001Ready? Good evening everybody. Calls meeting to order. I'd like to welcome our board of education, our staff, families, and community members joining us tonight. Thank you for being here and for your continued partnership in supporting our students. At this time, we'll start the roll call. Uh Mrs. Menddees Garcia, >> present. >> Mr. Segrist, >> present. And I am here. Uh, Mrs. Rivas and, uh, I'm blanking on, >> Mrs. Kovian are absent. We're so moving on to item letter B, flag salute. Tonight, we have the honor of being led in the flag salute by one of our outstanding students, Ashley Vidal from Wilkerson School. >> Right here in the middle, Ashley. There you go. Please stand, love. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States
002of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for representing your school and the community this evening. Moving on to action item number or letter C, strategic plan. I will now turn it over to Dr. Garcia to share administrative updates. >> Thank you, Mr. Peralta. Uh this evening we have the pleasure of sharing an update with you all around uh the framing of our strategic plan. Um, and so to kick it off there, I'd like to just share I'm going to later on in the presentation, I'll talk a little about some of the events that we've taken place throughout the district. Um, the other muertos there at Dery is the picture that you see before you. And so I'll turn it
003over to priority area number one, ensure academic excellence for all. Our first slide represents uh the science of reading. Dr. Pinedto. >> Yes, good evening. Um so this year in October um AB 1454 was signed into law um requiring that um we have an evidence-based approach to teaching reading um to improve student literacy. And this will be requiring us to train all teachers in K through five um in these evidence-based methods um for teaching foundational reading skills um as literacy is a big priority for um Governor Nuome and for the state of California. And so currently we have um this week our teachers on special assignment and a cohort of our site administrators and one of our teachers um attending uh a training by Orton Gillingham in the science of reading. Um it's an intensive
004training. It's 30 hours this entire week. Um at the end they'll be certified in the science of reading. Um eventually with this new law um it will require that all of our administrator administrator credential programs um uh that that anyone receiving their ad um administrative credentials be trained in the science of reading. And so u we want all of our administrators to be prepared to um support all of our teachers in K through 5 as we roll this out. And so they're all getting trained now. the rest of our TE uh principles who are not have not been trained and our assistant principles will be trained in the spring um with the intent of having all of our K through two teachers be trained in the spring as well and then our um third through
005fifth grade teachers will be planned for next year or the year after that. Um Orton Gillingham is an evidence-based approach to teaching reading and um it emphasizes structured literacy. It's systematic, it's explicit, it's multi-ensory, and it's diagnostic, and it meets the needs of emerging readers um and um students who benefit from clear sequence instruction, including our English learners. And so, um I was I was in there today. It is very intensive, a lot of brain work going into it, but a very powerful uh training and mechanism for teaching foundational skills. >> Thank you. That takes us to our next priority area, delivering diverse experiences and opportunities that prepare students for future success. Our first slide there um back to Dr. Pedo to celebrate something that's taking place across the district. >> It's always a very
006fun time of the year. Um Real Vista attended uh science camp, our first group to go um just a couple of weeks ago. Uh they went up to um Wrightwood for for science camp and had a wonderful time. a great way to really learn outside um uh about different um um I always forget the name. Uh different biomes, different um oh gosh, what's the word? I'm always good. Ecosystems, that's the word I'm always looking for. Um and and it's not just that. It's team building. It's building self-esteem and confidence and leadership. Um, a lot of them being away from their parents for the first time, spending time overnight, their first time camping. Um, and being out in in the the great outdoors, um, LEO really does do a great job um, with this experience for
007our students. Um, and we have three schools out there this week as well, and they're expecting hopefully some snow this evening. So, we are hoping that they they have that wonderful experience as well. And um we we invite you to join us to our big sing that'll take place uh this Wednesday. Um and this will be um all of our elementary choirs and our honor choirs in seventh and eighth grade. Um who will be showcasing their wonderful talent and singing for us. Uh this will be at Dery School um in the gym at 6:00. Uh so we hope that everybody can join us there. Our third priority area is preparing students to thrive in an interconnected world. And I'll turn it over to Mr. Era who will speak to our efforts related to student culture
008and connection. >> Thank you, Dr. Garcia. As we look to uh make sure that we focus on this area, preparing students to thrive in an interconnected world, what better way to do that than to highlight some of the diverse um cultures of various classmates that are present in the Edmonton area or uh in the society. And so in the month of September, we had a lot of Hispanic Heritage Month themed meals on the menu. This past month, uh, we put a Filipino American her history month, a Heritage Month, um, inspired meal on there. And the students, you can see there, consumed a, um, beastc and rice uh, meal and wonderful opportunities that our nutrition services uh, team provides by bringing different um, diverse meals, right? Um, and menu offerings to our students. um that can
