001Good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the board of education. This meeting is called to order at 4:29 p.m. in open session. Roll call, please. Student board member of Jose. Miss Armstrong present. Miss Cron, present. Mr. Critchfield, Mrs. Garza, Miss Stewart, present. Tonight, we do not have requests addressing close session agenda items. Is there anybody else that would like to speak? All right. At this time, the board will recess to close session. Open session will resume at approximately 6 pm. Welcome everybody. Tonight's meeting of the board of education will now resume and reconvene in open session at 6:00 pm. Vice President Myra Garza will update us on close session topics. Good evening everyone and welcome. The topics discussed in close session were student matters and labor negotiations. The board took no action in close
002session. Oh, so sorry. Anticipated litigation, pending litigation, public employee discipline dismissal and release and the board took no action in close session. Sorry, I'm out of I'm out of practice. Thank you. All right. Tonight, doing our pledge of allegiance, we have our um Mayfair administrator. Yes, Miss Jasmine Lane. Thank you so much for being here with us. Good evening, everybody. Please stand. 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. Thank you. Um, Mrs. Oavdo, do we have any replacement pages? We do have a replacement page for item 13.7 on the back table. Do we have any amendments to the agenda? We do not.
003Okay. So, as you guys can see, we have a lot of amazing recognitions tonight. And so, I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Oavdo. Thank you so much. And I'm going to have Mrs. Carter assist us with all these recognitions this evening. Thank you. This evening, the board of education is pleased to recognize many awardees. If they could please come down to the front so we can get started with the recognitions, that would be great. So tonight we're going to be recognizing Skills USA state medal winners, Mesa winners, and both team and individual student athletes who have earned the distinction of league champions. We will also acknowledge our top scholars, student board reporters, and our student board members. As we have many recognitions tonight, we do ask that as groups of students are recognized,
004you exit to the outside tent for additional photo opportunities so that we can bring in the next groups of students to be acknowledged. Staff and students, as I call your name, please join us up front and remain for a picture. Starting with, we're going to begin with Belfar Unified Calap Skills USA individuals and teams who meddled at the state competition. Can we please bring forward and give a congratulations to Katherine Torado, a 12th grader from Belfflar High School for earning bronze in customer service. Also, congratulations to Marina Phillips, an eighth grader from Mayfair Middle School for earning silver and extemporaneous speaking. And congratulations to Nam Preit Baines as 11th grader from Mayfair High School for earning silver and extemporus speaking. If we could also have the CEO of Calabs come forward, Miss Arlene Whitney. In
005addition, two teams from Mayfair High School earned gold medals and have qualified to compete at the National Skills USA Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, Georgia during the week of June 23rd. I'll share who those teams are in just a moment, unless you would like everybody all at once. Okay, so let's give a congratulations to our individual winners. Nice job. And thank you, ladies. Miss Whitney, definitely stay up there. So, we'd now like to recognize those students um for chapter display. Can the following students please come forward? Junior Kaiung, junior Karina Marcado and junior Alyssa Powell. for outstanding chapter. Can the following students please come forward? Junior Roman Diaz, freshman Maximo Ramos, and sophomore Daisy Tiiente. congratulations. We wished you all the best during nationals. Um students, students, if you could remain up front, we'd
006like to recognize your advisor. So, if you could come on up forward here. Thank you. So, if we could recognize the advisor Annabelle Andradico for being named the Skills USA, I want to make sure we're able to hear what she's being recognized for. Skills USA region 3 advisor of the year. This prestigious recognition is awarded to adviserss whose chapters achieve chapter of excellence program level two chapter of distinctions and who submit a comprehensive application reviewed by the dedicated skills USA committee. Congratulations Miss Andradico. Thank you for your hard work in guiding our students. Miss Andradico, if I could have you stay. We're gonna recognize your Mesa students now. Thank you. So, next we will be recognizing the following Mayfair High School students who earn medals at the Mesa Regional Competition. MESA is a statewide program
007that empowers students across California to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. In the division of impromptu speech, we'd like to recognize ninth graders Wavvarez Baines and Righteous Ukata. They both earn earned bronze. We'd also like to recognize 11th graders Namprit Baines and Roman Diaz for earning silver. In the division of coding, we'd like to recognize ninth graders Gregory Mahia and writer hit for earning silver. In the division of bio breakthrough, we would like to recognize ninth graders Khloe Alvarez, Justin Kang, and Maximo Ramos for earning silver. Congratulations to all the students in Mesa for earning these recognitions. Thank you. Next, we'd like to recognize Belfare Unified students participating with the Calapse chapter. So, Miss Whitney, if you're out there from Belfflower High School for commercial uh USA drones earning silver, we have Dylan
008Basera and Julian Luna. come forward. Absolutely. I apologize. Thank you very much. We would like to now recognize students and staff who earn the outstanding leadership program award from Belfflair Middle and High School. If we can please have Bellflower's activities director, Shannon Dollar Hov join us up front. Congratulations to the Belfflower High School ASB for earning the prestigious California Association of Student Leaders Outstanding Leadership Program Award. To achieve this distinction, ASB student leaders submitted a comprehensive self-study review of their leadership program, showcasing their progress in meeting the objectives of the Kata and Castle Roadmap to enhance school climate and culture. This marks the eighth consecutive year that the program has been honored with this award. And this evening accepting this recognition on behalf of ASBR are if you could come forward. ASB President Gimenez Valterra,
009ASB Vice President Isabelle Mahia Bonza, ASB Public Relations Director Zulma Castro, ASB Board Reporter Steven Martinez, Senior class president Esther Abanyal and recognition commissioner Brian Lee. Congratulations students and Miss Doliver Hollis for this incredible recognition eight years in a row. That is amazing. Congratulations All right, one last round of applause. Up next, we'd like to recognize our 2025 spring sports. Belfar High School varsity track coach James Durk. Would you please join us up front and remain for pictures and recognitions? We'd like to congratulate and please come forward Zaka Sloan for earning Mid City's hundred hurdles. Christian Penna for earning Mid City's hurdles. Mallayia War Warren for earning Mid City's 300 hurdles. Sebastian Lewis for earning Mid City's hurdles. Caleb Grant for earning Mid City's long jump and triple jump. Sahara Ackan for earning long jump
010and triple jump. and Jade Walker for earning 100 meter and 200 meter. Okay, please give that round of applause and thank you Coach Durk for all of your help. Next, we'll be recognizing our saludiatorans. We're proud to recognize saludiatoran Natalie Schultz representing Mayfair High School. Natalie Schultz has earned a cumulative GPA of 4.55. She joined BUSD in kindergarten and attended the intensive learning center throughout elementary school. At Mayfair, she challenged herself by taking multiple honors and advanced placement courses and has been an active member of the Mayfair academic program and environmental science club where she is currently president. Natalie will attend the University of California Irvine in the fall and major in public health where she plans on pursuing a career in nursing. Congratulations, Natalie. We are also proud to recognize Saludiatoran Eduardo Gonzalez from
011Belfflower High School. With a cumulative GPA of 4.5, Eduardo has been a dedicated student in the Belfar School District since kindergarten. Beginning his educational journey at Baxter Elementary School. Throughout his high school career, he has completed eight AP courses, four honors courses, and two dual enrollment courses, showcasing his commitment to academic excellence. History is his favorite subject, captivating him with its depth and intricate stories. Eduardo is an active member of Link Crew, Apex, and CSF, and has earned highest honors every semester since seventh grade. His achievements include the prestigious National Hispanic Recognition Award and the AP Scholar with Distinction Award. Currently accepted to five colleges, Eduardo dreams of attending UC San Diego to major in biology with aspirations of graduate school and exploring future career possibilities. Congratulations, We are next going to recognize our validictorians.
