001Good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the board of education. The meeting is called to order at 400 pm in open session. Roll call, please. >> Student member Chubik, Miss Armstrong, >> present. >> Miss Cron, Mr. Critzfield, >> present. >> Mrs. Garza, Miss Stewart, >> present. Tonight, we do have requests addressing close session agenda items. While meetings of the governing board are not public meetings, they are open to the public. Individual speakers will be allowed three minutes to address the board on each agenda item. The board will limit the total time for public input on each item to 21 minutes as per board bylaw 9322.2. Can we have John Paul Dreer? Welcome. >> The agenda online and it said like so open sessions five because it puts down I thought the close session was
002going to start at five because it said on here but I guess that's for um open it just wasn't clear if you use your phone. So but I just made it here in time. Um, I hope that the others will come here shortly so you can have a full board to discuss any of the important expensive items before you for close session. Um when I was a board member at the college, some of my board members would abandon us uh late into the night during close session and we could not resolve things and things were uh allowed to linger on and on and I had to uh work to stop a strike. And so I hope you have a full compliment and that you look at things carefully like how can you prevent uh future
003lawsuits or um employment issues to think forward holistically with the budget when you look at everything in the paradigm of closed session because it this is most the most important part of uh the meeting to me as a former board member and I wish you good luck and hope the rest of them come soon. Thanks. Thank you so much. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? All right. At this time, the board will recess to close session. Open session will resume at approximately 5:00 p.m. Welcome back, everyone. Tonight's meeting of the board of education was called to order at 400 pm in open session. The board then adjourned to close session and will now reconvene the meeting in open session at 5:06 p.m. Board clerk Critfield will update us on close session topics.
004>> Thank you, Madam President. The topics discussed in close session were student matters anticipated litigation, public employee discipline, public employee appointment uh for principal, and the board took no action in close session. >> Thank you. Tonight, our pledge of allegiance is going to be led by our ILC principal, Mr. Sam Platis. Thank you so much for being here. >> Sorry. Are we good? Okay. It's my pleasure to lead everybody in the pledge of allegiance. If I can have everybody rise, place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. 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. >> Me too. Thank you so much. We do not have replacement pages tonight and there
005are no amendments to the agenda. Um, so we are going to start our recognitions on here. No. Okay. Um, tonight we are recognizing Alina Sandival from ILC. So, we're going to bring back Mr. Platis to do our student spotlight. Thank you so much. There we go. Thank you everybody. Um, good evening everybody. again, Sam Plattis, principal at Intensive Learning Center, uh board president, uh Stewart, Vice President Garza, Superintendent Dr. Simon, and cabinet members. Thank you so much for this opportunity. It's my honor to introduce our spotlight student, Alina Sandival. Alina is a remarkable fourth grader who reminds us every day what strength, heart, and true leadership look like. She approaches each day with enthusiasm, determination, and a spirit that inspires everyone, everyone around her. And of course, she always gives her personal personal best in
006the classroom and on the playground. Elina stands out not only for her commitment to learning, but also for her growth mindset. She always gives her best effort. She embraces new opportunities, and she encourages others to do the same. Even more impressive is Alena's kindness. She notices others. She lifts them up. And she treats everyone with compassion and respect. Her positivity fills our classrooms and hallways. And her classmates look to her as a model of what it means to be responsible, resilient, and excellent. She inspires all of us, students and adults alike, at ILC. She inspires us to be better, try harder, and believe in ourselves. Please join me in celebrating our spotlight student, the wonderful, excellent Elena Sandival. If you could have a round of applause and of course great students go along with great
007teachers, too. So tonight we have Mr. Zavala. We want to recognize him for his exceptional exceptionally talented being an exceptionally talented fourth grade teacher. Every minute every day, Mr. Zavala brings and expects excellence as well. He has a remarkable ability to bring strong to build strong genuine relationships with his students, helping each of them feel seen, valued, and capable. His classroom is a place where warmth and high expectations go hand in hand, creating a nurturing yet rigorous learning environment that inspires students to grow academically and personally. Under his guidance, students thrive, they take risks, and they discover discover the best in themselves. So, I present to you Mr. Zavalo. Round of applause for Mr. Zalo, please. Nicely done, Principal Plattis. It is an honor and a pleasure to be here. Board members, families, principal, loved
008ones. Today is a day that we honor and recognize a truly wonderful student. A student that is kind like Mr. Plata said, that is intelligent, that works hard in the classroom, just an exceptional student all around. I'm very happy to be here and today we celebrate her. And um I'd like to get started. Yeah. Today we proudly recognize Alina for academic achievement, effort, and a growth mindset. Thank you. Her perseverance and resilience are seen every single day and she contributes to our school community in many, many different ways. Now, what does it mean to be a spotlight student? Spotlight student can mean so many different things. One such way is an exemplary student and peer in the classroom. Alina is the first student to be ready. She listens attentively. She works hard in collaboration with
009peers. She's responsible and can be trusted. And she makes her classroom a positive place. Every day I walk into the classroom. Alina greets me with a smile. Thank you. Alina offers help. Alina helps others in the classroom, her peers. And so we value her for that, for being who she is. Now being a bilingual scholar is also very important. Bilingual scholars we read and we write in both languages in English and in Spanish. It's incredibly difficult but she learns in two languages and she thinks in two languages and she excels and she works hard. And so being a bilingual scholar is a recognition that it's very worthy and very important and I'd like to acknowledge that for Alina. Now, being a critical thinker and problem solver is equally as important. And one of the things
010I love about her is her curiosity to learn new things. When I go to her and I talk to her and I'm collaborating with her, she's always welcoming. She smiles. She is receptive to information. And she doesn't give up when things are hard. Often times when things are hard, I take a moment and I think about things and I say, "Wow, this is really difficult. What can I do?" And so I am inspired and I go to Alina and sometimes I can ask her, hey, what do you think about this, Alina? Um, how can you solve this problem? What do you think about this situation? And so she always shares her thoughts and ideas in class, academically, about the playground, about, you know, even about today, like we talked about it today in class. And
011so she's a critical thinker and a problem solver. Having a growth mindset is super important. Um, it it makes us who we are. It makes us resilient and Alina always tries her best. She keeps working to get better. She doesn't give up when things are challenging. So when I look for inspiration as a teacher, I think about students that are exceptional and have that growth mindset and I think about Alina and I'm inspired by her work ethic and responsibility as well. It's important. We all have different responsibilities in the morning. It's sometimes difficult to wake up, but you know, we have homework, we have lots of different things going on, but Alina is very consistent in turning in her assignments. We have an exceptional aid, Miss Loose, that works with her every day. I'd like
012to acknowledge Miss Loose and give her a round of applause to it right now, please. Um, so at the beginning of the year when I was trying to get to know my students, I met with Miss Luc and we talked about we said, "Hey, how can I support Alina? How can we work together?" Um, I couldn't have asked for a um a better partner for Alina in the classroom. A partner that she trusts, a partner that she loves, a partner that's always going to be there for her. And so I'm inspired by Miss Loose as well. And um it's great to see the relationship that they have in the classroom. And Alina always shows also, you know, pride in the quality of her work. If things are difficult, I can go to her and hey,
013let's revise it a little bit. Let's change this up a little bit. What do you think? And um it's important to always be mindful about how to make improvements in reading or in writing or in math. And so that's really really important that growth. Now character. Character is really really important. Character is how people see us often times the first time. It's important to be kind and respectful and trustworthy. In the playground, she's a very loyal and supportive friend. I see that with a lot of the peers in the classroom when they're playing together outside or just having conversations. And so it's important to build strong positive relationships at school. I have friends from college and middle school and elementary school and I remember those times we were playing in the playground or we were
014working in the classroom and I remember my principles and my teachers and so building strong positive relationships is important. And I'd also like to take this moment to acknowledge Alena's family that's here today. Um, they're exceptionally they're here for her today, which shows a strong bond with her family. A round of applause for their family, please. Now, creativity and positive energy. Often times, you know, we might look at a standardized test. We might look at Alena's reading ability and say, "Wow, you know, she passed the SP pack. She's at a level three. She's reading at grade level. These are all academic strengths, but at the same time, Alina is very artistic. When we're doing art in the classroom, she combines different colors. We're doing the loss muertos and she's just stands out in terms of
015her creativity, her way to see patterns and and express herself artistically. Um, in addition to that, when we're in the classroom, um, if there's something going on, she might make a little joke and make other people smile. So, she's very good at making her classmates smile and she just has a lot of positive energy to her and um it contributes to a very positive classroom atmosphere. Now, strength and resilience, that's why we're here today as well. It it's important to show courage every day at school. It's important to be brave and strong in any challenge that we face. Um we're here today to honor her. I'm sure I'm a bit nervous here today and you know I I know Alina's going to do really well in in a bit when she might you know contribute
016to how she feels but it's important to be open and to experience new things even if it's difficult it's important to face that challenge with enthusiasm and with bravery and I see that resilience in her. In conclusion, why do we celebrate Alina today? Alina works hard and always tries her best. She is a kind, creative, and great friend and student and daughter. And she inspires others with her strength and positivity. I'd like to close this out by showing a few pieces of art from the classroom. This is from uh when when I was in the classroom and we're talking about celebrating one of our classmates, students really had to think about reasons that were to them important and these are some of the reasons and some of the pieces of art. So Alina, you are
017kind, you are caring, you are fun and playful and hardworking. You are optimistic, responsible, respectful, creative and artistic. You are very deserving of this award. We also have a way of students showing their love for Alina in different ways. We have art. We have paragraphs. We have a thinking map here, a circle map. Why is Alina des the deserving of this award? She's very cool as well. She loves recess. She loves cats. She's responsible. So, we've gotten to know one another throughout the year. And even though I only know Alina for three months and I will continue to get to know her and her family, I know that she's destined for greatness. Today is just a small moment in her career. I'm very proud of her. Her family is very proud of her. This board
018is very proud of her. Her family, her, you know, the classmates. And so we are very happy and honored today that Alina is our spotlight student of ILC at ILC. Okay. And we're so proud of Alina. You talk about having courage. She said that she would like to say a few few words as well. And this is really this is the uh the best part of the show, so to speak. So Alina, you take it away, my friend. Okay. You want me to hold it? You want to hold it? >> I got it. >> You got it. >> Um Ptocrac Thank you for all your support and encouragement. I'm grateful and honored to receive this award. Thank you. Thank you again for this opportunity. >> Would you mind coming and taking a picture with us,
019please? >> Yes. Let's get the whole family up, please. All right, moving on to our student representative reports from Belfare. We have Kaylin Vera. Thank you for being here. >> Okay. Um, good evening members of the board. Um, board president and superintendent Dr. Simons. Um, my name is Kaylin Vera, obviously, and I'm gonna be reporting on the the board report for December. So, starting off this past November, our ASBU has been given the opportunity to attend the KATA conference at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. This conference is meant for all ASBs in California to come together and to really just exchange knowledge and exchange what we've learned as an ASB, our strengths, our weaknesses and essentially it's just ways to get better. Um it started off with a uh what are they called? motivational speaker
020and we were really put to the test in that way where we were sort of put into a space where we had to get to know one another. We had to interact with kids our age and um be in workshops and really try our hardest to come together and you know keep in mind that we're here for our school and we're here to represent our school. Um we also did that with our um ASB president Zullecastro. She actually presented at a meet the masters workshop. She presented on fall fest which is our most successful event and she gave insight to other schools on how we run such a big fundraising event. As you guys remember we rose or we raised over $10,000 for our school. So yes. Um moving on. High School Musical. This was
021our theater production for this semester. It was probably the biggest one that we've had so far. Um, we had a lot of turnout from our student body and from our staff. Honestly, our staff were so excited for this. So excited to be a part of it. We also had our um I forgot what he is. He's our music teacher. He actually participated and filled in for one of the roles for one of our thing. It was a little bit weird, but he was he was our Chad. He had the spirit. Um, but yeah, we really had a high school musical moment. We had um students from like entirely different branches. We had baseball players, we had basketball players, soccer players, and they all came together and really gave it their all to be a part
