of this situation it is imperative that we restore harmony and cooperation within our community for the betterment of all stakeholders and that is all we have for public comment today moving on to six information first reading of the csba policy updates march 2024 superintendent weinstein good evening board members and guests thank you guys all for coming um so every three months we get updates on board policies normally these updates have to do just with law changes or or cde regulation changes we have an outside consultant in the csba that basically redoes our policies and updates them so that we're in compliance with the law as well as the CDE regulations. So we have just a few on the March 2024 updates. And so I'm just going to

054hit the highlights. The entire scope of the changes are there for the board to review at their leisure so the first one is comprehensive safety plan although we've always had a comprehensive safety plan the the um The most important thing is that we need to make sure it gives access to the community as well as parents as well as students. So to make sure that they understand where to find it so they can review it, ask questions, and make sure that it makes sense. The other part of the safety plan has to do with the emergency and disaster preparedness plan. Emergency and disaster preparedness plan, the update basically has is that we need to have a separate section. in our safety plan for emergency disasters and the effects on disabled students. We need to make

055sure that they're safe. We need to make sure that we do everything we can to ensure that during an emergency, we are making sure that they have the right support so that they can weather the storm. Food services is another one of the work policies. and it just reinforces the free food or free meals for students and in addition it says that we can it's up to our district for a comprehensive free food district for the community that it's up we can actually start a cafeteria fund in order to help support our cafeteria services and i think the last one here is about um uh suspension and disciplinary actions so right now um There is strength the we've always had this policy, but now they're strengthened language having to do with union members. So what

056the update basically is, is that retaliation. In other words, if a union brings a complaint, if a teacher brings a complaint, whatever it is that they're that we are charged with making sure that putting things in place so that there's no retaliation against that union member. Awards for achievement. So the last one is the awards for achievement. The policy encourages awards for achievement for our students. And in this policy, the big change is we cannot charge a fee for these awards. So we never have, but some school districts must have. And so it's right here where it just basically says. that no fee or other costs be charged to any student in relation to any requirement in qualifying or receiving any district achievement awards. And we will be bringing back these policies on May 8th

057in order for you guys to vote on it. So if you have any questions between now and May 8th, please let me know. Thank you. Moving on to presentations, restorative justice presentation. Dr. Bradley and Matthew Inouye. Did I get it right? All right. Good evening, President Ornelas, Board of Trustees, Superintendent Weinstein, Cabinet, and audience. It is my pleasure to stand before you to have an opportunity to this program. It is my honor to turn it over to Matthew Inouye, our Restorative Justice Facilitator. But before I do, I have to say. The import of restorative justice and the impact that it has on the ability of students to access education in our academic program cannot be understated. It should also be noted that before he joined our team, we had a team of 19 restorative justice

058facilitators. And I just want to give honor to the amazing work that this one individual with the team has done so far. So it's my pleasure to turn it over to Matthew anyway. Y'all ready for this? Okay. Gotta take this off. Gonna show the logo on the t-shirt, you know. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for giving us the honor and the privilege to be here to present everything we've done with this program for you today. Before I get started with the presentation, I do want to give the opportunity for some of my students who have either participated in some restorative practices along with that other peer facilitators to share the impact for them. So first I'm going to introduce Malia Jackson. Hello, good evening. My name is Aliyah Jackson. Thank you for the opportunity

059of having me. This restorative justice program brought me community building within our Human Services Academy, or known as the HSA program, and we really came together. It allowed me and my program to be more vulnerable and be together. We are less cliquey and more of a whole community. I believe it made my program so strong that you can see how much we've grown as students and as people. This comes in handy when being an athlete in track and volleyball. As when conflict comes across teammates, I can help them communicate and come together as the wonderful Restorative Justice program has taught me. Thank you for giving me the time to speak about this wonderful program. I would like to introduce Sophia. Hello, my name is Sophia Villegas. Thank you for the opportunity to have me here

060and to say my experience. I'm a high school student at Santa Paula High School. I'm an FFA and Lean Crew as well as a peer facilitator with RJ. From my experience being a peer facilitator, I found lots of opportunities of having better communication skills. Being a facilitator has not only helped me to open up, but it's also had helped me to get to know new people. And I honestly didn't think like a year ago today I wouldn't be standing here like talking to you guys because I'm like a really shy person. But it has given me a lot of opportunities to not be afraid to open up and get to know new people. And it has also made me notice a lot of different perspectives from people. And it's like. I noticed that, like, you

061can't really judge someone because they don't have it easy either. And I think everyone has different experiences, like, in general. So I think, yeah, this restorative justice has helped me a lot to open up as a person. And thank you guys for your time. I'm going to introduce Melissa Contreras. Hello, good evening. My name is Melissa Contreras and I'm a link crew and I'm an RJ facilitator in junior year of high school. I've always been told I'm a born leader, but it's not always easy living up to that title. Walking into high school from the loneliness of COVID has definitely affected my speaking and communication skills. Freshman year, I would have never thought I'd take the opportunity to be in a board meeting. but working with the RJ program and link crew has made a

062huge difference for me. I've noticed around me that students practicing in community circles talk more and are kinder to strangers. It's been amazing to witness the positive impact of building a strong and inclusive community. We've shared stories, laughed, and even shed tears. These experiences have taught me the importance of talking with strangers and building relationships. Thank you for this opportunity and I hope you have a good rest of your night. Thank you so much, guys. Oh, God, I was getting a little emotional there. Great job, everybody. Oh, my gosh. I'm a product of Santa Paula Unified and so, or Santa Paula Schools. And, you know, I'm the fruits of a lot of people's labor. And so it's a great privilege to be able to continue giving that gift. Thanks for the opportunity, again, to have

063us here and present everything the program has done. Where is that clicker? There you are. let's go ahead and just kick off in the first slide it's a quick introduction to what restorative practices are courtesy of the international institute of restorative practices there's a little blurb there i'm just going to share in my own words to put it simple restorative practices build strong and sustainable community and help hold people accountable for for actions of the wrongdoings without shaming them while also reintegrating them back in the community while having a high standard of support and accountability so the social discipline windows a image that I inputted on the presentation for you guys today because it really gives a clear message of what restorative practices are. It's high support and high accountability. I wanted to go over

064a little bit of my duties and responsibilities for you today and how myself and the program along with Dr. Bradley have supported in meeting those expectations and the duties and responsibilities. We've engaged with leadership across the district with one-on-one meetings to get buy-in and sorry I'm shaking I'm a little nervous that shows how much I care so To make a long story short, we met with a variety of administrators to educate them on how to do the process, along with that also how they can contact me. For the restorative justice facilitators, I've built a network with Matthew Buck, the link crew coordinator at Santa Paula High School, and we've trained those students in restorative practices, particularly the community building. And I do want to touch on one thing that the student board member, Ms. Bosby.

