001to this is the Monday April 22nd 2024 meeting of the Alman City School District Board of Education and this is a special meeting uh that is called for the purpose of making a provisional appointment to the board so thank you all for being here this evening and showing your interest we'll begin with a roll call Mrs koban present Mrs Mendes Garcia present Mr seist present and myself Mrs Rivas present and now will you all please join me in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance ready begin i al to the flag of the United States of America and to for which stand one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all uh so next we will hear public comments um are there any cards that have been given for public comments okay so this
002evening our board will make a provisional appointment and we'll interview four applicants and select a new member to serve on the board the person appointed this evening will be sworn in today and will serve until December 2024 as you see in the agenda uh the evening will go like this the board will hear public comments there are none this evening uh we'll interview the candidates and then deliberate and vote on the appointment at that time I will swear in the appointed board member and to our applicants uh thank you so much for being here this evening uh thank you for your interest in serving this District by being on our board and thank you for stepping forward to enter this process three of us on this dis have experienced being appointed by a board so
003we know what it's like uh the process tonight is not easy but we want you to feel our warm welcome and please know that we appreciate you and we look forward to getting to know you better through these interviews um I should ask if there are any written comments any written Communications no written communication has come forward okay thank you so then item uh on our agenda is provisional appointment to Alman City School District Board of Education I'll turn it over to Dr Garcia good evening president revas governing board members and um candidates thank you once again I want to just Echo also my gratitude uh for your willingness to step forward and uh serve in this community um we had a resignation from one of our previous board members that created this vacancy the
004board then decided to create uh to do a provisional appointment as opposed to a general election it really was the wise a wise decision it gives the opportunity for candidates to come forward and uh it saves the district some money also by having a larger election and so this evening we've prepared some questions for you that really give us an opportunity to get to know you better uh to understand how you would like to serve and then the board will then make a decision this evening we're going to have you come up in just a bit um and we're going to have you select a number uh from those numbers uh based on the number that you receive that's the order that you will come forward um and answer questions uh we will have you
005um stand be behind the podium there um with the ability to you know share bring your notes uh forward we were able to share the interview questions in advance uh so feel free to bring those with you so that you can feel comfortable um and if there's anything that you need clarification on please uh ask you can ask any questions uh we want you to feel as comfortable as possible thank you uh so it is time for our interviews now will um you each select a number I believe these are the numbers right here um so if you each um each one of you if you could come forward and select your number the paper on that front there a game show what's in the suitcase okay so in a moment I'll C each one
006of you forward uh but just so you know I'll be asking each of you the same questions the questions you received in advance and the board may ask clarifying questions but I do ask that the board not surprise our applicants with new questions okay so well applicant um who received the number one please come forward Mrs Ras if you don't mind I'll share the order of uh the applicants uh the interviews for this evening number one is Miss Santos number two is Dr Guzman number three is Mrs Lou and number four is Mr Peralta thank you okay um would you please state your name and then tell us about yourself what motivated you to apply for this position and what you hope to accomplish if selected yes first of all thank you for this opportunity
007to have me here today um my name is Haren Santos I am the mother of a third grade student at legora elementary I have a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Cal State Long Beach a master's degree from asusa Pacific University in organizational leadership um I currently am a general manager for expanded learning programs and and I really collaborate with uh school districts and Community Partners to ensure that policies and procedures and Protocols are followed through to benefit the students that we serve in expanded learning what motivated me to um pursue this position is the fact that I want to be a catalyst for change in the education system I really think that Schoolboard members can and should advocate for the education of the students and really to think about you know like what we can
008do better how we can you know show up for our students this provisional assignment really gives an opportunity for people such as myself to be a contributing member of this community I always think about what do I want to leave behind what Legacy do I want to leave for my daughter what example do I want to set for her and I really want to show her that it is important to do your civic duty to be part of the community if you want to see change if you want to see action then you have to be part of that change you have to be part of that action so I really made a a you know a careful assessment of the commitment this would mean because you want someone that is going to be fully
009committed to this um and so um I made the decision to be part of this because I want to be value added to the school board you know and I want to be value added to the the the district as a whole what I hope to accomplish through this is that I want to be able to maintain our focus on the allocated resources that we have for the students needs and their you know consider how our actions can help close um the achievement Gap that we see many times I want to contribute to us looking at the decisions from the equity lens I think everything starts with that lens and really the establish processes sometimes it's just looking at them from a different perspective really is not you know like M doing big changes sometimes
010it's just really focusing in on what we can do better within the goals that we currently have thank you so much question number two this appointment term will run through December 2024 it fills the seat of a board member whose term was to end um in December 2026 so if you were appointed to the vacant seat do you intend to run in November 2024 to finish out the term for that office if appointed to the seat I would run back in the elections of November 2024 I believe that in order for me to best contribute to the district mission and vision of having students achieve their Highest Potential I need time and experience in this seat um you know I apply knowing that this position is one of high importance and to be effective it's
011best to be in the seat for a significant amount of time so yes thank you question three what aspects of TK TOA education particularly interest you the aspect of uh TKA education that particularly interests me is student achievement that you know like the students individual growth their academic performance their personal development both physically and emotionally uh whether our students are below grade level at grade level above grade level significantly impacts what their future is is going to be the support and wraparound Services provided to our students is of interest to me because all of it contributes to closing the achievement Gap our mission in the district is to cultivate leadership to you know um that educational excellence and by focusing the learning we can develop a better future Society I am also particularly interested in