022of it. And it was just it was an amazing production. I'm personally a stage manager. So, I am in the production and just seeing it and seeing the community that we were able to build. It was it was just amazing. It was my favorite production by far. Uh moving on, we have our community work. Our canned food drive has been taking place this past month. It ends tomorrow and this past week we delivered about 1,200 cans and obviously we're hoping more this week. It's in collaboration with the city of Bellflower and these cans obviously go to people in need and it's really it's an important part of our community work. Additionally, we have our holiday toy drive. This is with Skills USA and my family's personal um nonprofit which works to give toys to children
023in St. Miller or no in Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach. These toys go for the holidays. It's especially saddening to see children in the hospital. So, giving these toys and being able to give back to our community is something that we really appreciate and we really highlight at our school. And moving on, we have our football CIF semi-finals. We were um honored or not honored, we worked hard enough to make it to the CIF semifinals. Unfortunately, we were taken out obviously in the semi-finals, the last I think quarter, they were able to the opposing team was able to make um a field goal that we were unfortunately just not able to recover from. But our our football team has worked so hard. I think especially the improvement from last year. We sucked. We lost
024our homecoming game. Like there was just something something this year that these boys did to really try and get there. Okay. Like it was just it was in it was very prideful. Like we have a lot of pride for our football team now especially with what they've been able to accomplish. Okay, so our finals week, we have our winter rally and our spirit week. Obviously, this is a stressful time for all of our students. So, as ASB, we try our hardest to make this sort of fun, sort of something that's not as stressful and we're honored enough to have organiz organizations on campus who also work to do the same. So, we have a week fold with activities. On Monday, we have our winter rally. We have ornament decorating on the 17th, cookie giveaway, wellness
025activities with the wellness center. I think the college and career center is also doing the ornament decorating and then the candy cane giveaway. Like we we do try to make this something for our students where it isn't such a hard time to go to school for like you have at least something to look forward to every single day. Obviously our spirit week, Grinch versus Santa, all wrapped up. We wear bows and scarves. Winter wonderland obviously like the colors. It's very thematic and t tacky. Oh, okay. Tacky Thursday, wear ugly sweaters. Oh, that's smart. Okay. And we have the night before winter break, obviously wear pajamas. But yeah, it's something that we do try to do for our students. And I think, yeah, we just have our upcoming events, our finals week, obviously, and then in
026January, we having our buck blast off where we invite um all of the elementary students to come and sort of experience their first rally. Obviously, it's special for me because I am a senior and I do get to give away my class color and my class pride, I guess. And we really hope to give a positive view of Bellflower to these um elementary schoolers who are coming into obviously such a difficult time in their lives. Like you're you're going to a bigger campus, you're with bigger kids. like it's just it's something that we hope we add like a level of comfortability to the students as they transition from middle school or from elementary school to middle school. But yeah, that is the end of my board report. So, thank you guys so much for having
027me and hope to see you in the next one. >> Thank you, Kaylin. As an alumni and a football fan, I agree with everything you said. And we're on to Mayfair and Gil Freriedman. Thank you again, Gil. >> Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Simon, uh, President Stewart, board members, district colleagues. This is Mayfair's December board report. So, on the 17th, we got this really cool opportunity to be covered by CBS News. It was a It was a very early morning. I think we got there around 6:00 a.m., but it was so worth it. It started raining in Well, that rainbow picture right before that. It started raining, but we kept shooting, kept filming. It was it was a super cool opportunity uh down here. Actually, Skills USA wasn't going to get covered, but Naman, who's our
028president, I believe, of Skills USA, she walked up to the reporter and she introduced herself and she got her group covered. So, that was a super cool moment. And yeah, they just covered a bunch of different groups on our campus and that was a great day. college applications are finished. There's Linux, our amazing ASB president showing those pearly whites. But yeah, so uh it's wrapping up. There's a couple more things to do, but we've had a lot of hope and all the seniors are really grateful and we're grateful for them for finishing that and finishing this season off strong. So, unfortunately, if you didn't get to attend, both band concerts have already passed. Uh, Mayfair has great holiday concerts in the music department. Choir's concert is next Tuesday, December 16th. If you guys can make
029it, we have two show choirs and one concert choir. It's going to be a super cool time at the Bufflower Civic Center. Mayfair had the first annual hopefully tree lighting. It was a It was a super intimate moment, you know. It wasn't a huge turnout, but it was really nice. The people that were able to make it. ASB was there handing out hot cocoa, and we had a couple performances, a couple of student speakers, and it was a great night. The unified basketball tournament was on the 5th. Always a great day every time we have it. We added some performances from the cheer team, the unified cheer team, and the games got pretty intense, but that was an awesome event. It always is. The AP Scholar Celebration was earlier this week. All of our AP
030students who passed their exams last year got celebrated with a certificate and some nice words and that was uh I'm a morning event and super big shout out to them. Honestly, those tests are pretty hard so they work hard for that. We have a couple holiday events. Web is putting on uh or they put on the hot cocoa event on the 7th where they gave hot cocoa to the seventh graders and they just hung out. Coco and Cra was today. Uh link crew put that on and it's where the link leaders get with their freshmen and over some hot cocoa. They help them study and answer any questions they might have, help them with their finals. So that's a that was a super good event today and it's been our holiday spirit week. Super fun
031seeing all of the spirit around campus. The esports tournament is coming up on the 13th. And we actually just found out that they've been named the the varsity team has been named the league champions against I think 255 other schools. So other teams. So that's huge. Honestly, big shout out to them. They Yeah, pretty dope. Coming up, we have the high school choir concert on the 16th, the monsoon of the month celebration on the 15th. Finals are from the 17th and 19th. So, good luck everyone on that. And break will begin on the 22nd. Uh, thank you for letting me speak tonight. And I hope you guys have a great break. I actually have one more announcement though. I just found out that it's Kaitlin's birthday today. So, can we just let's on three. We're
032going to sing to Kaitlin. Y'all ready? One, two, three. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear K. >> Happy birthday to you. >> Thank you, Gil, for singing in the mic over all of us. Um, and from Los Flores, we have Josanna Torres. Welcome again. >> Hi. Oh, I think the Okay, I was gonna say I think that one's the wrong slide. Hold on. Okay. Um, good evening board president Amy Stewart, board members Dr. Simon, cabinet members, teachers, and students. I'm glad to be back for this month's meeting and share what's been happening at Los Flores since the last visit. Okay. So this week on Tuesday, December 9th, our IM3 I mean IM1, IM2, IM, IM3 students had to do a synthesis project where they demonstrated a different functions in nature.
033So, for example, you can see I think up there one of them did like a highway or a freeway and then you can see someone also did like a waterfall which or a water slide which really isn't in nature but I mean everyone had their own interpretation of the project but I mean everybody did really good um um yeah the ch I mean the project challenged students to show their understanding of different functions by showing accurate math along with um their model. So yeah. Okay. So the middle schools um also had the middle schoolers also had their science fair presentations in the cafeteria on November 21st where they showcased a variety of different projects that highlighted their creativity and strong presentation skills. Also thanks to Mrs. Mo's son's lesson on public speaking which definitely made
034them more confident and you could really see a difference in the way that they they just presented themselves. So next ASB held our first um scatterball tournament. Scatterball is a little bit of a difficult game to describe so I won't do that. But it's it's um it's really similar to dodgeball. But everybody had fun. And everybody that participated had a great time and we all enjoyed the competition because it can get really like you know but everybody had a good time. And then also following the month of all the fun activities we had, we also received our 2025 CA dashboard results where we performed at the highest level which is blue in ELA, math and science. Our suspension rate is also at the second highest level in green which is chronic absenteeism. We're proud that
035Lost Flores continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of our alternative learning program system while showing strong growth. Um, yeah. And then coming soon, we have our student of the month and studentto student slow awards. We also have winter festival/no homework night, pajama day, and then winter break. And then finals also will be happening next week. But yeah, that's all. Thank you. Thank you, Justanna. And from Somerset, we have Ariana Armenta. >> Welcome. When you go to the next press, >> Good evening, President Stewart, members of the board, Superintendent, Dr. Simon, and guests. My name is Ariana Amen, and I am a junior in ASB. Thank you for the opportunity to share a quick update about some of the activities happening at Somerset High School. On Thursday the 20th of November, we celebrated our annual Turkey Day.
036Thank you to those of you who were able to participate. Funds raised at Turkey Day go directly to scholarships for Somerset seniors and the food donated was delivered to a local food bank. We are grateful for your continued support. Students in our orientation class participate in a bite of reality workshop sponsored by the Downey Federal Credit Union. They are given a budget and provided time to decide how they want to spend their money. This teaches them about the cost of goods and services and how to plan according to the lifestyle they want to live in their future. Somerset has been using the Thrively platform this year. We use Thrively during our twice a week advisory class as a way to learn about our strengths, interests, and aspirations. We also partake in lessons to build up
037additional strengths. Student strengths are celebrated across the campus in various ways. Through the Thrively Strengths Profiler, we learned that the top strengths of students at Somerset are resilience, flexibility, assertiveness, analytical, social, athleticism, and creative thinking. Somerset has partnered with Critos College to offer three dual enrollment classes this school year. Students have already earned college credit by taking college counseling A and B this semester and they will have the opportunity to take a full semester business communications class next semester. Students taking these classes are working towards earning their first college degree even before they finish high school. Next week is our ASB winter spirit week. On Monday, we will be dressing in our holiday pajamas. Tuesday, we are wearing holiday colors. Wednesday, we are going to wear your holiday hats. Thursday, we are celebrating our orientation
038class with a healthy barbecue. And Friday, we will be wearing our ugliest holiday sweaters. We are looking forward to winter break starting December 22nd in block 5 starting on Tuesday, January 6th. When we return, students in Mr. Armada's digital media arts classes will be attending the Impressions Expo at the Long Beach Convention Center on January 22nd. And Mr. Peralta is taking his science students to Newport landing to go on a whale watching field trip. One last thing, we would like to thank President Stewart for serving as our president this past year. We are grateful for all you have done for the Belfflower Unified School District. Thank you. Happy holidays and have a great evening. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And as always, we know you guys have other things, academics, family. So,
039thank you for being here tonight and you guys can go. Thank you. >> All right, so moving on to our employee representative reports. Can we have BTA President John Young uh good evening President Stewart, Vice President Garza and board, Dr. Superintendent Superintendent Dr. Simon and cabinet colleagues and community members. On behalf of the BTA, thank you for the opportunity to provide this report. Uh the association looks forward to calendaring bargaining dates with the district next month. Uh establishing a clear schedule will support a focused and efficient process and we appreciate the district's continued collaboration as we prepare to engage in this next phase of work under slightly new teams leading the way. BT is also pleased to share that we are hosting an inaugural retirement planning panel in March at our union office. This event
040is designed for members who anticipate retiring within the next 5 years or so and want to better understand the considerations, options, and timelines that shape a smooth transition. We appreciate the partnership of those who are contributing their expertise from CTA as well as retired BUSD teachers who can ensure members receive highquality guidance as they prepare for this important milestone. Finally, I want to note my appreciation for the constructive conversations Dr. Smith and I had regarding CTA conferences. We were able to reach a mutual clarity on which conferences align with salary advancement requirements for our members. The shared understanding brings helpful consistency to the process and we value the collaboration that made it possible as well as the plan to streamline this information for members in the future. Thank you for your time and continued partnership.
041>> Thank you. We do not have CSCA tonight, but we do have PTA. So, can we get the amazing President Alexander Cortez? All right. Thank you so much. Oh, you got a clicker. Yay. Do we go this way? Perfect. Okay. So, good evening everyone. So, our good evening, Mrs. Amy Stewart, superintendent of USD employees, community members. Uh, so our community report, we're going to start off with Red Ribbon Week. So, this was actually our recognition night. We had all of the units there with their presidents alongside their uh principles. We had some of the uh district office members there. Everybody that was on the bus, we tried to get some of them there so that they could give them what they felt on the bus. So besides getting a recognition and an award, they got
042to hear the experience what it was to go from school to school. It's like an unescribable feeling because once you get to one school, it's like you are like astonished and then you get back on the bus and you're talking about it and you get to the next school and you're like, "Wow." And it's just keeps going and keeps going. So it's a great experience. Hopefully you guys all get to experience it at least once. Um, but Red Ribbon was a great turnout and the message got out there. Our kids are knowing all about what to stay away from and the message is going to be able to continue throughout the year and next year and moving forward almost every day. And then we have Ramona. So Ramona did a veteran. It's Mr. Young School.