065This last name of our board member who's who's no longer here? Betis amazing. So she had mentioned that she had heard about the training that we're going to be doing again in restorative and it's it's amazing how fast the word spreads I just told a few people in the link crew class and it just goes around so I'm actually really happy that you know it's resonating with our students. For implementing in training, I've partnered with the Aspire program. And with the Aspire program, we've trained them in community building and strengthened them on their skills for the afterschool program. For integrating into existing programs, I have a strong relationship with the Wellness Center coordinators and I've partnered with them on a variety of events and they've partnered with me on events that I do. Along with

066that, I've also built a strong relationship with the outreach specialist Leslie Fonseca at Santa Paula High School and we've put together a plan and we're in the early process of planning an attendance conference for parents and students who are being affected by chronic absenteeism. And then a bridge between community organizations. We've been reached out to by a variety of organizations. One organization I want to highlight is One Step Alaves, and they've actually asked us how they can implement restorative practices at their youth center. So what you see before you is the 12 indicators of restorative practices. I had the privilege of attending the training with the International Institute of Restorative Practices, and they tasked us with going back to our communities and assessing where we fit on the 12 indicators. And I'm actually really happy

067to share with you guys today that nine of the 12 indicators we meet, and of the three that we don't fully meet, we have some met. And we are actively working towards getting some of those yellow up to green. I wanted to go ahead and share this with you today, a little bit of this pyramid and the services provided. The services provided that you see next to that go in tandem with the tier that it falls under. So for tier one, that's preventative supports. That includes community building, social, emotional learning, and relationship building. And what we have for that are peer facilitators. Thank you again. Our community circles, continuous training, and this is just some of the services we provide. So for tier two, we have targeted interventions. These are our restorative circles. So, um,

068restorative circles and minor conflict mediation for our tier three. This is what we do. Not as much. These are high intensive, um, you know, selective, um, restorative conferences. And so this is attendance conferences and restorative conferences. As for our program data, this is what this shows. So for our student meetings that we've done, we've had, and that includes our student follow-ups and student interviews, 357 of those meetings with a total of 459 participants. For our prevention work, our Tier 1 community circles classroom presentations, 57 meetings with participants totaling 1,550. That includes the circles led by our peer facilitators. The restorative justice circles, the number of meetings, 35 with a total of 141 participants, and training that includes student trainings, staff trainings, and the follow-ups on those trainings, there's been nine, and of the participants, there's

069129. I wanted to show some qualitative data for you that I get from a survey that I send out after every process that I do, particularly with the community building. I wanted to read this one from a social science teacher at Santa Paula High School. The community building circle was absolutely incredible and made such a huge impact on myself and the students. It was beautiful to see a group of ninth graders bond and share their stories and experiences with one another and be vulnerable with each other. I plan on having these reoccurring community circles with my freshman class to further bond with each other and create meaningful connections. I'm really, really proud of those students. When I heard the feedback from that teacher one-on-one, she shared with me that it was sort of night and

070day what the classroom was before and after. And that's the beauty of doing community circles. The more you know your neighbor, the less likely you are to get in little tussles with them. that can then snowball into bigger things. So creating strong community is the core of what restorative is. The referral process is something that I wanted to share with you today. So just completing a Google form, it's linked in here inside of the presentation. So you just fill out the Google form, I'll be there, I'll schedule the circle, interview all parties, and then I'll follow up until all commitments are fulfilled. These are some photos of the variety of events we've done throughout the year and I'm so I just can't help but smile when I see them. So right in the middle you

071see Mr. Buck handing the certificate over to one of the RJ facilitators who completed our training. They get to put this on their resume. These are hard skills that they get to take with them and put on their resume and it does make them stand out. I'm a testament to that trust and believe. So along with that a photo from one of the field trips that we've done and photos from trainings these are some bold next steps these are things that we are actively working on and working towards so when it comes to things we're working on and working towards reintegration circles when appropriate for every student coming back from suspension making sure that they're still part of the community that they're not ostracized more peer facilitators so in the middle school and elementary schools

072we want to ensure that we get some peers there as well Impact data. Clearly there's tons of impact for this program. We're hearing it throughout. It makes my heart so full. But other data like attendance, academic and behavior to assess impact in that regard. Restorative family conferencing. So holding early RGIC conferences with families who are facing chronic absenteeism. I touched on that earlier. An RJ Circle conference video, creating a video of our own. And that's going to take some work finding the right situation and right students and getting everything comfortable. And then an awareness campaign for all stakeholders aware of how to initiate the restorative process. And these are some things on the horizon. So we would like to see an additional full-time facilitator. These are things we're actively working, that we want to work

073towards. They're on the horizon. They're not quite there yet. So a full-time facilitator would help us achieve our program ambitions. A recognition event that would celebrate and recognize the students who make an impact in their respective communities. Parent outreach, develop a calendar for parent events with the RJ program. And with that being said, with all said and done, any questions? Thank you for being here and for everything you do. Thank you to our students. Anyone have questions or comments? Actually, I do. I mean, first of all, kudos to everybody who presented. You guys did a wonderful job. Can we give them a round of applause? Likewise goes to you. But I do have some questions. So you mentioned something about getting a certificate, something that students can add this to their resumes. The skills? Yes.

074So once they complete the training, the program provides them with their certificate that they've completed the training. And so they receive that and they can put that on their resume once they complete the trainings. We have two separate trainings. One's the community building training and the other is a conflict resolution training. So is this offered during a class or after school? In partnership with Link Crew. So Link Crew is a leadership. Yes. So Link Crew and what else? um just link crew currently but we're looking to expand that so we're looking for potentially after school hours i'm working out the kings through that one more in link crew is it like two weeks three weeks a month or how long is it yeah it's comprehensive it's by the hour so it's 180 hours of training

075okay so there's potential to grow the training so that maybe HSA, other academies, or during, I think, ninth grade, they also offer choices or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or zero period, short, I don't know, something early. And then also internships for these students to grow what they've learned and assist with the elementary schools. Oh, yes. And that was one of the field trips that they had here at Glen City. We had a field trip with the trained facilitators down here to do community building with the sixth grade students. Yeah, I'm just thinking of like the different like HSA, a lot of the students who are going to maybe teaching, who want to be teachers, who want to be in other fields that these skills would. help them tremendously. Thank you. Thank you. Just wanted to

076say excellent job. Melissa Yehmeha, former student, you guys did it. But all students, you guys did a fabulous job. Really appreciate it. I see the value in this. Social-emotional learning has to be at the forefront of our conversation on a regular basis because we know that our communities are struggling when we look at the homeless population, we look at the drug abuse population, school safety concerns. you're doing something in the right direction. So again, thank you. And thank you students for also making the difference because it does start with you guys. So thank you. Thank you. I have a few questions. What is the trigger to get into a tier two or tier three support? So for a tier two and tier three, that's through the... But for over the referral process that I shared,

077you just fill out that Google form. And for parents out there who are interested, they can also contact their site and their site can initiate that. The school site can initiate that. And what kind of things would trigger that? I mean, is it just a general concern? And then. Yeah. So when there's a harm or there's a conflict, that's up for the site administrator to sort of designate and figure out if it's if it's for them. We do have a. a form that designates sort of what's like a qualified referral and what's a non-qualified referral. I follow up with all referrals to do my own investigation, my own inquiry into that. How does discipline layer onto this process? Could you repeat that question one more time? How does discipline, like if there's like, say, a

078fight, right? Is that... I'm just trying to get a sense of, you know, in what kind of situations is restorative justice used for? Excellent question. The way that we suggest that we think about it is it's a multifaceted approach where you use all the tools in your toolbox. So let's say, for example, there is a fight. You have to, by law, use other means of correction when possible. So, for example, in lieu of a suspension, a decision may be made to have them enter into a restorative. dialogue. And the key is that it has to be voluntary. They have to agree to do it. It would be interesting for me to see, like, instead of just like counts of how many were participating, like in situations like that, you know, can we see how many,