012social emotional learning uh I think that that's extremely important and we know that there are more than 3 million students that are below grade level in the state of California and Co 19 did not help those efforts and really achieving you know like success academically but also their the students emotional well-being was impacted by that they experienced a lot of things so really providing support for students to cope and improve is of importance to me thank you question four what are the most pressing needs in our district and what would you prioritize to meet those needs thank you before I respond to this question I want to acknowledge that my information is limited in what the district's most needs are because I do not have the internal data to necessary to do a true assessment
013however based on what I know from the elcap information available in the California school dashboard there is a need to focus on our goal on student achievement particularly Ela and math because currently we are below standard um the implementation of the summer school Intervention Program I know as one of those strategies that was determined to do but it's still pending implementation now I do think that that is going to definitely help um so that that would be a pressy need for our district thank you question five what do you see as the district's important issues today and what is your perspective on them I believe that an important issue for district is the learner engagement the percentage of students that are currently are um chronically absent is 12.3% I believe based on the last update
014in January and chronic absente is is an important issue because of the students are not in school they can't learn it's understanding why it happens is as important as the actions we take to actually address the situations we also have a very high number of students that are um in low income and disad banage students it was almost 85% from what I recall and so our community has a lot of need and making connections with the families will really help for us to you know like improve the continuous drop in enrollment as well funding is also an important issue because we know that the governor's budget changes you know like um affect are the resources that we get as well so planning for the future in regards to what we're going to have access to
015is going to be of high importance thank you uh question six what are your views on educational diversity equity and inclusion and ensuring all students have access to Quality education my views on educational um diversity is that it benefits students to be exposed to different cultural and social groups in the classroom as well as the curriculum that they they receive it helps develop cultural awareness tolerance and understanding towards each other I think that it's very important that we focus on that diversity so that all students feel that their individual needs are met my view and Equity is that it's a social justice issue I think that um we must provide resources where they're mostly needed districts need to tailor services to the needs of our students I think it's about providing diversity in learning because
016one strategy fits all it's not always the best approach for our students especially when we think about inclusion our students need to feel valued and as a governing board I think that is important for for people to be mindful of the policies that we agree to and what we enforce to ensure that our students in the community at know that we value them and are focused on continuous Improvement thank you question seven the board must ensure fiscal responsibility as it meets educational needs can you discuss your understanding of the district's budget and describe your fiscal priorities yes my understanding of the FIS fiscal budget is that leas are to adopt a budget by July 1st of every year of the fiscal year they have to be compliant with state standards and they are approved or
017not approved by the county of education so Coe goes ahead and reviews that and then provides the information necessary um my understanding is the local control funding formula is how funds um that Lea receive and are in they are determined by the UPC counts as well as the enrollment numbers of the students um the school board collaborates with the superintendent um to determine the budget according to the elcap goals and the Strategic plan for the school year uh the fiscal budget consists of many priorities and needs uh for various department for the district uh there are both uh state and federal funds that you know that support with the various needs that the district have and um when thinking about you know like the budget we have to think about the revenues as well as
018the expenditures that you know to be considered my fiscal priority is really to ensure that we're using the funds and the um the way that we allocate it you know the way that we set the budget was going to utilize that is serving the the goals that we have set for ourselves I think that as the district entity is important for us to ensure that we're providing the reports and the information to Coe in a timely manner and that we assess the expenditures that the district has and that we uh also assess the out outomes and that we are having based on the expenditures that we are having and ensuring that they are meeting uh the goals that we have set for ourselves thank you question eight what do you see as the primary roles
019and responsibilities of a Schoolboard member and can you provide examples of your leadership style and how it aligns with these responsibilities yes the primary roles and responsibilities of the school members are to ensure there is a long-term vision that guides the goals that we set forth for the district uh we you know of course uh the school board employs and evaluates the superintendent they oversee the development and Adoption of bylaws and policies also sets the direction and approval of curriculum oversee facilities issues you know as well as being involved with bargaining agreements or anything that it requires some legal advice you know like And in regards to litigations or things of that sort right but we also need to ensure that um school board members behave in a professional manner that models the district values
020and most importantly that we advocate for the students in their best interest have a positive relationship with the superintendent with the staff with the public um in regards to my leadership style I would say that I a serban leader I prioritize the growth the well-being and development of others I like to Foster an inclusive environment that really enables those around me to be able to grow and and Thrive as their true selves um I listen to what needs are and I like to empower others to be successful as a Schoolboard member my main priority is to be able to be accountable to my community leading with Integrity respect responsibility and really through relationship building being a good model not just to my daughter but to the students and the staff and the people that we
021engage with thank you question nine how would you approach having a disagreement with a fellow board member if I have a disagreement with a fellow board member my Approach which is to first remember our operating Norms where it says that we are to respect each other it's important to communicate with my fellow board members in private as much as possible as a governance team it is important for me to lead by example as I mentioned before and for me it's important to treat my board members with courtesy and respect as I wish to be treated um if a disagreement takes place during a board meeting I first must remember that this is a public space and that we are um leaders and as must as such we must govern in a dignified manner which means
022that you know I need to treat others with a dignity and respect uh no aggression no inappropriate behavior of on addressing any of my fellow board members the goal of the school board is to advocate for our constituents and it is not to really focus on personal matters so communication and respect are keys in having a successful governance team and that's how I would lead myself thank you question 10 who are the district stakeholders and how can a board member appropriately engage them to me the stakeholders are the people that are invested in the welfare and success of the students that we serve you know for that are invested in the school in the district so with that said I would say it's the parents the students the teachers the staff at the school sites
