001I'd like to call this meeting to order. This is the Monday, August 18th, 2025 meeting of the Elmani City School District Board of Education. We call the meeting to order at 50:03. Thank you all for being here this evening. I'll begin with a roll call. Mrs. Mrs. Cobian >> present. >> Mr. Peralta >> present. >> Mrs. Mendes Garcia is absent. Mr. Seagrist >> present. >> And Rivas present. >> For our flag salute, I would like to invite a student forward. May I have Jasmine Bonitz Ramos please join us at the podium to lead us in the flag salute. >> Good afternoon. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance in English and Spanish. Place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to
002the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated. Thank you very much. And we'll be seeing more of Jasmine a little bit later in the meeting. Um we'll move now to the cabinet reports. Dr. Garcia. >> Thank you, President Rivas and governing board members. I just want to take this opportunity to say welcome back. It's been an exciting uh time in the district as we welcome all of our students, staff, and family back and and kick off the 2526 school year. So, we have lots of updates to share with you the things that have taken place throughout the summer to get ready for the new school year as well as information regarding the start of this year and a sneak peek.
003It's been fantastic. So, I'll turn it over to Mr. who's going to kick off our cabinet reports. >> Thank you, Dr. Garcia. Um, first up, I want to provide an update to some of the uh, information that I'm sure we all became aware of over the summer. Um, school districts were a little bit in limbo with um, being pulled in many directions. Do we have funding? Do we not have funding? Right. So, over the summer, late June, early July, um, the Trump administration froze uh, six, seven billion dollars worth of funding at the federal level. Um, um, impact coming to California. Um there was obviously some opposition to that, right? Um and a billion dollars was released, right? And then the rest of the funding came flowing out to California. So some of the areas
004that were at risk of uh funding reductions were after school programs through the 21st century grant, uh English language instruction through our title funding, teacher development programs, migrant education, and adult literacy. Right? So although we don't have um adult education programs in our district, we know that the overall community uh benefited through um some of the activities of the high school district. So there would have definitely been impact there. Obviously a lot of lawsuits were um initiated. A lot of push back from a majority of states across the nation. Um so this was welcome news when the uh administration released the funding um that was set to come July 1st to the state of California and other districts across the nation. and um it allowed us to have a smooth start to the upcoming school
005year. Um and they're currently in talks for the upcoming fiscal year. The federal government runs on an October 1st through September 30th fiscal year. And so there's some uh information uh that we will bring back to the board uh once more details come about and get closer to start of that fiscal year pertaining to federal funding and the impact on a multi school district. So for now, the funding was frozen, but then it was unfrozen. So that's an update as it pertains to federal budget. Another action that happens over the summer is the state budget is signed into law, right? And so over the uh summertime, late June, early July, uh we can move on to the next slide there, Mr. Dosmotti. Uh the state budget bill was signed um and overall education did okay
006uh in comparison to uh other areas within um the state budget. Uh, one area of concern is the continued uh, manipulation of the Proposition 98 uh, funding. So, there's approximately $2 billion of funding at the state level uh, that is being underappropriated. On top of that, there's another $2 billion of funding uh, that is being deferred, right? So, you have the reintroductions of deferrals which are uh, delayed cash payments, right? And so, who bears the brunt of that? School districts do, right? when we don't get our funding right um it creates it creates strains um on our local reserves here the cola was sustained at 2.3% uh obviously we've seen much higher colas over the years as the economy is starting to slow down we're seeing colas now in the 2% and they're projecting colas
007in the 2 to 3% over the uh future years but only time will tell as we get to those years whether those colas materialize um the maneuver or the manipulation of Prop 98 uh funding manuver Ver obviously is u a little controversial and I'm sure there'll be some litigation that's initiated against the state of California. Um now on the positive side, the state recently closed out their fiscal year. They run July 1st through June 30th every year and their revenues came in a few billion dollars above what they had anticipated. So we're hopeful that the state uses that money to fully fund Prop 98 uh and to retire the deferrals that school districts are facing. So that's that's a good news. Um as we look to the rest of the economy here in California, um
008the unemployment rate is now the highest in the nation. And so that could be a variety of factors as the economy slows down, the impacts of tariffs, who knows what the immigration uh enforcement uh how that will impact the economy. So but the latest results that came out in the past few days show us at uh 5.5% unemployment. So there's some um troubling times ahead uh as it pertains to the state of California. Um, and something that were we were excited to see that stayed in the budget, um, was the one-time funding related to the student support professional development block grant. So, for Edmonton School District, it's about $2.1 million of one-time funding. The legislature had a proposal out there that would have reduced that significantly. Um, and so that was a big one for
009the governor and for schools because that funding uh, remained intact. So, there's recommended uses for the funds. it'll come through as restricted money, but the funding is fully discretionary. Um, unfortunately, there was funding that we were going to benefit from here in the Monte City School District in the area of math coaches, right? And that, uh, proposal was removed entirely from the budget. It was in the January proposal. It was in the May revise, and then June they took it out. Um, so six of our schools were projected to receive the funding. It was onetime money, but it was going to be used to help support math coaches, and it would have totaled about a million dollars, but unfortunately that that money didn't make it into the uh final budget deal. Uh, one thing that
010goes into effect this school year is a law that was signed last year, but officially goes into effect this school year, um, is the ability for schools to recoup attendance uh, during summer school, interession days, before school, and after school. So, we're excited about that initiative. Um, and we'll continue to study and see how we can maximize our our attendance revenue. As we move on to other updates, we had a busy summer with facility updates as you can see there. Um, just about every school was um, uh, impacted with a modernization of some sorts over the summer. Uh, we had bathroom modernizations at Clemenson, Cortata. Uh, we also had flooring updates at Cortata in the front office as well as at Gidley. Um, Cortata, Gidley, and Sherpser had green schoolyard projects that kicked off over
