001Don't tempt me with a good time. Calling this meeting to order. Today is uh Tuesday, April 14th. It is uh 5:30 p.m. Will you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Juan Castillo, president. Present. Lorena Delgadillo, clerk. Present. Cristina Coggins, member. Present. Luisa Ariola, member. Present. Gladys Anaya, member. Present. We have a quorum. Thank you, Mary. Moving on to uh 2.1, do we have any comments from the audience? No comments. No comments from the audience, thank you. Moving on to uh 3.1, report from Mr. Duro. Good evening, everyone. It's really nice to be back. Uh it feels like I've been out for
002a while, but I've been back-to-back in conferences, and it's been quite the journey and learning experience. Uh we 2 weeks ago, we uh we were in New Orleans. Uh we went to the NAAT conference, where we had the opportunity to travel as a leadership team. Principals and instructional strategist uh attended this uh amazing uh conference, really focused on the learning strategies on how to continue to strengthen our teacher efficacy, and really strengthening all the different components that we have been implementing for from NAAT. Uh this last week, we also attended the uh NSBA San Antonio conference. I had the pleasure of traveling with most of our board members. Um great experience, lots of great um sessions, and one of the things that I noticed that all sessions had was a couple of components that had
003a commonality between, which was uh connection and communication. And it really felt like it was um outlined in every single section, right? So, from connecting between superintendent and board members to administration and school um school administrators with district level administrators, teachers communicating and connecting with students. All of that really pushed through research in in making sure that there are student outcomes. So, those were really really great sessions. And thank you for allowing me to have that learning experience with um the the ladies that were able to attend uh the the conference alongside um us. Um there is a field trip I approved for the SMS student council. They will be attending um Knott's Berry Farm on April 20th 23rd. Yes. Uh so, that's on my report. Uh we will be having our district teacher of
004the year banquet on April 23rd. It'll start at 5:00 p.m. in um in the Somerton Middle School gym. Uh so, this is a great opportunity to celebrate all of our teachers who have been nominated for their great work. So, all of you of course are invited and hopefully you will be there supporting us. What time is it is it? That'll start at 5:00 p.m. And one more thing. Oh. Um April 23rd, which is next Thursday. I thought it was on the 30th. So, there's two, right? So, this one is a district level. This is the Somerton district level and then the 30th would be the county. And then um last but not least, we have our superintendent council um {slash} stakeholder meeting uh tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. This is a meeting that I have with
005a selected group of uh teachers with across the district to answer their concerns, questions, provide them with information. But, we also took advantage of that meeting and we also called it a stakeholders meeting. Um this is where uh Ms. Olivia Cepeda comes along and explains the process that we're going through for the salary study. Currently, we are um in the process of having all the supervisors review their job descriptions, and that will be a great opportunity for them to provide additional feedback to EMS. Um there are two components to two major components of the salary study, so that is the job description, aligning it to the role, and also um the comparison of salaries, right? So, that portion is still not completed. That is going to be completed mid-May. So, we're looking forward to to
006the outcome. And that is it for me, unless there's any questions. Any questions or comments? Yes, I have a question. Go ahead. Um Mr. Duran, I did see on your report that the field trip that you approved, was it a last-minute plan or No. No. >> I was just wondering. Thank you. Yeah. And And you what? And you did say the field trip was was on the 23rd, right? Because here it says the 25th. Student Council said it was on the 23rd. A second, a field trip to a Somerton Student Council was approved to take place on April 23rd. My apologies. Yes. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? Thank you, Mr. Duran. Moving on to uh 3.2, Ms. Ace. All right. Good evening, everyone. Um I just wanted to bring up we are having
007a Somerton Showcase at Sun Valley Elementary School, and I gave you a a printout of the flyer. Hopefully, you will see it everywhere. Um I've also given it out to um our local news, Yuma Sun, um Caesar for for the um South County, and then it's also on our Instagram, Facebook. We're going to be sending home flyers, and we're also printing postcards to send out to mailers to the um East San Luis community. So, we're getting all of those things done. We're really trying to make sure that our students know that they're Somerton kids, and we really want them to feel welcome and part of the family. So, you'll start seeing some banners and some other good things out there, but at the showcase, we're going to showcase all of our amazing groups, our folkloric,
008our band, all of the robotics, STEM, I mean, 21st century, food service is going to have all the favorites uh food dishes that our students love and have food samples there um and more. So, all of our principals are getting their best uh together and which we have a lot of best out there, a lot of uh state championships and first places and all kinds of good things. Um all of our sports highlighted so that we can actually gather um interest from students. Hopefully, they'd be interested and say, "Hey, I want to be part of that." And and that sort of thing. So, we're going to have that on April 27th. We'd love to have you come out at Sun Valley and just help promote, be part of it. We'll have Mr. Duran open us