012First, we're proud to present one of two validictorians representing Belfflair High School, Alyssa Gonzalez. Please come forward. With an impressive total GPA of 4.527, Alyssa has been a dedicated student to NBUSD since the first grade. Starting her journey at Washington Elementary School. Throughout her academic career, she has embraced challenges by taking six advanced classes in middle school, completing nine advanced placement courses, four honors classes, and four dual enrollment courses in high school. All while also participating in the health science CTE pathway. Her passion for science is evident, particularly in her favorite class, AP Biology, as she aspires to work in the field of biology. Beyond academics, Alyssa showcased her leadership on the tennis team where she served as captain, achieving notable accolades including second place in league finals and competing in CIF for two years.
013In addition, she is an active member of several clubs including Apex, CSF, NHS, and MU Alpha Theta, and has dedicated 200 hours volunteering at a hospital. Alyssa has already gained acceptance to two colleges with UCLA as her dream school where she plans to major in molecular and cell biology and pursue a career as an oncologist. Congratulations. We'd also be very proud to honor the next validictorian, Jason Sad. With an impressive cumulative total GPA of 4.53, Justin Jason has been a dedicated member of the Belfar Unified School District since preschool, starting his journey at Washington Elementary. He has excelled academically, completing eight advanced placement courses, five honors courses, two dual enrollment courses, and the health careers medical CTE pathway. Beyond academics, Jason serves as vice president of Apex and is actively involved in several organizations including
014Link Crew, Mu Alpha Theta, World Language Club, California Scholar Federation, NHS, and the Premed Club. His hard work has paid off as he has been accepted to seven colleges and plans to attend the University of California, Irvine, where he aims to major in biology and pursue a career in medicine or pharmacy. Congratulations. Next, we'd like to recognize the validictorian at uh Mayfair High School. So, a little applause for Mayfair. So, now some applause for Isel Ramirez. Congratulations. Esel began her educational journey at BUD as a student in the intensive learning center. Since then, she has demonstrated unwavering commitment to academic excellence and personal growth. Isel currently attends Mayfair where she has earned exceptional 4.56 GPA while completing a rigorous course load. When asked about her favorite class, EEL shared that AP World History stood out
015because it challenged her academically and personally. She appreciated the opportunity to explore diverse cultural and historical periods and credits the course with strengthening her study habits and time management skills. Beyond the classroom, Isel is an engaged and well-rounded student leader. She currently serves as the president of the girl up club, is an active member of Key Club, the environmental science club, and the MAP program. She also performs with Mariners's Mayfair Show Choir and serves as captain of the varsity tennis team, earning four varsity letters and recognition as a scholar athlete by the Lakewood Hall of Fame. Outside of school, Isel participates in two in a two-year uh psychology related internship which reflects her passion for the field she p she plans to pursue. After graduating, Isel will attend the University of California, Los Angeles, or
016UCLA, where she plans to major in psychology. She embodies the academic excellence and leadership and character we aim to cultivate at BSD. Congratulations. Next, we'll be recognizing our student board reporters. So, first, can Steven Martinez please come forward? board reporter for Belfflair High School. Before beginning his journey at Belfflair, Steven attended the ILC and was a part of the pioneer class of the dual immersion program. At Belfflower, he has become known as for his dedication to student leadership and studies in his class. Steven has accumulated a 4.2 2 gradepoint average, all while undergoing APs, the early college program, being part of the ASB cabinet, and being active in various clubs. He hopes to attend the Air Force Academy once he graduates. We appreciate Steven's dedication to his role and ability to showcase the various events
017and accomplishments of Belfflower this past year while being a board reporter. Thank you. Next, we'd like to recognize Gil Freriedman representing Mayfair High School. Gil has been part of this district since 2014, beginning his educational career at the ILC. Now, in his sophomore year, he maintains a 3.54 G gradepoint average and continues to grow as a scholar and student leader. At Mayfair, Gil serves as sophomore class president and is deeply involved in student life. He is dedicated member of ASB, Showtime, Monsoon Theater, and the unified program. He also supports the school's athletic teams as the flag football team manager. Among all his activities, Gil's favorite class is showtime. He describes it as a space where he can express his creativity, saying, "There's no better feeling than being on stage." Gil's commitment to leadership, the arts,
018and inclusivity reflects the very best of our district's values. We are proud to have him representing his peers, and we thank him for his service, spirit, and dedication. Thank you. Next, we'd like to recognize Roy from Somerset High School. Island is a kind, easygoing, and thoughtful student who has been attending Somerset since transitioning from Mayfair in September. Island has stepped up to support Somerset by serving as the student board reporter and the CTE advisor committee student representative. She enjoys CTE, including Cowap's early childhood and wood shop classes. in a wood shop. She measured, designed, and painted a new cabinet for the staff. Her work will be something that people will use and enjoy for many years. Island also participates in various campus activities. She enjoys the gardening class, has written articles for the Somerset Times,
019and serves as a mentor to other young people on campus. Ein has career aspirations in the medical field and we know that with her caring heart and quick intellect, she will achieve great success in this area. We appreciate all that she's done to support the school and are very proud to call Island Roy a Somerset Saint. Thank you. And lastly, we'd like to recognize our student board member, Ajiraa Ojo Jay. We're very proud to recognize Ajiro for her service as the student board member representative from Mayfair High School. Ajiurro has truly left a lasting impact on Mayfair school community, excelling academically while demonstrating remarkable leadership in various clubs, including her role as president of both the Red Cross and UNICEF club. With a GPA of 3.67, she has adeptly navigated rigorous AP courses and dual
020enrollment courses at Cerritos and Long Beach City. We're delighted to acknowledge her upcoming graduation with an associates of arts and psychology. Go ahead. Nice job. As she prepares to embark on her next academic adventure at the University of California, Irvine, where she will pursue a double major in biology and public health, we celebrate not just her academic achievements, but also her unwavering dedication to service and leadership. We have no doubt that she will continue to inspire those around her as she enters an exciting new chapter of her life. Thank you for the countless contributions as we wish you continued success in all your future endeavors. Congratulations. Thank you so much. That does bring a close, but we'd like to congratulate and send that out to all of our honores this evening. So, if we could