011the summer. Uh we did a second iteration of acoustical updates at the Colombia gym. Um and so it was great to see that uh in effect. We had roofing projects at four schools, New Lexington, Rio Vista, Rio Hondo, and Colombia in addition to Central Kitchen. Um and we had a lot of other exciting uh projects in play. Perto's in the process of finalizing their new kindergarten TK Head Start playground. So a lot of exciting projects. Um, and in addition to that, we had district-wide initiatives, uh, updating our HVAC units, something that we do every summer, changing out the filter, servicing them, uh, making sure that we continue progress with classroom furniture refreshes. So, continuing the momentum on that, um, and then dealing with, um, uh, trip hazards throughout the district, right? Uh, grinding down asphalt
012and concrete trip hazards that were identified. Um and then our our custodial team does a great job of beautifying our campuses along with our grounds team of making sure that all the deep cleaning activities are are in place u for a smooth start to the school year. Uh food services obviously we fed the kids over the summer and they had some exciting improvements. We also updated the central kitchen roofing through some funding that uh they received through a state budget uh I want to say a year or two ago uh kitchen infrastructure grant that we received. So, we're able to update uh the roofing at the central kitchen, uh update some sinks and floors and um and at the multiple schools there. So, we're really excited about that. And Frank, right, also um uh received
013an updated projector and screen installed in their multi-purpose room. So, lot of work um and exciting projects this summer. Lastly, in the area of nutrition, like you said, we we fed all the kids over the summer. We continue the feeding after summer school up until August 7th at Colombia. Um, however, we did notice lower turnout. Um, and so, um, it was, um, who knows the reason for that, but it's, um, the numbers were a little bit lower this year as far as turnout versus what we saw from last year. Um, and we have some schools that will be kicking off some fresh fruit and vegetable grant programs uh, next month, right? So, you see the schools listed there. And we're very excited to bring back all of our staff a few days before the school
014year started to give them professional development. Um, and they welcome back all the kids on the first day of school. and the kids definitely came back uh with hungry with with with hunger and we're we're happy to provide that first warm meal for them on the first day of school. So with that, I believe that's all the updates we have for business services. I'll turn it over to Dr. Pedal. >> Thank you, Mr. Herrera. Good evening everybody. Welcome back. Um we had a very productive summer. Um and you know, we're ready for this new school year. Um beginning with our summer enrichment program, we had almost 1400 students attend our programming. um with K through seven students attending our steam program that included um engineering is elementary um with a literacy and arts component in
015there um and students took part in different challenges including um creating bridges and parachutes and I'm not remembering one of them that they had a lot of fun with. Um we we had the same program for our our um Mandarin in uh dual language programs. Um and so that's been new over the last couple of years that we've been doing it for the dual um language programs as well. And then for our newcomers, we had the steam program as well um using GLAD strategies for them, which is a guided language acquisition design strategies. Um and so that was also um very successful over the summer. Um and that was with the partnership um from the Orange County Department of Education was here and um and had other teachers here from other districts also uh learning
016from you know uh the practices that we use. Um and then we offered advanced math 7 and integrated uh math 1 to prepare for the school year and we had dual enrollment with Pasadena City College um with a DA graphic design class um and that was over at Frank Wright School. Yes. >> And then we had our management professional development. Um you could see some pictures of people having fun there. Um our our theme was um achieving beyond limits. And so that's the outer space theme there. Um and it began with Dr. Garcia leading us into a deep dive into our strategic plan and our role in implementing the plan and and our um sorry it's a lot of feedback. implementing the plan and then ensuring the success of the plan over the next five
017years. Um and then we have this wonderful new partnership with the UCLA Center for Restorative Leadership. Uh they were here um on the second day of our PD. Um and our focus was on you know really exploring our positionalities, our identities and how our lived experiences shape the leaders that we are in schools. Um and so that was a a very um it was a wonderful day, an impactful day. Uh they will be coming back uh three more days and um during that time we're going to be exploring you know some uh confronting blind spots that we may have in our system um implicit bias that may be there. Um and then applying equity centered framework uh to our leadership practices. Um, and then on Wednesday, we had a um someone come in to work
018with our administrators on how to use artificial intelligence to streamline some of the business or busyness uh type of tasks so that they could um you know take that off of their to-do list. Um and then we went over our instructional plan for the year with Dr. Torres and then Mr. Solenach led everybody in you know supporting instruction through teacher evaluation. And then um I I believe I mentioned at the end of last year that we adopted the M-Class screener for K2. Um this screener is to it's our reading success screener and um by the end of next week all of our K2 teachers will have been um trained in this screener and we will begin um actually utilizing the tool. Um, and what what's great about this, it'll help teachers to provide targeted foundational
019literacy support for students in a timely manner. So, we're going to know, you know, very quickly students who may need that support in in very targeted um, areas so that we can be very intentional with the support that we're providing. along with that um the science of reading is something that very soon will become a mandate you know um and so we are um we are jumping on that now early um by partnering with Orton Gillingham um which um uses or supports the science of reading by um using evidence-based practices uh that emphasize how the brain learns to read. Um, so it's systematic, it's explicit, it's going to teach phmic awareness, um, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, everything that's important for those foundational reading skills that students need in, um, kindergarten through 2 grade. Um, so our
020K through 2 teachers will receive that training. It's an intensive training um, five days of training um, that they'll be receiving um, and our intervention teachers and our TOSAs and our um, principles um, will also be trained in this as well. So, we're very excited about this opportunity. >> Well, good evening. Wanted to give you updates in regards to personnel. And as we always start the school year, we're always excited about welcoming back our students um and receiving our new students. Uh but we're also, you know, excited in personnel about always welcoming back our new hires, our new uh family members to the Almani City School District. Um and so this year, um that's just a small little sampling of of our our new hires this year. Um we had a smaller uh number of