023at the district level the administrators the community members uh elected officials you know um and uh a board member can appropriately engage stakeholders by listening to the constituents input and bringing the information back to the decision process uh um while listening to input I think that is important for me not to make any promises or speak in any specific action to be taken um I am I know I can build relationships while ensuring that I do not undermine the district protocols and that you know I ensure that I address situations as close to the source as possible so you know with that said directing them to the superintendent that the school administrators to whoever would address the situations that come about thank you and question 11 which is our final question comment on your commitment
024to the students and families of this community and the employees of this District my commitment to the students and the families of the community as well as the employees of the district is to show up every day to be responsible to the values the goals and the priorities set forth to ensure that our students get the best education that they can possibly get I commit to learning what it takes to lead as an effective School board member because that's extremely important in this role and then the same way that I want my child to have the best education possible I want all the students in our community to do so as well um because they deserve to for us to represent them and to expand their Horizons and to be able to achieve the highest
025potential that they can I want our students to be able to be College and Career ready and so my commitment is to be able to show up and beew value added to this team thank you very much and before you step away I'd like to ask the board if there's any clarification again we don't want to ask new questions but if there are any clarifying questions okay thank you for your time thank you very much Miss Santos um our next one up number two I believe is Dr Guzman okay question one please state your name then tell us about yourself what motivated you to apply for this position and what you hope to accomplish if selected first of all good afternoon uh board members and District staff and everyone else in attendance thank you for
026this opportunity um it's a privilege to be here um and to be able to share my my vision and my thoughts on my candidacy as a a potential School Board member um I've been a lifelong resident of the city of Alman I lived in South Alman uh near the Wilkerson area um growing up I went to New Lexington um Columbia and Alani High School um now I live in the a royal uh High School area and um throughout that Journey um from childhood to um young adult to now a professional um you know I've had different roles in supporting my community I was a student I was a preschool teacher um an inclusion support staff special for special education um and now I'm a clinical psychologist working to help the students of Elman um City
027School District the greater Elman area to ensure that um they reach their fullest potential to ensure parents feel supported and really what I I see this this opportunity is to further provide um be of service to my community um that to me is the most important thing is being of service and I wish really to um be part of this board to bring New Perspectives I worked for uh the LA County Department of Mental Health for almost the last five five and a half years um currently working for the Governor's child youth Behavioral Health Initiative um bringing down silos um to ensure that youth and children um Rec cover and are supported um holistically and so really bringing New Perspectives um sharing new ideas and learning from board members um all the experience that you
028have um so I want to learn but also bring new ideas I want to strengthen the lines of communication with parents and the community at large and really to support the great work that's already being done um by this board by Dr Garcia and um the Alman City School District at large thank you question two this appointment term will run through December 2024 it fills the seat of a board member whose term was to end in December 2026 if you were appointed to the vacan seat do you intend to run in November 2024 to finish out the term for that office I do not I do not plan or intend to run and that's a commitment that I can make right now I really want the community in the upcoming elections to be the ones
029that decide who gets to be um elected for board members um the three seats including the seat that's currently vacant I don't want to use this appointment um as an advantage um and so I would just um be appointed and just serve for from here till November thank you question three what aspects of TK to a education particularly interest you um for me it's really the the the the changing brain really that's the I know we talk about 0o to5 and that's really important as the foundation but really TK to e is where um the social emotional the academic um uh Foundation that you set in the first five years really gets strengthen and I think for me it's knowing that parents and teachers um have such an impact on students at this age and
030so I'm really seeing um students flourish and teachers um be supportive of that flourishment so for me it's just really seeing how much students grow in all areas of their life um from TK to 8th grade thank you question four what are the most pressing needs in our district and what would you prioritize to meet those needs one of the the pressing needs um and I and I think it's a bigger issue than just the city um the Alman city school district is teacher retention um and the the teacher Pipeline and so for me it's really um ensuring that the district is doing everything we can to retain um the great teachers we already have um and to recruit um new ones um and that starts really by ensuring that the students that leave you
031know the after 8th grade go on to high school know that they can um whether they go to Community College I myself went to pasadina City College um or to a university that um they can get far and they can come back and give back to the very community that they know um and that they grew up in so for me teacher retention Recruitment and building that pipeline is one of the most pressing needs um the helping students recover from covid um and when we talk about helping students is not just academic but social emotional and specifically mental health I think the rates of depression anxiety suicidal ideation teacher burnout um really I think that's a pressing need that the district um is is working towards and I think we we can definitely um do
032more to uh address the the crisis really of of uh you know mental health and substance abuse and the the third and final thing I think is uh need to strengthen um the the housing and economic security for our families um it's really hard for more and more so to afford to live here um and sometimes it's not just about the students that are not showing up um and they're at home or somewhere else but a lot of families are having to leave the city of Alman um families are being uh left unhoused or housing unstable and that's very stressful and so I think that is an Avenue where um it's a pressing need it's a growing crisis and I think there's a lot that the district can do and partnership with um other cities
033the county and the state to really ensure that there's um that housing and economic stability so then that sets the stage for students to actually be able to focus on learning thank you question five what do you see as the district's important issues today and what is your perspective on them one of the district's important issues is um they changing landscape with economic landscape Co really um um kind of made everything more complicated to really understand what funding um was going to be available from year to year um and now with the budget shortfall I think um the budget inst stability is one of the the key issues um there's a lot of loss of onetime funding from the state and the federal government that's going to be happening this year and the next year