021give them one more round of applause, that would be wonderful. Thank you. And that concludes recognitions. All right, thank you so much. So, we're going to be moving on to our students spotlight. And tonight we have uh Donz Nadim from Mayfair High School. To the mic. No. Okay. But the people won't be the people won't be able to hear you that are watching the meeting. But maybe you can turn that mic this way and then she could stand in front. Does it turn like that? Is it okay? I think they can adjust the cameras, right? Tech Good evening everyone. I am honored to be here today in the presence of my peers and district representatives to impart some inspiration. As I reflect on this past school year, one word continues to stand out. Resilience. We've
022all experienced the weight of academic pressures, shifting expectations, and personal challenges. And yet we've continued to show up not just for ourselves but for each other through group efforts, shared struggles, and moments of encouragement. We've seen how powerful teamwork can be. The strength of our school schools lies in these everyday acts of support and perseverance. Together, we've built learning environments rooted in compassion, collaboration, and mutual respect. And while I may not know each of you personally, I recognize that your presence here speaks to your commitment to make our schools stronger. From my classmates, Edro O Jose, Noah Clark, who I've watched be incredible leaders, to the top of my class at Mayfair, Isel Ramirez, and Natalie Schultz, and all those around the room who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting. You've all been pillars
023of our community and our learning. I commend you all and implore you to continue to be excellent in all you do. May we all continue to lead with integrity and serve with purpose. Thank you. Thank you so much. And you were at the PTA with the skit, huh? It was so good. I'm going to talk about it in my board report. She did the best skit. Well, she was one part. There was a bunch of you guys, but it was amazing. All right, so moving on to our student representative reports. We are going to start with Belair High School and Stephen Martinez. President Sir, can I put a pause to that just one moment? We do have a student spotlight that Mr. ideas will share. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. All right. Thank you. Congratulations. It's
024the same student. No, a different student. Noah Clark, you're gonna Okay, there you go. Noah Clark. Thank you. Noah Clark. Uh, congratulations to everybody who's been recognized here tonight. And it's a p privilege to be here to speak about Noah Clark. Our student spotlight is a senior at at Mayfair High School. Noah Clark is a dynamic and driven Mayfair student where he maintains an impressive 3.9 GPA as an honors and AP student. Known for his exceptional communication and teamwork skills, Noah has a passion for helping others and contributing to his community. Since January of 2021, he has volunteered for numerous organizations, including uh the Teen Alliance program, and he's been a counselor at his church's youth group, Vacation Bible School, ensuring a fun and safe environment for all those students involved. In addition to his
025volunteer work, Noah has taken on significant leadership roles at school. As the ASB president, he successfully planned and coordinated assemblies and activities that enriched the student experiences for all of our monsoons. He also served as the captain of the varsity cheer team, guiding his peers and his teammates to achieve the school's first ever team competition CIF championship in the spring. Noah's dedication to his education and extracurricular activities has earned him several accolades, including an allciff cheer performance award and recognized as a scholar athlete in each of his four years. With this blend of compassion, professionalism, his acting, and his active listening, Noah is eager to contribute and continue making a difference in his community. this community. Noah is not able to be here tonight because he is trying out for cheer at San Diego State
026and we made a video that celebrates him. So, and he also says thank you in this quick little short story. My probably first week at Mayfair as the principal, I was approached by a group of students including IRO and Noah and uh you're the new principal, right? And I'm like, oh that's great. You guys came up and said hello. Good to talk to you. And really a great experience and it just things have grown from there. Noah and I share a common bond. We both lost our mother in the same year. And when I talked to Noah about this, as a student and from principal to student, it was a conversation about anything I can do to help you. Let's talk through it. And he's like, "No, Mr. Diaz, I think I'm good." And I
027think I'm good. But always always um a good conversation and always checking in on him because we shared that same experience in the same short period of time. But here, I want you all to hear from Noah's classmates and from him himself. Thank you. Monsoon. You have taken the worst of adversities and loss and in struggles and you have always continued to smile and be a leader in everything you do. You are proactive and you are my hero. I'm going to miss you, man. Congrats. He's just a good well-rounded person. He's really a good friend. a good person, a good leader. He's just always there when you need him and he's always ready to help. Um, I think Noah demonstrates his leadership qualities because he's very passionate about what he does, which is a lot
028of things. And I feel like that easily influences, you know, everybody else around him to be passionate and be diligent in whatever they work towards. I met Noah my freshman year in ASB when we were at ASB camp. It was kind of like we were freshman so we weren't we weren't like included in much but Noah really made sure to include us. He really is involved in everything he can. Um he's a great cheerleader, a great ASB member and he's just a good friend to have. Everyone on campus adores him, loves him, and he's very welcoming to everyone. Noah is a really good leader. He always makes sure to take charge when we're doing anything in ASB. Even outside of ASB, he knows what to do and he's always on task when we're in school
029and during announcements, he always makes sure to lead us, too. Um, every moment with Noah is a funny moment. He always he never fails to put a smile on my face and it's just always a fun time when he's around. Uh Noah Clark. I've had the pleasure of teaching him for the last year uh in my choir and the last three years in our school musical that he has been an an avid performer in. And Noah is one of the silliest, funniest, most hardworking, loyal, supportive, encouraging, intelligent, kind students I've had the pleasure of teaching. He has been so dedicated to everything that he has ever done. Um even amidst many of the personal trials that he has had to face. He has overcome so many obstacles to still um experience life and excel in
030it. So he's going to go off and do amazing great things and I can't wait to see what he does. Hi, I want to tell you a few things about Noah Clark. First of all, resilient. Nobody has overcome more obstacles, but secondly, with a smile on his face. You can't bring this kid down. Noah, I've enjoyed tremendously watching you grow, watching you spread joy, and more importantly, wa letting me watch you laugh. Um, you're amazing, whether it's in the theater, whether it's leading an assembly, or in a classroom. Thank you for being a monsoon. Uh, thank you so much for everyone who recognized me today. I am so sorry that I am um not able to make it as I'm currently out in San Diego trying out for the SCSU cheer team as I'm committed.