021certificated uh hires this year. We only had nine um but there are nine fantastic individuals um that are excited about uh serving our community and serving our students. Um and then we also had um you know hiring throughout the school year and so on. So we wanted to celebrate them and we have some of our uh uh community school leads that are there uh along with other various classified staff. And so, um, our hiring is pretty much year round, especially in classified, but as we prepare for the coming school year, that usually starts in June, um, as people know they're making transitions and so on. But, um, just excited about, uh, all the new faces that we're going to see, uh, on our campuses and providing some wonderful support for our students and for our
022families. And with that, I just wanted to spend a little bit of time and just kind of talk about retention. That's one thing I think in the Almani City School District as I talk about uh um our our hiring and especially some of our our more difficult and and uh harder areas to to hire for a lot of our colleagues, a lot of my colleagues, my my level likes in other districts are still talking about still trying to fill some positions here and there. Um and and that's not the case for us here in the Almani City School District and I'm very proud of that and I think there's a lot of factors that play into that. Uh so just wanted to present you with some some uh statistics in regards to retention. Um and
023so when we look at it at a national cert when we look at specifically certificated um roles such as your teachers uh nationally um there's a 92% retention rate in California that drops a little bit actually to 91.5 and here in the Almani City School District last year we were at 99.7 because we did have someone that kind of chose to to go to the private sector. Um and so that um kept us from being completely 100%. Um and so California, uh one of the things that we also note is that annually there's about 8% of certificated staff that leave their district um for another district. Um and that could be multiple reasons whether uh finding something closer to home. Uh maybe just a change uh you know locations or just maybe they just want
024to try you know a different district um and see how that works for them. But there's an 8% uh turnover rate uh within California just in in individuals that change districts. Nationally, we also see that 44% of people that go into teaching leave within the first four years. And so again, while those are high when we compare them to what we see in the Almani City School District, um I'm pretty proud of of what we do and in in the culture that we have here. Um, and so just to give you some specific facts to help support that as well, uh, we have about,00 employees and that does not count our certificated uh, I'm I apologize that does not count our substitute pool are certificated and our classified. Those are actually our employees that are
025are considered full-time or part-time but um, hired for um, roles within the district. Uh, 51% of our employees are 20 plus years in the district. um we have 24% that are between 10 and 20 years, 22% that are between 5 and 9, and only 3% with less than 5 years. So, I think that also supports um you know that that that statement that uh when people come here to Almani City School District, uh they're here for the long haul because this is home. Um, and so finally, I just wanted to um also kind of highlight some some information regarding um some survey results that help support our retention, help support that climate that we foster here. Um, and so in the past, we've we issued the staff climate survey. Um, and so for the 2324,
026because that's the most recent survey we have, um, part of the the results of the survey were agree and strongly agree uh, as to the questions. And so of those that completed our survey, both uh certificate and classified, uh 90% stated that Elmani City School District is a supportive and inviting workplace, which is incredible. Um and again supports the reason why people come here and stay here. Uh 91% said school is safe is a safe place for staff. Uh 95% of the uh stated the adults treat each other with respect. 88% uh stated strong professional relationships among staff. uh 85% stated that they believe there's trust and collegiality or you know uh within the the district and then finally 84% stated that staff are involved in the decision making. So that's just a small sampling
027but I think it's also an important um um statement and testament to to what we have here in the Almani City School District um that I can honestly say that I don't think is is everywhere. Um and again just supports why um in the previous slide you see such a high retention rate of our employees here. Um they come here and they stay here and that's one thing we're very proud and pleased to say. Thank you. And that leads us to the final portion of our updates for this evening. Um we kicked off our welcome back breakfast to all staff last Wednesday. Um it was really just a wonderful energetic morning. I know that the highlight for many is to get there early to reconnect, share summer stories. We uh always have the opportunity to
028upload pictures and share some of our summer adventures and that's always a fun uh tradition that um we've maintained. Um and then we welcomed everyone into the gym and we talked about the strategic plan. So, everybody received a copy of our updated strategic plan. Um and we're going to continue to disseminate um the strategic plan to our school community throughout the year. We want to make sure that everybody has a copy and we're in the process of translating it in multiple languages so we can make it accessible to our families. Uh but once again, just an exciting welcome back meeting with all of our staff there um ready to start the school year. And then the very next day we welcomed all of our students and in true El Monte City School District fashion there
029was just some wonderful celebrations, pompoms, music. Um we had community partners come out to be part of the the welcoming and you could just see kids excited for the new year as they were um entering all of our campuses. And I just want to take this opportunity to thank everybody for creating such a warm and welcoming environment for all of our students. What a great way to start the school year. And with that comes um our you know we're we're trying to settle figure out what our enrollment looks like for the year. Um and so we've we've exclusively we're doing a lot of all of our back to school forms through our student information system um as we take attendance uh beginning last week and this week. I just want to share with the board
030and with our school community that we're taking the time to call every individual family and I think we've reached most of them by now to understand why they're not uh why they've been absent if they've been absent um to track if there's been a change in address, a change in school. Uh we had a couple of people that started off the year a little sick and so I know they're going to be joining us and a few that are you know um out have are still out to on summer vacation and are joining us as well. Uh but for the most part, our community has reported that they they feel safe and very supported by the school district and um we're going to continue to listen to every family to understand what their needs are.