043So they did a Veterans Day event. The PTA threw a breakfast for them. them. They had a whole ceremony. Family members brought in pictures of loved ones. They gave little speeches. Then they also had a kindness day where they all painted a nice little rocks with motivational stuff for each other and they got to take those home. So this is Ramona Elementary. Sorry. And then this is Belfflar Middle High School. They had a gingerbread house decorating party and PTA association meeting. So they combined both their business and some fun in there. They had uh gingerbread houses that they were made out of graham cracker and frosting. So do your own DIY ones. Uh the PTA, they threw their association meeting. It was very successful and they had a great turnout. They did some raffles. They
044had some music and some dancing which was a great night. And our upcoming events, uh January 22nd is our PTA leaders and administrators conference. We've already invited the superintendent and she's putting out the message out there to the principles to hopefully attend alongside their PTA presidents. That's January 22nd. Then Founders Day, PTA turns 129 years. So that's our anniversary. It's a big day for us. So you'll see a lot of pictures on social media of all the schools celebrating that day. Then uh March 3rd here in the boardroom, we're going to be hosting our reflections night award night. So that's going to be a great night. That's 6 p.m. March 3rd. And happy holidays. Thank you so much. >> Alexandra, real quick, who won the the >> So, they all got a recognition. Uh, there
045was different titles. If you go on your social media, you'll be able to see them all. They all had a different one. It was really catered up to the what your comments were based on that school. So that that way the the description of their title that they won was very catered to that school. >> Thank you. >> So they're all winners. >> Thank you so much. >> All right, moving along to our superintendent report. Dr. Simon. >> Uh thank you, board president Stewart, to our board members, cabinet, and to the community who's here as well. Thank you. It has been a month of celebration, community, and championship spirit across our schools, and I'm honored to share a glimpse of the highlights. So, as our amazing student Gil Freeman from May 1st said on November
04617th, um we were fortunate to have KCAL and CBS News um out um highlighting the amazing things that are happening at Mayfair High School. The energy on campus was electric with ASB leaders, sports teams, esports teams, construction students, cheerleaders, coaches, and administration all coming together for a powerful showcase of school pride and also unity. Um, a very special thank you to our communications and public information officer, I believe she's here tonight, uh, Miss Isarella Cisneros, and also our communications clerk, Melissa Lamas, for preparing for such an unforgettable joyfilled day. Your planning and leadership made a lasting impression on our students and the entire community. On December 1st and 2nd, I had the joy of visiting a number of of our campuses, one including Lindstöm Elementary, um, Belfflower Middle and High School, Los Flores, and also
047Mayfair Middle High School. The visits are always the highlight of my day. Um, it was inspiring to witness firsthand the commitment of our teachers, the curiosity of our students. Um, it was amazing to see Dr. Robinson and her students and they always greet me and always want to take a picture. It's just a highlight. Thank you. And the powerful learning that takes place each day in our classrooms. Our teachers continue to rise to the occasion, challenging and uplifting our young scholars toward excellence and impact. To each educator, thank you for being the difference maker in our schools. From December 3rd to the 5th, I had the privilege of attending the CSBA conference in Sacramento alongside our amazing board members. Together, we explored powerful insights and practices to strengthen governance, equity, and success across our district.
048Um, unified sports basketball tournament at Mayfair. Just what an amazing amazing day just seeing our our teams out there um doing exceptionally well. I I took the early flight back to cheer our incredible scholars um from CSBA the Friday the 5th and I was joined by a board president Stewart and board clerk Critfield. It was a morning full of inclusive competition and our cabinet members as well, excuse me, and school spirit with Mayfair battling it out on the court with teams from Lock High School, my mother's mater. our teams, our basketball teams competed very hard and our cheerleaders from my understanding cheered very hard as well. Um yesterday I met with one of our amazing scholars and her name is Bri. Um she's a third grader at one of our schools, an outstanding scholar to
049discuss her idea of a sports day. So remember we had a our at our in our our steam building we had a Mayfair um just town hall to talk about the fields and things of that nature. I remember she posed a question to me and that was how can we have a sports day that highlights right the athleticism the competitiveness and but also brings community together with the sports day. So yesterday we met um we both stuck to our word and she had an amazing idea. She presented, she walked up to the screen. Um, show me some ideas. If if PTA, our our president, uh, Miss Cortez, I need to reach out to you because there's some ideas she has about bringing PTA, our PE teachers together to make this a reality. So, super exciting.
050We have our scholars advocating um, and presenting for for change um, and more of an experience right in our district. So, that was super amazing. And then additionally, I had the pleasure of attending the 16th annual Belfower Middle and High School instrumental holiday concert last evening along with our cabinet members. And I would like to thank um Omar Madonna, the director of bands at Belfflower Middle and High School for the invitation. I was genuinely impressed by all of our bands, especially mariachi band, which closed the show on an exhilarating note. Um the singing from our students, right? Um almost professional level grade singing was super amazing as you watched through the crowd moving many of the attendees to tears. Very beautiful. And as we enter this holiday season, I want to send a message from
051my heart to each member of our Baleflower Unified community, to our students, our staff, our families, and the community that supports us so deeply. May this season bring you peace, restoration, and celebration. May every moment from quiet laughter, and spirited traditions with loved ones renew your heart and deepen your hope for the beautiful year ahead. We have so much to be proud of and even more to look forward to in the new year. I look forward to all we will continue to build together. Happy holidays. Thank you, President Stewart. Thank you, Dr. Simon. All right, committee updates. Are there any updates from our committees? Okay, the only one I have is I attended the athletics committee and just to give you guys a few things. We really just discussed the next steps from that committee
052and um a few things that I learned is one, next year we had a two-tier league where we had basically two divisions. Next year we're moving to a super league where we're going to have three divisions and I believe 20 total teams in the league. So, that was kind of an interesting thing. We've talked about middle school sports and how we can start to do better for our middle schools, especially in the sports and the extra activities that they need. So, we've been discussing that and um so we're working on that, which is really nice. And we talked about student engagement. Um honestly, the Mayfair staff was a little funny. I we decided we probably have to get rid of their phones for like two weeks to get some student engagement at the sports events
053because they all want to just be home. But it's just it's really sad sometimes looking I grew up in a generation where people wanted to come to Friday night football games and they wanted to be involved and they're just not there. So we were just discussing some ways that we can try to engage more students at our activities. And that was really it for the athletics. Anything else? All right. Moving on to public comments. Tonight we do have requests addressing open session agenda items. Um, we want the public to know that the board and superintendent will be listening careful to carefully to each public comment. However, we will not be providing responses during the meeting. The superintendent or designated representative will contact the parent, guardian, and or community member if the comment may call for
054a follow-up. While the meetings of the governing board are not public meetings, they are open to the public. Individual speakers will be allowed three minutes to address the board and the board will limit the total time for public input to 21 minutes as per board bylaw 9322.2 unless otherwise waved by the board. Um, all right. So, our first speaker is John Paul. I know you have two agenda items, two uh 10.1 and 14.2. So, I don't know if you want to speak at them both and go for six minutes. >> Um, I I'm asking if is it possible I could speak at 14.2 two because um part of my presentation is in another room accidentally. >> So just one is that what you're saying? I'm sorry. >> Yeah. Could I just >> I just I
055Mr. >> So any public speaker can speak on any item, but they have a cumulative total of three minutes. >> Not for each item. >> Okay. So you have three minutes. >> So could I speak at from um half of my time for 14.2 two at 14.2. >> It sounds like you can speak on anything for three minutes. >> But can I come up twice? Like half half a minute and a half each or >> No, just you have three minutes. >> Oh, because this it would work better. Okay. >> Well, I designed something special to honor President um Amy Stewart. And I think you already got it or it's Did you see it? I don't know if you can say you're not or >> if it was on here. I did take it back
056to the back, but I didn't open it yet. But thank you. >> Okay. It wasn't wrapped. Yeah. >> Okay. I'm I don't know. I'm confused. >> Oh, okay. Oh, well, I made something special with Belelfer High Colors since we're both Belfare High alumni to honor um your time as president. Um, I met you here almost four years ago in this boardroom where we shook hands and I just really been amazed by your enthusiasm for the job and as a board member and as a board president uh you've helped us so much uh as community members to listen and to act upon uh our concerns and one of the most um I guess I I can't find the words I'm sorry that that you really listened and put things forward instead of just sloughing it off
057like a lot of people do. You took action and I really really appreciate that, Amy, and and bringing alumni together for homecoming um and encouraging that. I really appreciate it. And so maybe you haven't seen it yet, so you'll be surprised when you see it, but um thank you for your service. Bye-bye. All right. Next, we have Dr. Robinson. Welcome. The clock. Is it on? Great. Leadership is as basic as to lead. You just have to have to be someone other people are willing to follow. But then that's highly nuanced, ideally by who you are at the core and how you show up at the helm with strength, integrity, and vision, discipline, resiliency, compassion, consistency. You set an example and others follow your actions. Being on the board requires you to show up week after
058week and do the boring, unglamorous work nobody even knows about. And like icebergs, we only see the tops of the success or what we deem the attempts at success or failure. Few of us ever see or even know what goes on beyond the Thursdays you sit on the dascese and the countless hours of unseen effort. Like a game in a sport, the work is never really just about the work any more than it's just about the game. It's always about something more, someone more, the silent and the unseen. picking up where the ones who came before you left off, good, bad or indifferent, and moving forward to the handoff where the ones who come next will advance or quail or destroy all the work you did to that point. The experience of the journey is
059certainly in part about the rewards that come as a result of the efforts, sacrifice, and investments that you made. But it's also about becoming the people worthy of the reward. We transform or we stagnate. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. That's just science. But the mystery of the universe is how even the least of us with the best intention can set in motion a shift that can in fact change the world. The work you put in, the suffering you endure, the joy you experience is all worth it. Even when in the immediate it doesn't seem like it. I want to remind you tonight that it is worth it. That we are worth it. Servant leadership comes at great personal sacrifice. You aren't actually in charge. Rather, it's about taking care of those in
060your charge. Leadership is about seeing those around you rise as the board you serve in submission to the dreams and aspirations of students and parents and teachers and staff. Financial goals and metrics, most of which you don't control, become the proof of a district's value. But at the core, it's the people and what becomes of them in the middle and at the end that matters most. It could be said that hell is the place where the people we are, the work we accomplished, the differences we made meets the people we could have been, the work we could have done, and the differences we could have made. And for a very long time, this place has felt like hell. We obviously can't be foolish or stupid as a district. But we have to be courageous and
061live with an abundance mindset. Even if we have misses, even when the winds aren't quite as large as we hoped or intended, take them whatever they are when they come. We call you our leaders because you go first. You sacrifice your time and you collaboratively make decisions so we feel safe and protected. That's the only way we gain all of us. I'm so grateful to have you as our board. So tonight before we do the musical chair shuffle and you all trade places and name tags, I want you to briefly reflect back and remember these three things. First, there's an art and a science to eating elephant. And leading in this district is nothing if not eating elephant. One bite carefully chosen, chewed slowly and intentionally and digested with purpose. Second, you, our board, and
062our superintendent are basically our invisible umbrella. You protect us from what could saturate us and we cluster under your leadership. We will never climb higher than you reach and we can only fall if we slip out from under your carefully cured protection. And finally, choose one thing first as your priority and let all the other things fall in subjection to it. Madame President, this year that one thing that had to be the priority of your leadership was filling that seat over there. And lest any of you be tempted to forget how important the work you do is, lest you, Miss Stewart, add up the ledger and feel like it is lackluster in light of your one year ago good intentions. That seat is well filled because you five chose her. That's the win of your
063presidency and the gift we and your tenure are all being blessed with. Now, I do have to add that because she does show up at school and you guys sit in glass houses on a hill. So you can change the picture, but just so you know, my children recognize the superintendent in the picture. So I gave you a picture of all of you the first night that you like voted her in. But next year, you can take the bottom off and your win for next year can be changed to a new picture. So thank you so much for all that you've done, all five of you, but especially this year. Thank you, Amy, for the leadership that you've provided for us. >> Thank you. >> And I don't have it for the cabinet because we'll
064have to have a conversation January about a raise. I only got the five of you and our superintendent. And then Amy, you get something special, but I don't want them to I don't can create contention. So, this is for you. You can share that with them. >> Thank you so much. >> I appreciate it. >> All right. So, we are moving on to major action and we have our first interim, Dr. Simon. Thank you so much, Board President Stewart. At this time, I'll turn it over to our CBO, Mrs. Arcus, for a brief presentation. Thank you. >> Good evening and welcome everyone here tonight. Board President Stewart and uh board members, cabinet, my fellow colleagues, Superintendent Dr. Erin Simon, and of course the community in our boardroom. We're really excited to have you here tonight.