034and so I think those are that budget inst stability um as my the other candidate mentioned the governor always in in the legislature they go back and forth in terms of the budget every year um but I think we since Co it's become a lot more unstable so I think um fiscal stability um is one of the key issues uh um facing the district um The Children and Youth Mental Health crisis as we we've mentioned I mentioned before it's not just about um supporting them and and trying to get them to help but even when the district tries teachers try there's not enough um therapists out out there there's not enough services and so um it's really um an issue that the district is going to have to face longterm um and deal with and
035I think um um again like I mentioned earlier the the teacher shortage um to so making sure that there's a pipeline um for the own teachers the students that go through our the school district come back and and give back to to the very community that they know thank you question six what are your views on educational e um sorry educational diversity equity and inclusion and ensuring all students have access to Quality education yeah so one of the things that I did when I was uh with the Department of Mental Health was I was part of the uh anti-racism diversity and inclusion team and so um you know I I really learned a lot about what it means to be uh not just ensuring diversity and inclusion but making sure there's an anti-racism racism lens
036to what we're doing and so um what I see is um Equity diversity and inclusion um the district plays a key role in ensuring that that's um embedded in every part and everything that the the school district does all the teachers feel supported um but I also think it's um that not only is important but uh for the district to be supportive of equity inclusion and inclusion and diversity but also I think there's um a great opportunity for the district to provide space to have those conversations and Reflections um because this is a lifelong um commitment um to really achieve equity and so um my My Views is that by doing that we allow our our kids to be healthy and fully thriving um and really we're talking about all kids and so I think
037without a commitment to that um it's it's really hard to have a healthy and thriving community thank you I want to pause just for a moment do we need to do anything about the screen yeah Robert can you just oh was it I am curious about the 100% Rotten Tomato score but I'll look it up afterwards well and who kept uh the uh winning uh sorry about that no okay we'll pick up where we left off question seven uh the board must ensure fiscal responsibility as it meets educational needs can you discuss your understanding of the district's budget and describe your fiscal priorities um as mentioned earlier um and the candidate before me U mentioned a lot of the the procedural um aspects of the District budget um but I really uh see the the
038declining enrollment um student absenteeism um and the loss of onetime dollars as um issues that are going to be impacting the the the budget of the district this year and in the coming years um and so I think one of um the the priorities and the for the district's budget and my my priority is to ensure that um we or or the school district um is able to get the fair share of the California the state of California settlement from the covid learning loss um you know lawsuit that happened that um is is right now happening where the state is agrees agreed to pay um for for the covid learning loss and so um I think really to um make sure that we're tapping into as much um state and federal funding um this year
039and next year to really ensure that um it doesn't um set us back in in terms of the prog r that we've been able to make in the last year or two um when it comes to supporting our students supporting our staff supporting our teachers thank you question eight what do you see as the primary roles and responsibilities of a Schoolboard member and can you provide examples of your leadership style and how it aligns with these responsibilities so one of the key things is uh to ensure fiscal solvency um at the end of the day um dollars are are the doll that the district have really are um allow us to do allow the district to do everything and so uh ensuring the board ensures that there's fiscal solvency as one of the uh most
040important things that the board does the other is provide oversight and accountability um oversight and accountability to the students to the parents um and to the community at large and so for me um the role of a board member and the responsibilities is to ensure that we are looking out not only for the dollars the tax spare dollars to make sure that they're well spent but to ensure that um the way the district is operating is in line with what the community is expecting and wants for our children our families and the community at large and uh the leadership style question so um mentioning uh servant leadership and I think um the previous candidate mentioned that as well and I think for me um servant leadership is also reflected as a as a board member
041it would be reflected as um being vulnerable um and being able to to voice a different opinion than the rest of the board members even if it's 4 to one um in terms of the opinion um because I think that's um really letting other people know helping people understand your perspective and that enriches the the board as a whole um and so for me it's it's not only about empowering people um but really um being vulnerable um being uh self-reflective um and modeling that for others um and you know letting letting everybody know that I'm human I'm going to make mistakes I'm going to miss something and that's okay um I think that is part of the the servant leadership because that really allows others to to see that it's okay to make mistakes it's
042okay to own up um to something that you missed or it's okay to give a dissenting opinion um so for me servant leadership is is about empowering but also about um showing that vulnerability and not being afraid to be the only one standing um on an is in when everybody else has a different opinion thank you question nine how would you approach having a disagreement with a fellow board member for me I I really it's about um the first thing is uh seeking to understand their perspective um it's it's a learning experience it's about asking questions it's about remaining open to dialogue um it's not really about who's right or who's wrong but understanding where the other person is coming from and what um possible life experiences are informing their view um or their opinion
043and so for me it's really about engaging in that um uncomfortable dialogue sometimes um having discussion around difficult issues so it's it's really about engaging um and moving in um in that relationship to allow the other person to then engage back with you thank you question 10 who are the district stakeholders and how can a board member appropriately engage them I agree with the the previous candidate that mentioned that parents students um teachers staff um whether classified certificated staff administrators um all part of uh the stakeholder group but I would go even further than um than that I would say even um homeowners residents businesses um when it comes to um propositions putting um Bond measures um that really is about making sure that the homeowners are on board in the city and want to
044pay additional taxes um to support um what the district is trying to do through that Bond so for me it's anyone that's invested or has a stake in in the students of the Alman City School District thank you and question 11 our last question comment on your commitment to the students and families of this community and the employees of this District so my commitment um is is really unwavering um I've been committed um I think to this school dist District um you know since I was in kindergarten um and I still live here in Alman I'm a lifelong resident um you know I went to Aza Pacific University as well um because I wanted to stay close to home um and now as a clinical child adolescent psychologist um there's such a need here that
045um I want to continue to um be of service to the community um the students and their families and so my commitment really is unwavering and it really means that um within reason I will do whatever I need to do and step up um when asked to step up um to ensure that um the students and their families uh have a good opportunity um at education but also at a good life um so for me it's really uh an unwavering lifelong commitment thank you very much and before you step away are there any clarifying questions from the board okay thank you very much Dr Gman I think we I left some water there at the podium so please help yourself so the next one up I Believe Miss number three Mrs Lou hello good evening
