001Good evening and welcome to tonight's regular meeting of the board of education. This meeting is called to order at 4:59 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Student member Chibique, Miss Armstrong, Miss Stewart, >> present. >> Miss Cron, >> present. >> Mr. Critchfield, >> present. >> Mrs. Garza, >> present. Tonight, sorry, I didn't have my I my glasses on. Um, we do have close uh requests addressing close session agenda items. Mr. John Paul Dreer, would you please come to the podium? >> Put it on. Good evening everyone. Um, sorry I was not able to attend the last meeting. Um, but I did watch the video last week and I enjoyed the budget presentation but then at the end it felt stuck. and the directions for um with the superintendent were unclear as to when we would know
002um the recommendations for the budget and I I felt the president President Garza wasn't happy with August being when we'd get the information. I hope in close session you could resolve this to have it earlier like before the state budget is resolved so we're prepared for whatever happens in Sacramento. Uh I think it's very important that we're prepared for um our three-year budget cycle and start now to look for cost savings. Uh because I and Amy um are very involved when in Paramount Unified and the 66 teachers that received pink slip. It was just just awful. It was an awful meeting and um so I don't want that to happen here. And if we need to be prepared and I'm an Eagle Scout, so that's my motto. That's to be prepared so that doesn't happen
003here. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. At this time, the board will adjourn to close session. Open session will resume approximately at 6:30. Good evening and welcome to tonight's regular meeting of the board of education. At this time, we now reconvene to open session at 6:38 p.m. to resume the regular order of business. Board clerk synthron will not read um give us an update yet on close session topics as we will be re um going back into close session after our regular um meeting. So we will go to the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Anthony Martinez, would you please lead us in the flag salute this evening? Okay, if everybody would face the flag, stand, put your right hand over your heart, and let's begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,
004and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. It's time for recognitions. Dr. Simon. >> Thank you so much, President Garza. At this time, I will ask the board to come down from the dis for the recognitions. Mrs. Carter will will assist us with recognitions this evening. This evening, the board of education is pleased to recognize athletes and teams from our district who earned the distinction of CIF titles during the winter sports season. Staff and students, please come forward as I call your name and remain for a picture. The Mayfair boys and girls wrestling teams had another successful year representing boys and girls wrestling from Mayfair High School. The board of education would like to recognize coaches Costco and Tony Nuen. Both squads performed brilliantly
005despite several key injuries throughout the season. They sent a total of 12 wrestlers to the Masters Championships at Sonora High School and four of those wrestlers qualified to wrestle at the state championships in Bakersfield. The girls won another league championship this season which is their sixth championship in 10 years. They also captured their first CIF championship in the Northern Division while wrestling at Adalanto High School. Although all of them are some are some of the most humble athletes at Mayfair, their accomplishments deserve recognition and Mayfair is very proud of everything they do on and off the mat. Let's give them all a round of applause for that. That is wonderful. This evening, the board of education is proud to acknowledge the following boys wrestlers. Hawk Alvarez finished sixth at CIF and qualified for masters. Sam
006Escala placed fourth at CIF and also qualified for Masters. Josh Silva finished runner up at CIF and wrestled at Masters. Colt Palasios placed sixth at CIF and qualified for Masters. TJ Alvarez, who placed fourth at CIF, then fifth at Masters, which qualified him to wrestle at the California State Championships in Bakersfield. We'd also like to recognize our girls CIF championship wrestlers. Hayden Yag, we're going to do boys. Okay. >> And take a picture. Congratulations. Okay, let's recognize our CIF championship girls wrestlers. Let's start with Hayden Yanagasawa, which she finished runner up at CIF and then proceeded to win the championship at Masters, qualifying her for the state championships in Bakersfields. Give her a round of applause. Carrington Menddees won her individual CIF individual championship and then placed fourth at Masters, qualifying her for states in