065So, I can go over the 2526 first interim. A little reminder for those who don't follow along with all of my uh presentations, the first interim is our first formal report of year-to-ate revenues, expenditures, and fund balances as compared to the adopted budget. So in June we were given the task or we are always given the task of developing a budget that will hold true for the remainder of the year. However, as you know maybe even with your own personal budgets things change and we need to reflect them as best as we can. So come in December we have our first review which is called the first interim which I'm bringing here tonight. The first interim is actually a uh usually a pretty minor um adjustment because we've only been in school for about two
066and maybe a half months and so a lot of the activities because we report actuals through October 31st are yet to come. So my fiscal staff and myself do a big job of looking at what's come so far and working on what is to come and present you some changes for the first gen room. Don't worry, I will be back in March with the second interim which gives a a better picture of the um finances. By that time we we have been given information about um our enroll we already have our enrollment numbers but we have a better picture of our attendance reporting. Attendance reporting is due two times during the year and once one time is in late December early January. So it cannot really be reflected in the first interim. And then I'm
067back again because I feel like you guys haven't seen or heard me enough to present in June the estimated actuals where I think we'll land. And then come again in September, I will present the final unudited actuals of where we actually landed. So let me give you some key highlights on the financial status of the district since you lost last heard me up here. LEO, which is our LA County Office of Education, has approved the district's 2526 budget that we presented and they've also approved the 2425 unudited actuals. That means that they've sent them on to state for further review. But that is a pretty good sign that we have presented both of those things fairly and as accurately as the information that we had at the time. The recent federal government shutdown has caused
068a significant de delay for federal compliance. So a lot of times in December you also see me here with our um external auditor uh giving the 2425 audit report but that is delayed due to the federal compliance and we will hope to have that in January. Our enrollment declined more than anticipated with a decrease of over 3% this year and I'll talk a little bit more about that in the upcoming slides. um we had been experienced a little bit around 2% of a decrease and this came as a little bit of a surprise and we're we're working through some activities that we hope uh will improve those numbers. Our unduplicated percentage of pupils so that represents part of our payment from the uh state of California is based on the enrolled and attending students and
069it's also based based on the population of our students. So we have an unduplicated pupil percentage of about 70% of our population um falls into free or reduced um lunch service. Um they can be homeless, foster youth um or English learners. The reason it says unduplicated is you can't count someone that has all four of those qualities twice. So we have a population of about 70% and that is a big factor in our funding. rising cost pressures. I don't think I've left that out of one presentation since I've been here and I don't think anybody in the audience hasn't felt the rising cost pressures in their own lives in supplies, services, insurance, and utilities continue to be something that we monitor as a district looking for ways that we can improve any of those things
070and we will continue to do that. Tonight I will be asking the board to certify us as positive meaning we can make this year's um finances and the next two years finances. So a positive certification is the greatest pot uh certification you can have. I promised to talk a little bit about our student enrollment decline. This is one of the biggest impacts of um our revenue. This is how we get our money. And I felt it prudent tonight to spend a little bit more time on the revenue side of the house. Um uh as I speak to a lot of the time we're spending time looking at expenditures, how we might be able to do something differently, but really um we're combating a battle of a loss of um student population. Um that's pretty severe
071and pretty distinct to California in general and especially maybe even Southern California more distinctly. Um I want to do I you know the bestlaid plans. The first bullet point is we've had a 20.2% uh% reduction of from 11,671 to 9,314 over the last seven years. So I want to be that does say 10 and I apologize for that. And um more importantly, and I think this is a really good point, just in the last five years, we've lost over 13.14% of our students. And that is a telling telling number. Um when I planned for this year's budget, I looked at the past couple uh years history and we had a little bit, we were still declining, but we had a little bit of improvement. Um but this 3% really was um quite uh a drop
072and we're looking at ways that we can start to um hopefully improve upon that. So projections now with those new drops in numbers indicate that we may be at 8,766 students by fiscal year 2829. That uh would be a 10ear span of dropping from 11,671 students to 8766 students. The data reflects a continuing trend in that downward. And I I hate to do it because this 1% decrease can change depending on how much the cola is from the state, the cost of living, but I feel like everybody deserves to have some kind of number or parameter to put around a 1% drop. And it's about a million dollars of funding. And remember, each time that you lose that funding in the year, the next year that stays, and then there's additional drop of funding based
073on that. So many of you that have followed education funding know that we actually get paid on our average daily attendance. That's how much students attend school. And I thought it was really um important to show you this slide. And this slide is a comparison of um our average daily attendance from 2223 to 2829 and a reflection in the change in state funding. And immediately anybody's eyes that are drawn to 22 23 and 23 24 said wait a minute how in the world were districts funded for more attendance than they actually had students attending and that was coming out of co the state changed the legislation and allowed us to do a three-year average on attendance. So really in those years we had been reaping the benefits of those higher years attendance that were precoid
074coming into this year and we were actually getting paid on a higher attendance than we had student population. But immediately proceeding and especially starting in 2425 we had a couple things happen. Those colas went way down. those cost of living increases went way down in regards to how much the state was giving us additional for stu from for students. In addition, the numbers started to move and our funded ADA started to fall below our actual enrollment which is a more common activity but is now what the district is combating with. So, this is indicating our student loss, our funding is decreasing faster. And here's what we want to emphasize. The district as a whole is looking at targeted attendance strategies, ways that we can improve attendance, ways that we might be able to recoup attendance,
075and has gone on an enrollment recovery strategy that um I know Dr. Shimon has shared about in her superintendent report and will continue to share about in all hopes of um getting some of that enrollment and therefore attendance back. As a community, the best thing we can do for our district in regards to revenue is get our students to school. I know we want students to be healthy when we come to school. We absolutely do. But we need our students to come to school. So, we're going to be talking to our principles, our staff about ways that we can get that project going. And I know we do a lot already. We're going to do more. So, this this has brought me to my first interim sun summary. Tonight, I'm going to concentrate on the
076general fund unrestricted for my portion of the um presentation. I really want it to be known that obviously the district has additional funds and additional activities that we deal with. The general fund unrestricted is our is the largest portion of funding for our general operations. And so this is where I want to spend tonight in my presentation, but we do have the entire port report of the first interim available for anyone that's interested in additional areas of the of the district. So our um projections for our decrease to fund balance um this year uh at the first interim is about 37.9 million. And I'll talk a little bit about that in my next slide. It's an improvement from the budget. And what we've done with our fund balance which is now 48.4 four million is
077we broke it up into different areas and components. Certain things that the board has committed to which is deferred facilities and to to care for our projected projected deficit spend and other things that were required as such as our revolving cash or inventory. Those are things that we're trying we have to keep uh money set aside for and the required 3% for economic uncertainty. So how does this compare? I told you that we had an improvement to our budget and I wanted to share with you. Um we improved revenues between this first interim and our adopted budget. Uh we looked at some of the calculations between um mostly related to interest and we're looking at our dollars in the bank. We're hopeful for some additional interest dollars and we've updated our our revenues to reflect
078that. As far as our expenditures, we do two things um around first interim is we look at our salaries and benefits uh budget and we look for areas where maybe we had a vacancy that wasn't filled during that time. So we may have budgeted for a position for the whole year but sometimes that can take a little long to get or we haven't got it started and so we start to reduce some of that um those expenditures for our salaries. We also look at our non- salary expenditures and this year the largest portion was on our non- salary expenditures and that is a move actually. So it is coming out of this year and it is for our Mayf Fairfield project. We had it um budgeted and we when we developed budget in April May
079we had intentions of starting the Mayf Fairfield more likely in July and August but we had some delays which meant we started in October and what we're going to do is take those expenditures for this year take them out of the projections and put them into next year. So that's where you see um a majority of the change of about 6.7 million. So those changes what they will do is impact our multi-year um unrestricted general fund. So what we have is um an end new ending fund balance which I shared before in 2526 of 48.44 2627 of 30.23 million and 2728 of about 20.84 million. Uh these are all improved numbers from our budget because anytime that we improve a number in the 2526 year or when we close the books we had some improvements
080in the 2425 year those all start to carry through to all of the projections and it behooves me to share those new numbers with you today. So in aligning our multi-year considerations um we have our staffing aligned to our enrollment projections. We've included what's called a step and column inclusion where some staff members are still moving over on the salary schedule and we've included some um expenditures for that. We have our one-time capital improvements um that reserve reduce reserves significantly and that's our Mayfield field project. We're still awaiting the governor's proposed uh budget which we will hear more about in January. and we are still a little unsure of possible federal funding reductions, but we're keeping an eye on all the legislations in regards to that. So, the key risk to a budget like ours
081is a cola, a cost of living below four and a half fails to cover the cost of growth because as you lose students and lose funding, if they don't give us a raise, basically, we lose um we do lose the the fact um more revenue to cover the additional costs. um the colas that we've used in projections for this year about 2.6 and then the next about 3.02 and about 3.6% in 2728. So we have a structural deficit projected for 2526 to 2728. As a reminder, 2425 was the first year that we actually had a deficit spend. And so we're looking at expenditure reductions in order to maintain our f fiscal stability. Finally, I always like to remind everybody about our next cycle and when you can see me next because I know it's a
082pretty exciting presentation that people like to be here for. So, I have the B they're leaving now. I'll be back in uh March. So in uh January uh we will be back with a our 2425 audit report and we will um have a governorary release of a budget proposal. We won't talk about it in January. We'll be stewing on all of that new information. February and March we'll start preparing. So this is an overlap. We'll start preparing our budget and February and March looking at things. And in March we're going to present to you the second interim as promised. We'll work with sites and departments. We will compile all of our budget and I will be back again here um in May and especially in June for some public hearing about our um LCAP budget,
083LCAP proposed budget and our estimated actuals. I want to take a minute this evening to make sure I thank um the the budget team which is uh Rachel Dub my new fiscal director who is shy but in the back of the uh audience there. So welcome to B USD and thank you for such an awesome support in this first interim. I also want to take thank Jesus Medina and Cherish Tolentina Vero. They are both um super uh helpful in the budgeting process. And a tire shout out to my fiscal services team. Without them, the actuals that we see from our purchasing department, our payroll department, and our accounts payable would not be possible. and these people work extra hard to get me the numbers that I can come present to you guys today. So again,
084I'm grateful for uh my cabinet support, my board support, and really grateful for the team that I have. So, thank you again. And now we have a little time for any questions. >> Thank you, Miss Arcus. I just want to say thank you. You've made this so much easier for me to personally understand, so I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Um, board member Centron, >> thank you. Um, first of all, thank you cuz as a parent and part of the community as a community member, I definitely, you know, wearing other hats, I definitely understand our district and the unique things that our district is going through and in the numbers. So, I really appreciate that. I have two questions and it's more inspired by the community that we serve. Um, so is there any possible
085way, and I'm sure the teachers are going to be like, I knew this, but for those that don't know, is there any way to add to our unrestricted dollars? >> So, if you're talking about adding revenues, yes, so the majority of our revenues come from the state of California. So I spoke a lot about the attendance initiative. Um our unduplicated pupil count is really already the people to attend our schools. So um my biggest point of effort in in um increasing revenues for the district is getting kids to school. That is our intendance. I think we were hovering around a 93 something%. Precoid we were in the 95.5% range. And so there's still work to be done. I know that we still have some um you know some maybe fallout from the COVID era, but
086getting kids to school is a very important part of changing the state allocation number. As far as other unrestricted dollars, um most of them are attributed they're also state revenues, believe it or not. A lot of them come from uh we have one section that comes from lottery sales. And then we have our interest which is dependent on the dollars in the bank. So really getting kids to school please for our community here is going to be one of our most important. Any other arenas such as um looking for other ways uh that a a bond increases our capacity to maintain our schools um but does not come from general fund dollars. So, that's an opportunity that we have um to maybe work on some of those improvements to schools without impacting general fund dollars.