009up, and then we'll have our performances, and then let everyone mingle and go through all the booths, and then performances again. And so, it'll be a nice evening. We want to begin and end with our amazing students. And um so, that's coming up. You'll see a lot of that marketing. So, we just launched our Somerton Instagram page. So, you'll see that. I emailed it out and also So, hopefully, like it. And um and also, we put it on our Facebook so you can connect from there to to add on the Instagram. Um and then, I just wanted to clarify also, we have our the Somerton School District Teacher of the Year, but then the Yuma County Teacher of the Year is April 30th. And so, we hope to see you there. That'll be a great
010evening. And just a reminder that it won't be as long as it has been in the past because we have separated the two events. Um the Hall of Fame that we normally honor that evening now have their own evening that they're honored, and that's the Legacy Gala that happens on January, and we'll have one keynote speaker that's the Estelle Dingus Award winner, and they'll come and be awarded, and then be our keynote speaker for all of our educators. So, we're excited to see who wins, and I think they're holding that winner in a secret vault somewhere. So, we're excited to see who's the Yuma County overall winner. So. Thank you, Ms. Any questions or comments? I have a question. Go ahead, Ms. Ayala. Ms. The um What is it called? The showcase. Um Is it
011Is there a purpose? Is it because we don't Our enrollment is low, or is it just we're just We just want everyone to understand out there that they do belong to Somerton School District. We still have a lot of confusion at times, and so we want to make that clear and have it out there in the community that you know that area can go to Somerton School District. We're opening up. We do have room in Orange Grove, Sun Valley, and Tierra del Sol, and we already bus the older students to the middle school. So, we want them to see what good things we have to offer, what excellence we have in our schools, and feel comfortable with that. Principals, I have a team we put together, and we had some great ideas as well as
012a follow-up activity after where the like Orange Grove and Tierra del Sol are having kinder registration, but they've changed it to just registration and enrollment night highlighting kindergarten, and even have a night where they can the buses can go get them, and they can see what it's like to ride with their child on the bus and go to the school and see that the trip is not that long, you know. So, it's just kind of breaking down some of the barriers that might be out there that are perceived, and just make sure that they are informed, and they realize what we have to offer, and we've got another brand new bus, so we want to display those great things and um let everybody know what we have. Thank you. Yes. Thank you, Ms. Say. Any
013other questions or comments? Um I do. And this is pretty pretty neat that you guys are doing because I know Gadsden is trying to push some of the kids back to their district and showcasing what Somerton has. Um some of our constituents out there, they don't feel comfortable. They don't feel comfortable with their they're part of Somerton School District. So, just bringing this so showcasing I don't know, maybe we can have like a remote office there so they can have the connection because the fact that they have to they're in San Luis and then you have to come over here, that is a concern that I get a lot. Yeah. That they don't feel like they belong. Oh, yeah. That's what we want to break down those those thoughts and those perceptions so that they
014really do feel welcomed. And so that's why we're going to have everybody there so that as they're coming in, they feel what Somerton family is about. And and hopefully that will change that. Thank you, Ms. Say. Moving on to our 4.1, board members report and board attendance. Ms. Ayala. Well, I'm just happy that you guys are doing this the this showcase just like I said just as our constituents don't feel like they're part of Somerton and just um bringing that bridging that gap because it does feel like a separation, yes. So, that's my report for today. Ms. Anaya. Um I Good afternoon or good evening everybody. I had the opportunity to be able to travel to the NSBA um conference this weekend. It was amazing, great. Um it was neat to see people that I
015had met in Phoenix. So, just making those connections and just sharing stories. Um San Antonio was amazing. Um so, thank you for that opportunity and hopefully we can take a few key components and just see, you know, what is Somerton doing and like where can we maybe improve some things or just keep things the way they are. So. That's my report. Thank you, Ms. Anaya. Ms. Clark. Um welcome back. I know spring break was a little while ago, but it just feels like this week. I don't know with leading to the conference, it just felt like my it felt very short. So, welcome back. Uh I know it's pure professional recognition during the spring break, right? And then vice principal so, kudos to you. Thank you for everything that you do. Um San Antonio was
016awesome. I would love to live in Texas if I could. Um I did write down a couple of notes on one one particular session that I attended on teacher retention. Um and just to highlight a few of the key takeaways, um research continues to show that teachers are the most important school factor um impacting student success. So, when we talk about staffing, we're really talking about student outcomes, right? Um the the presentation was great. It was this this young um little guy who uh he uh he went through various stages of uh he didn't know what to do and then he jumped into education right away while in high school and he did he he did a lot of things that I don't know. It it just was It was so interesting to hear, inspiring,