009help reinforce um the values of other cultures that perhaps they may or may not be aware of. And we hope that this continues to spark uh conversations amongst classmates and in the classrooms. Um these uh we're always striving to put culturally meaningful uh menu items on on the uh on the lunch, breakfast, and supper menu. Um and so we hope that as kids come to school and they see their heritage reflected in the food that they consume, right? um or if it's something that's different to them, it can spark some conversations um so that they grow up and they um can accomplish that initiative that we have as a school district to make sure that they can thrive in an interconnected world. >> And adding to that, I can't think of a better time just
010in history where the need for us to really celebrate diversity as a collective community is so important. And so it gives me great pleasure to see the diversity and the celebrations across the district and highlighting a couple that took place in the last few weeks. Both Potredo and Dery hosted the Los Muertos events. They were o they were um open to the entire community and it was really great to see many community members participate and be a part of these celebrations. Um it's great to see students from different cultures also partake in the celebrations and again just highlighting the need for us to come together. There's so much more in common than there are differences and El Monte City School District is definitely highlighting and celebrating that. I do want to say thank you to
011all staff that put together these wonderful events. Uh it took tremendous effort and they were just they were fantastic. But I also want to recognize the work that happens behind the scenes to make these events happen. Priority area number four, aligning leadership, staffing, and resources to student centered priorities. Back to you, Mr. Eda. >> Yes. To that end up um something exciting coming up is a bond waiver that the school board here approved back in September. It's slated to get approved by the state board of education at their board meeting in January, which will set us up to have our first bond issuance sale out of measure me. A reminder, measure me passed by the voters in NDmon back in November of 2024. $ 105 million of of bond funds that we can use for
012facility improvements and we hope to have the first bond sale in the springtime of 2026. We're estimating about $35 million or so of funding that we will access of the $105 million and every few years we'll access another $35 million or so. back in 2022. Uh we were planning at the time to uh issue some bond funds from prior bonds that we had passed and also um line that up with the refinancing opportunity. Uh we had to take the refinancing opportunity um off of that sale because the Russia Ukraine conflict kicked off and the bond markets were very volatile and the savings didn't materialize. Uh we're happy to share that currently. Um if things hold uh when we come to market in a few months and do our first bond issuance in the bond sale
013of measure ME funds, we can refinance and restructure past voter approved debt. And it's looking as if uh we'll be able to refinance about $25 million of past voter approved debt, which would generate about $2.2 million for the taxpayers and savings, which is about a savings of 8.3% in present value dollars. Uh and if the trend continues and interest rates continue to decline as we've seen over the past uh few months or so, the savings may increase. Right? So um we will bring information back to the board in early 2026 once we finalize the uh the bond sale and the refinancing opportunity and uh we receive the final approval from the state board of education at their board meeting uh in January. >> Well, good evening. uh as we do every year, we like to
014bring uh bring um our enrollment and our class size averages to you just um to review. And so uh for our 25 and 26 school year, we'll start with TK. Uh knowing that TK um usually 20 max is what we would like to see in a perfect world. Um and that's because of the two the 10 to one um state requirement. So 10 uh one adult for every 10 students. Um, we can go up to 24 in a in a TK class, but that means we would have to have a third adult in there, which we do have actually at two of our sites. Um, but using, you know, a 20 as a perfect world, uh, we have a TK average this year of 18.26. Uh, moving on to kinder through third grade. Um, we
015are at a 20.68 average across our district in our kinder through third grade. California still does um have the implementation of a 24 to1 average at a school site. And how that works is um the number of students that based on the number of classes um at each site um should not exceed a 24 to one average. And so we're well below that across the district. Uh looking at our fourth through sixth grade, while there is no state average, we always like to kind of take a look and see what where we are at in terms of our averaging. Um and currently for fourth through sixth grade, we're at 24.18 average across the district. Um, we do have class maximums of 30, so we're not to exceed 30. Um, and then just of note, 65
016of our 99 general education classes are currently enrolled at 25 students or less. Um, so we do have, um, you know, quite a few classes that are 27, 28, 29, and maxed at 30. Um, but because of some of our lower classes across the district, um, you know, brings our average to 24.18. And then just looking at our seventh and eighth grade um average uh it's at 24.24 again a 30 max in all of our classes except for music and physical education where those high those numbers can be higher. Um we plan every year um with anticipation of of you know maximizing our classes obviously um but over summer um start of the year we we have a decline in enrollment. students maybe don't show up. Um, and that does skew our numbers a little
017bit. Um, and so based on that, um, we we have these averages for this year. And then as we prepare for, um, next year, uh, this current year, we're going to be offering uh, a certificated early retirement notification incentive. Uh, many districts are doing this right now as they prepare and they look at their their needs for staffing. Um and then they use that as as a cross reference to um their anticipated retirements. Um right and so for us um we know that um due to our continued decline enrollment um we will see um less positions next year. Um and along with that um we know that we have people retiring and and um sometimes they're a little hesitant to turn in their notes or their their letters and so we'd like to try to