087>> Thank you. I love that shout out. >> Um also, um one other question is why is it just so important to um to look at the projected um in the in the budget because you went from to all the way to 2728. Why is that so important to understand the graphs and things like that um when it comes to budgeting and for our community members to understand where that money is going and what it really does look like in the future? >> Thank you for asking. It's a really important task that we're actually um you know required to do as part of our reporting. To me, it's probably even more important to have those extra two years because it's easy to look at one certain year and look at a balance of uh budget
088that we intend on having in that year and saying, "Hey, maybe there's something we can do with that balance, but really looking at a three-year analysis." And I I mean I would be surprised if at some point the state doesn't ask ask us to try to go a little further than a three-year analysis, especially given the times and the state budgeting requirements that we're going to be up against is an important factor because things change year-over-year. And it's important to do an outlook to the best of our ability. And that's what our financial team does. We take the estimated attendance numbers. We take the estimated enrollment of the type of students we have. We take our utility bills. now and assume that they're going to increase by a certain amount. We take some contracts that
089we have that are multi-year that have increases in them. We take step and column for people that are still making a different dollars each year. And all of those are impactful to the budget without anything else changing. So, it's really important that we as a community take all three years and look at them as a whole and not just concentrate on the year we're in. Thank you so much. Um I'm sure I have other follow-up questions, but just in case my colleagues have questions, I want to give them time, too. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Um student board member. >> Yes. Um are there any um I guess speculated? Are there any speculated causes for enrollment decrease? >> So actually we have there are a couple things going on. um you know
090there's birth rates. So as part of the process we look at the number of um we can get data in regards to this is not a just a bellflower unified thing. um the state of California has lost um pretty much the same amount percentage maybe a little less than us in um students and that you know if we have multi-ear we if we have families with three four or five kids and now families are being built a little differently with maybe two kids that's a really big impact to who's coming into our community. Another cost or another way that we look at enrollment and attendance. We use a lot of theories in regards to looking backwards to look forwards like how have we been doing but some things that we also incorporate into that is
091the cost of the community. So, how much is it here to buy a house or to rent an apartment or to live in our community versus if someone, again, I I've been bringing up a lot about the pandemic, but if someone was able to get remote work and now they can live in a different part of even if they want to live in California still, but maybe they can buy a house for a less amount of money, they can move their family to a different community where the cost of living is cheaper and they can still remote work. They may change their job just for that. We also have families that because of the economy are maybe moving in together and maybe that means that the students have to change schools in order to accommodate
092that. So there's a lot of impacts not just that we look at in regards to past but there's a lot of present things that are going on in the communities that we live in that can impact our enrollment. So, if you have friends, and this is a shout out that I don't want other school districts to hear, tell them how great Belfflower is because we want them to come to Belfflower. We want them to come to Mayfair. I say Belfflower Unified, but Belfflower and Mayfair, those schools, our school systems, they're fabulous. That's what our enrollment campaign is going to do. So, you're going to have the ability to start seeing videos. You're going to start seeing a billboard talking about how great we are. And it's your opportunity to get your friends to look at
093this to talk about the new Bellflower football team and what they've been doing and get these kids to come to our school system. We've got a lot of good things to offer. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Clerk Crutchfield. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um I like that plug at the end. That was good. Um first of all, thank you for all the work uh that you and your staff put into this. I really do appreciate it. Thank you. Uh one one question I I do have when when we met and a lot of my questions were already answered. Uh but I I was expecting to see uh restricted uh at least a slide on restricted. Um because as I mentioned this this board um I understand why you'd want to condense and keep
094it simple with the unrestricted but you know we're going to have questions on the restricted and restricted side. So a brief uh slide on that would be really helpful going forward. >> Understood. Thank you. Uh, one question I do have on that. So, I mean, I I was hoping uh for a kind of a summary on the restricted, but one of the things that stood out was the the level of contribution, the 39 million in contribution. That contribution comes from the unrestricted side. Correct. >> The contribution is a expense on the restricted side that exceeds the amount that the state or federal government and comes into the unrestricted side. So it reduces the unrestricted side. I'm not sure that maybe that's what you said, but I just want to be clear. >> So it goes
095from the restricted side to the unrestricted side. >> Yes. We give we give the expense comes out of the restricted side and moves over to the unrestricted side. >> Okay. >> The expense >> is the 39 million. What has it been the past two years? It has been I think we were at about 35 million the year before and I'd have to look to be sure to give you the proper answer for the year before that. >> Cool. >> And it's made up of two pieces mostly. It's um it's made up of our routine restricted maintenance. So the the um government requires that we um give uh 3% of the uh 3% of our general fund expenditures needs to be given to our maintenance department to run the maintenance department maintain that and the remainder
096is related to the underfunding of our special education population. >> Got it. Thank you. Um another question I had was on the restricted unrestricted summary page. There was a It was budgeted for $75,000, but that it was for the employee benefits, but it's projected to 700. I have a a guess to what that's about, but I'm curious what it is. Does that have to do with the the uh us bringing internal uh busing? Is that where that comes from? >> We did. We had a change in our is it on the unrestricted side? Yes, we had a change because we would reduce contracts and bring in personnel. So there would be a change in personnel uh twos and threes classified salaries and benefits rel related to a reduction um not equal to but a reduction
097of the contract >> is it and I remember we had talked about it before but is it it's pretty close as far as a break even point >> they are um yes it's more expensive to have an internal transportation but it's fairly close. Okay, great. Um, and last question for me. Um, going over the the the different categories in the in the budget, the adult ed uh budget always seems so bare. Uh, can you just briefly explain how we're funded for our adult education program and what we're doing there? >> Sure. Um, I would probably ask someone else to talk about the expenditures related to it, but the funding changed a few years ago related to um the state of California providing funding um to districts and they were uh offered in some cases to
098share with community colleges. And so in our case, the funding level that we were provided is the dollar that you see. I think it's about 39,000. >> I'm guessing I don't have it up on my screen, but about that. And so honestly that is the funding that we receive to serve our adult education population. We do use additional dollars, general dollars to fund part of the teacher and that comes out of our general fund um dollars to fund part of the resources that we give to the adult education. But as far as the expenditures within that program um I don't have a lot of information about what we do. >> So as far as the revenue goes though 39,000 just seems so little is it? So it's not the same as our student what we
099get funded. >> It's not based on student population or anything related to that. >> Okay. So does that program C could could maybe in the Friday amendment just get a little bit more information on on that as far as budget goes? >> And thank you again for all the work. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Clerel. Um board member Armstrong. >> Thank you so much, President Stewart. Um again, um Miss Arcus, thank you so much. Um, I kind of like the the budget stuff, you know, that kind of stuff. I I love reading all these pages, etc. So, thanks for answering all my questions in advance, but I do want you to kind of like um explain to the public um if if you know, do you foresee any uh reports that would kind of
100like say that we will be in distress and and and it's only because of the history that we we've had. So, do you do you foresee any, you know, reports of of of distress and what we're doing? And could you explain a little bit about what deficit spending is because most people they throw that around and they don't really understand what it is. >> That's great. Let me start with the deficit spending question because it'll lead me into the other question. So, deficit spending in regards to um a district or a publicly public entity means that you're spending more. you're spending more on expenditures than you're receiving in revenue each year. So again, like I said, 2425 was our first year that we had a deficit spend. Um then probably another connection to that is
101that um we'll have a fund balance which is the balance of funds that we have in our account and every time that we deficit spend the funding for that um comes out of our fund balance. So, as far we are able to self-certify as positive this year, and I am positive that with the work that we are doing to work on recouping attendance and the ways that we're going to um work to increase enrollment that we are very hopeful to have um um increased better numbers, maybe a decreased deficit spend. And for now, I could say that we are certifying as positive for the next three years, but we are using these numbers as a guide to help support our next steps and the expenditure pattern that we're utilizing so that we can improve on
102that in any way possible. >> Thank you so much. I just hope that um people understand it a a bit better now. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you, Barber Armstrong. Vice President Garza. Thank you. Um, President Stewart, um, my question is, are there options for individual schools to increase their own revenues on their campuses? Um, the revenue kind comes in into uh, a central pot and when we allocate to schools, we allocate on a variety of reasons such as um, enrollment at that school, the population at that school. So, in a way, we're already allocating based on the amounts that they have available to them. Of course, any school has a donation account and they can go out and receive donations for specific things that they want to do within their school.
103That's a way of maybe looking for some other opportunities to do different things they want in their school. But obviously any increase to our budget as a whole due to these attendance improvements and other improvements will eventually reflect on the school site's budget as a whole because that is one of the ways that we allocate resources to them. >> Okay. And so if there is a school who perhaps is um willing to rent out their fence space for maybe commercial aspects um in the community um is that a possibility for them? Is would that be an option? And if so, are there processes in place to have principles submit those? >> Yeah, we would have to look at a procedure to put in place for like re revenue generating that would involve putting things on
104our fences, right? There has to be someone that looks at those to ensure that they kind of they're within uh school district guidelines and and things like that. So if that is a you know an interest of of schools that we could definitely look look into a procedure that would would we could consider for that. >> Okay. Thank you so much. That's u my question. Thank you Vice President Garza. Are there any other questions? >> All right. Hearing none. Can I get a motion to approve item 10.1? >> You have that motion. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. Roll call, please. Student member chik >> I >> Miss Armstrong >> I >> Miss Cron >> I >> Mrs. Garza >> I >> Miss Stewart >> I >> Mr. Critchfield >> All right, moving
105on to the consent agenda. Do we have any items to withhold from the consent agenda this evening? Colleagues? None. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve. >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Student member. >> I. >> Miss Armstrong. >> I. >> Miss Cron. >> I. >> Mr. Critzfield. >> I. >> Mrs. Garza. >> I. >> Miss Stewart. >> I. All right. We're moving on to board reports. Uh, student board member. >> So, I have quite a few things to report on because I wasn't here at the last meeting. So, it's been it's been an eventful time. Um I want to start off by highlighting that I think this was it november 13th I believe um KAPS culinary arts and
106bacon and pastry were invited to the Marukan cup of culinary excellence at Critos College. Um it was a cooking competition sponsored by Marukan and the rice vinegar which pitted I think 16 college students against each other for a monetary prize and it was just an inspir inspiring experience. We got to see the chefs discuss their dishes, their inspirations. They let us go into the back to see to see the entire operation. And I actually got to speak to one of the winners about their process cuz they were making they made brisket in 2 hours which had surprised me. But then after hearing her process and how she had basically allowed it to steam in the pot while she prepped other things, it was just something I never would have expected. But it just shows the
107level of creativity. And I was just super grateful to see I was just super grateful to be invited there and be able to witness something that I've been passionate about for so long in cooking. And I'm grateful for Calabs for giving us that opportunity. Um this is something that next is something that um our student representative Gil Freriedman kind of spoiled but uh yesterday actually Mayfair Monsoon Esports varsity Smash team won the CIF fall 2025 preseason. We played against Rancho Cukamonga from our room in room 728 in the steam building and it was a close close vic uh close match but we ended up winning 32 against them and I want to shout out the rest of my team members. So obviously that was me. There was jun juniors Jonathan Verua. No, not juniors. Sophomores
108Jonathan Verula and Josh Terona and then uh junior Darien Heler. Without their without their dedication, without their support, without their without their clutch, I don't think we would have won that game. So, we have that unofficial title for fall. So, now we just plan to keep that momentum and carry it on until spring. Skills USA has recently started their events. Uh we recently got ours or my team got our prompts on December 5th for video news production. So we're hoping to win regionals this year and make it to state once again. So we plan to work during winter break and the time after and as well as our other Skills USA chapters and departments. And then these last two points I want to discuss are about the bathrooms. Obviously, we've heard a lot about those,