017and the key takeaway at the end of the day is that we want stronger student outcomes and we have to stay intentional about how we recruit, support, and maintain our educators because that's where the biggest impact starts. So, that's my report. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Clark. Ms. Rosario. So, I too went to the NSBA. It had been many years that I had not been to a conference um for the board and and I want to thank the district for allowing me to participate and um the sessions that I attended um were amazing. I mean you know, um there's one Well, there's all of them, but two of them were like we just couldn't stop talking and obviously one that really impacted me with the immigration in the public schools and I wrote down a
018lot of questions that I have for our own chief of police that I'm going to address with her. Um obviously that it will impact our district, but that's something that she's the one that's going to be able to answer, not administration. Um it it's going on and and it's just to hear the stories that other superintendents that were in the room and other um board members that were there. Um gosh, I mean I I think we're very blessed that we we live in Summerton and we're not going through what they are going through and what the kids are. One one of the situations that um one of the um board member was saying that um this one of the students in her district, um he's a third grader and he goes and buys the groceries
019um because the parents are afraid to to leave the home. And so um and just I could just picture a third grader at the store buying all these groceries and and I'm like, "Oh my god, you know, how do they I'm sure they have the money or how do they pay for it?" And you know, it's just a lot of things I didn't want to be improper and ask them, "Well, how do they pay for it?" right? Um but just to to see a third grader at the store buying all the the groceries with their list, it just I don't know, it just kind of took away. Um the other one that was so interesting to me was the AI one. Um and I I do have questions for for both of you um to
020see where where this is heading. You know, they had a lot of stories on how middle school uh they busted a lot of students using AI in a lot of the reports and I was like, "You know, I use chat GPT for some of my speeches." And and they showed us how to use chat GPT in a different way so it doesn't look so chat GPT-ish. And so I'm like, "Hmm." "Hmm." So I even downloaded the the um the PowerPoints and I emailed it to my assistants cuz I'm like, "We're going to start using this." Um it it was very very cool. So I want to know, you know, what what are you guys going to do and and how because it's very useful. And they gave us so many different kinds. Chat GPT to
021me was the only one, but no, there's just so many out there and I and the guy was showing us how he uses it in in his board. Um and one of the superintendents also was was showing what they were using it for and and it was pretty interesting. So thank you so much. It I hadn't been to one in a while and and a pretty and I missed it. And the keynote speakers were were amazing. It was just so impactful, you know, I just the last keynote speaker, he had to end at 4:00. It was 4:30. Nobody left. Normally people get up and we're like, "Okay, it's time to go. Let's go." No. I mean, people stayed there and it was just Yeah. I just wish we could bring something like that here and
022just I don't know. It's just very motivating. But thank you. Thank you so much. At the same as what Christina mentioned, congratulations to our assistant principals. Thank you for all that you do. Para professionals as well. Everyone in general, welcome back from spring break. Something that I don't have anymore and I will always dread it, but um thank you for what you do. Thank you, Ms. Ledesma. And and for me, I actually missed this NSBA conference. I I I I think it's the first one that I didn't attend. So you know, I feel like I missed you know, great sessions. Um I want you, Ms. Ledesma, to send me that presentation that AI um I'm going to clean that up. Um and just like everyone said, I mean, welcome back, you know, from spring break
023and congratulations to the uh um you know, the the I the paras I A's and and the vice principals. Um So, thank you for everything that you guys do. Um So, the 23rd we have the our summer thing teacher of the year banquet, right? At 5:00. >> So, sounds good. Awesome. And that's all That's all I really have. Um I will say that next month May 12th, um I probably won't be here. My sister is going to be receiving her her pinning. Uh it's her ceremony for for nursing. Congratulations. >> I'll I'll I'll be in Phoenix attending that. So, uh Ms. Zacarías, um I'll you run the meeting. Other than that, I mean, that's That's all I have. So, we're going to move on to our consent agenda. Uh does anyone wish to pull something
024from the consent agenda or have a question? >> I do on 5.6 on resignation, termination, and retirement. Okay. >> I do notice that there's a lot of resignations. I just wanted to see how the district is analyzing the >> we'll do What we'll do, Ms. Areola, right now is uh we'll make um we'll make a motion to pull everything out and then we'll discuss it separately. >> Okay. So, uh is there any other questions or comments on that? On on anything on consent agenda? No? Okay. So, I need a motion uh to approve consent agenda with the exception of 5.6 as we will be discussing it right now. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Clark. Second. Seconded by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Now, we're
025going to go to uh item 5.6 uh regarding resignations, terminations, retirements FY25-26. Ms. Areola, go ahead. >> Okay. Well, I do notice there's a lot of resignations, and I just want to see how the district is analyzing these patterns, and how does this inform our efforts to retain teachers? So, that's one one questions I do have because it's very competitive out there. Very And we don't want to lose them to any other district right now, especially and and overwhelm the teacher with just putting other students in their classrooms and making those classrooms bigger and bigger. I see. And I'm going to have Anna help me with with the response, but I did respond to the email you sent Miss Adodo with those questions earlier today and it really is a handful of teachers that are