018encourage them a little bit to to turn those in so that way it allows us to plan better for next year. Um, and so we're this year we're offering uh something a little different than we did last year. Uh, we're offering a two-tiered system where um for anyone that submits their their letter of retirement prior to December 31st, they're eligible for uh $5,000 which will pay out at the end of the school year. And then for anyone that submits um after the 31st, obviously, but before January or on or before January 31st, um it'll be a $2,000 incentive. And the idea behind that is it does allow us to prepare um in February and March just in case uh our numbers don't um match um the decline in in positions that we have. So that
019way we can look at what our options are. >> Later this evening, the board will have the opportunity to approve um uh our annual staff holiday mixer. This is an opportunity where we invite all of our um staff as well as retirees to come back and share with one another and just be in community with one another. Um and so if approved by the board this evening, we will be disseminating the invitation to uh continue with this holiday mixer. This has been a tradition that's been here in the district for over 30 years. Uh so looking forward to um the vote this evening and the ability to share uh this invitation to our staff tomorrow. And our grand finale this evening is a sharing that the Bobby Salce Sparansa uh recipient for the El Monte
020City School District this year is Miss Marita Dwenz. Marita is a teacher on special assignment and I can't think of a better person this year to celebrate highlighting all of the things that she does and in alignment to the spirit of Bobby Salceto. Mrs. Dominguez has been with the district for over 10 years and she has been instrumental in growing the success of our dual language program as a dual language teacher and now in support of the dual language programs at Dery Columbia and New Lexington. She will be celebrated on December the 11th at uh the community center at the 22nd annual Tamalada and I look forward to bringing her back at the December board meeting where we can also recognize her for this award. >> And that concludes our update this evening for the
021board. Thank you. How do I get back to the agenda? >> Thank you. Um, as we continue implementing our strategic plan, I'm grateful for the leadership and collaboration across our district that keeps student centered work at the heart of everything we do. Moving on, it's time for our board reports. >> I got you. Thanks. >> We'll start with Mrs. Mendes Garcia. >> Thank you. So, oh, thank you so much. Good evening, everyone. Yeah, I would just like to share I know all of us attended the Dortata School um opening of the early head start program and then I also attended the Dery de los Muertos event. And in reflecting with those two events, what I really noticed is the need and also our desire for our parents to connect, right? To connect with other parents,
022to have spaces for their children to go to. And of course, I'm going to bring up as a new mom, I've been attending on the outside um fellow mom groups that are getting together and they're actually use utilizing the Rio Vista Park, right, to get together. And it's moms mainly from um El Monte, but also the surrounding communities who are willing to drive to El Monte to have their children interact with other children and also just to meet other moms. And I'm just so proud of the Monty City School District for making sure that we're reaching out to our parents to let them know about our programs and also hosting events like do Muertos. One of the administrators um at Dery told me because I was of course congratulating her, right? Oh, what a great
023job. She's like, "No, this is our parents. Like we're here to support." So yes, thank you to our staff because I know that you're taking time outside of your work hours to help out with these events, but again, our parents are saying, "Hey, we want to host these events. We want places that we can bring our children to so that they can connect after school and at the same time they're connecting with other parents as well. So, and I know that sever schools host these type of events and um at Dery again the administrator let me know that the parents asked can we have a family dance night. So, I just thought like wow like again um parents are really taking the initiative both within the district and outside on their own time to make
024things things happen. So again, I just want to thank our community and our staff for really taking um the time to to listen to our parents and to support them in these endeavors that they want to do. >> Mr. Sebr, >> yes. >> Yeah, I'm on now. Um yeah, I have to report something that a family in our district have children in one of our schools and the one of the members of the of the family is in high school. He wants to move out of the community. Mom and dad said no. Based on what their children are receiving in our district, they the mom says, "Uh-uh. We're staying in this district because she's aware the mom is and the dad of the other services in other communities and schools." and she said based on
025what her children are getting in our district, there's no way she's going to leave. Also, uh I attend a nativity church on Sunday at the Vietnamese mass quite often and a lot of parents are asking me when are we going to have dual immersion in Vietnamese and English and I calculated this if we could put a class together of 20 children that pays for the class and also it's a great service to the community. And again, one more thing. I encourage everyone to go online and look at Santa Ana Unified School District. Look at what they're doing in AI there. They will give you a resource that's connected to a national re site concerning how to use AI and what it pretends for you, the dangers inherited and so on. You have to be concurrent.