031Our approach will be to create very specific solutions to support anybody that um is not feeling safe coming to school and thus far we haven't encountered any of that. I also want to take this opportunity to highlight three of our schools were reertified as lighthouse schools. Uh Wilkerson, Rio Vista, and Dery. Uh the reertification comes from Leader andMe. As you know, Leader andMe is uh the program that we've implemented across our school district that highlights the seven habits of highly effective people and the the research that was done to really make sure that skills can be brought to the classroom. Through this program, our kids are able to set goals. They learn how to manage their time. Uh they learn how to resolve conflicts and they lead with confidence as a result of Leader &
032Me. And so we're excited that three schools have been reertified as Leader andMe schools. And as we think about the strategic plan and see the alignment, it's all there. So it's another contribution to how we're going to make sure that all of our kids are nurtured to achieve beyond limits. Lastly, I want to share that uh back to school season is in full bloom and so we do want to invite our school community to come out and join us. This is an opportunity to meet um school teachers to also meet the classified support staff that's going to be uh working alongside our school community. Uh we have quite a few back to school nights this week on Wednesday, Thursday, and then real Hondao next week. And so this is an opportunity to visit classrooms, connect
033with teachers, connect with the school resources, and really to welcome our parents back into the new school year. And that is really the end of our cabinet reports for today. If there are any questions, happy to answer them. >> Any questions from the board? >> Thank you, Cabinet, for the wonderful report. And >> oh, Mr. Seagrist, sorry. I have a question concerning the the data on staff that are here. Have we ever had people go leave and then come back? >> Yeah, we actually have that. We actually have a few people that have reached out um especially in our um sort of our our unique areas like speech and so on that are hoping that as as openings come up they might have an opportunity to come back. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other
034questions? What? Just a comment about children going back into school. My adopted grandson who went from kindergarten to first grade when his mom drove up at Dery did not want to get out of the car until he saw his friends walking by and said, "Mom, let me out of here." He runs out and takes off. So, it was wonderful. Thank you. >> Thank you. And thank you, Cabinet, for a wonderful update, showing us a great start to the new school year. It's time for board reports, Mrs. Kobe. >> Um, ne nothing really to report at this time. Just to wish everyone a good start to the school year and and definitely thank you for all of the energy that came out um as kids went back to school. So, thank you for that. >> Thank
035you, Mr. Parata. >> Likewise. Just welcome back everyone and we're happy that we're finally able to send our youngest back to school so she could spend her energy there instead of wearing us out at home. >> Mr. Seist. >> Uh, yes. I would like to comment our superintendent and staff for the welcome back to staff and I was so impressed with the fact that the emphasis was on the strategic plan. I had to go home and it reminded me of something that if you've read Alice in Wonderland when the cheshure cat is confronted with Alice and she asked him I he asked her where are you going? She said I don't know. He said well then if you don't know anywhere it'll get you there. that strategic plan tells us how to get there. There
036being success for all of our students and it was a wonderful event. I I I hope we do it again. Thank you. >> Thank you. It's time for our items of interest. First up uh is will be um introducing our migrant education program speech and and debate state competition winner. >> Thank you, President Rivas. governing board members, uh you had the opportunity to already hear a little bit from uh Jasmine as she came up and led us in the pledge of allegiance in both English and Spanish so meticulously. Uh but I do want to take this opportunity to recognize uh Jasmine for her achievements in the migrant education program speech and debate competitions. Jasmine competes in Spanish and has consistently demonstrated exceptional skill, confidence, and dedication. This year she competed at the regional level where
037her prepared speech on the topic, "Are zoos helpful or harmful to wild animals?" earned her first place in the region. Following her success, she advanced to the state competition held on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025 in Monterey, California. Her second consecutive year qualifying at this elite level. At state, Jasmine was required to present an additional prepared speech, choosing the topic, "Should schools ban junk food to promote healthy habits." Once again, she delivered her speeches entirely in Spanish and excelled, earning first place in the prepared speech category and third place in the extemporaneous speech. Oh my goodness. Jasmine represented both Almani City School District and Region 10 migrant education program in Los Angeles with grace and much much excellence. Her commitment and performance are truly a testament to the strength and talent of our students in the
038Almani City School District. Please join me in celebrating Jasmine Bonita Ramos for her outstanding achievements. I know that she's joined here by her mom and her daughter. And I also want to take this opportunity to recognize Mrs. Eliza Blancc, administrator on special assignment, who oversees our migrant education program. Please join me in recognizing Jasmine Bonitez. So Jasmine, we have a certificate that we'd like to present to you and I'm going to invite the board to join us in the front so we can take some pictures and present you with the certificate. >> Thank you again. Dr. Department of Education. I'm serious. Congratulations. [Applause] >> Congratulations and thank you for representing our district so well. Um, our second item of interest is our Tech Trek science camp student presentation. Dr. Garcia, >> President Rivas, and governing
039board members. Every year we've had the opportunity to send uh girls from our school district to Tech Trek camp and we bring them to the May board meeting to share with you. They have been selected. They go through quite an extensive process. And so this year, we thought we would invite them to come back and share a little bit about their experiences. I do want to point out a couple of things, and I'm going to let them do all of the the speaking. This is something that our district has done for many, many years. I'm actually in the process of trying to identify how far back we have sent girls to Techre, but I know that it's been over 20 years, which is really exciting. Across the nation, only 28% of women are in STEM
040or STEAM careers. And so, this is our contribution to making sure that girls have access and opportunities. And one of the things that we ask these young ladies to do is to become Steam Ambassadors. So they get to come back and really share their enthusiasm for steam and all of the potential opportunities that come with uh steam careers. And so at this point it's my pleasure to introduce the young ladies that are here that were able to participate in Tech Trek from Colombia School. Yasmin Guido and Carmen Pang [Applause] from Dery School. Constance Scato Gidley, Anukica Adijaja from Rio Hondo, Renee Ta, and from Frank Wright, Joselyn Chowo. >> Thank you so much for being here. As you can see, this is a this is a I I think just I believe we have a
041few girls that are missing that weren't able to join us, but they're going to share with us their wonderful experiences uh that they that they had over the summer with Tech Trek. Hello, my name is Yasmin Guido and I go to Columbia School. I am in eighth grade this year and I'm looking forward to talking about my STEM camp experience. I was placed in the robotics STEM class. My focus, my group focused on building robots and f and studying robot parts like LEDs and servos. The highlight for camp for me was building robots for real world problems. We had to build a robot on that tried to help with zero hunger. And we ended up making a watch that um every step every like thousand steps that you took donated money to a food shelter.