079how effective was it in going forward? Right. So say if someone got in a fight, they went to a restorative justice, did it? you know keep them from going into you know continuing that behavior as we went on and because it's voluntary you get a you can kind of compare to the well those who didn't you know did they you know were they still involved in that conduct you know more often right so just some sort of measure to the effectiveness of it um i think would be would be good to see can we do that a parent to talk no Why not? Just kidding. No. Anyone else have any comments? Ma'am, if you go over to my secretary over there, fill out a public comment form, because this is actually an agenda item. You

080can speak on it, about it. Okay? So you just have to fill out a form. Yes, ma'am. Unless you have any questions for ma'am. Does anybody else have any questions or comments? Student board member? No. No, I said, I mean, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, our student board member has something to say. Yeah, Jenny told me to say that the restorative justice, like that what you guys do is really impactful and that it's making a difference. And she wanted to say that. Thank you. I know maybe you can do one for ASB since she's in both of them are in ASB. Absolutely. All of them. Okay. And now we have a public comment from Noreli Angulo. So I was not planning that. I'm a parent and I was not planning to say anything. But when

081I saw the good, you know, program that they have, I want to just make a comment. My daughter is Melissa and she got involved in a. conflict at high school and one of the things she told me and it was like a you know a problem that was in the high school a conflict with between another student and she told me mom I don't want to I want to do everything right because I don't want to get kicked out of the lean group. So these things works because I saw that she was so interested to do everything right. So she will keep her place in the lean group. So I can, for me that, like a sign that this kind of program works, if they get involved in things like this, just that. Thank you.

082Thank you. Okay, now we go back up to 7A, Grace Thill Literature and Arts Academy. Ms. Wendy Maxwell. Good evening, board members, cabinet, and participants attending tonight. I am Wendy Maxwell, the principal of Grace Thill, and I'm excited to share with you the first year of our academy. All right. So in working with Learner Center Collaborative, Katina, and our ILT team, we created our mission, vision, and tagline for our academy. I'll give you a minute to read through the mission and vision. These are a few examples of art that Ms. Park, the art teacher, supported in the classroom. Our tagline is every voice, every story. every artist. These are sixth grade ancient Egyptians, I have a hard time saying this, sarcophagi. This is second and third grade line practice on our school-wide crazy hair day.

083So she adapted the art lesson for when we had crazy hair day. Every grade level has chosen their own eight-week visual or performing arts residency with artists from Ventura County Arts Council. Our TK students are participating in Meringue Dance currently and having a whole lot of fun. Our kinder students are doing theater arts and storytelling, stage direction, theater games, and it's building self-esteem and problem solving. It activates their imaginations and their bodies. Our first grade participated in traditional dance, ballet, jazz, modern dance, stretching, aerobic, individual, beat, basic steps, vocabulary, styles, choreography, rhythm, balance. They also had a culminating performance for parents that included personal expression and skill. Our second grade students developed steps for creative expression, learned about belief systems and cultures and their significance, similarities between their belief systems and ours. They practiced and

084developed growth in artistic work. This residency, third grade students were able to develop the idea for the mural and participated in creating a school-wide mural with the artist on our campus. Fourth grade students practiced three techniques of hand building with clay. They examined a variety of modern and historical works in ceramics. They learned the vocabulary and understanding of the three states of clay, and they developed competency in hand building skills to generate artistic work. The majority of the grade levels enjoyed their residency. There might be a few changes for next year. However, moving forward, students that attend Grace Thill will participate in a different visual or performing arts program TK through sixth grade. So every year they'll participate in a residency. Fifth grade did comic strip drama, when it explores comic strips from the perspective

085of the story elements of setting, character, plot. So that was a lot of fun. Sixth grade are doing varying levels of theater arts and storytelling appropriate to their grade level. The residency involves public speaking, acting, performance. It includes voice movement, building self-esteem. David Prather, a teaching artist that we have used for assemblies, taught a few workshops for our fourth through sixth grade classes. In fourth, he used the Jabberwocky and idiomatic expressions with Fifth Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and Sixth Casey at the bat, he used tableau, pantomime, dialogue and improvisation. The students love them and we have so many pictures of our sixth graders just having a blast and being comfortable in their own skin performing in front of each other. So it was a lot of fun. Our author visit this school year was

086Alexis O'Neill, who is the author of the famous children's book, The Recess Queen. Students were able to purchase her books, and there was an author signing time for the students that purchased books. She also came back to the site and provided a writer's workshop for third through sixth grade students. Students applied observational analysis and writing skills and hands-on exercises as they learned strategies for generating core content or themes for their narrative that they were writing. These are our adorable transitional kindergarten project-based learning tigers taking out the trash Our school-wide theme is being kind and we are following the be kind people project our TK students wanted to be kind to our school so they work together as a class to pick up trash and Make our school look nice and organized like their incredible classroom

087Kindness equals cleanliness is their motto. They are collecting data on how many bags they filled up and finding bottles to recycle and reuse Our counselor runs an academic ambassadors program that students are able to research different careers from a variety of fields and learn what education level they need to accomplish. They take virtual tours of universities from all over the country and occasionally have guest speakers. Students are able to write letters to universities and they tend to respond to our students with letters, brochures, pennants, stickers, lanyards, and t-shirts. When our students receive their response letters from universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and USC, they become very excited and are encouraged to plan for their future. And these are a couple of our newer murals on campus that we have had done. This is our mural

088dream big. This is Mrs. Adams second grade class after winning the attendance trophy for the week. So we take pictures in front of them. This is one of our playground murals. This is one side. And then this is the other. Let kindness bloom. And go Tigers. Any questions? Thank you for your presentation. Anyone have questions or comments? I'll say wow. It's understated how we engage students. It's not just reading, writing, and arithmetic, right? It's important to find talents of our students and allow them to flourish. It's evident that in your presentation that that's what's happening at Gracedale. So again, thank you for your presentation. I look forward to more artwork, but the artwork just in general from the students looks amazing. Thank you. Thank you. It's been a while since I've gone, so I'd be

089happy to see those murals. When I saw the presentation, I was just in awe. And if I recall correctly, your reading test scores are pretty good throughout the years because of how much emphasis is put on reading at Graceville. I think somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that's the case for Graceville. So congratulations. Thank you so much. Any other comments? Thank you for your presentation. Oh, Wendy, I'm sorry. I have one question for you. When is your culminating event? Oh, that's right. So we are, thank you for the reminder, we are having our Authors Fair. and art festival there'll be performances on may 23rd i believe we're starting at five with the taquero and each class will be performing uh that evening as well and we'll do a school-wide performance as

090well so thank you thank you thank you uh 7b student testing and scores year to date Good evening, President Ornelas, Superintendent, and Board members. Tonight we're going to present all of the CAASPP data, all of the dashboard data. We're going to go quickly through that and then we're excited to share our literacy data with you tonight. I want to thank Dr. Garcia and Tim. They have been working over the tirelessly over the last few days to compile the literacy data. With this being our first time around with this, it was a little bit difficult to compile that data, but they did it, and we're really excited about presenting that tonight. Good evening, board president, board members, superintendent, cabinet, members of the audience still left. Wake up. Because we're going to get excited about the data,

091we know what you'll see in just a moment is some areas of growth, and I will also highlight bright spots. And so we will see CASP K-12 data, 6-12 reading data, CORE and Hegarty, our literacy initiative, where we are focusing on phonics and phonemic awareness. So first we will look at the CASB district data. On these graphs, and hopefully you also are able to see this in front of you, we can look at ELA and math district data. And this is from 21-22 versus 22-23, so that you can comparatively see those right next to each other. And at the top of this particular table or graph, what you see is green. which means standard exceeded standard met and then it goes down to standard nearly met and standard not met and so you can see