026Also, one family was very happy to learn about the Khan Academy. It's KH Han. It's a resource. Everything you want to learn in school from kindergarten to the university. It's free. Khan Academy. Khan. And the Spanish one is a pren.org from Mexico. State-of-the-art. And every day I noticed they're including other resources. They just added a new one on Khan Academy on AI, what it is, how to work with it, and make it part of you. Because remember, if you don't keep up with the current situation in education, you'll fall behind. And one thing also about reading, I'm so happy to see our focus on reading because years ago as a teacher when I was teaching, we were always reminded that a predictor of success in life is reading by the third grade. And our district
027is really doing well in addressing the need for children to learn how to read and carry on. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Seagris. Moving on to item letter E, items of interest. The next portion of our meeting gives us the opportunity to highlight the amazing work happening across our schools and departments, beginning with a presentation from Wilkerson. >> Thank you, Mr. Peralta. At this time, it is my pleasure to invite our two wonderful students, um, Robert and Ashley from Wilkerson, as well as Mr. Salceo, the principal from Wilkerson School to present. Are you >> going on up to the podium? Yeah. >> Yeah. Over here. Good evening, Dr. Garcia. Um, board members, I just wanted just to briefly introduce Ashley and Robert. Um, two of our our upand cominging leaders um who really stepped forward
028uh and volunteered for this uh for this honor to to represent Wilkerson School. Um Ashley um uh gave our pledge of allegiance and they're both going to uh team up and uh make this presentation uh to the school board. So who's going first? Robert. Okay. And then when you're ready, welcome to the next. >> At the heart of Wilkerson School, we are committed to three guiding principles. Learn, lead, and succeed. These are more than just words. They are the foundation of our journey together. As Wildats, we embody the spirit of resilience and determination. Together, there's nothing that we can't achieve. We will continue to support and inspire one another to reach new heights. I want I want to shine a spotlight on a fantastic gesture of generosity that truly set the tone for our Wildcats
029new school year. Our friends at T-Mobile made a remarkable contribution that we were incredibly grateful for. T-Mobile team members joined us on campus, bringing with them an abundance of school spirit and of course b back backpacks. These weren't just any backpacks. They were filled with essential back to school supplies, ensuring our wild cats had everything they needed to start the year strong. This kind of this kind of support from T Mobile uh in inifies the strength of community partnerships and the impact they can have on our student success. It's not just about have the backpacks. It's about showing our students that they have a whole team rooting for them. Let's talk about a powerful initiative that truly embodies the spirit of community and kindness at Wilkerson School. Our anti-bullying campaign. During anti-bullying spirit week, our
030Wildcats stepped up to make a difference by creating friendship bracelets. This simple gesture was more than just a craft activity. It was a way for students to connect and show support for one another. Take a stand, lend a hand is not just a slogan. >> It's a call to action. By participating, our students show that anyone can play a part in creating a supportive and inclusive environment. It's initiative like these that remind us how small acts of kindness can make a big impact. Thank you to all who participated and continue to foster a culture of respect and friendship. Wild cats complete within their grade levels to see who had the best attendance. Winning classrooms were awarded a trophy and bragging rights for the month. After achieving a schoolwide attendance goal, we rewarded them with a
031thrilling BMX show to celebrate something truly important. Our commitment to excellent attendance. Attendance isn't just about being present. It's about being part of a community that values showing up and supporting each other. Okay. I'd like to shine a light on our amazing student leadership team. These remarkable students are the heart of our school community. They don't just attend assemblies, they run them. This includes our monthly leader of the month award assembly where we celebrate students who exemplify outstanding leadership qualities. Their dedication and passion are truly inspiring and make a significant impact on our school culture. Our leaders work tirelessly to make every assembly meaningful. By acknowledging these young leaders, we foster a sense of responsibility and community that extends beyond the classroom. Let's let's talk about some exciting updates in our academics, clubs, and sports.
032First, I'm proud to share that we've achieved a significant milestone with a 13% increase in English perity. This accomplishment reflects the hard work and dedication of our students and educators. In addition to academics, we have some fantastic extracurricular activities. Conga Kids is a fun way for students to learn dance and teamwork. Plus, our sports offering offerings including cheerleading, flag football, and soccer, providing plenty of opportunities to stay active and engaged. We're thrilled to announce that coming soon, our new and returning opportunities for students to explore their passions. We have esports, the return of art club, and musical theater will be bringing Peter Pan to life in our very own cafeteria. These auditions will provide creative outlets and a chance for students to shine within. So much happening. There's truly something for everyone. Let's talk about
033something some exciting special events that brought our community together. Family Night. A wonderful opportunity for families to connect and engage in fun activities together. Next, our Children's Day parade. It's a celebration that puts a smile on everyone's faces face and showcases the joy and creativity of our students. We also had Red Ribbon Week, which is an important time for us to come together and promote a healthy drug-free lifestyle. It's a week full of learning and impactful activities. Lastly, our trick or treat event was a blast. It's a safe and fun way for children to enjoy Halloween festivities. These events and opportunities to strengthen our bonds and celebrate our community spirit. We will now end our presentation like we end every assembly and morning announcement. Wild cats will learn, lead and succeed. Go wild cats. [applause]
034>> Thank you. And now we have a presentation from transportation. >> Yes, thank you, Mr. Parata. Um, up next we have our transportation manager, Mr. Michael Tedesco, that will provide the board and the community an update on all things transportation um and how it impacts and correlates and is grounded in our strategic plan, right? And so as we get the presentation up, uh, some things to highlight that look a little different now in 2025 as it did back in 2020, right? More field trips, right? uh shorter ride times and I'll let that Mr. Michael Tedesco u provide the board and the community an update on all things transportation services um everything that's going well and some exciting plans that we have uh in place for the upcoming year as it pertains to our student transportation