109but I was approached sometime this week by a student and she asked me if I could use my position as board member to um advocate for having feminine hygiene products in bathrooms. Obviously, I can't speak on anything about that, but um based on her her tone and the urgency to which she spoke about it, it sounds like um it sounds like an important situation. So, I'll have to discuss with more um students to get a bigger grasp on situations. I could maybe present it at the next board meeting. And then we've praised the vape detectors at Mayfair for quite a while, ever since their installment. And before I continue, I would uh like to ask a quick question. Is it only Mayfair that has those vape detectors or are there any other schools that have
110them? >> I believe Belfare Mayfair. Dr. Simon, >> Belfflower Mayfair. Okay. Uh let me actually pull up a picture really quick, not to show just to kind of refresh my memory. Let me see. Was on there December 3rd. I had encountered not encountered but I saw I was coming out of the bathroom and I looked up at the vape detector and I saw that it was green which honestly I don't know how they work really so I can I didn't really know what that meant but I'm assuming it means that it detected something but then I expected you know a signal or something maybe security would come in but I didn't see anything at least for a while so then I had a discussion with one of our security offic uh security guards a few
111days ago about you know how do they work what's what's their purpose and the bottom line that I got was they don't really do very much like if they detect anything they'll show the light but that's pretty much it apparently they're supposed to send a signal and that sends they send a signal to an office which they relay to security to send them to the bathrooms but from what he told me there was really nothing. There was really nothing there. He catches more people with him just going in by himself versus versus the actual vape detector. And then even the people that do get caught, from what I was told, there were there was very few there were very few consequences. Mostly was like a day a day suspension. We're looking at it now. It
112is important that the students do get to school, but at the same time, I feel like there should be some repercussions towards something like that because we're very much trying to crack down on vaping and improper student behavior. So, and then one of the methods that he proposed if they do get caught was just jumping jacks because from what he told me, some of the places they like to hide it are not you can't really search there without any legal issues coming up. That's that's the best way I can put it. But he's proposes that if they were to do jumping jacks, then anything that they would have would in would just come off after a while. So they would be caught and they would be properly dealt with is the best way I can
113put it. So I just think there needs to be more done or maybe fine-tune the systems that we have. >> If I if I could just give you some insight on the safety committee, we talked about that. So right now in installing those they're they're installed but there's a calibration process so they're not overly identifying and causing problems. So they're going through that process of the data collecting and calibrating those to make sure that they work right. So it's still rolling out. >> Thank you Chrisfield. That was my So for for us stood member you and I can have this offline conversations about your concerns and then we'll we'll move from there. >> Good. Okay. >> Thank you sir. >> Yeah. That's all for my report. Thank you so much, board member Centron. >> Um,
114I'll keep it short and sweet for everyone. Um, I got to attend um in Sacramento CSBA and I have to say I was allowed to attend last year as well and I have to say it was I felt that it was more fruitful this year. I was able to not only go to workshops that were solely directed for board members, um, but I really got to know the issues and speak to other board members all over Southern California that not only had the same trouble, but also have made different recommendations for their own um, school board and things like that. So, like picking each other's brains and try to work through some issues and really asking questions and being honest with each other. I really really thought it was incredible insight. Um some of the
115workshops I attend, I won't give you my notes, I'll just say the workshops is uh the board members role in implementing the English learner roadmap and what that truly looks like. Um I have like two pages full of that stuff. Um, and believe it or not, board members are just we're not magically knowing all bylaws um at all or even understanding how the implementations actually happen or occur and then new law and legislation that's going to come down in 2026. So, I really appreciated having like the nuts and bolts of all of that. Um and then uh just again really talking about some issues uh immigration enforcement and schools, what that looks like daytoday and how can we support our students, staff, faculty, and families. And so being able to talk to a room full
116of lawyers, superintendent, and and other board members um wasn't just really I think I know that we go every year, but really there's extra conferences and workshops we can do throughout the year. And I'm I'm uh I feel very empowered this time to actually go and figure out how to facilitate these conversations amongst our cabinet as well. So um that was mine. Uh, also I just want to say happy holidays to everyone. And I know uh there's a large percentage of our community that is still afraid to shop for Christmas trees, to go get gifts, to have a go to the grocery store to get a feast for their family. And I just want to know I just want you to know that you are not forgotten. There are resources out in the community that
117will deliver a tree, will give you free gifts for your um for your children so that they don't go without any Christmas gifts. Um and that will also donate a fullfaced to your doorstep. Um so please feel free to connect uh with our community here in Belfflower, but also our surrounding communities that will be able to give you that full um free of charge. Um, so happy holidays, be safe out there, and thank you. >> Thank you, board member Son, board member Armstrong. >> Thank you, uh, board president Stewart. Um, again, I I went to CSBA also. And, uh, I, uh, first of all, thank you all for being here. And I am going to keep it short because we have lots of visitors. You are seen. And I know why y'all here. So, it's
118not about me, but I need to at least let you know what I've been doing. So, so some of the sessions that I went to, um, I just knew I was going to get like like like a curriculum for like preschoolers. I saw this one. It says counting on success in math. And it was a district that was sharing uh they they talked about their efforts to build a bridge between the preschool to third the third grade program. And I was like, "This is great." Because, you know, I'm a I'm a preschool teacher and, you know, we have to do our math. We got to do more than count to 100, you know, and count blocks. So, I wanted to see if they had anything special. And, uh, it was it was really about the
119teachers doing their part to make sure that that that they prepare the preschoolers so that when they do go into TK, they can take it to the next level and the next level without having to revert back. So, they really talked about that continuum of of of services to make sure that the kids are are on a road to continued uh um progress. And then I couldn't help but I had to go and see the uh the the candidate forum for the governors. So, I had to listen to them to see what, you know, what what they what their pol what they what they what they thought was important and what they're going to do for the state and for the schools, you know. So, that was, I tell you, it it got exciting, too,
120you guys. You know, we even had some booze going on, you know. So, it was it was interesting. Move eyes were like that. And they also had a candidate form for the state superintendent of public instruction. So that one too was a good one. So it was good to hear uh hear them talk about their priorities and their their policy goals and p perspectives on the challenges that we uh in the public schools are truly facing and and and how they how they plan to support you know the governing boards and students. and and and and help us develop ways to strengthen our decision making um practices. And um but my favorite one that I went to because you know we we all up here love to learn. We I truly believe we are lifelong
121learners. Well, heck, we got so many teachers up here. We are we're learning every day. So but anyway, my favorite topic uh session that I went to it was for the advanced uh governance and um the key topics included developing clarity about personal uh personal principles, values and experience that drive leadership practice and learning the connection between emotional intelligence and communication strategies um that create greater clarity and how to manage manage conflict effectively and build high trust relationships. And lastly, we talked about exploring uh leadership decision making to enhance governance conversations. So like like we're having now. So that's it. I want to um say, you know, this holiday season, I wish you all happiness with your family and friends and please be safe out there and be vigilant while out in the community. Happy
122holidays. >> I really can't sing. That's all I could do, y'all. >> Okay, that's it for me. Thank you. >> Thank you, board member Armstrong. Clerk Critzfield. >> Thank you, Madam President. And she can sing. She's actually really good. Um, I'm not going to go through everything. I want to get this show on the road. Um, plus I post everything on Instagram anyway, so you guys already see the stuff I do. Uh, but I I will say I hope you have a merry Christmas and I hope you get everything uh on your list that you sent to Santa. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kirk Kirchfield, Vice President GarcA. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um, I'm also going to keep it short and sweet. I attended many of those same um sessions with my board colleagues.
123It was a lot of fun. Um especially enjoyed making um you know new relationships with new board members and other school districts, but also renewing and confirming the relationships that I have on the board with my colleagues um especially with our superintendent um you know and our executive secretaries. And so I really really appreciate um everyone who went and we had a really good time learning a lot and making sure that we bring back those that information for our cabinet and they are now going to be able to get a look at it and see where we take this. Thank you so much and happy holidays. Hope everyone is going to take a nice two weeks rest. Thank you. >> Thank you, Vice President Garca. I'm going to keep it short for me. you'll understand
124that. Good evening. On November 14th, I attended the Belfar High School football game. We played a playoff game against Colton, which we won 13 to 12. There was only like 40 people there. I was one of them because it was raining the whole time and we just dubbed it the mudball. But it was so awesome and we did such a great job. And then on November 21st, I attended the Belfare High School football game at Santa Paula for the semi-final round. Unfortunately, we came up short. We lost in the last second 17 to 14. But I'm proud of our team from going from 0 and 10 as some of you heard earlier to the CIF semi-finals and we finished eight and five which was a great success for us. December 1st I met with Mrs.
125Arcus and Dr. Simon to go over the first interim report. Um you guys answered all my questions so I really appreciate that. December 2nd through 5th I also attended the CSBA annual education conference. I attended the Goober notorial and I'll be honest I had to ask clerkville what that word was but it's for the governor's candidates forum. um the state superintendent of public instruction forum as well as workshops and again I'm going to list mine as well. I went to advancing school finance skills for board members a seat at the table and why student voices should matter board levers for school discipline concerns evidence-based practices as well as a few general sessions. It was great to see the candidates in person and hear their perspectives, to attend workshops that helped me become a better board
126member, to network with other community leaders, and to bond with our own governance team, which was a lot of fun. It was really great. Um, I just really enjoyed being in Sacramento with our team. December 5th, we got off the plane and we headed to the Unified Sports Basketball Tournament. Our staff does such a great job with that program, so thank you so much. Um, I think it's just a huge highlight in our district. And I know I'm always talking about enrollment campaign and things and I forget sometimes that it is such a great program. So I spoke about it last night in Paramount and how we partner with some of the other districts and I just thought it was awesome. So I would also love and I talked with the um AP Cunningham at
127Mayfair to look at expanding that to our middle schools. I think it would be great even if it's just one tournament to do that for our middle school students. I think that would be awesome. Last night, I attended the outgoing president's ceremony in Paramount for Alicia Anderson. That was awesome. I presented her certificate of recognition for our partnership with Paramount with our Cal Apps program. And this morning, I was able to meet a team from Mayfair at my school, Zamboni Middle School. They were coming to look at our AVID programs and our schools to watch program. And there was a big group. It was about 12 to 15 of them. And it was just so nice to see them looking at things and expanding our learning. and you looking at other districts and seeing what
128they're doing well, what we're doing well, and how we can collaborate. So, we do a really good job of implementing AVID. And so, I was really glad to see that collaboration. Um, also again, have a great holidays. Um, have an amazing two weeks off. I get three weeks off. Be jealous. And, um, I hope you guys have a Yeah. Um, I hope you guys have a great holiday vacation. Are there any questions onformational items? All right, seeing that we do not have any questions, we are going to move on to recognitions. Um, Dr. Simon, you want to start it in the MI reader? You want me to just go for it? All right. So, we are going to recognize one of our assembly members, Jose Sal, if he will come up here. and I have
129something to read. And I usually do font like 18 and they did 12. So bear with me because I didn't bring my glasses. Um it's our district honor to take a moment to recognize an extraordinary public servant and passionate champion of equity, access, and educational leadership, Assembly Member Jose Luis Salace Jr. Assembly Member Salache is not only a tireless a tireless advocate for our students and families across California, but he is also one of us. He began his public service journey as a young school board member for Lynwood Unified School District, stopping or stepping into a role that demanded time, sacrifice, and heart before most of us had even considered public office. His lived experience gives him a profound understanding of what this work takes and what it truly means to serve. With the signing
130of AB1390, Assembly Member Salache has brought long overdue attention to an issue that too easily goes overlooked, the compensation and recognition of schoolboard trustees. For over 40 years, our state statues have failed to reflect the immense growth in responsibility the board service entails. From setting budgets to overseeing educational equity to hiring superintendent and responding to evolving student needs, trustees have never been just volunteers. We have been stewards, strategists, servants to the cause and of student success. Yet compensation has remained stagnant for too many and has that has meant opportunity lost. Thanks to Assembly Member Salace's leadership, AB1390 offers a path forward, one grounded in equity, transparency, and local responsibility. Importantly, it empowers boards, especially in underserved, and underresourced areas to modestly and responsibly increase compensation so that the public service remains accessible to working parents,