026the resigning and we are concerned about that. We are concerned because we have to be in competition with districts that are raising their 301 monies higher where we are unable to to raise them. Miss Kim is going to be presenting our plan for this coming year. We will be moving it from 11,000 to 14,000. So, we are trying to maintain ourselves competitive in regards to comparing us ourselves to Castleberry going up to 16,500. Crane ISD district one is also doing 16,000. So, we have been looking to see what are some other um what are some other options that we can do to ensure that they stay here. And yes, we have been advertising our district as having very low numbers, 25 to one ratio. That is ideal, but if we are realistic, those are numbers
027that not districts across our county or the state have, which is great. We love the fact that we have low numbers, but in conversations with the board during our board retreat and also in conversations with our administrators, we see that by shifting some of these ratios in the future and as I answered in your email, this these ratios are not going to change this coming year, but it's something that we have to consider because if we were to shift some of the ratios and obviously supporting our teachers to ensure that they're well prepared regardless of their class size, these ratios would yield additional funding for for us to be able to raise the salaries for our teachers that would stay here. So, we're definitely know that everything that we do is in priority to our
028teachers and the well-being of our students. If we really look at the decision-making that goes behind anything that we do, and we are able to target the change that we are proposing is for the benefit of our students, know that we are we are going to be propelling it. Thank you. And just because I do see a lot of resignations, it's a little concerning, you know, and No, I get that. And what I'm going to do is I'll I'll go back to other years to compare resignations to see what the pattern has been. And at what school do we see that pattern more and if we need to see how they can get that support? Absolutely. And I also responded on your email. >> Yes. Okay, thank you. And and I do want to say
029you know, on this I do appreciate Mr. Rone and and team. When we did have that work session for those of us that were present, I mean this was discussed and I think the plan that you guys presented really made sense on how we can maximize and optimize, you know, the funding. So I think thank you everyone that that attended and and and and you know, I think you guys are going to set that plan in motion. But if I can extend on that, and I did I did add this to my last weekly report, we won't be moving in this direction next year because there are other factors that we consider as a team. But this is something that has been placed in motion so that we work next year to ensure that as
030we continue to think about this, the following year that will be a that will be a shift that we would want to do. And again, everything is going to be informed deliberate in our planning to ensure that there is support all the way through. Mr. Rone, are you there? Um Mr. Rone, you just mentioned something about the Gaston School District, something about 16,000. What was that? I'm sorry. So the their 301 package is at 16,500, something to that effect. >> we also need to understand that and and we we go through that within our city as well and I'm going to use that as an example. You know, we we're a small district compared to to the other district and so their funding per pupil obviously is way more than ours and so and it's
031very difficult for us to to compete with that. You know, we we go through that in the city as well and and um I think that's something that maybe principals or or you, you know, can can can relay that message, you know, if we had the same numbers and then we because they cannot compare apple to apple because we're not You know, uh their district is way larger than ours and so obviously their funding is way more and they're able to provide that amount. And so um I see it but you know, I and I understand and there was a conversation of that with with a teacher uh from one of the schools and that's what I told him and her or her um regarding that, you know, there's just no way. There's no way
032you can compare, you know, and and I understand but their classroom sizes I've heard are quite large as well and and and so we're trying our best to probably not be equal in the sense but do provide that growth and do provide those experiences for our staff and and the teachers. So I just wanted to put that on the record. Means I wanted to add something and one of the things that >> line? that um Yuma Union School District is was they they combined the districts and we had an opportunity do that because we would be able to bring more money to employees because um I know we'll be able to do that. >> going to do a call to the question and I think we're going in a different direction. Uh the item is
0335.6 resignation, terminations, and retirement. I think we're going off uh off topic. Um so I mean that could be a future agenda item. Which it should. It should because combining districts would be bringing in a A of money. >> be good for a future agenda, I know. But, I think it doesn't uh meet our resignation, termination, and retirement for us. So, with that, if there's any other questions or concerns with this item? Okay. Okay, need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by uh Ms. Delgadillo. Second. Second by Ms. Clark. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.1, discussion and possible action to approve revised work calendar for FY26-27. Yes. Good afternoon. Um work calendars for next school year have already been uh brought up to the
034board in previous meetings. However, we'll be revising the calendars and combining them. Some job titles that are going into this uh calendars for center were missed. So, it's just a correction on on on the calendars. The only one with an actual start and end day change was uh calendar 181. That's uh because school is starting on a Monday for the upcoming school year, we had to move the start day for those employees to a day earlier, and the obviously the end day was changed. So, this is just a correction on the calendars already for submission. Okay. Any uh questions or comments? No? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Clark. Second. Second by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.2,