035program. So with that I'll turn it over to Mr. Michael Toesco. Good evening, esteemed members of the board of education, superintendent Dr. Garcia, deputy superintendent Salabach, and assistant superintendent Mr. Herrera and Dr. Penedo and staff and our guests. Thank you for having me address transportation for Almani City School District. The the district offers the following types of service. special education routes, special education individual routes, separate from the first as we have out of district students that go to other schools outside our district. Uh general education routes, we have several of those and our study trips which includes our field trips and a lot of extracurricular activities. These are all based on the merge vendors and strike that it's just our transportation vendors. We have three uh Durham school services which is primarily our buses, the
036JFK transportation, you may see those buses throughout our district. That's part of us for the Almani City School District, which includes buses and vans. And finally, ever driven transportation, which is more of a Uber style private vehicle transportation. For the following budget information, Mr. Herrera, I've invited to share regarding the district um direction in >> of course, Mr. Tisco. Um so, just a quick update on all things budget. Um, one of the things that was welcome news for school districts back in 2022 23, there was strong advocacy from a lot of um, education um, coalition groups out there, one of them being CSBA and they backed um, a a bill and were really behind the push to increase funding for hometoschool transportation. So, the funding had remained frozen since 1981, right? Um, and as a
037result, a lot of school districts scaled back their transportation program, not because it wasn't important, but because the funding just hadn't been increased over the years. So, in California, I'm interested to see what the statistics are now, a few years after this, but before this funding was introduced, less than 10% of students in California would jump on a bus, right, on daily basis going home to school and school back to home, right? So, um, what that means for us in Monte City School District, our annual budget as far as transportation costs is short of $4 million, $3.8 $8 million there. We do get funding from LCFF specific to transportation uh of about a million dollars. And so the change in law back in 2223 reimbures school districts up to 60% of their transportation costs. So
038with that added infusion, we get an extra $1.3 million of ongoing funding starting in 22 23. Every year we're required to bring a transportation plan to the board which we bring every March or April for board approval um that talks about our transportation services. And so this is added revenue and we're grateful for the funding, right? Um and we hope that in the future there's continued advocacy where we can continue to increase that 60% reimbursement to hopefully 100% reimbursement one day. Um and to talk more about all the great things that we've done with the transportation services and added funding uh in our school district, I'll turn it back to Mr. Traesco to talk about some of the programs and initiatives that we support with our buses. >> Thank you, Mr. Herrera. Um in regards
039to uh special education transportation uh these are the following things that I do in my office along with the district's behalf in terms of all things transfer transportation related for special ed data gathering. It's very important that I get from our special education office. All the data I need to route students that require the the transportation to their various schools. The routing is done by myself. We have a specialized routing software to assist me and and to make a very comprehensive and detailed routing system for our providers to execute. Um we have our I act as the leazison for Almani City School District and the translation vendors when we have challenges with the buses or maybe with the routes, maybe with the students. It's between me and I do my best to solve between the
040stakeholders of the parents, the school, the district and the vendor itself. Parent and district support very important. I do get calls, emails, texts from various parents uh specific to the services provided here at Almani City School District. We have incidents that happen on the bus. No matter how small it is, it is researched and carried out between notifying the principal, the district, myself and along with our vendor to make sure of whatever challenge that we may had on the bus uh with students, could be with the driver, could be with parents. Uh we we make that solution and we make the changes appropriate to those routes that we have for those students. Very effortless and very it's a good thing that we have to make sure that the parents are heard. So, of course, my
041big thing is it's me in my office by myself. I don't have an assistant. So, I do encourage our parents to leave a message. A lot of times, oh, you leave a voicemail, you never return my call. No, I do. I may not get to it that very hour, but during the day, I will return the call and make sure whatever is uh question, whatever is noted uh as far as a concern or a comment, um I'm there to help serve for on the district's behalf in order to render any changes that we may need to make or maybe clarify things that maybe the parent is unaware of. As far as our fiscal analytical support, that has to do with our billing and and student verification. Not only do I work with Almani City School
042District, but I do have three other districts that we kind of intertwine several kids that may go to our schools here at the district or as opposed to sharing those out of district schools. So, I am the one that reviews those detailed billing for the districts along with the student verification to make sure the bills are accurate and if there's any students that are not writing, very important that we report those to our districts to make sure that we don't get charged for them. So, if they're no longer riding for whatever reason, because we do have a lot of students sometimes they just choose they don't like the bus, they don't like the van, they rather have their parent drive them, then we make those changes and that's me that makes those things for them.
043But as you can see on the right are special ed statistics, those are the current student number we're transporting for Amount City School District. And as far as the routing, home to school, we pick up at the home, drop off to school, and in return. The ones that I mentioned about the individual routes, those are those out of district students, but a couple of them are some challenging cases where they require their own transportation in which a separate Uber style vehicle such as Everdriven provides for the district. Going to our gened transportation, we have a little bit of routes that we service for the following schools. Rio Hondo, Pero, and our Jeff Seymour Center. Again, same type of process I do with special education, but in this regard, it's for our gened students. As you