092the two red boxes that are around the data for 22 23 and for ela on the left and ela and math on the right the performance levels of course like i mentioned are at the top and the trend we see here is a combination of the top dark green and the light green which are standard exceeded and standard met. And what we can see on this particular table is that we are about the same in terms of our standard exceeded and standard met in both ELA and math. Looking at our subgroup data. So we're going to go through this actually quickly. And you know what? It's not hidden. So this was actually hidden in the slide, but I'm going to quickly go through this. So we have some bright spots here looking at this. So

093we've got ELA. Approximately staying the same at BW so we can see there was an increase in ELA, math stayed about the same. At Blanchard we see a decline in ELA approximately like math is approximately the same. At Glen City we see that we stayed approximately the same. At Grace Thill we see there's a bright spot we see an increase there in math and we'll see some more data as we look at the cast scores at mckevitt we see an increase in ela and math so that's a really great bright spot and looking at isbell they stayed approximately the same in ela and math and renaissance high school had a decline in math stayed approximately the same in ela santa paula high school there is uh ela is a bright spot there was an increase

094and we remained about the same in math remember this is casp scores so looking at ela english language arts this right here is another way to look at the data And so on the CASP website, we can see at a glance on the left, we see ELA, we see 29.87% met or exceeded. So they combine this set of data and you can see that for 22, 23 on the right side, we have 29.41%. And so this is a nice... as I stated before, at a glance with percentages of students within each achievement level. And you can tell the achievement levels by the colors. So this is another way to see overall district data from 21, 22, 22, 23. So in this next slide. what we see is english language arts for special education students and

095we can see that we've got 7.79 percent met or exceeded 5.55 met or exceeded so comparatively we see those side by side and we know that this is a major growth area and we will take questions in just a minute once we finish the CASP data and then we'll jump into the phonemic awareness data. So English learners, we have our English learners 9.7% met or exceeded, 7.94% met or exceeded. This is just a way to see all of the data that was presented on the prior slides and I think on the agenda that was posted because we're looking at The Google slide deck some of these are are appearing so we'll make sure that all of this gets uploaded to the minutes, so this view allows us to see all of our special populations on

096the top we've got 2122 on the bottom 2223 and our bright spots again are mckevitt and as phs bright spots in la. For mathematics. Our bright spots were BW, Phil, and McKevitt for growth areas in mathematics. And we can see that our mathematics data, we are going to need to be focusing our strategies and actions in the LCAP on K-12 mathematics. For special education, we can see that there is even more of a decline. So we see that 3% met or exceeded and presently 3.13% comparatively when we look at the scores. And then, of course, these are English learners in mathematics. They went from 5.16 to 6.22. And then this is the overall data with the 21-22 on top. and 22-23 to allow you to visually see what that trend in growth was. So, CAST

097science. So, when we look at the CAST, so California Assessment of Sciences here, and so we can see that we've got 14.34% meeting or exceeding in 21-22, and then approximately stayed the same to 14.07. And here is our special ed data and our data for our English learners. Please know that English learners, we're looking at our long-term English learners as well as our students who are RFEPs and, or actually our RFEPs are not included in this. And we also have our newcomers. And this is our data overall. So this is a major bright spot in district alternative assessments. So for our district alternative assessment, what we see, this is called the CAW, not the CAASPP, California Alternative Assessment. This is for our moderate to severe special education students. And they are... in most areas outperforming

098the state. And so these are assessing functional skills in ELA, math, and in science. And so we can see how they did. And we've got in mathematics, 16.67, and then there was a jump to 25%, just like you saw on the ELA slide. And in science, you can see that in 21-22, 41.67% met. the proficiency level and there's no data reported because there were less than 11 students and this is for confidentiality reasons but we do have data on each of those 11 students it's just that the state does not provide us with the graph and so again bright spot we're outperforming at the state level in most of the areas for this alternate assessment. So just a shout out to our teachers who are working really hard and this particular assessment is individually assessed.

099And so now in my new role overseeing assessment, I'm working with all of the teachers across the district and providing training, working together with the team and it's a lot of hard work. They've got individually they have to assess every single one of their students in each one of those subject areas. So this right here gives us an at a glance across the grade levels. And so we can see grades three through 11. So these are the tested grades. And as you look, and I'm just going to give you the blue and green when those are combined. So, of course, those are the achievement levels. Remember, blue is standard exceeded, so that's level four. So if you were a parent and you're receiving a score report, you would receive these levels for your child. so

100in combination if we go from left to right looking at the ela scores in grade three when those are combined it's 28.8 next is 28.97 next is 34.06 next 22.51 23.94 grade 8 22.77 Hold on a little lamb to tell me that my time is 10 minutes. So 40.8 for grade 11. And so you can see in mathematics, it's 28.8, 28.97, 34.06, 22.51 grade six, 23.94, 22.77, 40.8. And so what we see here is a little bit more, we see some detail. in terms of our district CASP and science, in terms of our students and where they are proficient and meeting or exceeding the standard. So again, it's like 16.03, 9.79 in grade eight, 16.3 in grade 11, it's not given in grade 10, grade 12, 3.45, and all high schools, 15.7 in all grades

101was 14.07 with those two. two categories combined. The cast just know that when it is given, it is summative in terms of including two prior grades of science that get tested in the fifth grade and in the seventh grade or grade eight, I'm sorry, and then in grade 11. And then in grade 12, we catch anyone who may not have tested in grade 11. So now what we're going to do is look at the dashboard. So California dashboard and there's going to be a test in just a little while of all of the different acronyms for you. So it's what we see here is sometimes the California or college and career indicators. We see something called the five by five, which is the status and change. So it shows us the growth from the previous

102year or. the decline. And so these here I've called out some numbers for you. And so what you'll see on the top of this table is you'll see levels that are on a continuum from increased significantly all the way on the right-hand side to the left-hand side, which has declined significantly and everything in between. On the left column, what you see is very high to very low in terms of the status. number one where you see that we have one school in the low and increased so that is reflective of our district ELA. So we see Santa Paula High School increased in ELA. I called that out as a bright spot earlier. And so it's listed on this five by five in this particular box. Remember, this is status and change that it is communicating.

103We see six schools that are in the orange. And so that is the reason for the number six there. And then very low, we see two schools that declined significantly. And so we know that we're going to have to address these in our LCAP as we analyze our data. Next is our district five by five for math. So we see schools over on the right side that increased significantly. Bright Spot, McEvitt. We also see Barbara Webster and Grace Thill. We see Blanchard and Santa Paula High School and Isbell maintaining. And then we see there's a decline over on the left. I'm sorry, I said Santa Paula Unified District. as a district we are maintaining santa paula high school declined in mathematics On this five by five, we see our English learner progress. And so similarly,

104we can see what the range is along the continuum from declining significantly to increasing significantly. We see Blanchard increased significantly for our English learners and Santa Paula High School. And then we also see Glen City increased as well. So in terms of our dashboard college and career indicator, so overall we can see categories that are on the dashboard across the top of this table. And we also see areas in red that are of note since if we have those areas two years in a row, then We need to address things in the LCAP through something called differentiated assistance. And so those are things that are of note. Here we see. uh college and career levels and measures report so this is a part of the cci college and career indicator and this data shows students