031Go Aztecs. And thank you so much for all the kind words. It really means a lot to me and I'm glad I y'all allowed me to represent the school as much as I did and that y'all see me in such a positive light. So, uh besides cheer, uh at SCSU, I plan to hopefully go towards a steam major as I am going in undeclared, but I will choose my major as soon as possible. But anything around the steam major is what I've always been drawn to. And then also pursuing my acting career in the film industry as well such as like filming movies, getting more um getting more I don't know what the word is but getting more experience in that uh nature being in films creating films and helping like write them as well
032is what all I'm interested in. So well good luck Noah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Diaz. This kid, I love him, too. And it's funny because I'm on campus a lot, but you cannot underestimate his smile, his He's just infectious. I love that he's going to San Diego State. Obviously, my daughter went there, so that's awesome. And he was so good in the play. He just everything he does, I've seen him around campus. He's amazing. So, thank you for um sharing um the spotlight with him because he definitely deserves it. So, thank you so much. Okay, so now we're moving to our reports. Stephen Martinez. Good evening, Board President Steward, members of the board, interim superintendent, Miss Asavo, guests, fellow students, and award recipients. I'm S Martinez, and this is Belar
033High School's May board report. Starting off with the superintendent and Jamie Oliver event. Superintendents from throughout LA County and Jamie Oliver were able to come out to the school and center and were able to show and Belelf Unifi was able to showcase the freight farm and what it does and how it could be implemented. In addition as they were able to cook with students in the culinary room. So from what I heard that was a great experience for all the students. And you guys have a picture down there. Next is prom. Um, promo was held in Long Beach at the Ovation Center. It was Casablanca themed, so more wood. Uh, the students loved it. They had different activities there, all the snacks, and we were on the bottom right our king. Um, next we have
034decision day. So, our seniors had their decision day last Friday on May 1st. Um, students committed to schools such as UCLA, Cerritos, Irvine, Long Beach. Um, a lot of them just it was like their first public um, appearance of what school they're going to go to and kind of where they're going to lean in the future. And congratulations to all of them, especially class 25. Next, Foalicious. Foicious was our spring school dance. Um, all the kids that went there had a lot of fun. They were able to play in the foam and just be with their friends and have a great experience. Next, we had appreciation. Um, we had appreciation for uh, first off, we had sorry National Principal Day for Mr. Lungren. We really wanted to thank him for everything that he does. So
035students and staff um wrote little notes just appreciating him as well as lunch days. Um we wanted to thank everybody that works in the cafeteria and helps make the food and just for everything they do for us as well as it's currently teacher appreciation week. So we currently have a week of just different things that we're doing for them. Um we already gave them tacos, Starbucks. So as well as tomorrow we're going to have a little event. And yeah, we just really want to thank everybody for everything they do for us. Next, we have our seniors. As the school year wraps up, our seniors are ending with about four weeks left. In two weeks, they'll have their finals and then slowly grad night, legacy day, and all these other events. And then they'll close off
036with the graduation. Next, we have Castle. I didn't talk about this last year, but since um ASB got the the OPA award or outstanding leadership program award, um I just kind of want to talk about this. It was really a great experience. We get a network talk with other schools. And I was personally able to present um one of our our school's um activities and just kind of highlight what we do at Belfflower. And I think it's a really great experience. Hopefully, we'll be going back next year as well as taking Mayfair students with us so they can experience this other events. Um, our eighth graders are closing up their eighth their middle school years as well. Um, they're going to having their finals, their junior grad trip, and then their promotion ceremony as well
037as tonight from today to Saturday, our theater will be hosting Radium Girls. Um, thank you. I truly want to thank you all for just opportunity to be here and present. Um, sadly, this is my last one for the 242 school season. I'll be handing off to a new group next year. I just want to thank Miss Hovus, Mr. Lungren, and Mr. Rooks for everything that they've done and just allowing me to do this. And thank you all. Thank you so much, Stephen. And I can't wait till you get to be our alumni. I'm going to be an alumni with you. So, thank you for your everything that you've done here with the reports. All right, moving on to Mayfair. Uh, Mr. Go Freeman. Thank you. Good evening, President Stewart, interim superintendent Miss Oavdo, board members,
038and district colleagues. Uh here is a picture of our Chick Peterson game, which is our game, seniors versus staff. Unfortunately, the staff did win, but it was like one point, so it doesn't really count truly. And you know, but it was a great game, so I hope you guys got to come out and see that. Moving on, it is teacher appreciation week. So, we want to thank all of our teachers and our staff for all the work that they do. None of this would be possible without them. So, truly, thank you to all of the teachers on campus. For academics, on the right, you can see a picture of the Pan-American Scholarship. Each of those students submitted an essay, and they were all awarded that scholarship, and they all greatly deserve it. AP exams are
039this week and next week. So, good luck to all of the testers. And here are some awards and celebrations coming up, including the determined achiever awards ceremony in the Steam building, senior awards night in the gym, grad night at Disneyland, eighth grade awards night, the senior farewell assembly, and senior breakfast. June 14th is the promotion for the eighth graders or June 4th, sorry, is the promotion for the eighth graders in the gym. And June 5th at 7 PM graduation will be in the Ron Yuri Stadium. For athletics, we want to congratulate all of our teams who qualified for CIF, including baseball, who are the league champions, boys tennis, beach volleyball, track and field, and swim. We also had our signing days. Here are some pictures of the highlights. Congratulations to all of the students. It
040was a great athletic year. Huge congrats to all of the athletes this year. For the arts, culinary arts, they got a demonstration from Jamie Oliver at Belfflair High School. This Saturday, if you're not too busy, at the Pan-American Festival, choir will be performing at around 11:00 a.m. So, come out with your family. May 15th is the spring band concert in the gym at 6:30 p.m. May 18th is the color guard performance in the afternoon, also in the gym. The spring vocal show is coming up on May 20th in the Bellflower Civic Center at 700 p.m. It's a great show. Come out if you can and come see Art Academy showcase all of their art in the steam building. It's a great celebration and all of those kids are very talented. All right, middle school. They
041have a couple things coming up, including their Washington DC field trip next week. It's a great trip. Promotion practice is coming up, as well as the eighth grade movie night where they're going to be showing Lilo and Stitch. For high school, prom is this Saturday, so get ready. Seniors, uh, Cerritos perform, it's at the Critos Performing Arts Center. Grad Night is coming up at Disneyland. The senior Catalina trip is coming up. Senior farewell assembly, the senior breakfast, and graduation rehearsal. So, lots of senior events. Good luck to all of the seniors. It's going to be a busy pretty pretty busy couple weeks, but you know, it's time. So, congratulations to all the seniors. Uh, and I want to thank you all for allowing me to report on behalf of Mayfair High School. It's been an
042honor. So, thank you. Thank you so much. And I also want to say I love your presentations. I don't know who's helping you with them or if you're doing them on your own, but they're really cool to look at all the pictures and the different fonts and all the things that you guys do. So, I really love that too. All right. From Somerset, we have Island Roy. Good evening, President Stewart, member of the board, superintendent as guests. My name is E Roy. I'm a junior at Somerset High School. Thank you for the opportunity to share the latest activities with you at Somerset tonight. Yesterday, students taking science at Somerset High School participated in a Crystal Cove citizen um citizen science journey. They explored and protected areas of the ocean where they test they ran tests