044can see on the top right, we have the current number of students that we transport with general education to those following schools. We have five routes and basically those are broken down by school as you can see to your right. And then what I'd like to tie in in order to coincide with the district strategic plan, I have followed the following strategic plan areas as noted on the on the topics. So, as you can see, the average ride time uh I have up to an hour to transport, but I try to get it within 45 minutes per ride in AM or PM. But keep in mind, those are the students that maybe have higher impacted routes where maybe they're the longest. But really, less than 30 minutes is our target to get a student to
045school and back. Um, as you can see the breakdown by schools that have the special ed routes as Rihondo being number one and but we do have a few that have one only but those are the number of students that are given to me by our special education office in terms of the schools that require the transportation and again the out of district schools which are 11 which those individual ever driven routes and then follow again I feel like I'm repeating myself in the gened routes by school three for realo one for patho and one for our Jeff Seymour center area two which is our deliver diverse experience experiences as mentioned earlier in the presentation that one that really caught our um attention was the outdoor science school. We had just started that two weeks
046ago. We had another set of number of schools today. Again, two more for Wednesday, but uh tying into our field trips, we have 39 currently, but um 18 fulfilled as of as of November 12th. Uh we have several others such as the Dery to dance center shuttle which basically has a nice system which is a mile apart, but we transport our kids that go to the dance center to uh have their after school activities there. We have several items after school such as recreational bowling, golf, soccer, Aspire program which I now know as the learn program. Uh along with sauté academy, cheer, choir, swimming, and cross country. And that's just a fraction of the type of services that the district provides that we provide transportation for. Um very exciting. We have yet to have any
047challenges where we don't have the drivers or vehicles to accommodate the district's requests. They've all been met 100%. Uh coming up soon would be their Sacramento trip for fourth graders, their eighth grade Washington DC trips. We've done those the last two years and we continue to do so at the district's request. Those have all been covered as well and we're excited that we're able to furnish that for the district. And lastly was the outdoor science school. I think I jumped the gun by seeing the presentation earlier. All schools have been represented for transportation. Uh area three preparing students to thrive in an interconnected world. And of course, this is very important when it comes to our support and ensure safe communities with our buses and vans and vehicles. Um we we have uh appropriate equipment
048to ride. So whether it's a car seat or a safety vest, harness, uh we have those that are appropriate for transportation based on our special ed requiring under their individual educational plan to have those items necessary for those students that require them. Drive cam and zonar. drive cam is that we have cameras inside the van, bus, or vehicles to show what's going on inside the vehicle. So, in case there's an issue, hey, there's something that we don't like based on what was told from the school. Could have been a fight, it could have been bad language, vandalism, uh we could check that out to the best of our ability based on that camera that's inside the vehicle. The zonar is a GPS process that we can track the buses, not in real time. That's what
049uh something that we could check how that route is established if they deviated uh off the path or not. We have an e evacuation drill which we do once a year every fall for their students in case there's an emergency how the students were to disembark from the vehicle. Um we do have those bus incident investigations when we have those challenges of any kind of issues that pertain in the bus. Uh it falls in my office. I get the incident reports. I do follow through with the school principal, special aid office or uh the district office in terms of what the challenge was, what I could do to correct it. But to the most part, we do I do track how many instance we have based on the student, based on the school uh and
050the route itself. So throughout the school year, I keep detailed records that at any time we can present ourel that oh so and so student A had these challenges, bad language, this is the third time. Uh usually the discipline comes from the school but nonetheless we do what we can on our end to assist the school the bus companies or the district as far as making accommodations whether we have to change different route for the student or an individual route or um I haven't got to suspending service yet but it hasn't got to that point yet so but it's available but I don't think that's necessary. Um what we're excited to add is to uh the real-time GPS. We have a new system called Bike Curve that is being implemented in the early stages with
051all our districts. And this way we could see the vehicle in live real time. So in case uh we want to know where that bus or vehicle is at at all times, we could see it to the second. Now previously it's right now currently it would have been maybe 10 15 seconds up to a few minutes. Not accurate. So in this case this is uh something that we'd like to release soon once it's up and running. It's still in the infant stages, but nonetheless, this is something that we'd like to have tracked in real time. And then finally, the ability to communicate with staff and parents in real time. That is another aspect of that bite curve system. >> Mr. Tedesco, if you can go back, I think we may have overlooked a slide. >>
052Oh, sure. >> Um, just so that the board and the members in the audience, the slide before that, um, are aware of the, um, uh, number of field trips. >> Oh, I must have missed I'm so thank you, Mr. Hera, for seeing that. I do want the board to know that we do provide more than uh 39 field trips. That's what we have so far this year, right? So what you see there is the number of field trips that we provided in the past year, right? Um quite a big number there as you can see and that doesn't include you know a lot of these specialized afterchool type trips, right? So um our schools really coming out of COVID um it was you know Rome Mr. Tesco first started I think we had zero field
053trips and then they started coming and they started coming and they started coming. So I think this past year was a a normal year and that's I think what we can expect every year about 350 field trips. So you can see the breakdown there. Uh we talk about delivering diverse experiences. The learning just doesn't happen on campus, right? It happens on study trips, right? So that's something that Mr. Toedesco uh supports all the schools with, right? And we're happy to support that. Many of our kids don't jump on the bus on a daily basis, right? But with 350 field trips, I can tell you that all students in Elmont City School District have jumped out on a school bus at least, if not home to school via study trip. So, we're really happy about that