105that are prepared for college and career pathways there are a lot of things that go into this calculation including pathway completers including students who are taking advanced placement courses how students are performing on the casp and there are there's a nice little summary sheet if you are interested in seeing that i can pull that guide for you and then we have our dashboard graduation rate so here's another five by five and we see our high schools renaissance and santa paula high school renaissance increased and santa paula high school maintained So we will go through this data quickly because this was something that we can include in the board report in terms of our suspension and our absenteeism. And we're going to go ahead and pause and I'm going to go ahead and ask Dr. Moore

106and Tim to come on up and we're going to pause briefly just to see if you have any questions about CAASPP and then we are going to jump into the district literacy assessments. because that's a lot of information and i know it's been a while since we've seen casp data so i just using my weight teacher wait time any questions from anyone if not we can take them at the end No, I do because I know it goes directly with with CASP. So you mentioned that when we're two years in the red then that access differentiated instruction. What does that mean? What exactly are we looking at? So Dr. Moore is going to come up and respond to that since he is the lead on our LCAP writing. So differentiated assistance means that I believe

107last year we were in a DA due to our special ed population. We are in differentiated assistance this year. And what comes with that is we have to make sure that we are addressing the DA status. with our four LCAP goals. So we don't have to write a separate LCAP goal for that, but the fact that we're addressing differentiated assistance for our lower students has to be addressed, has to be evident in the LCAP goals, actions, and services. The follow-up was so can you give us an example of how? What maybe one example am I taking your question? So What we what we'll look at for the students that have been two years in the red what we have to do is The goals that we designed and typically the differentiated assistance will be within

108a subgroup. It could be English learners, students with disabilities. We have to show in the LCAP that we are addressing that. So if it's low achievement, What are we doing to provide additional support for the students? If it's absenteeism, what are we doing to make sure that those students get to school? But it has to be clear. What are we doing about it? So as we write the LCAP, you'll see that in the actions and services. So the targeted... data where you're testing students you'll figure that out as part of that testing right for so what uh what we'll do is so the students that fall into whatever uh the subgroup it is the principals will know exactly who those students are the teachers will know who those students are and what we're doing to

109address the the fact that we need to get out of differentiated assistance I imagine, so going back to the data when you looked at your ELL, your language learners, the scores weren't where we want them to be. So I know that we've been having, you know, detailed conversations in previous board meetings where we're going to be looking at intervention teachers spending more time providing intervention strategies. for our ELL students. Is that an example of a differentiated assistance? That's a perfect example. And we have 13 of our intervention teachers. We're splitting them down the middle. So each school will have a intervention teacher who will really be targeting our LTELs and our English language learners, emergent bilinguals. Thank you for that question. And I know Dr. Ramirez was able to be here tonight, but I know

110she's also working on the EL Master Plan and also has been doing professional development to give teachers the strategies that they need, those high leverage pedagogical strategies through. a program called EL shadowing that brings in a trainer in order to support teachers in how to more effectively deliver instruction. Dr. Garcia, I think Trustee Sandoval had something to add. Just one last, just a comment. You know, in looking at math, right, I had, you know, there was a proposal to, like, cut math credits, and I'm looking at all the red. And I'm like, you know, before we cut anything standards wise, I'd really like to see what are we doing to address math and not just third through fifth, right? CGI, but like, it's clear on this data. You can see a trend right where once

111they start hitting middle school, they start losing it. Okay. So now what are we doing for these kids? You know, this math is, I mean, we talk a lot about reading, right? But math is fundamental to get a good job. STEM, healthcare, you know, all kinds of different things that are going to be, you know, the main drivers of occupational growth in, you know, in, you know, occupations that are actually going to pay, right? I mean, I guess they don't know math. They could just, you know, do retail, I guess. But I mean, that's red everywhere. Just it's a crisis. I think so. I'm in agreement. We need to train our students to be able to go into those high skill high wage jobs. And we know that through our focus on building up some

112of our STEAM and STEM focuses and themes at our school, we need to, you know, continue to focus and i know through our cognitively guided instructions cgi as well as our p3cc initiative where we are looking at not only high leverage pedagogical strategies but we're also looking at how to build standards uh standards maps and prior identify the priority standards and there are some intensive work that is being done there as well as just looking at the type of training that we need at the secondary as well there's a new math framework that has come out and so we need to continue to focus our work and our efforts on providing intensive professional development for all of our teachers as the professionals that they are they deserve to have this type of training I just

113want to add quickly there. One of the things that we're sort of laying the groundwork for, and Dr. Garcia is working on this, we're putting a lot of time into this, with the focus on standards-based instruction and the development of the benchmark assessments, we will be able to track. in a timely way throughout the year how they're doing on the standards that they're gonna be tested on in the CAASPP. And we haven't had a mechanism in place to do that. And there's been such an emphasis in our district on teaching curriculum. And we hope that the standards are being taught. But when teachers look at these are the standards that I'm teaching this quarter. And we're going to assess on those standards this quarter to really measure how they're doing and then provide intervention where

114it's needed. So we're building the structure so that we can really look at our data. Yes, and we want to have a standardized approach to how we analyze standards to ensure that all of our teachers are doing the deep dive and understand what... is important to teach so those are the priority standards and what is nice to know but not a priority and there's no curriculum that is perfect and you know what we want is to really have teachers be critical consumers of their curriculum. So moving forward with the district literacy assessments and STAR reading. So what you're going to see is 612 data. And so this right here, this is a diagnostic test given second to 12. What you're going to see is just a little sliver of six. through 12th grade and it's

115an online adaptive assessment that measures basic vocabulary reading comprehension skills and it's given a few times a year so let's go ahead and just quickly take a look at isbell renaissance high school and santa paul high school And I will let you know that what you are looking at is something called star reading current student growth percentile. So that's the percent of students at or above the 35th student growth percentile, which shows growth relative to others in the same grade. This is a nationally comparative test. So it's like how our students are doing across the board as compared with their peers in the same grade. With similar star reading score history uses a student's earlier score in fall to their latest score in the given window. So you can see fall to winter. fall to

116winter data for 23-24. And so, Isbell, we have high growth, that's the top bar. The middle bar is typical growth and the low bar is low growth. And so you can see where that falls for Isbell for Renaissance and for uh santa paula high school um and so this uh is in regard to like a nationwide proficiency and as i stated before as a relative and the star diagnostic is a state board of education approved uh diagnostic test and there is also the ability to run predictive data that is valuable with regard to how students will perform on the ela casp And now I'm going to go ahead and bring up Director Tim Smith and Dr. Moore to talk about the science of reading and to share data with you. And before they discuss that,

117I have a handout for the board. And so in this handout, and I'll leave one right here for you, Dr. Moore. You've seen this. And Tim. And here you go. I'm going to go back to that because I don't think I fully answered the differentiated assistance question. So last year, I was going to say it, and then I skipped over it. Last year, we were in differentiated assistance due to our special ed population. This year, we're in DA due to our homeless and the suspension rate for our homeless students. So that's why we're in DA this year. All right, so I'm going to turn it over to... Tim, and we're going to jump right into our literacy data. Good evening. Tim Smith, Director of Elementary Education for the school district. So just to kind of

118give an overview of what we're doing with our early literacy, we started two years ago bringing in the core learning group to come in and do professional development for our teachers and then also to provide coaching support for them as well. And from that, teachers were trained in the science of reading on the best way to teach students how to read and to make it stick for them and so with that dr moore was leading the k k second grade literacy task force and part of their job was decide how are we going to how are we going to monitor and progress the students in their literacy journey how do we know that they're learning what they need to learn and we landed on excuse me we landed on two um assessments the core phonics