007Bakersfield. Madalia de la Cruz finished third at CIF and qualified for masters. Masumi Everett was runner up at CIF and qualified for masters. Eliia Ash plays fourth at CIF and qualified for masters. Alana Fuyava came in third at CIF and also went to Mast's. Raina Chavez finished second at CIF and then second at Masters and she also represented Mayfair at States in Bakersfield. Let's give a round of applause to our girls wrestlers while they take a picture. One last round of applause for all of our athletes. Congratulations. That brings a close to recognitions tonight. if the girls can come back. I just need to see the name because I don't have it on the list. Okay, I apologize. So students, please remain. We would now we would now like to recognize the team as a
008whole for earning the title of CIF championships and we'd like to call up the rest of the team. Elise Dejos, >> Danica Deooos, >> Ava Menddees, and Romina Castillo. on behalf of the board of educations. Congratulations. Great job, ladies. Wow, that cleared up pretty quickly. >> Okay. Do we have any corrections to this evening's agenda? >> We do not have any corrections this evening, Board President Garza. Thank you. Um, presentations from staff and community. Can we have PTA President Alexandra Cortez come forward, please? All right. Good evening everyone. Good evening, Madame President Garza, school board, cabinet, superintendent, BUSD staff, and community members. This is our report for the month of March. It includes reflections. So, that'll be my first slide on there. if you perfect. Thank you. Here we go. So, our theme this year
009was I belong. Uh this theme grew throughout the district and uh truly resonated with our community. I'm proud to share that over 100 students from across B USD entered the reflections program this year. As you can see in these photos, our recent reflections awards night. These were our 30 winners from our district alone from Belar Council of PTA. So there's kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. One of our students was lucky enough to go on to 33rd and also won a recognition there. These are some of the other winners. There was a great display of all their artwork. They got little prizes, certificates, and we got to see their actual artwork. They had the screens up and we played the videos and showed their artwork as well. Here are some more. And you're going
010to see representation from almost every school. And then this is our membership report. We're currently at 2,394 members. Our goal is 3,000, so we only need about 66 members. So, please continue to join. You could join one or all of them. I brought along the sheets. You could scan one or you could take it home and do all the units. Continue to support us. We only need a few more. And then um these newsletters, these are available on our Instagram. This is going to show you every unit. So that means every school and what their upcoming events for that month are. So it's laid out all the way from Baxter all the way to Mayfair and Woodruff. And then these are our upcoming events. We have our HSA awards night. That's where we award our
011volunteers for across the district for all the good things that they've done. That's going to be April 17th. And then we also have volunteer appreciation week. So, April 19th through the 25th. That's an official week across the nation. Just give them a thank you. And then we have our spring awards coming up with 33rd on April 23rd. And thank you very much. Have a great night. Thank you, Miss Cortez. Um, superintendent's report. Dr. >> Thank you, President Garza, esteemed board members, cabinet colleagues, dedicated staff, and valued committee members. It is a pleasure to be with you this evening. It is my pleasure to share several highlights from across Belfflower Unified as we continue advancing the important work of supporting our student, staff, and community. First, I want to extend my congratulations to the teams at
012Bellflower High School and also Mayfair High School on their successful Wasque accreditation through 2029. This is a significant accomplishment and a reflection of the dedication, professionalism, and collective effort of our staff, students, and site leaders. Accreditation affirms the quality of the work taking place in our campuses and underscores our continued commitment to excellence. We also continue to make strong progress in several key areas of district leadership and innovation. Our third guiding coalition meeting took place on Friday, March 20th. And as we continue our shared work to shape the future direction of this amazing district, our second AI artificial intelligence design team meeting was held on March 25th and our second Somerset Futuro session with Dr. Cassandra Via was held on March 24th for our Somerset students. Each of these efforts reflects our commitment to thoughtful
013planning, innovation, and the development of systems that will continue to move this district forward. In the area of arts education, our elementary band session has just concluded and our coral session is now in full swing. These opportunities are so important for our students, not only as outlets for creativity and expression, but also as experience that build confidence, discipline, and joy. I am also pleased to report that our facilities master plan survey has received over 10,000 responses. That level of participation reflects strong community engagement and a shared investment in the future of our schools. We are grateful to our families, staff, and community members for taking the time to provide input as we plan thoughtfully for the years ahead. I am also excited to share that we'll have our first sports day. Well, I want to