035approval of the revision of policy IJOA, field trips. We had brought this to you prior, uh but it was only updated in the regulation portion of the policy, uh where it stated the superintendent approval for all field trips. However, the actual policy lacked the same language. So, we're trying to align it to the actual policy. So, the recommendation was to approve the revision of policy IJOA as presented. Any uh questions or comments? I have a comment. I'm sorry. >> So, this is but if it's a last-minute, then it does come to us or how do we how do we discuss that? Um you know what? If if my memory serves me right, in the past, all every field trip needed to come to us for approval. Before. And in our the last time we discussed
036this as a board, uh we agreed to um uh change the process and allow Mr. Lira to make those decisions and not come to to the board. Okay. I mean, he would just provide us an update in the board reports. Okay. Thank you so much. Yeah, no, we we don't approve something that already happened kind of a thing. Mhm. Okay. Thank you. So, this is just aligning Aligning the regulation to the policy. Yeah, that's right. Any other questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Del Gadillo. Second. Seconded by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.3, approval of the revision of policy GDD-R holidays. So, for next school year, Memorial Day will be falling on May 31st of
0372027. Being so late in the month, there were some work calendars that would have been missing the paid holiday. So, for those positions, we wanted to ensure that um there were there were paid holidays and work calendars that weren't going to be reduced uh cuz that would uh ultimately be uh reflected on uh their salary being reduced. So, uh for those calendars, we ensured that uh Columbus Day was also added as a paid holiday. And then the policy is uh clarifying which calendars are going to be getting that um holiday instead of Memorial Day. Um in addition, we realized that the work days on top of the policy were not updated, so we're also changing the number of days to to reflect the correct um calendars. Okay, now I have a question. So, for next
038I mean I mean I mean Memorial Day is in the fall. I mean, would would we have to re revisit this or No, we already plugging that in in the work calendar. It was just the policy that wasn't included Columbus Day and they had Memorial Day for everybody when in reality next year is not going to be possible due to the day. >> Any other any other questions or comments? No. Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Clark. Second. Second by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to our 6.4, approval of the revision of policy GCQE-R, return to work retirees. Additional language was included in this policy that specifies the supervisor and the superintendent's approval. Um also that the employee must meet
039the standards of highly qualified and highly effective under the Elementary Secondary Education Act, uh when applicable. This is to ensure the recommendation for the return to work is to to employees in good standing and effective standing within their role. Uh the recommendation is to approve the revision of policy GCQE-R as presented. Any questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Clark. Second. Second by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to our 6.5, approval of the revision of policy GCCA, professional {slash} support staff sick leave. There is a a mini change on the language for this one. They're having a confusion in the past because employees are being requested to submit a an excuse a medical excuse note after the fifth
040day. However, only three personal days can be used at a time. So, it was kind of confusing, you know, after the third day, why is someone on a note or when we can start a processing the FMLA if it's for medical reasons. So, with the clarification that after the third day, uh the supervisor will be requesting a medical note, we can we can be more clear and also we can start the FMLA process if needed ahead of time as soon as employee knows um they're going to be out for longer than three or five days. Um in addition, when you go to the section on the leave accruals, uh again, the work day calendars were not correctly. So, we had to change to reflect the correct work days for each accrual. So, I have a
041question. Go ahead, Ms. Lewis. Um Okay, so on the illness, employees have three personal days, right? So, it doesn't matter if they're sick or not. Yeah. Okay. So, now this revision is So, if I'm an employee, I'm off for three days, I get sick till after the fifth day, the clock starts at after the third day? After the third consecutive >> So, it will be eight days in reality. After the eight on the eighth day? No, after the third consecutive day, that's when we're going to be requiring a doctor's excuse note. But I'm using my personal day. Yeah. For the first three days. So, if if we wanted to continue use illness, it will have to be that that doctor's note. If they're consecutive. If they're consecutive. Okay. So, we'll do the five days. The
042Right now, it was asking for an excuse note after the fifth day. Okay. So, it was always, you know, a confusion what happens between the third and fourth day, what if I'm only going to be four days out. So, we wanted to make it more, you know, clear and specific so that also cuz even after 5 days that goes into a family. So, we wanted to make sure that still after that third we don't need an excuse note, but it's still um that would let the supervisor know if it's going into a family or just like a medical personal illness. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by uh Ms. Anaya. Second. Seconded by Ms. Clark. All those in favor say aye. Aye. >> Aye.
043Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.6, discussion and possible action to approve 2% salary increase for administrator, classified exempt, and classified support staff FY 26-27. So, we discussed this during our um board retreat. So, the recommendation is to approve the 2% salary increase for administrator, classified exempt, and classified support staff for the FY 26-27 as presented. Any uh questions or comments? No? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Clark. Second. Seconded by Ms. Delgadillo. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.8, approval to offer contracts to certified staff for FY 26-27. 6.7. >> 6.7. 6.7. 6.7, sorry. Approval to offer contracts to classified exempt staff and administrators for FY 26-27. So, concurrently the recommendation is to approve um the offer to
044offer a contract to classified exempt staff and administrators for fiscal year 26-27 as presented. Questions or comments? Need a motion. Make a motion to approve. Motion was made by Ms. Anaya. Second. Second by Ms. Clark. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to a 6.8, approval to offer contracts to certified staff for FY 26-27. The recommended action is the approval to offer a contract to certified staff for fiscal year 26-27 as presented. Questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Elgadio. Second. Second by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to a 6.9, approval to offer a notice of appointment to Emma Rubio as district health service manager returning from Education Service Inc. ESI
045on July 16, 2026. The recommended action is to approve a notice of appointment to Emma Rubio as district health service manager as presented. Any questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Clark. Second. Second by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to a 6.10, approval to offer a contract to Zoila Garcia as teacher returning from Education Service Inc. ESI on August 7, 2026. The recommended action is to offer a contract to Zoila Garcia as teacher as presented. Any questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Clark. Second. Second by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.11. Approval to offer a contract to Lydia
046A. Rodriguez Vaughn as director of federal programs returning from Education Service Inc. ESI on August 27, 2026. The recommended action is to offer a contract to Lydia Rodriguez Vaughn as director of federal programs as presented. Any uh questions or comments? No? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Miss El Gadeo, second by Miss Clark. All those in favor say I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.12. Approval to offer a contract to Sandra Magaña as migrant advocate returning from Education Service Inc. ESI on September 8, 2026. The recommended action is to offer a contract to Sandra Magaña as migrant advocate as presented. Any questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Miss Clark. Second. Second by Miss El Gadeo. All those in favor say I.
047I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.13. Approval to offer a contract to Irene Rush as teacher returning from Education Service Inc. ESI on September 25, 2026. The recommended action is to offer a contract to Irene Rush as teacher as presented. Any uh questions or comments? No? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Miss El Gadeo. Second. Second by Miss Clark. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.14, approval for an extension agreement to award request for proposal RFP for insurance carrier RFP number 23-24-1040. This is the extension for the district health benefits to take us through to FY27. It's the extension of the existing RFP. Okay. And why did we need an extension? Just So, every year we have to have
048a contract and we previously went out and did an RFP and that RFP is good for 5 years and we can continue to um renew it for that period and then next year we do plan on going out even though we're not due to have another RFP, but we are going to go out and do an RFP for FY28. Okay. Any questions or comments? Need a motion? So moved. Motion was made by uh Ms. Anaya. Second. Second by Ms. Carr. All those in favor say I. I. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to uh 6.15, discussion and possible action to approve FY26-27 Prop 301 plan. All right. Um I was able to meet with our 301 class site fund committee and um we went through this new legislation has um taken away the the requirement
049to have the evaluation component tied to 301 now. So, we were able to separate that completely. So, um the the team was very happy about that. Um so, we also, as we were planning to make this more, you know, money in the teachers' pockets, we changed the plan so that it would be a little bit uh simpler. Since our staff really does love the 35 PD hours / community service. We recommended to the committee to keep that, but bump it up to 95% because also the legislation took away the need to have 40% here, 60%, the 67-33. They had stipulations before. Now the the percent we can we can manage. So we decided to do 95% for the 35 PD community service hours. Um they still had to be a component of data, um but
050we minimize that to 5% because within their regular evaluation is data. And our principals and staff are always working with data with our staff. Um so you'll see the first point data 5%. Teachers can choose and um Ms. Hermanus and I met with the the committee, went over this with them. The pre- and post-DIBELS data could be used or the pre- and post-district adopted benchmark, which is still in um view. Like everyone is is looking at which which uh benchmark we're going to be using. So we just put district adopted benchmark. Um we still labeled the group A and group B teachers just because they do have different requirements. You know, a regular classroom teacher has students up there the teacher of record, so they have students within their uh classroom all day. Um and
051then you have the additional staff that are support staff. And so we're able to work with um those pieces of data for them. And then um number two is the CSF plan, the 35 PD hours. All of that remains the same. There are no changes to that. Uh so that should be very simple. Um you'll see on the the cover sheet um Antonio, if you could scroll a little further to the next page. Um the plan cover sheet remains the same as well. So the teachers will add their PD hours that are approved. Um I know their principals, professional development department strategist are all providing uh high quality professional development for the staff, so those can be utilized. And typically, they have well more than 35 hours by the end of the year. And so,