054opportunity. Maybe not our TK kids are a little too young, but they'll probably get their first field trip as they hit kinder first grade. >> Thank you, Mr. Refs. I'm sorry I missed that slide there. But uh more importantly as well, all the requests that Amani City and School District in addition to the other districts I serve, it's been met 100%. And for the couple cases we had the last two years where we couldn't have our transition providers get those buses, we've had third, we've actually a neighbor with Almani Union High School District to assist us in getting those field trips as well. So I'm very happy to report that it has been one field trip request that was been brought to my office that we haven't fulfilled. So uh again, it's been a nice
055effort for our vendors along with the students. uh smiling faces when they go on the field trip. I think nothing is uh nothing's more satisfying to see that hey these kids had a great time because u I play a small part in making it happen as far as them getting to A to B and back safely. So um thank you for that. Thank you Mr. Her again. Uh finally uh area four to align the leadership staffing and resources students as you can see earlier Mr. mentioned about our spending for transportation over the last three well two and a half years going into uh this year uh we're through 1.1 million October but the last two as you can see the uh amount that's not counting the reimbursement we get for the 60% back from the
056state as you can see the the breakdown by specialed route average over the last year 75,000 the gened route bigger bus uh over 56 to 70 passengers per bus per route which is around 97,000 a day and the field trip average by bus would be $861 $1.25. Of course, two buses, you're pretty much doubling it. Three buses, tripling it. Uh the average per field trip or excuse me, for a special ed route is approximately six. We've had them as low as three, as high as 10. And again, our a we maximize our gened bus routes at 62. Roughly 56 to 62 for the morning routes and the PM routes. And this is our bigger ones with Real Honda and Pero. In fact, real Honda has the biggest. But there was uh 50 passengers maybe 40
057right each morning afternoon and then with our Jeff Sema route it fluctuates based on the needs of that particular arrangement. We can be right now it's currently five but it's been as high as 12. Conclusion when a parent student or staff member thinks about transportation is an extension of the classroom where the instruction flows from home to school and the classroom. Our goal and vision is ensuring safety of our students by partnering with parents and staff to effectively transport students in our community. If you have any questions, uh, by all means. Thank you. Do anybody have any questions for the staff member? >> No, it's a great job. Great presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Seagris. >> Just a comment. I'm really impressed with your presentation. I had no idea about all of these factors involved
058in transporting. Years ago, I used to be in charge of one field trip from this district down to the San Pedro. It was this is incredible. Thank you for all of this. This is great. >> Thank you, Mr. Secret. Appreciate your compliment. >> Wow. >> So, I I do have one question. Um, and I don't know who would be best at this one, but um, in what I do, one of the items that I that I have studied in the past and continue is um, uh, with our, uh, students involved in the foster care system, we've discovered that, um, trying to keep them at their school of origin is you since they're more at risk for chronic absenteeism, we're trying to keep them at their school of origin as they feel more connected. That's where
059all their friends are. And in an effort to keep them at their school of origin, we we arrange individual transportation for them from wherever their foster home is at to their school of origin. Do we have something like that for our foster youth as well or we do have something like that in place? Um also under the Mckini Mental Act, we have similar services for students that are uh experienced homelessness. Um and so usually um some of that uh reimbursement comes via reimbursement to the guardian that is transporting the child back and forth, right? But if need be uh we can set up a a mode of transportation in those situations u because we know that um the connectedness of the child given all of the uncertainty in the home or what's going on around
060them that constant connection with the school system um is something that we can be that constant right um uh beacon of hope right even though with all the craziness or the chaos that may be going on in their personal life uh outside of the school day right um that's the one consistent thing right and So, uh, we also participate in a cooperative with the LA County Office of Education. Um, and so when we have situations that come up, particular with, um, homeless or foster youth, right, the funding is prefunded and then, uh, LEGO notifies us when, um, uh, additional students get added and we can help coordinate those services. So, it's not a matter of which district is paying for, you know, the transportation services. we know there's a need and so all districts in
061LA County uh virtually all schools pay into this cooperative rights. So um it is something that that we do provide. It wasn't um indicated on there um because the home to school may look a little different if they're foster youth, but we do provide uh transportation for those students when the need arises. >> Very good. >> Thank you. >> Now we have a question. >> Of course I do. Quick question. What's the um do you have a a timeline? So, you have a student knew the district needs to be routed. Do you have like a center timeline that you tell parents like, "Hey, we're going to get your child routed in five days and 10 days." Like, what's the typical route time for that? >> Usually average is about 5 days. However, I have it
062done within one. Uh, it's really based on for a special ed student. As soon as I get the information from our special ed office, and we have a very good system with my contact there, everything is done remotely via email. uh we have a a roving um Google document so when I get the new request I can tie that student based on the school or grade uh into either existing route or if it's not a district it's within a day um gened uh same thing within a day as soon as I get it from the school it's a little bit different scenario with the gened because we have specific stops which have been approved by CHP that I don't create it's already been done and so I try do my best to tie into that
063specific student based on the residents going to that school in this case real Hondao or Pero Um, but really uh I it's very rare that it goes past one day and if it is it's because they're at a district ever driven system because I have to place the request under their what's called a portal which is uh inputting the information for them to route um as soon as an available driver accepts the uh assignment. That usually takes one to two days if a driver is available. If not then it's on a waiting list. Currently there isn't but um that would be the longest. But as far as our special ed and gened and of course this is 2025 202122 there was a little longer because we didn't have the drivers to supplement the routes that