043on the HH and the saltiness levels of the water. used grows to absorb underwater animals and view sea lions and saw sea lions resting on the buoys. They learned to pro they learn protect they learned about protecting the ocean as a natural cause as we all need to live. Two local community members, Jennifer C and from Mama Osa and California state lobbyist Ariel P came to Somerset last week to talk to to talk with students about how they can use their how they can use their art skills to make money by starting businesses and designs and fashion. This is this interactive workshop. Students learned to students learned screen painting techniques and designs had with paint and patches they got to take home and keep. Students in Somerset film production class joined the third annual Chinx
044and LinkX I mean Latin X Fume Festival on April 25th at California State University in Los Angeles, California, which was hosted by the College of Ethnic Studies. The event celebrated Latin telling stories through film, music, and other creative media. Students got to learn about Students got to learn how to play the ukulele, watch culture dancers, and learn about the profession the professional films are made. How the professional films are made. Somerset junior Somerset senior Jazelle Navaro was selected as an outstanding student for the cat lab's urban farming science class last week. She was excited to meet the c celebrity chef Jamie Jamie Oliver at Belfflower High School. As a part of her as a part of her participation in this program, she'll be recognized at the cat labs art event. Dr. J, Mr. Johnson, Miss
045Adams, and Mrs. Eaggan attended the CCE A conference in San Diego where they learned new strategies for helping out for helping to support students. We are excited to start We we are excited to start our new program for students in the future. While there, Miss Egan was recognized as teacher of the year and Dr. Smith joined the team on Saturday at the gala dinner where Somerset was recognized as a model's goal. Um we have a lot going on in May. The the spring awards are at the bellflower Bristol Center on Cal on on Wednesday the 14th. The seniors are going to Disneyland to enjoy an engaging storytelling event on May 21st. All set students are invited to attend a leadership day in the at the LA County Fair on May 22nd. Students and film class
046will be showcasing the films that they made this year at the King Keyston on the on the May 20 on May 27th. and we are looking forward to watch our watch our seniors watch our seniors class graduate on June 3rd at the Ron Stadium at Belle High School. Last but not least, we want to thank all Somerset teachers for being kind and supportive and student centered. We appreciate you and thank you so much. Have a good evening. Thank you so much. You can probably repeat this back to me, but we know you have family obligations and Okay, there it goes. And academics and things that you guys probably need to get to. So, you can leave if you'd like to. Thank you. What happened to the mics? Congrats again, you guys. All right, moving on
047to employee representative reports. Tonight we do not have reports from CSCA, but we do have a report from BTA. If we could welcome BTA President Carrie McDaniel 19 days, Carrie, that's what I hear. All right. Good evening, Board President Stewart, interimm superintendent, Asavdo, board members, cabinet members, CSA colleagues, PTSA partners, and guests. Happy teacher appreciation week to all my teachers in attendance and online. And to you, Miss Stewart, Miss Garza, and Miss Armstrong. Being a teacher is a calling, and our students need good teachers more than ever. This week has been busy, full of celebrations for our teachers. Uh PTSA has been busy at all the sites putting together lunchons and making teachers feel special. Thank you to PC PTSA for all that you do for our students and staff and teachers. Last night, BTA
048hosted a day of the teacher celebration at Lucille's and Critos. It was well attended by teachers from across the district and the barbecue food was really good. Members enjoyed the casual atmosphere and got to sit and chat with their colleagues. Um, I would like to bring your attention to major action item 12.2 and hope that you vote to ratify the agreement. Uh BTA members look forward to providing feedback on the professional development days for next year. Um I got involved with BTA because I had an older teacher say to me, "If the younger teachers don't get involved when the older teachers retire, who takes over? Being involved in a union is not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of time and effort." And there are a few things that I would like
049to say that I appreciate the district and the board for this year. making sure BTAA and CSSEA have been involved in all the appropriate committees and being available to take my calls and answer my questions. While I know this year has had some bumps, and bumps come in all sizes, I believe we're heading in the right direction. And even though we're on a search for another superintendent, I trust that the board will listen to the community and stakeholders feedback and that they will make the best possible decision for BSD. Thank you and have a good night. Thank you, Carrie. We do not have PTA communications tonight. Um, superintendent report. Mrs. Oavdo. Yes. Good evening everyone. I would like to congratulate our teachers for the National Teacher Appreciation Week. And next week on Wednesday, May 14th,
050we celebrate the California Day of the Teacher. So, lots of celebrations. I'd also like to thank the members of our PTA. They hosted a wonderful historian dinner this past Tuesday night. and I look forward to the PTA HSA awards night tomorrow night. So busy week for them. I would like to provide our community a brief update on a couple of topics. Our schools have contract are contracted with factor parent engagement education to provide our families support in navigating their children's social, emotional, physical, and academic development. And I'm happy to report at this time that a few of our schools have completed the fiveweek session so far this year. Most recently, Belfar High School had 81 parents graduate from the program, which is outstanding. So, I love that and I'm I'm loving hearing that our parents
051are getting it more involved with their schools. On another positive note, I have an update regarding Mayfair High School's field project. Our PIO, Esmeralda Cisneros, in communication with district and city staff, have developed a website landing page for the project so that everyone in the community can see updates along the way. Um after selecting um oh I'm sorry actually if you go to um our district's web page and select our district after you select our district you will see Mayfair sports fields. Once you click on that you're going to see a drone video of what the current fields look like. You're going to see an overview of the project. You're going to see some FAQs and an email that you can submit questions or concerns to to have staff respond to that in a timely
052manner. Finally, tonight, I would like to thank our elementary student staff and parents for their patience this year with our elementary playground remodels. We are happy to announce that we are down to our final few elementary schools having their installation. So, we are on track to have this project completed by June 30th. So, I'm happy to report that to everyone. We're grateful for everyone's support in this effort, knowing that um we're providing our students up updated, engaging equipment for many years to come. So, this concludes my report for this evening. I thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Those are amazing updates. Really glad to hear. Um committee updates. Honestly, we have not had that many committees. We have a lot of committee dates coming up. So we will get you guys more
053information in our next meeting on that. All right. So moving on to public comments. We do have one public comment tonight. While the meetings of the governing board are not public meeting are not public meetings, they are open to the public. Individual speakers will be allowed three minutes to address the board on each agenda or non-aggenda item. The board will limit the total time for public input on each item to 21 minutes as per board bylaw 9322.2. Um may we please have Flora Curio. Thank you so much for being here. We appreciate your input. You just got to push that little button. Thank you so much. Okay. Hello everyone. My name is Flora Rio, mother to Sophia Cario, who currently attends Washington Elementary. I wanted to share that I'm very concerned about this change, especially