014say first, uh many years ago, um there was an annual sports day that took place in this district. And I know that President Cortez uh shared some pictures with me uh about three weeks ago. We are going to bring that back. And we have an amazing student, a fourth grader at ILC, um, who has pushed this initiative, um, who has gathered not just myself and our deputy superintendent and our assistant superintendent, uh, Mrs. Bonnie Carter, but also principles and also our PTA site reps, right, to plan an amazing day on March 27. And this will take place at Foster Elementary. and it will be between Foster and ILC grade spans fourth through six and again super excited um about this day that is unfolding that is starting and it's going to be amazing right for
015our students. Um on a personal note and just know that it were up to me I would not be announcing this uh but my cabinet members have asked me to do so. I am honored to share that I was sworn in as the next president-elect of the California Association of African-American Superintendent and Administrators, better known as CASA, on March 19th. I accept that responsibility with gratitude and humility, and I am proud to represent Bellflower Unified in Educational Leadership at the state and also national level. Thank you to board member Reita Armstrong for representing the entire board. I appreciate all of your wellw wishes, your support. Um, it means the world to me. Finally, as we approach the spring recess, I want to extend my sincere trying to get through it, y'all. I was trying to
016get through it. Stop. Stop. Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. All right. Finally, as we approach the spring recess, you can see I don't like that kind of stuff, but thank you. I want to extend my sincere wishes to all of our students, staff, families, and board members for a restful and welldeserved break. I hope this time provides an opportunity to recharge and return renewed to the important work ahead. Thank you all. I appreciate you. >> Thank you, Superintendent um Simon. Now we will go on to um I'm sorry public comment I'm sorry committee updates does the board have any ad hoc committee updates this evening? I have one. I just wanted to say that we through the cal apps board we just went through our accreditation process and it went really well. We're waiting
017to hear back but we had a lot of teachers u Miss Whitney and her staff did a great job. So, it really went really well and I was really excited about that. That's it. Anyone else? No. Thank you. Um, we'll move over to public comments. Uh, tonight we do have requests addressing agenda item um from John Paul Dreer. Would you please come to the podium? >> Hi. Good evening. My item is public comments. Um I just completed my second walk of um the neighborhood where I grew up and went to school in North Bellflower. And some of the highlights of parents uh expressed to me um that when they their child turns four, it would be easier to understand which school they go to because they're just starting like where are they going to go
018to TK. It would be really nice if we had maps of where our school district attendance is like for each school because they had that in other districts. Um but also to promote um I don't know if there's a way you can track who has a four-year-old so we can also improve our uh enrollment. Um so people called me and asked you know where do we go and um it was um Frankie Woodruff they were interested in. Um people have expressed uh concerns about bumping. Um I know that there was a speech about Albert Baxter. The original school was Ernie Pile, but then I met people in behind Albert Baxter said that they were bumped to another school. And so I just don't understand why people who actually live in the area were bumped to
019another school outside of where they live. So they can't even walk to school. Um, a parent expressed to me on Rose Cran Avenue, um, that, uh, why if if the bathrooms aren't working, they're being repaired, could we have like backup bathrooms for them, like temporary bathrooms or portaotties or something because of the lines uh, to go to the bathrooms? Um, and then the bumping at Mayfair for special ed. Um, okay. you go to Mayfair for special ed and they have certain programs and you're bumped to your home area of Belfflower and they don't have the same programs. So, could we work toward having the same special ed programs at both uh middle schools and high schools for special ed students? Um, let's see what I have in I saw a lot of signs from other
020districts. Oh, our kid is going to Downey Unified. Our kid is going to Los Alamidos where I work. Uh, they're going to different Catholic schools. They're going to Guar. They're going to Cerritos High. Um, could we have signs? I know some people have signs saying, um, proud Buccaneer, you know, Buccaneer Honor, those are old signs. They're not recent. Or proud that I'm going to graduate in what year at Belfar High or Mayfair. Um, we we need to encourage people to come back. I asked them, we're going to try and improve our district, so please consider coming back to Belfar Unified. I think we need to do more of that outreach to bring up our enrollment. But I've been doortodoor twice in my neighborhood. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Dreer. >> We are moving on