042But obviously that wouldn't work in the weird world, but it was fun to be creative about it. I especially enjoyed making new friends and meeting new people. One moment I always remember is when we got to do a challenge show on our last day of camp. Being part of this camp made me want to learn more about engineering and building robots and other things. This experience has inspired me to create consider a future in engineering because it gives you a chance to be creative. It encouraged me to keep exploring STEM in school and other and robotics. Thank you for listening and I really enjoyed my tech camp experience. [Applause] Good afternoon. My name is Carmen Pang and I attend Columbia School. I'm currently in eighth grade. I'm excited to share my experience from STEM camp.
043During camp, I was assigned to the anatomy track. My STEM focus was science and we mainly focused on the dissection of the fatal pig. My favorite part in camp was living in the dorms because we got to meet new people. One of the best experiences that I had was participating in workshops because the activities involved collaboration and communication. An example was in engineering. We built the tallest structure with spaghetti and marshmallows. An activity I enjoyed the most was the dissection. It allowed students to engage in physical activities. This camp made me more interested in anatomy because we were able to have a hands-on experience which not many students may get. After this experience, I am thinking about studying biology in the future to save lives and create cures. Camp inspired me to be more independent
044and learn new things. Now I am interested in a career as a biologist. Thank you for listening. [Applause] Hi, my name is Constance Carr and I'm from Dery School and I participated in the engineering part of STEM. My favorite experience was definitely working with together with other girls from different schools. It was cool to make friends with similar interests. It's I'm not sure I want to be an engineer, but I definitely o but it definitely opened my eyes for different possibilities and not just the jobs I already knew. I am thankful to this district and techre for giving me these opportunities for girls like me. [Applause] >> Hi, my name is Anika Jaya and I'm from Good League school. I attended the engineering portion of Tech Trek with constants and my favorite part about the
045camp was definitely the food and making new friends. Um, Tech Trek has helped me become more confident in myself and my ability and has definitely encouraged me to pursue its career in STEM. Although it might not be an engineering, I am so grateful that I got to attend Tech Trek and was this was definitely one of the highlights of my summer. Thank you. [Applause] Hello, my name is Renee Tala. I am in the 8th grade at Rio Hondo School. When I went to Techre, I was assigned to go to the University of San Diego for one week over there. My assigned core class was anatomy. My favorite part of the class was dissecting the fetal piggy. It was really awesome to see all the body parts from the inside and really hold them. My favorite
046part of the dissection was the brain was looking at the brain because it's looked so cool to see a brain in real life. I had a I had a great time at Tech Track and it I truly believe this program helped me influence my future career in interest of wanting to be a cardiac surgeon. I would like to thank Tech Track Superintendent Dr. Garcia and the board of education for making this experience possible. [Applause] Good evening. My My name is Jocelyn Chow and I represented Frank Wright at Tech Trek. My core class was physics and there I learned Newton's laws of motion and we even made liquid nitrogen ice cream. It was really tasty. By the way, one of my favorite parts of this trip was definitely the people. >> I made friends with this
047with those in my physics class and those in my dorm group. I made lasting bonds and it was really fun to spend time with them. From this experience, I have learned so much and it has really opened new career opportunities for me such as being a medical physicist. such a as a medical physicist. I could Oh my god. I help with radiation treatment and safety procedures. I would like to thank Techre, the AAW, and the board of education for giving me this chance to attend Techre. [Applause] And there you have it. Uh just a a small representation representation of the girls that represented our district in this wonderful wonderful experience. And I want to also take this opportunity to thank the board for continuously saying yes to these types of experiences and opportunities through all
048of our resource allocation. This is what truly makes a difference for kids. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you to our Tech Trek participants for coming and sharing your stories. What a treat. Well, moving on to communications. We do have some public comments. Um we have four speakers this evening. Um first up, we have uh Jennifer Santana, uh board president of Upper Division Water District. All right. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you. Thank you, board president Rivas and board members. I am Jennifer Santana. I serve as the board president representing division five of Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, also upper district. And I am also the parent of uh four kids. I reside in the district. So I either have a child who has gone through the district, is going through the district or two
049that will go through the district. So, it is a pleasure to be here tonight. Um, we're here today to provide you with a brief overview of Upper District and to share some resources available to your teachers and students as we begin the new school year. Upper Water is the regional water wholesaler for 18 cities, 26 retailers across the San Gabriel Valley. And our main responsibility is to bring imported water into the San Gabriel Valley, as well as to promote sustainable solutions for to help our communities use water efficiently. We operate as a member agency of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and are governed by a five member board. I represent Dwarti, Elmani, Baldwin Park, and Irwindale. And um we're here today mo mainly because Upper Water is committed to educating youth about water conservation
050by developing programs that increase students water knowledge through creative hands-on activities and science-based curriculum. So, now I'm going to turn this over to our water resource analyst, Katherine Vasquez, who's going to provide an overview of the education programs that we provide. And we really do hope that you uh your schools take advantage of these programs. Thank you. [Applause] >> Thank you, President Santana, and good evening, board, president, and board members. Uh, our efforts include the water education grant program where teachers can apply for up to $1,000 for K through 12th grade classroom or school projects that help students have a better understanding of water and the important role it plays in Southern California. Our application opens next Monday, August 25th. The Discovery Cube in Santa Ana offers free water education assembly presentations to K through