054for my daughter who's in the special education program and struggles significantly with transitions. Changes in environment can be extremely challenging for her both emotionally and academically. And I'm also very worried about her safety and for her sport needs that should be met. My daughter is very My daughter's in the moderate to severe special education classes. And as a parent, my concerns about her safety at Ernie Pile, particularly during drop off and pickup along Woodruff area seem a bit chaotic and potentially dangerous for students who need that extra support and supervision due to due to them aloping. I'm also really concerned about the lack of mild to moderate to severe classes at either Ernie Pile or Woodruff. My daughter has been making progress and we were hoping to start mainstreaming her next year. Without the access
055to those classes, I worry that her growth will be stalled and that she'll miss out on important opportunities for inclusion. I really do hope that the district can reconsider or at least provide some more information about how these challenges will be addressed. I press it. You can leave it. Are you finished? Yes, I'm I'm done. Thank you so much. Um, Superintendent Oavdo, can we get an update on just some of the questions that we've been getting in regarding to speds, just the safety concerns and things like that? If you could put that on our Friday memo for us, please. We can provide you some updated information. Yes. Thank you so much. All right. Um we do not have public hearings tonight. So we're moving on to major action and we're going to start with 12.1
056approval of resolution of the board of education um authorizing the issuance and sale of its 2025 general obligation refunding bonds. So we have a presentation. We do. I'm going to have Dr. Smith introduce our guests. Thank you very much, Mrs. Azedo. Good evening, Board President Stewart, members of the board. Uh tonight we have our district's financial advisor, Mark Ferrell from Dell Scott and Company, as well as our district bond council from Danis Wall and Kelly uh Meredith Johnson. Um Mr. Frell will take the board through a short presentation to um illustrate the purpose of the resolution and the related paperwork this evening, which is essentially to refinance a series of bonds that shall that will bring uh a significant savings to the taxpayers overtime. So, at this point, I'd like to turn it turn it
057over to Mr. Frell. Thank you. Thank you. Uh good evening, trustees, Superintendent Oavdo, staff, and community members. A pleasure to be back in front of you. Um, so yes, we're talking about potentially refinancing uh the second series, the series B uh from measure BB that was issued back in 2015. Uh, so this is very similar to uh the refinancing that the district undertook in uh 2023 uh that refinanced the series A bonds. Kind of as a recap and a reminder. So, when we uh refinance bonds, uh we're replacing older bonds that have a higher interest rate with bonds that now have a lower interest rate. Uh the refinancing will not increase the term of the bonds. So, we're not extending the payments at all. Uh there's no impact to the general fund. Uh the cost
058for refinancing the bonds is paid for out of uh the refinancing bond proceeds. Uh the financing costs are also contingent upon the financing being completed. And then all of the savings, the lower uh annual uh bond payments are passed on to taxpayers through lower uh property tax payments. Uh I wish I could say the interest rate markets have been cooperating with us and been favorable. Um, this chart shows an index of kind of a the 10-year municipal bond index theoretically where aa rated uh bond uh would have its interest rates and things were looking really good kind of end of February, beginning of March when we were starting to put all of this information together. And then uh we get to April and the tariff announcement on April 2nd and you can see kind of
059the reaction that the market had. A little drop in rates one day and then rapid increase in interest rates uh the next and kind of very volatile period for about a week. Things have settled down u but interest rates are quite a bit higher than they were uh leading you know in kind of the the February March time frame. which kind of puts us, you know, where are we today uh with the refinancing and what's our strategy going forward. So, uh the series B bonds, there's about $38.3 million of bonds eligible to be refinanced. The average rate on those old bonds is 4.06%. Right now, the average rate on the new bonds would only be 3.89%. we get down to the yellow kind of that savings $532,000 in savings to the taxpayers over uh you
060know the next you know 18 to 20 years and on a present value basis what we do kind of to decide okay is this a good time to refinance bonds not a good time to refinance bonds we take that $532,000 and turn it into okay in today's dollars what does that equate to and we divide it by the principal amount they're refunding we're just under 1% uh kind of industry standard says you don't do a refinancing under 3% present value savings. Uh we take a little bit even more conservative view. There's still quite a few years of payments for your district's bonds. So we wouldn't actually recommend moving forward unless that PV savings gets to 5%. And that's what we've uh built into the resolution. So the resolution authorizes the refinancing to happen but only
061when interest rates drop, if interest rates drop, and get us back down to that 5% present value savings. So, what we'll do is we'll kind of get ready. So, uh put together an RFP to select an underwriter. That's the investment bank that actually sells the bonds out to investors. And then we'll just uh work with them and monitor the market. We'll watch interest rates, and when things start to move in our favor, we'll start kind of ramping back up and getting the financing ready to go to market. But we won't We won't do anything until we are much much closer uh to that 5% threshold. Again, we don't want to do anything that would incur any cost for the district. So, just kind of waiting until uh the market gets back to a point where
062it would be advantageous for the district to move. And because you can kind of see from that chart how quickly interest rates can move, we also want to at least bring this to the board uh for the option for you to approve the resolution. That way we could potentially move very quickly if something happens and interest rates kind of recorrect downwards. So happy to answer any questions. Colleagues, any questions? Member Armstrong, I just have one question. Um, upon approving this, um, how often will you update us on the movement of the, uh, interest rates? Sure. Um, I mean, we'll be watching the market kind of on a daily and weekly basis because we constantly have uh financings in the market and we can reach out to the district as often as you want to hear
063from me with uh with with the updates. Um, but certainly um every few weeks we'll kind of give an update um and probably get a little bit more frequent with the updates as we start getting closer. So, if we're kind of still in this, you know, really We need rates to come down a good half a percent. You know, probably be a little less frequent communication, but as we start seeing the market move toward in our favor, we'll get more frequent communications. Thank you. That's all. Vice President Garza. Thank you, Madam President. Um my question revolves around the timeline that we would have this resolution in action up until when are you able to move on it? And like for for example if you say maybe a year after that year do we have to
064restart the clock and redo all this process? What does that look like? There's kind of a technical answer and there's a realistic answer. So technically once you give your approval the refunding could happen at any time but realistically if we got we would be checking in with your administration and if it got too far away from approval we would probably bring it back to you so that you could re reauthorize it and and provide your consent to move forward again if the time if it felt like it had gotten stale. um that time period might be six months, nine months. If we got I think that if we got to January of 2026, we would come back and ask you again to give us your approval, your blessing to move forward. Okay. So, it's kind