052they'll attach that for um proof and documentation cuz every year, we do get audited, and they will pull somebody somebody's plan across the district, so we do need to have that verification of how we spent that money. And then now, in addition, there's a new um form, which will be for the data, and you can see it's um much simpler. So, that's for 5%, and they can um attach the valid and reliable data, the Dibels, a district adopted benchmark, or district developed assessments that are aligned to their subject area. Um there's a little bit of work to complete with that. Ms. Romanus is going to work with those special groups that might not uh doesn't apply to them to have the district adopted benchmark, so we want it to be reliable data for our teachers
053and something that's reasonable. Um so, she's going to work on that with them, and the committee agreed and unanimously approved this plan as it sits. And um we will create a new video cuz this is all new and different from what we had before. So, we'll present um that out to our staff at the beginning of the school year, and uh get their feedback as well. And so, we're presenting the plan as approved by our teacher committee, and for the board approval so that it can be put in place for next year. And as Mr. Duran um shared earlier, we did raise our amount from 11,000 to 14,000. So, on one of the last pages on the FAQs, you'll see how that that's going to be broken up and paid out to our teachers. Any
054questions? Any questions or comments? >> I do. Go ahead, Ms. Arana. >> Um Prop 301 was designed for in 2000, it passed in 2000. >> Correct. Um this is nothing new, but putting all these stipulations on this like in order for you to get this money, you have to do this. This is where we get it we lose the whole purpose of this prop. The prop is to retain teachers, what you're doing is putting more stress, more um work on these teachers by having them do 34 35 more hours. I don't know. I just don't agree on on this. It it just I don't know who was in the in the teacher committee that didn't see this or you didn't research this, but Prop 301 was purposely done and the taxpayers pay so we can
055retain the teachers, not put more workload on them. Some some of the changes that we did together as a team where we moved 90% of the payout to PD were strategically to ensure that we keep our teachers in our district. The teachers are already receiving these 35 hours during the school year. They're They're They don't have to do anything additional. Uh a lot of these hours are completed even before the school starts. So it really is about making sure that the teachers get the money as easier as easiest as possible. But that's not tied to something like if you don't show me that you did the 35 hours because we've all been there as educators. I was an educator for 23 years and that was one of the things that we were trying to change
056as a union and other school and other school districts don't have this because they're trying to retain their teachers. All we're doing them is burning them out and getting them out of here even faster. I don't know. I'm just advocating for the teachers because that's that's a lot. That's a lot. I I think Frozen Gazan, I think we are required to do I believe it off the top of my head I think it's 30 or 35 hours of PD with either 5 or 10 hours of community service. Um and you know, it's my I mean, my understanding on this also is we can't just give it away because then we'd be violating the gift of public funds laws. And you know, so I I'm assuming that the requirements, uh the stipulations in order for us
057to award the 301 to our to our teachers um are are being followed. Correct. Yes. So Well, we're not giving it away. It was already It's a tax for the teachers. We're not just giving it away. It comes from our taxes. >> You're right, Ms. Areola. I remember when 301 was passed by all of the taxpayers. That's what uh we believed, right? So as a district though, when we got all of the stipulations that we had to put in order to comply in order to receive the funds, that's where the stipulations came. So in order for us to ensure that we don't have a gift of public funds that we're in violation of, that we're following all of the law and procedures that are there, um we have these things in place. And if you
058remember gosh, 20 years ago when this was first put in place, it was much more rigorous. So now it is really very simple. And the 35 PD hours is what The teachers have had a choice for a long time. It's been like data or the 35. I think it was uh just a couple years ago we were able to then get a get rid of that more detailed data plan and just give them the 35 PD hours and then they were tied to the evaluation data. Um now they've lessened that even further where we were able to completely remove the stipulation of evaluation, their overall highly effective, effective, developing, or ineffective status to their final payout. So that has been completely removed. So we did make it much more simple for them for all of
059our staff to get this. And so as as legislation has changed or laws changed to allow us to have more variance then we've been able to manipulate that and change that for the benefit of our teachers to make it more simple. Cuz before you had you know 60 40 and all of this and then 67% 33% and then we had the evaluation it was very confusing and I had to really wrap my head around it when I was explaining it to everyone. Now that's gone so that made them very happy. And so now they all know how easy it is to get their 35 PD hours community service. New teachers when they have all those days of NTI at the beginning of the year, their 35 hours is done. So we're really giving it to
060the teachers because they're doing that on their clock. So we're not asking them to do additional outside but they can claim like parent nights, fall festivals, all of the different things that they do, they get to claim those towards 301 as well. But any PD it's it's done during teacher time during the clock time. So really they're getting that pay already for the >> to it it's still it's still tied to the Even if you research the districts that have taken all those stipulations out, you'll see the difference also that teachers don't they want to be part of that district because you don't have all these little things tied to it. Do you know any district Miss Arredondo locally that that removed those stipulations? We do have some. Who? Well I can we can table