0517th grades classes within our service area. We also provide transportation grants to cover bus travel and museum admission costs. And this program runs all year round. Our watershed restoration program in partnership with the US Forest Service welcomes volunteers of all ages to plant trees or participate in trash cleanups in the San Gabriel Mountains. During these activities, participants learn the importance of protecting our local watershed and students may earn community service hours. Our two events will be held on Saturday, October 18th and November 8th from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Our Being Water Wise is student art contest is an annual program inviting K through 12th grade students to create artwork that delivers a water conservation message and reminds us of the importance of protecting water in our communities. This contest will reopen in late December,
052early January of 2026. And lastly, the Metropolitan Water District has created the water engineering for good program, which is an online uh STEM competition for middle school through high school students. Teams are men mentored by water industry professionals to create physical models of their engineering projects. And this will open in early fall of this year. And then before I leave, I'll provide you with some flyers about our educational programs and resources along with our business cards. So if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us and visit our website for the latest updates. Thank you. >> Thank you both of you. Um, speaker number three, we have Pedro Galindo. Good evening. I am speaking today to express my continued concern with the strategic plan. As I mentioned in my public comments
053at the last board meeting, I am disappointed that the number one concern of our EMEA members is not adequately addressed in the plan. Our members are dealing with unprecedented student behavior challenges, which often manifests in physical and verbal abuse. I also mentioned in my comments that the California school staff survey results show that school staff who report feeling safe at school is at an all-time low. And I realize given Mr. Solomon's comments. I'll have to come back with a more detailed breakdown of that data because when I speak about that data, it's over the long term. When the survey first began about 10 years ago, in addition to the physical and verbal abuse teachers face, there's another aspect of safety which I would like to bring to your attention. Psychological safety. Every year, teachers are
054under enormous pressure to have their students succeed on the end of the year state test. This pressure is further compounded by three, sometimes four administrations of the ID diagnostic test. With each administration, teachers are are told to quote look at the data to to drive instruction and to quote use data to make instructional groupings for small groupoup instruction. In most cases, teachers will have between 1/ half to three4s of their students who require intervention support. Without a coherent system for intervention, teachers are somehow expected to meet the specialized needs of students while at the same time expected to plan and prepare for tier one instruction. This set of expectations leads to psychological harm when teachers when faced with monumental challenge are unable to effectively convey their concerns to school and district leadership. As teachers prepare
055for another difficult for a year of difficult and complex challenges, I am deeply concerned with how the strategic plan will add an additional layer of top-down district assessments that will further compound the psychological pressure teachers are already under. You may find my words hyperbolic, but they are based on numerous experiences and conversations I've had with students and teachers all over the district. So, I will conclude with one humble request. I present to you a pair of Adidas Samba shoes. In my opinion, these are the world's most comfortable shoes. I was hoping to show you the pair I just ordered, but the shipping was delayed. In any case, these are the shoes I wore as a young teacher after I realized it was impossible to teach in dress shoes since I was always on my feet.
056I present these shoes as a symbol for a very simple request. I invite all of our cabinet members to walk a mile in our members shoes. Come teach a lesson for yourself. I believe all of you, except for maybe one, were teachers once. You can choose your subject. But whatever you choose to teach, let's see if you can pull off small groupoup instruction at the very end. Maybe then we can finally get to a modeicum of common understanding of what teachers are dealing with. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Galindo. And um next up we have Mary Esther Espinosa. Good evening everyone. I just wanted to take a moment to formally introduce myself. I am Mary Esther Espinosa. Esposa with an S. Um and I am the new EMETA president. Um, I've had the opportunity
057to meet with a few of you, um, socializing at our EMEA retirement dinner. Mr. Secretress, some it was a real honor for me to get to know you on a different level and your lovely wife. I wanted to share with you that I'm going to reach out to you, Miss Kobe, Mr. Peralta, Miss Rivas, and again, Mr. Seagris, and Miss Mendes Garcia when she comes back. Um, just so that you can get to know me. Um, we've done a lot of site visits and our members have um, great things to say and they also have some concerns. So, I want to be able to share them with you so that you know from the horse's mouth what is going on. I'd also like to take a moment to um, bring to your attention air conditioning,
058specifically air conditioning at Rio Hondo. There's one wing that has been a big problem for more than 10 years. According to my teachers that have been working there, Mr. Javier Ortega has done a great job since the beginning of the school year getting teachers fans, portables, things they need, and even relocation to help them teach effectively. But air conditioning not working is not okay. and 10 years of putting a band-aid on it is not okay. Please consider replacing this air conditioning. Um, not having air conditioning, especially this week when we're going to hit possibly triple digits. It's a safety issue. Um, I just would like for you to think about that. As it gets hotter and hotter later and later in the school year, we really want to take into consideration the safety of our
059students and our teachers. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you to each one of our speakers. We appreciate you taking the time and coming in and addressing the board. Uh Dr. Garcia, do we have any written communications? >> No written communication has come forward. >> Okay. Then at this time, um the board will go into close session. We will discuss uh two items. Item one, close session pursuant to government code 54957, public employee performance evaluation superintendent. And item two, conference with legal counsel, anticipated litigation, initiation of litigation pursuant to subdivision D4 of section 54956.9 one potential case. We will resume the open meeting shortly. Okay, we will resume the open meeting. It's 6:47. It's time for the Oh, I'm sorry. We were previously in closed session and no action was taken. Um, it's time for
060the approval of the minutes um for the approval of the June 23rd, 2025 board of education meeting minutes. Do I hear a motion? >> I'll make the motion. >> Motion by Mrs. Cobian. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Seconded by Mr. Paralta. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. 40. Uh for our report, we have the EMCSD Williams uniform complaint report, quarter 4. >> Hi, good evening. Um, every year districts are required to um submit a quarterly report to the Los Angeles County Office of Education uh regarding their Williams uh uniform complaint process in regard and specifically regarding complaints received. Uh so this report um is what we've already submitted to uh the Los Angeles County Office of Education to meet their reporting timelines. Um and we're