131young professionals, caregivers, and everyday Californians from all walks of life. This legislation is not just about dollars. It's about dignity, representation, and possibility. It affirms that those who dedicate themselves to our students are seen, valued, and supported. It opens the gate wider for diverse voices, for first generation leaders, and for those who have lived the struggles of the communities we serve. Assembly Member Salace, your vision, resolve, and commitment to lifting the voices of school trustees across the state has not gone unnoticed. Tonight, we thank you not only for AB1390, but for all the ways you remind us that education is a calling worth fighting for and that local leadership matters. On behalf of the Belfar Unified School District Board of Education and from the hearts of public servants across California, thank you for honoring this
132vital role and for ensuring a stronger, more inclusive future for school board governance. Let's all please give a well-deserved round of applause for Assembly Member Jose Salace. We appreciate you so much. Come to the DAS, please. Yes. So much everywhere. You're the best. as a bellflower native. I'm a little older. Uh but excited to be here today. As a former school member for 10 years, I uh was able to be be an advocate for our students. I did start at the age of 23 years old at school and 10 years. My backyard communities here. I know. I know. And I know that a new spot and children by seeing your budget. So, I know that's a constant request for me that we're advocating for dollars forunities and we're always our teachers former school members statewide
133myself more single moms are retired that's part retire one day. So that's what does that voice more proud to be an advocate for all the time president and while I'm here but I want to make sure I thank your President real quick on behalf of the city of California. It's awesome to have a leadership that is reflective. I see Amy on social media. We follow each other and we actually each other all the time but she's being a champion for our schools here. So thank you for leading the board not but you've been an individual has been here. You've been such an educator by but also here inflower. So on behalf of the city of California, we want to thank you for your leadership for being another bright shining star for our community. So thank
134you to for having Amy Stewart president. We want to thank her for all the hours and phone calls. All right. So, kicking it back to Dr. Ser. >> Thank you, Board President Stewart. So, this evening we have the privilege of honoring our outgoing president, Board President Amy Stewart, with a moment of special recognition. On behalf of the board of education, ma superintendent, office staff, and cabinet, we extend our heartfelt gratitude for her year of leadership and the time she has devoted to the BUSD family. At this time, we invite you to turn your attention to the screen as we share a video prepared in her honor. We stepped in with intention, ready for the highs and lows. Did I know how the year would go? No. No. But the results all show. Can't talk about
135a dream without talking about this team. From the class to the ballroom, all representing B USD. It's been a full year with it ups and downs. But every moment helps us find our ground. Cuz what really matters is the work we give to our students and the staff we live. stopid steady hand work together to build out a plan. executed our mission with more to do. No, it ain't true. Say I'm coming through the cold for a month. Took a long time and we broke ground like a new foundation. Putting it down. It's beautiful with us and everyone helps us find our work we do our and the we and we GOT THE WHOLE CREW SUPPORTING every student in every school too. So many victories it took some time but when you do big things
136you do them right. All the COLLABORATION communication came through. The work was always bigger than any one person could do. It's been a full year with it ups and downs and down. But everyone helps us find our way in the work we do. I still live and stop. We're going to ask President Stewart to come come down from the DAS. >> Can I give my speech first? >> Oh, sure. That's right. My apologies. >> It's okay. I just would like to do it from here. You know how I have to read. If you didn't notice, Brad made the song and it was amazing. Thank you. All right. Good evening everyone and thank you for being here. First, I would like to personally thank so many people here. My family, my daughter just flew in from
137Texas, so I'm excited to have her here for a few days. My friends, my colleagues, my former principal, Lisa Kirk. She was my principal, but she was for many years, but the district stole her because she's amazing and I get it, but I'm kind of sad. Um, the elected officials who have supported me, um, so many people. Assembly member Salace, I think you stepped out. Did he step out? Um, any event, like I said, with Salace is more memorable event. To all of our city council partners from Belfar, Lakewood, and Cerritos, I appreciate you. I just saw um Anthony Rendan walk in and I wanted to say thank you. Anthony is running for the state superintendent of public instruction and he's our former speaker of California. And I just want to say I appreciate his
138leadership. Yes, I appreciate his leadership and always being there to support our community. He's probably the busiest man in California. I know he's jumping in and out, but he still takes the time to support us, to listen to us, to take our calls, and I really appreciate him so much. I want to say thank you so much and appreciative of PTA, BTA, CSA. I know President Michelle Quay is not feeling well. President John Young, thank you so much. Um, and even some of our past board members, Phyllis Tweet, I know you're here. Thank you for paving the way and being such a strong woman. I really appreciate you. You've been such a mentor for me. Um, and she is the one that got me crying. Thank you, Phyllis. Tonight is very meaningful to me and
139because not because it marks the end of my presidency, but because it gives me a chance to express my gratitude to the people who made this year possible. One thing I've always believed is that during reorganization, you choose the person who is right to lead at the moment. This past year, I truly believe I was the right person to re lead at the right time. But more importantly, I was surrounded by the right team. When I look back, I don't see a list of my accomplishments. I see ours. I see a board that worked together even with different perspectives. I see a superintendent, a cabinet, employees, partners, and community of amazing parents and relatives that stayed committed to our students. And I see a team that delivered on its promises. This year, we made transparency
140not just a goal, but a practice. We added committees with partners, held town halls, gave more updates, moved all of our meetings to YouTube, and we strengthened our relationships with LEO. We kept our promise to begin the Mayfair field project. And without question, our greatest shared success was hiring our superintendent, Dr. Aaron Simon. She is everything I hoped for and more. Kind, collaborative, grounded in family and relationships, and yes, we got our athlete, and that's always good. I believe we hit the jackpot with her leadership, and I look forward to continuing to work alongside her. One thing about this role is it teaches you humility quickly. Being poor board president doesn't make you more powerful. It reminds you how much you rely on others. You're still only one voice among five and 20% of a
141vote. Your job as president is to set the agenda, help maintain flow, and unify purpose. I believe our meetings have provided more information to our community while still handling our business efficiently. Together, we accomplished so much. We strengthen systems by forming a standing safety and security committee, adding committee updates to improve transparency, a legislative committee to stay on top of federal and state changes, including all of our educational partners and unions on our committees, and beginning the transition to in-house transportation. We invested in teaching and learning by adopting new world languages, authorizing Cal apps for our middle school students, and implementing dual dual enrollment at Mayfair and Somerset, as well extending CSA's yearly days for more professional development and collaboration. We supported our schools and community through our first sped resource fair, our first breast
142cancer awareness walk, and the inaugural state of education. and we began major long-term work including breaking ground on the Mayfair Athletic Complex and passing a resolution to secure a future bond. Thank you again so much BTA, CSCA, PTA, and every partner who collaborated with us, believed in us, and trusted me to serve as board president. I appreciate you all. I have made so many friends being on this board, and I'm just humbled to be holding this role. So tonight, as I step aside from the presidency, I do so with gratitude, pride, and humility. Thank you to my board colleagues. Sorry. Great. Thank you to my board colleagues, Vice President Garza, Clerk Critzfield, board members Armstrong and Cron for believing me to place me in here and to let me lead a year ago. Thank you.
143Thank you for working beside me and thank you for allowing me to serve. I wanted to put this up because I really wanted people to see all the great things that we've done this year and to really let everyone see that this is a team. We need three votes and we all did this and we did a lot of great things this year and I really appreciate everyone that I've been able to work with. Um it was hard. There was days I wanted to quit. I'll be honest, but you pushed through. You worked together and this is why because of our students. So, we did this together and I will always be grateful for all of you. Thank you so much. >> Now, as board president Stewart, I know you're wiping away tears, but if
144you could come down. Thank you. >> Oh, are are we are we going to make comment? Are we going to No. >> Well, I want to I want to say stuff. So, uh are we doing that later? Am I jumping the gun? Well, well, since you're right there, uh, I do want to say, and I and tell all of you, Amy is the most organized and passionate leader I have had the the pleasure to to be around and learn from, uh, she puts in more work than anybody uh, I know. Um, and even in times in disagreement, which I'm probably a couple at least count for a couple of the days, she probably wanted to quit. Even in disagreement, I've never questioned her commitment to our students and we've always been able to work together.
145As a friend, uh she has my care. As a colleague, she has my respect. And as a parent of two students in the BUSD, uh you have my thanks for everything that you've done for students. Thank you, Amy. We also have members of the community who have asked to speak tonight, whether it be presenting certificates or just speaking on behalf of Board President Stewart and her presidency. And so now I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Carter. Also, if you are not on the list um and you want to speak, uh please come up to Mrs. Carrie Garcia so that we can add you so you can say some words to board president Stewart, Mrs. Carter. This evening we have several special guests who would like to acknowledge Miss Stewart. We are going to
146start tonight with uh representing the Central Basin Municipal Water District Director Wong Garza. Please come forward. We have council member Marion on the list, right? Just want to make sure. Look at his eyes. Good evening. Uh my name is Juan Garz. I'm director from the Central Basin Municipal Water District. I'm also vice chair of the Metropolitan Water District Southern California. Such a true honor and pleasure to be here this evening. Amy, it seems like yesterday when we were having our coffee at Starbucks, when you were thinking about running for to serve our public, um I know we went over all the challenges and um the the benefits and also the uh the successes and really the the how the happiness that we get from serving our public. Um and it seems again just like yesterday
147we were having that conversation to be here honoring you on your special um day is truly uh a personal a personal sense of gratitude. Um you know I I'm a big fan of the process that we undertake under the conclave of selecting a new pope. Um I share that with you because it always feels and seems like you pick the right person at the right time when they're needed. And um as I look at the state of our country and state of affairs, I I see that um that education unfortunately is under attack. Um it's under attack uh due to national politics. Um but what I also see is that under your leadership, this district uh continued in that right direction, the right path when it could have derailed at any point in time. And
148that happens because of leadership and it happens because of vision. And I'm a big fan of really believing that this district staying the course is because of you. And um I couldn't be more proud and honored to commend you and to just share that because of your resiliency and your persistence and um that this district and our students and our faculty and your staff and this whole community benefits because of your vision, your leadership. So for staying the course over the last year on behalf of again all my colleagues in Central Basin Mun District, it's my distinct honor to honor you. Thank you for your service. Congratulations on our successes this year. Next, representing California Senate District 32, Carla Caceres is representing on behalf of Senator Bob Archeletta. >> Good evening. My name is Carla
149Caceres and I'm here on behalf of California State Senator Bob Archeletta. It's my pleasure to uh present this certificate of recognition to Miss Amy Stewart in appreciation of your distinguished service service as board president of the Belfflower Unified School District for the 2024 2025 term and for your steadfast leadership on behalf of students, families, and educators. Your commitment to fostering academic excellence, guiding policy decisions, and supporting a collaborative and student centered environment has strengthened the district and positively impacted the Belfflower community. On behalf of the 30th Senate District of the State of California, thank you for your dedication to public education and exemplary service. I extend my warmest wishes for continued success in all your f future endeavors. Sign Senator Archeletta. uh former California State Assembly speaker, the Honorable Anthony Rendan. Uh the staff at
150Belfar Unified asked me if I wanted to present a certificate. I I barely have a job. So, my daughter and I tried to do one at home uh on Word and it didn't really work out. But I want to uh want to thank Amy for her service. If I have one regret in my 12 years in the legislature, it's that I only represented Belfflower the last two because of redistricting. I got to meet Amy in those last two years. And uh the the effort that she puts in uh to this for us in the legislature, it's a full-time job. Um, I know that all of you have tons of other things uh to be balancing at the same time. It's um from in many respects it's thankless, but I know the psychic reward, I know
151the community reward is everything. Um, I've seen that in you. We were talking recently. The other thing that I've seen in you that I love and that as a guy who played soccer as a kid that I love is that that athletic that competitiveness uh that we both kind of the first time I met you we sort of jived on that level. I thought it was really cool. Um and I just want to say one more thing. I've said this before. People have heard me say this before. When you're in Sacramento and you wake up every day and you're 400 miles from your district and you go into a supermarket or a park, nobody knows who you are. Doesn't matter what your title is. But schoolboard members, city council members, water district members, people know
152who you are. Um because the water that comes out of your tap, uh whether or not your kids get educated, whether or not your sidewalks are clean, people understand that. That's those are the building blocks to democracy and if we're going to be successful as a state or as a country, it always happens at the local level. Amy understands that. She she knows parents, she knows the kids, she knows the schools. So, I um have loved getting to know her. I'm going to continue to support her in every way I can. Thank you. representing the city of Lakewood. Council member David Ariano. Oh, there we go. Um I think they mailed our certificate in. Is that correct? Hopefully they got it in time. So I can just say it's in the mail. Okay. Um but