065of a mutual um working together, right? Making sure that our staff could continues to be on top of it and provides probably feedback to us, right? Correct. Okay. Thank you. Um no more questions. Thank you, board member Centron. Thank you. Um, when we whenever it is that the market allows for us to refinance, um, is this a one-time thing or is this something that like if we refinance for a smaller percentage and then it dips again, are we able to refinance again on this bond or does that not work? Um, very good question. And that's also why we want to set that little higher threshold than that minimum 3%. So, uh, typically when, uh, you issue bonds, whether they're the first bonds, you know, back from when measure BB bonds were issued or now that
066we're refinancing those, there's a period of time where you're not able to refinance the bonds, that's typically 10 years. So, yes, if we were to move forward, refinance, lock in the interest rates, let's say, you know, a month from now, it's favorable, then the district wouldn't have the opportunity to do that again for 10 years. So, that's why we want to make sure that that savings threshold is The savings are really meaningful because we're using that option for the next 10 years. Thank you. I appreciate it. That was my question as well. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you so much. All right. So, can I get a motion to approve item 12.1? You have a motion. Uh, I move that we approve 12.1. Can I get a second? Second. All right. with the motion with
067Miss Armstrong and a second with Mrs. Garza. Can I have roll call, please? Student board member of Jose I. Miss Armstrong I. Miss Cron I. Mrs. Garza I. Miss Stewart I. All right. So moving on to our next major action 12.2 approval of tenative agreements between the Belf Unified School District and the Buffalo Teachers Association. Um, do we have any questions or comments? Hearing none, can I get a motion to approve item 12.2? I move to approve item 12.2, approval of tenative agreements between the Balfuri School District and the Balflur Teachers Association and public disclosure of collective bargaining agreement. Can I get a second? I second. Roll call, please. Student board member Jose I Miss Armstrong I Miss Cron I Mrs. Garza I Miss Stewart I thank you so much and congratulations to our teachers
068and item 12.3 approval of our memorandum of understanding between the Belfar Unified School District and the California School Employees Association chapter 32. Um are there any questions or comments? I appreciate everything both of you guys do, our unions, our teachers, and our employees. Um, so I move to approve. Can I get a second? Second. Roll call, please. Student board member O Jose I. Miss Armstrong, I. Miss Cron, I. Mrs. Garza, I. Miss Stewart, I. Okay. So, moving along to our consent agenda. Are there any items that anybody would like to withhold tonight? We are moving very well tonight hearing none. Can I get um a motion to approve the consent agenda? You have that motion. Can I get a second? Seconded. All right. So, Vice President Garza with the motion. Mrs. Cron with the second.
069Can I get a roll call, please? Student board member of Jose I. Miss Armstrong. I. Miss Cron. I. Mrs. Garza. I. Miss Stewart I All right, we're on to board communications. I definitely would like to say that I am thinking about our colleague, Mr. Critchfield. He had surgery this morning. We're getting really good updates. He's out. He's doing well. Um, so that's not He is not here today, so we will miss his board report, but we will start with our student board member, please. Hello, guys. Um, this is my last board meeting. Um, especially as a senior. Um, but before I talk about that, um, basically just what Gil said, um, we have our prom this Saturday and then we also have grad night coming up and our trip to Catalina and all our graduation
070practices. So, it's exciting but also very sad. Um, but with that, um, like I said, this is my last time being here. And I grew with this district from ILC to middle school, Mayfair Middle School, and now to high school. And now I'm going to UC Irvine. And I've learned so much from not only this district, but also Mayfair. And I'm going to continue thriving with um, this district in my thoughts. Thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you for doing this. This is not easy. It's a lot of time and effort. So, we really appreciate you joining us up here. Thank you so much. All right. Um do you want to start, Miss Armstrong? Thank you. Um President Stewart, um mine is going to be real quick, too. Um I um I just
071want to start off with saying thank you for all of our student board members that um participated this year. You know, your voice was very important. You know, to bring that perspective and I just hope to hear more of your leadership as you move on, you know, through college or whatever you decide to do. So I just want to thank you for your time adding that to, you know, all your school responsibilities. So, it was a a a serious undertaking and and you and you did it. So, thank you for that. Um uh I joined um our board our board uh we participated um in uh in what is called coast to coast and that's where the California schoolboard members from all over the state join together in efforts to make our voices heard uh
072loud and clear to our representatives that you know that are up there in DC making decisions. And so as a team I I thought we were ex very powerful and and we have our different talents and but together I really enjoyed spending that nearly a week together. Um so I I appreciate that. And um me I'm just being that parent. We we had prom. Belfflower had prom and I survived. So, uh, it was a lot of fun, you know, and so you're going to have a lot of fun with your I'm sure your family will, but we we had lots of lots of fun. Big party at the house. And then then then these seniors, they have this thing to where they they have to go to another place to take pictures. So, we went
073to the the Hilltop Park in Signal Hill and and and you know what? Not to say that I'm old or anything, but when I was growing up, it wasn't like that. It was just filled with dirt. But now it's beautiful. If you guys know what I'm talking about, you got to go and and so I'm just I'm just late. So, but anyway, it was beautiful. So, anyway, um prom was an exciting time. Uh and I did two years ago, I had another daughter that gradu uh graduated from Belfflower. She graduated from her program this past week also. So, I've just been busy being a parent. So uh so now I'm looking forward for her to uh purs pursuing um a job uh in in her field which is MRI. All of my children are in
074in medicine. So but I'm I'm very proud of that. So um also decision day um the seniors did decision day and I know that's exciting. They get a chance to choose what college they want to go go to and uh my daughter uh is deciding to go to a university. Uh all of my other kids went went through a trade school. So, I'm I'm going to have fun uh with with the college life again uh through my youngest daughter. So, that's it for the rest for the next few weeks. I'll be busy at work because you guys know I am a teacher also with the with the all the requirements of all the end of the year requirements. So, and uh and that's it. We have a lot of work as a board and I'm
075just you know, I'm I'm waiting day by day. So again, thank you. Thank you all for for coming out. Also, thank you. Thank you, board member Armstrong, board member Centron. Thank you. Um well, shout out to all the teachers. Um happy appreciation week. Um I for one appreciate all of you, BTA, everybody. and also my teachers that I share the dis with. Thank you so much. I know your parents appreciate you, your students appreciate you for all your hard work. Um, also shout out to all the seniors and congratulations to all the seniors that are going off and and building a future. And I know that they have great um building blocks that they got from this any school that they attended. And um I look forward to hearing about your guys's future. Um I
076know that after mine graduated last year, she's doing good things. blessed, but um also it's just it has a lot to do with the teachers that she had at Mayfair. So, thank you so much. Um I will go on and say congratulations also to our 81 bellflower parents that completed the parent engagement academy. Um thank you for those that put in all the effort and all the work to make that happen. And um I know that we got great feedback and I I I got all the pictures of the virtual graduation and I know those parents are extremely proud of themselves but also their um their efforts is not going to go unnoticed. So thank you so much for that. Um I also attended the coast to coast hosted by the California schoolboard association and