061required to share with you uh the board of education. Um, and I'm pleased to share that for the fourth quarter, uh, there were no complaints filed. >> Thank you. For our public hearing, we have the public hearing suffic sufficiency of textbook and instructional materials. Um, in compliance with education code section 60119, which requires a public hearing on the sufficiency of textbooks and instructional materials, we will now open the public hearing. This hearing provides an opportunity for the public to comment on whether each pupil in the district has sufficient textbooks and/or instructional materials in the core subject areas consistent with the requirements of the Williams legislation. At this time, is there anyone who wishes to address the board regarding the sufficiency of textbooks and instructional materials? Seeing no one approach, let the record reflect that a
062public hearing was held pursuant to education code section 60119 regarding the sufficiency of pupil textbooks and instructional materials for the 202526 school year. Hearing no further comments, the public hearing is now closed. Uh we'll move on to the consent items. Is there an item that a board member would like to pull for separate consideration? >> Okay. Then do I hear a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion to approve. >> Motion made by Mr. Peralta. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Seconded by Mrs. Kobon. Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. 40 items. Item one, consideration of approval to declare the futility of bidding for work and approving that work. Resolution number 252604. Uh, board president Rivas, members of the governing board, before you is a resolution
063related to our green schoolyard um project that we've initiated. We were awarded a $6 million grant from CalFire to implement green schoolyards at three of our schools, Cortata School, Sherpser, and Gidley. Uh we applied for the grant back in 2022. Uh we received funding notification. Actually, initially we were told we weren't funded, right? Um and then we were subsequently told that we were funded. Um and we received notice sometime in the 2024 year. We kicked off the design to commence the next steps on the pro uh on the project. As what typically happens with grants, right, we pursue grant opportunities, right? We have concept plans. um you hear many years later whether you were awarded right and obviously the cost of you know um these projects or these concepts that you have in place right
064goes up. As we kicked off the design process we went through a design um builder procurement um uh process where we engage an architect and the contractor to work together. So, as the designs are being developed, they're working uh with the contractor to make sure that they're designing something that fits within the budget. Um, now this presented itself as an opportunity to look at the three schools because we're kicking off the work to look at the scope of work that was initiated there. So, this resolution allows us to increase the contract with the contractor from $6 million up to $7.5 million. And the main reason for that is a change in the scope of work. In the green schoolyard grant that we were awarded, there were certain actions um that weren't in the initial concept
065plans. However, they are in our facility master plan. For example, adding shade structures or shade outdoor shade uh shelters at Gitly School and Cortado School. Uh modernizing the playgrounds at all three of the schools. Right. So when we take that into account um and updating the um the irrigation system um at Cortata school as well also the update of of the asphalt um the scope of work at Cortata was uh much more than anticipated at the other two schools given the condition of that campus. Um the cost the scope of work has increased. These are things that the district thought it was in the best interest to uh include in the project because we were already there kicking off the project that makes sense. um to leverage the grant funds and bond funds jointly, right?
066Uh to accomplish the work being done. Uh so with that, given the timeline of the project of completion of March of 2026, um and the other um added scope of work related to the green schoolyard implementation, uh we're bringing the resolution forward. We work with our legal council um and they presented us with this opportunity to proceed with the work with our design team and our contractors uh given that there's no benefit to go out to bid again given the short tumbling that we have. Um so the main reason for this resolution uh is related to the added scope of work which the district initiated. Sometimes you see contract change orders because um the contractor initiates it. This is one where as the owner the district initiated the scope of work to expand and obviously
067as you expand the scope of work because now we want playgrounds to be modernized uh at these three campuses. We want shade shelters um lunch shelters added at two of the campuses that don't currently have them. Um it increased obviously the cost related to that work. Right. So um that's the resolution presented before you and um most of the work has kicked off at Cortata this summer. some of the work at Gilly and Sherpser and over the next 9 to 12 months we should wrap up the green schoolyard project and leveraging these funds to not only accomplish that but some of the projects that were identified in our master plan. >> Thank you. It's really exciting and so neat to see the um the maps um in that board item. So, thank you. The plans
068uh do I hear a motion to approve item one? >> I'll make the motion. >> Motion made by Mrs. Kobian. Is there a second? I'll second. >> Seconded by Mr. Peralta. Any discussion? >> Okay. All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries 40. Item two, consideration of approval to adopt resolution 252601, celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 to October 15th, 2025. >> Yes, President Rivas and governing board. for your consideration. This evening is a resolution commemorating National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is observed September 15th to October 15th every year. This month provides an opportunity to honor the contributions, rich cultural traditions, and significant achievements of Latino Americans throughout our history. With over three million Latino students in California, our schools reflect the vibrant diversity that strengthens our communities, enriches enriches our educational environments, and
069inspires future generations. >> Thank you. Do I hear a motion to approve item two? >> I'll make the motion. >> Motion made by Mrs. Kobon. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Seconded by Mr. Peralta. Any discussion? >> All those in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. 40. Item three, consideration to approve to adopt resolution 252603, sufficiency of textbooks and instructional materials for the 202526 fiscal year. >> Yes. For your consideration, this evening is a resolution affirming that the Almani City School District has met the requirements of the Williams settle settlement legislation for the 202526 school year. This confirms that every student has sufficient textbooks and instructional materials in all core subjects consistent with the state adopted curriculum framework. >> Thank you. Do I hear a motion to approve item three? >> Make a motion.