046hello thank you so much for being here thank you for having me would you please state your name and then tell us about yourself what motivated you to apply for this position and what you hope to accomplish if selected sure um my name is Judy Lou and um I've been a resident here in El Monti for close to 40 years um I've graduated from El Monti high school I'm a mom of two at um which are two little girls attending dery they're in fourth and sixth grade and what motivated me to apply for this job is as when I was a young adult I I've always wanted to become a teacher and um with commitment to my family's jobs I've continued to work uh and later on continued to work and never pursued my interest
047to become a teacher um but before you continue on to the next question I'd like to withdraw my application um after listening to the two previous candidates and I haven't even heard the third candidate I don't believe that um I'm a good fit for this seat um my understanding in the education system isn't as extensive and I don't believe that I can add much value and I don't want to take that seat with so many qualified um candidates but on the other hand I want to say thank you to Dr Garcia for believing in me and giving me this and the and the cabinet for believing in me and giving me this opportunity to um just giving me this opportunity and giving the citizens of of um for this opportunity um I always also want
048to say that um even though I won't be applying for this position I'm I believe I'm better on the field working with directly with teachers with students um and even though um I'm I won't be uh applying for it I'm still here and I still want to do whatever I can to help with the cabinet help with the Board of Education and um yeah kind of be like U like the meetings that we have key communicators for the school I like to be if there's a position I like to be key communicators for the board I like to be out there and serving um our schools oneon-one so thank you for your time and thank you and um Good Luck to all the candidates before you step our way I just want to say that
049um all of us have had a huge learning curve getting on to the board and I'm not sure any of us felt um you know completely prepared with all the knowledge that it takes to do this so I and um every person who's um registered to vote is eligible to to put their name in so I just want to be sure that and and it's a position that's you know it's it's um requires a lot of commitment and I don't believe I have enough background in the education system and I don't want to take up that seat but thank you for the opportunity thank you very much we appreciate you um and number four Mr Peralta okay number one please state your name and then tell us about yourself what motivated you to apply for
050this position and what hope what you hope to accomplish if selected okay so my name is Cesar Peralta uh I am the father of three daughters all three have attended or currently attending Alon city school district schools uh my two oldest finished through Colombia then went to elonte high school um and are both now in college and I have one in the first grade now at Colombia um I've been I was raised and I've lived in elonte since birth and I've been a continuous resident for the last 20 years um I also served on the bond oversight committee for this school dist district for four years I believe I can't remember if it was four or five years um and I currently work as a principal administrative analyst for the LA Unified School District I've
051been with that school district for 18 years the the first 11 I was in the procurement Services office with the oversight or helping with the oversight of um of procurement purchases rfps rfqs ifbs uh contract oversight items of those matter and then the last seven I've worked with the student Health and Human Services specifically I'm working with the with the office that oversees our relationships with our foster youth our homeless Youth and our Juvenile Justice involved youth as well uh currently or I should say what motivated me to to apply for this was to maybe provide a perspective uh that is somewhat unique the one thing I forgot to mention also is that for the last uh nine years my wife and I have been coaching in the High School varsity team for softball at
052elonte high school so the perspective that we're bringing or that I'm bringing is that from being a a current parent a School District staff member and also I I see myself as the beneficiary of of the product of this school district namely the students who are graduating from eth grade and coming to my high school and playing for my high school team I I I'm getting a lot of the students obviously from uh El Mon City School District coming to our high school and I appreciate the level of commitment and the intelligence the teamwork uh the bonding that they come in with uh to our to our team what I hope to accomplish is to continue the progress already being made and to hopefully further strengthen the stability of the district while seeking some Innovative
053way innovative ways to enhance the education of the students thank you question two this appointment term will run through December 2024 it fills the seat of a board member whose term was to end in December 2026 if you were appointed to the vacant seat do you intend to run in November 2024 to finish out the term for that office so at the time that I started this application and and I was aware of it I hadn't really given much thought to applying or to running for this open board seat um but as I continued with the research and in answering these questions and and and seeing how my life experiences to this point um has helped prepare me for this for this role I starting to find more and more um uh uh relevance how
054I can apply these experiences how I can how can I ex uh apply what I've learned in my other roles uh to helping fulfill the mission of this board so yes I would I would definitely be uh running for election thank you question three what aspects of TK to8 education particularly interest you probably the biggest thing for me for the TK through 8 uh would be helping to create that colleg goinging culture while emphasizing extracurricular activities whether they be artistic athletic scientific um something that I'm learning from the the the the different experiences that my three daughters have had while going to these scho to to the school here is that each one has kind of found their own path they've each done their own thing uh my middle daughter got very big into band
055she started playing the clarinet the saxophone doing everything doing everything she can within music and I have a zero musical abilities myself I have no musical bone in my body and somehow she figured out she learned how to play on uh using YouTube and she was very into going to school just so she could be part part of part of the band and she carried it on into high school and in college she's playing softball nothing nothing to do with band so it's it's helping her motivate herself but she found something that she enjoyed and then and now my youngest one uh she's enjoying the uh before school and the after school Aspire programs where she's where she's learning about different scientific items and she's coming home I built a robot today hey I and
056then the next day she comes up she comes home and and shows us some uh some artistic drawing that they did in in a SP before school or after school so it's these this variety of of experiences that that were helping these kids to get excited about going to school they want to go to school because they're they're happy to be learning about things that they're excited about thank you question four what are the most pressing needs in our district and what would you prioritize to meet those needs I think uh Miss Santos and and Dr Guzman they've kind of hit on most of them already mental our Mental Health Resources um yes you know our our students are suffering more and more from depression we need to hopefully expand on our Mental Health Resources