061it and we can I can get you that data for for in another So we get so we can get that information because the get Well we're passing I don't know. I don't agree with it so. No I don't feel we need to table it. I mean it's just a question that came up. We're discussing 301. So I mean if you if you're of our local districts, you know, it it'd be great information for us to to know. Especially because this this was designed so we can retain teachers in the year 2000. But do you have do you have the name of the district? >> Not not at this moment, Mr. Castillo, but I will get you information as soon as I can. I was a teacher at a at a school district in Yuma,
062and we had so much work that we had to do as a teacher. And so, I remember even here at here at our district, my binder was a 5-in binder, and we had to do a lot. And so, I mean, thank you for the explanation cuz I did have a question on the PD, but yeah, you're right. All the PD is done throughout. So, they Wow, that that's amazing. But I did I was a teacher in Yuma, and it's still going on and um at one of the districts in Yuma. So, I I just want to put that on the record that they do they are required um to have per data. And so, um it's very stressful, but it is what it is, and and you know, it's not free money. And so, you
063know, I the teachers have to work really hard to do that, but a district in Yuma, one of the districts is two um it is required. They are required to provide data. So, I just want to make put that on the record. Um I do have a question regarding the the volunteer. Um it says that outside volunteer work, church, community, etc. does not qualify. Right. It needs to be for the school district, for the students, right? >> fall and the Christmas programs and all that. Oh, okay. Yeah, anything that has to do with what's going on in the school district, if they're going to go do a parade or something, whatever. >> Yes. Oh, so see, you guys are Tomorrow. Oh, the parades. Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of times the teachers don't need them
064cuz they just they don't need the hours, but they were there, so you know, they can use them if they need them. Um but they we have so many opportunities, they usually have well well over the amount of hours needed. >> I'm very grateful that all the schools participated in the parade. That's just amazing to see. Thank you. So, just before we make the motion, just want to ask one clarifying question. Um, so we are paying the 301 adhering to our state's policies and guidelines and part of my state, right? Correct. And and I just also want to um point out in the payout amount. So, I think this kind of addresses some of what Ms. Arriola is saying. A lot of the districts will put the base the money into the base and you'll
065notice that um you know, $9,000 of it is going straight into the base. And then only the last 5,000 which we do have to have a part of it based on performance. Um, so we have to have and I'm looking at right legislation right here. Performance-based compensation system shall include teacher professional development programs that are aligned with the elements of the performance-based compensation system. So, we need to follow those those guidances. Great, thank you. Any other questions or comments? Need a motion. So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Elgaddio. Second. Seconded by Ms. Anaya. All those in favor say I. I. I. Nay. Anyone opposed? Nay. Motion carries 4-1. Moving on to uh 6.16, approval of the reading for policy advisory number 961-991 and 1003-1046. This was a lengthy one. Some policies have been merged
066as they share same language and deleted and we some of them were deleted um because they contain redundant information making them more clear. Uh, so policy advisory number 992-1002, they have been crossed out for further review and we will be bringing those back for approval in May. So, the recommendation is to approve policy advisory 961-991 and 1003-1046 as presented. Any questions or comments? I'm sorry. I have a question. So, you said you're going to bring it back? So, there are there's a section that has been crossed out that we needed further just further analysis from the team especially because a lot of them were with HR and we want to make sure that we really look at them. So, in the actual package you'll see a big section that has been crossed out. Those we
067will be be bringing back in May. So, they're not being deleted. They're just being put to the side for now cuz this is deleted. The other ones, so the ones that we have cleared on the title 961-991 and 1003-10 1046. Those are the ones that we are reviewing right now and within those there are a bunch of them that have been deleted and merged but then we didn't count for the ones that we specified the ones that we specified being 992-1002. Those we will be bringing back in May. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Need a motion? So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Rosario. Second. Seconded by Ms. Clark. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to 7.1. Any recommendation from the board for future agenda items?
068Um I do but I'll email it to you guys. Just want to get the specifications. Well, if if you do make sure you email it to me cuz Mr. Lario and I work on the agenda. And and we'll go from there. >> Okay. Definitely. Um moving on to 7.2. Uh Teacher of the Year banquet will be on Thursday, April 30th, 2026. The County one. And then moving on to 7.3. ASBA Summer Leadership Institute pre-conference, June 4th, conference, June 5th through 6th. And it's in Philadelphia. Make sure to let Mary know if uh Registration opened already, so we we need to I need to know right away. Yeah. We also need to know because we have our own board retreat planned for that Saturday, June 6th. So if if the majority of you will be attending,
069then I would like to propose a different date. I won't be attending. I will not. I will not be attending the Philadelphia. Okay. I have to check my calendar. All right. Need a motion to adjourn? So moved. Motion was made by Ms. Salgado. I got Seconded by Ms. Clark. I those in favor, say "Aye." >> Aye. Aye. Aye. Any in opposition? It is uh 6:27. We're adjourned.