119survey and the Hegarty phonemic awareness survey and so as you can see here where we had agreements upon how when we're going to give this test when we're going to do it who's going to give it and so we're giving this test kindergarten through second grade for both the assessments we're doing it three times a year that is that is what our standard is for the district there are many school sites that are giving these assessments more than that so they can really have a good progress monitoring and move students in and out of intervention as needed based upon what their needs are and then it's a the both these tests are mastery level tests so students are going to know it and we want them to be at the end having the mastery of

120these basic reading skills So the first one we have right here is kindergarten kindergarten You we don't give the test the core phonics survey at the beginning of the year because they're coming in sometimes this is a kindergarteners first time in being in the school setting. So we want to give them a chance to learn some things. We want to give them a chance to develop some of these skills. At the end of the first semester, we had 25% of our kindergarten students across the district already having mastery of the skills, reading skills that they needed for the end of the year. And so that is really great progress to see that at that time, we've got 25% of our kindergarten students are already at the end of the year in the mastery of those

121skills. This shows first grade and so this is comparative data from the baseline which is given in August and for the first semester and as you can see we had 10% that were at the beginning of the year had mastery of the skills or meaning proficiency of skills at the end of the first semester we had 51 of first grade students having that and we're going to give a little antidote data a little later on from one of the school sites that will show how much progress students have made since this first semester and the trajectory that they're taking absolutely go back to that slide hopefully go back i'm hitting the wrong one i think we did this last time all right there's got to be an easier way okay um so what i want

122to what i want to say uh and this is a very very critical uh this is a very critical uh point so on the first grade data on the august assessment That 10%, this is the students who the year prior in kindergarten did not have that laser focus instruction in phonics. So they came in really low. First grade, the first grade teachers were tasked with teaching the kindergarten. phonics standards and then the first grade. So they're at 51. Our goal, so we have one more assessment. Our goal is to end around 80 to 90% mastery on that particular assessment. Okay, I've got a question there. So is this test, this baseline, is on the first grade phenic awareness? Right, though. Phonics. Phonics awareness. Sorry, it's phonics. So kindergartners have their assessment, right? And then here,

123like, I guess I'm trying to figure out, like, Like next year, would we expect that 10% to be higher? It shouldn't, right? No, no. Right, okay. But there won't be as much catch-up to do. Absolutely. Because they will have already completed the kindergarten. And that's, I think, the exciting piece. When we look at year over year, I think next year is going to be super exciting because they have that, the kindergarten has that laser focus right now. So we won't be looking at 10%. There might be a little bit of a decline, but possibly coming in, it may be anywhere from 60% to 75% due to the summer slump. And so that's the – they're playing – I mean, they've done an amazing job with catch-up on that. So the data that's up there right

124now, this is second grade data. And we've got a few more data points because second grade, obviously, there's more skills that we want them to have and that they need to have. But again, you can see the growth coming in at the top one up there. We had 57% of the students have the basic phonics, phonemic skills that they needed to have at the first semester. I think that's up to 79%. So that's some great progress. The next one that's below that one, these are more complex skills that the students need to have throughout the year. We were at 24% and now they're at 39%. And then you can see the last one there. This is probably one of the most complex skills that students need to learn is being able to code multi-syllable words.

125And so... Very low percentage that was on that one, 3%. And at this time, they're at 14%. But remember, this is 14% mastery. That means they're meeting the end of the year expectations, which means that we've got students that are on track for meeting this grade level expectation by the end of the year. So here's another question. Is there a different data point that we can see, right? Because right now we're measuring TORs on, you know, What should you have in June? Right. Which is an unfair metric, right? How do we know, or how do you know how many students are on track to meet that June mastery? So is there like an in between, right? Between the mastery and like, you know, half mastery or whatever. Well, part of it is, is the data

126that we're collecting, it, it covers over. It covers over 12 different skills that we're looking at for the students to have that mastery on. In how we're collecting the data, we collect it three times a year on each one of those 12 skills. It's a great colored spreadsheet. It's a little overwhelming to bring here and it may not mean as much but we can look at that. But when you see that we have many students that are either red or yellow at the baseline and then at the first year those red and yellows turn into green. You can see that progress that students are making and they're moving down that continuum of the more basic skills into the more complex skills. So they may like the last one there may be students that are that

127are red at the baseline they may now they may be yellow so they're making that progress towards that so it's just a matter of this is new data that we're collecting we haven't collected it before so we're working on building some systems and structures and how to present it and show that but we can definitely show that these students are making progress towards those grade level standards any suggestions let me know no problem Mr. Smith, to the point to the question, the data also shows like second grade, if they're testing in month November, that would be third month. So if they're getting a score of 2.3, because that's how the score is coming out back to the teacher, it's second grade, third month. So that means that they're on track. But if they're getting a

128score 2.9. that's second grade nine month. So that means that they're above. So that data also shows that as well, correct? And that is data that we're not collecting it in that form because to get that data, you have to use a norm reference test, which is norm nationally, because these are criterion references, meaning it's about mastery of the skills. We don't have that. But again, seeing that a student may be red at the baseline and now they're yellow. And then many of the schools gave it again in March for the third quarter. Now that student, they may have been a low yellow, like let's just say out of 15, they may have been at a 10, which is the lowest of yellow. Now they're at a 12, which puts them at the highest of

129the yellow. They're making that progress. And so we do have that data to show that. It's just how to compile it and present that. It's a learning process. Next one. Okay. So this slide here, if you'll go to the handout that we gave you there, we want to give you that comparative data again. And so when we put this together, we just gave this is where we are with the mastery of the kindergarten at the first semester. Again, kindergarten didn't take a baseline on this one because they're coming in not knowing these skills. But if you look at that first page, you know, the baseline data is we maybe had 1%. maybe a little bit more, a little bit less that had those skills. But at the end of that first semester, it jumps up

130to 85%. And that's on that onset fluency, meaning that they're starting to understand letters have sounds. And when you put those sounds together, they make words. The second one next to that one, again. only about one percent of them had that skill but now we're at 68 percent of those students can now blend sounds together to make words and that is a real key factor in looking at that because that shows that students are learning how to read they're learning how to put those sounds together and form those words and have those decoding skills that they need to have and so that's in kindergarten the next one in first grade And I think this is really good data to look at if you're looking at that second page. Students are coming in with these onset

131fluency and being able to blend phonemes into words. They're coming in much higher. where we want them to be from kindergarten. So we're starting out on the first one there at 78% at the baseline in August. By the end of the first semester, 91% of the first grade students had that fluency that they needed to have. And then when you look at the blending of phonemes into words, we were at 51% on the baseline. Now we're at 78% of the students. are able to blend those phonemes into words so we're seeing that the efforts that we're doing the students are coming in a little bit higher they're doing the things they need to do and the teachers then because of their focus are able to take the students to the next level why is the

132graph on our page different than the one on the presentation because When Dr. Garcia and I were putting that we're putting the presentation together. This is how we initially put it in for the for it to be uploaded to the board agenda. And then we were asked later on, can we get some comparative data to do that one? So that's why it's a little different. We changed. We didn't change the data. We just changed how it's being presented. Well, that's why I was wondering, but the blues are different values than. That's why I was just curious because like you have 91% on the graph, but you only have 77% on what we see. So it was just a refinement of the data to make sure that we had, because there were. There was some data

133where it was baseline only, and we didn't have the comparative data yet. And so we just had to make sure that our data sets were clean. So there is some data that is not here because we did not have baseline. And the second, we only had baseline. We didn't have the second assessment. Right. So it's just cleaning the data, making sure that it's apples to apples and not apples to oranges. And just to follow up on that one, again, we're building new systems for collecting this data. So the teachers are giving the assessment. We're having it put into data sheets that we can do. But again, it's a systems problem on our end, on my end, that we need to make sure that that. data is getting to us at the district level so we