057to help these students uh get more in in the right mental mind uh mindset to be able to learn and prepare for the future um I think the other one is to help prep or to help prepare for the whole child whether it be mental academic physical creative SC scientific finding those things again to get the the student excited to learn excited to go to school um stabilizing and increasing enrollment something that I neglected to mention in the first question I served on the Planning Commission here for the city for 12 years and one of the items that I I really looked to do when we were in when when when I was on the Planning Commission was to help increase the availability of Housing and affordable housing uh to start feeding more into these
058schools um modernizing facilities and infrastructure and creating again a engaging educational programs attractive to a variety of populations thank you and um question five what do you see as the district's important issues today and what is your perspective on them there's a long list I have uh how how Ai and new technology is going to be used and monitored uh by the schools already there is the rise in plagiarism from uh from using AI how do we how do how do Educators use AI to help their students and also prevent their students from using AI to to cheat the system uh and what other new other new technology can they use uh social media influence on their students how can the schools work to work against or not well work against how social media influences
059uh the students behavior at school how it influences their behavior at home in relation to accomplishing their schoolwork um the big one is going to be safety with the recent uh uptick as far as uh violent incidents on school campuses what can we do to help prevent violence on our school campuses something that I noticed when I was reviewing uh uh one of the documents for the district was that there is a there is a substantial difference in uh the feeling of being safe on campus between parents and staff and children and and what I was looking at was that parents and staff are reporting by a higher rate somewhere in the 90% um that they felt safe on campus whereas students in the I think it was in the fifth grade and in the
060seventh grade were reporting that they were feeling safe at the 60% level and so why is there why is there a disconnect why do adults feel safer on campus than students we should hopefully work to provide uh a safer feeling for the students on campus um smoking and vaping uh the new um the new uh and again disease prevention with covid uh probably the the biggest thing then beyond that would be maintaining relationships with our staff and our faculty one thing that I've noticed is that our teachers that it it appear he at least from the outside that our teachers and our board has a very good working relationship I haven't heard much as far as any disagreements between board and and staff and faculty so then that's something to improve upon and continue thank
061you question six what are your views on educational diversity equity and inclusion and ensuring all students have access to Quality education I believe in the idea that to better prepare the students for high school and beyond that input should be received from as varied a population as possible especially from those groups that have been historically underrepresented in setting the policies and historically have been denied access to Quality education these voices can only inform us on a better path forward together and it will help create a culture of inclusivity thank you question seven the board must ensure pH fiscal responsibility as it meets educational needs can you discuss your understanding of the district's budget and describe your fiscal priorities as discussed already previously there's you the the way that the funding is received by the state
062um or by the by the board uh we would then get that budget recommendation from from from staff as a board we sit and discuss what our priorities would be along with staff to determine what would be the the correct or what would be the best uh use of those resources and then based off of those recommendations in that discussion uh we would set establish that that priority list for the budget thank you and question eight what do you see as the primary roles and responsibilities of a school board member and can you provide examples of your leadership style and how it aligns with these responsibilities so the primary the role the primary role is to set the policy for the school district um policies and for the budget for for the educational message um
063and then that to to basically be those leaders to to establish for the community how is it that we as a community are going to are going to support and educate our children and prepare them for our for for the future um for the board member personally they should be able to set that example uh they should be able to lead not only on the board but their fellow residents with their words and in their actions they should seek to engage with their fellow residents and board members to reach a collaborative solution for the districts and communities problems um so Bard rer must be open to hearing and learning from new and differing voices from people with different experiences than theirs and be objective in making decisions based on input received from those varied voices
064uh my from my personal uh example of a leadership style when I first joined the the Planning Commission something that we ran across and we realized was that we were getting uh a lot of we were being contacted by a lot of applicants before what we before we were uh before we were actually discussing their item in an open form and when we were new when I say we because there was three of us that were brand new and they hadn't really explained to us what the process was um we didn't know what was going on and we realized very quickly that even though it may have been okay to talk to the applicant beforehand it didn't look good if somebody knew about it afterwards so what we ended up doing is we established a
065uh one item on our agenda right before every meeting where we would disclose any discussion we may have had with the applicant before us um and we kept that up the whole 12 years that that we were there um and many of many people would question us as to why do we do it and city council doesn't I couldn't answer why city council didn't not my not my area but I know that what we wanted to be able to do was to be able to say here's everything you need to know as the public you need to know what influences I may have before I make a decision on this matter and if you don't agree with me being able to be fair and impartial about this um then you have recourse you can take
066this to through the proper channels and possibly get me removed but we made sure we want to establish to the any new anybody new coming on to the Planning Commission that this is very important for us we wanted to be above board with everything that we that we uh discussed we wanted to make sure that there were no uh items going on behind the scenes and that the public was assured that there were no items going on behind the scenes so that's one method of using our leadership to to to put forward something like that um other items that we have done uh I used to serve on the board for a recreational softball league here in the city and when things needed to get done it was it wasn't a matter of pointing fingers
067and who did this and they didn't do that it was just a matter of showing up and then just getting just getting the work done and leading through that example um and seeking to utilize everybody's strengths and weaknesses I think that's the the the other item is that learn each other's strength strengths and weaknesses and know this person is really good at doing this let's put them to work on this item specifically and I've used both I've used that on both the Planning Commission and with the board of uh of that recreational uh organization uh so as board members I I I would think that you all know each other's strengths and weaknesses after after a while and know who's going to be able to take care of of What scenario thank you question nine