021to uh consent agenda. Uh do we have any items to withhold from the consent agenda this evening? >> Madam President, I'd like to uh pull 11.5 explosion case 2617006. >> A second. Thank you. Uh, roll call, please. >> Student board member Chubik. >> Hi. >> Um, so, Madam President, a motion would be needed first for the uh, remainder of the consent. >> Sorry. Um, sorry. Um, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda and withhold item 11.5, student expulsion case 26-17-006? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. Student member Jubique >> I >> Miss Armstrong >> I >> Miss Stewart >> I >> Miss Cron >> I Mr. Critchfield >> I >> Mrs. Garza >> I. >> Now on to withheld items. The first item withheld is 11.5 student expulsion case-
0222626-17006. Do I have a wish to approve this item? >> Uh, Madame President, I'd move to continue this item at the next regular board meeting. >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Student board member Chuk. >> I. >> Miss Armstrong. >> I. >> Miss. Stewart. I. >> Miss Cron. >> I. >> Mr. Critfield. >> I. >> Mrs. Garza. >> I. Now we go on to the board communications. Student board member Chibik. >> Um like uh board member Centron. I also like to keep these short and sweet. So I only have a few um this evening. So first off, the last time I was on this die, I was 17, but the day after actually I turned 18. So that's a thing. That's just the end of life's free trial, I guess. So now I'm on
023to face the real world. And then one last thing is on Thursday, March 19th, um Mayfair invited Norwok High School's esports team over for our CIF game. Usually we play those at 4:15 online, but we decided to make it an event because Norwalk and Mayfair are some of the top talent in um CIF. And we also invited um different classes or all the classes, all the teachers, all the students to come watch. And it was a pretty good event. We had a pretty good turnout. It was hype. Um the crowd was cheering us on. It was a close game though. I ended up having to take the last game and it was it, like I said, it was close, but we did end up losing two to three. However, that is our that is the
024only loss on our record and we're still seated, I think, number one for playoffs. So, yeah, that was a good event, good turnout, and I was excited to see so many people cheering for us, even the people that were confused and didn't really know what was going on. So, that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you, Bar Member Chib. Um, Bar Member Armstrong. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um, uh, what did I do? So I went to CASA and um I represented well you all I behave and um it was just it it was you know that was a really really great conference to see as many superintendent and CBOS in one place. Uh they also had board members and um and a few teachers too. Um they and to to know that the the support
025that the superintendents have that was just something that I didn't I didn't know about. They have an academy to where they can um you know um network. They have mentors and and and they really help and uplift each other and and you know they said you know this is a soul center leadership and and what they aim to do is cultivate even more leaders and um you know uh and they and they talked about five core energies that leaders uh should have and that's purpose wisdom, growth, love, and self-realization. Um, I can go on and on about the the different things, but you know, we just as as leaders, even us, we are only as good as our followth through when we, you know, are, you know, we are representing the community. and we're kind
026of like that liaison and so it is really important for us to follow through and we have no problem doing that. Okay. Um and then they also talked about being um what what um it it was a long story but the what they came out what what came out of it is that you know sometimes we have situations to where we feel hopeless. We feel like like we can't get out of the hole that we've probably fell into or dug oursel in. But we should never ever be hopeless because being hopeless is an enemy of justice. And that's what we're working for. We're work working to make sure that all of our children are being, you know, are getting what they need in school. And um I'm going to cut it out there. It's so
027much more. Um but just know that I know our board would you guys would have loved it. So, let's continue on and we're going to continue to advocate for our students, for our teachers, and and we're going to pull and use as many resources as we can. We have we have great community resources, and we're going to do whatever we can for our students. That's it. Simple. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Armstrong. Board member Stewart. Thank you, President Garca. Good evening. For clarification, I report out in my board reports to bring awareness to the things our amazing teachers, staff, and administrators are doing for our children in our community every day. I report to celebrate student success to bring back board information from conferences that may educate colleagues or our partners that elected