153I I'm actually very honored to be here. Um watching you and your presidency has been a true inspiration and also knowing the fact that you went through the Bellflower School District and now you get to be president and represent all the students, all the families. Like when I get to watch you, I see you as a sister and I noticed I have a lot of pictures. I think about six or seven in there somewhere. I don't know. But I I noticed that so much. And there's things that stand out the most. Um I get to go to a lot of events and I feel like I'm a part of this family, this BD family. And in your presidency, you have a new superintendent who is amazing. Every time I see her, she's hardworking. Also, the
154groundbreaking for the new stadium. Those are under your presidency. And then I saw that big list and I was like, "Oh my goodness." Like I don't I can't even explain what you've been doing. So thank you so much for your hard work. And I'm also going to represent the city of Lakewood for Frank Yokyama Aurelio Ariano because I'm going to be doing both. So he has some some proclamations. I'm not going to read this because compared to Brad, I can't read. So I'm just gonna say um this is from the city of Cerritos. Ours in the mail. And then we have one for Brad. And then also one for Myra Cara. So these three are for you. I'm just only going to take this for him so I can get a picture. Next, former Cerritos
155College trustee John Paul Dreer. I already gave my speech, but we found the gift. representing Paramount Unified. Board President Eddie Cruz, >> board member. >> I'm just >> board member >> and I'm I'm okay with that. Past president. Yes, we all want to be board president on day one and we can't wait to give the gavvel the next uh by the end of the the term. >> So, yes, get ready for it. Vice President Garcia, you're next. All right. >> So, good evening board. Good evening, executive cabinet. Um it's a pleasure to be here with some of my paramount crew to recognize Amy Stewart. Amy, I remember the first day that um we met and your your questions were about um campaigning and what I heard loud and clear was that you love Bellflower, that
156you care about our students. I say our students because I'm now part of the Bellflower family. Uh very proud to be um and uh this beautiful community. And it's in the first term in office that we discover what kind of leaders we're going to be. and you stayed true to form and I congratulate you congratulate you for that because it's a tough business and sometimes we get pulled in many directions but your northstar was always the students of bellflower the teachers of bellflower and our classified employees. So for that I congratulate you on a great year and the certificate uh in recognition of your dedic dedicated service to the student staff and for your tenure as a president of the Belfflower Unified School District and as a teacher in Paramont Unified. We thank you for
157your service and loving our children so much. Thank you. representing Belfare Teachers Association. President John Young. Amy, in my uh short time um in this new leadership role with the the union, it's been a pleasure getting to know you and I'm going to echo something that I heard from Paramount. Uh thank you for saying yes to being the president of our school board. Um, one of the things that I admire about you is that with your successes that you've had both as a student, as an athlete in Bellflower, being a homegrown product, uh, you return to your roots and not just to pay it back, but to pay it forward. So, thank you for doing what you do for our schools. representing California School Employees Association. Vice President Joanne Chain. Hi, Amy. And Angela, our
158secretary, is also here with us with me. And as Michelle talked to you, she's sorry she couldn't make it, but she's not feeling well. So, on behalf of CSEA Chapter 32, we would like to present you with this plaque to recognize you. wait of your unra unwavering dedication and tireless effort during your president of the board. Your leadership has made a profound impact on our district and we truly gratefully wait we are truly grateful for the hard work, vision and commitment you have shown. We appreciate your open and honest communication with us which has fostered trust and collaboration in every step. Thank you for all that you have done. We are excited to continue working with you and building a foundation you have helped establish. representing Belfflower Council PTA President Alexandra Cortez. Hello again. Um,
159just getting to know you this year and me starting as president in July. I actually want to call up the rest of my board that's here because they've known you probably a lot longer than I have. Um, so come on up here. That way they can tell you a little bit about their interactions with you. But, um, start with mine. Um, the day I met you was awesome. It was my first experience here, period. Ever. Um, I've only been with the school district two years and it was the most entertaining thing. I honestly brought more parents along and I started getting them the YouTube link because it was that moment where you realize there's a lot more that it takes for the principles to do what they do at schools and the teachers to do
160what they do and it starts in here. um joining PTA and learning all about PTA. I learned how we also have a voice to come in here create some changes for our students. And I thank you for listening to us. I thank you for being on that bus that day that we went out for Red Ribbon. You were such a delight to like listen to. You're so enthusiastic and just your love for sports. It just shines throughout and your love for Bellflower also. Let me pass it on to someone else. >> We'll start here. Hi Amy. Um, thank you for all you've done this past year um to help the students and the families of B USD. Um, it's truly appreciated. Thank you. >> Hi, Amy. So, I have represented Amy uh on citizen task
161force for a few years and we've had plenty of conversations and she's always been so welcoming. She answers all my questions. She advocates for anything that I ask her to do. She's just supportive and I feel like she hears me. She listens to me and I feel like I matter in this community. So, I just want to tell you thank you for the countless hours of speaking to me and make me feel like I matter, like my kids matter, and I will always support you. And anytime she says, "You want to be on the citizen task force," I'm like, "Okay." Uh, you know, I'm going to I'm just going to say what I feel. So, she's always on board with that. And she gives me my moment to express myself. And I just want to
162tell you thank you. Okay, I've been told I need to speak for the people behind me because they don't want to. Amy, we just want to say thank you um for being open to listening to us. The reason most of us got into PTA would like to say is that we did it for the kids and we feel that that was your focus as well. You were open, you were available and in fact the whole board has been but as the president as we know we've all been presidents of something or other. you. You're the lightning rod. So, thank you for handling that with grace, for answering our questions, and for helping us advocate for children. >> Hi, Amy. I just want to say I knew a long time ago before anybody else in this
163room that you would make great board president and be a a great asset to this um community. So, I'm so proud of you and I'm so happy for you. Thank you for everything that you've done. So on behalf of Belfflower Council of PTA, we appreciate you and thank you. representing the Bellflower Leadership and Support Team or BLAST, Presidentelect, Dr. Angelica Montalongo. Good evening, Amy. So, on behalf of Bflower um leadership and support team, also known as BLAST, we would like to let you know that we appreciate all the work that you've done for us this year. Um and showing us that you care and that you care about us and that you care about the district. Um your commitment made a difference to the lives of the students, the families, and it impacted the school
164sites. As you conclude your time as board president, we want to acknowledge the dedication and advocacy you've had and everything that it brought to our schools. Um, to honor you, members of the management team shared words that best describe your leadership. These words were used to create a special keepsake for you. The larger words reflect the qualities that were mentioned more frequently. I'm not going to read them all, but I'll read the ones that are the bigger ones. So we have supportive, passionate, advocate, dedicated, commitment, committed and fearless. Thank you for everything you've done. We would like to present Miss Stewart with certificates from Janice Han representing ing the fourth district on the LA County Board of Supervisors and Congressman Robert Garcia. They were unable to attend this evening and wish to extend their congratulations
165and appreciation to Miss Stewart for her service to the students and community. Miss Stewart, in conclusion, we'd like to thank you for your leadership and your dedication to the students, staff, and community of Belfare Unified. Thank you so much for everything that you've done. So, don't leave. President, don't leave. ran, there was a seated board member. It's really almost impossible to unseat a sitting board member. And before we met her, I said, "There's absolutely no way we can ever get her elected." And the women at Lindstöm said, "Come meet this person." And after meeting her, our whole conversation was there is literally no way we cannot get this woman elected. So, we are lucky that we're so lucky. And and this is before redistricting. So, I think she literally knocked on every single door in
166the Bellflower Unified School District to get this job. So, we're so grateful you're here. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. And at this time, I'm going to ask board members to join President Stewart. So this evening, we are honored to pause and recognize a remarkable chapter of leadership. On behalf of the board, our office staff, and cabinet, we are proud to present to you, Mr. Stewart, with a token of our deepest appreciation when I'm bringing that to you shortly, a small symbol of our immense gratitude and a lasting momento of your dedicated service as board president. Your leadership has been a guiding light with an unwavering commitment to the student staff and broader BUSD community. You have led with heart integrity and purpose, consistently putting others before yourself, always striving for impact. Your presence
167has lifted voices, inspired progress, and shaped a path that path forward that reflects the best of who we are and who we aspire to be. Sorry. Thank you again so much you guys. That was really amazing. I really appreciate all of you. All right, so it's time for the election of board of education officers. Our legal counsel, Mr. Sura, is going to facilitate the reorganization process. Mr. Sura. >> Thank you, Madame President. As is customary every year, uh the board must undertake the election of new officers for the coming year. And at this time um for the office of president uh I will go ahead and open it up for nominations. >> I'd like to nominate uh Miss Myra Garza. >> Second. >> There is a first and a second. Are there any other nominations?
168Hearing none. Roll call, please. >> Miss Armstrong, >> I. >> Miss Cron, >> I. >> Mr. Critfield, >> I. >> Mrs. Garza, >> I. Miss Stewart >> I Congratulations President Garza. Sorry, I'm gonna have to adjust that next time. Um, they say that the second time is easier, but it really isn't. Um, thank you board colleagues for your trust and um the second opportunity to lead our district um you know and our whole collective vision and I look forward to working with our cabinet again um as I have have been um as a board member but also to getting to know our new superintendent a little bit better and um in a different role. So looking forward to that and also continuing to represent the community that has placed me in this position. Thank you
169so much for everything. Um so let's continue. >> Now um do I take over or do you continue? >> Um up to you. I I can continue or you can go with that. It's your choice. >> Okay. I'll go ahead and continue if you don't mind. Thank you. Um so the nominations are now open for the office of vice president. And um are there any nominations? >> I'd like to nominate Brad Critfield for vice president. >> I second. Any other nominations? Hearing none. The nominations are closed. Do I have a motion? >> Um, so you you have the nomination. Just need a second. And >> um, roll call. >> Miss Armstrong. >> I >> uh, still I don't think there was a second. If if we can get a second. >> Sorry. >> Amy did.
170Okay. Thank you. >> I nominated it. >> There was >> Myra seconded it. President Garza seconded. Yes. >> Um, so then I take a roll call. >> Miss Armstrong. I >> Miss Cron I >> Mr. Critchfield >> I >> Mrs. Garza >> I >> Miss Stewart >> I um congratulations uh Vice President Critfield. So now we're going to open nominations for office of clerk and I'd like to nominate Morina Cron for bar clerk. Are there any other nominations? I think you need a second now or we do donate nominations first. >> Um so if there's a nomination uh a second would follow and then a question for additional nominations would come. >> Second are there any nominations other nominations? hearing none. Um, nominations are closed and excuse me, roll call. >> Miss Armstrong, >> I.
171>> Miss Cron, >> I. >> Mr. Critfield, >> I. >> Mrs. Garza, >> I. >> Miss Stewart, >> I. >> Congratulations, board member Cynthron for as board clerk. >> Thank you. Now, um I would like to offer congratulations to all the new officers of the board. Um so now, um do you want me um General Counsel Sura, I'm going to turn this over to you. >> Um so at this time, it would actually uh move forward to item 15.2, two uh which is the appointment to annual representative to vote on the membership to the Los Angeles Committee on School District Organizations and it would follow the same format as the previous vote. Okay. So, um the first is the appointment of 2026 representative to vote on the membership to the Los Angeles County Committee uh
172county committee on school district organization. Are there any nominations? Am I reading that wrong? >> I I'll nominate Marina. >> Second. >> I knew that was coming. Just I just looked at everybody. I knew that was coming. Um, do so I got a second. Thank you. Uh, roll call. >> Miss Armstrong. >> I. >> Miss Cron. >> I. >> Mr. Critchfield. >> I. >> Mrs. Garza. >> I. >> Miss. Stewart. >> I. >> Congratulations, Miss Cron. You are now the appointed 2026 representative to for the LA County Committee on School District Organization. Um, next is the appointment of annual representative to the Los Angeles County Trustees Association, LAXA 2026. Are there any nominations? >> I'd like to nominate um, uh, Rene Armstrong. >> Second. >> Any other nominations? Hearing none, nominations are closed. Roll call,
173please. >> Miss Armstrong, >> I. Miss Cron, >> nay. >> Mr. Critchfield, >> I >> Mrs. Garza, >> I >> Miss Stewart, >> I >> uh congratulations, Miss Armstrong. Uh, you are now our represent our representative for 2026 at Laxa. Thank you so much. Um, and now the final item is a selection of a board of a member of the Bealf Unified School District Board of Education to serve as a representative to the California Advancing Pathways for Students Calaps Board for a 2-year term beginning January 2026. Are there any nominations? >> I'd like to nominate Amy Stewart. I'll second. >> Any other nominations? Hearing? None. Nominations are closed. Roll call, please. >> Miss Armstrong, >> I. >> Miss Cron, >> I. >> Mr. Critzfield, >> I. >> Mrs. Garza, >> I. >> Miss Stewart, >>
174I. >> Um, congratulations, Miss Stewart. Um, you are now representative of Calapore for a 2year term. So, um I believe we will not be going back into close session. Correct. Okay. So, then um at this time the board will adjourn the meeting um to Tuesday, January 6th at 4 p.m. >> 4:30. Madam President, >> thank you. 4:30. Have a nice evening and thank you so much for joining us.