068how would you approach having a disagreement with a fellow board member had that happen many times um I think the biggest one the biggest way to do it or the easiest not not the easiest but the best way to do it is to seek to understand where they're coming from what is their perspective what is their uh what is their exper experience what is informing their uh their take on on on the situation because that's only going to help me to learn and grow within the role itself as well maybe I'm not looking at it correctly there's probably information that that person has that I don't that might change my uh opinion as far as what's going on or I can then help or I can help that person understand it from my perspective as
069well but I need to demonstrate to that person that I'm willing to listen to them first I can't expect them to do something that I'm not willing to do myself thank you question 10 who are the district stakeholders and how can a board member appropriately engage them students parents teachers staff City residents the high school as I said before uh future employers businesses those are all our our our stakeholders within the district um they are all going to be beneficiaries of the products of this school district and the more we seek to engage them and and find out from them what is it you want in a future in a future uh uh neighbor in a future coworker in a future employee in a future city council member and a future board member what is
070it that we need need this school district to do to help prepare that student to be that future whatever it is for for you on uh that you're going to need thank you and question 11 this is our last question comment on your commitment to the students and families of this community and the employees of this District so for the last 15 years my wife and I have been involved with the youth in the community through our coaching first at the recreational level and for the last 9 years at the high school level we've had the pleasure to see two cohorts or students from as young as 5 years old all the way through high school and go on to college we now have a few of our former team members working in some capacity
071with us within coaching or officiating uh the the game while they also continue uh on in college we have started with a new group now and have worked to reestablish the recreational League that has been dormant since Co we are proud to have had a hand in so many students seeing athletic achievement as a pathway as a pathway to and to help pay for college and we are very happy that this resource is once again available for the children of Elon we have had trips to colleges to watch games and tour campuses and even had two teams on the field at Dodger Stadium for Fernando Valenzuela day and they each got and everybody got to meet Mr Valenzuela and they got their items autographed by him as well the parents were pretty happy about it
072um additionally I for 12 years I worked on the Planning Commission for the city to bring about improvements that benefit the community as a whole and to eventually provide a more fulfilling place for children to raise their own families as they get older uh something that I've again from growing up here most of the most of the most of my friends that I grew up with here have all left and I want to stop that drain that drain of of we educate them and then they leave we should be able to educate them and keep them here and build on that Community uh over and over and over again so I see the the school board as an extension of this we have to create a destination which families want to bring their children to
073we have to make a destination where families want to move to or stay in not move away from when I first joined the Planning Commission one of my fellow Commissioners paraphrased an old saying and I've tried to use it and stick to it in in all the years since then and the the paraphrase was that on the Planning Commission we were planting the seeds for trees under whose shade we will never enjoy and I see that being done to a point here as well we're not going to make immediate change the school board isn't going to have an immediate impact but we're you're going to be planting those seeds for Change and and growth within the community and I've seen that within my own lifetime having grown up here and seeing the schools as they
074were before and the schools as they are now and I can only see a positive trajectory with the way the schools are are happening now so for us that meant that we weren't we we may not live long enough to see the results of some of the difficult decisions we made in those in those days and sometimes those those decisions were not the best in the near- term but would be the best in the long term on the commission we were dealing with the mistakes of the past sometimes the lack of foresight and the aversion to sacrifice and to do what was and they want and basically previous commissions just did what was easy and wanted to avoid any controversy and we worked with staff on our priorities we sought to improve the community to
075for its current inhabitants while also setting a solid path for the future those are all things that I see that the school board is basic is what this the same uh priorities is the same goals you want to improve the for for the current students but also have a solid path forward for the future as well um to conclude I don't see any bad choices here between the three even the four of us I think we all have the same priorities the same goals the same Visions we're all on the same wavelength I don't think I don't envy your position right now because you guys have a difficult decision to make um and I will I I will not leave here unhappy with whatever decision you make because I feel solid with the two other
076candidates who decided to step forward and I would have loved to have heard what Miss Lou would have had would would have been able to say as well um so there's no bad bad decisions here we are all all four of us we're we're a reflection of this board and the school district this is this is the group of people you bring out because this is the work that you have done um and and and so I I said I'm I'm happy with who we have here and and I'll and I should feel I I'll leave here happy with with whatever decision you guys make thank you very much are there any clarifying questions that the board has for Mr paralta no okay thank you um what an impressive uh set of interviews and I
077agree I would have loved to have heard what uh Mrs Lou um had had uh prepared for us as well uh thank you all for for sharing so much about our yourselves our community is richer because of your involvement in it um and now it's time for our board's motion and discussion uh Dr Garcia would you please explain once again the procedures to the board thank you uh president revas if I can just also take a moment to reiterate um also just uh my impressions of just I feel so much gratitude for the four of you uh to have come forward uh to have said yes to this process and um one of the things that I just want to say in advance is that um as a district we're always looking for opportunities to
078engage our community and so please know that you will hear from me after tonight because there's always uh many district committees that we have where we value the input of parents community and I would very much like for everyone here to be a part of the district moving forward so thank you um this evening the board does need to make a decision they need to uh appoint a new board member um that has to be submitted to Leo and so at this time um board members can make a motion for a nomination um if there is no second then there the motion dies if um there is a second then there is an opportunity to have a discussion if the board would like to G engage in a discussion and then the board president would
079call for a vote if uh we have if we have three votes then the motion carries if there's l less than three votes then the motion does not carry it dies and then we would have to entertain another motion um and there can be different iterations of the Motions until we have a first a second and Three A's for an appointment this evening okay thank you so much it's time to make a a motion and at this time any board member may make a motion to appoint anyone of our candidates so board is there a motion um I'll I'll make a motion and and before I do that again iterating what has already been said I just feel so fortunate that we have such strong candidates and and you know this is one of probably