028me to do the work. And I have many people that thank me, they text me, they call me and thank me that I provide a lot of information and I present because they work so hard to provide for our students and appreciate the recognition for their students. So my board report is not going to be short and sweet tonight and probably never will because I will continue to celebrate students and staff and I actually attend a lot of events and I'm visible in our community. So yesterday I attended a meeting regarding our facilities master plan and I gave input on the vision I have heard from our community members and what I would like to see prioritized for facilities if we had funds to do it. My answer to them was to improve restrooms to
029provide more shade and trees for our students. A science lab at Belfar High School aesthetics of our school basically like the paint. each school having maybe their own accents, their own murals, something that's inviting for our kids and they're excited to be there and to just brighten them up and give them their own identity. Flooring in our classrooms, which we've heard a lot about and in our SARKC reports, it um it kind of says that our flooring in our interior classrooms need updating. And possibly a wrestling room at or an NPR at Belfflair High School. I think that would be a nice addition because it would align with the equity of both schools having one. And Belfflower has some really great athletic programs and they're always sharing gym space. So maybe even just a secondary
030small gym that's just basically used for wrestling or just other teams to be able to practice when they can't get gym time. So that is what I hope we will consider in the future. Later on that day, I went to, and I know I say this all the time, but I mean this wholeheartedly, this was my truly my favorite event as a board member so far, being on this board. I attended the Mr. buck contest at Belar High School and it was put on by our Bealth High School ASB and their amazing leader, Miss Shannon Hovvice and I want to report about this event really to promote it so that our juniors hear about it and that they'll be seniors next year and they might attend. So basically what the Mr. Butt contest was um
031as Miss Satry put it, she was an amazing MC. It's kind of like satire of a beauty pageant for boys. So there was 11 BHS seniors and they were judged based on creativity, confidence, and audience engagement for three categories. One was spiritware. So they all came out in different spiritware. Some wore jerseys. There were football jerseys, soccer jerseys. One had the mascot head on, one had a cheerleading uniform on. It was epic. Um, so they just showed their school spirit. The next one was a talent showcase. Um, they did lots of different things. They sung, they danced. Um, the comedy magic was epic. Ask Mr. Miss Cummings about it. It was so good. And the last category was the formal wear in the interview. So, Mr. Angel Bassan was crowned Mr. Buck 2026. Mr. Jonathan
032Gonzalez was runner up. Mr. Sebastian Lewis won for best formal wear. Congratulations to Adrien Garcia for winning Mr. Congeniality. And I thought his award was really cool because I'm going to tell you the prizes they won because I was so impressed. But he also gets a speech spotlight at the senior farewell assembly for being Mr. Congeniality. And I thought that was really cool. Alejandro Carral won for the best talent with his playing of the drums. And Ethan Martinez won for the people's choice award where the audience got to put tickets in boxes and they got to vote on their favorite person. It was so cool. So um I found it really rewarding that the ASB they received so many sponsors and I want to thank everyone who donated to the winner. But this is what
033Mr. Buck won. So I hope that these students will will join in this next year. the the person that won, he won a free class ring from Justins, a free 2026 yearbook, a free prom ticket plus one guest, a free prom tux rental from Frier Tux, a photo package from the prom for the prom, a cheesecake factory gift, and a habit gift card. And I thought that's amazing for a high school student to win all of those things. And it really impressed me that they tied it to our activities that are already happening at our school. And I think that will increase student involvement. So, thank you again for having me as a judge. And I appreciate the other judges, Jonathan Call, Angelica Betans, Carla Trip, and Principal Cummings. Kudos to your staff, Mrs. Cummings,
034for bringing this back. And this is part of the celebration this year. It's the 75th anniversary of Belfflair High School's opening. So, that was pretty amazing. Um, on March 23rd, I attended the city of Crito's council meeting. It was Mayor Frank Yokoyama's final meeting as mayor, and I was blessed that um I received a proclamation for women's history month. I want to thank uh Mayor Yokoyama for his service. There were so many partners from the city that were celebrated. The board president from Cerrito's College, Dr. Don Green, assembly member um Sharon Corks Silva was recognized, principles, ABC board member Tatiana Yokoyama was um also recognized and others. So I just want to thank them so much for the recognition and the partnership through the past few years. And lastly, I just wanted to give kudos