064we created for the the district. So answer your question it's one day. >> Okay. Oh thank you. >> I think that speaks to um what you didn't read that was really exciting to see there. Children are the priority. Change is a reality. Collaboration is a strategy. Thank you Mr. Tedesco. >> Thank you Dr. Garcia. Thank you board. Thank you. And thank you to our students, staff, and leaders and teachers for sharing your work. Your commitment to excellence reflects the spirit of our community. Moving on to item F, communications. Uh we will now do uh public comments. We will now open the floor for public comment. We value your input, which supports our commitment to transparency and responsiveness. Please note that the board listens to all comments but does not provide responses this time. At this
065time, I only have one speaker card. I have uh Mr. Pedro Galindo. Please step forward. >> Good evening board members. Um I was given permission to share a comment with you from an EMEA member and highly esteemed colleague of mine. The district's pacing has become so relentless that it no longer allows teachers the space to teach with heart, creativity, or professional judgment. Lessons feel incredibly rushed, and building those relationships with students that make a classroom a community is getting harder and harder to do because there is no time in the in our day to focus on it. The small human moments that make classrooms welcoming communities which for many of our students may be the only place they feel loved and valued are being pushed aside in favor of rigid schedules and this unrelenting unrelenting
066drive forward in curriculum whether students are ready or not. The joy and artistry of teaching the very things that inspire children to love learning are being lost. Many of us feel like no matter how hard we work, it's never enough. We feel defeated, not because we don't care, but because the system no longer trusts us to do what we know is best for our students. I personally call this the Marzano effect. Marzano's education principles have created a culture in education that places the entire weight of student outcomes and achievements squarely on teacher shoulders. Parents are a child's first teacher and we all know that. We all know what a difference a parents make in children's lives when they read to them, speak with them and teach them life skills. It's unfair to both parents and
067teachers to say that only teachers matter in terms of school achievement. This is the ideology that has stripped away our agency and voice as teachers. By holding educators solely responsible for student achievement, it takes accountability entirely away from parents and students and replaces the shared partnership with blame. The result is a profession drained of its passion and a generation of teachers and students who deserve better. We feel defeated. We are tired. And although that's just one comment, I can tell you I can assure you that that's reflective of dozens of conversations I've had with teachers across the district. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Is there any written communication? >> No written communication has come forward. >> Okay. So, now we were going to move to item letter G, close session. We
068will now go into close session. In close session, we will discuss the following. Pursuant to government code 54957.6, Six, conference with labor negotiations, EMETA, CSEA 10, and CSEA 356. And we're going to do conference with legal council existing litigation pursuant to government code section 54956.9 letter A. Oh, OAH number 202506778. I'm not wearing the right glasses to be able to read this stuff. There we created. Okay. Close session. During close session, the board took action on the conference with legal counsel. Existing litigation pursuant to government code section 549 56.9 letter AH202506 and during the just concluded session the board voted to approve the settlement agreement for OAH case number 2025060778. Okay. Moving on to letter I. Okay. Approval of minutes. We will now move forward with approval of minutes from our previous meeting. Is there
069a motion to approve the meeting minutes from October 20th, 2025? >> I'll make the motion >> and I will second. So, a motion by Miss Mendes Garcia and a second by myself. Call for the vote. I >> I 30. Letter J, action and consent. Our next section is the action and consent agenda. Is there an item anybody wants to pull for separate consideration? Seeing none, is there a motion? I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. >> Is there any discussion before a vote? >> I >> Okay, we call for the vote. >> I 30. Letter K. Actions. Now move into our actions portion of the agenda. >> Mr. Peralta and uh governing board members. Um it is my pleasure to introduce the first action item for you this evening. It's a consideration of approval of
070the annual employee holiday mixer. Um every year we open up our doors to hold a holiday celebration really to recognize the value of our school district community coming together, our staff community coming together and a way of expressing gratitude and really creating space for them to connect with one another. Um, the proposed date would be on December the 11th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in this room. Um, and I ask for your consideration on this vote. >> I'll make the motion. >> I'll second it. >> Okay. Motion by Mendes Garcia, second by by Mr. Seagris. Call for the vote. >> I 30. Number two, consideration of approval of Oh, I'm writing the wrong one. That's still consent. Never mind. Scroll down. Here we go. Item number two, consideration of approval for completion of project 2020-2021
071seven and memorandum of commencement. Governing board members, this board item is related to the recently completed Cortada School early childhood education modernization project. Uh when a construction project is complete, we bring a notice of completion to the board. um so we can release a final retention payment to the contractors involved in the construction of the facilities. Obviously, the project was complete. We did a a ribbon cutting ceremony there uh last month and a few days later the kids were welcome um into the facilities for their first official day in those rooms. So, we bring this forward to the board um certifying the project as complete. The next steps would be releasing the retention payments to the contractor. >> Thank you. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion. >> Motion by Mr. Seagris, second by
072myself. Call for the vote. >> I 30. >> Okay. Section letter L, board policy updates. Our next section includes policy updates that help us maintain compliance, reflect current best practices, and support safe, effective learning environments for all students and staff. Tonight, we have before us the first reading of 21 updated board policies. Is there a motion? >> I'll make the motion. >> I'll second it. >> Motion by Mendes Garcia. Second by Mr. Seagrist. Call. Is there any discussion? >> No. >> Call. Call for the vote. >> I 30. All right. Letter M. Discussion sess session. And we now move into our discussion session where we look ahead and consider future topics that support long-term planning for our district. Miss Mendes Garcia, do you have anything? >> Um, not at this time. >> Mr. Seagris. Neither
073do I. We are at section N adjournment. Thank you all for attending and it was a wonderful evening. See you guys next month. >> Adjourned at 6:30.