134can look at it so it's not that the data is missing we just don't we just don't have it reported to us so we can get it but that's something that we're finding out okay we have a hole in this one we're missing this school site or we're missing this teacher from a particular school site we need to make sure we get that so we're building that system to get it yep so When we started the K2 literacy, one of the huge differences that you remember star reading data was reported to you and they would tell you 30% are in red and 50% are in yellow. That never told us anything about how students are reading. And so moving to these types of assessments, we don't have a system. These are paper-pencil. We don't have

135a system where it's automatically tabulated and it spits out reports that really don't tell us anything. So we're developing this as we go. This is year one with these new assessments. And so we're going to get there. We're going to get there. Just while you're switching, I mean, again, and I totally get that, you know, just keep in mind, right, one of the things that we're going to be asking about, right, is are our students where they need to be, you know, at any given point in time? And so kind of thinking through, you know, what does that really look like is going to be really important. You know and you might have to work backwards right you know where you get to a point at the end of the year you know okay these

136students are where we want them to be what are their scores look like so you can see what a progression should look like right because there's kind of a natural curve to. this right now and so kind of understanding how that data tracks over the year you know for people for for our kids who who master it and then don't so that we can identify the pattern of any of those kids who aren't right and i think you you can do that with that yellow red as well right but just as a summary you know for us when we look at that because we're not going to be looking at those um to try to get a sense of of how well we're doing So the second bar on there. blending phonemes into words. That

137is, that's probably the most important bar we want to look at because that tells us can they take a sound, the sounds, can they blend it into a word. The rest of those phonemic awareness skills are higher level skills. So when you're testing a student and you give them a word and you ask them can you tell us the sound at the end of the word? Can you tell us the sound in the middle of the word? The sound at the beginning. Those are a little bit higher level skills. Those skills don't determine whether or not they'll be a reader. The second bar tells us whether or not they'll be a reader. Do they know the sounds? Can they blend them into words? So the last one that we have there is for second grade.

138And again, that's on the backside of the sheet that we gave you there. And again, this shows the progress that we've made. from last year into this year again the second grade students are coming in higher than they've come in before and they're at a point now where at the end of the first semester on the one dr moore just talked about blending phonemes into words we have almost we have 93 almost 94 of our second grade students have mastered that skill and so that's really giving us a good indication that students are reading and they're reading well So we had invited a couple of teachers to come in and really talk about the initiative. They couldn't come to the board meeting. So we're going to show you a very, very short clip. Hello, the

139Barbara Webster Learning Center team here. We just finished up our kinder and first grade data. Can you back it up, please? Our team here, we just, hello, the Barbara Webster Learning Center team here. We just finished up our kinder and first grade data meeting today, and we're excited to share some news with you. We found that our kindergartners on Hegarty, 80% of kinders are on level to be proficient by the end of the year. And on our core phonics assessment, 89% of our kinders met or exceeded the end of the year benchmark and it's only March. For the first time ever, the majority of our kindergartners are reading at or above grade level and are prepared for first grade. And for first grade, 72% of our first graders are reading above or at grade level

140for this time of year on Literably. Our teachers, some of our teachers reported that CORE gives them a structure and a framework to help guide them through the WONDERS curriculum. And they're really excited about our students' word attack skills and how they have the resources to approach decoding. We want to thank the administration and the board for the support with these initiatives. We're very excited moving forward in what's to come. Thanks. So we did want to share that with you because that is really some up-to-date data that we have showing there. But I think it's also good to show the excitement and the enthusiasm we're seeing from not just Mr. Swartel and the two intervention teachers that you saw here, but from the classroom teachers that are seeing the success of their students. It's been

141very exciting to talk with teachers about it, to hear their stories about it. And one in particular, a second grade teacher is like, it has given us such a focus on helping students to be able to learn how to read. And she goes, and I'm just excited to continue on with this process and this work that we've been doing with the core consultants and the coaching to now further go along and help my students with vocabulary development and then reading comprehension. Because those are the next things that we want to be building. building in to make to really have our students be well rounded readers. So it's very exciting to see this work and see the fruits of our labor. And are there any other questions? Comment? Seeing the data is great. EL, SPED, DLI,

142other special populations need to see that data too. Absolutely. Right. In the breakdown. Also, CGI math. You said there was in here. It's not. I thought you said it was. Okay. We are in the process. We're working. In fact, Dr. Garcia is working with a consultant that is helping us design CGI assessments. So the math assessments, the textbook math assessments aren't CGI-esque. And so in the process, moving into next year. The benchmark assessments will include some CGI math problems. And so we're just not there yet. Okay. All right. I appreciated the video. They didn't have to be here. Video's perfect. I mean, it allows more time with their families and other things. So kudos to your video. Keep doing that. Just like Dr. Sandoval said, you know. This is good information to know, you know,

143for everyone, teachers, parents, admin, of, you know, how they're progressing. And I'm looking forward to seeing the math and then eventually then build to our science as well. But, you know, there's math and reading involved in science. So once we focus on these a little bit more, I mean, we need to also squeeze in our science skills too. And I want to thank the board as well. I don't know of another district that is this laser focused and just allowing us to do this. It's easy to take a STAR assessment, Alexia assessment, come up here and tell you. percentage of students are aware but we are we are being granular in the process because we know if we don't students don't learn to read and and so we're we're making that progress and we're spending

144a lot of money on this I know and I just appreciate your dedication to and allowing us to do this thank you for all of the time you put into that and for sharing all the data with us anyone else Okay. Eight action items. Superintendent Weinstein, Resolution 2023-24-15, Recognition of Santa Paula Unified School District Employee Appreciation Month. So we are asking the board to adopt Resolution 2023-24-15 to celebrate and show our appreciation for our employees of the district. So I'm going to hand this over to Trustee Ornelas to read into the record. Okay. I start all the way up here? No, you can just start where it says where. Whereas every student has the right to access high quality educational programs to further their academic and personal success and whereas quality educational programs are only

145made possible thanks to the dedicated, talented and innovative and hardworking educators and classified staff at Santa Paula Unified School District who use their extensive skill and compassion to provide individualized educational opportunities and support for students and Whereas, Santa Paula Unified School District recognizes our staff has gone above and beyond in responding to the needs of students and their families and of the community at large. And, whereas Santa Paula Unified School District believes that our employees' response in serving children during these challenging times serves as an example of selfless public service and pride in our community. And whereas now more than ever teachers, classified staff and administrators serving our schools deserve the gratitude, respect and recognition of the Santa Paula Unified School District, students, parents and the entire community. Now therefore be it resolved that in

146recognition of Teacher Appreciation Week May 5 through 11 2024 and Classified School Employee Week May 19 through the 25th 2024 and all our administrative staff the Board of Trustees of the Santa Paula Unified School District proudly declares a whole month of May 2024 as Employee Appreciation Month. In making this declaration, the Board of Trustees recognizes all staff of the Santa Paula Unified School District for dedicating their lives to promoting the success of our children and our community. The foregoing resolution, just kidding, move to a vote to adopt the resolution. Preferential vote, all those in favor. Aye. Passes 1-0. Board vote. All those in favor? I'm sorry, did we have a motion? Oh, just kidding. Do we have a motion? So moved. Do we have a second? Second. Preferential vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes

1471-0. Board vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes 4-0 with one absent. Okay, moving on to 8.2, second reading and adoption of CSBA updates, December 2022 to December 2023. Thank you. So last meeting, we presented to the board a number of updates to policies for their review, and we are asking them to adopt the updates of the CSBA policies. Just hoping that this catches us up and we move to regular order on those. Yeah, this will catch us up. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Do I have a motion? So moved. A second? Second. Move to vote. Preferential vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes 1-0. Board vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes 4-0. 8-3. Approval of contract renewal. Assistant Superintendent of Business. So administration is presenting the contract for the assistant superintendent of business and it's

148an employment contract but everything has to be done in open session as an action item although it was discussed in closed session. Move to a motion. Do we have a motion? So moved. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? Yes. I just, I know it's, this is a, this is a challenge time. So I just want to make sure that we know and we understand that going forward, we just got to continue to build the relationship and make sure that things are, I would say on a positive end, you know, things, you know, going forward. So, I mean, I'm. Little I mean it was it was challenging. We had a heavy heavy discussion during Closed session, but I think we're confident in our leadership in dr. Or mr. Wayne seen in going forward so

149It's all I have to say Okay, move to a preferential vote. All those in favor? Excuse me. There's no preferential vote on the contract on human resources. Okay. Moving to a board vote. All those in favor? Aye. Passes 4-0. 9 consent calendar 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 Do I have a motion to adopt a consent calendar some moved? Do we have a second perfect any discussion? Move to a preferential vote all those in favor. I Passes 1 0 board vote all those in favor Aye. Aye. Passes 4-0. Board member comments. Trustee, Board Member Ramirez. No comment. Thank you. Trustee Sandoval. A few,

150we had another Project Isabella preschool meeting. Met with a few people on trying to bring some structure to that project, and it was a really successful meeting. So looking forward to that project moving forward. On the 22nd, we met with the Cal State Channel Islands Early Childhood Education Team. Had a brief, but... fruitful discussion there to see how we can integrate and cooperate between the two institutions better. Also that day, I went to Ventura College to the engineering, CTE engineering advisory meeting, and that was great. It was good to hear about what VC has to offer, meet their dual enrollment person, talk to industry. you know, people about what's needed, you know, in that, in engineering and manufacturing and, you know, like this architecture, trustee oil. And then finally today I had a meeting with

151the Museum of Ventura County to talk, not just my school board hat, but also my CI hat, to talk about, you know, what they have to offer. the community what would they have to have specifically education in here as everybody knows the ag museum is here uh and just kind of exploring ideas on how we can better partner with them so oh and um just to because we didn't really do any comments on that uh resolution the employee appreciation month um I think when we see the results of something like, say, the literacy initiative, there's a lot of hard work that goes into that. And it's really good to see when administration and both credentialed and classified staffs are working together for a common cause, which is our students, which is really what it's all

152about. So to see progress in that just makes me appreciate everyone. But in this month, the certificated and classified, you know, especially, we, I think, do ask a lot of them. We've thrown a lot of initiatives at them. And, you know. Sometimes it's a little bit, why are we doing this? But I think that when we see student achievement progress, then we know that's what it's for. Because I think the CASP data made it clear, we're not anywhere near where we need to be. It's going to take hard work to get us to where we believe our students can't get to. Thank you. Thank you, Trustee Frutos. Definitely want to mirror the idea of recognition of our classified employees and certificated employees. It's it's challenge when we do look at the dashboard data. And we

153know that that that data speaks to us from what happened last year. So going forward, you know, let's celebrate the the many victories and the many wins that we've had throughout the year. And let's strive for. some improvements and achievements in the dashboard because we deserve it. I think as a school community, we need to, because we know the hard work is happening and that can't go without any recognition. So we have to acknowledge the hard work, but unfortunately the hard work gets recognized. when we start seeing the dashboard move in the right direction. And we know it takes our office managers, our custodians, our teachers, our RTI teachers, our administrators. So again, just... I hope that we're preparing well for CASP and we're seeing that that's preparing during our board updates. I want to

154just wish all of our students lots of luck while you're taking the CASP. Please take it serious because it matters. And then the other one is just want to make sure that, again, through the school site council process that our... administrators, school administrators, our teachers, our classified, our parents, and our students are actively engaged in the discussion of what they feel is a priority for our school sites. I think it might be beneficial maybe on occasion, I'm not sure who's in charge of the school site councils, but maybe to at least present some minutes of showing that there is meaningful and heartfelt discussions going on at the school sites. And they're not just rubber stamp committees, but I want to make sure that especially on the initiatives that we're discussing, you know, highlight that a

155school site is supporting Hagerty, whatever the case may be, or that they're doing something as fun and exciting for for CAS testing, because it's it's not enough just to say go and do it, please. But let's see the fruits of our labor through the dashboard, but also through the actual work at the school sites. So thank you. Thank you, Trustee Arroyo. I won't repeat some of the items because I also feel the same. But just adding to it, I mean, I think it's really important to stress the importance of the CASP test, whether it's the... Whether it's like a teacher coming in with balloons for all the kinder kids, whether it's mints or a cupcake party at the end, something to incentivize. I'm a true believer in that. It worked with my kids. The other

156thing is. I was able to attend two of our LCAP community meetings last week. We didn't have high attendance. I think we need to maybe look at whether Zoom or questionnaires. I believe it's called Monkey that we use, Dr. Moore. Different surveys to get a little bit more. Maybe define what LCAP is for the public so that they know how important it is. logo control accountability plan so it's really important yes did you explain anything by saying that It's how we use our funds towards different programs. And I won't go into it. But it was disappointing to see a low turnout. I know it was a busy week. We also had our committee meeting that same week. So there was like three meetings that week, last week. But what was fun this week was the

157science fair. Barbara Webster was nice to see them again. I participated in them with my kids years back and it almost seems like you know we need a larger space to hold these or maybe have them at Isabel or at the high school because it's they're fun and that goes back to science introducing our kids more into science. And I just want to say thank you for all the data and all the hard work everybody puts in every day. And just let us know how we can help more. And regarding about all the good things that we do, I think previously I brought up having a summary of what our meetings are just to highlight. I know the city does that. There's an email that goes out the next day to staff, but just with

158highlights, because I know. I don't want to go back and look at an agenda or a video. I just want to see the highlights. And for example, like just tonight, I mean, the appreciation, the resolutions, those are important to our all our employees and staff. Thank you. Thank you. So thank you, everyone for all your presentations and the time that goes into them. Thank you to you all who are still here with us. Thank you to our four viewers at home. I just want to say my usual pitch for the Youth Center. It's open three to six, Monday through Friday, grade six through 12 for welcome. We have snacks and daily activities. I'm excited to go see the Wizard of Oz on Friday. So I hope that you all get a chance to go out

159and see our students in one of their upcoming performances. Oh, yeah. I'll give you the upcoming dates. We have April 26th, Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 27th, 1 and 7 p.m. It is $8 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. And it will be at the Santa Paula High School Freeman Eakin Auditorium. And our students have put a lot of. work into this production and so I hope you all can come out and support them and I'm excited to see them myself. Just thank you to everyone and I will adjourn this meeting at 8 55. Yeah sorry before we leave I wanted to just say that in honor of Kishan Mata, who tragically lost his battle to cancer, I hope that many of us can be there to support his memory and

160celebrate his life for all of his accomplishments and the mark that he left on so many students, staff, and everyone around him. And so I will once again adjourn this meeting, but in his honor, at 8.56.