077I feel like another association in Washington DC. Um it was an eyeopener. Uh we went there and we advocated for things and the needs of our district but also in partnership with so many others. Uh there were school board members, there were superintendants, there was cabinet members. Um it was great to get to know them. I know I had an opportunity to get to know my colleagues more, the cabinet, those that attended. Um I have a new understanding and great appreciation for all the work that you guys do and how amazing you guys are as individuals, but what you bring to our district. Um really really appreciate all of you and all of your work. Um let's see. And yeah, we're ramping up for graduations. This is my first rodeo, so um I was told
078to buckle up and I look forward to it. Um and I've been under the weather since I got back from Washington, so I haven't been able to attend because I'm not trying to get anybody sick. Um but I look forward to uh going to all the award um assemblies. I know. I look forward to that. when my daughter was um in in high school. And so I look forward to it this year and the graduations. Um and that's all I have for tonight. Thank you, board member. Vice President Garza. Thank you, Madam President. Um I was able to attend the um very honored to attend the CSEA member recognition banquet um which was I I was invited to be keynote speaker for um wonderful event. So happy to be there representing excuse me um BL
079Unified School District. And then um I was also able to um see oh I'm sorry I will be able to next what is it tomorrow we will be having a PTA honorary service awards which I'm looking forward to attending as well with uh President Stewart and um I just want to say thank you so much um appreciate all teachers who are you know working every day really hard for their students. um you really do um embody, you know, all of our teachers here in our district embody that um we place our students first. I've seen it um in our classrooms. I walk into your classrooms and our kids are engaged and our kids are happy and um as long as they're happy and engaged, then we are doing a great service to our community. So,
080thank you very much for working so hard for them and um also for our district itself. See, and I look forward to um being able to go to the upcoming award ceremonies and also the very soon to be here right around the corner the graduations and promotions. I believe that is it. Oh, yes. And uh congratulations to our retirees. Um that was uh you know something that we were I'm looking forward to attending as well that night. Um and hoping that you all are going to be enjoying your your new journey. Um and not having to get up at 6:00 in the morning to your alarm clock and given you know going by bells to be able to go to the restroom. So, I'm sure all your blers will help will be very happy about
081that. I know mine is looking forward to it. But, um, just want to say thank you and have a good night. Thank you, Vice President Garc. All right. Good evening. Um, there was something that I left off of my board report last time that I wanted to highlight. I just wanted to say thank you to Mr. Dave Flestra. He oversees our bands at our elementary sites. and I I got a few emails and there have been some recent concerts at the civic center and they have been incredibly successful in entertaining for our families. Parents and staff have recognized that Mr. Fleetstra does a great job getting to know our students and building connections with them. Because of this, our students have felt empowered and not only appreciate the music, but have become more confident and
082to be able to play an instrument and perform solos. So, I got a few emails. I just wanted to say thank you so much to him and for everything he does for our students. As many of you guys know, we've talked about it. We went to the CSBA Coast to Coast Conference. Um it was also uh partnered with AXA who's our admin. And um so six of us attended, four of our board members along with Mrs. Oavdo and Mrs. Yo. And I just I learned a lot at this conference, probably more than any conference that I've been to. The focus was on special ed funding. It was on literacy reform, immigration and technology. I learned a lot and I learned that we are only funded for sped at about 13% which obviously is not enough.
083Um the encroachment on our budget is massive and we need more funding and with so many cuts coming down right now, we need to work together to protect our most vulnerable students. So I learned a lot about advocacy. I think it was really important for us to go there was over 300 other board members all from California. We um learned that advocacy is building lasting relationships that are important with key decision makers in education. It's engaging with local offices to share impactful district stories to influence the legislative priorities. You can go in and talk about these things, but when you have actual stories that have happened to your districts, it's just way more impactful. So, we learned that and we learned that fostering ongoing connections through follow-up and school visits are important to establish trust
084and collaboration. And we met with Robert Garcia. We met in his office and some people might say we always get to meet with Robert. We see Robert all the time and that's true. But what he did do is he gave us advice on what we could do next on who we could contact some legislators in um Orange County, some different people that are against some of this education cuts. And so we did gain knowledge on how to follow up and to help our own students. So I thought the conference was really important and it was really good and I look forward to going again next year. Um, yesterday we had our close session meeting looking at applications for our superintendent. Really excited to start interviewing candidates and find our next great leader. I think we
085have some amazing candidates. Tuesday I attended the PTA historian mix and tomorrow I will be attending the PTA honorary service awards. It was nice to see all the events at each school site and the support that PTA has provided. So many cool and unique opportunities for our students and families. Just a lot of cool events. They showed pictures. Each site did a presentation. So, that was awesome. I talked earlier, but five of our Mayfair students did a skit and it was epic. If you were there, if you weren't there, I have the recording and it was awesome. Um, they basically did a skit and they celebrated members from our PTSA at Mayfair High School. So, they celebrated Arley Nakagawa, the Mayfair PTSA president, Sylvia Jones, the treasure, and their leader, Miss Teresa. It was so
086original. It was so hilarious. And I'm so thankful for just such talented students in our district. It was five of the main characters from the Mean Girls play and they were so funny and amazing. So, it was a really cool skit and it was nice to just see them. I want to say um happy teacher appreciation week. I know we have we're counting down those days and we're really excited. Thank you to our teachers and for everything that you guys do. Congrats to our CSCA president Michelle Quoer and all of your words. I wish I could have been there but um really excited for you. That's awesome. And just lastly, um I just want to speak on one thing that's been kind of bothering me a little bit this week. Um I've been fielding a
087lot of calls and a lot of questions regarding our changes in our sped department. And I understand um I do support what we're doing. I think it's very important, but I also want to say that I as a district, we still need to focus on our transparency and our communication. We need to do a better job communicating. Um to hear that parents were notified before staff, before admin. and I've talked to a lot of different people. That's not how it should go. It should be that our administrators are notified to allow their staff to be notified to talk to them to answer questions and then to our parents because when our parents go to our teachers and they don't know what's going on, it's just not a good look for our district and it bothered
088me. So, what I'm taking away is that it's a learning lesson. It's a teachable moment. We need to do better. We will do better and we promise that. And if there are any questions that people still have, please reach out to us. I know there um there were a lot of questions this week that we fielded and so I just want to say that communication we have to make sure that we do a good job with that. I think people understand things but they want to um they just want you to communicate and to be able to ask questions and have those answers uh those questions answered. So I hope that next time we can when we roll things out we can do a little bit better job communicating. And um that's it for my
089um report tonight. Thank you. All right, moving on toformational items. Does the board have any questions regarding theformational items this evening? All right, hearing none. If there is no objection, this meeting is adjourned at 7:26 p.m. until the next regular board meeting. Thank you.