080one of the more difficult decisions to make as a board member um but also knowing that that no matter how this turns out that um we value your participation here we'll value the board member that that joins us and also um you know just all of the service that you have provided to the community and and in an ongoing way so um with that uh I will nominate Mr prta um for board uh membership okay so a motion is made for Mr perata by Mrs koban is there a second all seconds though we can discuss seconded by Miss Mendes Garcia um so it's time for discussion U anyone may discuss but maybe you'd like to um explain your motion sure I'll just um I'll say some things that that I particularly value um is the
081the role as a parent in in not just our district in the High School District understanding um the continuity of the programs and and the unique challenges we have as a uh not Unified School District um and uh also um appreciated some of the examples in in leadership areas and other um other areas of service in the community so those were um things I I saw as strengths that I I think bring a valuable perspective to the work that we do so I'll yeah there other other comments in the discussion yeah I was kind of just read from my notes um like mentioned before everyone did great and so uh in wanting to have the opportunity to discuss our different candidates but yeah I'll definitely kind of share my highlights is that definitely take into
082account that he has a student now two graduate so understanding that that pipeline right and seeing how maybe there are some things maybe we didn't um prepare right his his his daughters for right um if there was anything and then obviously too under he does understand the education back has education background understands procedures of governance because of that experience on the Planning Commission um other thing I highlighted was big picture for the community seeing how the decisions we make now right um impact then you may not see it immediately but you're going to say that impacting the future in our community so I did note that as well as something um as as a strength thank you Mr seus do you have any comments I would like to say that I am totally impressed by
083all of you and I would be very happy to have any of you and I'm disappointed that the young lady Miss Lou that you withdrew I was dying to hear from you also but the quality of your presentations outstanding you really care about the community and this board so thank you all of you for being here yeah thank you I I do feel everyone so informed and um bring such a different and valuable perspective um to to the questions that were shared um with Mr paralta as you said um Mrs koban um I I'm favorable to him as well um I appreciate your um the connection that you you uh described as you answered those questions between um your own children um your work in the community in recreation in city in schools and uh
084I felt that you were able to bring all of those things together very holistically um which is a u really resonated with me again every single person so informed and brings so many different strengths um but I did really appreciate that any further discussion before we call for a vote okay well there has been a motion and a second for Mr paralta um all those in favor say i i i u all those opposed um no for me okay um then we have three eyes and one nay so uh so the motion carries Mr par you were just selected so congratulations uh congratulations to being appointed to the Almani City School District Board of Education it's time for a swearing in already and um in afterwards board I'm going to ask if each of you
085would um share I know we've already shared some comments but if you'd share some additional comments to everyone who participated this evening especially as some of us have experienced this and gone through before um I think that it would be appropriate so after the swearing in we'll have our discussion time and and you'll have another moment um to share with the group uh but for now um where will we be if I can have Mr Pata step forward Mrs Rivas if you can step forward Mr Desma do you mind lifting up the screen so we can have the emblem in the back and then we need a wireless microphone uh for Mrs Reas we go St here I have it here we'll share okay so this is the oath of office for the governing board
086member of the Alman City School District uh please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name do solemnly swear I I cesara do solemnly swear that I will support and defend that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of California and the constitution of the State of California against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States to the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the State of California and the constitution of the State of California that I take this obligation freely that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose
087of evasion without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and I will well and faithfully and I will well and Faithfully discharge the duties discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter upon which I'm about to enter congratulations yeah if we can have the board members come up for a picture can you um Robert can you get a picture of him by himself so we can or for tomorrow for the email yeah okay so we're at our final part of the meeting um which is just the discussion session and I think that it would be most appropriate um to just keep our discussion today just about this process and board if you have any comments you'd like to share with those who participated tonight um I'll I'll just again uh reiterate um how
088much I appreciate um all of you coming out tonight um and and it truly was a very you know difficult um decision because we do have to choose somebody at the end of the day and um you know I know that that we have a lot of good um positive support in the community um and and the fact that you showed up here today definitely uh reiterates that as well um and you know I appreciate our new board member who will I know will do a lot to to uh kind of on board and and um be a valuable uh member of this team so thank you and welcome thank you and I'd like to add um there is no doubt M that you are going to be an excellent board member not at all
089like I have no doubt at all um and what's hard about this process right is that normally right we're able to really you know go back and really um discuss very fully right and talk about everyone and in this process it definitely like I was really wanting to like go one by one can we discuss everyone because all of you had so many strains that I wrote down um when when you were sharing with your interview each of you um and Miss Even though I you didn't you know interview like in public just reading your application right I already see that you had a lot of strain so you would have brought to our school board honestly and so yeah this was really tough and a unique experience so thank you so much um for
090being brave and taking that that risk to be here today and I'm really excited to work with our new board member because I know that you're going to you have a lot of experience so I have no doubt that you're going to do great here in this position thank you Mr seagrist again I salute all of you for being here you cared enough to enter this competition and you were all outstanding thank you for being here I agree Mr seagis to every one of you um just so amazing and um you know we've we've seen a few things happen over time right people um appointed not appointed they run they win they don't win but eventually they're on the board you know and so um every one of you I do hope that we applaud
091them all please I think we really should get Applause I I I do hope that um that you that you do that um because each one of you will be such a wonderful wonderful board member so um some somewhere sometime right so um I I would like to give our new board member an opportunity to um make comments and then we'll return the meeting I I think I said It ultimately as I would have been happy with if either one of you would be here in place of me um we all had the same ideas the same uh motivations for being here and I really appreciate that this is the cohort of that that I got to apply along with um I heard plenty of great ideas from from you from you all and and
092I really look forward to hopefully fulfilling U those items that we that we hope to accomplish over the next several months thank you very much and with that we will adjourn the meeting at 72 or 6:22