035to I've already talked with Dr. assignment. But Esmeralda, our staff, and our team for our enrollment video, it almost made me cry. It was so good. There were so many students involved. I was joking and she'll probably get mad that I'm going to say this, but I am. Our one of our assistant super superintendents, Dr. Gatana, she was like, Amy, it was fabulous. I shared it with everyone. So, she said it publicly so I can say it, but it was so good. And I just thank you, Esmeralda, and everyone that was involved with that, the company. I just I love seeing all of the students and what we have to offer here at Belfflower. So kudos to you guys. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Stewart. Board member board clerk Cron. Thank you. Um
036I just want to say I really enjoyed board member Armstrong's reading about leadership today. That was I'm sorry I missed that. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot. It's definitely needed. Um, so, um, I left my notes at home, but, uh, I did want to say congratulations to the wrestling teams. Um, it's a special place in my heart for the wrestlers. I know everybody turns to Cricutfield for this, but I was a wrestler in high school, so to see the girls wrestle and to see how far everything's gone in I won't say how many years, it was great to see. And um I I really really enjoy seeing um our girls flourish in other ways that they haven't been able to be dominant in. Um, and I look forward to going to the
037conference, the coast to coast conference. That's what we'll will be until our next meeting. Um, I think we talked about it a little bit more last year and we'll report out for sure again, but just to remind everybody, Coast to Coast is where we get the opportunity to um meet with our legislators, have time with them, sit with them, and really give our opinion and to show them proof and to give them stories of what is happening in our district and how they can support us. really especially especially especially in this time. Um, and that always brings me to, you know, we can't ignore what's happening um, politically because it is hitting close to home um, more than ever for some most. And I just want to say that I'm really looking forward to bringing
038this group of or going with this group to coast to coast uh in Washington DC with a few of our cabinet members especially with our superintendent holding titles um uh to be able to advocate for real um and to hold some people's feet to the fire because that's what all of us are good at um in our own unique ways and styles. And so, uh, I really, really look forward to that. And I really look forward to sharing if anything we're able to bring back. Um, and enjoy spring break. Let me know how it goes. I don't get one, but let me know how it goes. Um, because you all deserve it. And, uh, if I miss something, sorry, but that's it for me. Thank you. >> Thank you, board clerk. Vice President Kfield. >>
039Thank you, Madam President. Um, I was able to go to the guiding coalition. Uh, thank you staff for again doing that. I think it's great work. Uh, President Garz and I were there. Uh, just really great work. Uh, very collaborative with uh, all stakeholders. Uh, so I'm excited that that work continues. Uh, uh, Bordon, we can both be wrestler fans. It's okay. It's all right. I do want to say congratulations to our May wrestlers. very impressive uh as always. Um and so since the last board meet, I've been in the ICU with with my daughter. I know many of you know that. And I just want to take a moment to say thank you to everybody that reached out, the thoughts, the prayers. They worked. We're home now and she's she's recovering. So uh we're
040back home and uh just want to say thank you to everybody who reached out uh about that because at the end of the day uh you know we're parents first or you know we're humans too. So, uh, I was still able to do, uh, a lot of things cuz that's it's actually kind of a pleasant distraction having, uh, a lot of conversations and I still get to meet with Dr. Simon. Uh, I really enjoyed the work, so it was a pleasant distraction, but we're back home. So, uh, thank you everybody who reached out. >> Thank you, Vice President Chrisfield. Um, for myself, I think everything has been mentioned. So, I'm going to say thank you so much and I hope that you all have a restful and enjoyable spring break and we will see you
041back on April 23rd. At this time, um, the board will reconvene to recess to close session >> for President Garz. I just going to make one cororrection. Our next board meeting would be special board meeting March 30th. >> That's correct. Yes. So, we do have a special board meeting coming up on March 30th. >> Forgot about that one. Um, so at this time, the board will resist to close session. There will be no further action taken in open session. >> Have a nice evening. Thank you.