070>> Motion made by Mr. Peralta. Is there a second? >> I'll second. Seconded by Mrs. Kobon. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. 40. Item four, consideration to approve to adopt resolution 252602, celebration of National Literacy Month, September 2025. And for your consideration this evening is a resolution recognizing National Literacy Month in September. National Literacy Month underscores the importance of fostering strong literacy skills, which serves as a foundation for lifelong learning and success. Literacy empowers individuals, strengthens communities, and opens doors to opportunity. By adopting this resolution, we affirm our commitment to ensuring every student develops the skills needed to thrive academically and beyond. >> Thank you. Do I hear a motion to approve item four? >> I'll make the motion. >> Motion made by Mrs. Kobian. Is there a second? >>
071Seconded by Mr. Poda. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries 40. And item five, consideration of approval for the amendment and restatement of the merge risk management joint powers authority joint exercise of powers agreement. >> Members of the governing board and Monte City School District is part of a joint powers authority uh consisting of five districts in the area, Mountain View, Roseme, Edmonton City, Edmonton Union, and Garvey. There's been some change in memberships over the years with Garvey uh exiting out of the JPA in recent years. Um, the JPA, the Joint Powers Authority, allows us to come together for property liability, uh, insurance services and workers compensation services. A few years ago, um, the districts decided to go in different directions for property liability services. U, but we still um, come
072together for worker workers compensation services. In 2013, we added ancillary services and we come together to procure transportation services through the JPA. Um and over the years there's other ancillary services that uh we use a JPA to access. For example, healthcare compliance, affordable care act reporting, actuary studies, um other consulting, transportation, all those um uh cooperative programs within there. Uh we had our legal council review our bylaws and our JPA agreement. Um and there were some minor updates to the bylaws and the JPA agreement to specifically call those out. um those added services. Um and it provides flexibilities to school districts as well. Should they uh continue to part participate in all of the services or just choose to participate in some of the ancillary services, they have the flexibility to u participate in whatever
073services they they so choose to. Um the merge JPA board is made up of representatives. Typically, the assistant superintendents of each district um are appointed as voting members. We've approved these updated re um JP agreement and bylaws at our May and June board meetings. And now each district has to bring the updated bylaws and JP agreement to their school boards for approval so that they can go into effect. >> Thank you. Do I hear a motion to approve item five? >> Motion to approve. >> Motion made by Mr. Peralta. Is there a second? >> I'll second that. >> Seconded by Mr. Seagrist. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries 40. Um lastly is our discussion session. Uh Dr. Garcia, we have board retreat up first. >> Thank you. Uh President Reeves,
074governing board members. Um every year we have the opportunity of scheduling a board retreat. Um this year we um held off a little bit because of uh just the the various summer schedules and um want to take this opportunity to congratulate uh Mrs. Mendes Garcia on the birth of her baby daughter. They're doing wonderful. Um and so I'd like to propose um September 29th as a board retreat date um for the board. Is that something that you will if you will consider? >> Wonderful. That was easy. >> Uh, so on September the excuse me, yes, September 29th, we'll schedule a board retreat at 5:00 pm here at the district and I'll work with uh Mrs. Rivas to create an agenda for the retreat. Traditionally at the retreat, we do some governance work and then we
075review our governance calendar for the coming year. >> Okay, very good. Thank you. U for future discussion items, are there any items that the board would like to discuss um at a future meeting? Um, one of the things I know we haven't done in a little while, um, and I don't actually remember how long it's been, but a board evaluation. Um, I don't know if we'd want to maybe talk about it and think Yeah, think about how we want to handle that. >> Um, yeah, that was just my item. >> Great. Yeah, thank you. Any other items? I'll just um congratulate um maybe I could have said this earlier, but congratulate um EMCSD for being recognized by CLSBA. Is am I saying that correctly correctly for the Oh, I think it's a new thing, but
076is it the lead? It's a lead award. Um we were just notified that we will be receiving this award in the month of September. So, we'll definitely bring back information at the September board meeting uh acknowledging this recognition. and it's really the board of education that's being recognized for their leadership and their vision in promoting all the wonderful things happening across the district. So, congratulations to the board. >> Great. Thank you. Um, any other items? >> I'd like to have us discuss providing additional learning resources for children, our students. For example, I recently uncovered a wonderful site called lingo.com. It's an interactive AI website, free. You can input your question, which I did. I said, "Please give me back the names of all of the months in Spanish." It came back with text and also
077Spanish language. Then I said, "Now give it to me in Thai, the Thai language." It now came back amigga GPT with very good Thai oral language and the script in the Thai language. It's called lingolo.com. I I encourage you to check that one. And also I'm doing more research into the quentos deas, the Spanish fairy tales. I finally found out who did it. It's a company in the Middle East called Alibaba. They designed that the the quentos deas. It's a free website. You can put the fairy tales in Spanish. You can put them in German, English, any language you want. And this is another resource. Here's one more that I'm doing now. I found out thanks to a a young high school student that if I input a document in Microsoft Word, I can then
078review it and have it read back to me in any language I want, which helps a great deal when I'm proofreading something. I'm making fewer mistakes. I'm just saying these are additional resources our kids can learn about. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Seagrist. Well, I believe that's all for us this evening. So, I will adjourn the meeting at 7:03.